LAYERED CREDIT CARD SWIPE

 The credit card technique with acrylic paint has always been a favourite way of mine to create lots of backgrounds quickly. The layer of paint is so thin that there is very little waiting around for the paint to dry. It's also a good way to try out different colour combinations, and the addition of some metallic acrylic paint creates a very metal-like background if you just use various metallics layered on top of each other.

"The horrors persist"

"Margaritas"

"Free samples"

"1800-GET-A-DOG"

"Perfection"

"Unwilling participant"

ACRYLIC PAINT SCRAPE

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

"Pollen"


"Just one life"

"A story of love"

"Dearly Departed"

"No"

"Bright Side"

CREDIT CARD TECHNIQUE REVISITED

My absolute favourite background is credit card technique.  Over the years this has proven itself to be one of the easiest and most spectacular backgrounds that you can do with such simple supplies.... drawing paper (or cartridge or sketch paper), an old credit card, cheap acrylic paints and a water spritz bottle.  For the uninitiated, apply a thin line of one colour of acrylic paint across the top of an A4 piece of the drawing paper, immediately swipe it down the page with the credit card held at a 45 degree angle so you are scraping a very thin coat of paint onto the paper.  Wipe off excess paint, immediately do the same with a 2nd colour of acrylic paint applying another thin coat.  Then immediately spritz some water on all over the paper on top of the paint, making sure you have some big droplets not just a fine spray.  Count to 20-30 seconds, wipe again with the credit card removing the water and it will reveal beautiful backgrounds that are almost instantly dry as you've used a very thin layer of paint.  Experiment with colours and final top coats of metallics.  Just gorgeous!

"In the heart"...

"Plant a garden"...

"Malice in Wonderland"...

"Pixie Dust"...

Below are some of the samples of 

this background technique.

This atc below is the final one from last fortnight's alcohol ink smoosh class.  

"Dirt"...

Glue Scribble Background

The technique for this fortnight and possible cover for book #12 is called Glue Scribble Background where we'll be using the Ranger Distress Paints, including the 3 metallic colours for that extra shimmer.  The girls have a choice of using either this background or the Credit Card Re-visited one from last fortnight to cover their Book Number 12 with.... depending on which background they are happier with.  I have done a couple of sample atc's using this background as well as having done one front cover which I haven't decorated further as I wanted to show the full effect of the paints without cluttering it up yet.  Will show the cover when it gets finished though..... samples first....

 

"Night Flight"... (no glue used on this background,

only the paints - barn door, white, black and

pewter)

"Second Language"... (you can see the swirly scribble background

in this one, that's the glue.  The other colours I used

in the Distress Paints are Rusty Hinge, Dusty Concord and Bronze)

 

This is the cover with Weathered Wood, Peacock Feathers, Broken China, Stormy Sky,

Tumbled Glass, Bronze, Antique Brass and Silver.  No glue used on this one either.  This might

be the back page and I will probably use glue on the front cover with these same colours.

 

Below are the remaining Credit Card Re-visited atc samples from the class last fortnight.

 

"Gracious"...

 

"Portrait"... (this was a scrap of paper that I used to

"wipe-off" the credit card while changing

colours, even the rubbish is good!)

 

"Emotional Baggage"... (this one incorporates some Angelina Film

from the previous class to Credit Card, her glasses are covered

in Angelina Film, including the lens bit!)

CREDIT CARD TECHNIQUE..... TAKE 2

Credit Card Technique is the class we're doing for this fortnight's ATC Technique lessons.  The last time I did this class was 3 years ago and some of the newer girls haven't done this amazingly easy, but beautiful background technique.  Because I have girls who have been with me from the very beginning (about 7 years now!!!), they will have done this technique before, so I like to play around with the technique so they will learn something new.  I am using both water and rubbing alcohol spritz this time and also doing the technique over printed book pages!  Amazing what a little difference a shake-up can make.  Hope the girls enjoy the changes.  At the bottom are the full size backgrounds so you can see what they look like before they are cut up into atc sized pieces.

 

"Fly Away"... (pale blue & silver from above)

 

 "Snow White"...



"Own Wings"...



 

All these sample pieces below are A5 in size so you can get about 3 or 4 atc's from each sheet.

 

Rubbing Alcohol & Water Spritz with a gold shimmer that you can't see.

 

Water spritz only on book paper background.  You need to click on this one to see the words that peek through the water spots.  Love how this turned out!

 

A very pale blue paint with silver metallic paint over the top and rubbing alcohol droplets.  Unfortunately metallic just doesn't show up well on the computer screen.  You'll just have to try it for yourself to see how wonderful it looks in real life.  Two of the atc's above have this as their background.





 

More samples to follow.  

Intaglio Shrink Plastic

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

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"...

Faux Tin Type ATC & Final Credit Card Technique ATC

I belong to several Yahoo groups online and my favourite one would have to be the Paperarts Group! The girls come up with an amazing array of swaps each month, both atc's and mixed media though because of my work commitments I don't get much of a chance to participate. But I'm always interested in what the other girls are doing and like to support this group when I can. June's ATC swap is the Poe inspired "The Raven" and I couldn't pass this one up! So here is my Faux Tin Type technique ATC based on The Raven poem by Edgar Allen Poe.


"Nevermore"... This is a shocking scan but Faux Tin Type does not photograph or scan well, it's a must-see-in-the-flesh type of technique. I'm hoping the girls that receive these will be impressed by how much better it can look irl!

My next set of ATC classes is based on the Faux Leather technique using masking tape. I have yet to work up the samples for this class so they'll be in my next post, but here is the final Credit Card Technique atc from the last class on Thursday. This was won by a new lady attending my classes....I want to say "Deb" is her name and I'm hoping I have it right?

"Extremes"... (Non Sequitur circular stamp, CCT colours used were Burnt Umber, Fawn & Opal - all Jo Sonja paints)

I've added a link up the top right of my blog to the Creative Soul Retreat 2010 that I'm teaching a class at. So if you're interested in checking out what should be an awesome 4 days of classes, just click on the Vintage Technique Twinchie picture that will be part of my class and it'll take you to the CSR2010 website.

Tonight is the big party for my equally as big birthday! Turning 50 is no biggie, just another number and I'm really looking forward to my 80+ guests having a great time tonight.....even though we are forecast to have increasing rain and the possibility of a thunderstorm by this evening! The only thing I don't want to happen is to have a power failure....have I jinxed it by mentioning this??? lol I've even made name tags for everyone as I have such a large family that I'd like my friends and workmates to know WHO they are talking to.....like "Kellie - Kelsey's Cousin", "Brady - Kelsey's Brother", or "Michael - Kelsey's Boss's Fiance"...thought it might help to break the ice a bit. ;-) Photo's to follow.....