Black, White and Red

Hi and welcome! This month's inspiration at ARTastic has been based on a beautiful artwork by Lorraine Lewitzke  'Rock and Roll Party', with the challenge being to use black and white with one other colour. To see what the design team has come up with pop over to:
http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/
I've chosen a school photo of  son and self, probably taken in 1988, when he was in year 2.  I wanted the background to reflect some of the softness of the inspiration piece, so used lengths of ribbon and lace and sequin waste over a lightly patterned paper.
Cogs were die-cut and randomly daubed with Kindy glitz. The background of the clock (from Dusty Attic) was embossed with an embossing folder, and the clock heat embossed.

To complete the layout, I added embossed chipboard corner flourishes and added buttons, (the hands on the clock are also buttons) lacquered wooden stars and fabric flowers.
The two white buttons are from one of son's old school shirts!

 

Thank you for visiting and while you are here, maybe you'd like to take a peep at ARTastic's new sister blog, Pixels and Paper Challenge Blog.http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/



Thank you for your lovely comments, and I hope to catch up with some of  my favourite blog sites soon.
Cheers, Di

Steampunk Tag

Hi and welcome!
I've had my first go at producing something in the Steampunk mode... at least I hope it is! A lovely crafty friend, Judi, lent me her Chocolate Baroque set, with a gorgeous butterfly. It is this that I chose to use as part of a tag for the current ABAC Challenge 23 'Steampunk'. See what the design team has come up with at: http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/
I started by covering a tag with self-adhesive aluminium plumbers flashing; embossed in 2 different folders, just to give a couple of different textures on the background. This was then smooshed with alcohol inks.

 

I thought that this didn't look quite old enough, so I smeared on some 3D stamping paint and when dry, lightly sanded back some of the raised sections.

 

 

 

The effect can't fully be seen here, but this did tone the colours back quite well.
The butterfly was stamped onto silver mirror board and coloured with permanent markers before being adorned with brass brads and bling.

 

 

Cogs were also die cut from the same card and inked with alcohol inks and Vintaj Patinas.



 

 

 

Roses were quilled from folded strips of aluminium kitchen foil. This took a little experimentation to find the right number of times to fold the strips so that they stayed intact. Alcohol inks were swiped across the petals, and Patina carefully tipped on and smoothed out with a small brush.

I completed the tag with a strip of lace from my stash.
 

 

 

This was an interesting challenge and it certainly took me in a new direction of experimentation.

 

What I used:

Alcohol Inks: Latte, Ginger, Espresso, Mushroom and Metallic Copper.

Vintaj Patina: Verdigis, Rust.

3D Stamping Paint: Black

 

Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments.

Cheers, Di

 

 

 

 



A Messy Journey

Hi! Just getting this in before the deadline at:http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/ . This challenge (Number 22) certainly had me getting messy, sticky and inky! - some very interesting effects on my fingers!
I started by covering a piece of patterned card with Gel Medium. On this were placed punched flowers and other shapes, another layer of gel and a layer of tissue paper.

This was covered with gesso, spritzed with Dylusions Sprays and lightened with White Linen. When dry, a section was stencilled using 3D Stamping Paint. At this stage, I decided that I didn't really like the overall effect, so I added some more gesso over all of it (a thin layer) and when dry, smooched on Distress Inks, leaving a more subtle effect.

 

 

Various other pieces were prepared. This used the natural dyes from flowers and foliage: freshly picked, put between light card and rolled through the Cuttlebug:- very effective, but it can be rather messy because some plants are juicier than others. The rollers have to be cleaned as soon as you finish.

 

 

 

 

The stencil piece is a second generation stencilling. The original was quite bright (have kept it for something else). When gessoed it had been lightly spritzed with Dylusions. For the above, I flipped the stencil over and added just a little more gesso, drawing in any colour still left. I liked the effect it had of additional foliage in the background.



 

 





This is a piece of microfiche. The same stencil has been used, this time with the 3D Stamping paint.

 

 

 



The chipboard was smooshed with Distress Inks and then had Vintaj Patina brushed on to give more of an aged look.

 

 

 

The piece has a slightly textured finish and even though on card, still has a slightly metallic appearance.

 

 

Some stamping around the edges and a stamped film strip, have completed the front cover.

 

 

 

This cover and panelling are now the first part of "My Messy Journey" .... an art journal to hold information and samples of the messy experiments. Hopefully many pages will be added.

 

What I Used:

Distress Stains: Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Picket Fence (chipboard)

Vintaj Patina: Moss, Rust (chipboard)

3D Stamping Paint: turquoise, moss green, silver, blue ( large background, microfiche)

Dylusion Sprays: London Blue, Cut Grass, Lemon Zest, White linen ( background, stencilling)

Distress Inks: Mowed lawn, Forest Moss (background)

Archival Ink: Olive

Impasto Gel medium, Gesso

 

Thank you for visiting and for your encouraging comments.

Cheers, Di

Contemplative Companions... and a design team spot and new challenge blog!

Hi and welcome.
I'm thrilled to announce that I have been accepted as a member of  the design team for a great new challenge blog "Pixels and Paper" , a companion blog to ARTastic, which started today. The first challenge for the month of July is up, so pop over to the blog at http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/ to see the delightful inspirational photo and what the other design team members have been up to.
The photo I used for my inspiration was of my husband's grandfather, with his faithful companion, both gazing contemplatively out to sea. We don't know much about Jesse Hasthorpe, but this is one of those 'must find out more before it's too late' missions. Sadly, much of our families histories and everyday anecdotes have been lost. One of my goals is to glean as much information as possible from still living relatives to add to the information we already have.

