KO...OK?

Burnt Distress Stain

2012-01-19T09:55:00.004+08:00

We've just had a restock of all the wonderful Distress Stain colours at Scraptivate, just in time for my next atc technique class....Burnt Distress Stain. The Distress Stain is the base colour for this technique and I'll be using a lemon to burn it...yep, you read it right....a lemon! So the darker bits on these backgrounds are from the lemon. Samples follow...

"Not Wanted"...

"Wild Life"...
"Now what do I do"...

These last 3 are from the previous class Metal Foil Stamping.

"Rapture"...

"Broken"...

and my favourite, "Cutting Edge"...

There will be more samples of the Burnt Distress Stain within the next week as I always create something with the demo's that I show the girls in the classes. I LOVE my Distress Stains!!!

Metal Foil Tape cont'd... & Cali

2012-01-03T09:20:00.006+08:00

Well, 2012 started off in a not so good way for me this year. Our much loved (& spoiled!) Basenji had to be put to sleep on New Year's Day. She'd been going downhill over the last couple of months but the end was very sudden. Considering it was less than 6 months ago when she was last at the vet and he commented that he hasn't seen an 18 year old dog look so good! So no more pets for us, will just have to be content with grandkids when they arrive, no rush Elice & Jarred!!! lol

My new technique book #7 starts this Saturday with Metal Foil Tape for the cover which you can see in the previous post. Here are some samples of this technique on atc's. The first one is for Cali.

"Cali"... (the heart is coloured with Red Pepper Alcohol Ink)

"Zen"...

"Relinquish"...

This next atc is from a previous class we did at the end of last year - Clear Embossing & Gilding Wax. This one is on it's way to you Glenda!

"Dire Warning"...

Here's a couple of pics of Cali...

Grant and Cali when we first got her at 7 weeks of age back in 1994.

Here she is in her prime!

This is the last photo that was taken of her on Xmas Day 2011. She was gone just 7 days later. Happens to every living thing I know but it still doesn't make it any easier. Time is the only thing that settles the heart.

Technique Book #7!!!

2011-12-31T17:31:00.003+08:00

Here it is, 31st December 2011 and I have a mini-post today. I've just finished my cover for the ATC Technique Book #7 which I'll be teaching next Saturday (7th January 2012) at Scraptivate. It's a Metal Foil Tape cover and I've used both the Cuttlebug embossing folders as well as a stamp to decorate it. I've been using this metal foil tape for years now and it's one of my firm favourites! So many things you can do with it and Scraptivate sells it for $1 per metre....what a bargain!!!

This cover is 8" wide x 6" high, or 20.5cm x 15.5cm if you prefer metric. ;-) Click on the picture to get more detail. The little squares and rectangles are done separately and added after. Tomorrow I'll be working on my sample atc's for this class so I'll post again before next Saturday.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2012!

UTEE and My Book!

2011-12-09T16:19:00.005+08:00

Yes, I'm still going on about my book, in case you missed it in the last post....I have my ATC Technique Book finally finished. (To see the front cover check out my previous post here). It has 40 techniques in it for $35, A4 sized with colour sample pics of each technique. Postage anywhere in Australia in a tuff bag is $4 and postage to the US, the UK, most of Europe and Asia is $14 or less (Asia is less than $14). If you want a copy you can either pick it up from Scraptivate where I teach my classes or if you can't get in there, email me on this link and I can organise it for you through the post. I take direct deposit and paypal.

Onto the upcoming and final ATC class for this year...UTEE. For the uninitiated it stands for Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, basically it's a thicker, chunkier embossing powder. Great for giving a really metallic look to chipboard embellishments and I'll be using both black and clear in the class. Samples...

To get in the spirit of Christmas...

"Sweater"... (the frame is embossed with UTEE & stamped)

"Alcohol and Calculus"...(the chipboard embellishment up the top is UTEE embossed and looks very thick and metallic in the flesh)

"Bizarre"... (once again, it's a chipboard embellishment that's coated with UTEE)

"Fashion"... (another UTEE embossed & stamped chipboard embellishment with a little Gilding Wax rubbed over the top to show the detail)

"Antique Love"... (yes, it's a chipboard embellishment, coated with UTEE, stamped & Gilding wax rubbed over to show the details of the stamping)

I also did a card using this technique, the gold section in the centre is UTEE that's been stamped into and laid over the top of the same stamp that was done on white card. Make sense?

This next atc is from the previous class, Transparent ATC's.

"Bite Night"...

Lastly, here's one that was from the second last class, Clear Embossing & Gilding Wax. This one's on it's way to you Barb!

"Constipated people"...

I may not be back here until my next atc class in 2012, the first one is Saturday 7th January so it's only a few weeks. Though I do have one more update to do on my naughty blog....sssshhhhhhh..... Happy Christmas everyone!

Transparent ATC's & MY BOOK!!!!!

2011-11-25T13:06:00.007+08:00

I've finally done it, my atc technique book is printed and ready for sale! It's A4 sized with 40 techniques in it, colour pics on each technique page....all for $35. (Postage in a tuff bag within Australia is $4, postage to the US is $14). Yes, I can do direct deposit as well as paypal. Email me here to order.

The technique for this fortnight is Transparent ATC's using acetate, stazon ink and alcohol inks as well as chipboard frames. To make a normal atc I have used 2 frames back-to-back so you have a completely transparent atc. For inclusion in the technique book the girls are making in class (or for on a card!), one frame is used and then a piece of white or cream card stock is added to the back so you don't lose the alcohol ink/stamp effect on the black background pages in the book.

"Offering"...

"Clarity"...

"ho ho ho"...

Here's the last of the Clear Embossing & Gilding Wax atc's from last fortnight's class.

"Reflection"...

"Treasure"...

"End of life"...

"Ill-fated love"...

Clear Embossing & Gilding Wax

2011-11-07T12:13:00.004+08:00

Seems like forever since I've posted here though I've only missed one fortnight's class while recuperating from a minor operation. I'm fully functional again now so it's straight into the next atc technique that's coming up this Saturday....Clear Embossing & Gilding Wax. I've actually done this technique before but as the girls who attend my classes know, if I've done something before and repeat it, I always put a twist on it so it's new for the old girls and new for the new girls...make sense??? Well it's clear to me anyway.

Gilding Wax is a new product that we'll be selling at Scraptivate. It's like Rub'n'buff, Treasure Gold etc but I love the tins that it comes in. Rub'n'buff has always annoyed me when it dries out in the tube. Not a problem with Gilding Wax. Sometimes these products do dry out but you can reconstitute them easily in the tin by adding a few drops of Mineral Turpentine, not something you can do in a tube! So here's some samples of the new version of this technique.

"Not polite"...

"Recline"...

"Life is the flower"...

"Idiots"... (This is not my opinion of my hubby, I just liked the saying and it matched the crown)

I'll have some more samples of these using stamping in my next post. The above ones are using Cuttlebug embossing folders, but you knew that didn't you!

Here's a couple of samples from the last technique - Texture Paste Backgrounds.

"Change your life"... (I'm waiting for some little handcuff charms to arrive to add to this one!)

"Perfectly Good"...

Finally a couple from the class before Texture Paste Backgrounds - Reflective Microscope Slides. It's extremely difficult to get a good scan or photo of these because of the reflective quality of the foil tape under the glass slide. You'll just have to imagine....

"Laser printer"...

"Opportunity"... (This one's for you Barb, as I said, it's a saying that we can all relate to!)

Now a bit of news about my ATC Technique Book....it's all completed except for the printing. As soon as this last bit is done it'll be for sale through my blog. Will keep you posted!

Texture Paste Backgrounds

2011-10-12T18:15:00.005+08:00

Texture Paste is another one of those products that has been around it seems like forever but it's one of those great standby's for when you're looking for that extra bit of dimension, it's just perfect! I've used texture paste before in my classes, several times in fact but each time I do I try to give it a little twist so the girls who have been doing my classes for several years will still learn something new about an old product. So we have texture paste backgrounds coming up in this fortnight's ATC Technique classes at Scraptivate. Samples below...

"Breath"...
"Dreamscape"..."Wild"...

"Bewitch"...

I'll have more of these to show after I've done this class again.

The atc below is one of the Glue Backgrounds from a couple of posts ago that I've just finished. It's going to be a raffle atc for the Paperarts Yahoo Group that I belong to. Each month we do a WTA (Winner Takes All) Raffle where we submit an atc and then a winner is drawn and everyone in the raffle sends their atc to that person. As a consolation prize as I don't like losers (who does!!!), I also send an atc to the loser too so they don't have to feel bad about not winning. Just a bit of fun and it's the only other atc's that I send out on a monthly basis. Apart from my raffle atc's for each of my classes that is, oh, and also apart from my naughty atc swap I do with Mands each month....come to think of it, I don't do too bad after all.

If you haven't noticed my new blog link up the top right for the naughty blog.....take heed of the warning, but if you're open minded, take a look!

"Fallen"...

Reflective Microscope Slides & Glue Background ATC's

2011-09-26T19:43:00.004+08:00

Yay....I'm actually early with this post! So we'll be using microscope slides for this fortnight's ATC Technique at Scraptivate, but we won't be wrapping them in the normal way AND we'll be making them reflective with foil tape as well. It's why it's kind of hard to see the images in the samples below. Plus I have the final 7 of the Glue Background atc's (yep, loved this technique!!!). Firstly, the reflective microscope slide samples.

"Permanent"...

"Admit Nothing"...
"Too many freaks"...

Now the final Glue Backgrounds. Firstly, my favourite one...

"Every second"...

and my second favourite one... (lol)

"Pointe"...

"Nymph"...
"Failure"...

"Love without passion"...

"Mortal Destiny"...

"Damaged"...

There will be more of the microscope slide ones after my classes as I demo the technique for the girls so I always end up with more. Just need to finish them off after the class is done! The images from these first 3 are from the Itkupilli blog. She has great images! This is the Itkupilli etsy store where I buy them from. I'll have another good link for more collage sheets in the next post.

Glue Backgrounds & more Corrugated Card

2011-09-16T17:11:00.006+08:00

Glue Backgrounds is this fortnight's technique. What a great way to add texture and of course if you paint it after with Golden Paints, the colours are fantastic!!! I've only got two samples to show to start with as I left another 2 at work and haven't scanned them. That will come in the next week or so. Something a bit different with these two, I normally mount my small images onto chipboard for extra height to the cards but I didn't want to take away from the texture of the background so I cut a window and the image is underneath. Nice for a change!

"Sooner or later"...

"Ballet dancers"...

Below are the last few of the Corrugated Card atc's from the last class.

"Observe"... (love the look of the little microbeads in the valleys on the corrugated card!)

"Balance"..."Automaton"...

"Repose"...

That's it until I get some more done. I know the classroom is going to be HOT, HOT, HOT tomorrow with all the heat guns going while we cook the glue! ;-)

Corrugated Card & Faux Leather atc's

2011-09-02T17:10:00.006+08:00

The technique for this fortnight is corrugated card. Love how versatile and grungey this stuff is and how great it can be for masculine atc's or cards. We have it at Scraptivate in 12" x 12" sheets in both the kraft colour and white.

"Desire"... (I've used microbeads in the little channels of the corrugated card for this one)

"Smitten"... (This one has the edges and ridges embossed with silver embossing powder)

"Temptation"... (Just thought you might like to see a pic of my hubby.....lol)

"Voyeur"... (Self explanatory! Card painted with gesso, burnt umber light and silver)

The atc's below are from the last class I taught - Faux Leather.

"Vision"...

"Flagrant"... (This one is almost identical to the one from the previous post but something I did differently with this class was show the girls how to put chipboard under the tape to create the depth. In this case, the chipboard corners from Collections.)

"Disobedient"... (Another similar one to last post though with the little squares that come from the same pack of chipboard corners...waste not, want not!)

"Contracted"... (A chipboard keyhole also from Collections wonderful chipboard products.)

More samples from the Corrugated card class in the next post.

Faux Leather & more Mag Gesso ATC's

2011-08-19T18:12:00.004+08:00

There's a couple of different ways of creating a faux leather look....the way I like to do it is with torn masking tape as a background. Scrubbing some paint on and then rubbing some off again brings out the texture of the tape to create the faux leather effect.

Here's a couple of samples...

"Always know"...

"Flagrant"...

I've actually done another one but am a bit reluctant to post the image. One of my students and I have a private atc swap happening between us, but I haven't posted any of the atc's as it's an "R" Rated swap. I was considering just setting up one of the blogs where you have to click to say "Yes I'm 18 and I want to see this" but haven't done it yet, still not sure if I will or not. Anyway, if you're interested in seeing the faux leather background on this atc (or any of the other "R" ones) and are not going to be offended, email me and I'll happily show you.

Below are the other Magazine Gesso Images from the last class.

"Untitled"..."Desperate"...

"Una"... (Just imagine this one on the front of a birthday card for a teenage girl with a real false eyelash on her eye!!!)

There will undoubtedly be more faux leather ones after the next couple of classes as I always make up samples during the class. Love this technique!!!

