Gone ATC crazy

It seems like everyone in the crafty arty world has gone ATC (Artist Trading Card) and art journaling crazy, that includes me too.  I haven't made a birthday card in ages, saying that I have to make 4 this month!.  Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground blog has sparked off a mass ATC swap all around the world for her 3rd Anniversary of 'Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday', if you like having a neb at crafter's messy desks then you should join in. I've got one's coming from the US and Africa, how exciting.

Here are 4 ATC's I've made for Evil Edna. Hopefully she'll have them by now, so it'll be ok to put them on here.

1. There's no place like home = Tim Holtz & Artistic Outpost stamps, Cosmic Shimmer's Embossing powder. Background is Adirondack alcohol inks.

2. Whitby Curiosity  = Whitby Abbey stamp from Crafty Individuals, curiosity stamp from Tim Holtz. Background is Dylusion's Inks.  

3. Listen to your heart = TH & My Minds Eye stamps, background is mixed white Picket Fence, Broken China, Vintage Photo TH distress stain and a TH text stamp using a copper Brilliance ink.

4. Eye into the Soul = My current favourite Inkylicious face stamp, and My Minds Eye strands stamp. I coloured the eye in with a blue Signo pen. I rubbed a bit of gesso in the corner too to whiten it up to stamp some words on. The background is stamped hard with TH Distress Stains to get a splat effect.

I thought I might add the ATC's that Kate Crane and I had swapped a few weeks ago too, I love the Stampotique stamp on the ATC that Kate gave to me. I feel a purchase coming on when I go to Art from the Heart in a week and a half's time. The ATC I made for Kate is .....based on Kate herself, she has these fab loose ringlets that are just begging to be drawn, and I couldn't resist, and she's always got her glasses on her head. Typical school teacher look, I feel like I have to put my pen down and listen. I had a lot of fun making it, and she likes it too, so that's a bonus.

I drew a little kitchen roll and attached it to the bottom of the ATC, there's always a roll knocking about when your using the Dylusions Inks.

I have another 5 to send off this weekend, exciting times! Will put them up next week.

Michelle xx  

What does he see?

Well all this rain is doing my garden the world of good, and it makes me feel not quite so guilty about spending all my time (when I'm not working) in the craft room. Do we crafter's actually need an excuse to get into the craft room? Mine is I'm awake, therefore I craft.

You saw these journal pages below earlier this week on the WOYWW (What's on your workdesk Wednesday) post. I had not started to add all my journaling bits and pieces. But it's finished now I think, I might still add some writing to it later.

I really enjoyed making this background, there is a lot going on here so I'll try and list everything I did. firstly using cream and white Adirondack dabbers and water spray I coloured a background using long strokes, I distressed the edges with TH Walnut Stain and used a number of stencils here and there. The small round circles are Crafters Workshop, I used dark brown, tan and pearl white dabbers through the stencil. The big round circles, I drew. Then I used a few stamps, a TH flourish (used brown Archival ink), and circles (used green acrylic dabber), the flower stamp was free in this month's Craft Stamper, the crackle stamp is a Clarity stamp. The wispy swirls along the bottom is a My Minds Eye stamp. I used other stencils that you can't see in the picture below, but you can in the picture above. These are an old brass sunburst stencil, which still comes in useful sometimes, then I used a piece of old netting with some metallic bronze acrylic paint dabbed through it. Old window netting is brilliant for stencilling. I dragged white and green soft pastels down the page to distress a few areas.

I then wrote out my journaling on pieces of paper, distressed them with scattered straw and mustard seed distress inks, and cut them out. I drew a women based on a picture of me with pencil & soft pastels, and stuck these onto the pages. I forgot to mention about the pile of silver embossing powders in the bottom middle of the right page. I'll say more about that further down. I drew some stems and leaves for the flowers too.

This is a pile of silver, gold, black, white and copper embossing powders with some mica flakes stuck in it.

I have a roll of wide florist straw ribbon. I cut a heart shape and stuck it on the page too. I based the pastel drawn women on the black and white picture of me in the Crafty Individuals frame. I coloured the frame using Lettuce Adirondack ink, and then stamped it with a text stamp, a flourish and the TH circles.

I finished off the pages using blue and white oil pastels around elements on the page, and orange and yellow oil pastels on the flowers.

I've probably forgot to mention a few things I did because there is so much going on here. I do love it though. Michelle x

You will succeed

Well I've certainly been enjoying myself since coming back from York. I've painted 5 journal pages ready for some stamping, I've painted 4 canvases, just background colours for now, and I'm in the middle of doing my two pages in the music book journal, however I'm waiting for some heavy structure gel to dry off, before I can do the next bit I want to do. So in the meantime, I made this little number. As per usual, I ended up doing something completely different to what I started off doing.

I used a dylusions 5x8 diamond border stencil and a palette knife with some paste to make a 3D stencilled image. 

The paste is mixed heavy structure gel with white acrylic paint, and a little splodge of pink and blue paint. I left this to dry for a few hours.

I then sprayed the two pages with melted chocolate and lemon zest dylusions inks, with a bit of black around the edges. I love the way that the white 3D diamonds and border, really stands out here.