 

The layout has been done in mainly earthy tones, with the only bright colour ( to hint at a seascape)added under the photo. This was taken from a piece of experimental cardstock, using gesso, Dylusion inks and acrylic paints over a stencil. The photo was distressed and inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The frame around it was smooched with Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Pumice Stone D.I's and stamped with Coffee Archival.

 

 

To add extra texture, I've tucked under the photo a piece of embossed cardboard, fussy cut vellum, and a die cut clock. This has been smooched with Inca Gold and 3D Stamping Paint. This paint has also been used to colour the chipboard seahorse (Bronze, Chocolate and Moss Green) and to stamp the fish (Silver). The stamp used for the fish came from the Inkadinkado Stamping Gear sets.

 



 

The cogs, die cut from bookbinding fabric, and the title have also been coloured using the same paint.

 

 

 



I hope you will visit Pixels and Paper and maybe even join in the challenges being offered. We'd love to see you there.
I hope that this gives you some inspiration and ideas.
Thank you for visiting and thank you also to all of you who always leave such positive and inspirational comments.
Cheers, Di

Recycling we shall go

Hi and welcome! I've had quite a busy week, including participating in a delightful class at Julie's at   http://timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au/    on Sunday, where a group of us completed tribute layouts specifically designed to fit into a shadow box, because of the number of layers involved. I now only have to finish the frame and my memory piece will be ready for display.
Over at ARTastic, http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/  there is a challenge, running until the end of the month, which involves recycling materials. The only things I haven't recycled are the brads, washi tape, inks and paints.
I started with a base from the back of a Tim Holtz cardstock pack.

 

 

On this I've added some strips of washi tape, before layering with corrugated cardboard from packaging. For some additional texture I've added some scraps of crumpled and misted glassine paper, which had been used for die-cut flowers on a previous layout. The framing on the photo are again left-over scraps.  Flowers were die cut from glossy ice-block packaging (alcohol inked), old book binding material (alcohol inked then painted with 3D stamping paint) and water colour paper. For the colours on this, I pressed flowers through a cuttlebug. This gave a gorgeous, soft blending of colours. The flourishes were left overs, and the fibre came from  a  bouquet of flowers. The stamping on the background were also done with recycled material; polystyrene packaging.

 

 

 

 

The photo is of  a giant Bird- of - Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) which is growing in my garden..... much bigger than I expected, but providing an 'umbrella' for my gorgeous tawny frogmouth visitors, especially in wet or very hot conditions.

 

Thank you for visiting, and for your lovely comments. Cheers, Di

 

 

Tag with mini photo booklet

Hi and welcome! Our wintry days have finally arrived with sunny, but blustery, windy days. Whales have started to migrate to warmer waters, but so far haven't spotted any, even though we've had a couple of trips to various headlands nearby.
Challenge 21 at ABAC: http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/ has a focus on 'Masculine or Dear Ol' Dad'. For this I have made a large tag with a mini photo / affirmation booklet.

 

 

The tag was made from black card stock and has a grid of various patterned washi tapes on it. It was then painted with 3D Stamping paint (aqua, silver and blue) and stamped with Darkroom Door 'Sail Away' stamp set. I used the metallic silver StazOn for this.

The mini booklet was made from white card stock and smooshed with Distress Stains (Salty Ocean, Weathered Wood and Bundled Sage). The pages were stamped with Archival Ink  (cobalt blue and french ultramarine), again with the same stamp set. Photos of holidays to Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland were added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Washi tape and 3D Stamping paint was added for additional texture. I have been enjoying carving jumbo erasers (very cool and super-easy to carve)  to make my own stamps and used one of these to add extra markings on the background.

 

A male member of the family has a birthday coming up soon, so this tag will soon wend its way to this particular person.

 

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are always greatly appreciated. Cheers, Di.

 

 



Rose Tag

Hi and welcome! Firstly thank you to the design team for choosing me as a feature artist for Challenge 19. This was a lovely and unexpected surprise.
Challenge 20 at ABAC; http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/  has been exactly that:- a challenge in where to start!! The dusting off of old supplies has certainly been a good incentive to look in some drawers that haven't been foraged into for quite some time and I did find quite a few items (a lot with the 'what was I thinking of'! factor. Yes, there were a large number of stickers (which no longer self-adhere), some roses (made from very thin sheets of rubber, which had been an "I'll use those" purchase) AND!!!! a Tim Holtz mini mask which I'd forgotten I'd bought and until now, never used.
The tag I made started off as a piece of card stock with a thin layer of gesso applied to it. While wet, it was sprayed with Glimmer Mists (Walnut Gold, Coffee Shop and Suede). These were smooched together using a plastic bag (thanks Julie). Then it was sprinkled with perfect Pearls powder (Perfect Gold) and left to dry.
The mini mask was used as a stencil, and the flourish was made using 3D Stamping Paint in Moss green.

The stickers, roses and crushed velvet ribbon were added. In my stash I also found a chipboard word 'DREAM' which I broke up to add to the tag. A net and pearl bead dragonfly and some wool have completed the tag.

Thank you for stopping by and leaving comments.These make my day. Cheers, Di