L technique in A-Z techniques

Continuing on with the A-Z techniques in ArtVentures the latest is L. Initially I had made some ATC's using the Lumiere paint scraping technique, a lattice border and a love stamp. I was not entirely happy with them so I made another set using a different technique and I can use the original ones for RAKS.

The technique that  I decided to use for the L technique to send out to the participants is the layered background technique from Hero Arts and some Graphic 45 lady images.

I cut my watercolour paper to size and stamped embossed a small  Hero Arts  stamp in white. I added the Old Paper distress ink on a clear acrylic block, spritzed with water and placed it on the paper allowing the colour to seep into the paper.

I then stamped a Magenta background stamp over the top (I stamped off a couple of times to make it lighter). I added several colours of distress ink to a craft sheet and wiggled a Penny Black stamp over the inks, spritzed it with water and stamped onto the background.

To complete the cards I cut out some ladies from Graphics 45 paper.

Altered Egg

Another altered swap on AFTCM. We are to take an egg in any form and alter it. I debated on whether to participate then took on the challenge. I bought a plastic egg filled with tattoo stickers at Shoppers drug and then set about changing it.

A couple of years ago I created some butterfly boxes using a tutorial from Elaine's blog, so I thought I might use this technique for the inside of my egg.

To start off I took some hand coloured tissue paper from my backgrounds box, and put it on the outside of both pieces of the egg using some modge podge type glue, then added another coat over the top.

While these were drying I stamped, embossed and coloured and cut out my butterflies using Elaine's tutorial. I coloured them with Markers, and twinkling H2O's, then added some mica watercolours to brighten them more in the centre. Added some glue around the edges and added crystal glitter. Cut out some transparency strips to attach to the butterflies, which is the media that makes them look like they are flying.

To make a platform for the butterflies to fit properly inside the egg, I punched several circles and layered them together with double-sided foam carpet tape then glued them to the inside of the egg bottom. I die cut a circle large enough to fit inside the egg and attached it to the other circles. Since I didn't paint or change the inside surface of the egg I decided to add a piece of ribbon that I got from a secret Santa last year.

On another piece of a punched out fancy circle which was already coloured I cut slits in various places and inserted the bottom of the transparency strips with the butterflies attached in the slits at varying lengths and taped them on the bottom to make them stay in place.  I glued this to the circles inside the egg.

I decided to make the fancy circle look a little pond, so I added some blue and pearl mica watercolour paints, then some  rose beads, a little frog and a cupid charm with the attachment ring cut off.

To make the egg more attractive on the outside I added some lace trim (compliments of my Secret Santa) to the edge of the top ensuring that it was high enough to allow the egg to close. Added another fancy trim above the lace. I added pieces of Starform stickers trim to the rest if the egg top.

To complete it I attached a jewellery piece to which I had added a pearl embellishment and hot glued it to the top of the egg.

Bird Ornament

On Mixed Media Misfits I am participating in a swap where we create a bird ornament using a free template from a blog that one of the participant's discovered.
http://vintiquitiesworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/03/bird-ornament-tutorial-friday-winner.html

I downloaded the template, traced them on some cardboard and cut them out. I took a worksheet wonder (a piece of computer paper that I place on my desk and stamp on) which had some nice images and colours on it. I covered one side of the birds body with this Added a stamped swirl on the tail and punched a black circle for the eye.

I covered the wings with some homemade tissue paper that I had coloured with various inks and sprays. I stamped the swirl on both wings, and added the gem swirl to the front one.

On the back I covered the body with some scrapbook paper that I had stamped and embossed in gold using a large alphabet stamp. Took another piece of the worksheet paper and stamped a Magenta stamp in coal Ancient Page, and added a gem to one area.

For the crown, I glued two different words from a freebie collage sheet  on cardboard and cut out the shape, adhered to the birds head.

I took and old key and covered each side with the two different papers and cut it out, then went around the edges with a marker and Krylon pen. Punched a small hole in a piece of gold metallic cardstock then a larger circle and placed these on the hole in the key and added two more words from the collage sheet.

I decided that instead of gluing the wings in place I would make them movable. The only problem was to figure out an attachment that would make it look good on both sides. I decided on some Tim Holtz embellishments and attached them with a brad, and to disguise the posts on the other side I cut them down pushed them down well so you don't really notice them.

Sparkly Stained Glass

Another swap on AFTCM is the card of the month, themed Sparkly Stained Glass.