Magazine Gesso Images

2011-08-05T20:03:00.005+08:00

Using magazine images and altering them has been around for a while. It's a technique that I've taught before in my atc classes and there's nothing that scares the girls more than knowing they have to actually "draw"!!! Not hard to do though, you can stick fairly close to the imagery and simply change the colours or you can go all out and totally alter the picture. I'm a bit of a traditionalist and don't change things up much....yep, strange I know! Anyway, here's some samples.

"Potential side effects"...

"A true story"...

"For rent"... (yep, tacky huh!)

"Relative's"...

"Clue Deficit Disorder"...

More to come.....

Intaglio Shrink Plastic

2011-07-22T17:10:00.005+08:00

Shrink Plastic has been around for probably decades in the stamping industry. Great product and always a treat for people who haven't been exposed to it before. Of course, the worst thing that happens is it occasionally gets stuck to itself....always when you've done a great job of colouring and stamping and everything looks wonderful....'til it sticks! A light dust with talc and brush off the excess before you shrink and it shouldn't stick anymore!

For this technique I'll be teaching the Intaglio method of stamping into shrink. In other words, shrink first, stamp after. A nicely impressed piece of shrink plastic is the result. Of course because you are stamping after shrinking, the stamped piece will be the normal stamp size instead of shrunk, so take this into consideration. Some samples.

"Side Effects"...

"Bound"...
"Underwater"...

"Organically Grown"...

There will probably be more of these shrink plastic samples in my next post coming up after my other two atc classes on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

The atc below is my final one from the previous technique, credit card backgrounds. Love the colours in this one.....first coat was Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold (Golden Paints), then Carbon Black (Jo Sonja) and finally Titanium White (Jo Sonja).

"Lustful"...

Finally, an atc from a couple of techniques ago - Hammered Chip. It's the frame that's been dusted with the Perfect Pearls and then hammered to give a textured surface.

"Delicate Creature"...

Credit Card Technique Book Cover #6

2011-07-09T07:27:00.003+08:00

So begins another ATC Technique Book....#6 which will have a dozen different techniques in it. The cover for this one is one of my old favourites, Credit Card Technique. Wonderful way to use paint to create an awesome background. I've kept this fairly simple to showcase the technique, just a few chipboard numbers that have been painted with black and then rubbed with Treasure Gold, a little flyscreen and some washers.

"Cover"... (8" x 6" in size)

Some atc's with credit card technique as the background.

"Ransacked"...

"Male"...

"Perfect Person"...

"Portrait"...

Watercolour Stamping

2011-06-24T17:47:00.004+08:00

The technique for this fortnight's atc class is Watercolour Stamping. I did this technique several years ago and it's always such a simple but spectacular look that I had to revisit it for the benefit of the newer girls in my classes. The better quality crayons work best - Lyra or Caran d'Ache - as they have more pigment in them and produce a more vivid coloured image. Of course, the old stand-by of Ranger Distress Inks work perfectly for this technique too!

"Stay Calm"...

"Damaged by seawater"...

"Arise"...
"Beyond the city gates"...

More samples to come!

Hammered Chip, Stringy ATC's

2011-06-11T07:35:00.006+08:00

Hammered Chip is the current ATC Technique class I'll be teaching this fortnight. It makes the humble chipboard shape look more like hammered metal using Perfect Pearls, black paint and either a texture hammer or the end of a paintbrush.

The first couple of samples I've also shown a close-up of the chipboard pieces so you can see the texture more clearly.

"Cine-matic"...

"Disreputable"...

"Like a Star"...

"Organically Grown"...

"Peace"...

Here are some more samples from the Stringy ATC Class as well...the first one is actually an atc that's been attached to the front of a card. Just shows that you can do something else with your atc's besides just make them as atc's!

"You Own My Heart"... (card)

"Bionic Robotic"...

"Art is not a thing"...

That's it for now though I'll probably have some more Hammered Chip samples to show in the next post.

Stringy ATC's

2011-05-27T15:40:00.003+08:00

Stringy ATC's is the technique for my next class. Very grungey, painty and textural. Those girls in my classes who don't like paint under their fingernails and hate having to peel away gel medium from their fingertips......tough - this will challenge you as it's a bit messy but I'm sure you'll enjoy the results!

So it involves basic white card stock, gesso, paint, possibly some stamping with Stazon, string, gel medium (both gloss & matte) and images that are mounted on a glob of the matte gel medium to give extra height and dimension. Samples.....

"Voice Synthesizer"...

"Make-believe"...

"Make-believe" close-up... (this shows the dimension from a side angle)

"She Eloped"...

"The marshalls"...

I'll have more samples as the classes continue, tomorrow is the first one (28th May), then Tuesday night and finally Thursday morning. I don't think I've ever said as little in a blog post as this one!!! ;-)

Glass Bead Gel

2011-05-26T08:10:00.005+08:00

Yes, I know, I'm late with this post! Better late than never and all that... so the last class was using Glass Bead Gel. I used it both over images in a thin layer as well as on the background itself then applied paint or glimmer mist when it had dried. Another way is to apply the glass bead gel directly to gloss card and when dry, use alcohol ink on the card and the glass bead gel....a very different look! Because of the nature of the glass bead gel the following scans look quite blurry, much better in the flesh! ;-)

"Aqualung"...

"Muse"...

"Heroine"...

"Exuberance"...

"Solitude"...

My next class (this Saturday 28th May) is Stringy ATC's. The post will be done TOMORROW!!!! Yep, in time for the girls to see what they'll be doing in the classes. Just a couple of finishing touches needed for the samples and they'll be ready to go on the blog.

Distress Stains, Watercolour Backgrounds classes

2011-05-03T11:05:00.004+08:00

The current atc class that I'm teaching at Scraptivate is making backgrounds using the new Ranger Distress Stains. Only available in 12 colours presently, I'm sure the other 24 will be out at some stage in the future. My only wish is that Spun Sugar was not released in this first lot, it should've been Victorian Velvet....hopefully it'll come out soon! Not a big fan of fairy floss pink but the Victorian Velvet colour is just gorgeous!

I've been doing the backgrounds on both gloss and matte card stock and the difference is amazing! Personally love it on gloss more, but for quick and easy colour, nothing beats the Distress Stains.

"Artistic"...(gloss card - Wild Honey & Dusty Concord)

"Life is Change"... (gloss card - Forest Moss & Broken China)

"Voyeur"... (matte card - Vintage Photo & Broken China)

"Sleep"... (matte card - Fired Brick & Walnut Stain with Fired Brick splats)

The last class was Watercolour Backgrounds and I didn't get around to uploading any pics so here they are.

"Wild"... (Lyra watercolour crayons)

"Clean the guns"... (Lyra watercolour crayons)

"Diabolical"... (Twinkling H2O's)

Lastly, here's a couple from the 3rd last class - Shimmer Spray Backgrounds.

"Zombie"... (Peeled Paint Distress Re-inker & Antique Gold Perfect Pearls)

"Archway"... (Broken China Distress Re-inker & Pewter Perfect Pearls)

Cuttlebug Embellishments

2011-03-19T07:47:00.005+08:00

The Cuttlebug Machine has been around for a few years now and I don't know of anyone who has bought one that hasn't just loved it! For adding embellishments to atc's, it's excellent. Whether you're using the embossing folders to emboss chipboard pieces or shapes, or embossing the background papers for added texture, or using parts of the various die-cut shapes and colouring them with different techniques, it's all quick and easy...my kinda technique!!!

Firstly though, here's the last one from the previous technique - Shimmer Spray Backgrounds. This was made using Broken China Distress Re-inker, water & Turquoise Perfect Pearls. It was sprayed on a black background so you don't actually see the Broken China dye colour, just the gorgeous shimmer of the Turquoise P/P. Love this fish stamp too! (The black diagonal thing on the front is a piece of black bridal tulle that's been heated with a heat gun to melt/distort slightly and stapled on....it's to represent the netting of the fish in the ocean. I know, you just NEEDED to know that didn't you!!! lol)

"Pursuit"...

Onto the Cuttlebug samples.

"Nature Study"... (corner off-cut of "Dandelion" cuttlebug die that's been embossed & painted with Smooch Inks then added a little Milled Lavender Distress Stickles)

"Despair"... (piece of "Peacock" coloured Ten Second Studio Metal cuttlebug embellishment up the top)

"Architect/ure"... (off-cut of "Ironworks" cuttlebug die scroll that's been embossed with Verdigris embossing powder)

"Vintage Dreams"... (background Shimmer Spray that's been embossed, up the top is a piece of Ten Second Studio Metal embossed and an off-cut of a Cuttlebug circle die that's also been embossed)

"Spiritual"... (section of "Ironworks" Cuttlebug scroll die painted with acrylic metal paint)

There is no atc class in a fortnight's time as I'm going to Rotto (Rottnest Island) for a 10 day break with hubby & brother-in-law & his wife. 10 days spent relaxing, reading and just generally chilling. The next atc technique class will be on Saturday 19th of April and we'll be doing watercolour backgrounds, using watercolour crayons and Twinkling H2O's!

Shimmer Spray Backgrounds

2011-03-04T20:38:00.007+08:00

This is one of those techniques where you just can't see the effect on the computer. A similar effect to Glimmer Mists but you have the advantage of using the 36 colour range of the Distress Re-inkers and the whole range of Perfect Pearls to mix and match to your heart's content. I sprayed mine onto ivory, buff and black card stock and the colours are amazing! Love having multiple uses for products, re-inkers and perfect pearls can be used several ways and it makes having all the colours that much more necessary......well okay, in my little world anyway. ;-)

"Stylish"... (Broken China re-inker & Turquoise Perfect Pearls). Another twist to this one is to use white embossing powder first before doing the spray thing as the embossing will act as a resist.

"Forbidden"... (Brushed Corduroy re-inker & Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls)

"Melancholy"... (Weathered Wood re-inker & Pewter Perfect Pearls)

"Falsetto"... (Brushed Corduroy re-inker & Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls)

More of these samples to come.

Here's the last couple of Distressed Coloured Gloss Card atc's from the last class.

"Menopausal"...

"Something Wicked"...

Distressed Coloured Gloss Card Class

2011-02-18T19:22:00.005+08:00

The technique for this fortnight's set of classes at Scraptivate is Distressed Coloured Gloss Card. Now I know that everyone just loves the Ranger Distress Inks so much, especially since there are 36 gorgeous colours. I have 35, the only colour I just can't get into is Dried Marigold...think it has something to do with a bridesmaid dress I had to wear when I was 15 and it was just hideous!

So to add colour your gloss card with the Distress Inks is simple, take a piece of the Ranger Cut'n'dry Foam (4cm x 3cm is perfect!) and load it up with the distress ink and apply to a piece of gloss card in a circular motion. This way you can just buy white gloss card and you can alter the colour to any of the wonderful distress inks that are available! I go a step further in this class....water! It creates a blotchy distressed looking background that works just beautifully with the Black Stazon Ink Pad and your favourite stamps.

"Skeleton"...

"Passageway"...

"Formal Attire"...

"Exhibitionism"...

WARNING......naked male butt coming up!!!...... Here's the last sample from the previous class - Ten Second Studio Metal run through the cuttlebug and then alcohol inked. This is the background, and how could I possibly resist putting this particular picture on it. I ask you, how could I possibly resist!!! ;-)

More samples of the Distressed Coloured Gloss Card class to come.

Metal Embossing Name Tags, Art Doll & CD Book Cover

2011-02-06T16:47:00.008+08:00

My computer is finally fixed and after many hours re-installing programs I'm ready to go again. Somebody should shoot those stupid people who write viruses that lurk in the atmosphere just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting people like me!!! (Yes, I have a good anti-virus but unfortunately I'm not the only one to use my computer and I KNOW not to click on any of those little annoying pop-ups that promise faster computer speeds, only to infect you with something that you have to pay to have removed.)

So the first Metal Embossing Name Tag & ATC Class went really well on Saturday. Two more times to go - Tuesday night and Thursday morning and I'm sure those girls will love their little name badges as much as the others on Saturday did. One of the best things about my classes is how much pleasure I actually get from seeing the fantastic things the girls come up with when they stretch their creative wings....loved Robin's "Peacock" (an amazing aqua colour) Ten Second Studio Metal & Espresso alcohol inked, Tree embossed and owl charm name badge...awesome!

Here are the couple of name badges I made as samples.

Badge #1 (Cuttlebug Clockworks embossing folder and some watch pieces)...

Badge #2 (Cuttlebug Tiny Mosaic Texture, skeletons (from Scraptivate) and a fuse!)

ATC Sample...

"Serenity"... (Cuttlebug Moroccan Screen with Ginger & Pearl Alcohol Ink)

More of these ATC samples of this technique to come.

This particular technique is the second one in my ATC Technique Book Classes at Scraptivate, the first technique and book cover was the Stamping/Colouring on CD's. This is the cover of my book...

"Cover"...

Some close-ups...

"CD with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in "Waterfall", stamped with Ophelia stamp (using Stazon)"...

"CD with alcohol inks (Rust & Stonewash & a little Denim)"...

"CD with a light coat of pale blue acrylic paint, wiped off in areas to reveal the holographic effect of the cd, with a bit of copper paint for contrast"...

