Chrissys board book

The theme of the book was friendships and I thought that I might include animal friends.
I know that Chrissy has a beautiful dog called Molly who I thought would be the main image.The background is layers of starburst stains in blue and gold with white acrylic dry brushed between to create some depth.The paws were a masterstoke.Someone had given them to me and I found them in my box when searching for inspiration.

Pen and wash project

I don't usually share my art on here but I rather like this one.We all had to put a very loose wash onto the page-mine was far looser than everyones being a messy person.In fact I deliberately used a huge brush. If you look closely you can see where the colours are all over the place.

We used pen to pull the whole thing together and add the shadows .

Melt pot mayhem!!

I have finally got out my melt pot which I wanted to use for faux carnival glass on formica samples.I soon discovered they get very thick very quickly so in the end I only did the first initial dunk and then set to work with my heat gun.

I realised also that stamping into the hot UTEE wasn't my forte-I press too hard i thin and I gave up doing this.In the end I was just happy to add glitter mica powders and other bits and bobs.

The blue sample isn't made with film at all but with foil which Suze Weinberg demonstrated a while ago.The pink sample used opals ep glitter and micro beads.The greenish one is true faux carnival glass but without the stamping.Finally i had to do the backs without ruining the front and eventually made little mats of angelina fibres which I ironed onto the back with my craft iron.

Thanks to loads of people -Caz for the samples and everyone who advised on powders.in the end I used regular UTEE with flex in it not the opals stuff.

Found text ATCS

This was a really hard exercise to do.ATCs are small so to find a good piece of text to use was very difficult.Also the print was small so i had a problem being able to read it.I covered the text first with diamond glaze before painting over the text which I had discarded with paint.

Then I had to make them look like ATCs with decoration stamping and embellishments.

On the whole I was quite pleased with them but they took hours to make.

Faux carnival dragonfly ATC

I made this using the dished side.I filled it with melted opals and added the fantasy film pressing well in.After cooling I trimmed it off and added another layer of opals.I used versamark each time so it wouldnt blow away when heated.

It was a bit fiddly but looks quite effective

Books -Chunky page

Chunky page

Peas Board book

This was on the subject of Art and I had just purchased a fabulous set of stamps called Da vinci pears.The background was lumieres at first but I thought it was too bright so I dry brushed with white acrylic-doing both layers several times.The images were embossed with moonglow ep and painted with H2os.Lastly I added a green opal glaze.I hope she likes it as I had fun with this one.

Da vinci tip in

I have been experimenting with Studio papaer which is waxy.You print an image onto it from the computer.Ideally this goes onto a page but having smudged work in the past ,I decided to put it onto white tissue and then attach it with gel medium.This has been more satifactory and you can still see the background through the paper.

Finished work

Abstract ATCS

I have been messing around again!!!The main image for this is Hermines splash picture which she kindly said we could use.I threw in a few more pictures and created some effects.

Maggis altered book page

I did this page for Maggis journey book.It took several attempts!I used a lot of glazes to unify the whole thing-blue seafoam and opal.Opal is gorgeous and sadly doesnt show here-it gives a green shimmer.

Altered playing cards

I made this for a swap that I arranged.The stamp is a favourite from Cathleen Perkins.I used the stazon technique.

Digital ATCs

I adore messing with Adobe photoshop and when I have time I like to experiment with digital ATCS.

This stiking image came form a colour supplement.

same image

Again the same image but shrouded in bubbles and blurred.

Added words-

Roundies are the new inchies

I was finding laying out inchies difficult as they are by nature straight.I decided to try some round shapes christened roundies.These are basically 1 inch in diameter but as I didn't want them laid out in regimented rows I decide to include circles that were a little bigger or smaller.I had a lot of fun with these especially when I invested in a few punches as cutting out is a pain.

My oriental roundies

Open Sesame

above outside below inside

This was an ATC swap which had to open.I thought a window would be good also so I made one with my inchie punch and covered it with punchinella scrap-The rather odd looking balls in the picture.

I was fascinated by the picture of the woman and saw that I had a marvy metallic background in just the same colours.So the woman went on with her face behind the window.I wanted to add mystery and I thought of strange happenings in woods -hence the text and the over stamping-which sadly does'nt show up that well.

I tried to contrast the outside and inside also so it was a surprise when you opened it.I wish the punchinella had been finer are more see through.

Inchie swap

I ran a swap on creative cards where we each had to create art on 1 inch squares.This was a challenge especially to messy people who cant see that well close up.Does that ring any bells? But lots of people joined in.When I got mine back I was determined to use a square frame However I found this one and thought it was perfect.So here they are our first inchies.

Here are some of the squares in more detail

Atcs with special backgrounds

I adore making backgrounds and have huge stacks of them.Every now and then I decide to make some ATCS.My favourite style is collage stamping but I am often disappointed when my lovely background disappears.I thought I would try a simpler style with more of a silhouette look.This background is marvy metallics on black glossy card.

The one called waiting for a sign is alcohol inks and dream time is gessoed with lumieres applied with a credit card.

My decorated box

I have always admired some of the 3 D objects in craft magazines.I thought I would have a go.Its not perfect but it is a start.I painted it with purple lumiere paint.The top is UTEE in a thick layer which I made as a rectangle on a craft sheet and added afterwards.

I embedded lots of pearlex and coloured eps into it and then added loads of tiny gold beads.

I stamped into it -however I think that this was perhaps a mistake.It doesn't look quite right somehow.Anyway for a first attempt it was quite nice tho I haven't ever made any more pieces like this.

These things are like little shallow bottle tops-I dont know what they are called.I coloured the metal with a black sharpie and then added the opals EP.After a good layer I put down a bit of fantasy film and added more ep.The last job was a quick stamp with an inked stamp and voila a jewell.

I wanted to make a good job for our leader!!!The theme was women and I chose to portray the role of women during the war.I painted the page with paint in a rough way and kept adding distress inks which just kept disappearing.Then some texture with stamps in copper and black and gold-a grid stamp and a face.Then some sponging through some mesh holes.The background was so nice and since I covered it it has mostly gone!!!!

The pictures were inspired from postcards
The other side shows this wonderful strong image overlaid by Victorians from the past-to illustrate change