Journals & Collaborative Projects

Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous collaborative projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/

Tutorials & Techniques

Below are some of our favorite tricks for adding depth and dimension to your art.  We hope you have fun giving these a try!

Current Group Swaps & Projects

Below is a list of current swaps and projects available to group members. If you are interested in joining our group and participating in these projects, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.  

For existing group members, you can sign up to participate  in these projects here: Swaps & Current Projects.  

We look forward to swapping with you.  Happy Arting!

Member Gallery for Group Swaps
 
Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous group swaps and projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
 
Come play with us... Join today!

Paper Traders is a friendly online community of artists from around the world. We nurture and value creativity, embrace new ideas, products, and techniques yet also value tried and true methods of artistic expression. Our projects consist primarily of paper arts, mixed media collage, artist trading cards, altered art, assemblages, collaborative journals, mail art, and more.

We are interested in creative individuals of varied skill levels who wish to challenge themselves artistically and help build a supportive community. We are at our best when we can share our creative efforts as well as techniques, resources, feedback, and insights. We encourage conversation about art, the art process, and what it means to be an artist.

Paper Traders is hosted on Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
We hope you will consider joining us on an artistic journey!

In order to prevent spammers and to insure that all applicants are actual persons interested in creating art, a questionnaire will be sent to all potential members. When applying, please submit digital examples of your work or direct us to a website where we can view your art. The intent of the questionnaire is not to judge the merits of your art but to safeguard the integrity of our community.

Free Images for Download

Below you will find images that are owned by our group members and offered for your personal use as well as images found in the public domain. Images may be freely used in your personal artwork but may not be used for commercial purposes of any kind without written permission of the owner. No images may be used to create collage sheets or image collections for resale.

To download, follow the link provided. In some cases, you may be able to just click on the image to enlarge it, then right-click and select "save image as". Content changes frequently and many images are available for a limited time.  Please check back often for newly posted images to use in your art journey.

Open Art Challenges !

We're changing things up here at Paper Traders. Instead of the monthly challenges of the past, we'll now be hosting special challenges that might feature a specific technique or product and will be rewarded with actual prizes sponsored by our group members.

Our new challenge for 2013 is a year long word prompt journaling project/challenge. Each specific challenge will be open for one month and all art bloggers can participate, whether you are a Paper Traders member or not. Each artist will comment with a link to their blog post that features the artwork for that particular challenge. For each challenge, a winner will be selected whose art best exemplifies the challenge. The winning artist will be featured here and get a "Trader Treasure" blog button to display on their own blog. They also will receive one chance for each entry for the end of the year prize drawing. Watch this page for more details and challenge announcements.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Mini Leather Book Necklaces


One of our Paper Traders members,
Cathy Calamas from A Surcee Life
is sharing a tutorial on these
mini Leather Book Necklaces.

She got the idea from Wendy at
Art by Wendy
who got the idea from


I cut 8 pieces of watercolor paper into
 1.25" by 3" strips. I then roughly tore the edges
 down to 2.5" in length.

I folded them in half. At this point you could use
some distress ink along the edges as well as
across the sheets. I did this after I had put 
my books together and it was much harder.
So do it early.
:D

I then punched three holes across the folded edge
of each piece with a large darning needle.
Don't skip this step as it makes sewing the spine
SO MUCH EASIER.

Sewed the spines.

Cut out another piece of watercolor paper
to wrap around. 1.25" x 3"

Glued the spine in. Apply glue thickly.
I use Alene's.

Let dry with clips to hold in place and keep tight.

Cut leather into 1.25"x 3". I used an old leather
belt from a leather jacket. It is pretty soft leather.
Cut some very thin strips as well for the closure.

Attach 3 eyelets in these positions. 
One at top for necklace cord 
and two at sides for closure tie.

(sorry, missed a photo at this next step)
Glue leather cover onto the book pages ,
being careful to only go half way up 
the back spine  so as not to glue 
shut the eyelet.
Wrap around and hold tight with clips til dry.
Glue embellishments with Fabri-Tac glue.
Use thins strips to tie book closed.


Use leather cording to make necklace.
You can write special verses, memories, etc.
inside like I did.


Thanks for stopping by !

3 comments:

art by wendy said...

Great job!!! They look better than mine! They are so much fun to make..I'm thinking of making even smaller ones!:O)

Lotus said...

Sweet!
Thank you for this tutorial!
Lotus

Anonymous said...

I love them There are so wonderful..............