Pennant -February

This month the pennant has the same background fabric adhered to the base. For February the theme is the magic of glitter.

I came across some trim that had hearts on it and thought since Valentine's Day is in February that it would be perfect. I actually added the trim and some other embellishments but was not happy with it because it was to dark a blue and did not seem "vintage" enough, so back to the drawing board.

I threw the trim in a bucket of water with bleach and it removed enough of the colour to make it a light pink/lilac. I attached it to the edge of the pennant.

As with the previous one I had an image already printed and wanted to choose colour tones from the picture, so the lighter colours were better suited. I took a large snowflake die and added glitter to it and glued it to the top of the pennant, then attached the image with some stickles added.

I stamped the sentiment "Dreamer" with white pigment ink on a piece of white cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder. I then coloured it with Milled Lavender distress ink and buffed it off; rounded the edges with a punch and attached it to the pennant.  To finish it off I added a snowflake die and a button with a gem on top and dangling heart at the bottom.

Shabby Chic' Tags

 On AFTCM we did a swap in September with the theme Shabby Chic' with a clay embellishment.

For the first tag I stamped a Hero Arts harlequin stamp on white cardstock with white pigment ink. I coloured over it with Clearsnap Shabby Chic' pigment inks in 3 different colours using a stylus and foam tip.

I punched some flower shapes from scrapbook paper with text on it and glued them together. I added some air dried clay circles to the centres, which I had stamped texture on and coloured with Mica Magic inks.

I outlined the edges with a coordinating coloured marker and attached lace to left-hand side and fibres to the top.

On the second tag I stamped a Penny Black floral stamp in white pigment ink and embossed it with white embossing powder. I coloured over it with the Shabby Chic pigment inks. 

I added a piece of a doily at the bottom and some text scrapbook paper on the right, and coloured them with the pigment inks. I added a string of pearls and some lace. 

I applied some Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of the tag to add some depth.

The air dried clay piece was coloured with distress paint and attached near the bottom.

Due to a slight mix up on the group, I sent the tags to the wrong person so I made two more tags for the correct partner. 

On the first of the new tags, I coloured the tag with the Shabby Chic pigment inks the Stamp Smoosh technique, and a colorbox stylus and foam tip. 

I stamped the image by Rubber Stampede in Rangers Black archival ink.

Took some Tim Holtz tissue tape, coloured it with the pigment inks and attached it on the lower portion of the tag and added lace above and below it. I glued the clay flower in place with some glue.

I coloured scraps of white cardstock with the pigment inks and punched out a small circle, then punched a hole in the centre. Stamped over this with a text stamp and Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I placed this over the hole at the top of the tag as a reinforcement.

The second tag may actually look more vintage than Shabby Chic, so hope my partner will like it anyway.

I coloured the white tag with the Shabby Chic pigment inks, sandwiched it between two pieces of newsprint to heat set it. Stamped around the tag with a clear Magenta stamp.

I coloured a piece of white lace with Lavendar fluid chalk ink, heat set it the same way as the tag and attached it at the bottom.

I die cut a Memory Box Palace Oval frame, covered it with clear embossing ink and embossed it with Silver embossing powder, added some clear UTEE and let it cool. I went over it with some black acrylic paint then wiped it off.

I printed an image from Elizabeth's blog  and die cut it using the same die. I inserted the picture in the middle of the die-cut and attached it to the tag.

I glued a piece of velvet ribbon over the lace, attached some pearls and the clay piece which I adorned with some little gems. Must admit that the more I look at my "clay piece", I am thinking it might be a UTEE piece, so if it is hope my partner doesn't mind the substitution!!

Playing around with 3-D Mbossabilities

I received a bunch of supplies that I had ordered and one of the items was the new 3-D Mbossabilities by Spellbinders. So instead of working on one of my swaps that I am trying to decide on a theme, I played with the embossing folder.

I came across my Radiant Pearls paints that I have not used in a long time and sadly these beautiful paints are no longer available. I painted the whole surface with these paints except for the banner which I covered with Bisque Fluid Chalk ink then highlighted with the Creamy Brown Fluid Chalk ink. 

I then went over the whole piece with the Creamy Brown and distressed the edges with Vintage photo Distress ink. The sparkle of the Radiant Pearls still shows underneath the fluid chalks. I stamped the sentiment with Memento Ink. 

I think I will be playing more with this embossing folder using different supplies.

 

Doodles Unleashed Alphabets

The next series for this swap on ArtVentures is E to H.

The background for E is done on watercolour paper with Dylusions sprays and the ghosting technique using a stencil. I got a bit silly with this one and added some googly eyes to the top to go with the saying I wrote on the letter.

