Make a Moo or Two: The Number 1

This week's theme at Make a Moo or Two is the number 1, to celebrate Make a Moo or Two's first anniversary. There must be a number 1 somewhere on each Moo.

I made my Moos firstly by brushing a thin layer of gesso over the background so that it only partly covered the card, then inked over it using two colours of inks and added some background stamps. I added hearts, wings and a crown to my main images which are cut from book pages and inked, as are the number 1s. I printed the words out from the computer and inked them in the same way, and finally added some tiny pink gems.

Think Monday Think ATC - Rock Music

This week's theme on Think Monday Think ATC is rock music. Despite the fact that I am a big rock fan, I have got no stamps, images or anything else in my ATC stash relating to rock music, so I had to improvise with this one!

I created the background using a leopard print stamp, first inking the card in bright colours, then stamping the background in Versamark and clear embossing it. I then painted over it in black acrylic, left it to dry, put a piece of paper over the top and ironed off the embossed image. I really wanted to use a silhouette for my main image but struggled to find one that was just right, so I found an image of a guitar player, coloured over it with a black Sharpie and cut it out. The word "rock" was typed in Word and printed out, then I inked it, cut out the letters and mounted them on black. I added a chipboard star which I inked to match the background and some bright coloured gems.

Encaustic Art

These are some encaustic art ATCs I did a few days ago. They're the first ones I've done for a while, so I'm a bit out of practice!

Make a Moo or Two - Vintage Love

I haven't joined in Make a Moo or Two for a while and thought it was about time I did, so these are my Moos for this week's challenge on the theme of vintage love.

Little Houses

I've made these for a mini house swap being hosted by Carol (who's just started a new blog), on the Docrafts forum. They are ATC sized, with the whole house (including the roof) fitting inside the size of an ATC.

For the top one, I stamped text on the background, added some texture using moulding paste which I then stamped into, gave it a coat of gesso and inked over it. Then I added the image, lace, buttons, fibres and paper flowers.

The second one has an inked and stamped background and I've created a collage using various printed images, lace, paper flowers and brads.

The next one was done in much the same way as the second, but using a different colour combination.

Finally I created my last house using pewter acrylic paint which I heated to create some texture then dry brushed it in copper. I stamped the images on tissue paper and stuck them on with Mod Podge. Then I freehand embossed some copper for the roof, painted it with black acrylic and sanded it to give it a distressed appearance, and finally added the copper chain and micro beads to finish it off.

Think Monday Think ATC - Ice Blue

This is my ATC for this week's Think Monday Think ATC, the theme of which is ice blue. I decided to use the colour but do a non-icy ATC, plus the shell stamps were sitting in my drawer unused, which wasn't right!

It's an inked and stamped background, with a bit of Cosmic Shimmer spray which doesn't show up too well in the photo. The rest of it is a collage made from various printed images.

Number One

This one's for a numbers swap I've joined. I cut the number 1 from mountboard and then covered it with UTEE and various colours of embossing powder and then stamped into it. Then I wrapped wire and beads around it. The background was done using inks and Cosmic Shimmer spray, then rubber stamped, and I added some silver embossing powder around the edges

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).

Metal ATCs

These are some ATCs I've made for the monthly swap on UK Stampers. This month's theme is metal. The top one is stamped and embossed on alcohol inked copper and the background was done using acrylic paints and stamping.

The middle one is stamped and embossed on alcohol inked aluminium and the background is inked and stamped.

The bottom one was done by alcohol inking a piece of aluminium, stamping the image onto it using archival ink and then wiping over it with a damp baby wipe to
take off the archival ink and leave the negative image. The background is inked and stamped.

Tartan!

These are some ATCs I've made for Cazro's monthly colour swap. This month's theme is tartan. I'm not a fan of tartan, but I've joined the swap every month since it started and I'm not about to stop now! I stamped and embossed the backgrounds on these. I cut the hearts from mountboard and covered them with tartan paper, then added three layers of UTEE and stamped the swirls into it. I don't often use printed papers as I prefer to make my own backgrounds, but I thought I might struggle with tartan without!

Next month's theme is hot pink, and I don't DO pink (although if you look back through my blog you might not believe me)!

...and Some More

The background on this one was done using distress inks and Cosmic Shimmer Spray so it's nice and shiny, although this doesn't show up in the picture. I've stamped three layers over it and added some brads.

Some More Stamping

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.

A Bit of Stamping

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.

I've joined a rubber stamped ATC swap, so there will be more to come shortly!

I'm Back!!!

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.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to receive a melting pot for Christmas (thanks Matt! :) ), and lots of other bits and pieces, so am finally beginning to get some inspiration back (and some spare time too).
The ATC on the left is one of my first experiments with the melting pot. I mixed up some UTEE, silver embossing powder and reinkers, (yes, I know you're not supposed to use reinkers in it, but why would that stop me?). I poured some of the mixture directly onto the ATC and stamped into it. Then when it was almost cool I trimmed the excess off the edges and dumped it back into the melting pot to be used again.I painted the ATC below the UTEE in pewter and then dry brushed over the UTEE with the same colour to pick up the raised bits. I used antique gold metallic rub on over parts of it. Finally, I stamped the words "tick" and "tock" into air dry clay and used the same paint and metallic rub on on those.
It's available to swap if anyone wants it - you can email me from the link in my profile.
I've also done some other bits and pieces with the melting pot, and will put the results on my blog when I've made them into something.

Happy Birthday Cindy!

This is what I made for Cindy for her birthday. I know I'm a few days late saying happy birthday, but I didn't want to post a picture until I knew she'd seen it.

I won't go into full details of how I made it, but I've used rubber stamping, a gel medium image transfer, moulding paste which I've stamped into, acrylic paints, a plastic lizard, fabric, buttons, Liquid Pearls, paper roses, sticky ribbon, a watch face, wire and some micro beads (I think that's everything but there may be one or two other things that I've forgotten about).

Blog Candy at The Artistic Stamper

Jennie at The Artistic Stamper is giving away Advent blog candy every day from now until Christmas Day. Click on the link to the right to go to Jennie's blog and leave a comment for a chance to win.

I am extremely lucky and am today's winner. I'm very excited as I never usually win anything. Thank you Jennie!

Three Ms - Metal, Mesh and Messy

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.

Tags and Awards

I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who have tagged me or given me awards lately and to apologise for not having acknowledged them. I am grateful and very honoured, but I've got two young children and what little spare time I have gets spent doing arty stuff, so I just haven't had time to acknowledge them. Thank you all anyway!

Sian.