While poking around on blogs today, I came across a drawing for a new book out (see photo). The requirements to participate are to post the Amazon link: http://tinyurl.com/64h9tm and to post a link to the artist's blog so that others could enter the drawing as well: http://ilkasattic.blogspot.com/2008/12/book-give-away-contest.html#links

So, there you go! Looks like a cool book, and I'd love to win a free copy of it!

Immi

90th Birthday

In November of 2007, my grandfather celebrated his 90th birthday. A party was in order, so my mom and aunt got busy organizing. All of his grandchildren, most of his great-grandchildren, and his one great-great grandchild were there.

The photo at the top shows 5 generations, with A sitting on Daddy Clyde's knee. The bottom photo is all of us squeezed in for a group photo. We met at a restaurant in Sweetwater, TX for some good food and catching up. I'm so glad we were able to do that!
Happy creating!
Immi

71 Years

Here is a layout of photos taken on my grandparents' 71st anniversary. It's amazing to me to think of being married that long - longer than some people live! Nanny was no longer able to live at home, but the staff at the care facility helped put together a celebration for them.

I didn't do much in the way of embellishments here. I used a pretty piece of vellum over white cardstock as my background. In my stash I found a neat ribbon with a slide over it which I adhered across the page. (I took to heart the lesson learned from the mistake I'd made with ribbon before!) I did want to cover up the date stamp on the photos, and I had some epoxy word stickers that worked well for that.

Happy creating!
Immi

Sweet Face

First, a note about AARP. My DH decided to apply for membership to take advantage of discounts. Weird enough to be married to a spouse who is a member of AARP. However, when his card arrived this past weekend, I was shocked to see a card with MY NAME on it!!! It's one thing for him to have a card; I wasn't ready for it at all. Sigh.

Okay, now for something fun and young! I took this photo of A back in June, when he was watching a He-Man cartoon. He was so absorbed in the action. My inspiration for the layout came from a post on Ali Edwards' blog - her layouts are always so clean and simple. I particularly liked the half-circle she'd cut out of a photo, with a circular element in the negative space left. I used up what was left of a piece of serendipity paper I'd done, so this really came together quickly. This layout is going in my scrapbook, which isn't chronological; it's photos I love that aren't necessarily tied to an event.

I did learn a lesson from adhering the ribbon to the page. I used some thin, double-sided tape, and put it on the ribbon first. I should have put it on the page, and then put the ribbon on top. Putting in on the ribbon caused the ribbon to get distorted and wavy. I wasn't very happy with the way it looked, but the tape is so strong, that when I gingerly tried to remove it, the paper underneath began to tear. I decided I'd better leave it as is and live with the waves.

Enjoy!
Immi

Inchie ATCs

I recently came across a swap on Swapbot for inchie artwork that would be about the size of an ATC. The inchies had to be connected to each other somehow.

I worked on the one on the left, and was liking the way it looked. I hadn't decided how to attach them to each other yet when I looked back at the rules for the swap. I realized this wouldn't work, because the swap description stated that it should be one continuous image, separated over the inchies used. So I glued them down to a black piece of cardstock, and kept that one for myself.

Back to the drawing board for the one I would send out. Do you remember the glossy photos from the social studies curriculum? I used one of the photos (sans glitter glue) for the background. The bird was stamped on tissue paper, and glued over the photo. I added some color with markers and a fake jewel for the eye, and cut it apart into inchies.

I thought I'd try attaching them to each other with thread. I used a very small hole punch to create the holes, and used sewing thread on a needle, tied in a knot on top. However, they wouldn't stay apart the distance I wanted, and it was all floppy. So I bent the rules a little, and glued everything down to brown cardstock and called it done.

If you'd like to get your feet wet in some swaps, Swapbot is a good place to start.

Till later,
Immi

ATCs

Here are some ATCs I've done for recent swaps. Some are already mailed out; others I'm waiting for an address.

The first two photos are ATCs I did for a Vintage ATC swap. The only rule was that they had to look vintage; you weren't required to use vintage materials.

