ELEGANT WRITER & STAMPING

 It's been quite a few years since I've used my Elegant Writer Calligraphy Pen, although mine has never been used for calligraphy, only for the amazing water-reactive properties that this pen holds. It can be quite overwhelming on its own on ATCs as they are so small so by using it in conjunction with stamping, you can control how much you put down of the pen and still have a recognisable image by using an open-style stamp. I used almost exclusively my Vintage Photo Distress Ink pad for this technique, as I like the vintage colour of it and feel it blends nicely with the various shades that come out of the Elegant Writer pen. Although you'll see Evergreen Bough and Picked Raspberry have made an appearance on a couple of my sample ATCs and they also work very well with this amazing pen. To get the lighter shades of pinks/blues etc from the Elegant Writer pen, you need to dab off the water while it is still wet and as it lifts, the other beautiful soft colours appear. Such a cool product!

"Float away"

"Be creepy"

"Flowers don't tell"

"Moonlight mayhem"

"Magic"

"Creative process"


Finally, this is a card I made using the same technique as the ATCs.
I mounted the image onto a piece of cork as it seemed to suit the
grungy style of this technique.

FAUX WATERCOLOURING

Watercolouring with stamps can be done in several different ways and this is just another variation that you won't need a stamping platform for as perfect placement isn't necessary.  Previously, I have coloured directly onto stamps with watercolour crayons, spritzed the stamp with water, then stamped.  This technique has a few more layers than that and I love how you can get a washed out looking background with the combination of the inks and water spray.  I have used both Ranger Distress Ink Pads and also the Distress Oxide Ink Pads to create these samples as well as some other smaller areas of stamping, embossing and a few different embellishments.  The trick with this technique is to embrace the white space for adding your other elements and allow the stamped focal image to take centre stage by making it the first thing your eye sees when looking at the atc.  I also used stencils to add a little more interest on Sleeping and I Don't Care.

"Sleeping" 

"Imperfections"

"Shine your light"

"Take the leap"

"I don't care"

"Easily distracted"

WATERCOLOUR BOOKLET PART 2

This fortnight is part 2 of the Watercolour Booklet which has 7 atc's in it.  The colour I used for this one is Peacock Feathers, even though it does look a little more like a cross between Tumbled Glass and Evergreen Bough! 

 

I worked out a way of closing the booklet by using some seam binding and colouring it with the Peacock Feathers so it all co-ordinated.  The only other colour I used was Brushed Pewter from the Distress Paint range applied with an aqua brush to give it a little more of a translucent look.  I also used a Stardust Gel Pen in Grey in a couple of places too.... like the dots on the front cover.  The tags hanging off the right of the first picture is the seam binding that acts as the closure to keep the book flat for when we put it into our Technique Book. 

 

 Love this technique and all the girls who created their own in class I'm sure will be very happy with the finished product.  I've said it in class before, this would be a lovely birthday gift for someone if you're prepared to do a little work and if you don't have appropriate stamp sentiments, simply type out the words you want to use and stick those down on the 7 atc's!

 

Cover...

Page 2 and 3...

 

Page 4 & 5

 

Page 6 & 7



 

Here's the booklet opened up.  Apologies for the washed-out picture.

 

Here's another sample... "Believe"...(Barn Door, yep, I know it looks pink!!!)

 

and "Seek Possibilities"... (Peeled Paint & Brushed Pewter for highlights)

TRI-COLOUR BRAYERING (& MASKING)

We have tackled the trickiness of brayering before in a cover class but that was using white embossing as a resist.   Once again we are using embossing as a resist but it's black this time and it goes hand in hand with good old masking.  It's surprising the amount of stampers who don't use masking as a technique more often as it gives a really good effect!   I also love how different the brayering looks when done on gloss card stock compared to plain white card stock. 

 

"Be seen"... (a zetti-style atc, love the colours of this one!  It's on gloss card.)

 

"Always know"... (this one is on plain card stock.  When you're unsure of

what colours to use, it's always fool-proof to stick with 3 colours that are next to

each other on the colour wheel - this one is Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade and

Scattered Straw - in other words, red, orange and yellow!)



 

"Gate Keeper"... (gloss card, much lighter colours this time - Stormy Sky, Shaded Lilac

and Scattered Straw.)

 

"With wild abandon"... (plain card stock - Evergreen Bough, Tumbled Glass and Iced Spruce.)

 

 

More to come......  (next time I post I'll be a Nan!!!  My

son and daughter-in-law are expecting a baby girl TOMORROW!!!!!!)

Ancient Paper

The technique for this fortnight is called Ancient Paper.  We'll be using Ranger Distress Ink Pads, Glossy Accents (or Dimensional Magic) and the base that we're working on is the humble brown paper bag.   This techique makes a surprisingly strong piece of paper because of the addition of the Glossy Accents, strong enough to actually even die-cut shapes out of it if you choose. 

 

"Living Hearts"... (love corrugated card & microbeads together!)

 

 

"Snow White"...

 

 

"Innocent"...

 

 

"What is art"...

 



 

Finally an atc from the last class, Faux Dominoes, "Unique"...

(The corrugated card down the sides is glimmer misted cardstock run through a paper crimper!  Works perfectly if you don't have the right colour of corrugated card to co-ordinate with your work.   Drag that paper crimper out that's lurking in the bottom of a box somewhere in your craft room and put it to use.)

 





Distressed Coloured Gloss Card Class

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.