Created Byhand Challenge

The theme for the very first Created Byhand Challenge is eyelets and this is my submission. I used diluted Ranger color wash sprays butterscotch and wild plum for the background. The quote (Quietfire Design) is stamped on vellum, tore and wrapped to the back. 1/16" gold eyelets added.

Painted Napkins

Yesterday after an in-person atc swap, our demo/activity time was painting on paper towels and napkins. This atc was made from a piece of the painted napkin I did. The napkin already had pictures of butterflies and things on it so i just painted around them with Golden fluid acrylics. After I got home I cut out the atc and then also used Golden matte medium over it to be sure the napkin was completely stuck to the cardstock. I also added some white paint over the butterfly to soften it a bit. The saying (from Quietfire Design) is stamped onto a transparency with Versamark ink and embossed with Adirondack powder. Attached it with eyelets and added the embroidered butterfly.

Corrugated Cardboard

The background for this atc was inspired by some atcs done by Joanne, an artist on one of the yahoo groups I belong too. I cut a piece of corrugated cardboard to atc size and tore off most of the top layer exposing the corrugated center. I then took torn pieces of solid tissue paper (light pink, medium green, and a deep dusty rose) and glued them on using Golden matte medium letting them hang over the edges. While it was still wet I sprayed them with diluted Ranger color wash stream, butterscotch and cranberry and let that dry completely. Next I used the matte medium to glue the extra paper hanging over the edges to the back, let that dry. Then I sprayed it with gold spray webbing, let that dry. And lastly I used a blitzer to add sprays of gold Krylon paint pen and let that dry. The girl is an image from the Tuscan Rose Vintage Images CD #1. Letters were printed and punched with a quarter inch hole punch.

My first arch card

I made my first arch card recently for a challenge on the Time to Stamp Chat yahoo group. The background is done using a Krylon paint pen and Ranger color wash sprays. The child image is from Time to Stamp. The words were done with a dymo printer on clear tape.

Black and Daub

These are finished samples from a class I taught recently on Cyberstampers. More information about the cards can be found on my picturetrail.

Accordion ATC Book

I had lots of fun creating this book as part of the ATC workshop on Artists of the Round Table. All the stamps I used are from Time to Stamp. The folded accordion is black cardstock and I stamped all the images with bleach, let it dry, and then added color back in by spraying on Stamp Zia color wash sprays. For the atcs I started with a light tan sheet of cardstock and sprayed it randomly with the same color wash sprays, dried it and cut it up into atc sized pieces. All the images on the atcs were stamped with either Versafine ink or Vivid ink.

A new design team and more ATCs

First of all I'm thrilled to now be a member of the Quietfire Design design team. Quietfire Design is a wonderful company in Canada that has fabulous calligraphy rubber stamps plus some design stamps along with lots of other stuff.

Both of these atc projects were done for the ATC Workshop on the Artists of the Round Table yahoo group.

The first one is a folded atc. All the images used on this are from Quietfire Design. I started with white glossy cardstock, stamped a large diamond background with resist ink, sponged over that with Adirondack inks. The small diamond border and tree were stamped with Adirondack inks.

All the stamping and sponging on the inside is done with Adirondack inks.

This triptych has cardstock as the base. I glued on a page from a phone book and also some tissue paper along the bottom. Let that dry and painted it using Golden fluid acrylics. Stamping was done with Stazon ink. Leaves are punched from cardstock and colored with Adirondack inks.

Autumn Colors

On the Time to Stamp Chat yahoo group, Kristy issued a challenge to use Autumn colors in a project. I actually did 2 projects, an atc and a card.

The background of the atc was done using water-soluable oil pastels. I scribbled them on and then blended them with my finger. The image (Time to Stamp) was stamped using Versafine vintage sepia and onyx black. Inked the whole image with sepia and then just tapped the edges with black. Leaves were punched from mustard colored cardstock and then Moon Glow embossing powder was added to each one. Words were written with a micron pen.

For the card I used a brayer and Kaleidacolor autumn spendor to ink up the collage stamp (Time to Stamp Lucid Dreams collection) and then stamped it onto white glossy paper. Trimmed paper and sponged on extra color around image to filled cardstock. "Changes" uses Time to Stamp's Artist's Stamp Alphabet and is stamped with Stazon jet black. Layered onto white cardstock, then corner punched rust colored cardstock and onto folded black card. Leaf charm (Time to Stamp) attached with glossy accents.

