News
Here’s what’s going on lately at Ten Two Studios…
New today are two more matchbox book sheets, with all the pieces and parts you need to decorate a matchbox, and create a tiny book to tuck inside it. Check out Victoriana (above) and Wonderland (below) in the matchboxes section, where you’ll also find an armload of matchbox wrappers, shrine sheets, winged figures, and boxes for creating all sorts of tiny treasures.
Longtime friend of Ten Two Studios Dayle Persons recently sent me a little giftie in this gorgeous decorated manila envelope. Along with pieces from her stash, she used images from the Chocolate Cream digital sheet.
Want to see more mail art? Check out the other Art in My Mailbox—and then, send me some. The address is:
Lisa Vollrath
Ten Two Studios
400 E. Fuller Drive
Euless TX 76039
Design team member Corinne Stubson used a Red Print Mini Folder as a base for this card, and decorated it with images from Pretty Polly, Grungy Bingo Cards, and Peach Melba.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these found poetry artist trading cards using images from Octavia and Photo Booth Babes.
Design team member Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser made this dainty hanging ornament using images from the Pretty Babies sheet, and elements from the Baby Girl digital sheet
Design team member Deirdre Attaway made this lovely book pendant using images from Little Red Things and a few Valentine Words.
New today is my first matchbox book sheet. This one contains all the pieces and parts you’ll need to cover a matchbox, and make a small book to tuck inside it. You’ll find sheets and boxes in the matchbox section. Instructions for assembling the matchboxes and books are in the projects section.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these garden-themed artist trading cards using images from Metal Tin Spring Beauties, Garden Flowers Cigarette Cards and Garden Words.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these pretty reversible soldered pendants using images from Christmas Cheer Inchies, Christmas Words and Winter Words, and Little Christmas and Little Dickens.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these pretty spring garden artist trading cards using images from Metal Tin Spring Beauties, Garden Flowers Cigarette Cards and Garden Words.
Design team member Deirdre Attaway made these very clever atist trading cards for a recent swap, using images from the Film Strip Kids digital sheet.
Design team member Peace Schuyler made this wish book ornament using a Double Micro Mailer and images from Winter Wonderland and Christmas Rounds. Peace says, “I made a little booklet for one compartment of the slide mailer, with the intent that the recipient would write a wish there. Every year, she’ll see if last year’s wish came true, and write another.”
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these song lyric cards for a recent swap. They’re all decorated with images from Homespun Hearts.
New today are two fan sets. Each three page set contains all the pieces for an eight page 7-inch fan, as well as a smaller 5-inch one. Check out da Vinci Earth (above) and Irish Eyes (below), as well as all the other styles, on the Fan Books page.
Instructions for assembling fans are posted in the projects section.
Design team member Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser made sweet book using the Pink BABY Letter Book digital kit and some of her family photos.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made this pretty book using the Blue BABY Letter Book digital kit, and photos of her adorable new grandson.
New today are two more letter book kits: Emerald LUCK, for St. Patrick’s Day, and Vintage LOVE, just because. You’ll find the ever-growing collection of these digital kits in the letter book section.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these pretty reversible soldered pendants using images from Christmas Cheer Inchies, Christmas Words and Winter Words, and Little Christmas and Little Dickens.
Design team member Peace Schuyler made this little wish book ornament using a Double Micro Mailer and images from Winter Wonderland and Christmas Rounds. Peace says, “I made a little booklet for one compartment of the slide mailer, with the intent that the recipient would write a wish there. Every year, she’ll see if last year’s wish came true, and write another.”
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these song lyric cards for a recent swap. They’re all decorated with images from Homespun Hearts.
Design team member Corinne Stubson did this altered book layout for a recent round robin, using images from the November 2009 issue of The Monthly Muse.
Longtime friend of Ten Two Studios Sally Bowen sent in a pic of these twinchies she made using some Clear Twinchie Bases, and instructions from the December 2005 issue of The Monthly Muse.
Here’s the final word on Valentine’s Day, from design team member Peace Schuyler. She used a Red Print Mini Folder, and images from Red Things to create this not so loving card.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these pretty heart ornaments using images from the Little Love sheet.
