Friday 21 November 2008

image transfers with acrylic gel....


Well as I have no longer got my heat gun I have been concentrating on checking out different image transfer techniques, this type using acrylic gel mediums. Over on flickr I belong to the SIS group run by Ange and all my 'samples' are shown there. Ange is setting various projects and challenges to have a go at and transfer techniques is the one for Nov/December. I have found this a very successful technique - (there should be tutorial link from the SIS site but at the time of writing I don't think it is working, however there are lots of others around). I have experimented using both inkjet prints and colour photocopies and found they both work well. To compare I have used the same image for different materials so I apologise if this poor renaissance lady is becoming a bit familiar - I shall probably tire of her soon!! This one, called Orange Beauty is my favourite from this batch.


Monday 17 November 2008

Resist embossing killed my heat gun...

I am very sad lady, my heat gun is no more, despite valiant efforts by OH it has been pronounced deceased which puts paid to a few things I'm working on until I can get my grubby mitts on a new one.

However, here are a couple of bits I managed to do before the end, with resist emboss backgrounds and UTEE tiles.














I was actually trying to re-create the success I had with this one that I made a week or so ago. Maybe I didn't use the right colours together for this technique or my clear embossing wasn't good enough but somehow I don't think they turned out quite so well. Hey ho, it's all trial and error, sometimes more of the latter. So with no heat gun, it'll be back to image transfers for the rest of the week....

Wednesday 12 November 2008

jiggy jiggy jamming

Am taking part in an altered jigsaw jam with some friends over at the NI site. The idea is everyone sends everyone else a piece of jigsaw puzzle to alter to a designated theme. They are then returned and the originator mounts them together as a piece of artwork or may keep them as individual pieces. This is Sherry's piece, which is done in a Folk Art Christmas style. Think I might have got a bit carried away - talk about fully loaded!



A slightly more difficult theme to interpret was for Sheila. This is a shabby/homespun style - I used some cosmo cricket journalling squares to make a patchwork quilt for the background. The little house is made from balsa wood and the words are cut from a larger piece. I was going to make the heart all white as pink/red was not in the colour spec but it looked a bit flat. It also picksd up the colour of the text so I think it's OK.



Oriental in blues and gold was the request for this piece for Wendy. I made a real mess of the first tile because I glazed it but I had obviously not used colour fast ink and the image faded away - unfortunately I had stuck it on so this poor little jiggy bit had to undergo major reconstructive surgery. Turned out all right in the end and I left it unglazed this time!!



TIME PLEASE!! Viv had asked for the theme of time and I struggled a bit as I don't have much 'stuff' for that theme. Then I remembered a little wooden clock button I had picked up and found a collage image and part of a stamp - probably just as well it wasn't any bigger though or I wouldn't have known what else to put on!! The journalling could have been a bit neater but I culdn't bear to rip it off and start again. It's also nice to add dangly bits to extend the piece if you are in a position to do so (ie if you will not be encroaching on a neighbouring jam piece.) Again stumped until I remembered the feather charms - well, these are 'feathers in the broad wings of time' lol.



Finally, a piece for Jinny - Floral in a contemporary style. It also had to be brown and gold. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I could not find any 'Brown' papers in my stash and had to colour something up using ink pads. Unbelievable. The flowers are made with a Craft Stamper 'freebie' stamp - the same image is basically layered up, and the stamens inside are made from wire and beads. Background is gold painted plastic mesh over papers, and some micro beads. Text is taken from a larger stamp and covered with glossy accents to make tiles.



I like to leave off making my own piece (or pieces) until after I have received them all back so that I can make sure the whole thing ties in together. Will post a picture of the completed piece in due course.

Friday 7 November 2008

Renaissance Ramblings....

Yippee!! Off tomorrow for the Southern DC meet in Horsham. Not sure how many of us there will be, but have got lots of ATCs to trade.

We have to take a challenge ATC with the theme of Renaissance and this is my offering called 'Renaissance collage' (imaginative).



The main image is courtesy of the flickr collage group and I have used it again on these two ATCs to show the difference between an image transfer done using inkjet and gesso and a transfer using packingtape and laser print. The lower picture is the gesso one and I was a bit too vigorous with my rubbing and lost the back if her head, hencethe embellishment with tiny beads. Nice save eh? I've also been trying out transpaseal transfers, with somewhat less success but not bad. Someone asked to see transfer techniques so I am taking a bunch of stuff to see if anyone wants to have a go. So, won't be around Saturday - Hopefully will post piccies of our crafting day in due course.


