Highlighter Distress Stains

How fantastic that Ranger are introducing their Seasonal 3 pack Distress Ink Pads as individual colours to boost the range of Distress Inks to 48!  I have 3 of the 4 sets, just can't see me using the "Summer" range of brights though... just not me.   Now I can't wait until he extends the Distress Stains to include these same colours, mmmmm..... Iced Spruce in Distress Stains.....heaven!  So this fortnight's teechnique is once again using the Distress Ink Pads as well as highlighter pens.  The highlighters are very bright, fluoro colours but the Distress Stains add that grungey, dirty look to them that tones the colour right down but still gives a great base colour.   I had seen this done in a mag before but wanted to play around with it to see if it could be extended and altered, of course it can - add some clear embossing powder, some water, a bit of book paper and Glossy Accents and it alters the look of it.

 

"Stay"...

 

 

 

"Simplify"...

 

 

"Freedom"...

 

 

"Reflect"...

 

More samples to follow.

ATC Windows

Our technique that we're doing this fortnight is ATC Windows.  I've used credit card technique background for one style and cuttlebugged chipboard windows and torn book pages for another style.  Rolling and attaching with embroidery threads just gives them a different look as well as acting as a more secure anchor than just double-sided tape.  Hope you like the samples...

 

"Rapture"...

 

 

Another shot of "Rapture" showing the more 3-d style.  Love the coloured seam-binding too!

 

"Tie a knot"... (this one has some little beads attached to the thread for extra decoration)

 

 

"Chaste" (chipboard frame, cuttlebugged, distress stains and Gilders Paste for glitz)

 

 

"Think Chocolate".... (and other things too.....)

 

 

More to come.

White Crayon Resist - New Venue!!!

 My technique classes are on a Saturday morning, Tuesday morning and Tuesday night with the same technique being repeated at these three sessions.  There will be a new technique each fortnight.  A requirements list will be sent out prior to the class... don't worry if you don't have everything, I will supply what you don't have.  Times and dates are just on the right under "Current ATC Classes" and my email address is just above it.   You also receive printed instructions for each technique so you can refer back to them at a later date.

 

The first class will be White Crayon Resist, a great way to use the Distress Inks in all those wonderful colours and your favourite stamps.

 

"Twilight silence"...

 

 

"Unique"...

 

 

 

"Emotional Baggage"...

 

 

 "Flora"...

 

 

"Gift"... (same as above, just different colours & embellishments)

 

 

This next one below is from the previous class - Watercolour Emboss.

 

"Mask"...

 

Finally, a sneak peek at the next class... "ATC Windows"...

 

"Chaste"...

 



Watercolour Emboss

This upcoming atc class will unfortunately be the final atc class run under the Artability banner.   Natalie will still continue to teach her Scrapbook layouts, Card classes and Mixed Media classes at her home and I will be teaching my atc's at my home.   It's been nearly 6 years that I have been teaching for Natalie, firstly at Scraptivate, then through her online store Artability but as things move on and change, one can only go with the flow and adapt to these changes.  Thanks must go to Natalie who gave me a chance all those years ago, taking a risk on an unknown quantity and letting me run with it.  We've both had a wonderful time getting to know some fantastic people and being exposed to all the lovely new products that have come out over the past years.... can I say thank you Tim!!!    :-)

 

 My classes will continue at the same times but with an additional day class being held on a Tuesday.   The times are Saturday's 10am to noon, Tuesday's 10am to noon and Tuesday night 7am to 9pm for those of you who work and can't do a day class.  All classes are run fortnightly and you can check the list at the right hand side of this blog for dates. The classes will be $20 for the 2 hour class which includes access to my supplies if you don't have everything on the requirements list.   I look forward to continuing to teach these little pieces of artwork to the girls who have attended my classes over the past 6 years.   Email me for more details.

 

So this class is called Watercolour Emboss and we'll be using our Cuttlebug or Big Shot machines, embossing folders and those old favourites, Ranger Distress Ink Pads.

 

"Enchant"...