For the first one, I used (again) a piece from a serendipity page. It didn't need much; I simply added a scrap of lace and a couple of old buttons from my collection. I did "age" the lace a little by rubbing it with an ink pad before gluing it down.

For the second ATC, I chose a piece from my files of a reproduction of an old document. I stamped the flourish at the bottom, and cut it a little smaller than the finished size. I taped it down to a blue background (the same shade as the blue I used for stamping the face).The face is stamped on a transparency, and layered over the "document". I attached the transparency at the top with a couple of eyelets, in an antique looking metal.

Finally, the last photo shows a set I've done for a Sender's Choice swap for September. I pulled out some odds & ends and did a little inking around the edges (one of my favorite techniques) to help them stand out a little from the background (which is from a serendipity page). I glued everything down and that was that!

Happy creating!
Immi

Recent ATCs

Here are some ATCs I've done recently. The first two photos show what I've sent out for a "Fall Fantasy" swap.

The set of three with leaves is done on a background made from one of my serendipity page experiments. I love these, because you've got a lot of the work done already and just need to add something to finish it off. The leaves are something I bought long ago, and thought they'd work well for this. They came pre-cut, colored & glittered, so all I had to do was glue them to the background. I included all three, since the backgrounds were slightly different.

The next photo shows one of a set of three for the same swap. For this background, I used the top layer of a decorative napkin, which I glued to a support underneath. I added another fall image, from the same batch as the leaves. I also added a strip of paper along the left that looks like gingham ribbon. Some text stamping over the top and it was done.

The final photo is an ATC I did as an experiment, not as part of a swap. I've got a lot of glossy photos on heavy weight paper which came from an unused social studies curriculum packet (yes, I had permission to take this stuff home). I stuck them in a misc. file, with no idea how to use them. A couple of weekends ago, I got the urge to find a way to use up all my cheap glitter glue, saving the good Ranger stuff. I pulled out these photo sheets, and began painting over them with glitter glue. I let that dry. Then I stamped an image on tissue paper, and glued that over the glittered photos. I colored the image with colored pencils, and added a fake jewel for the eye, and a small reproduction of a Scrabble tile at the bottom. I think it turned out just "okay", but that's what experiments are about!

Happy creating!
Immi

Reading Glasses

Finally, to finish out the week of collages from the past, here is a collage that got its start because I wanted to use an old, broken pair of reading glasses!

The background is my favorite tissue paper over a book cover, with layers of paint and glazes. I wanted writing on it, so I found some Italian on the internet, and handwrote it. I hope it's saying something nice, because I have no idea what it means!

The glasses are glued down with E6000, a very strong adhesive which is good for things that won't lie flat. The flower is one left over from my daughter's wedding reception, with a couple of beads in the middle.

The curly wire pieces started out very differently from what you see here. I had in mind to use a piece of wire, curled, with beads strung along the length. It turned out awful! Well, I hated to throw it out, so I got some wire snips and began cutting it apart. I liked the way the cut apart pieces looked, so I flattened them out somewhat and glued them down.

This is a brighter piece than I usually do, but that was driven by the reading glasses. I didn't think something subdued would work too well.

Happy creating!
Immi

Collages

The inspiration for this collage came from the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of Somerset Studio (one of my favorite mixed media magazines). One of the articles featured Lynne Perrella's Paper Doll Assemblages. While mine is not as elaborate as hers (I don't have the patience for too much fussiness), I did enjoy trying something new.

The base is - you guessed it - an old book cover. For the background, I used some white mulberry paper (wonderful stuff!!) which I'd painted with pastel shades of watered down acrylic. I followed the instructions in the magazine to create the doll body. Then the fun part! I pulled out stuff from my stash to create her clothes, and found a head I liked from an old book illustrating clothing styles throughout the centuries.

The rest of the ephemera is old-looking stuff I had in my collection that I thought fit with the theme. I glued everything down, and that was that!

