Saturday, June 18, 2011

Another Storage Solution

I thought I'd share with you another storage solution......how to keep your special ATCs together.  Now, I do have a 7 Gypsies ATC spinner, but it is so crammed full of them I can't even see them any more.  And certainly there is no room for any additional ones.

The ATCs I'm talking about are the ones I received from my cruise mates on last year's Tim cruise. I wanted to put them in a book, but didn't want to use adhesive on their backs.  Gotta be able to flip them over and see who did them.  Let me explain a bit about the book.  Weeks before sailing I decided to make a travel journal.  I altered an existing book for this purpose.....glued some pages together for added strength,  removed some pages,  gessoed all the pages and very lightly decorated them with inks, paints, stains and glazes.  This is the cover, and in case you're wondering why the L in England is off to the side, go ahead and have a good laugh at my expense.  I think it was literally weeks after completing it before I noticed that I had left the L out.  I wasn't about to re-do it, so I just put the L next to the rest of the word. I was so proud that all the letters fit on the cover so nicely.  Hah!  But, I digress.....



And here are a few of the pages after they were decorated, or I should say, prepped for journaling:





Why are they blank, almost a year after the cruise?  Well, the very first project we did with Tim was a travel journal, so I used that for my notes and memorabilia, and decided to use the one I'd made to hold my ATCs.  But I couldn't come up with a satisfactory means of keeping them in the book.  You know I'm a big proponent of using what I have, and what I have is a great big box of 3 1/2 x 5 1/2" coin envelopes.



Just the right size.....first I sealed the flap shut.  Then I cut the envelope down the middle:


I used a 1" circle punch to create a little half circle on the tops....makes putting the ATCs in and removing them so much easier.  



I used a very strong adhesive (with my Scotch ATG) to attach the holders to the pages.  Two fit well on each page in my 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" book.  I did minimal decorating of the envelopes.  I was just anxious to finish this project and get my cruise ATCs in their new home, but naturally you can ink and stamp and emboss as much as you like.   Here are some sample pages:



And you can see that I am still stencil-crazy.  Each and every page and most of the envelopes have some sort of stenciling on them.  Love, love, love those stencils!

If I had more ATCs to store I could have put envelopes on both sides of the pages, but as it is, they all fit well with this layout and any time I want to relive those wonderful memories I have these precious little works of art all in one place.










17 comments:

Dawn said...

Thanks for the great idea. I have accumulated several ATC's and was trying to decide how best to store them. I really like this idea....now off to dig through my supplies to see what I can come up with.

Juliet A said...

This is a brilliant idea for a special set of ATCs, and you even have some blank space for journalling, if you wanted to do that, too!

Joy said...

This is an awesome idea Eileen. So glad you have a special place for that special cruise! :)

Nancy Lynn said...

Your ATC book turned out great but, of course, that is no surprise to anyone being the wonderful artist that you are.

Tammy D said...

Brilliant Eileen!

Anonymous said...

Such a GREAT idea Eileen....I love that!!!

Kathy Eddy said...

Great idea Eileen and they look great too! You do a wonderful job with the stencils!

Ellen said...

Great idea Eileen. I am just going to alter it a bit and I am going to look for clear mini enveloppes. But I like the idea that you still can see the back of the ATC's. I have a book waiting for this.

Thanks for sharing.
Ellen

Marjie Kemper said...

What a great way to store them... very nice having a few at a time to look at and pull from the cut envelopes. Love your stenciling too!

Dorothy said...

Such a great idea EIleen!!!
Thanks for sharing!

Elaine A said...

Awesome, awesome idea Eileen! What a smart, creative cookie you are! Love how this turned out.

Elaine Allen

Lori said...

Whoa, now, besides the technique Queen, you are now Storage Queen. What a TERRIFIC idea! Cool, cool, cool.

inge said...

Hello Eileen,

great idea to store the ATC's ! I especially like that they are visible when you open the book, but they are safe in their pockets and can be taken out for a closer look.

I don't have so much ATC's yet so most of them are displayed in my house, but as i love all kinds of books this will be a perfect book in the future !

Preparing your backgrounds makes them stand out , but the stencils add interest to the pages !
Me too I love the stencils of the crafter's workshop !!

greetings from belgium
Inge

Anonymous said...

I love the ATC Journal - I put my Tim cruise ATC in the usual plastic sleeves in a binder, but this is a great idea and another opportunity to create with colour.
I'm getting excited about the Caribbean cruise - see you in September
Maurene (Toronto)

LaStamper said...

Oh boy, great use of the journal you prepared before the cruise. I love that you used it for cruise ATCs. I'm going to remember that for our Carribean cruise ATCs and other exchanges. TFS

craftyM said...

Great idea.. I especially love how you can easily pull them out to feel them and get a closer look!
You da bomb!
Marita

Debby said...

Way cool idea! And I think the "L" looks very good just the way it is. Thanks for sharing this.