 

 

 

"Fertile"... (yep, another pink one!!!)

 

 

"Metamorphosis"...

 

 

"Mythical"...

 

 

This next one is from the last Crayon Painting class.

 

"Decompose"...

 

Finally, this is from the Gesso Crackle class, love these colours!

 

"Fracture"...

Crayon Painting

Crayon Painting is the technique for this fortnight's atc class through Artability.  
We'll be using normal wax crayons, think Crayola or similar, and applying them with an iron.  I like to use the Clover Mini Iron but you can also use a small craft iron as long as it has no holes in it.   I love the colours that you can get with the waxy crayons and once it has cooled down, just buff it with a tissue to bring a lovely soft sheen to the surface before adding images etc.   Normal good quality double-sided tape is all I use to stick the embellishments and images down with, no problem with them coming off at all!  

 

You can see from the samples below that it depends on how you use the iron across the surface as to what effect you will get from the crayons.  In the second image I tried to do a landscape sort of scene and added the tree with black texture paste in the tube and rubbed a little silver Gilding Wax on it after it had dried.

 

I have also done 2 new clear sticky word sheets to join the other 5 that I have for sale.  My normal A4 sized quote sheets are still $1 each and I have 18 different ones of those and the clear sticky word sheets are $3 each.  So I now have 7 of the clear sticky word sheets and these have between 90 and 110 words on each.  Email me if you want details or the girls at my atc classes can pick them up from me there. 

 

"Maligned"...

 

 

 

"Depth of life"...

"Disguise"... (love these colours!  Turquoise, brown and silver.)

 

 

"Bewitch"... (yes, see I can do pink!!!)

 

This one below is a sample without any images on it so you can see the sort of effect you can get.  Colours used on this one are red, orange, yellow, black and a little metallic gold.

 

This one below is a raffle for the monthly draw on the yahoo group - Paperarts.  It's on watercolour paper and coloured with watercolour crayons.

 

"Night"...



Finally a last sample from the technique "Antique Gloss" that I taught

at the last atc class a fortnight ago.  

 

 "Art"...

Alcohol Float

This next class that I'm teaching for Artability sounds like it's going to be one where we all imbibe in so much alcohol that we float..... not quite.   We'll be floating alcohol inks and then dipping gloss card into it.   When I played around with this technique I found that funnily enough, some of the colour wipes off after it has dried,  so  I used a sealer and this caused a different reaction to the alcohol inks than I expected.   It sort of pixelates the colour?   Love it when something unexpected happens, weird, but good!    Samples follow...

"Obsessed"... (I love the colours in this one!)



"Captive"...

"Captive"... (good word!!!)

"Express"...



"Psychedelic"...

This last one is from last fortnight's Antique Gloss card class, it was the raffle for Tuesday night.

"Tears"...



Next fortnight we'll be doing Crayon Painting..... get those little irons out girls!!!

Antique Gloss Technique

I love backgrounds!    It's why a lot of my techniques that I teach in my classes are background techniques.   If you make a habit of making up more of a background than you need, then slip them into a folder or box (a pizza box is good!), you will always have a ready-made background when you need one and don't have much time.   So this technique is called "Antique Gloss".  It's made using gloss card stock, Ranger Distress Ink Pads, a Stazon Ink pad, background stamps and a sanding block.  Because there are so many gorgeous colours available in the Distress Ink Pad range, you can do whatever colour background you want to suit your images.

"Cosmic"...

"Day-dreamer"...

"Tyrant"...

Here are a couple more of the Wrinkle Emboss technique from last fortnight's classes.

"Natural"...

"Secrecy"...

Finally, this is an atc I did for my brother who runs his own entertainment business Bent Knee Creative.  He has a strange and quirky sense of humour, which we both inherited from our Dad.  It certainly comes out in the skits he creates for his clients.   He liked this atc so much he's thinking of doing a skit based on the Cirque de So-Lazy theme....can't you just see the performers slouching and lounging around?   

"Cirque de So-Lazy"...