A quick description of the process from Carolyn:
I transfered images from the Little Love sheet on to white polymer clay. The body of the ornaments is colored polymer clay, rolled out, textured with rubber stamps and texture sheets, and cut with a cookie cutter. Color was added with Lumiere acrylic paints and Pearl-Ex powders before baking.
Design team member Peace Schuyler made these Dia de los Muertos inspired artist trading cards for a recent swap. She used an assortment of images from the Day of the Dead goodies available from Ten Two Studios.
Design team member Deirdre Attaway used images from Pink Things, Sweet Pink Bingo and Pink Brocade Inchies to create this artist trading card and coordinating inchie.
Design team member Corinne Stubson made this quick and easy Valentine using a Red Print Mini Folder, and images from Pink Things and Valentine Words.
Design team member Deirdre Attaway used images from Valentine Words, Really Red Inchies, Pink Brocade Inchies and Little Pink Things to make this clever domino accordion book pendant.
Design team member Peace Schuyler has clearly been listening to Eric Clapton lately. She sent in this pic of a postcard made using an image from the Red Things collage set and a red ticket from the Christmas Tickets assortment.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made this pretty red book using Red Print Mini Folders and images from Bordered Valentine Sayings, Cupids Hearts Matchbox Wrappers, Valentine Bingo, Really Red Inchies, Pink Brocade Inchies, Little Love and Be Mine.
Design team member Corinne Stubson decorated a Quartet Micro Mailer with images from Sweet Pink Bingo, Homespun Hearts and Film Strip Couples to create this unique Valentine.
Design team member Carolyn Brady, Queen of Clever Artist Trading Cards, made these song lyric cards for a recent swap. They’re all based on Grungy Bingo Cards, and decorated with images from Homespun Hearts.
Design team member Peace Schuyler made this pretty Valentine hanger using pieces from the Cherry Delight Bits & Pieces sheet.
Make all your Valentines with one sheet by purchasing one of these digital delights—you can print unlimited copies for your personal, non-commercial use.
Design team Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser made this heart-shaped door hanger using matboard textured with gesso & acrylic. She decorated with an image from the Little Love sheet and words from the Valentine Bordered Sayings digital sheet.
New design team member Deirdre Attaway made this lovely vintage-inspired necklace using images from the Chocolate Raspberry Bits & Pieces sheet.
New today is Instant Love, a digital card kit sheet that will let you whip together some clever Valentines in no time. Check out the sheet, available via download, and then jump over to the Instant Card instructions for tips on how to assemble.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these artist trading cards for a recent swap, using images from Metal Tin Witches and Which Witch, and labels from the Creepy Labels sheet.
Design team member Corinne Stubson made this sweet Valentine for her hubby using a Red Print Mini Folder, and images from Homespun Hearts, Pretty Polly, and Festive Elements.
Design team member Peace Schuyler used pieces from the Chocolate Raspberry Bits & Pieces sheet to create this sweet hanging Valentine. These digital sheets are such a great idea for Valentine goodies, since one purchase gives you unlimited prints for personal use.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky used some Red Print Mini Folders and an assortment of leftovers from red collage sheets to make this pretty book.
Design team member did this layout for a recenter altered book round robin, using images from the April Fish and Black Things collage sets, and the Butterflies image collection CD.
New today are three pennant alphabets: Raspberry Heart, Baby Pink, and Baby Blue. Each digital set comes with multiple sheets in coordinating patterns. They’re great for cards and altered books, since the finished pennants are about two inches tall.
Also new is a digital Valentine word set, ideal for your upcoming Valentine’s Day projects. All are posted in the alphabets and words section.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made these chunky book pages using images from Orange Things and Little Orange Things.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made this quartet of witchy artist trading cards for a recent swap, using images from Witch Which, Metal Tin Witches and Bordered Creepy Sayings.
Rosemary Rowe sent in pics of this pretty slide mailer, made using images from the Rossetti Microscope sheet.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made this card, ATC and tag set using the Raspberry Truffle Pieces & Parts digital sheet.