This collage was inspired by a book I have titled Paper Quilting. The background covering the base is tissue paper, painted with glazes once the glue had dried. The leaf shape I cut out of paper and hand stitched to the layer just underneath. Additional hand stitching is done on subsequent layers as well.

I added some old brown trim on the left, and a key sticker at the bottom. Very easy!

Happy creating,

Immi

Amour

It's Monday morning, and I'm home, fighting the first cold of the season. I hope it's also the last! I thought I'd post photos this week of collages I've done in the past. I'm so lucky to have a great supply of images to use for these, along with lots of old book covers, which are almost always the base I use.

For this collage, I glued tissue paper over a painted board book. When it was dry, I stamped various images and the word "love" on top in black ink. I printed a reproduction of an old poster (check out Dover books for weekly free downloads of great stuff) on a transparency, and glued that down with Diamond Glaze. The embellishments include a black ribbon along the left side, a scattering of beads and a few artificial flowers (all glued with Diamond Glaze.

I enjoy collages; it's so much fun to take unrelated objects and bring them together in an interesting composition. It's also fun to find ways to make use of things I already have; I didn't buy anything new for this project. Plus, I like the fact that you really can't make a mistake, since this is all throwaway stuff anyway!

If you're interested in trying your hand at something like this, start some files with illustrations from old books, or check out sites like Dover where you can download free (and copyright free)images. Also collect odds & ends - stuff that might otherwise be thrown away.

Happy creating!
Immi

Transparency ATC

Here are a couple of ATCs I did recently for a Transparency ATC swap. I had a choice of making 3 or 6 (depending on which number I'd like to receive). I decided to make two sets of three. I've had the good fortune to be given some transparencies that a teacher in our program had received with some books. He couldn't make use of them in his class, and knew I "made stuff" and thought I'd like to use them. I was able to get three ATCs from each of the transparencies I used.

The first one is made from a transparency showing a street scene. I don't know where or when the photo was made, but from the looks of it, it's showing the aftermath of war. The paper under the transparency is from one of the serendipity pages I did recently, in shades of pink.(http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/08/serendipity.html) I really like the way it shows subtly through the transparent photo. I fastened the transparency to the background with small eyelets. Transparencies create special challenges when it comes to adhering them to another surface - usually you don't want adhesive showing through!


The second ATc is from an art collage. Again, I'm not sure exactly what's being depicted here, although in one of the ATCs (not pictured here), there's part of a sign for the distance to Pretoria. This makes me think it may be related to South Africa, although it may be more generally about human rights struggles. Because this had a lot of strong color in it, I chose a plain background. I liked the way it looked over yellow. I hit on the idea of stitching it down, using a red metallic thread. I have a metal stitching guide, used for punching the holes ahead of time. Doing those holes before stitching really saves the day when hand-stitching! After that, I trimmed the edge of the yellow with deckle scissors and mounted everything on a black background.

Now all I have to do is get these in the mail; this swap is going to a central hostess, who will send them on to their destinations. I have no idea who will end up with them.

Happy creating!
Immi

Pear Tag

Hey there, loyal readers! It's been a while since my last post, but I'm ready to go again. Tomorrow it's back to school, and the usual routine.

Yesterday, while checking out some blogs, I came across a challenge to use a technique I haven't seen in a while - an oldie but goodie. The challenge was posted on Tim Holtz' blog (http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/september-techn.html). You can see the specifics there.

I got out some inks, stamps and paper and had some fun. Here's the first one I did, which I used to make a card. This was only moderately successful, I think because there wasn't enough solid space on the stamp - mostly lines. The patterened paper is one I recently received in a swap of paper ephemera. I was glad to have a chance to use it right away; it's not the type of paper I would typically choose, but I think it worked well here.

The next two samples are from a pear stamp. The completed tag was the first stamping; the other one was the second stamping. I outlined both of them with a thin brown marker; I think it helped the image stand out a little bit better. Then I added some additional color around the images, using a combination of dye ink refill, thinned with water, and chalk, applied with water. I used a barrel type brush that has a reservoir which holds water; it worked great, especially for the chalk.

