Colour Perceptions ATC

For the month of  October the colour is Blue and must be predominately that colour. Inspiration/theme is based on and emotion/how the colour us makes us feel.

I think of blue as a calm colour so that is the emotion/perception that my ATC evolved around. 

I started by stamping a Stampscapes stamp with Marvy dark blue ink.  I coloured the sky and river with copic markers. 

On a piece of cardstock, I stamped the Marks of Distinction swans in fluid chalk Prussian Blue then coloured the water below them in chalks. I cut them out and attached them at the bottom of the card. 

To make the river look more realistic I covered it with Glossy Accents. 

Acohol ink Butterfly ATC's

I signed up for a swap on AFTCM with the theme of Alcohol ink background and butterflies.

I decided to make mine with Tim Holtz alcohol ink splatter background. The bottom  one is very colourful and I stamped a coloring book (open) butterfly (Pedlars Pack) with Ancient Page permanent ink. I then masked the butterfly and stamped a Tim Holtz background stamp over the top.

After stamping it I felt the image did not stand out well enough so I stamped it again on acetate, cut it out and adhered it on top of the stamped image with Glossy Accents.


The one on the top left was stamped with another Tim Holtz stamp and some German Scraps added to the edges.

The one on the top right is a stamp by The Old Island Stamp Co. and I added some Glossy Accents to the butterflies to give them dimension. To complete it I stamped a saying on vellum and attached it across the ATC.

Fat Vision Board Book

I signed up for a fat book swap on DCI which is based on a vision book and has to have lots of embellishments both on the page and dangling from the sides which means it will not close completely when bound. Each person was assigned a specific theme.

I have a lot to do in July and thought I would get a head start on this, although to be honest not sure about it as the only vision board examples I could find are just a bunch of pictures collaged on a strata.

I have done a mock up of what I think it should be for this swap, without the embellishments dangling off the side as I still have to buy some for my theme, which is Travel.

When I think about travelling, I think of the scenery first, the sky, sea, mountains, lakes and sunsets, so I started by colouring my page in colours that remind me of those things. I then stamped a bunch of pieces that represent different modes of travel, a postcard, and a travel type image. I also stamped some film strips and printed off tiny pictures of various scenic areas, and of course a camera, since when travelling pictures are a "must" to preserve all the memories. Found some stamp embellishments in my stash so added one of those,  stamped a small image on to card stock then on to a small chipboard piece. Also smashed some bottle caps, stamped a postage franque (frank) on card stock coloured with Vivid inks, punched it out and placed it in the bottle cap. These few items have added some dimension to the page. The little lighthouse is stamped, cut out, then covered with Glossy Accents, however, I may do it in a different colour as it blends in to the background too much.

So far nothing is glued to the page, just taped on since I am still playing with the whole layout and might change or add some things-- still not sure if I am on the right track with this!! Any constructive criticism, ideas or thoughts would be appreciated.

Mini Memory for Chris

The final recipient for the Mini Memory swap on DCI is Chris. Her theme was Wings, and colours were shades of purple & silver/gold.

I had bought some items at the art supply store, one being a box type item that I thought would work perfectly.

I started by creating a background paper piece with Brilliance inks in shades of purple, gold and silver with a swirly stamp, cut it to size and glued it inside the box. I painted the box edge with gold acrylic paint and added some corner pieces which have butterflies on them that I coloured with Alcohol ink.

I printed off an image of a little baby girl with some books, and made it 3-d to stand out, and added some glossy accents to the book pieces. On the first attempt I had coloured a peice of a clear ruler, a domino and a little flower piece and attached them to the bottom. Added the word Wings at the top and then placed a butterfly behind the little girl. This was what it originally looked like.

Well, I was not completely happy with it so added some golden acrylic gold mica flakes around the edges and being impatient used my heat gun to dry it. Bad mistake!! I melted the ruler in the process, and as a result had to come up with something else.

