Chalkboard ATC's

The Chalkboard style of stamping has been around for a little while now and it really suits a more focal image style of stamp as well as a great opportunity to use some quote or word stamps.  I love the simplicity of embossing with white powder and using white pigment ink to create the shadow effect around the stamp and then making your chalkboard dirty by sponging on more of the white pigment ink.  A white pencil adds some more detail or alternatively, you can use a little coloured pencil, either watercolour or normal pencils work equally as well!  A few samples for this last class for my Technique Book for this year.  Classes start again in January 2014.

 

"Rubber gloves"... (I've wanted to use

this quote for a while now!  lol)

 

"No Prince Charming"...

 

"Last Embrace"...  (this stamp is a little busier

than the previous two, I think I like a little

more chalkboard showing.)

 

Here's the last three samples from my previous class, Bleach & Faux Bleach.

 

"Sarcasm"...

 

"Medicated"... (Love these Stampotique girls!!!)

 

"Decompose"... (this is Faux Bleach using the paint

and you can see how much more the

Twinkling H2O's show up with

the paint acting as a base on the fish.)

 

I'll have more Chalkboard ATC's to post pictures of before Christmas.  Can't wait to see what the girls do with this particular technique!!!

Microscope Slide ATC's & final Bleach ATC's

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

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"...

Bleach technique atc's and a big thank you!

Yesterday I had intended to get into my studio for the first time in a week and a half and do some creating. I had plans for getting stuck into my "All Things French" page for the Creative Soul Retreat book challenge that I'm taking part in.....but everyone knows the saying about the best laid plans going awry. I was a little worried about getting in there and starting to "think" about the times Joan and I would spend in my studio just playing around with stuff and then it would just spiral into a pity party that I don't have her with me any more. Consequently, it wasn't until about 4pm that I forced myself out there to at least just do some atc's with a technique I love and one that's quick and easy but still looks beautiful.

So here are the two Bleach Technique atc's I made yesterday and I've promised myself to get started on the French page on Saturday morning before I do a class in the afternoon.

I think I explained how to do this technique in my last post about bleach? Not sure, can't be bothered looking so I'll quickly explain it again anyway. Stamp on the smooth side of black cardstock with clear embossing ink, and emboss with clear embossing powder. Note - not all black cardstock will work with bleach, I know Bazzill does! Paint sections of the embossed image (or alternatively, the entire card) with ordinary household laundry bleach, dry with a hairdryer. Notice how much lighter the colour of the card becomes while the embossed bits stay black. Different cardstocks will bleach different colours. Next, colour in your images with Twinkling H2O's and a waterbrush (aquabrush with a reservoir of water), let dry and marvel at the shimmer of the H2O's and the contrast to the black of the embossing and black card (if you've left any!). You can also leave the card just bleached with no added colour. I did this here on "flighty".

Passageway...

Peace...

I've been extremely touched and overwhelmed by the support via comments on this blog, personal emails, cards and phone calls from friends - both real and internet, on the loss of my best friend Joan. Her funeral was last Friday and it was a beautiful service at Pinnaroo which has a lovely natural bush setting with kangaroos and a wonderful backdrop through the huge glass windows at the chapel looking out onto a bush garden. While the service was happening, there were 2 lorikeets playing in a huge gum tree and also 2 white cockatoos bickering over something only a few feet away from the lorikeets.

Any time during the service I found it all getting too much I'd raise my eyes to the birds and concentrate on them skylarking around. I'm sure they were sent to keep me grounded and focussed on supporting Michael, Hayden and Holly. I'll leave you with one more picture of my friend, I'm actually having this one blown up and made into a canvas for Michael and the kids for a Christmas present. I love the colouring of this picture and how serene she looks.

More mosaic embossing and a Sheer Heaven atc

Here are another couple of examples of mosaic embossing atc's, the first is a printed image and the second one is made from stamped images from Michelle Ward's wonderful stamps.

"Ascent"...." Captivating"....