In honor of Martin Luther King day, here’s a beeswax collage made by design team member Corinne Stubson, using images from Thelzeda’s Photo Album.
New today is a heart-themed fan book digital kit, just in time to download, print and assemble for Valentine’s Day. I left the red hearts empty on this kit, so you can rubber stamp whatever message you like in them, just like I stamped LOVE on the sample above.
Check out the Cherub’s Heart Fan, along with all the other fan book kits available via digital download.
Stacy Davidson sent pics of this little 3×3 inch collage, made using images from the Butterfly Cards sheet, some dictionary pages, and a Clear ATC Blank.
I’ve been slacking off on loading eye candy posts this month, because I’m just a little fried from the holiday rush! You all kept me busy right through Christmas, and now, I’m slowly restocking the items that sold out, as well as getting some new Valentine’s Day goodies ready.
So, let’s see if I finally can get back to the daily parade of arty goodness, starting today, with this pretty postcard from Rosemary Rowe, made with images from the Antoinette collage set and the Mini Dominos sheet.
There’s been a flurry of altered book activity in the design team lately. Corinne Stubson sent in this pic from a recent round robin, done in a book based on the lyrics of the Peggy Lee song “I’m A Woman”. Corinne used images from the Which Witch sheet, the Black Things set, and the Femme Fatale and Cat’s Meow sets to illustrate the words “If you come to me all hexed up, you know I’m gonna break the spell.”
Rosie Rowe sent in this pic of a postcard she made for a recent challenge, using images from the Little Dickens sheet, a two-part manila tag, and a spring ticket.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made this sweet little India-themed book using manila envelopes and images from the Passage to India collage set and the Little Diversity sheet.
Design team member Corinne Stubson used a double slide mailer and images from the Secret Garden microscope slide sheet to create this clever altered book cover.
Rosemary Rowe sent in this pic of a piece she made using Italian text pages and images from the Little Aqua Things collage sheet.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made this card, ATC and tag set using the Fresh Brewed Pieces & Parts digital sheet.
Design team member Corinne Stubson made this wintery book using a SNOW Letter Book, some manila envelopes, and images from the Winterhalter faux postage sheet.
The January 2010 issue of The Monthly Muse, Made From Magazines, is now available for single copy purchase via digital download. Start your year off right with these great ideas for recycling your old magazine pages into arty materials.
The index for 2009, with thumbnails of all the projects and pages from all 12 issues is also now available.
I’d like to start the year by saying thank you to all the members of my design team, past and present. Without them, this blog would not exist—so thanks to long time members Carolyn Brady, Corinne Stubson, Livia Hajovsky, Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser, and Peace Schuyler, new members Pamela Palmarini and Deirdre Roberts, and retired members Rosie Rowe and Gayle Page-Robak. (The artwork attached to this post is by the brilliant Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser.)
I’d also like to thank my loyal band of regular customers—you know who you are. I cannot tell you how thankful I feel whenever I post new products, and your orders fly into my inbox. I’m glad you folks are out there, and that you keep coming back.
Every year, I do a post on one of my plethora of web sites, asking folks to tell me their arty resolutions for the new year. This is that post—and to start the year off right, I’m giving away at least one six month subscription to The Monthly Muse, chosen from the names of the folks who are brave enough to leave their thoughts in the comments section of this post.
If I get 50 responses, I’ll give away one subscription (or extension, if you’re already a subscriber).
If I get 75 responses, I’ll give away two subscriptions.
100 responses = 4 subscriptions.
And if I get more than that, I’ll update this post with more freebies.
All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with your arty resolutions for 2010. One comment per person, please. Duplicates or “gimme” comments asking me to choose you will be deleted. Names will be drawn on Friday, January 8th.
ETA: Awesome! Exactly 75 comments, which means I’m drawing two names for free six-month subscriptions to The Monthly Muse. And the winners are…
Birgit in Munich and Juana in Italy
Congratulations, ladies. Please get in touch with me by January 22nd to complete the subscription process.