On another note, I'll be teaching my Art Doll Class again starting this Saturday, 3 classes of 2-1/2 hours each. The first time I taught this I made a full-size doll along with the girls in the class and I had already made a fully completed sample before that class. So the last time I taught it I thought my version would be a little smaller. Less beading to do that way and they still get to see what effect you can get with beading, stamping, colouring and burnt organza/tulle. I kind of like the little version, she's only around 6" in length (15cm) so I think I'll be doing that one again! Here's the smaller version...

A stamped face attached with beads...

I teach the girls a freestyle beading technique that can become VERY addictive! How many beads can YOU add to the one strand??? lol

This is the back view with the wings made from the burnt organza and tulle...

So there you have picture overload for a while, more of the Ten Second Studio Metal Embossing atc's to come. ;-)

Metal Embossing...

2011-02-04T22:41:00.003+08:00

Just a quick update to say I have no update at the moment! My stupid computer picked up a virus and it's currently residing at the computer hospital so my pics of the next ATC Technique Class - Metal Embossing - is going to have to wait until I have said computer back. I can tell you that the Metal Embossed Name Badges I've made and the Metal Embossed atc's look great and I'm sure the girls in tomorrow's (Saturday) class are going to love how easy they are. Check back in a few days and hopefully all will be well again. I really HATE having computer issues, it makes you realise how much you take it for granted when it just works.

Stamping & Colouring on CD's

2011-01-22T07:54:00.004+08:00

...and so begins another year! This first class that I'll be teaching at Scraptivate is the cover of ATC Technique Book #5 - Stamping & Colouring on CD's. I can't show you the cover yet as it has beads on it and needs to be photographed as opposed to scanned. Below are the first 3 samples of this particular technique.

"Kiss"... (alcohol inks in eggplant and pesto to colour the cd)

"Reflection"... (Glimmer Glaze in Cowboy to colour the cd)

"Eternal melancholy"... (Glimmer Glaze in Waterfall to colour the cd)

You need to heat the cd before you try and cut it otherwise it will either shatter or you'll lost the silvery reflective coating that gives it the holographic look that you want. I applied colour in three different ways - ordinary acrylic paint, alcohol inks and also the Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze. All available at Scraptivate of course! The glimmer glaze works on acetate and metal too!

When I post a picture of the front cover you will see the 3 different methods that I have used for colouring the cd's. You colour the side of the cd where the cd is actually written on.....that is, not the side that has images and other information of a purchased recorded cd. Hope that makes sense? Questions???....ask away. ;-)

Painting with Babywipes

2010-12-11T07:24:00.005+08:00

This is a background technique that I'm teaching at the atc techniques classes I teach at Scraptivate. It's the final technique for this year and the current technique book, Number Four. In January we start Technique Book Number Five!

I work onto plain white card stock and use babywipes for the painting instead of paintbrushes. It gives a very soft look to the paints and a different look to the normal painting of acrylics on cardstock.

"Delicate"...

"Discover"...

"Envision"...

"What you are"...
"Voyage"...

On another note, I have an atc techniques article being published in the next issue of the Aussie Magazine "Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft", Volume 16, Number 10. There should be around 8 or so techniques with pictures. Hopefully the instructions will be detailed enough for you to have a try at some of them.

More Smooch Ink Goodness

2010-12-03T15:52:00.006+08:00

I took advantage of one of my students in my Saturday Smooch Ink Class - Mandy, as she's a wonderful artist who does brilliant shading and colouring. She very kindly showed the girls how she gets the best out of her Smooch Inks and below are her samples. Mandy also let me raffle off one of her sample atc's between all the girls who took part in the 3 Smooch Ink Classes. Congratulations to Louise! You're a lucky girl to get this atc as it was coveted by everyone who saw it. These next 5 atc's are all made by Mandy.

"Love and Devotion"... (this was the one EVERYONE wanted - love those Stampotique stamps!)

"Dysfunctional"...

"Shimmer"...

"Untitled 1"...

"Untitled 2"...

"Embrace Life"... (this one was to show the girls you don't have to just colour with the Smooch Inks, you can simply use them to edge a picture and also smudge the ink around the edge of a black border on an atc. It also colours German Scrap and metal as well!)

Now we all have to wait another week or so for more Smooch Inks to come in at Scraptivate, the girls in my atc classes bought just about everyone of them in the store...and we had heaps! Not anymore...lol. The next atc class is Painting with Babywipes, another great background technique.

Smooch Inks!

2010-11-25T08:21:00.005+08:00

Smooch Inks come in what would have to be the best looking packaging for a craft product that I've seen in a long time. They look especially great when you have a dozen or so all lined up together and of course the colours are such that you just can't stop at buying only one! For the upcoming atc technique class we'll be using the Smooch Inks to colour stamped images. They blend together beautifully and with the fantastic colour range, there's something to suit every taste...and stamp. I am lucky enough to have Mandy Herring doing a demo on how she colours faces using the smooch inks during my Saturday morning atc class, she does a wonderful job....which is why I asked her to show her talent! Thanks Mandy, much appreciated. :-)

"Blood Night"... (Cherry Pie stamp)

"Muse"... (Lost Coast Designs stamp)

"Unfurl"... (Stampers Anonymous stamp)

"Discover"... (Lost Coast Designs stamp)

"Create Joy"... (same stamp as above but different colours - Lost Coast Designs stamp)

"Enchantment"... (for this one I embossed with gold on a black card, then added the smooch for colour - Stampers Anonymous Stamp)

"Destructionist"... (with faux wax around the edge...love that stuff!!!)

That's it for the moment, might have some more samples after my 3 classes.

Altered Acetate

2010-11-13T07:37:00.005+08:00

This class is all about alcohol inks, acetate and the wonderful little machine called a Cuttlebug. The acetate is alcohol inked first, then run through the Cuttlebug with different embossing folders and attached to the front of atc's that have been stamped, possibly coloured, maybe even a soot technique background. I use my little Tim Holtz Stapler to attach the acetate even though acetate for me is usually attached with a xyron. As the embossing folders create depth in areas on the acetate the xyron doesn't work as well for this technique. Stapler to the rescue! Of course, you colour in your little rows of staples using a permanent marker (sharpie or Bic Mark-it) so it's all colour co-ordinated.

Firstly though, here's another couple of Fusible Film/Angelina Film samples from the last class.

"Life is too short"....(this was done with the Watermelon Angelina Film.....SO not my colour so I altered it a bit by dry-brushing with burgundy and lilac paints.....much better colour!)

"Untitled"... (this one has the angelina film attached to a chipboard border, then heated to create the holes)

Now the Altered Acetate samples...

"Soar"...

"Naturalist"...

"Support System"... (this one is the acetate placed over a soot background)...

"Secret of Life"...

"Just live it"...

"Red gush"... "Perverse"...

"Traverse"...

The next class will be Smooch Inks!

Metallic Crackle Background

2010-10-30T07:20:00.006+08:00

The technique this fortnight that I'll be teaching at Scraptivate is Metallic Crackle Background using either Lumiere paints or Plaid Metallic Paints (both available at Scraptivate of course!). The Lumiere's work absolutely beautifully on the dark background and it's surprising the difference between the Halo colours (Halo Violet Gold, Halo Blue Gold and Halo Pink Gold) when used on black card stock compared to the white card stock.

"Renewal"... (This is Halo Violet Gold on white card stock)

"Passageway"... (Halo Violet Gold on black card stock)

"Miracles"...

"What you are"...

"Miracles"...

"Essence"...

"Charm"...

I'm not very talkative this morning....gotta get going.....classes await!

Angelina Film/Fusible Film/Fantasy Film

2010-10-13T21:05:00.006+08:00

Yes, this particular product has a few different terms. They all mean the same thing, a sheer and shimmery product that produces an awesome effect when you glue it to either black or white card stock, chipboard, whatever....then heat it with a heat gun and watch the colours change! Comes in an array of colours and the effect will alter depending on whether you use a light or dark background. This is the upcoming class for the ATC Technique Book #4 I'm teaching over the next fortnight at Scraptivate.

Remember, this is a product that must be seen in real life to be appreciated. Sometimes it's a bit glitzy for my dark and sombre tastes but you can either use less of it (as in the frame style below - "voluptuous"), or you can give it a light dry-brush with paint (as in "chaos").

"Well behaved women"...

"Voluptuous"...

"Chaos"...

"See, speak, hear"...
"Untitled"...

The last class I taught was Stamping & Beading on Fabric. We used both hand-stitched beading as well as microbeads. Here's the last few samples from that particular class.

"Relic"... (microbeads)

"Life's Blood"... (hand beading)

Scraptivate now stocks the beautiful Smooch Inks. I'll be using these in an upcoming class and below is a sample of what can be done with them. The Smooch is the colouring on the background and the fluid embellishment around the edge is from the Faux Wax class previously taught.

"Destructionist"...

Stamping & Beading on Fabric Class

2010-10-01T19:19:00.004+08:00

The next technique that's coming up in the ATC Technique Book #4 is Stamping & Beading on Fabric. We'll be stamping (obviously!) onto calico, then colouring using Twinkling H2O's and Lyra Watercolour Crayons AND some beautiful highlights using the delightful Smooch Inks (all available at Scraptivate of course!), then doing some hand-beading. Some of the girls find the hand-beading a little daunting as they are new to it, so I've relented this time and we'll also be using some of the wonderful Martha Stewart Microbeads as well!

Some samples....

"Fly"... (microbeads and the oft-used Dragonfly stamp from Stampers Anonymous)

"Collector"... (microbeads)

"Pose"... (microbeads and a Stampotique Stamp)

"Dark Night"... (hand-beading, swarovski crystals and smooch ink as the accents on her wings - Angel stamp from Stampotique....so glad Natalie got this range of stamps at Scraptivate, love 'em!!!)

"Glamour-puss"... (hand beading and another Stampotique girl - Prom Queen!)

Tomorrow is the final day for the Art Doll that I'm teaching at Scraptivate. Last class we did the beading and I'm hoping the girls got their homework done in the last two weeks. Tomorrow we're working on the organza burning for the flowers (yep, I said it without a shudder this time....I'm making progress...lol), they will be shabby though. Nothing like a little flame and scorching heat to sort flowers out I say! I'll take my camera so I can show in an upcoming post some of the various ones the girls have made. I'm sure they'll be wonderful!

Marbling Technique ATC's

2010-09-16T21:50:00.006+08:00

Coming up on Saturday is the Marbling background technique for the girls in my atc technique book class. This is the marbling that's done with shaving cream and re-inkers. Another old-style technique that's been around forever but depending on what colours you use, it can be vibrant or subtle. Here's the samples...

"What is nature"...

"Portray"... (the chunky looking flourish at the top is new Martha Stewart micro beads in a chocolate colour that we've just got in store at Scraptivate. These come in just beautiful colours and for only $7.95 for a huge jar that will last forever! I used Glossy Accents to go over a flourish stamp and just tipped the micro beads on, flattened them to adhere to the Glossy Accents, tipped off the excess and just let them dry...gorgeous!)

"Big Bad Wolf"... (yeah, had to get some sort of a vampire thing happening...lol)

"Sensation"...

"Temptation"...

"Life is too short"...
"Nothing risque"...

In my next post I'll put up some pics of the marbling atc blanks without any pictures on them so you can see how cool they look before you even to anything to them. It'd also make great card backgrounds too!

Part 2 of the Art Doll Class is on tomorrow afternoon after the atc class in the morning. Tomorrow the girls are going to learn a few different ways of beading, picot, fringing and a freestyle beading technique that I know is going to test their patience but they'll love the final effect. I'm thinking of making some mini-art dolls so stay tuned....might even give some kits away!

Art Doll Class & Soot technique

2010-09-03T17:25:00.007+08:00

Yay, I'm back online and it sure makes you realise how much you rely on the internet to keep you in touch with everyone! So I now have my art doll finished and the pics are ready to be shown......

I'm teaching this art doll at Scraptivate and I'll probably be repeating this class another couple of times - once during the day over 3 sessions and another weekend series of classes. This doll is made over 3 classes of 2-1/2 hours each. The girls will be doing everything from scratch, from tracing the pattern to freezer paper, ironing it to the fabric, stitching the body, turning, stamping, colouring then stuffing - all this on the first day! The 2nd class is beading and the third class is all about the organza decoration.

This is the back view of the "hair"...

I'm also teaching the soot technique again tomorrow morning at the ATC Technique Book class. Another of those old techniques that have been around forever but is just simply spectacular and oh so simple!

"Haunt"...

"Gaze"...

"Blossom"...

"Fragile"...

Hope the girls bring a good dose of patience with them for the art doll class tomorrow as well as their sense of humour....which I shouldn't worry about as we usually have a pretty fine time with lots of frivolity and a little naughty humour. ;-)

A quick update...the art doll

2010-09-02T15:47:00.003+08:00

Just a quick update....the art doll class starts on Saturday (4th Sept) and I have loads of photo's on my camera but unfortunately, my internet connection is down and I can't upload them. Hopefully it'll get sorted tomorrow (Friday 3/9) and I'll be able to put the pics up before the class. I also have the soot atc class in the morning so will be posting the pics of those too! But it was the art doll that I was most excited about.....stupid internet..... ;-( I'll probably be running the art doll class possibly another 2 times - one again on a Saturday afternoon for 3 Saturday's and then again on a Tuesday morning for 3 in a row. Some girls just can't DO weekend classes because of family/sport etc commitments so we have to try and accommodate them when we can.

