Colour Perceptions ATC

The colour Yellow was the one for the month of August in the ArtVentures ongoing colour perceptions  ATC swap.

To me, yellow is a happy colour, so I decided to build my ATC on that theme.

The base was a light yellow cardstock. I took another piece of darker yellow cardstock, punched a fancy circle in it then stamped a floral background over it.

I stamped the little bear by Little Suzy's Zoo on some white cardstock, coloured it with Copic markers and  coloured the background with some Vivid yellow ink. I glued it behind the punched piece of cardstock and adhered it to the base.

Using a Martha Stewart border punch I punched out two different shades of yellow and glued them to the bottom. I then stamped the sentiment and glued it to the top.

Scraplings

I joined another swap to make some Scraplings. Basically these are a miniature card which are normally 1.25" X 4.25" because they are made from off-cuts after making a card or other project. The premise is to use all your scraps to complete the Scrapling.

This is a great way to use pieces that you would normally throw away.

This particular swap has a red/green/white colour scheme, but how we create it is entirely up to us.

I ended up making three as I was actually enjoying the whole process.

For the one on the left, I stamped an image with Vivid ink, outlined it with a green marker and attached it to the green cardstock. I added a red die-cut and a pearl embellishment which I coloured with alcohol ink.  I wrapped some green thread around the card and added some white pearls. To complete it I stamped the saying with fluid chalk ink and attached it with double sided tape.

The middle one was just a fun idea I had as the image is one of my favourites. I stamped the base with some green Versafine ink using a background stamp. I stamped the face with warm red fluid chalk ink and cut it out. I added some velvet rick-rack at the bottom then inserted the face just above it. I stamped and embossed the word Zen and the Z's on a piece of scrap cardstock and coloured it with the red fluid chalk and outlined them in green. I made a crown out of a stamped scrap piece of paper and added it above the Z's. For the final touch I took a punched flower, another scrap piece and added a little paper gem to finish off  the bottom.

The last card was stamped and embossed in white on the red card base. I took a sticker and attached it to a piece of white cardstock and clear embossed it. I coloured around the sticker with two colours of green fluid chalks. I then stamped a swirly snowflake stamp in red over the area, and wiped off the overstamping on the sticker. I framed it by using Be-creative (Sookwang) tape and Hunter Green Glitter Ritz. I had some little butterfly embellishments but felt it needed something so I attached a couple of tiny beads for the body and glued it to the top. I added some gem pieces to the bottom to complete it.

I am not sure which two I will be sending to my partner but I guess I can decide that when the swap closes.

House shaped ATC

On DCI we are doing a swap for a House shaped ATC with or without a chimney, and the artists choice of themes.

I recently saw a video by Maria Loomis for a vintage tag technique and decided to use it for my background. I actually started by colouring my ATC with Vivid inks then embossed it in my Cuttlebug. I added both Tattered Angels sprays and Smooch Spritz to it. I added Vintage Photo and Soot Distress Inks to the edges.

I took a piece of transparency and stamped the HIT stamp with Stazon ink and adhered it to the background with Glossy Accents. I glued the image of the little girl  onto some cardstock to give it body, then attached it to the background. Printed off the clock face and added a little sticker to the centre then attached it to the top of the ATC. I found some gorgeous ribbon at my local stamp store and attached a portion to the side and then coloured part of it with Smooch green Apple Ink.

To accentuate the roses at the bottom of the little girl I added some red micro beads.

To complete the ATC I coloured some cardstock with Vivid inks spritzed it with Smooch Spritz and stamped a saying. I then cut this in to pieces and attached to the ATC.

This is the one I kept for myself and the colour palette is a wee bit lighter than the ones I mailed to all the participants.

Witches Hour Torso Tags

I just joined a new group Art for the Creative Mind and have already signed up for a couple of swaps. One of the swaps is where we make two torso shaped tags with the theme Witches Hour i.e. Halloween.

The first one I coloured with Clearsnap fluid chalk inks but it was not intense enough, so I spritzed the top and bottom with Glimmer Mists and went over the centre with some Mica Magic Burnt Orange ink. I stamped the Stampscapes Crooked Limb stamp with the Smokey Gray Versafine ink pad, then I added the images and saying from Vintage Paint Works which were one of the free downloads on their site.

To complete the tag, I added some little confetti stars at the top and some maple leaf punchies at the centre and bottom.

For the second tag, I started by punching out a circle and placing the negative part on the tag, and colored it with some yellow pigment ink then some silver over a portion of it, then added some iridescent violet mica watercolour paint over the same area.

I masked the circle with the punched out piece and using the tonal applicator stamp (Stampscapes), I added colour, starting with Clearsnap's Vivid yellow along the centre up to the top, then Marvy Matchables inks in Salvia Blue, Blue, Pale Violet and Green.