On the completed tag, I also added some mini beads close to the top. I used some red line tape, which works well for holding those little, teeny beads in place. The thread along the edges is a variegated specialty sewing thread, which I love to use. I also got out a punch I hadn't used in a long time, which notches the corners, and holds the thread nicely.

Till next time,

Immi

Serendipity

After my Radiant Pearl fun, I turned my attention to using up some paper scraps. This way of using scraps produces what's called "Serendipity Paper". For ideas on paper scrap storage, see these posts: http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Here's what you'll need:
1. Paper scraps
2. A substrate (something to attach all these scraps to)
3. Glue (I prefer a glue stick)
4. Damp cloth or wet wipes for sticky fingers
5. Stamps and ink pads (optional)

The first photo shows a pile of paper scraps in browns. As you can see, some of them really are ridiculous, but I feel compelled to save them and find a way to use them. I had seen posts on Serendipity paper, but had never tried it, so I've been learning as I go. All you're doing is tearing scraps (to avoid too many hard edges) and gluing them down. The second photo shows a completed piece, with additional stamping on top. I think the stamping helps tie all those odd papers together.

The third photo shows some ATC size pieces cut from a couple of brown serendipity pages. They won't need much additional work to be ready to go. These can also be cut into smaller squares to be used as accent pieces on a card or scrapbook page.

The fourth photo is a red and green page in progress. You can see the substrate is still showing in places.

The last photo is a green page. I'll tuck these away until I'm ready to use them.

As I've been doing this, I've learned a couple of things that you
might find handy if you want to try this technique. The first few I did were on chipboard (saved from various packages, etc.; I never buy chipboard). I've decided that chipboard is a little heavy, but lighter materials (manila file folders or poster board) work well. I'm sure cardstock would work, too.

I tried both glue stick and a more liquid glue. Glue stick has less moisture, so less possibility of warping the page.

Finally, I found that using heavier weight paper scraps can be problematic. This was especially apparent when I cut the larger page down into ATC size pieces. It's very difficult, even with a guillotine cutter, to cut through some of the thicker portions. If you want to use those papers, it's worth the time to separate and remove some of the layers underneath to keep from adding too much bulk.

This was a lot of fun, and of course, I feel so virtuous for using up those scraps! I recommend you give this a try.
Immi

Use It Up

As you've all noticed by now, I'm somewhat obsessive about making the most of what I've got - it's hard for me to throw stuff away! I was in the mood recently to play around with Radiant Pearls. I've had these for ages - I don't think they're available anymore in stores, although I did see some on Ebay.

My favorite use for RPs is making backgrounds. The consistency is somewhat like light bodied acrylic paint, but they're very sheer.
They blend beautifully, and dry with a pearly sheen. When I'm working with them, I always keep a blank piece of paper nearby to "clean" my brush. (Again, trying to stretch everything as far as I can.)

Anyway, I discovered that one of the colors, Tiger Eye, had separated badly. Of course I didn't want it to go to waste, so I managed to stir it well enough with a toothpick (shaking well is usually sufficient) so that it could be used. While I had it in this state, I wanted to try to use the whole jar. I began playing around, and found that it tinted patterned papers so that they loooked somewhat aged. The first two photos show a side by side comparison, with the original paper on the right, and the doctored paper on the left. Eventually I managed to play around enough to use up that jar.

The next photo shows a paper that has a raised design of flowers. The original was white. I brushed on a variety of colors, but it still looked a little flat. I got out an ink pad, and rubbed it over the raised surface, and it looked much nicer.

The last photo shows one of my blank pieces that I use to get the last bit of RP out of my brush. I also place this paper under whatever I'm working on, so that as I work on the edges of the top sheet, any excess goes onto the paper underneath. Eventually, it gets all filled up, and I've got another background sheet to use.