Happy October

Happy October!! I know... it's already the 8th, but it's my first post this month... busy, busy. I have gotten some art done though. I did another canvas but can't share it yet as I'm entering it into a contest.

This atc was done as part of the Bernie Berlin workshop on the A.R.T. group. I cut a piece from an old pair of jeans and decided I liked the back of material better for the front of my card. I machine stitched it to a piece of cardstock using a decorative stitch around the edges and some random stitching in the center. The collage image (from The Altered Abbey) was attached using a straight stitch. I cut the branches free-hand from brown cardstock and stitched down the center of them. The bird (from Time to Stamp) was stamped on white cardstock, cut out, and glued on. The flowers have a seed bead sewn in the center.



Autumn is here with some cooler weather and the leaves have started to change colors. I needed a couple of cards this past week and just had to use leaves and autumn colors. Both backgrounds have leaves stamped with a resist pad and Adirondack inks sponged over them. The leaf embellishments are punched from white cardstock. For the first one I used Adirondack ink to color it and then embossed it with clear ep. For the second one I used Moon Glow ep over the leaf.

Dream Card

This card was made as a sample for the Cyberstampers September Mystery Stamp sponsored by Ma Vinci's Reliquary. The base of the card is black cardstock. The background is Golden light molding paste on watercolor paper (leave some paper showing) sprayed with Luminarte Radiant Rain Mists. After it was dry I added gold spray webbing, let it dry, edged the piece with Gold Krylon paint pen, and layered it onto the base. "DREAM" (from Ma Vinci's Reliquary) was inked with pigment ink. I then inked another small stamp with another color of pigment ink and tapped it a few times on the inked Dream stamp, cleaned the small stamp, reinked it and repeated the tapping.... stamped 'Dream' onto glossy white paper and embossed with clear ep, trimmed with deckle scissors, sprayed it with Krylon matte spray as I didn't want it glossy and layered it onto black cardstock. Wrapped it with crimped gold wire and layered onto background using foam mounting tape. Stamped 'Dream' again onto white shrink plastic with chalk ink, trimmed with deckle scissors, shrank, and added to card. I finished it by blitzing some Gold Krylon paint pen onto the bottom right and top left corner areas.

4 x 4 Friday - France

The theme this time on 4 x 4 Friday is France. The background is Golden fluid acrylics on watercolor paper. I made a stencil with a flower punch and and also used some sequin waste to stencil over the background. Eiffel tower is from Time to Stamp and stamped using Stazon stone grey. Words are from PSX and stamped using Stazon jet black.

Wednesday Stamper - Fish

The theme this week on Wednesday Stamper is fish. I decided to make an inchie. The background is color wash sprays from Stamp Zia sprayed onto watercolor paper and sprinkled heavily with seasalt. The fish (Fred Mullet) is stamped with Versafine onyx black and color added with Twinkling H20s. The eye is highlighted using Souffle and Glaze pens. Gold dots are done with a Krylon paint pen. "journey" is cut from a dictionary. Edges are tapped on a Brilliance pearlescent sky blue pad.

Radiant Rain Daubers

These are samples from a class I taught on Cyberstampers this past Saturday using Radiant Rain daubers. Step-by-step directions can be found on my picturetrail

4 x 4 Friday - Flourish

This is my entry for the 4 x 4 flourish challenge. The base is watercolor paper and I used Radiant Rain Mists and Heidi Swapp masks for the background. The flourish is a rub-on and I went around the edges of it with an Adirondack marker and added dots with the same marker. Words are dymo tape and image is from The Altered Abbey.

Dragonflies

This card uses stamps from Time to Stamp. The main collage image is from the Lucid Dreams Collection. The others are from a variety of sheets. The background starts with white cardstock. I stamped an abstract image multiple times with Versafine deep lagoon and Brilliance pearlescent orchid. Dried well with a heat tool, sponged a thin coat of gesso over the whole piece to soften the colors, dried well, used Radiant Rain daubers pink azalea and teal zircon gently around the edges, dried well, rubbed just a little of the deep lagoon ink on the very edges to soften them, dried well. On a scrap of white cardstock I splashed circles of the teal zircon dauber, dried with a heat tool, stamped the watch image in each circle using Stazon jet black, tore long edges, rubbed with deep lagoon, dried. Main image is stamped on white cardstock with Versafine deep lagoon, dried well, pink azalea dauber is dabbed along the edges and just a bit in the center of the watch. Stamp the dragonfly part of the main image 2 more times on white cardstock with Brilliance pearlescent orchid and pearlescent jade and cut out dragonflies. Rub a scrap of white cardstock with pink azalea dauber, dry well, sponge on gesso, dry, stamp with quote using Stazon black, tear out, dab edges with teal zircon dauber, dry. Assemble as shown and add wire for dragonfly antenas.

