Copper and Texture

This is my other ATC for the texture swap. I created the background by sticking various textured items into PVA glue, then painted over it in copper acrylic and added a couple of other metallic colours over the top to pick up the detail. I took a small square of copper sheet, curled the corners, bashed it up a bit with an embossing tool and then heated it until it changed colour. I then wrapped copper wire around it and stuck it onto the background. Finally I added the frog, which is moulded from Makin's Clay and painted with three colours of metallic acrylics, and two small copper brads at the corners.

Some More Bits and Bobs

This is an ATC I made for Bobs' Bits and Bobs Challenge on the DoCrafts forum. Bobs provided the clay face, mesh and foil, and specified that we weren't allowed to add anything else other than inks/paints etc. I created the background using distress inks then stamped the writing in white. I scrunched up part of the foil, applied ink to it and stamped with it in black around the edges. Next, I coloured the rest of the foil using alcohol inks and wrapped part of it around the face. I used an embossing tool to press it in tight to the face. I scrunched up the rest of it then layered the foil and mesh onto the background and stuck the face on top of the mesh.

Some More Texture

This is an ATC I made this afternoon for a texture themed swap. The photo's not too good (I really need to work on my photography skills), and the background has a pearlescent look to it which doesn't show up at all. Also the face and the background behind it are less red and more purple, and the yellowy-looking bits are actually gold. (Anyone want to teach me how to take a decent picture?)

The background is mountboard which I painted texturising medium onto through mesh and sequin waste. I then heat dried it and painted over it with pearlescent ivory acrylic paint and then coloured it using three colours of alcohol inks with some gold mixative. I then inked a piece of fabric in similar colours and sprayed it with gold Cosmic Shimmer Spray. I heated it until it warped and roughed up the edges.

I moulded the face from Makin's Clay and coloured it using the same alcohol inks, then I painted crackle medium over the top and stuck heart gems in the eyes. When the crackle medium was dry I added a bit of gold metallic rub-on to make the cracks show up more.

I thought it needed something more but didn't want to detract from or cover up the background, so I added some small gold brads at the corners.

Think Monday Think ATC: Homophones

This week's theme on TMTA is Homophones - words that sound the same but have different meanings. It seems I'm in a silly mood today, so I've chosen the words Mynah and miner. I think the helmet suits him!

The background is collaged bits and pieces with texturising medium painted through sequin mesh at the corners. I painted over the whole lot with gesso then inked it and added a bit of Radiant Rain Spray in a couple of places and a bit of Stickles at the corners. I then added my image, which is three separate images pieced together, and the words which I printed out and inked around the edges.

Dream

This is an ATC I made this morning. I'm not saying who it's for in case they read it.

I started by cutting the hole in the ATC then created the background using various textured items and painted over them using a mixture of metallic paint and PVA glue which I heated to create even more texture. I added some metallic rub-ons over the top and then attached the sequin waste behind the hole.

I moulded the face and wings from Makin's clay and painted them with silver acrylic . I added silver embossing powder on the face and a bit of blue embossing powder on the wings then added a bit of Stickles. I stuck the wings and face on using silicone glue and added some beads and wire to the bottom.

Finally I added the word dream, which I stamped into three layers of silver embossing powder on a separate piece of card. I added some silver brads at the ends to make it look like it was pinned on.

Think Monday Think ATC - Handwriting

This is my ATC for this week's challenge on Think Monday Think ATC, the theme of which is handwriting.

I started by making an alcohol inked background with a bit of silver mixative, then stamped the handwriting background in teal Stazon ink. I added the paper at the corners, (which also has handwriting on it but it doesn't show up very much on the finished ATC), stamped the postmarks then added the main image, the bus ticket, and the tag which I've coloured using inks. I hand wrote the word "Beautiful" on the tag and added some fibres through the top. Finally I added the button at the top right, which also has fibres threaded through it.

More Mannequin ATCs

These are the rest of my ATCs for Smellihelli's mannequin swap. I made them in pretty much the same way as the first one (below) but with some variations on each one, and I've used a bit of stamping on some of these as well. Guess which one I cheated with the stitching on the fabric on! It was only because the fabric was too thin to hand stitch properly and not because I got lazy, I promise.

