Another Giveaway & More Inkjet Transfers

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

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

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....

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!

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)

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

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. ;-)