Fragments ATCs

Made some ATCs today, on the theme of 'printed papers' - they had to have a background made of printed paper.  I stuck and old book page to my card backs, and sprayed with gunmetal and pearl colour mist sprays from Outside the Margins.  I added Golden black mica flakes around the edges, and used a diamonds stencil to apply Golden micaceous iron oxide down one side. I added some dots to add texture and dimension, using a pearl pen.

So far, so good.  I then made, and tried out, a whole series of embellishments on the ATCs, and none of them worked. I thought an image might work, but I have no long tall stamps, and none of the images in my collection are that shape either.

 So I stamped a swirly pattern down the right hand side to see if that would help. It looked better.  I tried a whole bunch of other things before settling on pieces of shrink plastic - fragments of images on one, fragments of text on another, and fragments of numbers on the last one. Works for me....

No paper no card ATCs

A challenging swap - make a set of 3 ATCs without using paper or card. I did consider fabric, but working with fabric never goes smoothly for me (not even if I iron it!!!), so I went for plastic. The bases of these ATCs are thin translucent frosted plastic.


I daubed some micaceous iron oxide onto the plastic, then put 2 ATCs together, squidged the paint around and pulled them apart, to create a textured, organic look. I painted the backs with gesso so that you could see the textured iron oxide more clearly, then coated the front with some transparent fluid acrylic paint.

I added small gold mica flakes in a random stripe down one side, and a couple of spots on the other side. The images are made by inking up stamps with Stazon ink, laying 2 layers of fantasy film on top, covering with baking paper (to protect the iron) and ironing for a moment or two on a medium to high heat. Trim, and adhere. The 'frames' are cream dimensional paint, highlighted with Treasure Gold once dry.

Final page for round robin

The final page in the final book in this round robin was to have a page using a colour that nobody else had used in the book. I didn't fancy orange or yellow, so I went for charcoal!!!


I painted the pages with 2 coats of Golden micaceous iron oxide, then stamped and edged with Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink, and added the embellishments. There is a surprise for the owner under the larger panel.

I have really enjoyed this swap, and seeing all the work that others have done in the books. I hope all the owners like the books they get back at the end of the swap!

Deco Books

I've been working on a few deco books, trying to make each very different. I also wanted to experiment with some of the paints, techniques and unused stamps I have in my stash! All these pages had to feature the word 'art' somewhere on the front - and it's more obvious on some than others!



This is a double page spread for Chrissy. I painted the pages with Golden iridescent copper paint, stamped the veining with Brilliance galaxy gold, the spotting with Stazon turquoise, and embossed the main stamped images (Crafty Individuals, Diva Impressions, Art Specially for You) with Moonglow midnight teal embossing powder. The hearts were punched from glossy black card sprayed with Radiant rain gold. The pages are edged with Golden's gold mica flakes.




The front and back of Fiona's page. I painted the page with Golden micaceous iron oxide, which has a gorgeous subtle shimmer. I stamped the veining with Brilliance platinum, then added the images. The fish (Curtis Uyeda at Paula Best) is stamped and embossed in gold, on black cardstock, and the little girls (Diva Impressions) are stamped and embossed in white, on paper which had been sprayed with a range of shimmery colorwash sprays.





Carol's pages were washed with watered down colorwash sprays. On the front page, I doodled with a white pen before washing, and it acted as a resist. The image on the front is stamped and embossed with Moonglow midnight obsidian embossing powder, the then dragonfly is embossed for a second time using Kaleidoscope embossing powder - this is sparkly and changes colour the longer you heat it.

The back of the page is overstamped with Stazon turquoise and Invoke Arts stamps - which I purchased while I was with Carol in Portland last year! The photograph is one I took earlier this year, and it is backed with some tyvek and framed with part of a Crafty Individuals image stamped on transparency. The 'forever' stamp is Cat's Life Press (I think!).

Deco pages

I'm involved in a round robin deco book swap,
but my muse deserted me....

This morning I got up at 4.30 a.m.
and found inspiration!

I had created a small digital collage
by taking a photograph of a flapper
and using the 'watercolour' filter,
adding a clock,
and changing the colours.

I really like the result,
so you'll probably see it again on other things!

The background of the page is
micaceous iron oxide - it gives a lovely fine shimmer.
I stamped over it with Brilliance ink, and then added the collaged image.

On the back, I used one of the Little Beauties
we've been swapping over on CC Swaps:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CCSwaps

This page is in a Deco where the owner
specified an Asian theme,
and covered the pages with pages
from an Asian newspaper.

I stamped some Basic Grey paper with Japanese text,
and then stamped and embossed with a
fish stamp - I love this stamp!!!

Another deco book

Another deco book is on it's travels, this is my contribution:

I painted the page with Golden micaceous iron oxide,
then stamped a scroll with Brilliance platinum planet,
added 3 flowers,
stuck a skeleton leaf down with gel medium,
then added a paper clay lizard that
I had also painted with micaceous iron oxide.

For the back of the page,
I used a brass stencil and some
Dreamweaver stencil paste
(which is way too gaudy)
then stippled over the stencil paste with
Brilliance inks to dull it down a little.

J ATC

I am taking part of an alphabet ATC swap,
where we make one letter of the alphabet each fortnight.
We started with Z and are working our way to A.
I was a bit stumped with 'J' - I could think of lots of words,
but not many ways to represent them.

I finally decided to stop hoarding my gesso backgrounds
and used some for this 'J is for jigsaw' ATC.

Neglected Colours ATCs

I made these 2 ATCs

for a swap entitled
'neglected colours'.

These are colours I never use, but might start using from now on.

The slide mount on the right and the matting under the flying beastie below have been painted with Golden acrylic micaceous iron oxide paint. My friend Jessie sent me some, and I have only just started playing with it but I already know
I LOVE the stuff.