Black and White pattern

The latest swap I joined is to create something with a black and white pattern repeated. I have not done any canvases for a while so thought I would do one for this swap.

I painted the canvas with gesso then added dimension with an old plastic doily and molding paste. When it dried I painted over it with white acrylic paint.

I printed off an image from moonlightjourney.com and cut it out. I then took a piece of black cardstock and another piece of white cardstock and put them through my Cuttlebug embossing folders. I put the black piece directly on top of the wet molding paste and it acted like a glue. I went over it and the picture with Judkins Microglaze to seal it. Added the white cardstock and the picture.

I stamped a hounds tooth stamp that I just bought at Michaels from the $1 bin, on white cardstock with Tsukineko Onyx Black Versafine ink. I cut three strips to go around the edge of the picture and attached them with double-sided foam tape. I punched out the flowers and added some centres to them.

I took some chipboard letters, painted them with gesso, then white paint and stamped them with the hounds tooth stamp.

Altered Container

I also joined up for an altered container swap. I chose to alter a little flip-flop box that I had in my stash.

I started by painting it with Gesso. On the top I used an old plastic doily and embossing paste to give it dimension, then painted it and added some gold acrylic paint on the highlights. Added a charm (that my friend Chrissy gave me in a 12 days of Christmas swap) which I coloured with alcohol inks, then glued some jewels to the top portion of the flip-flop band.

I painted the bottom a sunny yellow since I was thinking of warm weather, although it is not as cold here as it was in December and early January. I added some words to the bottom that I stamped on white tissue paper.

The inside is also painted and I added a piece of a page from an old book to the bottom.

Have a Heart

Another swap I am participating in is to use hearts on a project. I was trying to think of something a bit different and decided to make a mobile.

I used 3 different stamps and stamped them twice, the smallest one was done with Colorbox Fluid chalks, then I stamped it again and cut out the tiny heart and coloured it with Mica watercolours and attached it with double-sided tape to the heart.

The Middle one was stamped with Colorbox pigment ink and embossed with red embossing powder, and the small patterned pieces cut out.

The third one I stamped with dye inks using Cathie Allan's Stamp Smoosh technique. I stamped a quote on each side using a different stamp relating to friends.  I added heart sticker, then embossed both pieces with glitter embossing powder.

I strung all the pieces together using nylon thread (the kind that looks invisible) and added beads to give it a little more dimension. The thread was a great idea until I accidently cut it and then tried to tie another piece to the end..... Believe me it really is Invisible!!! I used a dental floss threader to put the beads on the thread, which is a great and cheap tool. There are 25 in a package for about $4 it makes it so much easier than struggling with the beads (see picture below).  The picture of the mobile is not the greatest, as I hung it in my craft room and put a piece of craft paper behind it but if you click on the picture you will get a better view.

Blog giveaway

Erika  is giving away a fantastic prize on her blog to celebrate her "blogoversary". Go take a look at all her beautiful creations at http://taylordconcepts.blogspot.com and check out her giveaway.

Charm

I am participating in a monthly charm swap on CCSwaps. I of course jumped in with both feet again, having no idea what to make.

I have never made jewelry nor have I done any amount of beading, so it was a challenge to come up with an idea. I scrounged through my stash and decided to use a Clearsnap style stone as the base. I covered the stone in alcohol ink,  applied an image from moonlightjourney.com then covered it with varnish. I then cut out a small butterfly image and attached a piece of wire with seed beads to simulate the antenna. I attached this to the bottom of the style stone, then covered it with Rangers glossy accents to make it more dimensional.

I then added a bead which is from a bunch that I bought in Scotland several years ago, and have found it hard to part with it because they are quite unique. But why save them???

Unfortunately the image is a bit blurry, as I used my Mac to upload it and am not as familiar with the program as I am with the one on my Hubby's PC.

ATC booklet

I belong to a group which is strictly for ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) and each month all the cards uploaded are entered for a prize draw with all the members voting. The list owner then sends out a small prize to the winner.

Since it was the Christmas season and there was a close second, I volunteered to send something to the second place winner. Since the group is all about ATC's I decided to make a booklet to hold them.

I started by taking a piece of my handmade backgrounds and cut it to size for the back and front covers. I added some embossed flourishes, then I attached some patterned papers to the inside of the covers. I then took a little vellum envelope and attached it to the front inside cover and put a few small images inside for the recipient to use on her ATC's or other projects.

The front cover was completed by adding an image from moonlightjourney.com, a quote from quietfiredesign.ca and some "jewels"using colours which coordinated with the image.

For the ATC holders I used heavy weight badge holders, then bound the whole piece together with my Zutter Bind-it-All.

Use it or Lose it

A current swap that I am participating in on CCSwaps is to use items that we received for Christmas to make an item for our partner.

Some of the craft items I received were a small paper cutter, some beautiful Fibermark paper (http://www.fibermark.com/details.php?productID=278&appID=&page=2), new stamps and alcohol inks so I used these for my swap item.

I cut some 130lb cardstock into 6" X 6" pieces, and decorated several of them using various background techniques. I left the inside pages blank so my partner can use the book in whatever manner she pleases. I covered the back page with some scrapbook paper to coordinate with the front which is covered with faux leather Fibermark.

For the front, I took a piece of acrylic and coloured it with some new alcohol inks that coordinated with the colour of the image I chose, then edged it with a silver Krylon pen. I attached a piece of white cardstock with vellum tape, to have the colours show through. I then layered a different piece of faux leather on top then a piece of some homemade background paper edged with a Tombow marker.

I took an image from Moonlight Journey.com and attached it to a piece of cardstock to make it sturdier, cut it out; applied some Judikins.com Microglaze to waterproof and protect it. This was attached to the panels with double-sided foam tape. I added a little quote tile and some corner pieces.