Back soon....hopefully!

p.s. I'm accessing my blog from work...thanks Natalie. ;-)

Shrink Plastic Revisited & Faux Wax & a cake!!!

2010-08-20T15:30:00.009+08:00

Addition.....scroll right down the bottom for a 5 minute microwave cake recipe.....

I'm revisiting Shrink Plastic for my class tomorrow. I have had a bit more of a play with it since I last taught this class back in early 2009 because I like to do something fresh for the girls who've done previous classes with me. It's also nice to introduce the newer girls who've not been amazed by some of the older products and techniques that have been around for a while.

For this first one I've combined 2 different new techniques that I haven't shown before....I coloured a piece of white shrink with one of the Tattered Angels Glimmer Chalks - of course it won't dry as shrink is a plastic surface but by the time you've heated it, all is good and it dries wonderfully. The second thing I did with this particular piece was no stamping beforehand, just spray with the glimmer chalk, shrink it down and then while it's still hot and soft, stamp into it with a stamp with black stazon. Gives a wonderful textural element as well as a soft matte finish.

"Post-script"...

"Enter"... (this is a terrible scan, it's because there's the shrink plastic door on top of foil tape on chipboard, on top of flyscreen, on top of the background....too much height for the scanner to cope with, sorry)

"Vision"...

"Doors"... (the stamped words are Stazon silver metallic ink on black shrink - you can actually read the wording irl but because of the silver ink, it's throwing the scan off)

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WARNING!!!! Naked male backside coming up.....if you don't want to look, scroll and close your eyes....

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"Work in progress"...

Below are the last few Faux Wax atc's from the last class.

"Kiss"... (the background of this one is from the Metallic Cardstock class, technique described in the previous posting)

"Dance"... (the gold sparkles on the background is Jo Sonja Gold Dust. I've described this product before but this is the first photo where you can actually see it!)

"Bloom"...

Dreams"... (this background is from the upcoming Soot class)

"Weird Desire"... (another soot background)

I've also been working on my fabric art doll. This will run over 3 classes of 2-1/2 hours each at Scraptivate and the girls will be making it from scratch - from tracing the pattern, stitching (on a machine) around the body, turning, stamping, colouring, stuffing, beading and embellishing. It will certainly be an exercise in patience for them. The head alone has about 90 small burnt organza flowers on it....yes, FLOWERS (though they are shabby ones). I'm about half done with the embellishing and when it's complete I'll post pictures. The class is in 2 weeks time (4th September is the first class) and I may run it a second time if the numbers warrant it. This is certainly something out of the norm for most of these girls and I hope they enjoy it as much as I think they will.

I may even have one of these for a give-away on my blog....all things going to plan!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons S R flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

A small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

Instructions for Metallic Cardstock

2010-07-31T08:55:00.005+08:00

As promised in the previous post I'm detailing the instructions on how to make Metallic Cardstock. First, the last few samples...

"Delicate"...

"Entwined"...

INSTRUCTIONS - metallic card stock

To make the metallic cardstock you'll need one of those clear plastic sleeves that are found in display books, also some metallic paint - I use Folk Art Metallic and Jo Sonja metallic colours, a brayer and some plain white and black unpatterned card stock.

First slit open the right hand side and bottom of the clear plastic sleeve so it will open up like a book with one side still attached. Open the plastic sleeve and put a few small drops of a couple of different colours of metallic paint on the right hand side in the centre of the plastic sleeve. Don't put the colours on top of each other, leave a couple of centimetres between them.

Close the sleeve and gently brayer the paint so it smooshes together slightly, leaving some distinction between the colours - don't blend it all the way. Then open up the plastic sleeve and place two pieces of plain cardstock - back to back - on the smooshed together paint. Close the sleeve again carefully and then brayer again (gently) on the front side of the cover. Open up the cover again and take out your two pieces of beautiful metallic cardstock!

Lighter colours of metallic paint work wonderfully on black card stock and darker colours of course look great on the white. Though do experiment.....this is one of the things I love about teaching my classes, my students do experiment and as I can't possibly try ever little permutation of each technique, they do and there are some wonderful results! Let the card stock dry and use as required. A thinner coat of paint looks better than too much by the way.

FAUX WAX
The next class is called Faux Wax. This is an embellishment class using black glue. It gives great texture and depth to your work. I really like atc's that have layers and height on them as it encourages people to run their fingers over them....a wonderful tactile experience!

"Dance"... (Unfortunately you can't see the sparkle on this background. It just comes up as flat looking yellow spots on the computer but is actually very sparkly - in a good way!. It is a product by Jo Sonja called Gold Dust - a shimmery, gold, larger than normal sized glitter that is trapped in a matte finish suspension of glue. It means you don't actually see the shimmer until you tilt the object to the light, then it sparkles!!!!!)

"Home"... (This looks much darker than it is - the background is Frayed Burlap, Gold Perfect Pearls & water mixed in a spritzer bottle....lovely and shimmery.)

I'll have more of the faux wax to show as I get some more samples made. Hope you try the metallic card stock, if you do, let me know how it goes.

Metallic Cardstock

2010-07-22T22:03:00.003+08:00

Surprise!!!!.....another post DAYS before the actual class!!!!! Technique #2 in the ATC Technique Book #4 is Metallic Cardstock. Another of those background techniques that just lose all their impact on a computer monitor....oh well, the girls in the class will see how awesome it looks when they've made their own and when I've run all the classes for this technique, I'm going to describe how to do it so you can try it for yourself!

Onto the samples...

"Music"... (the strange misty effect over the picture is Golden Glass Bead Gel. It's a gel medium with glass beads trapped in it so when the medium dries it becomes transparent leaving the glass beads to show in all their glory. Feels wonderfully textural as well. Love it!)

"Lord Darlington"...

"Home"...

"O Lord"... (forgive the nudity...but it is arty nudity! Thought the quote really suited it.)

"Lather Rinse Repeat"... (As I've said before, I tell the girls in my classes to "tell a story" with their atc's....this one says to me "Another Saturday night at home!" Well, I do tell them that even if you are the ONLY one who understands the story, that's ok too! lol)

Promise to do an explanation of this techique when the classes are done with towards the end of next week. Very simple technique but beautifully shimmery backgrounds will ensue.

Rinse Aid Resist Cover

2010-07-17T20:18:00.005+08:00

Here's the pictures of the Rinse Aid Resist cover for ATC Technique Book #4, as well as a few more samples.

The cover page is 20cm x 15cm (8" x 6")...

A close-up of one of the small tiles which has been cuttlebugged for texture, painted black then rubbed with Silver rub'n'buff to bring out the texture, then a fuse wrapped with metallic thread around it.

"Sanctuary"...

"Remember"...

"Wife/husband"... (at the top of this atc is a piece of the new 10 Second Studio metal that we now stock at Scraptivate. It has been run through the cuttlebug and then sanded to reveal the silver - it started out as a beautiful mocha colour).

"Dream"... (this one also has some of the 10SS metal down the left hand side - same treatment as the one above - cuttlebugged then sanded back. The word "Dream" was stamped onto the right side of the metal, then I used a stylus to impress the word into the metal then sanded it back so the depth of the word keeps the aqua blue of the metal while the remainder is silver.)

The previous class was Mosaic Embossing and this was an atc that was made using that technique. I sometimes like to do a card as well to show the girls that they can take any of the techniques learnt in my class and apply it to whatever else they want to do. So below the atc is a card using the same image and the same technique.

"Ethereal"...

Card...

Tomorrow I'm planning on spending the day doing up my samples for the next class - Metallic Cardstock BUT I'm also going to make a start on the art doll for the class that I've been promising the girls I'd run. This art doll will be stitched, stamped, stuffed, beaded and generally embellished within an inch of it's life! I'll also be showing them how to make ~shudder~ "flowers" to add as embellishment - maybe hair??? Don't fear girls, they will be shabby, grungy flowers. Might make this first art doll up in vintage white/cream but there will definitely be a darker version as well.....have to have SOMEWHERE to put my little silver and black skulls that I bought! lol

Rinse Aid Resist - Book #4

2010-07-10T08:48:00.004+08:00

Today's first class is the cover for the Artist Trading Card Technique Book #4 that I'm teaching at Scraptivate - Rinse Aid Resist. It comes from one of Claudine Hellmuth's fantastic books....wonder how she figured out that simple dishwashing rinse aid can act as a resist for paint? Maybe she accidentally spilled some on a canvas that she was working on in her kitchen and realised the properties of the rinse aid would cause the paint to resist where the rinse aid was placed?

So of course I don't have a picture of the cover yet, it doesn't scan well and I'm running short of time this morning to upload the photo's from the camera but it will be in the post in the next few days. Here's some samples of atc's done with the rinse aid resist as the background on canvas paper.

"Plain Lust"... (the corner pieces up the top are my faux metal technique)

"Make-believe"...

"Paper Queen"...

"Love Hate"...

"Make no mistakes"...

Because this particular technique looks as good as it does (much better in the flesh!), I don't like to cover it up too much. You'll see how little I've covered up when I post the pictures of my cover....just a few chipboard tiles with bits & pieces on them but the background is the star and I like to keep it that way. Check back in a few days for more pics. ;-)

Mosaic Embossing, Peeled Paint & The BDB

2010-06-21T19:40:00.006+08:00

Mosaic Embossing is the 12th technique in Technique Book #3 so it'll be the last one. The books can end up quite chunky if I try to put any more in them so the next class will be Rinse Aid Resist (a la Claudine Hellmuth) and this will be the cover of Technique Book #4.

So here are a couple of samples for Mosaic Embossing....more to follow.

"Portal"... (this has a thin piece of mica placed over the door - glued on with Glossy Accents).

"Fragment"...

The atc's below are the final ones from last fortnight's Peeled Paint Technique.

"The nicest girls"...

"Mad"...

"ec"... (for those who don't know, ec stands for Edward Cullen from Twilight...but you all knew that, didn't you!)

Okay, still on the vampire theme, I've been sucked in (excuse the pun) to another vampire series. I've always read horror stuff since I was young, all the Stephen King novels as well as Anne Rice, then of course Twilight, then True Blood. My latest obsession (and it IS that!!!) is The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J R Ward. Now we all know that Twilight is YA (young adult), True Blood is probably PG15, The BDB is actually much, much, MUCH racier. Don't bother to read them if you are not totally open minded and don't like your books sizzling hot. J R Ward is such a wonderful writer, her books are very easy to get drawn into. I belong to a Yahoo group dedicated to this series and we all contemplate who could possibly play the roles of the characters as they are so much larger than life (yep, in all ways!!!). Below are my thoughts of the characters at this point in time, of course I may change my mind as more books are released. So now you've been warned....proceed with caution.....lol (nothing explicit in the pics by the way, okay... maybe a little well-toned torso).

p.s. the spellings are correct according to the way they are spelt in the book

"JM"... (John Matthew, a newly transitioned vamp. On the left, the blood drop looking things are from the Cuttlebug embossing folder set with 5 in it called Pop something?)

"Z"... (Zhadist - one of the Brothers, another peeled paint technique atc)

"Vishous"... (another of the brothers whose tastes run to a little to the extreme...does the chain give you a clue? Oh my!!!)

"Potential side effects"... (something you may suffer while reading these books!)

"Lesser"... (every story needs a baddie and the Lessers are it, humans who've had their soul removed by an ultra baddie (The Omega) who also bleed black blood if attacked. The black blood in this atc is Tim's new black enamel paint - absolutely wonderful stuff in real life!)

More brothers to come as I do them. If you do get into this series, don't shoot the messenger if you don't like them. They come under the genre of Paranormal Romance and if you like that style, J R Ward is "the duck's nuts"! I actually contemplated saying nothing about this series but wanted to show the atc's so there you have it. All explained, do with it what you will. ;-)

Peeled Paint and last of Distressed Gesso

2010-06-09T08:38:00.007+08:00

I'm a little early (for once!) in posting the next technique that starts the series for this fortnight's atc classes. Peeled Paint is a technique learnt from Claudine Hellmuth, along with Peeled Paper it's a great way to alter your atc's but is suitable also for larger sized projects, like cards. All you need is some paint, gel medium and of course some Vaseline! This had the girls wondering when I told them what they had to bring at the next class.....let's leave it at that! lol

"Reality"...

"Lineage"...

"Pose"

"Forever"...

"HIM"...

More of the Peeled Paint technique to come in the next post. Below are the remaining Distress Gesso atc's from the previous technique.

"Skin deep"...

"Secret of Life"...

"Innocent"...

Distressed Gesso

2010-05-29T08:34:00.005+08:00

UPDATE... Linda Baldock is having a fabulous give-away on her blog... to win one of her original rings, go check it out!