I have several stamps that are a stained glass type so I decided to try them for the technique.

I stamped an Iris stamp by All Night Media on a piece of embossable window plastic with blackbird fluid chalk, then gently heat set it. I started by filling in the areas with Judikins diamond glaze using a small paint brush, sprinkled on Glitter Ritz, allowing it to set for a few minutes then continued on with the various colours.

After the piece was dry I realized I had gone over the edges of some areas and tried to remove it and add the appropriate colour, but ended up having a hard time as it had set too much. I decided to go ahead and put it on a piece of cardstock I had previously stamped with bleach, which had an old world look.

I decided not  to use this for the swap due to the mistakes I made, so proceeded to make a second card.

This time I chose a Holly Berry House stamp, stamped and embossed it on a piece of embossable window plastic. I followed the same steps to apply the Glitter Ritz and Stampa Rosa glitter, being more careful to ensure it stayed within the lines, (the embossing was better for this technique as the lines were more visible).

When the piece dried I attached it to a piece of white cardstock using Sookwang tape and cut it out. I adhered it to a red background then a green background (edged with a dark green marker), which I had made then to a piece of red metallic cardstock.

I considered trying another one with some stained glass paints that I have in my stash, but opted against it as I found this technique very time consuming.

Altered Ruler

On AFTCM I am participating in a swap where we alter a ruler 6 inches or more in length, with the theme School days.

I was able to find some school themed scrapbook paper at my local stamp store which I knew I could use on a wooden ruler that Linda R.sent to me (Thank you Linda!)

I started by colouring the ruler with Adirondack and walnut stain sprays. Cut out a portion from one of the scrapbook papers which had various words pertaining to lessons and glued it to the back of the ruler. I discovered some graduation stickers in my stash and added them to the back in various spots. Also found some "cutesy" stickers and cut around the white areas and attached one of them to the back.

On the front I glued on a banner from another scrapbook paper and added stickers to each end. Discovered a little sneaker button in my stash and added it to one end. Took one of the Tim Holtz pen nibs and coloured the end with a black permanent marker to make it look like it was dipped in ink, and attached it to the other end.

I thought I needed to add more, so I cut out some pieces from another scrapbook paper and attached them under Tim Holtz fragment charms, one being placed on a piece of dictionary page for arithmetic.

To complete it I stamped a Tim Holtz stamp on glossy cardstock and framed it between two pieces of acrylic with some of the Ranger metallic tape.

To  make these items part of the ruler, I drilled a hole in one end and glued in two eyelets, I attached jump rings to the three pieces, put a clasp through the hole in the ruler with another jump ring and placed the the pieces on it. 

Row Houses

On Mixed Media Misfits Trish suggested a Row House swap. I have not made any of these for a while so I was up for this swap.

I coloured some cardstock with Clearsnap fluid chalk inks using Cathie Allan's Stamp Smoosh and Sparkle Marble technique. I attached this to a piece of cardboard and cut out the three house shapes.

I added some Tim Holtz tissue tape to the bottom and coloured it with the fluid chalk inks to make it blend in. I stamped an alphabet background stamp in a second generation in Versafine sepia ink.  I added a couple of other stamps to give it some depth. I took a piece of sequin waste and added this with some acrylic paints.

On the left hand one I added a corner piece from cuttlebug embossed with pearlised embossing powder at the top. The circles are stickers coloured with alcohol inks. The butterfly, roses and the lady are from Moonlight Journey.com.

On the middle one, at the top, I added a piece of a die-cut from Memory Box coloured
with Clearsnap Smooch Gold ink. I stamped the PSX saying with pearlised embossing powder. The image from digitalcollagesheets.com  and coloured with chalks and set it with Judikins Microglaze. The butterfly and the roses are from Moonlight Journey.

On the left hand one I added some opals embossing powder and stamped into it while hot with the alphabet background stamp. Added a corner sticker to the top coloured with alcohol inks. Added the lady, butterflies and roses from Moonlight Journey.

Paper Beads

On AFTCM we are doing an extra quick swap making paper beads.

I started by cutting some strips of a magazine page and rolled them on a skewer, then covered them with versamark and clear embossing powder and embossed them, twice. I added two different colours of Opals embossing powder and embossed them. To finish them I added some fantasy film over the top and heat set it to attach it.

I had a couple of extra pieces so I did the clear embossing on both. On one I added hidden colour blue embossing powder and when it cooled added some of the new Clearsnap Smooch glitter ink.