I removed all the embellishments at the bottom. I stamped some flowers in Pearlescent Lavendar Brilliance several times and made some small roses, touched them up with some silver and some glitter and placed them on the bottom underneath the little girl. I also added more glitter to the butterfly wings. The mistake turned out to be a good thing as I am much happier with the final outcome.

April Charm

I decided to use some thing from my stash for the CCSwaps April charm.

I started with some metal tags and covered both sides with some old book page pieces and coloured it with distress inks. I added some gem pieces then covered the piece with Glossy Accents.

Unfotunately the piece did not scan well and it looks like there are a bunch of air bubbles, but it is not at all like that in "real life". It is actually smooth with some colour depth around the maple leaf gem.

I was not really happy with this one so I decided to do something different. I took some clay, conditioned it then stamped into it with a text stamp, then hit the highlights with some Mica Magic Gold ink.  I took a little flower embellishment and coloured it with Cranbberry Alcohol ink, and added a little pearl on a wire in the background.  Much happier with this one and it will be making it's way to my swap partner next week.

C is for

On CC Swaps we are continuing with the Alphabet for a theme, technique  or medium. the one I did is C for crackle, corners and Cat.

I started by painting the back of a mini canvas with acrylic paint, then crackle medium then a coat of white acrylic paint. I then rubbed it with some distress vintage photo ink.

I cut a piece of acrylic to fit in the "frame" then cut a piece of 130 lb card stock and coloured it with Brilliance Sky Blue ink  and stamped with Ancient Page Coal. I inserted the stamped piece and the acyrlic in the frame portion.

I then took some corner pieces and coloured them with Pinata Burro Brown ink and glued them to the corners.

I stamped the little cat with Onyx Black Versafine and embossed it with black embossing powder; coloured it with a light grey Prismacolor pencil. I colored the bow and added glossy accents for dimension. I placed some thick pop-dots on the acrylic and attached the little cat to simulate him looking out the window. The acrylic has a bit of a glare at the top, so it is hard to see the little bird.

Pin Swap

On CCSwaps we are having a brooch/pin swap. Now I do not profess to be a great jewellery maker but I will give most things a try, so I signed up for this swap.

 I started with a blank jewellery piece that I had in my stash. I cut out an Image from Moonlight Journey and covered it with Judikins Microglaze. I then cut out a piece of acrylic in a circle to fit over the image and adhered it with Glossy Accents. I glued this to the centre of the blank. I added some tiny glass beads around the piece then attached a bead to the bottom.

March Charm

We are continuing the Charm swap on CCSwaps.

For the March one I took a small chipboard square and made a hole with a Japanese Screw Punh. I covered the chipboard with platinum pigment ink, then embossed it with platinum UTEE ( Ultra thick embossing). While it was hot I stamped into it with gold ink.

I then took a small chipboard butterfly from Scrapware and covered it with clear embossing ink and embossed it with Christmas Night glitter embossing powder. I still wanted more of a dimensional effect, so I coated it with Glossy Accents (Ranger).  I attached this with some glue to the centre of the charm and added the ring.

Book Study

On New Generation Stampers  we are doing a Book Study of Julia Andrus' Paper Transformed, led by Carol S .

The first challenge was Luminous Paste. In the book Julia uses Perfect Pearls and Glossy accents, but has stated that gel acrylic medium may be used instead.

I did the first piece with Glossy Accents and Lemon Sparkle Perfect Pearls. Julia suggested that you could add glitter, so I did.

The other two pieces were done with gel acrylic (I thought), however I think I grabbed the wrong jar and may have used molding paste by accident as there is not real "luminous" effect to it. I am thinking I might add some PP's over the top and see if it makes a difference. I also think I got a bit "heavy-handed" with the amount of  medium I applied.

Not sure that this is a technique I would use a lot except perhaps on a canvas or something similar where I wanted texture. To each his own-it would be a boring world if we all liked the same things.!!

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.

Mini Memory for Carol

I am on a roll with these Mini Memories and am thoroughly enjoying the creative process so much.

