Pay it Forward

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow, or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do
in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment and you’re on, I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make!
Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I will check my blog daily to see who the first three sign ups are, and if they've joined this Pay It Forward exchange, they will be the recipients from me.

Make sure to leave your blog address with your message, so I can check your blog. I will also need your email address so I can contact you for details of where to send them.

Altered Hand

Today I unearthed some hands that I had bought some time ago, the plan was to alter them for Christmas presents. Well that didn't happen, but I did alter one today. This is the first time I have done anything like this. Here goes :)

The first picture is the hand as it came out of the box. As you can see it is jointed, and there is quite a lot of movement in the wrist.

I covered the hand completely with images stamped onto tissue paper, torn and adhered with PVA glue. making sure,as I went along that all the joints still moved.

Once this was dry I coloured it using a random mixture of Distress Inks, aged mahogany, broken china, peeled paint, mustard seed and spiced marmalade. I sprayed a little Tattered Angels iridescent gold onto a sponge and used that over all the colours.

I then dabbed all over with Opalite Golden Mist.

The embellishment is part of an old earring,

covered with gold rub 'n buff and attached with very fine thread. This is not quite the effect I had in mind when I started out, it is quite rich looking. For my next hand(!) I have another 3, I think I will keep the colours softer.

ATC Doll

Adrienne is running a swap for an art doll, which must fold up to the size of an ATC. This is what I came up with.

I used Distress Inks, Aged Mahogany, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed swiped onto a non stick mat. Instead of spritzing with water I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist , copper. I randomly stamped the

patterns in Brilliance Lightening Black and drew around them with a Sukura Gelly Roll copper glitter pen.

I stamped words on the limbs. The crown is from a sun stamp, stamped on gold metallic card , embossed and cut out. The face is from my image

collection. Added a gold band, and a few jewels and put the whole lot together with mini gold brads. Hope my partner enjoys it. It was fun to make.

Klimt ATC

I made this ATC for a swap in a group I belong to. I had had the Klimt cube by Judikins for a while, but had never used it. I bet we all have stamps bought and not used. When I look through mine I sometimes think to 'What on earth did I buy that for? ', and then there is the the joy of finding a stamp you want to use immediately lol. This was one of those times, I quite like how it turned out.

The background was made using a mixture of Sticky Fingers lustre sprays, available from Carol and Aileen's Outside the Margins Sprays. This was stamped with the Klimt images in silver shadow ink. The mountboard was sprayed with the same colours and stamped with Brilliance Lightening Black. The words were printed from my computer onto vellum and I added a small metal embellishment.

Winter colours Mini ATC's

Fiona on CC Swaps has a mini ATC swap going. 3 mini's in winter colours. This is mine, so hope my swap partner likes them

Caught in Crystal Experiments

I had a go at creating some caught in crystal, using mica sprays (Moon Glow and Moon Shadow).

I sprayed acetate with the colours, added a few glitters and spread a piece of crumpled tissue directly over this. I then added a light coat of floor polish and heated until dried. The pictures do not do this justice , as all the variations of the colours don't show too well.

It is fun and really quick to do.

Beads

This was the first time I had ever made beads, so I had lots of experimenting to do before I

came up with these.

Two more firsts, using polymer clay and using my melt pot! Not for melting Utee , but for 'cooking' the clay.It worked really well.

I used black and silver clay rolled together a, then cut into a suitable size and rolled onto a stamp. for a bit of texture. Then I randomly added some Perfect Pearls.

Shrink Plastic beads. Translucent shrink plastic, cut into a square with the corners rounded. I coloured the backs with glimmer chalks, and when still warm quickly rounded them.

Polka Dot Tip-In

The theme for the Tip-in swap this month was polka dots. I had fun with this once I had come up with an idea.

I used watery gesso to cover the background papers and the image. The polka dots were punched using heavy vellum, and the words done on my computer using a polka dot font, cut out and embossed a couple of times.

The back is painted with acrylics and the doll painted with H2O's.

Slide Mount

The challenge was to make something from slide mounts that wasn't a card or an ATC. After several false starts (had plenty of those lately!) I came up with this. Hope my swap partner likes it.

I gessoed the framewith black and then added gold acrylic with the noodle brush. The embellishment is made with paper clay and painted with gold acrylic and a little rub and buff added.

Christmas Recipe Tags

I have finally finished my tags for Jessie's swap and they are packed ready to wing their way to Australia.

Tuesday Playday

Karin,Sue and I got together to have another play day. They decided! that I was to choose the technique that we used. Neither of them had tried the faux carnival glass - thanks Zeb - so I decided that is what we would do. We had great fun, and all ended the day with some 4 pieces to use in projects. We tried with glass and cut up cds, which worked well, except for the plastic piece in the middle!

The top two are on glass, bottom two on cds.

We also have a 3 way ATC swap going. The one this week was children. Here's mine.

