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

New Toy

I got a new tool for my studio this last week. For a long time, I've wanted a better quality paper cutter. I had a cheapo guillotine cutter, but I never was satisfied with it for a couple of reasons. (1) Either the grid on the surface was off, or the cutting edge was off. I never could get a standard piece of cardstock cut in half so that when folded for a card, the edges would match up. It drove me crazy! (2) It was impossible to cut a small sliver off the edge of anything lighter weight than cardstock.

I had done some research several years ago, and found a cutter I wanted, but hesitated at the price. Later, I wished I had taken the plunge, because the company changed hands, the factory moved to another state, and they're still not back in production. The website gives no indication as to when they'll be ready for production, and there's a long wait list. I kept hoping I'd see one on Ebay, but no luck until recently. I bid until I felt I couldn't go any higher, and it sold for a pretty high price.

So...I decided I needed to think differently. I did some more research, and found this paper cutter. It's made by a German company (Dahle), and is supposed to be a good quality cutter. The blade is self-sharpening, and it can cut even thin papers cleanly. I tried a piece of text weight paper, and was able to cut a slice so thin it curled! So far, I'm very happy with it. My old cutter is down in the basement, and I'll use it for cutting things like chipboard.

Gotta love a good tool!
Immi