I stamped a Stampscapes fir tree, crooked limb stamp and a cloud stamp with Clearsnap's Coal Black Ancient Page. The Owl image is from Vintage Paint Works. The remaining images are from Dover Publications; (You can sign up and receive free samples each week from them by following the link).

Although I don't normally make any Halloween art, I did enjoy making these two tags.

I have a brayer

I joined a swap in CCSwaps called "I have a brayer and I know how to use it!"  For this swap we were to  make a card for our partner, but I missed that part and started off by making a large tag. I realized I had goofed later on so back to the drawing board.

 I brayered yellow Vivid ink (Clearsnap) on glossy card a bit more than halfway. I punched out a circle and laid it on the cardstock. I brayered on butterscotch Vivid over the yellow, but lightly over the circle area. I then brayered raisin Adirondack (Ranger)over the top portion.

I tore a piece of paper and laid it on the bottom portion of the cardstock and brayered with aqua Vivid then removed the paper and brayered Big and Juicy Hydrangea (Ranger) over the very bottom.

I stamped the trees (Stampin' Up) and the geese (Stampscapes) with Ancient Page Coal Black (Clearsnap). I added some red Marvy Matchable ink over the top portion with a sponge, for more depth. I outlined the edges with a dual marker.

I brayered another piece of scrap cardstock with the yellow and butterscotch Vivid and stamped and embossed the saying (Stamp Oasis) with Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko) and black embossing powder), outlined the edges and attached it with double-sided foam tape.

I had some brayered and stamped pieces left from another project that I did not like so I cut them up and added them to the inside of the card. I stamped another saying(Wordsworth) on yellow cardstock and attached it beside the scrap pieces.

     

Artist of the Month

This month on CCSwaps we are having another Artist of the Month swap. This time around it is in the style of Zana Clark of Stamp Zia. As usual, I jumped in with both feet with no clue as to what I am doing.

For this swap I had to improvise as I do not own any Stamp Zia products. She uses her own line of sprays on watercolour paper and I don't have any bright ones. I did do one piece using some sprays on watercolour paper but it was a disaster.

I decided to use glossy cardstock and dye inks, which is one of the techniques she uses. My first two attempts were also disasters, but at least I can salvage some of the backgrounds for future use as ATC's.

I used Vivids (Clearsnap) and Seabrights (Rangers) for the background swirling them on with cotton buds. Then I stamped some ferns (Hero Arts) with Stazon white. I used a gingo stamp from (See-D's from Sugarloaf) with Ancient Page Coal and stamped it around the background.

On an extra piece of background paper, I stamped the dragonfly/waterlily (Pedlars Pack) in permanent ink and coloured the lilies and dragonflies with twinkling H2O's, then edged it with a black marker.

I stamped some waterlilies (Sunshine Designs) on some scrap pieces and coloured them with the H2O's. Stamped "magic"(Stamp Oasis) on another scrap and layered it on black glossy cardstock.

This one I was finally happy with, although wondering if I should have forgot about stamping the ginkgos. Unfortunately, when scanning the intensity of the colours does not show up well.

Bandanna Technique

I decided to try the Bandanna Technique that Trish B has as a challenge on one of her sites http://artbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/8-bandana-technique/

I found the 100 LB Luna Matte worked best for this technique, however I have not tried watercolour paper, which apparantly works well.

The last one done on 80 LB cardstock worked well for taking the colours, but the Stazon did not come out as dark, but the Adirondack ink worked well for stamping.





Done on 100 LB Luna Matte with Distress and Marvy Inks. Stamped images with Black Stazon



100 Lb Luna Matte with Vivids and Marvy Inks. Stamped with Black Stazon



80 LB cardstock with Nick Bantock inks. Stamped with Black Stazon and Adirondack Bottle.

Distressed Scraps

This is the latest Background Noise Challenge. You can find the instructions at http://trishbee.co.uk/?p=404.

I started off by glueing the scraps on the paper and left them to dry. I then covered them with various mediums; top left Memory Mists, right Aquamarine Fluid Chalks, Bottom Right Distress ink Fire Red and Bottom Vivids Butterscotch.



Well now, I do not use glue much in my projects and made the mistake of using a "liquid" type glue, and did not realize that I had left bits of glue on the paper, which resulted in a resist where there were big glaring white spots. So, not being one to always follow the rules, I had to fix it. On one of them I just added extra paper, (this time with a glue stick) and covered it again with the colouring medium.


On the top left, I embossed the white areas with an embossing pen, and sprinkled Verdi Gris embossing powder and heated it. Bottom left, I did the same with copper embossing powder. The top right I sprinkled some embossing powder over and heat embossed.



Not the correct procedure per the instructions, but at least I can still use them.