Altered Gum Box

On AFTCM I joined a swap to alter a gum box. My first prototype worked out fine, except I slit the portion where the lid closes and it was too bulky and did not close properly. Luckily I had another gum box and by then I knew who my partner would be and chose some decorative paper in a colour that I know she likes.

The box is fairly simple as all I did was cover it with the patterned paper and added some nailheads along the edge. (In hindsight, I should have just glued the paper to the box then cut it out, but I cut out the paper then attached it to the box). To have it close I attached a piece of ribbon with a fancy paper clip and a brad.

On the inside I put some hand decorated cardstock pieces and some pictures, and hope the recipient will be able to use them on some projects, as they are quite small due to the size of the box.

A-Z techiques

Continuing on with the A-Z techniques in ArtVentures the latest letter is F. Mine is F for Foiled background, Fresco inks and Faux Pressed Flowers.

For this one I did a foiling technique on the background. I covered an ATC blank with some text paper from an old book, then sprayed it with walnut ink spray. After it dried I swiped a glue stick over it and when it was tacky I applied different colours of transfer foil over it.

For the main image, I had some ovals that I had punched out of left over cardstock and I applied various colours of Fresco inks to them, to co-ordinate with the flower colours. I then stamped a floral stamp on each one.

I took some paper flowers and attached them with a glue stick, then embossed the piece with the brocade Cuttlebug embossing folder, then added it to the ATC. To complete it I added some glitter to the centre of each flower. Some of the flowers were not in the colour palette that I liked so I coloured them with some Smooch ink.

Apparel swap

This month's apparel swap on AFTCM was a floppy hat. Well, I started out with a floppy one which was a disaster, and since our list Mom Tolegranny, always tells us to "think outside the box and use our imagination" that's what I did. I decided to make a fascinator.

I started with a small foam plate and covered it with some homemade tissue paper background paper. I added some flowers to the top, some netting at one edge, then some ribbon trim.

To finish it off I glued a small portion of a bead strand and some feathers.

Gate fold Card

 I joined the AFTCM monthly card swap for August, the technique being a gate fold card.

I started by colouring some card stock using Cathie Allan's Stamp Smoosh technique with Clearsnap Fluid Chalk inks. I cut them to fit on the outside panels of the card and added an image with a stamping wheel and Versafine Onyx black ink.

I stamped the Hero Arts stamp and the Inkadinkado Sentiment on a scrap piece of the background card stock. and attached it to the front of the card, added a butterfly to keep the card closed. I was not happy with the front as after scanning it I realized that the top portion of the panels was all "wonky" so I redid the front.

For the inside I did the stamp smoosh technique in different colours and stamped another Hero Arts stamp all over it, then attached it to the inside side panels. Cut a piece of cardstock and stamped the Wordsworth sentiment stamp with the Versafine Black Onyx stamp pad.

ABC technique for August

I decided to make my E technique ATC for the ArtVentures swap we are doing on a monthly basis and chose the Emerging Colour technique.

You stamp all over white cardstock with various colours of dye ink with a small stamp. Once the ink is dry, stamp another image over the cardstock with clear embossing ink and emboss with clear embossing powder.

Brayer dye ink over the image once it cools, and rub off the excess ink using a paper towel, and the previous stamped coloured images "emerge". Stamp additional images around the main image using a darker coloured dye ink.

This started out with an aqua dye ink brayered over it and I stamped a swirl stamp with Verasafine Majestic Blue. I felt that the swirls overpowered the card and brayered over the card again with a deep blue dye ink. As a result the swirls became a resist image, which I rather liked. To finish the ATC I stamped a Tim Holtz stamp saying on vellum with eggplant pigment ink and embossed it with purple eggplant embossing powder, ripped the edges and adhered it.

Shrink Plastic Charms

I entered a swap on AFTCM to make shrink charms which is an ongoing swap using various medium.

The poppy was done on white shrink plastic and coloured with markers prior to shrinking.

The flower was done on clear plastic, originally with pigment inks as the colouring medium. They rubbed off, so I coloured it with a sharpie marker and added a gem in the middle to finish it off.

The Butterfly was coloured with Brilliance Inks and nibs applicators after shrinking; this was also clear plastic but a different brand from the one used on the flower.

The last one, was done on clear shrink plastic and coloured with alcohol inks.

Fabric Book

As usual, I jumped in with both feet and joined a swap on AFTCM to create a fabric book with the theme of Poets and Poetry. I may well regret this as my sewing skills are not the best since I have not used my sewing machine for many years. As a result my book was put together with tape, glue and fusible webbing.

I chose several different poets and their poetry for each of the pages. I incorporated embellishments that related to the poems on each page. The first image is the cover and the back cover is just fabric and lace so I did not scan it. I sincerely hope that my partner will not be disappointed with the book.