Mannequin ATC

Smellihelli is hosting a mannequin themed swap on the DoCrafts forum. This is my first ATC for the swap. I don't know what's wrong with me at the moment, but I keep doing things that are pink and pretty, which is not my thing at all! Anyway, I decided that as this is a mannequin swap I should incorporate some fabric. The torso is moulded from Makin's clay which I painted with gesso and then transferred the image onto it using Mod Podge. I added the wings and attached the beads using wire. I did the background using a piece of book page and a music score print, which I stuck on and then coloured using ink and drew some stitching around the edges. Then I cut the piece of fabric and roughly hand stitched around the edges. I layered on the fabric and lace and then added the torso to make my mannequin. The pole is cut from black card and the legs are hand drawn in black indian ink. Finally, to stick with the mannequin/fabric kind of theme, I tied some fibres through the buttons and stuck them on.

I am very excited, as I went on a bits and pieces buying mission on my lunch hour yesterday. I've found a FANTASTIC fabric swap, Abakhan fabrics in Manchester, where you can buy some great fabric offcuts by the kilo and it's really inexpensive. I didn't have chance to look upstairs so I'm going back again next week! I also called into the Oxfam shop on my way back, where I bought a book to alter. I've never done one before and I know I'll find it difficult as I was brought up in a household where books were treated with as much respect as people, and I still really love them. The thought of cutting into a book or drawing/painting on it makes me feel very uncomfortable indeed. I've also decided that I need to spend at least half a day exploring Manchester's Northern Quarter, as there are lots of arty/crafty/junky type shops which are just my kind of thing!

A Bit More Brown

This is my final ATC for Cazro's colour swap this month. I started with a collaged background that I made from book pages and various printed images, coloured it using Distress Inks and then stamped the watches background over the top in brown Stazon. I then added three layers of clear UTEE, sprinkled a bit of copper embossing powder into it around the edges and stamped the main image into the UTEE.

I'm now working on some ATCs for a couple of other swaps which I should hopefully be able to post on here in the next couple of days if it manages to stay light long enough for me to photograph them when I get in from work!

Think Monday Think ATC: Dancing

This week's theme on TMTA is Dancing, and I couldn't resist using my dancing skelton stamp for this.

The background is one I made a while ago using Twinkling H2Os and clingfilm. It has some shiny bits which unfortunately don't show up very well in the picture. I stamped the cobwebs on the background and stuck the musical notes over the top then inked around the edges. The skeleton is stamped on white card and cut out. I stuck him on and put the star in his hand as I think he looks like he should be holding something. Finally I added the mesh and fibres down the side and the words "Born to Dance".

The skeleton and cobwweb stamps are both by Cherry Pie.

Birthday ATCs!

These are a set of birthday ATCs I've made. As already mentioned I'm very late with all my August birthdays, a combination of a huge lack of inspiration, going on holiday and the fact that I know LOADS of people with birthdays in August and September. I haven't done my early September ones yet, but I'm getting there.

Anyway, I wanted something that was simple but striking with these, and I'm quite pleased with how they've turned out. I made them using the flower stamp that was free with this month's Craft Stamper magazine, which I stamped onto a book page and cut out. I inked the backgrounds in various bright colours and stamped them with a Paperartsy stamp which is one of my definite favourites. I stuck the stamped flowers onto the backgrounds and added sparkly gems in the centres.

I don't think any of these are for people who read my blog (although I could be wrong).

Getting Back on Track

Well, after a two week holiday and a couple of weeks before that when I have no inspiration whatsoever, I'm finally getting back on track and getting back into making things. I've finally done Wendy's journal page and have been catching up with my birthday ATCs (well, I've finished August's anyway).

The ATC on the right is a birthday RAK I made for Dee, which I can now show you as I know it's arrived safely. I started by painting the background black (I never seem to have any black mountboard when I need it!), then I made the Friendly Plastic grid. I covered the background with two layers of UTEE and then dropped some Perfect Pearls into it and added another layer of UTEE over the top. I sprinkled a bit of silver embossing powder into the UTEE and then pressed the Friendly Plastic into it and stamped the word "inspire" into it at the bottom using silver ink. I finally added some Stickles to highlight the word and the star at the top which is Grungeboard coloured with Brilliance Ink.

Think Monday Think ATC - Architecture

My little boy decided to have a sleep this afternoon and I managed to get a bit of ATC time, so I made this ATC for this week's Think Monday Think ATC challenge on the theme of architecture. I love gargoyles, so I had to use one for this challenge!