I added lots of stamps from Artistic Outpost (bats), Craft stamper freebee from Crafty Notions (heart, stamped with blue acrylic paint), and Tim Holtz (butterflies) mostly with Coffee Archival Ink. I used another dylusions stencil, number jumble here and there with fired brick distress ink. I then got my soft pastels out and did some shading on the hearts, butterflies, and around the edges of the border, and some of the diamonds.

I made the quotation on the computer. It's a quote from Samuel Beckett, but I changed the ending to be more positive!

I love this Crafty Individuals stamp of Whitby Abbey, it always gives the illusion of distance. I like having perspective in a picture.

Can't wait to finish my music book journal page. I drew an image for it last night, Maybe get it on the blog tonight or tomorrow. 

Michelle x

Where does the time go?

What happens to the weekends? They go so quickly. Sometimes I think there's a black hole sucking the time away from me. This weekend especially seeing as we've lost an hour! 1 hour is a lot in a crafter's life, we need them all.  Time suckage was the inspiration for this journal page below.

I used my new fabulous Dylusions inks from Art from the Heart, Vibrant Turquoise and London Blue for the background. I love these bright colours. I also used the Dylusions number jumble stencil here and there, using distress inks. I flecked water over too, and blotted for random blotches.

I used Crafty Individuals clocks stamps (CI-255) for all the clocks, but the 2 Big Ben's are from Papermania and Clarity Stamps. 

I drew the black hole with my soft pastels, using white, purple and blue, oh and the black!

I spent a long time shading in between those clocks, basically because I couldn't make my mind up. I did the shading first with orange soft pastels, but didn't think it was dark enough, then a dark blue Derwent pencil and then with black pencil. Quite like the way that has turned out now. I like to see how the page evolves when I change my mind.

The White Rabbit is the brilliant unmistakable Octopode Factory.  I stamped the bold clocks, and the white rabbit on a couple of pages I ripped out of an old calculus book I had. So you'll be able to see the calculations in the background of the stamp, and on the rabbits head too. I coloured them in using Promarkers.

I did the words on my computer. The frayed material stamp is from The Stamp Man. I flicked specks of mica powders mixed in white, red and blue paint all over the page, to create a starry effect.

Where does the time go, I wish I was on the other end of that black hole, where I would have too much time in one day! Oh what I'd do with a day like that!!!!!!!

Entered in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge

E is for Elegant, Embellish & Emboss

But first I'll have a little ramble
Craft tote

I picked up a bargin today in The Range. I've been toying with the idea of getting a craft tote, and I saw the big Papermania totes which usually retail at about £49.95 and it was in The Range for £39, so I got it.  I'm planning to take some of my crafty stash on the C&C cruise.  There's just some things you can't live without if you're crafting.  I'll have to make it unique to me though by putting something on it, I don't know what just yet, but you can guarantee I'll put it on here when I do.

Paper mache addiction

Can you get addicted to decorating paper mache? And if so what do they call it? Mache mania, or papaholic or something daft like that....maybe alphaholic :-).  I think my little project of decorating the 12 letters which spell 'The Hobby Room' has turned me into some massive procrastinating shirker.  

There is loads of housework that needs doing, and I did the bare minimum this morning, i.e. hoovered and tidied up as fast as I could, just so I could get back into the craft room and do another letter! It's like I have to get my letter decorating fix.  I'm even thinking of what else I could spell out!  I need help.

'E'  is for Eeeeeee Howay man, deeas a nice letta man! (In my best Geordie accent, I don't have any other).

I went for a more elegant, girly, bright feel with this letter.  I really wanted to put a little crown on the top too.  

I started off with drawing around the letter onto a piece of card and then cut it out.  Then I painted the paper mache letter with white acrylic paint and left it to dry while I coloured and stamped the E shaped card.  

I stamped the white edges of the letter with Crafty Individuals (CI-293) flowers rubber stamp set.   I didn't have any bright pink ink pads so I used a bright pink Promarker on the stamp and stamped it on the letter before it dried. I used distress ink pads on the other colours of the stamped flowers to match the colours on the front. 

    

I used Tim Holtz masks before distressing the edges of the E shaped card with, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Mustard Seed distress inks.

I stamped the front of my cut out with Crafty individuals Flourish stamp (CI-182) and the Tim Holtz ornate corner stamp with Versamark and heat embossed bright pink embossing powders on the top and bottom of the card. I also stamped the front of the card with The Stamp Man's Aspects of Design (58) Fancy Flourishes, these are the green and yellow grasses and dotty flourishes.

I bought some wooden butterflies and birds last week from Hobby Craft and I coloured in one of the birds with distress inks and put this on too.  The stars on a chain is from a necklace I spotted in Primark, and thought I could use that for embellishing...and so I did.

The finished article. 

However, the pink does not show up well on these pictures, it is much more vivid with the naked eye. One day I'd like to have a bricks and mortar shop, and I'd put these letters on the wall inside........I have to believe in my dreams. x

I have entered this letter in the Stamp Man Challenge, Embellish it. http://thestampmanchallenges.blogspot.com/2012/01/stamp-man-embellish-it-challenge.html

And Also

Crafty Individuals February 2012 Challenge.

http://craftyindividualsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/our-first-challenge-of-2012-starts.html