On the second one I added some of the Clearsnap  blue Sparkle Fibers then added clear embossing powder and some seed beads then another coat of the clear embossing powder. These are the two at the  bottom.

K technique for A-Z techniques

This month is the K technique on ArtVentures. I was going to do the "kissing" technique but decided instead to use the Kaleidoscope stamping technique which I "winged" since I could not find any tutorials.

I started off by not being happy with my prototype using a tiny stamp so I went over the image with some pigment inks to create a background. After heating setting them, I took these pieces and lightly drew lines horizontally and diagonally to create 8 triangle areas on the ATC.

Using the stamp that looks like a wing from the Stampscapes Butterflies (sheet 3) unmounted set I inked it with Kaleidacolor Dye Ink and stamped it around the ATC background in each triangle.

I then inked some scrap card stock with the same colours of pigment inks used on the backgrounds and embossed it with Kaleidoscope embossing powder. I punched out a shape from these scraps and attached them to the centre with a glue dot.

For the ATC I am keeping for myself I used a background piece made with fluid chalk inks and Dr PH Martin iridescent gold ink and the same technique as the others just to see how it would look on a different background.

I decided not to add anything further and let the techniqe show through.

J technique

Continuing on with the ArtVentures A-Z techniques for the J technique I decided to do the Jenny's Coat.

This is similar to the Joseph's Coat but instead you start with a piece of decorative scrapbook paper. ( I would recommend using something with a lot of colour). I used a piece of Magenta Style paper which had blocks of colour but the main one was an ochre, with greens and maroon throughout.

I attached the paper to a piece of card stock cut to ATC size, then stamped and embossed a background stamp with clear embossing ink and embossing powder. After that I brayered over the piece with black Versafine ink, then buffed it with a paper towel, which removes the ink from the embossed areas revealing the coloured decorative paper.

I stamped a Hero Arts Jewel shape from a coordinating colour of card stock and added glossy accents to give it dimension and the look of a jewel. I then stamped a Hero Arts J and a sentiment from the same stamp set. Attached all of these to the ATC when dried.

Heart Strings card

The card of the month swap theme on AFTCM was Heart Strings and as always the interpretation was up to us.

I started by cutting out 3 different heart shapes with a Sizzix die. The largest was covered with a piece of an old book page and I coloured it and the second one with Smooch Siren ink. The smallest has some book print on it and was coloured with both Smooch Siren and Gold ink. I took some gold and red metallic thread and wound it around the largest and smallest hearts - "heart strings".

For the background I used Cathie Allan's Stamp Smoosh technique with fluid chalk inks then her Sparkle Marble technique over the top.

I made some flowers using a the Tim Holtz die and the same colors of ink used on the background. I punched out some hearts and leaves and added them to the cards, along with some of the metallic thread. I added a little piece of a border die from Memorybox, which is actually a winter border but I added  some centres to the star shapes to make it look like a vine with flowers.

To finish the card I attached it to a black cardstock base.

Mardi Gras Mask

On AFTCM we had a swap to make a Mardi Gras Mask using any type of medium.

I started by cutting a mask shape from a piece of cardboard insert. I covered it with some decorative scrapbook paper by glueing it on with watered down school glue.

I added some continuous beads around the eye holes. After that set I added some trim around the edge of the mask.

I love butterflies so of course, I had to add one to the mask. I already had one cut out in blue from a Cheery Lynn Designs die so all I did was add some gems in various spots.

To complete it I added an autumn leaf and flower to each side and some ribbons to hold the mask in place.

Altered Eyeglasses

On AFTCM we were challenged to alter some eyeglasses for a swap.

I have several old pairs of glasses in my stash and chose to alter one with alcohol inks.

I started by adhering some circular stickers to the lenses then applied different colours of alcohol inks to each portion. I then added some gems around the frame.

I think they have kind of a psychedelic look to them and they were a lot of fun to create.

The first picture was taken with the camera so the colours are more true. The second one was done on the scanner and shows more detail as far as the embellishments, but the colours look different.

Teesha Moore

On AFTCM we are did a swap in the style of Teesha Moore called "Let's Face it" in a 4" X 45" size.

I did one with watercolor backgrounds and the other with watered down acrylic. Ripped up pages from a magazine for the borders, faces and eyes. I found some free paper doll printables for the body on one and used a perfume bottle from a magazine ad for the other. I added lines and colour to each one then did the sayings.

I enjoyed this so much that I made three, and sent two of them to my partner.