Carol A. chose the theme of birds/birdhouses and the colours mint green, white and pale mauve (with a condition that we could use pale pink in lieu of the mauve).

I started by painting gesso on a 3x3 chipboard square. I then added mint green pigment ink and embossed with mint pearl embossing powder. I stamped a background stamp into while hot using Old Rose pigment ink.

I recently picked up some small wooden house pieces at my little dollar store and thought they would be perfect for a bird house. My hubby drilled a hole for the entry and the perch. I painted the house with gesso, then white paint, then pink paint on the roof. I added some sequins for the tiles which Annie sent me a while back. To finish off the roof I added a piece of white german scrap paper which my friend Mel sent me.

I added a piece of the stick from a Q-tip as the perch. I took a washer and coloured it with pearlescent turquoise Lumiere` paint and put this over the entry. I stamped a leafy type Magenta stamp on the body but felt it needed more dimension so I took some Glossy Accents and added some green seed beads (which looked more mint green in the bottle). Felt it needed a bit more so when the green beads dried a bit I added some pink seed beads to give it a bit of a floral effect.

The little bird is the one that was originally on Trizzy's Mini Memory and I attached it to the roof to make it look like it was coming in to the bird house. The final touch was to add the word home with some little alphabet beads.

I hope Carol does not mind my taking artistic license with the colour combo, as I tried to stay as close as possible to her colour choice with the supplies I had on hand.

Playing with spoons!!

Over on Linda and Rosie's Big Adventure blog they were running a challenge for altering cutlery. I decided to play with this idea as I have a bunch of spoons that I collected over the years.

On the first one I bent the handle, then added a piece of a dictionary page and coloured it. I added some coloured Crystal Lacquer then some Glossy Accents. I placed the picture of the little girl in the centre, added some more Glossy Accents. I then added some seed beads, a fancy bead and a piece of confetti. To complete it, I added a fan charm at the bottom.

Unfortunately this did not scan well and is more colourful, and looks much better "in real life".

For my second attempt, I embossed a spoon with twinkle and opal embossing powders. I took a grunge board letter and covered it with Sookwang tape and added Glitter Ritz and attached it in the bowl.

I stamped a the number one on a piece of scrap cardstock. punched it out and added a page pebble, and attached this to the top.

I then added a couple of confetti numbers and gems to finish it. I thought this one would be good for a Numbers swap currently running on CC Swaps, but since there must be some stamping I am not sure if one stamped image is sufficient. Will have to check before signing up for the swap.

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.

Beadazzled Swap

I signed up for a swap on CCSwaps using beads. Since it did not specify what kind of beads I opted for the tiny seed beads for my creation.

I used a microscope slide and the faux sea glass technique http://www.juliaandrus.com/how-to

The microscope slide was dabbed with yellow, turquoise and lavendar pigment inks, then embossed with clear UTEE. I applied Perfect Medium and yellow, gold and pearl Perfect Pearls, covered with clear UTEE and embosssed it. I did not do the last step in Julia's instructions where you spray the slide with water and dab it.

While the UTEE was still hot I sprinkled red and turquoise seed beeds over the slide and heated it. I then added some Glossy Accents and added some gold seed beads. To finish it off I added a little starfish charm, then added the keyring.

NGS Art Lottery

On the Next-Generation-Stampers there is an Art Lottery where there is a theme each month, and we upload the art to the photo section. A winner is picked randomly and that person receives all the pieces of art that were entered. The Winner then picks the theme for the following month.

Junes theme is.......The Letter B which can mean ANYTHING at all - things that begin with the letter B - butterflies, the colour blue, backgrounds, or even a piece of artwork with the letter B on it! Anything at all so long as it is related to or begins with the letter B!

I created an acrylic painted background on watecolour paper. I coloured a piece of acrylic with alcohol inks then stamped a Buddha stamp with Stazon black. I added a piece of white paper behind the image and adhered it with glossy accents and attached it to the page with brads.

I then cut a few pieces of the coloured acrylic and stamped a pattern with Brilliance gold ink, and attached them to the page with glossy accents.