Nature ATC

Bren's ATC swap for October is nature, and this is my take on it. Stamped and daubed with clear gesso on glossy card. When it was dry , using cosmetic sponges, I covered it with Vivid Dye Inks and buffed with tissue. I didn't like how the stamped images
( Oxford Impressions) looked so I toned them down by putting a little white gesso on them and rubbing it off.
The tag was stamped( Invoke) on glossy and coloured using the same Vivid ink pads.
Used the computer to produce the words, printed onto hand made paper coloured with the same inks.

Playing

Today Karin, who I was introduced to at the Newbury Art Stamp Show, and I finally met up for a day of playing. Karin lives just 10 minutes from me, and this is the first time I have had anyone to play with ( in the art sense :) ) We had great fun, chatted a lot, looked at things we had both done and then played around making jointed shrink plastic dolls.

Here are the ones I made. I have never done these before and I had great fun making the bigger one, which is doodled. The small one was hard for me to fix together, being as hamfisted as I am lol, but I did get there in the end.

We both enjoyed the day, and hope to meet up on a regular basis, and actually are taking a small trip together on Saturday morning......chasing new supplies? well maybe!

12 days of Christmas

Christmas has come early for members of CCSwaps, or at least for me! Sweetpea has organised a swap for which we have to make 12 gifts the same & wrap and tag them. We will get 12 different gifts back. Well a glutton for punishment maybe, but I signed up twice, and my 24 gifts, wrapped and tagged have been packed ready for the post tomorrow.


Domino Magnets using alcohol inks, shrink plastic , paper clay and beads for embellishments

Felt inners filled with pot pourri , mulberry paper stamped and trimmed for the outer cover. Embossed leaves and a paper rose tucked under the ribbon of each stack.

All packaged ready to be boxed and sent off to Sweetpea.

Art Challenge

Have finally managed to get around to starting this challenge, set by Trish. I think some people are on page 3 and I have just managed to colour my textured background , which was the first one. Well after this week things should be a little easier time wise, says she keeping all fingers crossed!

Here is what I have done so far:



















My book was made from water colour paper put together with my comb binding machine.
I used some ready mixed quick drying Interior Filler on the left side of the page, and a plastic grid (don't know where it came from) randomly to get the pattern. When it was dry I sprayed with Sticky Fingers Liquid Lustre colour washes (available from my friend Carol) in Aubergine, Green and Aqua , with a touch of blue. What will become of this page I have no idea as yet.

Sisters

Pauline organised a swap for 3 Mini ATCs , ( 1.5 ins x 2.5ins) any theme as long as the colours were autumnal. The pictures on these are of myself and my sisters manipulated slightly in Adobe Elements.

Circus Tip In Page

I've finally managed to grab a bit of me time. This month has been hectic and I've had little time for any art :(

Here is my take on Circus for a Tip In Swap organised by Sweetpea .

Doodle Bug

The theme for Bren's 9 for 10 ATC swap for September is doodling, and let me tell you, once you start it is addictive!!

I started off by dividing my ATC card into 8 by the use of curving lines and then I just mindlessly filled each segment with patterns. I then sprayed with Aileen's spray in Tahoe Turquoise and added a blast of Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist, Iridescent Gold. I stuck a jewel where the lines meet. I took the plunge re making another 9 the same or as near as I could. I traced the dividing lines, but all the rest was freehand.


This one was done in the same way, and yes I made 10 of them lol. The colouring was done using Lumiere
Metallic Olive, daubed on with a wet baby wipe. I added Opalite Cypress Frost in the same way and then a quick spray of Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist , Iridescent Gold. I rubbed some gold glimmer chalk around the edges. I am not sure about the colour of this one, although it is better in real life.

I am not sure if either of these will make it to the swap, I might just have to feed the addiction and do some more!

Sketch Book

Trish has given the members of Art Venture a personal challenge which is to create a sketch book about themselves. We have been given lots of prompts for pages, but we are free to do whatever we want as long as we do it!!

I have had prepared backgrounds for my pages for some time, but have only just got round to doing a couple of pages and a cover.




Cover Cardboard covered in tinfoil and

pearlescent acrylic inks.


Name Page



I love Page

GeoDeco Thingies

GeoDeco Thingies are little bits of art made using scraps of left over papers. The idea came from Zeb at After Midnight and Adrienne is running a swap which I signed up for. Today I have been playing, and one of these pieces will go to my swap partner.
These are fun to do, and don't take very long.



The first one was made from scraps of an alcohol ink background
found in my 'I will use these bits sometime' box, covered in Clear Opals embossing powder. I stamped with A Time to Stamp background stamp and embossed with silver, and again covered with clear opals.It doesn't show up too clearly on the scan. The decorative piece is made from Friendly Plastic and a Krafty Lady Mold.
The cord was made with embroidery thread and the attachment is part of an old earring.





The second one is again made from scraps of a background, irresistible gesso. After deciding on the shape and embossing with the Clear Opals I stamped with an unknown stamp and embossed in gold, and again used the Clear Opals(Available from After Midnight). I used friendly plastic again for the embellishment , heating it and stamping with the same stamp. I rubbed a little gold leaf Rub 'n Buff on it. The ribbon is some sari ribbon onto which I threaded the beads (again Rub 'n Buff was used on these). I stuck the ribbon in place and made the hanging loop. I even stitched it lol! Then I placed the embellishment.

