Intaglio

Rebel Stampers like to keep us on our toes by offering a Theme and/or Technique for their ATC Swap and the technique for April was Intaglio. I chose to do a faux cloisonné type technique for the Intaglio using UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel ) over black acrylic paint and adding mica powders to the last layer of UTEE before pressing a rubber stamp into the hot surface. For the ATC background I used a new Steampunk stamp.

 

Materials Used:

Pieces of grey board painted with black acrylic paint (Docrafts Artiste)

UTEE (three coats)

Mica powders

PaperArtsy Flora & Fauna Flourish

Docrafts Steampunk stamp

Thank you for looking x

Years Gone By

Over on Rebel Stampers the April ATC Swap was the theme of Years Gone By:

I don’t have many stamps that would fit this theme but do have a large selection related to gardening and landscape so working on the theory that Years Gone By could mean centuries rather than decades I opted for a statue which were all the rage in ‘posh’ gardens centuries ago! This is an old stamp set so perhaps that could come under Years Gone By too.

Materials used:

Inks  Distress Inks – Broken China, Seedless Preserves

          Versafine – Vintage Sepia,

         Brilliance – Pearlescent Chocolate

Stamps – Creative Expressions Lost Garden

                 Inkylicious Oriental Awakening 

 

Thank you for looking x

Alpha ATCs

For the April Alpha ATCs we had the letter ‘P’, well this one was easy and I was able to do three different ATCs and it gave me the chance to try out the new X cut Alpha die I had just bought! The letters are really a tad large for ATCs though and I am so glad I bought the Stick It sheets to use with intricate dies, saves an awful mess with glue because I can never find the glue pen just when I need it.

The middle ATC has rub on letters and, as can be clearly seen, I can’t do straight lines for toffee!

 

Materials used:

Inks: Versacolor – Old Rose, Canary, Sahara Sand

          Versamagic – Red Brick, Hint of Pesto, Pumpkin Spice

         Memento – Bamboo Leaves, Morocco, Potters Clay

          Brilliance Graphite Black

Stamps – Poppy stamps unknown

                 Elusive Images

X- Cut large dies script

Faber Castell Wyvern pencils.

Thank you for looking x

Black Magic

Over on the CardMaking Paradise forum some of us suddenly became inspired to indulge in a little colouring of stamped images that had been stamped with white pigment ink. This came about after I had seen a YouTube video by Gina K  . I don’t have Prismacolor pencils but do have plenty of  coloured pencils including a set of Faber and Castell called Wyvern.

My first attempt at this technique was done on Kraft card stock using Brilliance Moonlight white pigment ink; the trial turned out okay but have to say I wasn’t overwhelmed with it. I went over some of the pencil with Marvy Le plume markers and added extra punch to the white ink with a white gel pen. The text i embossed with white detail embossing powder.

I next tried the technique on black card stock and that was much, much better!

I added some details with a white gel pen. I then wondered how oil pastels would fair over white pigment ink and was very pleased with the results although I must add that I did also use coloured pencil for the finer parts of the stamped image. The oil pastels give a much more vibrant colour but will need some kind of fixative as the colours can be rubbed off.

The larger piece has become a postcard and the two smaller cards are now ATCs for an ATC swap with Rebel Stampers !

  Thanks for looking x

Advent Calendar

I haven’t decided whether this advent calendar is very early or very late! Best to be early I think. I saw this whilst trawling through various book folding web sites. The pattern is by Maria Christensen, http://www.lovebookfolding.com/

 

The little boxes are not only individually numbered but also have a letter on the opposite side to the number which can be used to spell out a Christmas message. I chose to use the first few words of a Christmas carol – Silent Night, Holy Night.

I had intended to make a couple of these calendars for the families of our two daughters but after all the repetitive folding and cutting needed to make one I almost lost the will to live! DH and I will share this one as it is sure to be one of those items that comes out every year!

Thanks for looking x

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge

Here I am yet again doing a catch up for the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge! This time I have three letters which includes the latest one – M! I shall also be catching up with my blog visiting as I spotted some very clever interpretations using M, Y and I.

My M is Man; those creatures some of us love to hate!

My image seems to have been at the giggle juice. This is a very simple piece; background is Peacock Feathers Distress Ink brushed over the card, the Man from the Art Journey Steampunk 3 set stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and the caption stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black using stamps from the Marianne Designs set.

I was going through the various ink pads that I have; some are full size pads but I also have quite a collection of the dewdrop shape and some small square pads. I couldn’t quite believe though just how many black ink pads I had in all sizes and shapes of pad. I do know that frequently Archival Black isn’t so successful on some of the clear stamps so then I use Versafine, this one is always a favourite on clear stamps and, occasionally, on some rubber stamps. Yet Brilliance Graphite Black and Memento Tuxedo Black are also very good but I don’t tend to use them quite so much which rather begs the question why are they in my ink pad stash????

I digress, here is my piece for the Y letter!

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that the stamped Y and dictionary definition have been put on an upside down card. I didn’t notice until I came to take the photo and realised the stencilled wording was upside down!! Hey ho..

