Journal Pages

On AFTCM we are making Journal Pages for a lottery with the theme "My Story".  Someone will have their name drawn randomly and that person will receive all the pages.

I started a page by colouring the background with distress paints in a couple of different colours. I then stencilled some images with another colour of distress paint. I stamped some Dylusions stamps with the paint as well as Tim Holtz stamp. On the sides I stamped two more Tim Holtz stamps and Hero Arts stamps with Ancient Page Indigo ink.  Then I did some "paper lifting" over some gessoed areas with newspaper pieces and coloured them with distress inks.

I added some words using some magazine and stamped pieces coloured with the Distress inks and glued them to the page. I had a favourite butterfly image in my stash so I cut it out and attached it to the page and drew in the antennas.

Added some more stencilling with Viva gold modelling cream. 

To finish the piece, I stamped the sentiment at the bottom with Archival ink.

I thought I would try another page and started by spraying the page with Dylusions sprays. 

I added some stencilling by spraying over them, then added other details with stamps and Adirondack ink pads.  

I added some sentiments/words with archival ink and various stamps.

I stamped the whimsical girl stamp from Dylusions and coloured her with copics, cut her out and added her to the page.

Altered Alphabet

Another swap on AFTCM is to alter an alphabet letter representing the first letter of our partners name.

My partner's given name starts with the letter L and she likes vintage, Victorian, lace and filigree .

I took several pieces of chipboard, cut them out in an L shape and glued them together. I covered the piece with some script scrapbook paper.  I had some large pieces of lace and glued it to the bottom of the L shape then sprayed the whole thing with some Dylusions Melted Chocolate spray and some glimmer mist.

I felt like it need something on the left hand side so I attached some wood scroll pieces to the edge after painting them with a deep red and brown acrylic paint. I also sprayed some roses and daisy flowers with the Dylusions spray, and attached them at the bottom left corner along with a leaf and a broken piece from a broach (which is the closest thing I had to filigree!).

I wanted some texture so I added some Stampendous Ancient Wine embossing enamel at the top, edges and on a few areas of the scrolls.

I coloured two little ceramic pieces with Smooch gold and attached them above the flowers along with a home made hat pin and an old safety pin. I layered two Memory Box bird house dies together and put it at the top with foam tape underneath to raise it a bit. I added an old earring at the top which looks like grapes; added a little bird cut from some scrapbook paper. I had a stamped butterfly on my desk so I glued it in with the flowers, then added a little bottle cap with the letter L imprinted on it.

On  the bottom I added the wood embellishment with the word Dream on which I had embossed the edges with the Stampendous enamel; added a little screw brad to it. I coloured two little dragonflies with permanent ink pens and Smooch Ink, removed the backs and glued them beside the wooden embellishment. The last step was to add tiny gems scattered throughout.

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.

Mini Theatre

On AFTCM there is a swap where we create a mini theatre with a theme based on Edgar Allan Poe. I chose to do Annabelle Lee.

I used a piece of board that my hubby gave me for the base and cut out a Birds custard tin for the stage and the top. I covered the top and bottom with scrapbook papers. I printed off an image of a woman and a picture from one of our trips to Scotland.

I used embossing powders at the top of the board and incorporated the sea picture onto it. I then cut out the woman three times to make her 3-D. I added embellishments to the top, button, a seashell and a chipboard piece coloured with gold paint and gems added.

The sides are chopsticks which I painted and covered with ribbon. The bottom pieces underneath the chopsticks are pieces of a pencil. I printed a picture of Edgar Allan Poe and put a page pebble over it added a frame around it. I coloured a shell with gold paint and glued the framed picture in place.  I attached the shell  to the bottom stage piece. This almost made me give up as it kept falling off and I tried every glue in my craft room till it finally stuck!!

I attached the woman to the stage with a little easel and placed a couple of shells beside her. I had a wee bird but it fell off when I took the picture so that has been added back on afterwards.

I felt it still needed "something" so I decided to make some curtains. I took some cheesecloth and sprayed it with some Dylusions sprays and Tsukineko glitter spray. When it dried I attached it to the top portion of the theatre.

I was bored so thought I would make another mini theatre based on The Raven. I covered another piece of wood with some scrapbook paper that reminded me of vintage wallpaper. For this one I chose a different shape for the bottom. It is made from a small box and covered with some lovely ribbon that I received in a Secret Santa swap last year. I covered the top with some wood paper. Added a little piece of scrapbook paper to simulate a rug.

I took an old thread spool and painted it with a Krylon pen and added a little circle of the wood paper to the top to make a wee table. I printed off a picture of Poe's wife from Wikapedia and added it to the table, along with a little book and a teacup.

The images of the Raven are 3-D and coloured with artist grade pastels.  I added little piece of glittered tape to simulate a valance and added beads to each side. I put a little clock face on a die cut and placed it above the "valance".

The curtains are a piece of fabric that was wrapped around some flowers that I received for Valentine's day, held to side with some handmade tassels. 

I glued the beaded fringe to the top, then took a grunge die-cut stamped text on it with a white paint dabber and covered it with distrss stains. I put a bit of the white paint on a metal button and glued both pieces to the top.

I am not sure which one will go to my partner, but I enjoyed the challenge of creating something that I have never attempted before.



A-Z techniques

The upcoming ArtVentures technique is Q and I chose to do the Quink ink technique that my friend Adrienne shared with us.

I started by covering a piece of matte cardstock with gesso then stamped into it with a detailed stamp. Sprinkled it with salt then sprayed watered-down black Quink ink . When it dried I brushed off some of the salt and highlighted it with some Goldfinger metallic paste.

I stamped one of the heads from a Diane Reavely stamp set, coloured it and attached it to the ATC, I then stamped the Inkadinkado word stamp "quirky".cut around it and added it. The heart is a sequin.

After looking at the ATC for a while I thought the Blue Heart drew the eye away from the rest of the card so I decided to take it off and added a stamped letter Q instead.

Fairy Tag

On A Mad Crafters Attic we have added some mixed media swaps, rather than just doing Artist Trading cards. This month is the first swap of this kind and we are doing a fairy or sprite tag.

I had bought some scrapbook paper that has several little jars on it and decided to use one for my tag.

I stamped a Hearts in Touch silhouette fairy stamp on the little jar piece, added some stickles around her to look like fairy dust, and covered the heart with some glossy accents. I cut a butterfly wing and added it to the image. Put this aside to dry, then covered it with a piece of transparency.

I had a piece of cardstock that I had used under a project when spraying it with Dylusions sprays and decided to use part of it as my tag base. I stamped some flourishes on it, then added opals embossing powders in some areas and stamped a star into the hot embossing areas.

I stamped some words from a Diane Reaveley  stamp set, cut them out and adhered them to the tag, along with the little fairy jar. Hope my partner will be happy with it.