Distressed Gesso is another background technique that with just a few supplies you can turn out some wonderful background papers. Gesso, Distress Ink Pads and either book paper or ugly scrapbook papers are all you need. It's a matter of splotching the gesso on thinly, drying and then layering the distress ink colours that make this background work.

First though, some more samples from the previous Transfer onto fabric and hand-beading atc class.

"untitled"...

"Allure"...

"Senseless"...

Now for the Distress Gesso atc's.

"Handle with care"...

"Serene"...

"Remember"..."Vintage Love"...

More to come....

Transfers & hand-beading atc's, wedding pics!

2010-05-13T07:54:00.006+08:00

Now my computer is feeling much better and I've had a chance to scan my Sheer Heaven Transfers & Hand-Beading atc's I can post them! This is my next series of classes at Scraptivate commencing this Saturday. I'm even giving the girls an extra half hour as I just KNOW that hand beading sucks the time up and before you know it, hours have passed! I know some of these were in the previous post but I think they will expand larger if you click on them so you can see the beading in more detail.

"Life"...

"Remember"...

"Cherish"... (my grandparents)

"Seduce them"...

"Mystery"...

"Flattery"...

"Enchant"...

Finally I have some wedding pics too from my son's wedding on the 10th of April, the disc just arrived yesterday so these are hot off the press!!!

Transfers onto Fabric & hand-beading atc's!!!

2010-05-04T15:04:00.006+08:00

Woo-hoo!!! Just noticed this is my 200th post....and do I have a way to celebrate! My next upcoming atc technique class is transfers onto fabric and hand-beading. Hand-beading is just so relaxing and something that even a real needle-phobe can do. You only need to stitch a few beads on in a simple style or you can be as elaborate as you want with fringing, peyote (not the ingestible kind!!!....how do I even KNOW about that???) and my favourite - picot beading! So as not to freak my students out too much, we'll be sticking to fairly simple beading for this class but if they've done it before, they can just go to town if they like - I won't stop them...I'll be cheering them on!

Now as my stupid computer decided to blow a gasket and has to be hospitalised for a few days, I'm without a means of showing you the pictures of the beaded atc's...but Natalie has kindly allowed me to use the pics that she took of them for the advertising of the class at Scraptivate.

"Life"...

"Passion"...

"Cherish"...

"Enchant"... (yes, I know it's pinky/apricoty and pretty, but remember I'm a Gemini so I can swing both ways! lol)

When my computer gets better I'll upload the rest of the pictures.

Fold-out ATC Class

2010-04-30T20:59:00.007+08:00

Next up in my atc technique book series is Fold-out ATC's. There are several ways of making these atc's and for those of you who look for more room to add either extra images, wording or stamping to your atc's, these are for you!

"Rules"... (closed)

"Rules"...(open)

"Mavis & Sue"...(closed)

"Mavis & Sue"...(open)

"Serene"...(closed)

"Serene"...(open)

I do have more fold-out atc's but need to scan them...check back in the next post for more!

The following atc's are from the last class I did on Emboss Resist.

"Be still"... (yep, same picture as above, look how versatile it is!)

"Annie Marble"...

"In the heart"...

"Ancient Tragedy"...

"Insufficient Funds"...(a personal favourite! lol)

Finally, a late webbing spray atc.

"Blood night"...(notice how well Tim's film strip works on this one. I thought it was fitting seeing how the image is from Twilight, the film - which of course you'd know unless you've been living under a rock these last couple of years!)

I'd fallen behind a bit in making sample atc's for in my own book but have now caught up and surprise, surprise....I'm even ahead now!!! I've made 7 atc's today that have fabric transfers and beading on them. That's the next class coming up. The girls will need to bring their good glasses to be able to see the beading needle and little beads!

Emboss Resist Technique

2010-04-17T07:57:00.004+08:00

The new class for this fortnight is Emboss Resist Technique. Another of those wonderful backgrounds that can also be used as a main focal point if your stamps can tell a story by themselves. These first atc's are like the latter, the stamps can stand alone as the main focus of the atc.

"Twilight"...

"Fear Not"... (yes, I know I've used the same stamps but I wanted to tryout some different colour combinations)

These next ones have the emboss resist as the background.

"Remember"...

"Moan-a"...

"Go confidently"...

"Canvas"...
"Women and cats"... (love this combination of Tim's new distress ink colours - Victorian Velvet & Pumice Stone - which are all available at Scraptivate now!)

I still haven't downloaded the pictures from my camera and I don't yet have any pictures of my son's wedding. Not really an issue if you're only here to look at my arty pursuits!

Webbing Spray ATC's

2010-04-07T16:56:00.002+08:00

After a wonderful 2 days spent with Jen Crossley & Dawnie in Ballarat at yes, a previous house of "ill-repute" (pics to follow!), then 4 days at the Creative Soul Retreat at The Country Place in the Dandenong's in Victoria, then a 9 day drive from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide.....I'm home! I'm having a few modem issues so this blog post is a bit late. I have yet to upload my pics from the camera with previous mentioned massage house in Ballarat as well as pics of the retreat so these may be in the next post....possibly....don't hold me to it.

We have a bit of an exciting day happening this Saturday (10th April) and as we are so close to it, and also as none of my family actually read my blog, I can tell you it's my son's wedding! It's a big surprise, starts out as an engagement party (for only an hour), then the wedding kicks in. Hopefully to the total surprise of everyone attending!

Anyway, back to the reason for this blog post. The technique I'm currently teaching in my atc classes is webbing spray. I like to use webbing spray on all sorts of backgrounds, credit card technique, smoosh technique, resin fresco, in fact any background will benefit from a little spray with the web. If you only have one can of it in a particular colour (it comes in gold, silver, black & white), then if you're quick you can pour embossing powder over the webbing spray immediately after spraying as it stays wet long enough to grab the powder, heat it and you've changed the colour!

Some samples...

For Sale (wording up the top is fun foam stamped into with a word stamp)...

"Steel"...

"Nothing risque"...

"Poe"...

"Length of life"...

Even a simple glimmer mist background looks better with a little webbing spray. Steel and Poe above are both done on plain copy paper with Graphite glimmer mist and then black webbing spray. Length of life, For Sale and Risque are all done with gold webbing spray then coated with Antique Brown (a combo of copper and black powders) embossing powder.

Glad to be home in my own bed and after Saturday my life will settle back down again....phew!

AND THE WINNER IS.....+ some more Metallic Acetate atc's

2010-03-12T16:35:00.005+08:00

Today being the 12th, I've done the draw for my Textured Book Covers from the previous post......so without further blabber....the winners are as follows:

1.....Barbara Hagarty - as you were drawn first Barbara and you chose the blue one, that's what you'll get!

2.....Seth - luckily Seth picked another colour - the poo coloured one so that's yours Seth. It doesn't smell like what it looks like...promise! lol

3.....Sandy (Smarcoux) - you didn't choose a favourite Sandy so you'll get the remaining rusty coloured one, hope you like it!

As of 6.10am Monday morning (15th) I'll be winging my way over to Melbourne to attend the Creative Soul Retreat to spend quality creative time with some good art buddies so these covers will only be posted to you three listed above if you can get me your snail mail details by Sunday night. If I don't hear from you by then, I'll check again when I get back on 30th of March, so don't worry....they won't be going in the bin if you get this message late. ;-)

I'm so looking forward to my classes with Jan Harris (standing in for Judy Wise) and Laurie Mika AND I'm also looking forward to teaching my Technique Twinchie class with some students I've never taught before. Though Mary is a previous student of mine so it'll be nice to have one person who's been exposed to my way of teaching before.....see girls, she's survived so I'm sure you will too!!!

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks so I thought I'd throw in the remaining Metallic Acetate ATC's that I made for the last technique.

"Pursuit"...

"Yearn"...

"Off-white"... (white texture paste around the image - love that stuff!!!)

Thank you to the girls who commented, who knows....maybe next time I should just make about 50 of these things so everyone could win one!!! Back in a couple of weeks.......

Textured Book Cover Giveaway and Metalllic Acetate ATC's

2010-03-01T16:15:00.008+11:00

The repeat class of the Texture Paste Cover & sample atc's was well received by the girls. I first did this class around 18 months ago and have had a small band of women who've been nagging to do a repeat as they missed it first time around. If you nag, I respond!!! Wait....no I don't!!! Whatever, sometimes I respond and sometimes I don't.

So this means I have 3 textured book covers to give away on my blog. The dimensions are approximately 8" wide x 6" high (or 20.5cm x 15cm if you're that way inclined). It is created on chipboard and is easy to punch a hole through if that's what you want to do to make it into a book cover.
The draw will be on Friday the 12th of March.

All of my pictures are "clickable"...click on them to supersize.

#1 - Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold & Dioxazine Purple (both Golden paints), then White Fire Treasure Gold rubbed lightly over the top to show the highlights.

#2 - Turquois Phthalo & Quinacridone Magenta then dry-brushed lightly with Interference Silver to pick up the highlights (these are all Golden paints again).

#3 - Titan Buff, Burnt Umber Light and Burnt Umber then dry-brushed with Iridescent Bronze Fine & a little Interference Gold Fine (once again, Golden paints). This one definitely looks better in the flesh, more like shimmery brown goodness, less like smeared dog poo.

So if you want to win one of these three covers, simply leave me a comment at the end of this post and let me know what you might do with it if you do win and which one you would like. I'm giving all three away so there will be three winners (obviously!). I'll contact you via email (or I'll just "reply" from the comment you send) and then you've got 7 days to get in contact with me for postage details.

The atc below is a sample one from the same Texture Paste Class. I used the beautiful Black Texture Paste in a tube and "piped" the tree freehand. It also has some Frayed Burlap Distress Stickles and is on a painted background of Texture Paste that has been tapped with my finger to gain the texture.

"Organic earth"...

Okay, my next atc class coming up for this fortnight was going to be KISS technique, unfortunately my style of stamps that I use doesn't really lend itself to this technique very well. It's more suited to solid simple shapes like flowers, pears etc.....I don't have a lot (ANY!!!) of those so I had to come up with something else quick smart. Thinking, thinking, thinking.....what do I love.....paint - yep!...backgrounds - yep!....foolproof & easy - yep! So Metallic Acetate it is!!! This is another of those backgrounds that must be seen to be appreciated. A note to the girls who see them in the shop, please leave a comment and tell everyone else how amazing this background is in real life! Please! Begging is not pretty!!!

"Technicolour Voodoo"...

"Night Flight"...

"The Pain Passes"...

"Autobiographical"...

"Breath"...(black texture paste and a little mica over the picture)

"Silvery Wings"...

A little side note..I've added a new blog roll list above my normal one on the right hand side called "Scrapbook Friends". Notice I didn't say "Scrapbooking Friends", because I don't scrapbook, but I do have friends who do! If you are that way inclined, please drop by and say howdy to these girls who also happen to be my workmates. (Scraptivate is not a person....just thought I'd clear that up! lol)

Microscope Slide ATC's & final Bleach ATC's

2010-02-18T22:34:00.006+11:00

Who would've thought a simple piece of medical equipment could look so arty! Microscope slides have been around for a long time in art use and they never fail to impress on an atc or a card. There is the usual way of wrapping them in the metal foil tapes in the various colours and styles, then there is my way......the budget foil adhesive tape that we sell at Scraptivate for $1 per metre (I don't think it's listed in the items for sale but I might speak to Natalie to see if we can include it). You can even cut one edge with decorative scissors for a different look and it also takes the alcohol inks perfectly! Of course, I still use the normal foil tapes, especially when I want gold or copper but if you are happy to settle for silver coloured with alcohol inks, silver adhesive foil tape looks wonderful!

These first two are the ones that are going into my technique book so they sit side by side and look like a set. The 2nd one with the woman you'll notice has a bow on it.....I'll let you in on a secret, it's only because I burnished a little too hard with the bone folder and the slide snapped in half! Can't possibly throw something out that can be repaired so hence the necessity for the bow. It still suits the style though so I was happy enough to do it. Of course, had it have been a skull I obviously wouldn't use a bow! :-) The bow throws off the scanner, sorry for the blurry image.

"Youth"... (Silver foil tape edging and Willow alchol ink for colour)

"Age"... (Silver foil tape edging with a couple of shades of blue alcohol ink)

"People living deeply"... (Gold foil tape edging with mushroom alcohol ink to colour)

"Modesty"... (This slide is edged with the foil tape cut with decorative scissors and I've embossed a stamped image over the top of the slide)

Now for the final Bleach & Twinkling H2O atc's from the last technique.

"Hairstyle"... (Stampotique stamp - Prom Queen. This atc is for the Paperarts Yahoo Group monthly lotto, otherwise known as the WTA - Winner Takes All. Lather Rinse Repeat is from the fantastic 7 Gypsies "Disclaimer" stamp sheet done on shrink plastic)

"Whom do you fear"... (Stampotique stamp - Relaxin')

"Warranty"... (Stampotique stamp - Relaxin')

"In Progress"... (Stampotique stamp - Prom Queen)

That's it for the moment, still working on more microscope slide atc's for the raffles so will update when I get them finished.

