Friday, September 14, 2012

Little Ideas

I've gone and fallen in love with Tim Holtz's idea-ology line of art products, which a steampunk-loving friend introduced me to a few months back as inspiration for my jewelry-making as well as my 1K Cards Project.  The line mixes antique, metal and artful grunge themes and materials to create that industrial chic that mixed media artists love, and offers unique materials to play with that I think readers and writers can have fun becoming idea-ologists, too.  And since Jo-Ann has practically the entire line on sale this week for 30% off, I thought I'd share some of what I'm doing with my stash (and you can click on any image to see a larger version.

If you've ever wanted to play with a paper version of magnetic poetry, this pad of chitchat stickers is sheer perfection.  The pad features 1088 tiny word stickers printed with words in a typewriter-style font; you get two sets (six pages total) of the words, half on white and half on grocery bag-brown card stock backgrounds.  I used my pad to compose some ATCs for the project, and found that the words stick very nicely, even to a metal surface.  $4.99 for the pad; I paid $3.49 for it on sale at Jo-Ann.

These metal philosophy tags by idea-ology come in a set of twelve, and feature a single inspirational word along with some numbers so they resemble old fashioned stamped key tags.  They're great for jewelry-making and innumberable art projects; I've already used a dozen to make some steampunk pieces.  If you string them like medals I bet these would make fun awards for any creative club.  I bought another set to use them as anchors for some promotional BookLoops; $4.99 regular price, got mine on sale for $3.49 at Jo-Ann.

I've always looked around for a not-childish set of of mini alphabet flash cards to use with my art projects, and here's one that comes with 72 count (mostly letters but numbers 1-9, too.)  These will help spell out a set of 26 ATCs I'm making to pay homage to back-to-school month, but you can also use them to embellish journal covers and pages, to creatively tab a novel notebook or anything you keep in alphabetical or numerical order.  $3.99 regular price; Jo-Ann has them for $2.79.

If you like the look of vintage film strip, this spool of mini transparent plastic movie frames is beyond cool.  It feels and looks like the real thing, and when used as a border for matted photos or journal pages adds a neat antique look.  I do want to mention that because it's made of plastic this ribbon remains in a curly state (you experienced mixed-media artists probably know some clever way to use a hair dryer or something to solve that) so it isn't very glue-friendly, but I secured my photo border on the ends with double-sided foam tape, which worked fine.  This spool was a gift from my pal, but I checked Jo-Ann's web site and they have it for $3.49 on sale.

What I like most about this product line is that nothing costs an arm and a leg; the materials only look like they do.  For example, with the philosophy tags I can make a dozen cool BookLoops for under $5 (a spool of organdy ribbon from the dollar store + the 12 tags as anchors = $4.49 total.) Tim Holz also has some instructional videos here that show you more creative ways to use some of the other idea-ology products.

I'd also like to share some of the idea-ology wealth, so in comments to this post name a creative way you'd like to use one of these products (or if you can't think of one, just toss your name in the magic hat) by midnight EST tonight, September 14, 2012.  I'll draw one name at random from everyone who participates, and send the winner one set of all the products I've mentioned in this post (the chitchat pad,the philosophy tags, the mini alphabet deck and the movie frames ribbon.)  This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

20 comments:

  1. I am totally not crafty but I just have to say I love the movie frames ribbon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anne V.1:26 AM

    Toss my name in the hat-I could use some inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have no idea what I would make with them, so I wasn't going to join in, but I just had to click and look. I love the philosophy tags, and I noticed on the site that there are muse tags too. The page was broken for the non-seasonal ones, so I'll just have to check back later. Thanks for introducing me to this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fran K3:44 AM

    As I've mentioned before I don't have a creative bone in my body but I like those tags and if you don't mind me pinching your idea, I'd make some BookLoops. You can never have enough book marks and I really like the steampunk theme of this stuff.

    Thanks for another great giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lynn,
    Well, I love the products you showed, but then I went to the website and saw Christmas tokens. I have an (ambitious) idea to make my own Christmas cards this year for my family. I usually buy 2-3 different styles of cards and try to send them out to family where I won't send the same card to several family members who will see each other at the holidays. For example, I send out one card to my aunt and uncle in Wabash, IN but I have to be careful not to send the same card to my other aunt and uncle in Ft. Wayne, IN because I know they all visit each other. Since I have such a large extended family it gets to be a headache trying not to send duplicate cards! Of course, some people would just say who cares, but I care! I want all of my family to know they are special to me. So, with all that said, I WILL make special cards this year. I believe the tokens will be a good touch to add to the cards and I am hoping Joann's has them too (esp. since I got a 20% off my total purchase coupon in my e-mail this morning). I am thinking some of these other products may be good card materials too. Take care!
    Tami
    Jacksonville

    ReplyDelete
  6. Honestly I am not sure what I want to make but the crafter in me is just itching to get my hands on some of this stuff to see where inspiration leads me! I would definitely like to use some in journaling.

    Diane

    ReplyDelete
  7. clairecherven9:12 AM

    The philosopy tags would be great at my wine and cheese gatherings during the holidays. I usually look around for inexpensive wine glasses and tie a round disk on each stem with the guests name so the glasses don't get mixed up during the party. They are welcome to take the decorated glass home with them.(less things to clean up) But my name disks get wet sometimes and begin to limp-out; if I attach them to the philosopy disks, they will be stronger and offer a conversation starter if each word and number is different. I like the idea!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've recently started collecting 'tools' to get back into my old hobby of leather working... mostly small accessory bits and favorite bookmarks. This is perfect timing to add to my collection. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Toss my name in the hat, I'm in lust with the film ribbon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the philosophy tags. Put one on a chain, it could be a cool necklace

    ReplyDelete
  11. This whole idea-ology line is great! Tossing my name in the hat, for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What wonderful and unique items. Love them all. The film ribbon would be used to decorate personal note cards that I send out to friends and family.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm in lust with everything.

    ReplyDelete
  14. All are delightful. The flashcards are fantastic and special. I would use them for my photograph album.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Cool! It has obviously been too long since I visited a Joanne's! (and now after this post Carriger's books are on my wishlist).
    Hmm SO many possibilities! I think I would love to use the products on my art quilts. But it would also be neat to use the word stickers to obscurely label my tiny drawers I use to keep my found items I use for collages and art quilts.
    'Peace' is blue to me, so I could use that to label my drawer of blue bits.. 'chaos' for the catch-all drawer...
    I am sure once I begin to play with them other ideas will come to mind.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I would love to do some creative art journaling with some of these. They're SO pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Can't think of any creative ideas right now, so I'm tossing my name in the hat.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Meghan Helmich4:38 PM

    I'm desperately looking for things to get my creative juices flowing! It feels like my cranial poetry centers have shut down for good :(

    Definitely putting my name in the hat, please.

    ReplyDelete
  19. i'd love to put some on cards, use as a gift tag, and i love the idea of a book loop. hope i randomly win :) but joanns is only a click away or 185 miles. thanks for letting us know about these.

    ReplyDelete
  20. It was a long and stressful day, so I'm just throwing my name in the hat. :)

    ReplyDelete