The F background is newspaper that I had under some other projects so it is covered with sprays and paints. I coloured the letter with Lyra pencils and some markers then cut them out and attached them to the background. added some transfer foil to the one edge and a paper flower.

G was done with fluid chalks and a text stamp for the background. The letter is coloured with Tombow markers.

H is a distress ink background and the H is fairly simple as I was running out of ideas for the doodling. I drew lines around the edge with Tombow Markers to give it a more finished look.

Creative Chemistry day 9

Day nine - only one more day to go and I am feeling a bit like I may go into withdrawals when the class is over.

Today we learned about Perfect Pearls. Tim discussed the properties of the powders and also introduced us to Perfect Pearl Mists and how they react on different papers. He went on to demo techniques using Perfect Pearls Powders with Inks.

The stamp used on my version in the middle is by Stampington and Co.

The techniques Tim taught today were: Perfect Distress Mist, Perfect Distress and Perfect Splatter Distress.

Unfortunately you can't see all the glimmer and shimmer in the pictures, but they are wonderful background techniques. Great "perfect" inky fun!

Creative Chemistry Day 8

Wow, the time has flown by for this class! Day 8 and learning some great techniques again. This day it was about Paint Primers. Tim discussed various types of paints and their effects then into techniques using Distress Crackle paint.


We used Sticky Back Canvas, tags and chipboard (or grungeboard) pieces for the three different techniques.

I used stamps form Comotion, Lost and Found and PSX; the chipboard piece is by a company in my area -Ezee Pzee.
 
I must admit that the tag I am most pleased with is the first one with the feather on it. The middle one, I think I should have chosen different stamps and on the chipboard, perhaps should have used more of the medium.  However, as these will be in my binder  for the class they will be references for the techniques which I can play with more and improve upon. Practice makes perfect!
 

Creative Chemistry Day 7

Day seven is about Embossing Basics. Tim covered techniques on embossing with Distress Inks and Powders and discussed various embossable inks and powders.
Although I am familiar with the types of inks used for this purpose, I still learned a number of things about the different properties of the supplies.

Again, some of my colour choices in the supplies are limited but it did not stop me from being able to try the techniques.

I used stamps by All Night Media, Magenta and Hero Arts,

The techniques we were to try are: Nostalgic Batik, Rusted Enamel and Distress Powder Resist. Great fun revisiting the first technique which I have done numerous times, and enjoyed the other two which I have not done before.

Creative Chemistry Day 6

 

Day six was about Distress Markers. Techniques on Coloring and Stamping with the Markers and the differences and features.

The second part was the techniques using the markers. I only have three so far so my colour choice was limited, but I was still able to try the techniques.

Stamps used are from Sunshine Designs, Inkadinkado  and Magenta.

The techniques for our "homework" were Watercolour with Markers, Blending with Markers and Stamping with Markers.

Creative Chemistry Day 5

Already on day 5 and I am really enjoying these classes filled with creativity and information. Today was about spray inks and stains. I have never used the stains before so this was a fun learning experience for me and I want more colours!!

Stamps used are Rubber Stampede, Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous), Inkadinkado, Penny Black, Stampscapes and Posh Impressions.
The techniques were Stained Kraft Resist, Stain Stamping and Marbled Stains; my versions are below.

Creative Chemistry Day 3

Day 3 was a discussion relating to archival inks, the different types and uses. Tim again discussed this in a video and went on to teach 3 different techniques using the inks and other mediums such as alcohol inks and mixatives and distress inks.

The three techniques for today were Alcohol Ink Agates, Archival Resist and Stamping with Reflections.

Below are my versions of the tags. I had to improvise on the third tag as I only had a couple of the supplies that were required for the technique. Stamps for these techniques are by Tim (Stampers Anonymous), Hero Arts, Tin Can Mail, Wordsworth and Posh Impressions.

Creative Chemistry Day 2

On Day 2 is all about Distress inks, blending, stamping and layering and a discussion on the properties of water based dye inks. Tim started this class with a video on the history of distress inks and how he came to work for Rangers. Thoroughly enjoyed hearing all about this.

He had two more videos which covered the different properties of the inks as well as techniques to use them.

We did the Blended Distress/Spritz and Flick, Brushless Watercolour and Wrinkle-Free Techniques on tags.

These are my version of the techniques using stamps from Stampendous, Penny Black, Impression Obsession, Hero Arts and of course, a couple of Tim's.

