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