I also discovered that I have a few yellows amongst those ink pads which came in handy for this piece! I used Fossilized Amber Distress Ink, Versacolor Canary and Memento Dandelion with stencils Imagination Crafts Flourishes, Memory Box Flower Power and Crafters Workshop Mini Art. The letter Y was stamped in Versafine Jet Black using a stamp from the Marianne designs set.

 

Letter I!

Now you will have to use your imagination with this one as this is supposed to be Italic writing however true Italic writing leans to the right and this script is far too upright. When I started secondary school many moons ago all the students had to learn Italic writing and we had the proper pens to do so. Once we had mastered the writing many of us received Osmiroid calligraphy pens in our Christmas stockings. Sadly I lost my pen when I left home, I loved my Osmiroid pen! I wish I had continued with Italic writing as my handwriting is not good. I digress again – no I haven’t touched a drop, honest!

The background to this piece is Versamagic Purple Hydrangea brushed on with a stencil brush.The script stamp is from the Aspects Of Design Botanicals collection and is inked up with Brilliance Graphite Black as is the letter I from the Marianne Designs set and the pen and dots. Sadly I don’t know the manufacturer of the pen stamp.

That is it, I am now all caught up. Thank you for looking and I wish you all a very Happy Christmas/Holidays x

 

Mail Art

I love Mail Art or decorating envelopes however I hadn’t realised how niche this craft was until I received a decorated envelope through the mail while the chiropodist was here attending to hubby’s feet. She was most puzzled by the whole concept; just couldn’t understand why someone would bother to decorate an empty envelope!!

At Cardmaking Paradise recently we had Mail Art swap and some of our envelopes went winging overseas; always a nail-biting exercise hoping that the piece of art that has been posted abroad will arrive safely. One of my envelopes was posted to New Zealand and the other to a part of the UK; the one that went to NZ arrived at its destination before the UK one did!!

I used a C4 envelope, this is the front of the first one

and the back

Materials used;

Inks – Big and Juicy Mountain Meadow

           Impress Chocolate

          whispers  Rio Purple, Royal Blue, Green Leaf

          Distress Inks Chipped Sapphire, Broken China

          Versamagic Hint of Pesto, Mango Madness, Persimmon

         Memento Dandelion, Rose Bud, Northern Pine

         Versafine Olympia Green, Vintage Sepia, Onyx Black

   Stamps – Crafts Express

                    Cart-US birds on branch

                   Inkylicious Take Flight, Oriental Awakening

                  Craft Emotions Christmas Tree 

                  PaperArtsy Plate HP1005

                  Oxford Impressions

                 Andy Skinner Back to Nature

                KatzelKraft

               Woodware Grasses BD232DE 

 

Second Mail Art:

There is only the front of this second envelope as I deleted the blurred back image and forgot to take another picture! I certainly got carried away with both these envelopes; I must learn that less is more!!!

Materials Used;

Stencils – Dutch Doobadoo Spider Web

                 Memory Box Flower power

                 Imagination Crafts Flourishes & Mini Art

Stamps – Viva Decor Dandelion

                 Flourish (unknown) 

Inks – Versafine Vintage Sepia, Onyx Black

           Distress Inks Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Cracked Pistachio

                                    Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Spiced Marmalade

Sakura Gel Pens

Thank you for looking x

 

 

Granddaughter’s Christmas Gift

I have been working on this for a little while then when I had completed all the cutting and folding I put it to one side, as one does!! Yesterday the book finally made its way to the craft shed where I covered the outside covers of the book with decorative papers, added some metal corners and a bit of ribbon and then made a box for it and ta dah! It is complete.

This is a great way to use those dreadful books that you will never read.  Am now about to start another one for my sister but this time  depicting a cat!

Thanks for looking x

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge

For this fortnight the alpha challenge on Craft Barn is the letter “U”.  A quick look at the entries posted so far show that there are some very original words depicted, sadly mine won’t be one of them – yet again! I think my brain is soaring with the seagulls, do wish it would come home.

The only item slightly (?) original – can you quantify originality??? – is the background stamp which is homemade.  Using dies I cut funky foam into various shapes to use as background stamps. The foam die cuts were mounted onto cushioning such as EZ Mount or Kling On; they do make great background stamps.

Materials Used:

Inks – Versafine Onyx Black

            Archival Jet Black

           Versacolor Old Rose

Stamps – Viva Decor Capital Alphabet

                Katzelkraft Autumn 

 

Thank you for looking xx

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge

It is the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge again and this time the letter is V. My entry is a bit of a cheat in that the V word is generic rather than specific! I must have eaten that dictionary!!

Sorry for the slightly skewed picture.

Materials used:

Inks – Archival Jet Black

Distress Inks – Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Vintage Photo

Sakura gel pens

Coloured pencils

Wink of Stella

Stamps- Craft Stamper free stamps by Imagine That

Art Journey Steam Punk

Viva Decor Capital Alphabet

 

Many thanks for looking xx