More play

I belong to a Milliande's creativity group and many topics and ideas are discussed, as well as various tutorials. One that I recently looked at and decided to try was the "scanner art". You just place an object on the scanner bed, add things behind it ( if you wish) and scan with the lid open. Add a frame and or border around the art, even play with different textures etc in the photo program.


For the first one I laid some fabric autumn leaves on the scanner then added crumpled tinfoil over the top, cropped it and added a frame and border. The second one is the same pic done as the hot wax coating on the Artistic Effects in Corel PSPX. The third one was Neon Glow in the Artistic Effects in PSPX.

The last picture is a deoderizer block that I scanned and then distorted in the effects menu on PSPX, then added a frame and border.

This was great fun, and I think these would make great ATC's.

Play Day

Today I just decided to play with different things. I found a link to funky-dyed paper towels via one of my groups and gave it a try. Mine did not turn out with the "splotchy" look that the samples on the tutorial had on them, at http://ladycherie1.blogspot.com/. Not sure why, perhaps not enough water, different powered microwave? Will have to play more with this technique, however, I am still happy with the results.

It-girl for October

This month on Artventure Chrissy is the "It Girl" and she chose Nature as her theme. I am running out of ideas for something unique, but decided to do another canvas for this month.

I started out by doing a canvas which represented a misty day...i.e. the saying I used. This is my first attempt, however, I was not completely happy with the whole thing. The saying stuck out like a sore thumb and all attempts to make it better failed.

So back to the drawing board!! I love autumn because where I live all the leaves change colour and they are just beautiful. This made me think of another idea for the It-Girl canvas. I gessoed over the original one, then painted it with yellow, green and orange paint.

When it dried, I added tree trunks then the "leaves" with a larger paint brush using red, orange

and green arcylics; I added brown and yellow on the bottom to simulate the forest ground. Added some bushes with the green acrylic.

Still not quite right, so I printed off some birds and squirrels and added them, because anytime I have been in a forest they are always around. I think I am finally happy with it and hope Chrissy will like it.

So what do you think? Any comments or critiques would be appreciated.

A surprise for Jessie

My friend Jessie has had lot on her plate lately and our group decided to plan a surprise book and each of us made a page and mailed them off to be made into a chunky book.

Jessie has received the book now so I can post the pictures. I was happy to participate in this book as Jessie is so encouraging and such an inspiration to me.

I know Jessie loves colour, grunge, texture...well just about anything goes in her creative world. I decided to make my page in reds hues as I had a freebie image that I really liked.

I started off by painting the page and added the image when it dried. I then took some cheesecloth and soaked it in some decoupage type glue and draped it around the right side of the picture. I added some red acrylic paint over the top, then added some acrylic gold mica flakes over parts of it.

The left side still needed "something" so I added some crackle paste and again coloured it with red and brown acrylic paint. As a finishing touch I dabbed some light gold acrylic paint around the whole piece.

I completed the page with the little heart button and some velvet ribbon in a ribbon slide.

The back is just painted with acrylics. I ripped out a piece of Mulberry Paper and stamped the sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black ink and added it. I was going to do more with the back but feel the sentiment says it all.

Board book Spread 5

Step 1. Pages were sponged with gesso, then painted with black acrylic paint. Various metallic paints were dripped on the pages and then the pages were closed and held shut; I smoothed the pages down to distribute the paint over the pages. Opened up the pages...what magic .!! Love this technique-the paint looks like ferns and branches and a big bug right in the centre. LOL

Board Book Page 4

While waiting for the page to dry I made an embellishment. The instruction was to use stamps that were not Asian but to end up with something which looked Asian. I made mine from air dried clay and painted it with acrylic and metallic paints. You will see this further along in this post.

Step 1: A layer of Gesso was sponged then cheap glue added randomly over the page. When dry another coat of gesso was applied, dried again red paint was brushed on. Gold acrylic paint was rubbed over the pages to accent the ridges from the glue.

Step 2: Stamped a fern stamp (Hero Arts) around the perimeter of the pages.
Step 3: A strip of the faux washi paper (see previous post) was added to the right page. We were to add a Haiku to the page "A Japanese poem usually written in 3 lines". I found several online and finally chose one that I liked and printed it on parchment coloured paper in red ink, then cut out and glued the word over the washi paper. Final touch was to add the handmade embellishment. In hindsight, maybe I should have added a moon somewhere on the page to match the Haiku?

NGS Art Lottery

Although I have already won this lottery I am continuing to make art for it as I feel the next person should also be lucky enough to receive a bunch of entries.

This month the theme is Asian. I decided to make an ATC for it.

The background is my Faux Washi paper that I made for one of my board book pages. I then added some Cool Glitter Ritz around the border. On the image (from Above the Mark) I added Warm Glitter Ritz. I stamped three butterflies (Hero Arts) on some scrap cardstock that I had coloured and attached them with double-sided foam tape.

I have to tell you that if you like glitter, you will LOVE this brand. It feels like velvet when you touch it!!

Board book Spread 3

Step 1: Tore up various strips of leftover scrapbook papers and attached them overlapping each other and lighty gessoed over them after the glued dried. Rubbed Vintage distress inks over both pages to age it a bit. Step 2:Ripped a wide piece of masking tape and stamped a background image on it with black stazon ink, then attached it to the left hand page. Made a heart shaped image out of airdry clay and stamped it with a text stamp. When dry I added red paint and then gold paint over the top. Attached a piece of magic mesh and attached the heart. Printed off a Heart quote and added it to the left page. Now there were no instructions to add anything else, but since this is my book I decided to add some images to go with the quote..guess I am just a rebel at heart!!