Wednesday Stamper

The theme this week on Wednesday Stamper is mulberry/handmade papers. This card is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". The base is a reddish handmade paper with lots of inclusions and texture. I sponged Lumiere sunset gold along the bottom and right edge. The image (Paperbag Studios) is stamped on a white mulberry that has some gold filaments in it with Versafine vintage sepia. I also stamped the top part of the image on cream colored cardstock with the sepia ink, cut out the saying and attached it over the mulberry paper. Added the leaves and wire.

TMTA - Men

The theme this week on Think Monday Think ATC is men. The background is done with Radiant Rain daubers. First Mallard green all over the white cardstock and then Spiced pumpkin dabbed around the edges. Brilliance moonlight white ink was dabbed on in the area where the faces would be. Image (Time to Stamp) was stamped with Versamark and embossed with detail black. I also tapped the corner of the Versamark pad along the top edge and embossed that in black. The word "gentlemen" is from another stamp (Time to Stamp) and I stamped that with Versamark ink and embossed with detail black on a scrap piece of cardstock that was also colored with the mallard green dauber and moonlight white ink, cut out and added it and 3 brads to the card.

4 X 4 Friday

The theme for 4 x 4 Friday this week is birds. I'm a couple of days late with my entry but here it is. The

back- ground was done first with Radiant Rain daubers. Large eggs were stamped with Stazon timber brown. The plants were stamped with Versamark and some embossed in green and some in silver. Some extra branches are stamped at the bottom with Stazon Black and then more plants embossed over it in the corner. The bird is stamped onto acetate with black stazon, cut out and attached with Golden solf gel medium matte. Flourish and "Feathered Friend" is stamped with Versamark and embossed with white. All stamps are from Time to Stamp.

Panda Card

Happy Thursday!! This card is also done with new images from Time to Stamp (Pam Bell Collection). Image stamped with Versafine olympia green and stippled with Kaleidacolor inks masking the pandas first. Also stamped part of the image on the base card with Pallet giverney green. Asian symbols are punched from another stamp image (Pam Bell collection). Leaf is die cut from shrink plastic, chalked and shrunk.

Wednesday Stamper

This weeks challenge on Wednesday Stamper is to use the color blue. All images used on this ATC are from Time to Stamp. The legs and the fan are from her new Lucid Dreams collection and the script is from her ATC sheet. Background was done with Portfolio watersoluble oil pastels. Legs stamped with Stazon black. Fan stamped with Versafine black and highlights added with a glaze pen. Script was stamped with Colorbox chalk prussian blue.

An ATC

This ATC also uses images from the Pam Bell collection available from Time to Stamp. The background was created using Radiant Rain Mist daubers from Luminarte. Lady is stamped with Versafine black and color added with Tombow markers.

New Images at Time to Stamp

Time to Stamp has 2 new collections, the Pam Bell collection and the Lucid Dreams collection. The stamps used on this card are both from the Pam Bell collection. The background image was inked with Versafine Sepia over the bamboo area and with Versafine black over the the rest of it. Lady is stamped in black. The layer behind the lady and above and below the background is brown cardstock. I cut a piece from a small skewer, added red metallic embroidery floss and attached it using Golden soft gel medium.

Fabric ATC

I've been participating in an online workshop at Artists of the Round Table. We are working our way through the book Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin. Today I've been trying hand-stitching a fabric atc. It's a lot of fun but my wrist and hands got tired. The butterfly is part of the fabric and I stitched around it. The girl is a Dover image printed on copy paper with a HP deskjet printer and transfered to muslin using Golden soft gel medium, trimmed and sewn on. The flowers are only held on with the thread and bead through the center.

Think Monday Think ATC

This is my first contribution to Think Monday Think ATC. The theme this week is metal. I stamped onto metal tape, debossed the stamping, painted with neopaque black and wiped off the extra paint. All the stamped images are from Time to Stamp. Crimped 2 pieces of heavy gauge red wire for embellishments.

Starting A Blog

I've finally decided to start a blog. Now, I'm really not a writer but I do enjoy creating art... mostly rubberstamping and mixed media with a variety of other things thrown in. I'll be sharing that art and anything else I choose to toss in. I hope you enjoy it here.