More Microscope Slides & another giveaway coming!

Following on from my last post, here are some more microscope slide atc's. All of these slides have been wrapped with the cheap version of the foil tape that was mentioned in my previous post.

"Talented"... (microbeads are the wriggly embellishment on this atc)

"Compassion"...

"Mauve"... (I used one of the border cuttlebug embossing folders to make the pattern down the left hand side of this one, sanded it after embossing and inked in Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord Distress Inks)

"Superb Cast"... (This one's for Mel, she loved the picture, hope she likes it!)

"Twirl"...

"Exorcised"... (Another cuttlebug border embossing folder on the left that's been embossed with bronze embossing powder)

Within the next week or so I'll be having another giveaway on my blog. I'll be running another Texture Paste Book Cover class this Saturday so I'll have some samples that will need to go to a good home. ;-) If you want to win one, wait until I post that it's giveaway time, then leave a comment on that particular post to go in the running to win one. Here are some samples of the previous ones I've done so the colouring of the new ones may be different. Thought you should see what they will look like though. The size is around 8" wide x 6" high and it's just the cover that you'll win so you can do what you like with it.

Less than 3 short weeks to go before I go over to Melbourne for the Creative Soul Retreat where I'll be learning some cool stuff from a couple of American tutors and I'll also be teaching my Technique Twinchie class as well! So looking forward to catching up with the girls again and getting to meet some new arty compatriots!

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"...

Fun Foam!

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

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

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....

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!