Metallic ATCs

Cazro is hosting an Olympic Medals swap on the Docrafts forum, the idea being to make ATCs in shades of bronze, silver and gold. Normally I am very organised and make all my ATCs in deadline order, but I love metallics and couldn't resist doing these straight away.
I won't go into too many details of how I made them, but I used moulded heads which I made a while back and altered a bit. The bronze one I made and then ran over with a toy car to get the stripes, the silver one has a mirror frangment embedded in its forehead adn I have reshaped the gold one to make it long and thin and given it antlers made from wire. I stuck them onto textured backgrounds and painted the with acrylic paint.
I've used all kinds of bits and pieces on these including mesh, embossing powder, micro beads, kitchen foil, eggshells and Grungeboard.

Now I need to behave myself and get back to doing my August and September birthday ATCs, otherwise nobody will like me anymore!

I'm Back!!!

I've just got back from two weeks on holiday, and after having a couple of weeks with zero inspiration before I went I'm now raring to go! Sadly I am stuck with all the post-holiday washing and ironing, two little boys who have spent too much time together over the last few weeks and are doing their best to kill each other, and school uniforms etc to get ready before tomorrow. To top it all off, it's my birthday on Thursday and I have to spend the afternoon at a property auction (zzzzzzzzz...).

Anyway, I've been busy the last couple of evenings but unfortunately I can't post pictures of everything I've made because I've been trying to catch up with the birthday ATCs I should've sent out in August (slapped hands for me, but I'd rather send late ones that I like than rubbish ones that arrive on time) and I don't want to post any piccies until they've arrived at their destinations. I'm hoping to get my September ones out before the end of October - hahaha!

The ATC on the left is one I've made for Cazro's colour swap, which is brown for this month. I started with a background cut from a book page which I distress inked and then added texture to one half using tissue paper painted with acrylics. I heat dried this to make it bubble up a bit and then covered it with metallic rub-on. The heart is cut from mountboard, coloured with distress inks and covered with three layers of UTEE which I've stamped into with gold ink.

Bits & Bobs Challenge

This is my (rather late) entry for Bobs' Bits & Bobs Challenge on the DoCrafts Forum. Bobs supplied the watch face, sequins, a piece of acetate and a cardboard disc.

I started by inking the background with distress inks, then stamped and embossed thewatch background. I then alcohol inked the piece of acetate, stamped the watch background on it in Stazon and attached it using brads. I triple embossed the cardboard disc with gold embossing powder and stamped the section of watch face into it then stuck it on along with the watch face and sequins.

Stamping

These are my ATCs for this months swap on the UK Stampers Forum. This month's theme is children.

For the top one I started with an inked background using pale yellow and aqua, inked parts of it through some sequin waste, stamped text in pale yellow and then the swirls in aqua. I then stamped the main image in the middle, masking the lower corners because I didn't want straight edges, and the word love underneath. I stamped the heart on a separate piece of card, inked it in aqua, cut it out and stuck it on. I then added the pieces of mesh at the corners for a bit of texture.
The second one was done in a similar way with the background done using pale yellow and pink, with a bit of brown around the edges to give it a slightly distressed appearance. It doesn't show up in the photo but I also spritzed this one with gold Cosmic Shimmer spray. I then stamped a text and swirly background image in the yellow with bits of pink and a further text stamp at opposite corners using yellow and brown. I stamped the main image in black and then added some gold embossing powder aroud the edges, and finally added a bit of Stickles to the wings to make them stand out.

For the final one, I again started with an inked background, this time in pink and lilac with a bit of darker purple around the edges. I stamped over the background in pale lilac with a lace pattern stamp and then stamped the main image in black. I then coloured some lace using the same inks, added it to two of the corners and added som Paperartsy German Scrap borders. I finally added some layered Prima flowers at the bottom which I attached with a gold brad, and some Stickles on the wings.

Leaves of Green

These are my ATCs for Cazro's colour swap for this month. August's colour is dark green. I wanted these ATCs to all have something in common but I did them all using different techniques.

For the first one I stamped the image into Makin's clay. I did the background by sticking skeleton leaves on with PVA glue then painted over everything with acrylic paint and rubbed a layer of metallic rub-on over the top.

For the second one, I painted the background black then sprayed Radiant Rain spray onto it. I then added a layer of UTEE, embedded skeleton leaves into the UTEE, added two more layers and stamped the leaf into it in gold ink.

For the third I did a Versamark resist background using Distress Ink and stamped the leaf into Friendly Plastic.

For the final one, I inked the background with Distress Ink, sprayed it with Cosmic Shimmer Spray and stamped the leaves onto the background. I stamped the leaf in the middle into Makin's clay and layered it onto some plasterboard tape coloured with metallic rub-on.