Faux Washi Paper

As part of the board book project we were to make some faux washi paper. The "how-to" can be found at http://trishbee.co.uk/techniqueszone/archives/fauxwashibackgrounds.html

I got a bit carried away with the water on the second piece so it ended up ripping, but I was able to salvage most of it.

This is a messy project so if you don't like inky hands you may want to wear rubber gloves. I ended up with bright fuschia hands after doing this one. However the final result was well worth it.

Board Book Spread 2

Page two Step 1:

Made a wavy line with a pencil, then coloured the page with orange on top and lime green on the bottom.

Step two. Add a wavy red line between the orange and lime green. Took a pencil with an eraser on the end and made dots in white gesso. Ripped sections from a previously gessoed book page and adhered them to the bottom in strips.

Step 3: Coloured the pages all over with distress ink (Frayed Burlap) Made hand made flowers to add to the pages. I did mine with strips of cardstock coloured with fluid chalk inks and stamped a small background stamp on them. I cheated with the one flower as I had a bunch of punchie from newspaper left from another project. Added a flower quote then a bird image printed on vellum to complete the page.

Fish Tip-in

The latest Tip-In theme was Fish and I chose to go whimsical, a I am sure it was not meant to be a page with fish and water.

I started out by colouring the page with Brilliance Sky Blue ink then added the Inkadinkadoo stamp around the edges in Versafine Black. I didn't like the look, so I then added a dark blue pigment ink over it.


I had some Cuttlebug embossed pieces that I had done a few weeks ago and chose the circle one to colour with the Brilliance Sky Blue ink and put it in the middle. I then added the fish image and the little girl talking on the phone.

This reverse side was painted with some turquoise metallic paint. I added the Jelly Fish image from Dover Arts. I Then glued a fish to the little girl and attached it to the Jelly Fish.

Made some bubbles with a dot stamp and white pigment ink. Added fake sand at the bottom and some fish swimming above the little girl.

Board Book Project

On NGS Trish has challenged us to do a board book project. I could not find one that was just plain with no cut outs, but Melissa very kindly sent me one all the way from Australia.
The instructions for this project can be found at

http://artbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/12-altered-board-book-project/

I have been busy with other projects and have been away a couple of times, but finally got started on this project and am thoroughly enjoying it. We are only to use items we have on hand; no buying new stuff for this project.

The first thing we had to do was sand or gesso the pages. I opted for sanding as I have only a small amount of gesso left.



Spread one, step one was to paint the page with cobalt blue paint or whatever blue we had on hand. When that dried we were to dip a credit card in black paint and make lines criss-crossing around both pages. Next we added white cloud-like pieces over the pages by dabbing gesso on with a damp sponge. We then added a white line in gesso, (anywhere we wanted) on one of the pages and then a bold magazine image was torn out, applied and gessoed over.
The next step was to stamp an image with a mettalic paint along one edge. I chose a turquoise paint and a Fleur-de-lis foam stamp. Next, we added a piece of paper torn from a cheap pocketbook on on the opposite page from the magazine portion. We then were to stencil a letter of the alphabet on the magazine side with black paint and draw around it with white ink/pen or paint.
Last and final steps.

1. We had to find a quotation that started with the letter we chose, and also an image to go along with it. I am an avid reader and found lots of quotes about reading but chose this one, because I truly believe we can travel anywhere in a book, only limited by our imagination.


2. I searched for a picture to go along with the quote and stumbled upon one which really "spoke" to me on the Morgue Files site taken by Clara Natoli of Rome. I downloaded the picture and then matted it with black cardtsock as instructed by Trish.


3. Final step was to add 3 silver embellishments wherever we chose.

Playing around

Adrienne had a post on her blog where she played with some iridescent gift wrap in lieu of using Fantasy Film http://adriennegoodenough.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html.

I was intrigued by the idea and decided to give it a try. However, what I did was a bit different. I did not have iridescent gift wrap, so I used some gold (with silver on the back) plastic type, I also did the technique a bit different from the original one that was used in an Angel Chunky book swap using Fantasy Film.

I attached the gift wrap to the ATC blank with Gel Medium and rubbed the piece with clear embossing powder. I covered it with clear Opal Embossing powders and heat it . I added layers of three different colours of Opal embossing powders.

I reheated it and stamped a background stamp over it with Brilliance Starlite Silver. The Image is from a free collage sheet Download at http://www.digitalcollagesheets.com/



I love the way this turned out and it is too bad that pictures don't show the colours and "sheen" the way they appear in person. I think I will be playing with this idea again, using different gift wraps.
The ATC is going to a friend in an Artist Trading Card group.

Tim Holtz style

Sweetpea has just recently started a monthly swap where we use a style of various artists. Last month was Misty Mawn and this month is Tim Holtz. Luckily, I have a lot of the mediums he uses, and I signed up 3 times.

The first piece is AI (alcohol inks) on glossy cardstock, stamped with an archival black inkpad.

The colours of AI's I used were Wild Plum, Butterscotch and Stream.

The second technique was the Wrinkle Free Distress Inks on a tag. I used Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed Distress Inks. I stamped the images from Stampington and Inkadinkadoo in Versafine Onyx Black, and added the little washer to one of the flourishes. The grungeboard key was painted with Old Patina Perfect Pearls.

The third technique is using Distress Embossing Powder. I stamped the image with Fired Brick Distress ink and embossed it with Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder. The Distress EP is totally different from others, and it only changes colour a bit when embossed and has a "sandpaper" feel to it.

I then coloured it with Old Paper, Tea Dye, Fired Brick and Old Burlap Distress inks. Finished it off by colouring the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.

The Grungeboard embellishments were coloured with Peeled Paint and Fired Brick Distres inks. I attached the vintage buttons (courtesy of Annie Mackay) with some thin wire.