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