Wednesday 5 November 2008

A Birthday card for Mum....


Gosh, where did that year go!! Every year I like to make a really special card for my mum, partly because, well she's my mum and I love her lots and partly because as my crafting buddy I know she will appreciate the time and effort spent.

She was over the other week (gets about a bit now she's got her 'wheels' lol) and expressed an interest in some little fairy doors that were featured in one of my magazines so I thought I would make one of those and maybe break into the gorgeous DCWV Fairytale papers - I know, I'm a sucker for beautiful paper but then I never want to use it. I started the card when another friend had dropped in for some help with something crafty and happenned to remark I was looking for a fairy image when she produced a set of freebie flower fairy decoupage (why do I never see these freebies?, one of which was in just the right colour to complement thepapers I had chosen.



I made the card in a gothic arch shape. The recess is made by sandwiching two sheets of funky foam between the patterned card. This also makes it quite sturdy and enabled me to attach the front doors by just giving them extended 'wings' (lol) and pasting them underneath. Using two layers also gave the opportunity to put quite a bit of depth in the decoupage although I'm not sure it's clear from the photos. This has turned out so well I am really thinking that shadow boxes might be fun - I have been looking at them for a while and now I can kind of 'see' how you could do them I might have a go but will have to wait for now.



Still I digress. Lots of gold paint and krylon pen later I think it looks suitably fantastical - the paper is glittered so I have resisted adding more bling, don't want to go OTT. Oh, and of course, although I have a pack of ready cut boxes for dimensional cards did I think to check the finished size before I started? Of course I didn't so I had to make a box as well. But I think it's nicer than the ready made ones anyway. Happy Birthday Mum!!

Monday 3 November 2008

MAMMA CHALLENGE - Rememberance


On tha ball again, but really only because I have been sitting here today feeling mighty sorry for myself as OH has managed to padd on his man flu (he is such a generous sort) and its a humdinger.

At this time of year poppies and what they represent are very much on our minds so it seemed an obvious choice. I love this poppy stamp but I wanted another image behind it - I remembered this small face stamp and tried it with a mask so that just a small part of the original stamp shows. I think it is quite effective, and although I toyed with the idea of adding some extra stamping I decided to leave it very simple. The colour was added with watercolour pencils and the whole thing has been utee'd - I fully expect this to crack up and make the whole thing look more antiqued.

Saturday 1 November 2008

AWARDS and TAGS .............

I have been most remiss lately responding to various notifications - it's not that I don't appreciate them, I do, but I can never seem to get my head round doing all the bits that go with acknowledging it. Anyhow, here goes,



I have been given this award by Jan and Margaret.
These are the rules relating to the award:-
1. 5 people are allowed to receive this award.
2. four dedicated followers of your blog.
3. one is to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. please link back to the person who gave you this award.

So hard to make these decisions!!

However, I have decided to make the award to the following peeps, apologies if you've already received it a million times (it probably means you deserve it!!) and also to anyone I've missed out - you are all brilliant!!

1. Kim - who has been a regular on my blog and who has just started crafting again - go girl!!
2. Sian - well, I don't know how she produces so much super work and holds down a job and family. Brilliantbloggger too.
3. Jinny - she's a bit behind with her blogging and crafting because life has been keeping her busy but she's one of the most talented people I know and can turn her hand to anything.
4. Hazel - really brill stamping and eye candy on this blog! And always takes time to comment back, which is greatly appreciated.
5. Heather who is in Ontario and has some really lush pieces on her blog.

AND i've been tagged..... by Kim and Sherry. So just for a bit of fun I need to list here six random things about myself.

So, here goes:

1. My favourite book is Lord of the Rings.
2. My mum wanted to call me Tina Maria after her favourite tipple. Fortunately I was saved by several other little girls being given that name that week. (Phew!)
3. My favourite meal is fried chicken and chips.
4. I have ridden on the back of a Harley Davidson.
5. I helped to build a show garden at Chelsea.
6. I cannot bear to touch polystyrene (not sure I can spell it either).

The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

The people I have tagged so far are:

1. Astrid
2. Femmy
3. Patti
4. Jinny
5. Wendy

Phew, that took ages and I've still got to write to you all!! Have fun, and I look forward to finding out a little more about each of you!

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