Bleach & Twinkling H2O's

2010-02-07T18:48:00.005+11:00

I've been waiting for the fantastic Twinkling H2O's to come back into stock at Scraptivate and they finally arrived! So the technique for this fortnight's ATC Technique Book is Bleach & Twinkling H2O's. The old method for using bleach was to use a fairly simple design of a stamp, dip it into some bleach on a plate then stamp onto card stock, causing a bleached image of the stamp to appear.

I prefer to do it my way.....clear emboss a stamped image on card stock (usually black but some other colours do work), then taking an aqua pen (water pen) filled with bleach, colour in the sections of the stamped image that you want to lighten. Dry with a heat gun then using the Twinkling H2O's, colour in the lightened areas. It gives you much more control where the bleach goes and allows you to colour in only the areas that you want. Of course you can colour over even dark coloured card stock with the H2O's, so I've done this on the background in a few of the samples.

"Fluttering Bird"... (Tim Holtz bird & flower stamps)

"Hover"... (Same stamps as above - I've coloured in the background on this one as well with the H2O's)

"Zombie"... (Stampotique stamp - Gooseneck)

"Renewal"... (Stampa Rosa stamp)

"Journey"... (Green Papper Press stamp plate)

"Transformation"... (Stampotique stamp - Glimmering Hope)

Finally, another fun foam atc from the last class.

"Heart"...

Fun Foam!

2010-01-22T17:13:00.007+11:00

The second technique for book #3 is Fun Foam. Some of the girls thought it was the same technique as the magic stamp from before....no....this is different! Here are some samples...

***Warning*** FLOWER ALERT!!! (lol)
"Life's journey"... (the "life's journey" is stamped into the fun foam)

"Home"... (mica pieces used where the glass panels would be on the door and "home" is the fun foam)

"Organically Grown"... (the whole atc is fun foam! I wondered if this would work and yep, sure does! The wording - organically grown - is stamped onto shrink plastic.)

"View discretion advised"... (The hand is fun foam and once again I stamped the wording onto shrink plastic. This particular wording comes from the wonderful 7 Gypsies huge word stamps. Love that sheet!)

More to come later...

Final pic for today is one of the atc's from the last class - Moulds & air-dry clay. I used melted utee for this cross mould, the advantage is it was dry within minutes and it takes paint really well!

"Sacred Soul"... (the background is the text/gauze/paint wash background that I used on the cover.)

A New Beginning...Mouldy Cover

2010-01-09T10:34:00.006+11:00

Today starts the beginning of a new ATC Technique Book. We've just received a re-stock of the fantastic Krafty Lady Moulds at Scraptivate and in conjunction with Darwi air-dry clay, these two items are perfect for atc's and other paperarts/mixed media work. Of course you can use melted utee or melted beeswax if you want a faster drying time (literally minutes!) or you can use polymer clay too. I prefer the air-dry clay, gives me time to think about what colour I want to paint it and what to do with it.

Once again the book is 8" wide x 6" high, giving enough room on each inside page for two atc samples on the right and printed instructions on the left. I used torn book pages and gauze for the cover to add extra texture.

Cover.....

Cover close-up...

Now some atc's using moulds.

"Resplendence"...

"Resplendence close-up"...

"Remnant"...

"Measure"...

"Antenato"...

I also made these beaded brooches a few years ago when I had the beading bug...

"Beaded face #1"...

"Beaded face #2"...

"Beaded face #3"...

Hope the girls have fun today playing with the clay and moulds!

Something else exciting that one of my students pointed out to me was the site where you can have your blog made into a book!!!! So I've had my 3 years worth of blogging made into 3 books, a tradition that I intend to continue to do at the end of each year. The cost was reasonable considering the books are larger than A4 format, glossy covers, beautiful colour pictures throughout and very well made. Here's the link if you're interested in having your very own book of your blog.

Last of the Inkjet Transfers

2010-01-01T09:38:00.005+11:00

So starts a New Year! At Scraptivate we've kicked off 2010 by getting a Ning site going where there'll be lots of wonderful eye candy of all types, challenges, helpful hints as well as lots of discussions on all things papercraft. If you want to join, click here. There's also a button on the top right of my blog, roll over it with your mouse and click "join", it'll take you to the home page.

I have to give you 2 more Adam Lambert atc's.....I know, it's a BIG effort to have to look at him but what a great way to start the New Year off!!! The first atc came together really quickly, it's very simple so I thought I'd explain it in detail.

I did an inkjet transparency transfer (Dataline Transparency) onto a piece of book paper, actually a page from a book called Love Bites, all about love throughout the World. This was taken from a small excerpt from the Kama Sutra...hence the name on the atc. Don't worry, there's nothing explicit in the writing, check it out by enlarging and read for yourself.

So after doing the transfer and tearing the bottom of the page for added visual interest (like he needs it!!!), I used a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Ink for colour over the page, then added a torn piece of walnut stain coloured chipboard up the top with Tim's Tiny Attacher (coloured the staples with a brown sharpie first). I then used Tim's little screw brads down the right, flicked on some Bronze Golden brand paint with a spatter brush (I used a piece of scrap paper to cover his face before flicking the paint). Then added the Kama word from the book onto some chipboard and edged it with Gold rub'n'buff to finish the word off. All in all a very clean-ish looking atc with a little bit of grunge thrown in.

"Kama"...

Yep, loved the picture so much had to do another one. I also used Tim's stamps on this one as well, grunge alphabet for the A & L and one of his texture stamps as well as some round metal snaps, beaten slightly with Tim's texture hammer. I sure love my Ranger stuff!!!

"A L"...

Finally, another inkjet transparency transfer using the other well-known hottie, Johnny Depp in all his Cap'n Jack glory. For this one I used texture paste patted on with my finger and then painted to add the extra texture, gold rub'n'buff helps to highlight the texture. His face isn't all that clear, it's the foam pieces under the chipboard/mica doughnut piece that causes all sorts of problems for the scanner. The texture on the chipboard/mica square is also made by Tim's texture hammer...don't know why I put off buying one for so long! Love it!!!

"Jack"...

I've started the ATC Technique Book #3 cover and am ready to add paint today. Some of the moulds are ready but I think I need to have a bigger choice so I'm going to hassle my friends to loan me their moulds. Some peope don't like too many choices as it confuses them....me?...I love choices!

Hope your headache's not too bad, start 2010 off by doing some art.

....and the WINNER is....

2009-12-29T17:41:00.002+11:00

No art to show yet, son and future dil (daughter-in-law) are in the throes of moving furniture into our house for their extended stay....well, maybe 6-12 months anyway. Planning on spending the day in the studio tomorrow to get started on my book cover for the ATC Technique Book #3 so maybe after that I'll have something interesting to look at here....possibly.....

Anyway, thought I'd better post the winner of the Twinkling H2O Altered Postcard from the previous post.......congratulations to Judy SheaRT from Massachusetts who was #10 as drawn by random.org. Now all I need from you Judy is your snail mail addy and I'll get it posted to you asap.

As a foot-note....my son proposed to Elice on Christmas morning at breakfast amongst the rellies which caused tears to flow but a "yes" followed. So the engagement is set for "Lover's Day", February 14th and a possible October wedding. Of course, I'll be doing the invitations for both the engagement and wedding but there won't be a flower in sight! Sadly, no skulls or anything to do with my usual macabre tastes, nor anything else that my 2 grown son's find weird about me....I'm sure they'd prefer hair rollers and a house-dress! Sorry boys, not going to happen! lol

Enjoy New Year's everyone and here's to a fabulous and arty 2010!

Another Giveaway & More Inkjet Transfers

2009-12-15T14:25:00.006+11:00

The postcard above started out as a blank watercolour postcard which I then stamped using Cherry Pie stamps and coloured with Twinkling H2O's (it was made for a swap with 3 girls from a yahoo group that I'm on). I knew I wanted to do another giveaway before Christmas so I made an extra for this purpose. So if you want this, leave a comment at the end of this post (remembering to include your email please) and I'll do the draw on Christmas Eve. It is true postcard size, 14-1/2cm x 10cm (or 5-3/4" x 4") but it will be mounted onto another piece of watercolour paper so it'll end up slightly larger than that. Just leave me a comment on this post to be in the draw. ;-)

Now, a few more inkjet transfers using the Dataline Inkjet Transparency...

"Throb"...(the delectable Ville Valo from my #1 favourite band - HIM. He's also wearing a little shrink plastic heart, a real heart rather than the usual love-heart shape...so guess you could say "heart-throb")

"Family Tree"...

"Pensive"... (the girls in my classes love their Johnny Depp pics!!!)

The inkjet transfer class is my last for this year, in mid January I'll be starting book #3 with a Mouldy cover! As I work on this project over the break I'll be posting pics of how it's going.

On a personal note, my son who's done his 6 years in the airforce now, comes home this weekend to stay....with a girlfriend (soon to be a fiance!) and a dog in tow. They'll be living with us for a while as they get their feet under them, find jobs and somewhere else to live. So as my youngest son gets ready to move out of home for the first time, we lose one son, gain another back with extra's!!! Should make for a very festive Christmas season. I am looking forward to it, believe me....please!!! lol All banter aside, family IS what it's all about (not the hokey pokey!), remember to be extra nice to those closest to you at this stressful time of year and remember....patience and a smile plastered to your face will get you through most situations.

Inkjet Transfer Class

2009-12-11T18:42:00.004+11:00

Aaaahhhh...so we come to Inkjet Transfers, or should that be "aaarrrggghhhhh.... inkjet transfers"!!! The inkjet transfer technique can probably be described as one of the most bothersome of just about all of the various papercraft techniques. Some people persevere and push through that pain barrier and actually end up enjoying this technique...others, well they give up after a couple of attempts and say it's not for them. I'm a "push through" type of person though I must say it helps if the first few times you do them they turn out okay! lol

So in this class we'll be using Dataline Inkjet Transfers and either Isocol rubbing alcohol or Matisse Matte Gel Medium as our transfer method. They both work, with different end results and feel. For years I used the Apollo Transparency, but as that is becoming rarer than hen's teeth, I've searched for another alternative and Dataline is it! It's a UK product (good news for those Brits!) and is available at Scraptivate by the sheet.

Before showing you this first picture, I have to admit that I'm such a total Adam Lambert whore (in a nice way of course!). I have his new album - For Your Entertainment, and it's such a great cd to listen to in the car, volume cranked up and singing at the top of your lungs. Of course, only do this if you're the ONLY one in the car. Husband's do not like 50+ women (especially their wives), squirming in the seat while belting out the words to an S & M song by a singer who obviously does not swing "their wive's way"....frankly, he just doesn't get the attraction. One hot boy!!! (That was only one song....don't judge him 'til you hear the rest of the album!) Now you all know WAY too much about my predilections....here's the atc.

"Sticks & stones"...

"Human Salvation"...

"Awaken"...

"Pain and Pleasure"...

More inkjet transfers to come, only managed to get these 4 completed today, have another few in the works. All these Christmas lunches are getting in the way of my art time!

Smoosh & Magic Stamp atc's & Quotes For Sale

2009-12-04T10:31:00.008+11:00

The last class for the Smoosh & Magic Stamp technique was held yesterday and I was surprised again at how many of the girls hadn't done the smoosh technique before! It's right up there with credit card technique for creating unique and beautifully coloured backgrounds for all your papercrafting needs. If you check out Tim's on-going 12 tags of Christmas on his blog, his very first one of a couple of days ago had his smoosh technique. Tim's mind must work in overdrive with all these techniques he comes up with....very inspiring! The instructions for doing the magic stamp method is a couple of posts ago, or here if you can't be bothered scrolling down. ;-)

"Art"... (Danielle, this is the "terrible" background that you did and threw in the bin, did I not say I would resurrect it for you! See...there's nothing wrong with it that the right coloured picture couldn't fix. As they say, one person's trash is another person's "must-have"! lol)

"Temptation"... (The German Scrap scrollwork embellishment - available at Scraptivate - comes in several colours. I used the Iridescent White and then coloured it with the same colours of Distress Inks I used for the background for this atc - Faded Jeans and Pine Needles. I simply used a sponge and applied the colour direct to the scroll....it still retains a shimmery iridescent effect though it's coloured perfectly to match the background.)

"Organic"... (The ripply stuff down the bottom is wave board that we sell at Scraptivate too! Gorgeous stuff that comes in white so you can colour it how you want - though I'd recommend against using Glimmer Mist - it separates the top layer of wave board from the bottom flat piece but I did manage to resurrect it enough to use the wavy bit. Better to either paint or ink it. There's also some stitching in silver metallic thread on this one - to represent seaweed...I think?)

"I Hope"... (Just love retro pictures and they suit my plethora of snappy quotes that I have just perfectly!)

Speaking of quotes, I have 13 A4 pages of printed quotes to use on atc's for sale. I've sold these for quite a while but have never mentioned it here...never got around to it. Postage for all 13 sheets within Australia is $1.10 and the sheets are $1 each, so a total of $14.10 for about 260 quotes. They are printed on satin-smooth 100gsm paper. Be warned, there is some quite risque quotes in there but each sheet has a mixture of deep and meaningful as well as the more "questionable in taste" ones. If you have been following my blog for a while, you'll have seen my sense of humour and if it speaks to you, then you'll love the quote sheets! lol You can email me at the link up the top right and yes, you can direct deposit or paypal me. I also post overseas though the postage is a little higher.

