I is for

This month's alphabet for our A-Z techniques on the ArtVentures group is I. I could not think of anything so just got some supplies out and played around. I am calling this technique, Irridescent interference.

I started with watercolour paper and and stamped a Hero Arts stamp with Versamark. I coloured the image with Perfect Pearls. I then painted the piece with Dr. PH Martin’s Radiant watercolor inks, and heat set it.

When it was dry I stamped the image again with Tsukineko Opalite ink and applied interference Pearl-ex over the image.

To complete the ATC I added a flower and a leaf which I die cut, embossed with pigment inks and embossing powders, then stamped onto it while still hot to make a pattern.

Because I was experimenting, I made several different cards. For each one I started with the same colour family of Perfect Pearls and watercolor ink, then the same palette of Opalite ink and tried to used the same interference Pearl-ex, however with that I only had red, green, blue an violet.

The interference background is hard to see in the pictures, but it is really nice when held up to the light and the original Perfect Pearls also shows up through the inked background.

Christmas cards

I made a bunch of Christmas card this year and this is a few of them that I remembered to scan.
For this card I used the Holly stamp from Frogs Whiskers Ink and the Christmas word is Clearsnap Design Adhesives and foil.

 On this card I made a wreath using the solid holly stamp from Frogs Whiskers Ink , birds from Hero Arts and the saying is Stampin' Up.

The background on this card is done with a stamp wheel and Clearsnap Fluid Chalk inks. The Ornaments are die cuts from Memory Box.

 The background is a Hero Arts stamp done with glitter embossing powder. A die cut from Spellbinders. The other stamps are by Paper Inspirations and Stampendous.

 The background is done using Cathie Allan's "stamp smoosh" technique and the Frogs Whiskers Poinsettia. The small poinsettia is by Magenta and the saying is Inkadinkado.

Another stamp smoosh background with the Frogs Whiskers Poinsettia and corners by Magenta stamped with Tsukineko Brilliance ink.

 The stamp saying is by Quiet Fire Design. The Snowflake and label die is Spellbinders and the border is Memory Box. 

 The background stamp is a Stampscapes stamp, snowman is Darcie's and the stamp is Stampin' Up over a Spellbinders snowflake die cut.

Tim Holtz tags of Christmas

Each year I have thought of doing Tim's tags but just never seemed to find the time. This year I decided to try to squeeze in a few. So far I have only done Days 1-4.

I do not have all the supplies that Tim used so I substituted, which is what Tim suggested prior to posting his tags.

Day 1: I used the inks and embossing powders that Tim used, however I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder, a Peace Die cut which a friend sent me, a scrap of a Christmas Carol for the banner a tiny scroll, and a real pine cone with a bit of plastic greenery. The "baubles" are just a couple of beads with wire attached.

 Day 2. I did not have the patterned Kraft paper or any of the other supplies so I used other items. I stamped a word stamp on plain Kraft Paper with white embossing powder then coloured it with the distress inks. I added a piece of corrugated cardboard that was covered with a book page, coloured it gold and added it to the bottom with some stars. The tree is a dollar store scrapbook item. I used one of Tim's other word doodads at the top.

Day 3: The only supplies I had for this tag was the inks, so I used a Christmas word background stamp and embossed it with red an green embossing powders. I added the Poinsettia instead of the holly.

Day 4. The only things I had for day 4 were the tags, some of the ink colours and the snowflake die and the flourish stamp. I did the background using Tim's instructions. For the snowflake border I used a Memory Box  die and embossable window plastic.

For the snow person I stamped on a piece of grunge board and cut it out, applied the crackle paint and then stamped it again when it was dry. In hindsight I should not have inked the heart portion of the stamp, but don't feel like doing it over again. This snow person had no hat so I made some earmuffs for it. The scarf is a little piece of fabric.

Artful Bag

On AFTCM we are doing an Artful Bag which is a bit larger than an ATC (Artist Trading Card)

I thought of making mine out of fabric, but my sewing skills are not very good any more, therefore resorted to paper.

I discovered a little pad of wallpaper samples and made the bag from that. I found a good tutorial and used the instructions to create my little bag.

After creating the bag I printed off images from Moonlight Journey and Elizabeth's blog; cut them out and glued them to the bag. I stamped a couple of word stamps on some cardstock that I coloured with Old Paper Distress ink by Ranger, and attached them above the images, then added some black cord as handles.

I put some ATC blanks and die cuts in the bag for my partner to use.

Free Holiday printables

Lisa Vollrath is sharing her printables again this year. To see what is available to use in your art just follow the link. If you like vintage images you will love these.