Maybe I need to get on Ebay and buy up some more!
Immi

ATCs Received

Here are some ATCs I've received in swaps. The first photo shows ATCs from the Layers, Texture, Glazes swap. I posted my photos here: http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-atcs.html



The second photo shows ATCs from a Random swap - no particular theme. I didn't do a post for what I sent; mine were variations on cards I'd done before for other swaps.

Next week, the theme will be using up supplies on hand.



Till then,

Immi

Swap Goodies

Here are some photos of goodies I've received in the mail from recent swaps. The photo with all the papers is from an "Embellishment Swap". Looks like some fun stuff to play with.






The tea themed ATC is from the "Fair Trade" swap; the artist is Karen Fife.







The two ATCs with women and a scalloped edging are from Tammy Gray. She does these collages in Photoshop and then prints them on photo paper. These are from a "Sender's Choice" swap.















Finally, the ATC with the girl holding a bouquet is from Nancy Bailey. It also is from the "Sender's Choice" swap.
It's always interesting to see what kind of art others are doing.


Later, Immi

Still Making ATCs

Here are some ATCs I've recently completed for swaps. Next week I'll show you what I've been receiving in the mail.

The ATC with the purple background is one of a few I had left from a swap long ago. I used it this time for a "Sender's Choice" swap.
The ATC with the happy girl was also for the "Sender's Choice" swap. The background is from (again!) an old set of leftover ATCs. I did some inking over it to subdue it a little bit so it wouldn't compete with what I wanted to put on top. The girl I stamped in black; then I added color with markers, cut her out and mounted her on black cardstock. I felt that the card needed a little something else, and dug out some letter brads from my stash.

The next two cards were for a "Fair Trade" swap. The only rule was that the fair trade mark from a label had to be visible on the card. I did a background with letter stickers, masking tape and paint. Below is the link for the original post explaining this.(http://experimentsincreativity.blogspot.com/2008/07/atc-week-continues.html)
For one card I used a label from a small bar of fair trade chocolate. For the other, I used a label from fair trade coffee. Now all I have to do is eat the chocolate and drink the coffee!
Happy creating!
Immi

ATC Week Continues

The ATC saga continues. I've really enjoyed getting back into this. I'm sure it's a passing phase, but it's fun while it lasts.

The first photo uses the same background you saw before in the "Layers, Texture, Glazes" swap. This swap is sender's choice. I didn't do too much extra to what I'd done for the background. I cut out some text from an old book of poetry, and glued that down along with a small flower. I haven't done it yet, but I'll put something fun in the center of the flower. By the way, I always make one of these for myself; I like to keep one to see what kinds of things I've done before.

The second photo is for, as you may have guessed, an Egyptian swap. In the world of crafting, things come and go. Several years ago there was an Egyptian phase; I haven't seen any of that for some time now. I had some ATCs left from a former swap back in the day, so I pulled them out to see how I could improve what I'd done before.

Everything is the same except for the figure on top. I thought it would be interesting to have that in gold, and I first tried painting over what I'd stamped with some gold Lumiere. Didn't turn out too well. Then it occurred to me that it might work better if I did the painting first, and then stamped on top. That did the trick; the stamped figure was much clearer that way. I also decided to mount the figure on the background with some dimensional adhesive so that it would stand out more. What you see behind the figure is metallic thread wrapped around a piece of cardstock. It's very inexpensive and there are many ways to use it.

Go do something creative!
Immi

More ATCs

These are for a swap with the theme "Layers, Texture, Glazes". Each participant has the option to send one or two sets of three cards. I chose to do two sets.



The first photo has a piece of watercolor paper as the base. I had fun painting layers of acrylic paint mixed with glazing medium (awesome stuff!). When that was dry, I found a poem in Italian on the internet, and hand wrote it diagonally across the page in black Sharpie. Next I adhered a piece of tissue paper from an old pattern (the sewing kind) on top. I added a little more layering of glazes.

