Yep, I'm still alive! I haven't been feeling very well, hence my lack of posts lately. I haven't done much arty stuff either, which is not good, although I have managed a few ATCs.
These ATCs are for a swap I'm hosting on the DoCrafts forum. Each ATC must have an element of metal, mesh and something messy (eg. paint, ink, etc.)
On the top one, I created the middle section by freehand embossing some copper, heating it until it went all nice and orangey, painting over it lightly in black acrylic and then sanding it lightly with fine grade sandpaper. I created the texture around the edges using extra heavy gel medium, copper mesh and plasterboard tape, painted with copper acrylic and a black acrylic/PVA wash. The words were painted on shrink plastic in acrylic and then shrunk.
The background on the second one was done using two different types of mesh. I painted over it with a thick layer of acrylic and heat dried it to create some texture, then added copper embossing powder around the edges. I made a tile from Makins Clay, which I rolled with a piece of lace on top to create the texture. The face was also made using Makins Clay. I made it in a mould and then pressed a flower bead into it three times, leaving it in place the third time. I painted the tile and the face the same colour as the background, stuck them on and then went over the whole thing with some copper metallic rub-on to bring out the texture.
The background on the third one was done in a similar way to the second, except that this time I dry brushed it with two different colours of acrylic rather than using a metallic rub-on. I used aluminium mesh on this one. The house was stamped onto aluminium which I coloured with alcohol inks and then embossed. I rubbed over it with some sandpaper to bring out the embossed lines and make it look distressed.
The background on the final one was done again using different types of mesh. I painted over it with black acrylic and then covered it with red and gold embossing powder and stamped into it. The main image is stamped onto alcohol inked aluminium and the words and stars were painted onto shrink plastic and shrunk.
These are some more ATCs I made using layers of stamping and lots of ink. (Yes, I now have multi-coloured fingers that won't come clean). The star on the top one is triple embossed chipboard which I've stamped into, and on the bottom one I've used some tiny bits of Stickles to highlight the flowers on the tree.
This is a stamped ATC I made a couple of days ago. I created the background using three colours of ink and the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Timeworks Masks, which I got for Christmas and absolutely love! I stamped some text on the background in turquoise and stamped the main image in Timber Brown Stazon then added some brown around the edges. I stamped the words "tick" and "tock" on separate card and tore them out then inked them in turquoise, and then finally added some turquoise seed beads at the opposite corners.
Well, I just realised I haven't blogged for over three weeks! There are a few reasons for this, but mainly I've been very busy with Christmas and also haven't been feeling too good and have been totally lacking in inspiration. 
The background on the second one was done using two different types of mesh. I painted over it with a thick layer of acrylic and heat dried it to create some texture, then added copper embossing powder around the edges. I made a tile from Makins Clay, which I rolled with a piece of lace on top to create the texture. The face was also made using Makins Clay. I made it in a mould and then pressed a flower bead into it three times, leaving it in place the third time. I painted the tile and the face the same colour as the background, stuck them on and then went over the whole thing with some copper metallic rub-on to bring out the texture.
The background on the third one was done in a similar way to the second, except that this time I dry brushed it with two different colours of acrylic rather than using a metallic rub-on. I used aluminium mesh on this one. The house was stamped onto aluminium which I coloured with alcohol inks and then embossed. I rubbed over it with some sandpaper to bring out the embossed lines and make it look distressed.