I think I will be making lots more of these , such fun.

Black & White ATC's

Bren is hosting a series of 10 for 9 ATC swaps. Each month there is a different theme, this month being black and white.

The background for this was made by using black gesso , allowing it to dry and then spraying with Aileen's colour mists sprays in Zirconium White and Tungston Carbide. I did two sheets and whilst wet with the sprays I sort of smooshed them together.*Smooshed I think is a Trish Bayley word :)

The stamp I used was from Hearts in Touch and I downloaded the font from the net, printed it on white and attached it to black ribbon. To finish I added the pearls and the jewel for the ring.

Da Vinci Tip-In

Tip-In pages is an ongoing monthly swap being run by Sweetpea on Creative Swaps.The idea is to make one page a month to a given theme .

This month the theme is da Vinci and my page is going to the lady herself:) Hope she likes it!

My background was made using alcohol inks in mushroom, butterscotch, caramel and gold.

For the stamped images, Vitruvian Man (Cherry Pie Art Stamps), Mona Lisa face, mouth and the words (unknown) I used Versafine Vintage Sepia.

Other images are from Trish's da Vinci Sheet

coloured with a walnut ink dauber.

For the letters I used copper coloured metal , stamped on

the reverse and embossed. These were then folded

around 'inchie' squares and embossed with a multi coloured embossing powder. I've no idea what it was , a sort of bronze with some blue in it, lol.

I didn't like it so I distressed them by sanding lightly and sponging on bottle alcohol ink.

I enjoyed doing this project.

Shabby Gesso with a Twist

I made this for a background swap on CC Swaps.

It started out as an irresistible gesso background, but I hated it!

I stamped some images (no longer visible) and dabbed on white gesso with a sea sponge. When dry I applied Posh Inks, Blue, Purple and Green with cosmetic sponges and then buffed it with a tissue. It was much too dark and all of a 'muchness'.

To rescue it I used baby-wipes to rub of a lot of the colour and then sponged on Opalite Pigment Ink in Cypress Frost. Much better!

Hanging ATC's

Adrienne came up with the idea of a hanging ATC swap. Any subject, but they had to hang and have something dangling from the bottom. Here's what I came up with. The background is acrylic paint, dry brushed with gold metallic and stamped with oriental characters(A Stamp in the Hand)using Brilliance Lightening Black, doesn't show too well on the photograph. I coloured paper with gold rub on and stamped characters for the left edging. The images are some I have collected over time. I used my new crop a dile to place the eyelets for the ribbon. (Thanks Carol :) ) The 'dowels' were made from painted bamboo skewers and I added glass beads to finish them off. To complete I added the hanger and added the oriental coins to both the ATC's and the bottom hanger. I hope my swap partner likes it.

London

I have been away for a few days in London with my daughter and grandsons. We had a short break staying in the Marriott Regent's Park. We had a visit to Hamley's Toyshop, 5 floors of delight for kiddies of all ages:) where youngest grandson spent his birthday money.

We visited the Imperial War Museum and spent 3 hours in the Holocaust Exhibition, which was emotional and sobering. Back to the hotel ,shower and change and off to wander around Covent Garden before going to see Lord of the Rings. Not my choice of show, but I was surprised to find that I enjoyed a lot of it. The choreography was superb, the special effects amazing and the interaction with the audience both before and during the performance was great.

After the show we went for a meal, which we ate alfresco...even though it was 10.45 p.m!

The photo is of Al and Dom dancing with a busker on the way back to the hotel....this was at almost midnight, the energy of youth!

The last day we split up and I visited the British Museum as I wanted to see the Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition. I also managed to pay a visit to Blade Rubber Stamps, and of course was easily parted from my pennies lol. A couple of stamps and some Stewart Gill paints.

So a good , though exhausting , time was had by all.

Da Vinci Woman

These are the ATC's I made for the shabby gesso swap. The images are courtesy of Trish coloured with a little Distress teadye. Edged with Krylon and the sequins were in my stash.

Playing with Gesso

Yesterday I played a lot with Gesso. Adrienne is running a swap using a Shabby Chic Gesso background and gave us several ideas, so here goes.

Shabby Gesso.

The first one was made using Adrindack in Rueberry and the second using Posh Inks, green, orange and yellow.

Irresistable Gesso.

The first one was stamped in Versafine Sepia (stamp by Crafty Individuals) and I used Posh Inks, yellow , terracotta and butterscotch with clear gesso.
Second one was stamped in Vivid plum , and I used Posh Inks in blue, green and eggplant.

Textured Gesso.


This was made with a thick coating of black gesso, stamped into whilst wet with a foam stamp and I also used a plastic picnic fork. When it was dry I coloured it with Sticky Fingers Liquid Lustre in green and orange, but this is what I got!