I cut the background down to size and added a little bit of ink stamped through some sequin waste in one corner. The strip of paper across the middle is from a neat envelope I got in the mail once, made from some kind of textured plastic. I painted over it with some Lumiere acrylic paint and cut strips with deckle edge scissors. The flower is one from a package I won in a drawing (thanks, Tim!), with a little acrylic bead called a dew drop on top.



The next photo is a piece of chipboard I used as the base for the other set of cards. Do you remember the post with the alphabet stickers on chipboard? I did one that really didn't thrill me at all. The stickers were very small (what a pain!!!), and a weird striped design (they were given to me; I certainly didn't buy them!). I thought I try using them up this way, but it was so blah and boring! But then I thought it might work to provide some texture.

I tore strips of masking tape and placed them randomly over the whole thing. Next came a layer of red glaze; pretty intense color, but it already looked more interesting than before. I thought I'd do a layer of yellow glaze next, but then I decided to try scraping the paint over rather than smoothly painting it. I loved the way it looked!

After cutting it down to size, I adhered a small piece of gauze for additional texture and interest. Then I dug out some odds and end, and glued those down. I had lots of fun experimenting with these!

Later,

Immi

ATC Week

This week's posts will all be about ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). I participate off and on in a couple of swap groups, and enjoy making ATCs according to a set theme to trade with others. I'm in a swapping phase right now, so I'll share some of what I've been doing.

ATCs are always 2.5 x 3.5; I store the ones I've received in a binder fitted with plastic sleeves designed to hold baseball cards. I got started in this years ago when I was a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! One year they held the convention in Minneapolis, and the idea was to bring a bunch of ATCs you'd made to trade with others. I enjoy seeing miniature art works from others. Sometimes people from around the world participate in these swaps.

The first swap I signed up for in this latest round was for a sunflower theme. I have a thing for sunflowers, and I've got quite a few sunflower stamps. I actually had some ATCs left over from a swap long ago that I'd done with sunflowers, so I pulled those out and decided to add a little bling for fun.

You can't really tell from the picture, but I painted a glaze over the top for shine. Then I added dots of a glitter product made by Ranger called Stickles. These are ready to go in the mail; I'll post pictures of what I receive when they come in.

Happy crafting!

Immi

Silly Boy

Here's the scrapbook page I mentioned in the post about leftover alphabet stickers. I trimmed a small amount off the edges (the old paper cutter - not the new one!) to be sure it would fit in a page protector with the additional bulk of chipboard.

I got this great shot of A when I was there a few weeks back. He had fun clomping around in my shoes, and I caught a great expression in this photo. He's going to love this someday!

I think I'm going to have to do a scrapbook page featuring some of his fun expressions!

Try something creative today.
Immi

Leftover Alphabet Stickers

I recently saw an idea for using up leftover alphabet stickers that I thought I'd try. The base is 12x12 chipboard, with a variety of stickers placed randomly on the surface. Then I brushed over a mixture of green & white paint, mixed with glazing medium. When that dried, I drybrushed black and gold on top. I've used it in a scrapbook page; I'll post that later this week.

While I was on a roll, I decided to do another one with a chipboard base. This time I didn't paint over the surface; I liked it as it was. I did brush over a coat of acrylic medium to seal the surface (I'm quite sure it wasn't acid free).


The last one I did was on a piece of lightweight cardstock. I used all black stickers for that one. I haven't decided how to use these last two just yet.

I have a few observations about this project.
(1) If you're going to do much work with stickers, especially smaller ones, tweezers are invaluable. I don't mean the kind used for eyebrows; this type of tweezer is made just for picking up small objects with adhesive on one side and placing them where you want them. Mine are called "Tweezer Bee".
(2) Unless you've got the patience of Job, avoid alphabet stickers with very small openings (as in the letters a,e,g...etc.). I found it very frustrating to try to get those little holes clear! Also, letters with very cute swirls and curlicues are a pain to get off the backing sheet without tearing.
(3) For the painted background, you really need stickers that are slightly raised. Some stickers are made to lie almost flush with the paper, and don't show up well under the paint.

Happy crafting!
Immi