Inkjet transfer class is coming up next, the final class for this year.

More Magic Stamp atc's....

2009-11-26T22:59:00.004+11:00

Here's some more that I've done... see previous post for description of how to do it.

"She was"... (Another retro one)

Two that are similar, one is for my technique book, the other is one of the raffle atc's for my classes.

"A good wife"...

"Past"... (I didn't crop this one as much as I normally do when I scanned it so you can see the gauze hanging off the edges of the atc. I coloured the gauze with Suede Glimmer Mist).

More to follow...

Magic Stamp Revealed!

2009-11-25T19:57:00.002+11:00

The technique that was mentioned in the previous post, Smoosh & Magic Stamp, is the upcoming atc technique class at Scraptivate. There were some good guesses as to what it actually was but Gaby was the one who guessed correctly! I used a foam stamp, sometimes called a Magic Stamp, or Make-a-stamp, or simply a Foam Stamping Block.

You heat the block up with a heat gun, then quickly impress it into something. For my class I'll be using the Cuttlebug Embossing Folders to make the impressions in the stamp. These work wonderfully as you can impress into either side, for more ink or less depending on which side you use. The base underneath the magic stamp is paper that's had the smoosh treatment.....a bone fide Tim Holtz word! Distress Pads swiped onto a craft mat, spritzed with water, then paper pressed onto it and twisted and lifted to reveal a beautiful swirl of colours.

So here's a couple of retro Magic Stamp atc's.

"I'm Creative"...

"I don't cook"...

More to come.....

Peeled Paper and Magic Stamp Peek (& Giveaway)

2009-11-19T10:00:00.007+11:00

I have my final Peeled Paper technique atc class this morning at Scraptivate and if the previous 3 classes are any indication, the girls are going to have some "oh no!" moments that will turn into "oh...yes!!!". lol Some techniques are like that, you think it's all turned to cr*p, and then finally it just comes together and looks fantastic.

"What we see"... (The bamboo stamp is by Hero Arts. This atc is for the WTA - Winner Takes All, sort of like a lottery - that's held each month on the Paperarts Yahoo Group)

"Pilot Light"... (I can't remember who the flourish stamp in the background is by, it's not very clear anyway so guess it's a moot point! This is the raffle atc for this mornings class)

My next technique class is called Smoosh & Magic Stamp! This has had a few of the girls stumped and I've told them I'm not going to tell them what the magic stamp is until the class. The smoosh technique is Tim's one of using Distress Inks direct to craft sheet, spritzing with water, laying down a piece of paper, twisting then lifting to reveal a beautifully coloured piece of background paper. The colours in the atc below in the background are Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo. The magic stamp bit is the stamped background....for that info, you'll have to wait until after the classes! But I will come back in around a week or so with some more samples.

Just for fun, if anyone can guess what I've done to make the background, leave a comment and the first person who guesses correctly will get some atc's from me, including a magic stamp one! Remember to leave your email addy please. (No cheating from any of my girls who know already what it is!!! hahahahaha)

By the way, see the lovely German Scrap on the bottom of this card above? It's new from Scraptivate, click here to see more new ones - click on Scraptivate German Scrap in the left hand column, then New Nov '09. This one started out white and I painted it with Burnt Umber Light to alter it to suit the atc.

Peeled Paper Background atc's

2009-11-12T10:23:00.003+11:00

I have just three samples so far for the Peeled Paper Background Technique, more to come after Friday. This is a technique that comes from the talented Claudine Hellmuth. I have all three of her books as well as her video's and even though her style may be different than mine (or should I say, MY style is different than hers!), I can still absorb her wonderful techniques and apply them to my own work. I think this is something that some people tend to forget, even though you may not like a particular "thing", be it a card, an atc or even a scrapbook page, there may be some technique included in it that could be adapted to your own particular style. You just need to learn to look beyond what you actually see, to see possibilities that you never realised were there. Enough talk....

"Temptation"... (Hero Arts Bamboo stamp embossed with Copper Dreams embossing powder. This is one of my own recipes, 4 parts Copper embossing powder mixed with 1 part copper glitter. Adds a little sparkle in real life! If you want more embossing powder recipes, check out the post here).

"Illusion"... (Wrought iron stamp found here)
"Work backwards"... (Circular stamp from Non Sequitur, Burning Hearts Plate #56)

More to come over the weekend. ;-)

Faux Tin Type Finale

2009-11-06T17:40:00.004+11:00

A quick post as I'm off in an hour for a weekend down south with hubby for a break....mmmmm.....driving in the beautiful South West of our State, might even get all the way down to Albany! No plans made, no bookings made, just drive and stop where and when we like. This does SO not sound like my husband!!! lol Plan, plan, and if there's extra time...plan some more! But not this time. ;-)

Here's the last 2 Faux Tin Type atc's I made for the last ATC class at Scraptivate, think the girls really loved the look of this technique. Making the frames takes way more time than the actual technique, but it still doesn't photograph or scan any better than before. You'll just have to imagine the reflective quality of the images.

"HIM"... My homage to Ville Valo, lead singer from my favourite band, HIM. The bat stamp is one of Cherry Pie's fabulous stamps! The tree is a clear one that I don't remember the name of. It did have a little girl swinging on a swing, didn't like her so I cut her off the stamp...permanently! hahahaha

"Fashion Plate"...The frame has been run through the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder, gorgeous folder that one! Pity she looks so bad, this one is going to a friend over East so she at least will know it looks better in the flesh.

That's me, I'm off! Next class is Peeled Paper and just for Tracey...some Christmas images (I'm really going to struggle with this one!). lol

Faux Tin Type Technique & last of the Dominoes

2009-10-31T10:06:00.005+11:00

I'll start off the with the last of the Domino atc's from the previous class.

"Flagrant Desire"...

"Mother Nature"...

The Faux Tin Type technique is trying to replicate the old tin type photo's using modern materials that most paper-crafters have...foil tape, transparency & a xyron machine. They are notoriously difficult to scan or photograph because of the reflective nature of the foil but you'll get the gist of it.

"Illusion"... (yes, I've used the black texture paste to create the border around this)

"Spectral"... (same image but with a cuttlebug frame made from chipboard)

"Liberation"... (another cuttlebug frame but with foil tape over the chipboard, thanks Ness for the great image, though I feel the word "Liberation" should have a question mark at the end of it! lol)

"Hex"...

"Twilight"...(yeah, I know....can't help it though, I've been a vampire fan since I was a kid with all those Bella Lugosi films & the original Nosferatu. Of course I've read Twilight, then went onto the more adult books of Laurell K Hamilton, the Anita Blake series. I've finished the series, 16 books in total and was reading 3 of them a week, just couldn't put them down! (Thanks Mandy for the loan but I've now ordered my own set). Now I have to wait for #17....darn it, I hate that! I do the same thing with Lee Child, he brings out only 1 book a year in April and I buy it and read it in a few days then have to wait another year for the next one.

More to come after I've done some demo's in my classes.

If you want to see a REALLY, REALLY, cool haunted house, take a look at my friend Julie's blog here. I think from memory she told me it was around two feet tall and she lists all the Collections chipboard products she's used to make this. Gorgeous!!! I told her I wanted to live in it. lol

Time for some Dominoes!

2009-10-16T21:39:00.004+08:00

Dominoes are the focus of my next atc technique class.....and focus is the correct terminology for using dominoes on a small area like an atc. It's generally the first thing that hits you when you look at them in real life as they are so dimensional you can't help but be drawn to it, touch it and hopefully, it will marry itself nicely to what your particular story is in the atc. I'm always saying that the girls in my classes, let your atc's tell a story....it doesn't really matter if you are the only one that understands it, still tell it.

So here's my first domino atc, and it's my favourite one. A sheer heaven transfer (thanks Svetlana for the image!) with the beautiful bamboo stamp silver-embossed over the top and the same silver embossing on the domino.

"Delicate"...

This next one is a background made by spraying a perfect pearl/distress re-inker/water mix over canvas paper and then stamping with white embossing powder. I used my old stand-by, the Hero Arts Vintage Map (discontinued). Also had to include the black texture paste around the edge for a finishing touch!

"Escape"...

This is a close-up of a larger domino that I glued a picture onto, then wrapped with gold thread, then coated with Glossy Accents. A little machine stitching with the same gold thread holds the book paper onto card stock sprayed with the perfect pearls/distress re-inker/water mix again - different colours from before obviously!

"Radiate Life"...

Here's the full size atc...

Next is a simple little atc using glossy card stock coloured with alcohol inks, as well as the same colours of the alcohol inks on the domino that has been stamped with a flourish stamp and a key added with silver thread. The domino comes out a slightly different colour from the background, even though I've used the same colours because the gloss card base is white and the domino is cream.

"Dwelling"...

Finally, black on white with a touch of blue....created with Black Stazon on white gloss card and Twinkling H2O Mystic Blue for the eye-colour. The domino is coloured with some blue sharpie & blending solution with a touch of gold metallic mixative thrown in for good measure....and a stamp.

"Serene"...

More to come later...

More Crackle Paint & some Glass Bead Gel!

2009-10-09T06:51:00.004+08:00

Continuing from the last post, here are more of the crackle atc's.

"Breathe"... Picket Fence (white) crackle paint with some Weathered Wood Distress Ink rubbed onto it to drop the starkness of the white back a bit. If you enlarge this picture by clicking on it, you'll see I also used Golden Glass Bead Gel over the image. This goes on opaque but when the medium dries, all you can see are the little spheres of glass and it also gives it a wonderfully textural feel! Love it!!!

"Transformation"... The fabulous H.R. Giger images will always work well with Black Soot Distress Crackle!

"Portal"... Scattered Straw Distress Crackle, rubbed with some Peeled Paint Distress Ink and Vintage Photo Distress Ink after the crackle had dried. The little brick stamp in the top right is by Cherry Pie.

"Reliquary"... Gothic silver embossed script in background is from Michelle Ward's Printed Matter rubber plate and the beautiful silver window is from Scraptivate - it's one of the many, MANY, styles of German Scrap that we sell at the store. These window arches also come in black and white. I love the silver as you can wipe paint over it and then wipe it off and it grunges it up nicely! The image has the Helmar Crackle 2 step used on it with Payne's Grey paint added and wiped off after the crackle had dried.

Next up is Dominoes! So over the next few days I'll be slaving away in my studio with these little cream plastic toys, trying to come up with interesting looking atc's! We'll see.....

Crackle Technique & a Canvas

2009-10-03T08:38:00.005+08:00

Several years ago I posted about a "poppet" style canvas (a la Claudine Hellmuth style) I had made for a friend's daughter who had lost her Dad to cancer when she was only 4. Her baby sister was born only a couple of weeks after Steve died so she has no memories of her Dad. Little Ava is now 5 so it's time that she had her own canvas with her Dad and her in it. Aisha, her big sister is probably going to be more excited about this when she sees it as it's the same picture of her Dad that I used in her canvas. Here's a link to the previous one for Aisha. These are both 8" x 10" canvases. Not my usual dark & gloomy style but I'm a Gemini and I can chop and change at whim. ;-)

This fortnight's round of classes at Scraptivate is Crackle Technique. We sell several types of crackle including the brand new Rock Candy Distress Crackle. This first atc is the Helmar Crackle which is a 2 step crackle...a base coat, let dry for 20 minutes, then the top coat. As you can see it's a clear crackle so over pictures it's great as you can add some paint when it's dry and wipe it off and the paint settles in the cracks.

"Fragment"...

"Betroth"...this is also using the Helmar Crackle.

Ranger also make the Distress Crackle in 24 colours + some metallic colours.

"Rock and Roll"... (Black Soot Distress Crackle. Yep, yummy Ville Valo, lead singer for HIM....my favourite band!)

"Live it"...also using Distress Crackle in Old Paper colour.

"Angel's Art"... Milled Lavender Distress Crackle.

"Temptation"... Aged Mahogany Distress Crackle.

"Icon"...this is the new Rock Candy Crackle from Ranger. I've put some red paint over the top part of it and used Fired Brick Distress Ink rubbed onto the bottom part. You can see the difference that the paint makes...much more seeps into the cracks. Probably would've been better with a less detailed picture underneath. Live and learn.

"The first rule"... This is the Ranger Crackle Accents. It comes in a bottle like Glossy Accents or Dimensional Magic and goes on the same way... through a small tip that you just squeeze on and spread it around. Very easy!

Guess I'll have some more when I do some samples for the classes over the next week.

Last of the Perfect Pearls

2009-09-28T07:32:00.004+08:00

I went a bit overboard with the Perfect Pearls samples this time....love that there are so many ways to use it and they all look very different! Here are the final samples.

"Words are alive"... (thanks for putting me onto the little "cross punch" Michelle!)

"Forbidden"...

