FILM STRIPS

 This class is about using film strips as the focal piece on an atc. I have used a couple of film strip dies that I've had for a while and a film strip made from acetate coloured with alcohol inks, then the edges have been given the typical edges using my Cinch Book Binding Machine. The beauty of using the Cinch Machine and acetate is you can make these strips as wide as you like, remembering to keep the scale of your piece in relation to the square holes that are punched along the edges. Alcohol inks make it easy to add your colouring to the acetate and if you make it too dark, a little isopropyl alcohol will remove some of the colour. 

"A mirror with a memory"
(Acetate/alcohol ink overlay)

"Pause button of life"
(The background is from a previous class
where we used watercolour paint to create
stacking shapes.)

"Before"
(An embossed background with the same film strip
die that was used above but with embossing powder
to add the gold texture to it.)

"Life is like a photograph"

"I'm gonna snap
(Acetate overlay with alcohol inks)

"I shoot people"

Finally, a card using the film strip die cut from book paper.

BLACK & WHITE ACRYLIC ACCENTS

 Several months ago, I read about using fluid acrylic paint in a small needle-nose bottle to apply decorative accents to artwork backgrounds. I had some Golden Fluid Acrylic paint and decided to decant some into my tiny 10ml needle-nose bottles to see how it worked. It was wonderful! I have since decanted black fluid acrylic paint as well and the bonus is I haven't had an issue with the tips clogging at all. I have since decanted some of the Liquitex Basics black and white fluid acrylics as well but as these were a matte finish, I added about 30% gloss fluid medium to give it a shine. But if you like the matte look, you could go without doing this step.  I store my bottles upright and always test first on a scrap of paper to make sure it is coming out the nozzle ok, but so far, so good. The beauty of these little bottles and the fluid acrylic is the needle-nose tip is so very small and you can do a tiny dot or line very easily that I can't see you getting from any other method. The slower you go, the thicker and wider the line. You just need to have the patience to let it dry and not try to speed it up by drying it with a heat gun.

"Life is better"

"Let life surprise you"


"Now"

"Seize the day"

Close-up to show the shine of the
black fluid acrylic.

"Find joy"

Close-up to show the dimension and
shine of the white fluid acrylic.

"Stay wild"

Another close-up of the tiny dots
that can be achieved with fluid acrylics.

ACRYLIC PAINT SCRAPE

 This is a fast and easy way to build up your supply of background papers and uses only acrylic paints and sturdy cardstock. Because the paint is applied so thinly, it dries almost instantly so you can keep creating them and stacking one on top of the other. I have used a white 200gsm(ish) card as my substrate and used a variety of paints - Born brand from Officeworks, Jo Sonja, Amsterdam paints (their metallics are gorgeous!) and even colour shift paints. Because this technique is done on plain cardstock, you can even emboss on them as the heat doesn't affect plain cardstock like it does with synthetic or photo paper. This would have to be my favourite go-to background which always looks impressive.

"Pollen"


"Just one life"

"A story of love"

"Dearly Departed"

"No"

"Bright Side"