I haven't been very productive over the last couple of weeks due to my son's birthday and getting ready for my holiday on 16th August. I'm hoping to be back to normal from early September!

Alice in Wonderland

These are ATCs I've made for an Alice in Wonderland swap which is being hosted by Kathleen on the Docrafts forum. I've wanted these Alice stamps for ages, so the swap was the perfect excuse.

I started with the Tweedledum and Tweedledee one (yes, I know they're Looking Glass characters but I LOVE them, and anyway Kathleen says it's OK). The background is PVA and tissue paper coloured using Radiant Rain sprays. I stamped the image in black Stazon on a separate piece of card and coloured it using watercolours, cut it out and stuck it on then added some mesh, the word Adventures (stamped) and a shiny star brad.

For the White Rabbit I've again used PVA and tissue for the background and also heated it to give a bubbled texture in the middle. I've coloured it with Twinkling H2Os with metallic rubons over the top. I stamped the White Rabbit on a separate piece of card and coloured him with a Sharpie pen, cut him out and stuck him on then added the printed words and some accent beads at the corners.

For the Queen of hearts I started by stamping the hearts on a white background in red and also inking around the edges in red. I added three layers of clear UTEE and stamped the Queen into it, and finally added the words which I did on a Dymo labelmaker.

I love this bit of advice that the March Hare gave to Alice, so I HAD to use it! I did the background using distress inks and gold Cosmic Shimmer spray, stamped the images on a separate piece of card, coloured them with watercolour pencils and cut them out. I stuck them on and wrote the words straight onto the background. I covered it with three layers of clear UTEE with gold embossing powder around the edges. It doesn't show well on the photo but because I stamped the images onto card rather than paper they are slightly raised from the background and this gives a great effect with the UTEE.

Finally, I had to use the Cheshire Cat because he makes me laugh, and I love this conversation between him and Alice. I wanted to try and recreate a bit of the surreal feeling that the book has (for me at least), so I used a background in dreamy colours with a bit of shimmer which I created a while ago using Twinkling H2Os and clingfilm. I stamped the images and wrote straight onto the background for this one, then added a bit of colour to Alice's dress and around the edges using a Sharpie pen. To finish it off I used some gems for the cat's eyes and added some Stickles glitter glue around the edges to frame it.

I was slow getting started with these as I found myself lacking in inspiration even though I had new stamps (!), but once I got started I could have gone on and on with them. I also originally did a Mad Hatter ATC using lots of bright colours but I didn't like it so it ended up in the bin.

Oh No! I Look Like a Man!

I normally work Thursdays but have been off today on strike (I won't bore you with the details). The boys were with the childminder since I'm normally in work, so as I had some rare time all to myself I decided to make the most of it.

The first thing I did was went and got all my hair cut off (I don't recognise myself). Now, I love my children, I really do, but their verdicts when I picked them up tonight were not exactly flattering. Alex is nearly 6. His comments were "You look like a man", and "I hope your hair grows back really quickly". (It's still almost down to my shoulders). Adam (3) has just been giving me funny looks every time I look at him. Matt's not seen it yet, but he'll probably hate it too because he liked it long. At least I like it, and that's the important thing.

The second thing I did was get down to doing to some arty stuff. Firstly I finished the "thing" I've been making for Nicks for her "I Dare You" swap. I'm not putting a piccy of that on here until she's seen it though, and I can't post it yet as I need to wait for it to dry. Two down, two to go. Whew!

Finally I made the ATCs shown here. They're for a swap hosted by Crafty Vonx on the Docrafts forum on the theme "A Touch of Texture" There have to be at least three different textures on each ATC. The top one was done by sticking various textured items onto a mountboard base using PVA glue. The face is moulded using Makin's Clay and then I've pressed some sequin mesh into it. I painted the whole lot black and then dry brushed it in bronze. The crown and hearts are made from metal which I placed on a foam mat and stabbed repeatedly with a needle to texturise it. (I discovered this is a brilliant way to relieve stress!)

For the second ATC I started with an inked mountboard base and stuck sequin waste and fabric mesh onto it. Next I inked up and burnt a baby wipe and tore a piece off it and stuck it on. The square tile is wood which I inked and then covered with three layers of UTEE and stamped the owl into it. I was hoping some of the wood grain would show through but unfortunately I chose a stamp that was too detailed. Also the wood has had an effect that I hadn't expected, and when I left the UTEE to dry it curled up a bit. I thought about taking it off and using a mountboard tile instead, but decided I quite like the effect. Finally I added the button and fibres at the bottom to finish it off.