"Stone Monuments"... (the ubiquitous texture paste, this time in white, around the picture. If you click on the image to enlarge it you'll see I used a set of Angel wings to stamp and emboss on the background. I used the Antiquities Cement embossing powder so it's very subtle)

Next class is using crackle products...and there are several of them. Golden Crackle Paste, Ranger Crackle Accents, Helmar 2 step crackle, Jo Sonja crackle, Ranger Distress Crackle and probably even more that I haven't used!

More Perfect Pearls

2009-09-18T12:50:00.007+08:00

There are so many different ways of using Perfect Pearls and I've been playing with them for several days now, so I have a few more to show.

I also made a card using the overspray background that I was spraying the Perfect Pearls, Distress Re-inker & water combo onto the card stock....can't let anything go to waste!!! It's a pity that the Perfect Pearls are not done justice by the flatness of the computer screens, the shimmer when you tilt them to catch the light is unbelievable! First up, more samples of atc's.

"Showy"... (Lost Coast Designs stamp. Cuttlebug "Ironworks" chipboard shape)

"Preoccupied"... (Green Pepper Press stamp from the Curvature plate)

"Twilight"... (Cherry Pie stamp - moon & clouds, Green Pepper Press building stamp from Printed Matter plate)

"Aim for the moon"... (Same stamps as above but a different portion of the building stamp, the whole stamp is about 10 inches long!)

"Go confidently"... (This is the card, quote stamp and flourish stamp from one of Tim Holtz range from Stampers Anonymous. Embossed section up the top is one of the new Cuttlebug embossing range of 5 borders in 1 pack)

I still have another couple to post but they can wait until my next post.

On another note, it's been one year today since my Dad passed away. I really don't like the term "passed away"....it's too soft for the sharp impact of the actuality of the event. Died is much more blunt, real and to the point. Though I think Dad would've preferred "shuffled off this mortal coil"!!! That's the Monty Python humour he always had, right to the end! Remember this photo? It still makes me laugh....yes, that's the sick bag on his head while he was in ICU (it was empty!). That's my friend Joan with him, 2-1/2 short months later she was gone too. I'm not as sad as I was, as they say...time heals, and it does. ;-)

Perfect Pearls Class

2009-09-13T17:18:00.005+08:00

Next up in my ATC Technique classes is Perfect Pearls. These have been around for years in the stamping community but clever people keep coming up with new ways of using them so they never get "old"! Here are a few samples of what the girls will be learning in my classes.

"Too Many Freaks"... Zetti stamps with the face, also by Zetti, done on shrink plastic.

"Invertebrate #1"... (Stampers Anonymous Dragonfly Legend stamp....again!!!)

It's a real pity that the beauty of Perfect Pearls just can't be appreciated on the computer, it's definitely a must-see in real life for their shimmery colours are just wonderful, especially on black card stock. You'll just have to trust me, or better yet, go buy some and try it out!

"Invertebrate #2"... (same Dragonfly Legend stamp - but the other side of it)

"Melancholy"... (Hero Arts (discontinued) Vintage Map Stamp). The Perfect Pearls is sprayed onto the background of this atc - I used a combination of Weathered Wood Distress Re-inker, Pewter Perfect Pearls and water in a mini-mister and spritzed the card. Also, down the bottom is the new colour of German Scrap we are selling at Scraptivate, Iridescent White. Very different from the normal plain white German Scrap we sell in the various styles, it looks like it's had pearlized paint applied to it, more creamy in real life compared to the starkness of the normal white. Something else to try? Yes, we do post all over the World and we have excellent prices on the German Scrap, probably the best you'll find across Australia!

"Captivating"... Not sure who's stamp this is? The Perfect Pearls are brushed onto a piece of acetate that's been run through the xyron first so it looks like a shimmery painted image.

"Royal"... (Another stamp I'm not sure of? The crackle effect over the top is Perfect Pearls in Pewter brushed over the top of the stamped card (after the face was stamped) using Versamark and the Perfect Pearls. If you tilt it to the light you see the shimmer effect of the Perfect Pearls rather than just a flat grey crackle as it shows here on the computer.

"Awaken"... Stamp by Cherry Pie, background sprayed as "Melancholy" was but using Brushed Corduoroy Distress Re-inker, Gold Perfect Pearls & water in a spritz bottle.

This next atc isn't anything to do with Perfect Pearls, it's a gel medium transfer atc that's for a Yahoo Group I'm in, Paperarts. One talented bunch of girls in this group! It's for the WTA - Winner Takes All - sort of a lottery that runs every month where one person gets to win all the wonderful atc's that are entered for that month.

More Perfect Pearls atc's to come....some are still happening in my studio - have to wait for that Texture Paste to dry!!! lol

ahhhh....Foil Tape!!!

2009-09-04T06:48:00.004+08:00

I have been using Foil Tape in my artwork for several years now and there's nothing better than introducing it to someone who's not used it before! Hopefully I'll have that chance in my upcoming Foil Tape classes....though I think I show it to just about everyone who walks into Scraptivate, I love it that much! You can buy it from hardware stores like Bunnings here in Australia but the one they sell has thick black tar underneath the foil and is really too thick and yukky to use. I much prefer the one we sell at Scraptivate (for only $1 per metre!!!!!!!), it's self-adhesive and is perfect for several techniques.

Firstly, you can attach it to chipboard and run it through a cuttlebug to give a great silver background that can then be alcohol inked or, as I prefer, painted with acrylic paint then wipe it off to leave a little bit of paint behind to grunge it up.

I also like to use a metal letter stamping set (which we also sell at Scraptivate!) on either foil tape attached to chipboard and treated the same way as above, or, colour a piece of chipboard with a sharpie, then stamp the word with the metal letters, then rub some metallic wax over the top to make the impressed word stand out. "Silence" below has this technique. The "Metal Fatigue" wording is done using the foil tape.

Another way I use it is to stamp an image onto it after it's been attached to card stock, then using a stylus, trace over the image leaving an indentation, then paint over the whole thing and immediately wipe off the excess paint, but leaving some in the indentations so you can see the stamped image. When I first started doing it, I either used black or brown acrylic paint, but now I've started using other colours as well. I think it works.....do you?

"Silence"... (bamboo stamp by All Night Media. There's that black texture paste around the image too!)

"Metal Fatigue"... (this background is made using one of the new Cuttlebug embossing folders, looks like the bed of a truck! Great for male cards! Image by H.R. Geiger....I used to have a huge poster of this image on my bedroom wall when I was 19! lol)

"Sooner or later"... (tree stamp by Stampers Anonymous)

"Be still"...(this is an older atc showing the black acrylic paint on the foil tape. Stamp by Michelle Ward - Green Pepper Press - from the Juliet plate.)

That's it for the moment....Perfect Pearls are next in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the enquiries after my "lobe"! lol It's getting better though I did need a stronger antibiotic as the first one just didn't cut it.

More Spotlight Technique

2009-08-21T20:56:00.006+08:00

Here are more of the Spotlight Technique that was mentioned in the last post. My first classes are tomorrow and I'm sure the girls will love the clean and structured style this technique has. Also another good excuse to just simply stamp! So drag out those Twinkling H2O's, the old Tombow markers with your blending pen or even the container of those cracked and broken stamping chalks and get colouring!!!

I thought I'd show you what the page in the book looks like with the atc's attached to it. On the left hand side (where you can't see) there is another page the same size with the instructions attached so each page has instructions and samples for every technique. Click on it for a larger view. The size of each page in the book is 8" wide x 6" high.

"Mere Illusion"... (face stamp by Cherry Pie, scroll stamp by Joyce from Paper Forest)

"Nature"... (yep, here's that pesky dragonfly stamp again, Stampers Anonymous. After adding the colour I've also used the Frosted Lace Stickles over the wing and the blue circle area, nice & textural but without "in-your-face" glitter.)

"Clarity"... (Babs55 has corrected me on the maker of the stamp below (thank you!). I had originally said it was Zetti, though it is actually another Stampers Anonymnous stamp. The Diamond stamp down the left is another Stampers Anonymous.)

"Renew"...(Now this stamp IS by Lost Coast Designs. This is that reverse style of spotlighting I was talking about in the previous post where the colour is applied to the whole image, then the extra piece that is added over the top of the existing image has no colour on it at all.)

"Pause"...(Same stamp as above with just the face being coloured.)

If any of my students are checking my blog before class tomorrow, please be gentle with me....I'm suffering a huge, red, pulsating, throbbing.........ear-lobe!!! After having my ears pierced 35 years ago, NOW I get an infection! So it's antibiotics & antibiotic ointment for the offending lobe and that's obviously going to create a huge globby, oily mess on the right side of my head as the ointment won't possibly stay where it's supposed to. Maybe I should wear a hat? Nah.....I'll just complain loudly, they'll be "extra nice" to me. ;-) (Actually, they always are....but you didn't hear that from me!)

Spotlight Technique & Final Beeswax ATC's

2009-08-17T07:13:00.010+08:00

Firstly, here are the last couple of Beeswax atc's that were started as demo's in the last Beeswax class.

"En-pointe"...
and "Remember"...

Coming up next is another good ol' fashioned stamping technique called Spotlight Technique, another very effective style for both atc's and cards. The idea is to take an image (in my classes we'll be using stamped images), have 2 copies of the image and then highlight a small portion of the image by colouring it, mounting it on black card, then raising it with foam tape. It looks very effective when seen in the flesh, much more so than on a flat scanner! It's also another excuse to get onto using all those stamps that we all collect. You'd be surprised how many people tell me that they just don't use their stamps enough! Well, here's the perfect excuse!

You can also reverse the spotlight effect by colouring all of the first image and then adding a piece of the same image over the top of a section and not colouring that added piece so it stays black and white! Another way I've used this technique for a printed image was to highlight a portion of an image with a small frame, then painted all over the image with Golden brand of gel medium in Soft Gel - Satin. The layer added was slightly thicker than normal and I used my finger to dab up and down into it to add texture immediately after it was applied. I then highlighted what was in the frame and as it didn't have any of the gel medium on it, it looked different than the rest of the image. You need to click on the image to enlarge it to see the effect. Here it is:

"Ornate"...

Some more samples, "Linked"... (not sure who is the maker of this stamp, I'll look into it.)

and "Moments"... (Paris Moments stamp by Hampton Arts)

More to come...

KO...OK?

Burnt Distress Stain

Metal Foil Tape cont'd... & Cali

Technique Book #7!!!

UTEE and My Book!

Transparent ATC's & MY BOOK!!!!!

Clear Embossing & Gilding Wax

Texture Paste Backgrounds

More Reflective Microscope Slides

Reflective Microscope Slides & Glue Background ATC's

Glue Backgrounds & more Corrugated Card

Corrugated Card & Faux Leather atc's

Faux Leather & more Mag Gesso ATC's

Magazine Gesso Images

Intaglio Shrink Plastic

Credit Card Technique Book Cover #6

Watercolour Stamping

Hammered Chip, Stringy ATC's

Stringy ATC's

Glass Bead Gel

Distress Stains, Watercolour Backgrounds classes

Cuttlebug Embellishments

Shimmer Spray Backgrounds

Distressed Coloured Gloss Card Class

Metal Embossing Name Tags, Art Doll & CD Book Cover

Metal Embossing...

Stamping & Colouring on CD's

Painting with Babywipes

More Smooch Ink Goodness

Smooch Inks!

Altered Acetate

Metallic Crackle Background

Angelina Film/Fusible Film/Fantasy Film

Stamping & Beading on Fabric Class

Marbling Technique ATC's

Art Doll Class & Soot technique

A quick update...the art doll

Shrink Plastic Revisited & Faux Wax & a cake!!!

Instructions for Metallic Cardstock

Metallic Cardstock

Rinse Aid Resist Cover

Rinse Aid Resist - Book #4

Mosaic Embossing, Peeled Paint & The BDB

Peeled Paint and last of Distressed Gesso

Distressed Gesso

Transfers & hand-beading atc's, wedding pics!

Transfers onto Fabric & hand-beading atc's!!!

Fold-out ATC Class

Emboss Resist Technique

Webbing Spray ATC's

AND THE WINNER IS.....+ some more Metallic Acetate atc's

Textured Book Cover Giveaway and Metalllic Acetate ATC's

More Microscope Slides & another giveaway coming!

Microscope Slide ATC's & final Bleach ATC's

Bleach & Twinkling H2O's

Fun Foam!

A New Beginning...Mouldy Cover

Last of the Inkjet Transfers

....and the WINNER is....

Another Giveaway & More Inkjet Transfers

Inkjet Transfer Class

Smoosh & Magic Stamp atc's & Quotes For Sale

More Magic Stamp atc's....

Magic Stamp Revealed!

Peeled Paper and Magic Stamp Peek (& Giveaway)

Peeled Paper Background atc's

Faux Tin Type Finale

Faux Tin Type Technique & last of the Dominoes

Time for some Dominoes!

More Crackle Paint & some Glass Bead Gel!

Crackle Technique & a Canvas

Last of the Perfect Pearls

More Perfect Pearls

Perfect Pearls Class

ahhhh....Foil Tape!!!

More Spotlight Technique

Spotlight Technique & Final Beeswax ATC's