I thought I might try to do a canvas with this same technique and I was really pleased with how it turned out. The size is 4" x 4" and the image is a printed image with words added using the Microsoft Publisher program, I then painted the image using only 2 Golden colours - Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold & Paynes Grey....think this might have to be a quick canvas class at Scraptivate!

In response to a few queries I've had about how to do this particular technique, I will post how to do it but not just yet as I have another class to teach using this technique and if I post it now, then maybe they won't come? It definitely will be up here though in the near future!

I am taking part in a special nicho challenge for 5 artists at Inkurable Stampers blog where they also have a monthly themed challenge. My nicho is not quite ready but is nearly complete, will post the pics of that when it's finished and is up on the Inkurable Stampers blog. For the monthly themed challenge you can do a card, layout, atc or any type of mixed media piece of artwork. This month's theme is "Seriously Spooky" as it's nearly Halloween and all things spooky are the go!

I thought I'd steer away from the usual bats and things and create an atc on something else that I'm interested in.....all things vampire!!! Yes, I read the Twilight series of 4 books by Stephenie Meyer in one week, as I'm sure that many others have done as well! So here is "Strange Reality", it's also the raffle atc that I gave away last night at my Sheer Heaven atc class, Svetlana won it.....think she won one only a short time ago??? I don't draw the tickets out, I get someone else to do it lest they think I cheat! lol

On another note, I still have not found out who made my beautiful mystery artwork and I don't think I'm going to. Obviously the person wants to remain anonymous but I know they must be a reader of my blog as they took the picture of my Dad and placed him in the centre door on the piece. Please know that I was incredibly touched and moved by this generous gift and I know it would've taken a serious amount of time to do and I appreciate it immensely. It lives at the shop for all to see (at the moment) and every time I walk past it it brings a smile to my face and a general warm fuzzy feeling inside. Thankyou whomever you are!

Bleach atc's, mica atc's, Technique book #1 revisited

Tomorrow I'm teaching Technique Book #1 for a second time and I thought I'd put the photo's in again seeing how I've discovered how to make sure they are "clickable". This ensures that if the girls don't get the book completed in the class they can put it together at home in front of the computer and they'll have pictures to show the order of the pages.

Front cover:

Sheer heaven:

Credit card technique:
Alcohol Inks:
Peeled Paper Technique:
Faux Leather Technique:
Contents Page:
Back Cover:

Last Saturday's atc class was a bleach technique. As I said in the last post, this was not to be the old way of stamping in bleach and then applying to the card stock, it was a different way of using bleach. I stamped in clear embossing ink on the card, then embossed with clear embossing powder and then painted in the stamped areas with bleach - neat bleach (not diluted), ordinary stuff from your laundry. It turned the black Bazzill card stock a beautiful brown colour which you could then add colour to (if you chose to) by using Twinkling H2O's or chalks. The H2O's were the best!!! Here is another sample from that class...."explore".

Tuesday night's class was mica....gotta love that stuff!!! I showed the girls the various types of mica that we have at Scraptivate - mica sheets in the packets, mica glitter (in about 20 colours!) and the natural pearl coloured mica flake. This one is called "contemplate" and uses a piece of mica sheet attached with 3 tiny screw brads. The image is a sheer heaven transfer on watercolour paper.

Another sheer heaven transfer with mica sheet over the faces - funny how it makes them seem more "clear"!


On a personal note, my oldest son has only 14 months left to serve of his 6 year term in the airforce - he lives in Newcastle which is on the other side of Australia so we don't get to see him more than once a year for a couple of weeks. He came home at short notice to attend the funeral of my Dad and it's been wonderful having Jarred and Elice (his girlfriend) home for a few weeks. He is an aircraft technician, basically he works on the Hornet's (F/A18's - the fast jets) and Newcastle is the base in Australia where they train the pilots so consequently, they have the only 2 seater jets in Australia! When he first signed up he put his name down for a flight and this finally happened just recently. A 45 minute flight in a fast jet is many a man's dream, he even got to fly the plane for a bit and loved every minute of the loops and dives they were doing, even pulling 7 G's! Wonder if the fishermen they buzzed on the beach enjoyed it as much?....lol. Cleverly, he took his camera so here's a couple of pics for posterity.

