Flowers

I'm still alive!  I haven't blogged for a while because I've been really busy over the Easter holidays.  The boys were incredibly well behaved for once - I don't think we gave them chance not to!  I've had some time off work and we've had lots of days out, so I'm now feeling all refreshed (although I'm sure that feeling will vanish on Thursday when I Go back to work!)

I have still been finding them time to make a few ATCs, and these are some I made for a mixed media flower swap on the ATCs for All forum.  

One day I will manage to sit down for long enough to complete some of the bigger projects I have on the go.  I apologise to the people I owe RR journal pages to.  I'd rather do them when I have a bit more free time than rush them and mess them up!

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!

Playing with Fabric

This is an ATC I made using fabric. I'm still not very good at this, but I keep hoping that one day I'll be able to produce a masterpiece! (Well, there's no harm in dreaming, is there?)

The main image is a gel medium image transfer onto fabric and the background is inked and rubber stamped. I've added ribbon, lace, raffia, a button and a paper flower, and some faux stitching around the edges of the picture using white gel pen (I didn't have the patience for the real thing when I made this one).

Think Monday Think ATC: Cloth and Paper

This is my entry for this week's TMTA on the theme of Cloth and Paper. I wanted to create a traditional looking Christmas ATC for this one.

The main image is a gel medium image transfer onto linen. (The linen an offcut from the bottom of some too-long curtains that I bought a few years ago, and it's proved to be extremely useful.) I'm quite pleased with how soft the transfer has turned out as I think it suits the look of the ATC. The background is a printed image of some Christmas music, which I've coloured using distress inks. I added some printed papers at the corners, some sparkly mesh and a strip of printed paper along the bottom. Then I layered on the main image and some fabric holly leaves with some stick on gems for the berries. Finally I added the star brad at the bottom, and the words which I made using a Dymo label maker.

Playing with Fabric

This is a fabric ATC I made. I used linen which I dyed with inks, lace (also dyed with inks), sparkly mesh, wool and beads. It's all hand stitched.

New Stamps!

I spent yesterday at the Happy Stampers North West show at Port Sunlight, where I had a fantastic day, met up with a few people I know from the DoCrafts forum and bought some nice new things.

These ATCs are for this month's swap hosted by Sam on the UK Stampers forum, the theme for which is "newest stamps", and I made them using some of the stamps and other bits and pieces I bought yesterday.

The background on the top one was made using spray inks and then stamped. I added UTEE over the top and stamped the image into the UTEE. (The white bit to the right is just a reflection).
The background of the second one was created using distress inks and Glitz Spritz spray and stamped. The main image was stamped on aluminium (which I'd coloured using alcohol inks) and embossed. I sanded over the top to highlight the image and added touches of colour using a Sharpie pen.
The third one has a stamped and embossed background (black embossing powder on black card, which I would never have thought of doing until I saw it today at the show but love the effect of). The house is stamped and embossed (also black on black) and then painted using interference paints. It has a shiny metallic finish that doesn't show up on the photo. I've cut the house out and stuck it on raised slightly on foam pads. I thought it needed something in the window so I've added a cut out butterfly.

The final one has a background that I created using spray inks and a water spray. I then stamped a background pattern and the borders. The main image is stamped onto a piece of linen which I also coloured using the spray inks. I cut it out and layered it onto the card over a piece of shiny 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.

Fabric and Fibres

I'm always in awe of people who can create fantastic textile art, the reason being that I can't do it. I haven't got the foggiest idea where to start. Anyway, I had some bits and pieces hanging around so I decided to create something with them in my own way. The background is lace stuck on mountboard and covered with acrylic paint. The face is made from Makin's clay with gems stuck into it. I then added some fibres behind for the hair. The tile behind the face is also made from Makin's clay, and I've pressed a piece of lace into it and lifted it off for the texture, then layered mesh and fabric behind it and added a strip of the same mesh and fabric at the bottom with some fibres and a paper flower with a gemstone centre.

Bits & Bobs Challenge

This one's my favourite of Bobs' challenges so far. Bobs supplied a piece of paper tape measure, a piece of corrugated card, a button and a safety pin. I don't do a lot of fabric work but I thought it would look good with these items and decided to give it a go. I've added a piece of linen, which I hand dyed using reinkers and water (I didn't have any proper fabric dye and didn't want to get any when it's something I wouldn't use a lot), silver thread which I've hand stitched around the edges, a bit of ink, and various ribbons and fibres which I've tied through the safety pin and the button.