Bright and Colourful

I love experimenting with bright colours, and I made these backgrounds using twinkling H2Os and clingfilm (they're shiny in real life). The trees are hand drawn and I've aded some Stickles.

One Extreme to the Other

After all the dark and weird stuff I've been doing lately I thought it was time for a change, so here are a few pretty ones (but a bit grungy too - I CAN'T do proper pretty).

Just to Prove I CAN Still do Cards

This one's for my mum.

...and A Bit More Weirdness

These are some ATCs I've made for a mixed media medical textbook-esque swap on ATCs for All.

I've used inks and stamps on the backgrounds, shimmer sprays, printed images and text, pens and acrylic paints

Some More Skeletons

These are the rest of my ATCs for the skeleton swap. The top one has an inked and stamped background. I've used a printed image of a skeleton and drawn over it in pen because I didn't like the original image. (It wasn't dark enough for the style of the ATC). I added the hair, flower and jewellery which are hand drawn in pen.

The second one has and ink and acrylic paint background. I've used printed images of skeletons and added the hearts which I cut from a book page and inked. I layered more acrylic paint over the legs of the skeletons and added the printed words which I've coloured using ink.

For the final one, I inked and stamped the background, used a printed image of the dancer and a stamped skeleton which I cut out from white card. The words are printed and inked and I added a layer of acrylic paint dabbed through sequin waste at the top and bottom.

Watching You

This is an ATC I made this afternoon. The skull is hand drawn in pencil, and I've used pencil, coloured pencil and pens for the eyes and stuck them on. The background is ink, acrylic paint and rubber stamping.

I've been feeling very creative over the last couple of weeks, so I think I'm finally back on track!

Metal

These are some ATCs I made for a metal swap on ATCsforall. For the top one, I made the heart from Friendly Plastic and stamped into it. I then freehand embossed a piece of aluminium to fit around it and aged it using acrylic paint and sandpaper. The background is acrylic paint, which I heated to make it bubble, and I added shiny mesh, brads and knitted wire.

The second one has an acrylic paint background which I creased a bit to age it. I stamped over it in black Stazon and added some more black Stazon around the edges. I attached a piece of aluuminium mesh using brads. I made the doll's head and dress from aluminium which I again embossed freehand and aged using acrylic paint and sandpaper, made the arms and legs using wire and beads and the hair from bent wire which I attached using a flower brad.

The third one has a textured background which I created using lace and mesh attached with PVA glue then painted over with acrylic and added metallic rub on to bring out the texture. I cut the heart from copper and freehand embossed it, then heated it until it went bright orange. I painted it with black acrylic and then sanded it. I added a piece of aluminium mesh behind and German Scrap wings, and a tiny gem on the top left. Finally I added a German Scrap star border at the bottom.

Number 4 has a background made from mesh and heated copper acrylic paint. I then dry-brushed it with various metallic paints. I added the wire, and the brads which I aged using black Stazon ink and sandpaper. The hearts are freehand embossed aluminium which I coloured with black Stazon and then sanded.

My final ATC has a background which I created using extra heavy gel medium, painted over with black acrylic and then added metallic rub-ons in shades of red and gold. I stamped the image onto copper using Versamark and then heated it. (The Versamark protects the copper, so it changes colour around it but the image remains unchanged.) I then freehand embossed around the image. I layered the image over a piece of aluminium mesh and added some brads to finish it off.

A Fabric ATC

This is a fabric ATC I made yesterday. I started with a felt background and have added fabric, fabric mesh, sequin waste, fibres and beads. I coloured the fabric at the corners and the mesh using inks. I haven't got a sewing machine (yet - it's near the top of my wish list), so it's all hand stitched and it took me about three hours!

Layered Stamping

This is a stamped ATC made with three layers of stamping over an inked and water spritzed background. I added a piece of ribbon and a paper flower at the bottom to finish it off.

Encaustic Art

These are some encaustic art ATCs I did at the weekend. The purple one is on white pearlescent card and the other two are on white glossy card.

Oh, and I just realised it's my blog's first birthday today. I can't believe how quickly the last year has passed!

Design a Cat

For some reason I am struggling to find free time at the moment, so have been making mainly ATCs. (I have three different altered art projects on the go but can't seem to find the time to sit down and get them finished). I have decided to do a few more international swaps, and these are some ATCs I've created for a swap on ATCs for All. The idea of the swap is that everyone uses the same line drawing of a cat and then decorates it in their own way. I enjoyed doing these as it gave me the opportunity to do something bright and funky! The top one is done using mostly acrylic paints and I've used pens just to outline the cat and draw in the features. (I couldn't find a really fine paintbrush anywhere!)

The second one has an inked and stamped background and the cat is painted using acrylics. Again I've used pens just to outline the cat and add the features.










The third one is an inked and stamped background with Radiant Rain spray. The cat is made up of bits of paper patched togehter and I've drawn on the stitching using gel pens.










The final one was done using scrunched paper for the background, acrylic paints, and extra heavy gel medium on the cat. I've added the markings and features to the cat using and artists' pen, and the whiskers using a white gel pen

UTEE, Grungeboard and Friendly Plastic

I recently bought some platinum UTEE, and I have to say I don't know how I lived without it! I LOVE it! (Yep, I know, I need to get out more). These ATCs are the product of my experimentation with the UTEE and a few other bits and pieces.

The top one was done by stamping into the platinum UTEE and then using metallic rub-ons over the top. The letters are Grungeboard which I've covered with copper embossing powder.









The second ATC has a copper acrylic paint background which I've stamped over in black Stazon. The skull and the letters are Grungeboard which I covered with platinum UTEE. I then stamped into the UTEE on the skull and added some Stickles in the swirls.








For the third one I created the background using pearlescent watercolour paints which have a kind of two-tone light reflecting effect (which obviously doesn't show up too well in the photo). I covered with with three layers of clear UTEE and stamped into it with silver ink. I've used a watch face and created wings using Friendly Plastic and added some small gems, and the words are stamped into Friendly Plastic and emphasised with a bit of Stickles.











For the final one, I created the background using distress inks spritzed with water and rubber stamping on one side and acrylic paint which I heated until it bubbled on the other side. I drew the woman using pen and pencil on top of some book text, and the letters are stamped into Friendly Plastic.