Rosemary Rowe made this piece for a postcard art challenge, using images from the April Fish collage set and the Little Black Things sheet. Thanks, Ro!
Here’s another angel from Kim Smith, made using Angel Doll Bodies, and a piece of patterned scrapbook paper pleated up to make the skirt.
Kim Smith sent in this pic of an angel she made using the Angel Doll Bodies, with a pretty crepe paper skirt. Thanks, Kim!
I turned design team member Peace Schuyler onto Snow-Tex with the projects in the October issue of The Monthly Muse, and now she’s hooked! She made these clever magnets for an upcoming winter birthday gift, using bottle caps and Christmas Rounds, and added a little touch of snow to each one.
Today I’ve added BABY letter books in pink and blue, coordinating Bits & Pieces sheets, and a printed collage sheet called Pretty Babies. All are available on the new Baby theme page.
New design team member Deirdre Roberts put together this letter book, to hold a few favorite Christmas photos. What a great idea for family members far away—show them your holiday in pictures, in a pretty letter book! You’ll find letter books for several occasions here. (And yes, before you ask, baby boy and baby girl letter books are on the drawing board, and coming any minute.)
May your day be merry and bright.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made this clever folded decoration using images from the Little Christmas sheet framed with images from the Baroque Inchies digital sheet.
Here are two more lovely soldered twinchie ornaments from design team member Carolyn Brady, made using images from the Little Christmas collage sheet and the Christmas Cheer digital sheet, then suspended them from some Swirly Wire Hangers.
Design team member Corinne Stubson made these angelic postcards using images from the Guardian Angels collage sheet.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky lives about 15 minutes away from me, so I know she decorates her house for every season. While I normally clip out the backgrounds of the pics the team members send me, I couldn’t resist leaving this one as sent, so you could have a little peek at her nutcracker collection in the background.
Ornament inspired by the Sugared House instructions in the October 2009 issue of The Monthly Muse, and decorated with images from the Baroque Inchies and Little Christmas sheets.
This week, I finally got a chance to start working on some card designs—and here’s the first instant card digital sheet, Instant Winter. These two samples took me about ten minutes to print, cut and assemble. The sheet comes with two different slogan strips, so one sheet makes either a winter or Christmas card, depending on which strip you use.
You’ll find the first card sheet here, and instructions for assembly in the projects section. More of these card sheets will be added to the shop in the coming weeks.
Oh, and these samples were made before I corrected the typo. Shoveling is spelled correctly on the final version of the sheet 
Design team member Carolyn Brady whipped up these easy holiday napkin rings using some Dainty Dominos and images from the Dainty Christmas sheet.
Former design team member Stacy Davidson sent in this photo of some quick and easy gift tags. She cut down some Red Print Mini Folders, and decorated them with Bottle Caps and images from the Christmas Rounds sheet.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these clever tags and sleeves using images from the Dear Dolly, Vintage Santa, and Twenties Teasers tag sheets.
Here’s another great, simple idea from design team member Carolyn Brady. She altered some mini print file folders with all sorts of Christmas images, and inserted her favorite recipes. Your last minute holiday card could be something that will be enjoyed over and over again for years to come!
Here’s another clever tunnel-style artist trading card, made by design team member Carolyn Brady. She used pieces from the Festive Elements digital sheet.
Design team member Corinne Stubson has been working her magic with metal tins again. This time, she’s made a ribbon doll using the Angel Doll Bodies digital set, then backed it with a metail tin decorated with images from the Metal Tin Santas sheet and the Joyous Elements digital sheet.
New today are three of the popular letter book digital kits. Look for blue and white SNOW, MERRY in soft red and green tones, and LOVE in a sort of peach melba color scheme—raspberry, peach, and vanilla. Sounds yummy, right?
You’ll find all the letter book kits here
Design team member Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser is a brilliant calligrapher, and incorporated that enviable skill into this card. The lovely gold writing is accented with a gold bottle cap and images from the Christmas rounds sheet.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these clever soldered ornaments using images from the Little Christmas collage sheet and the Christmas Cheer digital sheet, then suspended them from some Swirly Wire Hangers.
