Butterflies and Dragonflies Easel Card

On AFTCM I joined a swap to make and easel card with the theme of Butterflies and Dragonflies with heat embossing on it.

I started with white 130LB cardstock and colored two pieces with fluid chalk inks using Cathie Allan's "stamp smoosh' technique.

On one piece I stamped the Stampendous dragonfly with green pigment ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Cut around most of it leaving an area on the bottom right, flipped it over, then traced around some chipboard letters to spell out the word "FLY". I cut around them, ensuring that there was areas joining the dragonfly and letters to the panel. I edged it with a green marker, and stamped some corner stamps at each corner.

I embossed the chipboard letters with green pigment ink and clear embossing powder and attached them to the front of the card panel.

To hold the front in place and create an easel, I cut a piece of embossable window plastic and folded it in half, attached it to the back panel and then to the front. I attached a little 3-D butterfly at the corner of the front panel.

To complete the inside I stamped a saying and attached it over some butterflies wings.

I colored a piece of ribbon with pigment inks to coordinate with the colours I used on the card. and attached it to the back (covering it with another piece of cardstock to hide it) then tied it in place to keep the card closed.

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.

A-Z techniques - P for Polished Stone

Continuing on with the A-Z techniques, this month is P. I chose to do the polished stone technique. Instead of using the dye inks and metallic acrylic paint, I used alcohol inks and Lumiere paints. The other "P's" are parrot and paint pen.

I covered a piece of glossy cardstock with some rubbing alcohol then dabbed three colours of alcohol ink over the surface. I then dabbed on some copper coloured Lumiere paint.

For the P image I used a parrot from Dover publications, printed it, cut around it and pasted it on the ATC.

I used a chipboard alphabet P and coloured it with a Marvy Metallic paint pen.

To complete it I die cut a Cuttlebug Corner die and embossed it with copper embossing powder.

A-Z Techniques - Alphabet O

On ArtVentures we are doing Alphabet O techniques for the upcoming swap and my ATC represents Opalite Infusion, Oleander and Opals embossing powders.


I remembered a technique called Opalite Infusion and decided that would be my background technique. I can't remember where I originally came across this technique (thought I saved the site in my favourites), but I did have the instructions written down.

I started by stamping an image in permanent ink on white cardstock. When completely dry I applied two colours of Opalite ink, using well inked pads.. When that layer was dry I sponged on dye inks in the same colour family.

I then cut out some Cuttlebug corner dies and coloured them first with clear embossing ink and purple opals embossing powder. Because the ink pad was not inked well the whole die cut was not covered. So I decided to use that to my advantage, and tapped a Versamark pad over the bare areas and embossed those portions with a pink Opals embossing powder.  I did four of these for each ATC (Artist Trading Card).

I applied the corners to each ATC, then I printed some pictures of an Oleander using photo paper.

I attached the picture with double-sided foam tape.

Altered Cigar Box

One of the swaps for this month on AFTCM is an altered cigar box with the theme "Fragments from the Past". Fortunately I had a couple in my stash and a number of things to use for the theme.

I started by covering the outside with some vintage themed scrapbook paper that I got at my local dollar store.  I had just made a trip to my little local rubber stamps store and purchased some brads and trim. I thought the brads looked  bit like a little door knob and attached it to the bottom front of the box.

On the outside of the lid I attached the trim, a little penny charm and a stamped image from a friend.
I used one of the Tim Holtz frames and  placed an image of a woman (from artcreationsfridayblogspot (which seems to be gone) and covered it with some acetate, then glued it to the box.

In the oval area on the inside of the lid I added an ornament that I coloured, then covered the bottom with some velvet cardstock.

I haven't decided yet what I want to place inside the box, maybe some art supplies, cards or tags.

A-Z Techniques Alphabet N

This month the Alphabet technique is the letter N. I chose to do the Northern Lights Technique.

I  used black cardstock as the base. I diluted Gold, Raspberry Sparkle and True Blue perfect pearls with a bit of water then brushed it on in lines across the cardstock. I spritzed it with water and let the colours run together.

I chose an image of a Nutcracker bird and printed it on glossy photo paper, cut it out, and attached it with double-sided foam tape. To complete the ATC's I used a die cut N and some punchie flowers. I inked them with Versamark and "Heat and Stick " embossing powder which becomes sticky after heating, then applied Navy Glitter Ritz over the top.