Bleach atc's, a canvas and Birds....and to close

I sat at my computer for several minutes wondering how to start this post. Do I just jump right in showing my next atc technique for my class, maybe show the canvas that I made while Dad was in hospital that a friend thought was a reflection of my mind-set at the time? No......I finish off the chapter of these previous few posts by saying what a (insert - sitting at my computer again staring at the screen)....I want to say "wonderful" but it sounds funny....... funny strange not funny haha, funeral we had for my Dad. So many people from early days in his life as well as many, many friends he and Mum made over the years as well as our large family. Over 300 people attended and about half of these came back to my house for the celebration of his life. A few tears but mainly very funny stories of times spent with Eric.

"Thankyou" doesn't seem to be a big enough word to convey how much I appreciate those of you who have left comments and sent personal emails (& cards) expressing their feelings and warm thoughts to myself and my family. Each day is a new one and I'm sure that one day I'll be able to remember my Dad with something other than the tears that still well up in my eyes. Okay, enough now...... Dad would NOT see the funny side of a keyboard getting soaked with tears and making little splish splash noises......he did love his technology!

I'll let you in on a little secret that I've discovered - art is therapeutic!!! I'm sure no-one else has worked this out but now it's out there.....spread the word!!!!! lol My next class on Saturday is Bleach atc's. I know there is the normal way, stamp into bleach that has been soaked in paper towels on a little plate then stamping onto your card stock. I'm going to be doing the other method - painting in bleach. Mainly because I don't have many (read - any!!!) large open-type, simple design stamps. Here are the samples - note, not all card stock will bleach! Trial and error is the key to this technique.

"a dress form" - tan coloured card stock, image bleached out and re-coloured with Twinkling H2O's. "collector" - bleach painted onto tan card stock, image stamped then re-coloured with chalks.

"vision" - red card stock, stamped then parts bleached out and recoloured with Twinkling H2O's. (Not my favourite colours but I wanted to show that you could do something bright if you like!)

"insectology" - black card stock, parts of the stamped image bleached out and recoloured with Twinkling H2O's.


"flighty" - black card stock, stamped image bleached out and no other colour added - this is always a surprise as to what colour the card stock will turn with the bleach!

In March next year I'm attending a retreat in Melbourne, Creative Soul Retreat (you can click here to go to the book challenge). An event I'm REALLY looking forward to, I'm booked to have classes with Bernie Berlin and DJ Pettit and I'll get to meet up with some of the girls I've gotten to know through this little box on my table. Gotta say, I love the Internet!!! Some of us are taking part in a monthly challenge, you are given a theme and then you make a page for a book that you'll put together yourself. It's not for swapping, it's for keeping!!! Bonus!!! We take the book along to the retreat so we can drool all over everyone else's creations one night, between sips of wine and bites of cheese of course! Here's my page, "every year".

I used white paper that had been sprayed with Glimmer Mists in Turquoise and Graphite, then sprayed with some black webbing spray. Stamps are from Michelle Ward's clear stamp sheet called Bird Sanctuary and have been stamped with Stazon. The blue/green bird in the front has been stamped onto a piece of white gloss paper that was first coloured with Pine Needles Distress Ink, then cut out and mounted on mounting foam for dimension. The white in the feathers were added with a white gel pen, black german scrap down the bottom with some Patina Rub'n'buff and finally a quote printed on vellum and attached to a bit of the same Pine Needles coloured gloss card stock. 3 brads up the top right complete the piece.

Several weeks ago I was given the RIP cuttlebug die & folder as part of my design team project at Scraptivate. The timing was not intentional (with Dad ill), it was just that it was a fairly new release and I'm the first person that Natalie thought of to do something with this, I'm SOOOO not the person to give anything flowery to from the shop! Here's the canvas which is soon to be a class at Scraptivate in December (if you're in Perth and you're interested!).