Design team member Peace Schuyler made this set of artist trading cards using images from the Winter Wonderland microscope slide sheet and the Christmas Rounds sheet.
Stacy Davidson trimmed down a Red Print Mini Folder and turned it into a gift card holder. She decorated it with images from the Chilly Elements digital sheet.
Every year, at least one design team member sends in a Christmas ornament with Edgar Allan Poe on it—and this year, it was Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser. She made a transfer from an image from the Silly Santas collage set, applied it to a Clear ATC Base, and embellished it with a a Swirly Wire Hanger.
Design team member Corinne Stubson made these two postcards with images from the Voices of Angels collage set.
Many moons ago, when I first started making altered books, a lot of people were altering little hand-shaped board books. The company that made these books suddenly stopped printing them, and altered book artists everywhere scrambled to buy up any they could find. I remember boxing up 80 of them and shipping them to a friend who had been teaching a class using these books, and saved one for myself, which can be seen on my personal web site. Once the little hand books were gone, they were sorely missed…
Lo and behold, I was walking through a store the other day, and saw a stack of hand-shaped board books! I snatched up a few, and when I got home, I held it up against the book I altered many years ago. They’re identical in shape. I went back and snapped up all I could find. You’ll find them posted here until I run out of them.
I’ve been working on altering one this week, and managed to get four layouts done:
Using French text pages and images from the Antoinette collage set.
Using Asian text pages, some Joss Paper and images from the Metal Tin Geishas sheet.
Using Italian text pages, some bottle caps and images from the Leonardo collage set.
Using dictionary pages, some Vaudeville Color faux postage and images from the Dance Hall Girls collage set.
The book looks particularly pretty when standing up, fanned out. (When I finish the last layout and the cover, this book will be for sale.)
Design team member Carolyn Brady made this clever tunnel-style artist trading card using pieces from the Festive Elements digital sheet.
Design team member Peace Schuyler was inspired by the little sugared houses I made for the October issue of The Monthly Muse. She made this larger version, decorated with images from the Christmas Labels sheet.
Design team member Patti Monroe-Mohrenweiser made this lovely postcard using images from the Madonna and Child faux postage sheet and the Christmas Rounds sheet.
Design team member Carolyn Brady made these ornaments using images from the Winter Wonderland microscope slide sheet and words from the Christmas Words digital set, and suspended them from some Swirly Wire Hangers.
Design team member Stacy Davidson whipped up this quick card using red print mini folders and images from the Chilly Elements digital sheet.
Once again this year, I’m doing a printables countdown to Christmas over at The Original Printables Holiday Countdown site. Every day from December 1st through Christmas, I’ll reveal a new printable item—and there are 40 sheets overall.
Go get some printable goodness!
Here’s one of today’s new additions: Vintage Santas Fan, a digital set that gives all the pieces and parts to make both a 7-inch and 5-inch version of the fan shown above.
Ho-ho-ho!
Here are three ribbon angels I made using the Angels Doll Bodies digital set. Instructions for making ribbon dolls are in the projects section.
Design team member Peace Schuyler used images from the Winter Labels sheet to make these quick and easy gift tags.
Rosemary Rowe made these pretty earrings using Clear Twinchie Bases and images from the Little Dickens sheet.
Design team member Stacy Davidson decorated some two part manila tags with images from the Butterflies Cigarette Cards sheet.
Design team member Livia Hajovsky made this fan for a recent swap, using images from the Leonardo collage set and da Vinci faux postage sheet.
I made these three cards using a single print of the new Thoughtful Elements digital sheet. These sheets are great for mass cardmaking projects, because you pay once, and can print as many copies as you wish for your personal use!
I did a fan-shaped book swap this month, and liked my designs so well, I figured out how to turn them into digital sets so you can play along! New today are Rossetti Fire (above), Marie Portraits (below) and Stage Stars (scroll down). You’ll find all three in the new fan books section—and of course, you’ll find instructions on how to assemble them in the projects section.
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