Artful Bag

On AFTCM we are doing an Artful Bag which is a bit larger than an ATC (Artist Trading Card)

I thought of making mine out of fabric, but my sewing skills are not very good any more, therefore resorted to paper.

I discovered a little pad of wallpaper samples and made the bag from that. I found a good tutorial and used the instructions to create my little bag.

After creating the bag I printed off images from Moonlight Journey and Elizabeth's blog; cut them out and glued them to the bag. I stamped a couple of word stamps on some cardstock that I coloured with Old Paper Distress ink by Ranger, and attached them above the images, then added some black cord as handles.

I put some ATC blanks and die cuts in the bag for my partner to use.

G is for .....

Continuing on with the ATC ( artist trading cards) A-Z techniques in ArtVentures, the next one is G, and I chose Gesso Newspaper Transfer for my technique.

I started with laying down a coat of gesso on some watercolour paper. The technique tutorial uses hot press, but I only had cold press so that is what I used. I tore up some scraps of newspaper and applied it over the gesso, waited a bit then pulled it off; continued doing this placing the newsprint in different ways, until the piece was covered. Note:This is really a "trial and error" to determine how much gesso to apply and how long to leave the newsprint on the surface.

I then applied various colours of Dr. PH Martin watercolours over the paper after the gesso dried, (the tutorial uses fluid acrylics, but again I had none so I substituted the watercolours).

After the pieces were dry I cut out an black and white image which is a freebie on Elizabeths blog, then coloured it with damp paintbrush and distress inks and attached it to the ATC.

To complete the card I edged it with a gold marker, applied some gems and German Scraps trim. I did not have any gold, so I coloured some black pieces with a Krylon gold paint pen. I also did not have enough of one pattern, so used two different styles, therefore a couple are a bit different.

O'Halloween House shape

A third Halloween swap on AFTCM was to create a house shape with a Halloween theme. Did I mention that I don't really do much Halloween art? The reason I joined these swaps is because I liked the ideas and the challenge.

I discovered a template at this blog a couple of years ago, and decided to use it for my house shape. I printed it then traced it on to a transparency, then using the transparency I traced two copies on to 130LB cardstock and cut them out.

The first one, I coloured with Frayed Burlap Distress ink and Black Soot on the chimney. I used the bottom half of a door stamp from Stampourri inc, which has a wood grain, and stamped it lengthwise all over the house shape with Black Soot Distress ink.

I coloured the little fence with the Black Soot then filled in the remaining white areas with Clearsnap Orange pigment ink. I coloured the window frame with the orange pigment ink and outlined it with a dark brown marker. I attached a piece of transparency behind the window and added the image behind it.

I stamped two little bushes (also by Stampourri inc) and coloured them with my Lyra pencils and Smooch ink. I printed some Halloween images from Digicats and Dover Art
and added some Glossy accents to some of them to give them dimension. I attached these to the fence along with a couple of stickers mounted on some cardstock scraps.
To complete the house I punched a circle and placed a spider image from a sheet of scrapbook paper behind a scrap of transparency-added some glitter to the web with a gel pen.

The roof edge was covered with sequins, then I added glossy accents to ensure they stayed in place and sprinkled some autumn colored glitter over the top.

For the second piece, I coloured the house with Dusty Concord Distress Ink, with Tea Dye and Black Soot around the edges and top. I stamped a Shutter stamp (Stampourri) across the surface with Black Soot Distress ink.

I coloured the fence with Black Soot and filled in the remaining white areas with green pigment ink and coloured the window frame with the same colour of pigment ink then dabbed on some Black Soot to give it a worn look. Attached a scrap of transparency behind and an image.

Punched a hole for a top window, embossed a piece of transparency with clear embossing powder and placed it behind the area with an image inserted underneath.

I coloured a little Maya Road chipboard tree with Tea Dye Distress ink and glued it to the fence, and added a cat and a sticker which was attached to scrap cardstock to give it more body.

For the roof edge, I covered it with some Black Embossing Puffs to give it a darker and more dimensional look. Final touch was to attach a little bat to the chimney.

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.

E is for...

On Art-Ventures we are continuing on with the Alphabet swap that we started on CCSwaps. This month is E for....

I have several blank notebooks so thought I would use one of them for this swap. My E is for embossing ( both dry and heat), Electric Blue Smooch Spritz and embellishments.

I started by taking a cardboard insert that I saved from something I bought, cut it to size and on the white front I used Clearsnap fluid chalk inks (Yellow Cadmium, Lavender and Deep Lagoon) and the "stamp smooch" technique that I learned from Cathie Allan.

