Apparel Swap

on AFTCM we are continuing the apparel swap and the next one is a dainty evening glove.

The only template I found had no thumb so I used that with the idea that the glove is placed face down with the thumb underneath.

After cutting out the template I adhered some blue cardstock and a piece of vellum which has roses on it.  I added some lace to the bottom of the glove. I took a piece of Sookwang tape and added Glitter Ritz to both sides, placed a piece of tape at the edge of the lace and scrunched up the glittered tape.

I attached a portion of a gem flourish and added a home made flower made out of used dryer sheets coloured with Glimmer mists. I added a left over piece of the glittered tape to the centre.

Inchie Swap

I signed up for an Inchie Swap on CCSwaps. I first thought of making a little notebook but Carol is doing that for her swap so thought I would do something different.

I have a stash of beautiful embossed papers and decided to use them instead of hoarding them. I started by punching circles from the various papers and punched small holes for them to be used as tags.

Two of the white ones I coloured with Twinkling H2O's then sprayed with Glimmer Mists. Another one, I coloured with Fluid Chalks and sprayed with the Glimmer Mists. The other two white ones were coloured with Fluid Chalk inks.

One black piece was coloured with Fresco chalk inks the second with Versamagic inks then sprayed with silver Glimmer Mists.

The final piece is a Pinata~ ink background stamped with a snowflake stamp in gold. Thought this one was appropriate for the little girl that I used on the inchie who looks rather angelic.

The inchies were made from scraps of my homemade background papers and various freebie images. The Dragonfly was a scrap of plumbers tape that I had embossed in the Cuttlebug that I punched then coloured with Adirondack pens.

I may add something to the binder ring that I attached to make it a bit more attractive.

Spray starch technique

I had run across a blog where they used spray starch to make a background, but did not disclose how it was done since she used the technique from an issue of the Techniques Junkie newsletter.

Funnily enough right after that,  Deb Lovett who sent the technique to TJ belongs to one of my groups and shared the "how-to" with us. Just click on her name and it will take you to the tutorial.

i experimented with different mediums for this technique. I used walnut sprays, glimmer mists, Posh inks, and memory sprays as well as the pearlex. Some I just sprayed a second time with the spray starch and others I put the scrunched plastic wrap over while still wet. I used glossy cardstock for all of these, but apparently you can use matte cardstock, so I may have another try with that.

Nesting Tags

We are swapping a set of nesting tags on CC Swaps.

I took a couple of ready made tags and coloured the smallest with the Stamp Smoosh technique which I learned from Cathie Allan . This technique was featured in the September 2005 Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine where Cathie is a regular contributor. The Second tag was done using a technique I found on the Ranger website by Wendy Vecchi  where you put your inks directly on the cardstock, then rub one of the inkpads on a craft sheet, mist it with a mixture of perfect pearls and water,  stamp into the mixture then onto the cardstock. When the tag dried I stamped an image on top.

The third was a tag I cut out from some background paper that I made that was coloured with Clearsnap Fluid Chalks inkpads, overstamped with Alabaster Fluid Chalk, then sprayed with Glimmer Mist.

I placed the tag in my stamp positioner and stamped a Magenta Poppy with with several layers of pigment ink. I outlined each of the tags with a marker.

 I completed the largest tag by cutting a piece of the handmade background paper and stamping a saying (Serindipity Stamps) outlined it and attached it with brads to coordinate with the colours of the poppy. Finally added some fibres. The picture on the right is the three tags "nested" together.

Christmas Gift

I am participating in a swap on CCSwaps were we are exchanging Christmas gifts. I made several items but was not completely happy with them. Today I received a newsletter from Stampington and Company and they featured a little bird made using a small chipboard box with a clear lid. This inspired me to try something similar.

Of course I have no little boxes like that so had to improvise as usual!!! I had a small circular tin from some hand cream so decided to use the lid as the body. I covered it with moulding paste using an old plastic doily as a stencil to give it some texture. After it dried I sprayed it with Memories and Tattered Angels spray then added some Posh Impressions metallic ink in the same color family.

I took an embellishment that I bought at the dollar store and added a pearl to the centre and some little gems around the perimeter. Glued this to the body then attached the little letters to spell out "Fly".

For the head I printed off a bird picture, adhered it to some 130LB cardstock, cut it out and then covered it with some modge podge.

The wings were cut out of some silver embossing metal. I covered them with some Pinata`inks, then stamped a Magenta stamp on them. With my metal stylus I embossed the stamped portion. I felt it was too monochromatic and removed some of the red & orange, and added some yellow alcohol ink.

The legs are some coloured wire that I twisted to make feet. I covered the back with some cardstock to hide all the bits and pieces and attached a piece of ribbon as a hanger.

I think it might be a bit quirky for some people and am hoping the Debra will like it.

Inchie frame completed

I received the rest of my inchies the other day via Carol, who met up with some of the gals from OZ who passed them on to her.

I was in a creative mood today so I decided to finish up a couple of ATC's and work on my frame.

The frame is painted with gesso and blue acrylic paint, then sprayed with Tattered Angels glimmer mist. Unfortunately the "glimmer" does not show in the picture. After it dried I stamped my favourite corner flourish by Inkadinkadoo with Colorbox Goldrush pigment ink and embossed with gold embossing powder.

I colored the flourish piece at the top with purple acrylic paint then painted it again with
US Artquest Mica watercolour paints. Added a sun charm and a couple of gems to finish it off.

I then completed the other two inchies and the centre panel. The centre is done with Breezy Blue embossing powder as the base then sprinkled with purple and gold E.P., heated then stamped into it with a large background stamp. I then rubbed some metallic rub-ons over the top. The embellishment is an old button that I had in my button box.
The inchies are (top left-clockwise) Trizzy, Autumn, Carol, Me, Mel, Linda B, Me, Vicki, Chris, Rhonda, Lynne and Tracy. I am so thrilled to be the owner of these beautiful miniature pieces of art and to finally have them all in the frame.