April It-Girl

The it girl for April is Debbie and her theme is botanicals. I know, it's still February, but I just wanted to do something other than cards and ATC's, so thought I would get a head start on this while I was in the mood.

I had done the background of this for another theme, but was not happy with the end results, so had put it aside. I decided to revamp it and use it for Debbies. I removed some of the previous images I had added and in the process revealed some of the layers underneath, and quite liked the look. I had some floral napkins that I received from friends who used them to wrap other swap items, so I decided to use them for this project. The one I settled on was flowers and vases.

I took the napkin apart and glued the top layer down with gel medium, and in the process of placing the gel over the top the napkin started to fray and fall apart. Rather than panicking or cussing at myself (as I normally would) I decided to just "go with the flow". The end result to me has the look of an old picture that has been left somewhere, and I am quite pleased with it.

Irregular Folds

One of the swaps I am participating at CC Swaps is Irregular folds. I have a book that has different folds tutorials, but nothing appealed to me. I searched the net for something different but was only able to find one that was the same type as Carol's

http://carol-creative-expressions.blogspot.com/2009/02/book-study-interesting-folds.html

I did not want to use the same one that Carol had done, then I remembered that I had done a folded diorama card a few years ago in a rubber stamping class, so decided to make that one.

I just realized that the last few swaps I have done, I have fell back to my favourite colours of green and blue, and this one was also green!!

The pictures are the card closed completely and the various folded stages.

March It-Girl

The ArtVenture It-Girl for March is Karen and her theme is Shrines. This is something that I have never done before and I really struggled with the theme. I made several attempts but was not happy with them, so back to the drawing board.

I was looking for something in my spare room and came across some small picture frames and thought they might work for the shrine. I settled on one that had a deeper "box" for the picture and a nice leafy motif.

The frame was a dull gold tone and I decided to jazz it up a bit. I started by painting it with gold Lumiere paint, then dry brushed silver, turquoise, blue an pink around it. The bottom was done with bronze.

The centre (background) is a matchbox into which I placed a piece of cardboard covered with plumbers a tape which I embossed with my Cuttlebug and dabbed with Alcohol inks.

The image is a postage stamp honouring Star Trek figures, but it looked a bit like an old Monk to me so thought it fit the theme. I adhered it to a Style Stone and edged with Krylon pen. I attached it with some E6000.

The charm at the top was silver, but seemed to stick out like a sore thumb, so I coloured it with some Adirondack Markers before attaching it. I added the gems and the flower embellishment to complete it.  I also glued the stand onto the back again so that it can sit on her desk or another piece of furniture, if she chooses. I hope Karen will be as pleased with the piece as I am.

Art Doll

This piece is for another swap.

I had some little wire mesh floral pieces in my stash and decided I would try making my art doll using one as the body.

I had some frames left from a charm swap and thought I would use one as the head. I inserted a face inside the frame, then glued a fan charm on top and glued this to the "body".

I strung some beads and charms together for the arms and legs and attached them to the body.

I think she is a modern day gal as she has her cell phone in her left hand!!!

I added an S shaped paper clip as the torso an attached a heart brad and gem at the neckline.

The waistline is a couple of paper flowers and a brad. I finished her off with some faux rivets around the edge of her hem and the arms.

Envelope Book

Another swap I am participating in is to exchange envelope books. It has been a while since I have made one, and since I signed up at the last minute, I decided to keep it simple.

The cover is a piece of card stock which I again did the "stamp smooshie" technique and Colorbox fluid chalks using a new bold stamp I recently bought. This time I did a final part by blending the background with a fourth colour and a Colorbox Stylus foam tip, then I stamped the leaf in a darker colour. I added some scrapbook paper to the inside, then used the Score-it Board to score some fold lines.

I stamped the Penny Black flowers with a dark brown fluid chalk ink. The little tag was cut from a piece of Cuttlebug embossed paper, and then rubbed with fluid chalk and distress inks; outlined with a brown marker. I adhered the image (herminesplace.wordpress.com) and a butterfly and added the cording to the tag and attached it to the front of the envelope book.

The envelopes are coin envelopes and I cut off the tops and glued them to each other in the middle and then attached them to the back and front of the folder.

I had some string clasps which I attached to close the book and added some gold cording to them.

Quote of the Month - January and February

I am participating in a swap on CCswaps where we create a piece of art using a quote for that month, which must be displayed somewhere on the art. The quote is: "Great art picks up where nature ends."

For January I used a piece of cardstock and did the Stamp Smooshie technique (you use your stamp as an applicator and smoosh the ink around on the paper-usually 3 different tones of the same colour ink). I then added some mica magic ink over it. I stamped the Safflower Script stamp (Stampington) on a piece of acetate with Stazon black ink and attached it with vellum tape.

I had a piece of cardstock on which I had rubbed off some Mica Magic ink while doing some stamping and liked the look of it, so I chose that to stamp the Magenta butterfly image on and attached it to the middle of the acetate.

I mounted the piece on another piece of Mica Magic coloured background. The final touch was to add the maple leaf brads and the quotes. This is now at it's new home with Maggi.

The February quote is: "Feet what do I need thee for when I have wings to fly." I decided on an altered book board. I used some techniques from Kelly Rae Roberts book Taking Flight. I am really pleased with the book as it has great inspiration and some step-by-step instructions and not just a bunch of "pretty pictures".

The background is similar to one that I learned in an Altered Diva class, where you paint gesso on the substrate, add one coat of paint. let it dry then add another coat and while wet spray it with water, let it sit for a bit then dab it with a cloth. The little circles in white were made by dipping the end of an adding machine roll holder thingy in paint and stamping on the book board.

The body was a stamp (PSX) of a seamstress mannequin which I stamped into polymer clay and baked. When it was ready I rubbed it with a wash of brown acrylic paint, then painted the flowers, heart and ribbon and body with acrylic paint and brushed some Pearlex and Perfect Pearls over the top.

When it dried I coated it with Poly Glaze, then when that set I rubbed some "Goldfinger rub-on paste over it and glued on the gems.

The head is an image from a magazine advert which I cut down and glued into a flattened bottle cap and filled with Glossy Accents. The gold wings were left over from when I was making some Christmas Angels years ago; cut in the middle to reduce the bulk and glued behind the body and added some gold Stickles to enhance them a bit. The seagull was a found item in my stash. This will be going to it's new home at the end of February when the partners list is announced.

Another online class

I also took the Building a Mystery class online at Altered Diva, which is a collage building on each piece.

I chose to follow along with the one Karen was doing, but will be trying some different pictures in the future when doing a collage canvas. The background was supposed to be done by spraying watercolours, but I did not have any so used some watered down dye inks in a spray bottle. For the middle one, I wanted more vibrant colours so I added some pigment ink directly to the canvas after it dried.

These are some of the ones I did for this class. The second one went to my friend Pea for the monthly "It-Girl" Swap and the last one is on the way to the UK to another friend as a surprise for her.