I heat set it and then stamped the flourish stamp by Magenta using Clearsnap Platinum MetaleXtra Pigment Inkpad and Platinum Embossing Powder, at the top and bottom of the page. I outlined the page with Krylon silver ink and attached it to the front of the notebook.

I had some pieces of cardstock that I had previously embossed with my Cuttlebug and I chose a navy blue piece that had words embossed on it. I took a Versamagic inkpad and rubbed it across the piece. Was not entirely happy with it so then I sprayed it with Clearsnap's Electric Blue Smooch Spritz; attached this to the centre of the cover.

I took a piece of an old book page and smooshed Milled Lavendar distress ink over it and edged it with Black Soot distress ink, then took some water and rubbed it over the edge to blend the colour in to the paper. When dry I added this to the front of the embossed piece.

I cut out an image from Moonlight Journey and attached it to the middle of the embossed piece. I had some tiny die-cut swirls in my stash, so I embossed them with the platinum ink and embossing powder and glued them to the edges of the image. I had some chrome buttons that I cut the backs off and attached them to the right hand corner and the bottom of the notebook.

I hope my partner will be pleased with this.

Colour Me!

I joined a swap on CCSwaps where we make an item using our favourite colours. Mine are green and blue  the colours I tend to use the most in my art.

I started with a piece of 100 lb Lunamat cardstock and stamped various images by Tim Holtz and Hearts in touch using Marvy, Distress and Versafine inks. I then stippled over the top with stipple brushes and dye inks.  I then stamped the word stamp by Stampers Anonymious with Ancient Page Coal.

I took two pieces of 130lb card stock and did the "stamp smoosh" technique (mentioned in other posts) with fluid chalk inks. I outlined all the pieces with a marker.

The inside is done with a text-weight lunamat paper and stamped with Tim Holtz stamps in blue and stippled with greenye inks. This insert is two pieces of the paper joined together and scored to make four (4) pockets. The edges are joined with pieces of the lunamat paper stamped coloured and scored to fit the ends and the middle.

I attached a coordinating ribbon to the inside and then attached the panels to the insert.

I took 4 tags and coloured them with dye and distress inks and stamped images on them and placed them in the pockets. I did not add fibres as I thought I would let the recipient choose the  ribbons or fibres for them.

I only scanned one side of the open booklet  as I did not feel like getting out my camera. When fully open the middle is a mountain fold and you can see all four tags in the pockets.

Dream Vacation

One of the current swaps on CCSwaps is Dream Vacation, where we make an item based on a country chosen by the swap hostess; this month it is France.

I had an extra address book so thought I would alter it for this swap.

I started by covering the book with some scrapbook paper,  then stamped some text (Tim Holtz) postage franques (Hero Arts). I stamped on a piece of cream cardstock using an Inkadinkadoo stamp by Jill Meyer and lightly covered it with distress inks. I added a tag that I bought at my local scrapbook store. I stamped the Eiffel Tower stamp (Inkadinkadoo) twice and embossed the second one, cut them out and layered them. I then applied distress ink over the top and coloured the Paris part with twinkling H2O's.

I colourwd some Fleur-de-Lis chipboard pieces with ink and Perfect Pearls and attached them to the side. I was worred that the hinge part of the book might start to crack with use, so I inked a piece of self-adhesive hinge tape with distress inks and covered the edge of the book.

Board book Spread 3

Step 1: Tore up various strips of leftover scrapbook papers and attached them overlapping each other and lighty gessoed over them after the glued dried. Rubbed Vintage distress inks over both pages to age it a bit. Step 2:Ripped a wide piece of masking tape and stamped a background image on it with black stazon ink, then attached it to the left hand page. Made a heart shaped image out of airdry clay and stamped it with a text stamp. When dry I added red paint and then gold paint over the top. Attached a piece of magic mesh and attached the heart. Printed off a Heart quote and added it to the left page. Now there were no instructions to add anything else, but since this is my book I decided to add some images to go with the quote..guess I am just a rebel at heart!!

Board Book Spread 2

Page two Step 1:

Made a wavy line with a pencil, then coloured the page with orange on top and lime green on the bottom.

Step two. Add a wavy red line between the orange and lime green. Took a pencil with an eraser on the end and made dots in white gesso. Ripped sections from a previously gessoed book page and adhered them to the bottom in strips.

Step 3: Coloured the pages all over with distress ink (Frayed Burlap) Made hand made flowers to add to the pages. I did mine with strips of cardstock coloured with fluid chalk inks and stamped a small background stamp on them. I cheated with the one flower as I had a bunch of punchie from newspaper left from another project. Added a flower quote then a bird image printed on vellum to complete the page.