Mission Collage: Number Four

As promised, this is the penultimate stage of Mission: Collage at The Land of Lost Luggage! Here are today's instructions:

1. Pattern: Use any medium you want and make a pattern on your collage- lines, dots, secret message in Morse Code...anything you want.

2. Draw: Fancy sketch or simple drawing; use pen, pencil or ink to highlight something that is already on your collage or draw a new shape on your project.

3. Sand: Go out to the garage and grab some sand paper! Use the paper to make a distress accent on your collage.

You can see I drew some mini-swirls around the edges for my pattern. Then I drew around the numbers, and added some scallops. The sanding doesn't really do a lot here. The base for the piece was black, so sanding doesn't bring out any highlights, but I did try!

It will be a couple of days until I can show the end product. Wednesday is my busiest day of the week, I do baby-related things all day. And to cap it all off, Paul is looking after Dan this evening, while I meet some friends for dinner! I'm really excited, and I know Daddy and Danny will have a great time without me.
Off out now, the busyness begins!

Mission Collage: Part Three

These are the next three steps of Mission Collage:

1. Smudge: Wet your fingers and smudge any of the chalk, pastel, crayon, charcoal on your project.

2. Magazine: Attach a page or piece of a page of magazine to your collage and then use a damp cloth or baby wipe to remove areas of ink from the magazine you put on your collage. Cheap magazine pages work the best. Scrub a dub dub!

3. Stamp: Anywhere, anykind, any amount. Caution: be careful about what kind of ink you choose to stamp with...there may be wet areas again on the project before we're finished!

Mmmm. I have got an idea of where I'm going with this, but I will confess that I'm really not sure about the magazine page! I chose to use a page from the Waitrose magazine as it had a list which looked quite interesting, but when I attached it the writing was a bit intrusive (it was food related stuff) so I rubbed it off. Of course, I had used gel medium to attach the page, so you can see the reversed text from the other side of the page, which I quite like! But then I used some Distress Ink to take the colour down from the pure white, and it really absorbed into the paper in some places, but not evenly. Luckily there are more steps to do, so I will make it better! The stamps are from Aud Design.
More tomorrow, it will be the penultimate stage!

Mission Collage: Part Deux

Here is the second stage of my collage piece. This is the brief this time:

Here are the next three steps:

4. Chalk/Pastels/Artist Crayon: Apply to random areas of your project- you can draw, add shapes or simply add color here and there.

5. Photograph: Use a new or vintage photograph and attach it to your collage. You can sew, glue, staple, transfer..you name it. Your picture can have neat, crisp edges or you can distress the edge, use decorative punches or scissors.

6. Charcoal: Use charcoal to add another layer of depth to your collage. You can color any areas you would like with the charcoal! The other day I posted a quick charcoal how-to here.

I added purple and pink chalk in places around the piece. It mostly shows up on the torn edges, which were previously white. The photograph is from the Vintage Resources page on Art-e-zine, it's from a selection of images you can download for a small donation. I haven't used any of these before, but this one is perfect for me as I have a thing about butterflies. The image was printed out onto card, cut out with deckle-edged scissors (which I rarely use, but I thought it gave a sort of vintage postcard look here) and covered with fluid medium in a gloss finish. I then added the charcoal around the edges and around the image.
I'm still not sure where I'm going with this, but I'm enjoying the uncertainty!

Collage swap over at The Land of Lost Luggage.

I am participating in a swap at Julie's art blog, The Land of Lost Luggage. Julie does great collage pieces, and is hosting this swap based on a book by Sally Jean Alexander, called "Pretty Little Treasures". Now, I haven't read this book, and my collage work amounts to...zero! However, I really feel the best thing about the blogging and forum communities is the fact that we can learn so much from each other, so I am now in the middle of learning how to collage!
Julie has been posting 3 steps at a time, I am sadly behind at the moment, but am catching up! Hopefully I will be finished early next week.
The first three steps are as follows:

Your collage can be on any surface as long as it will "take" the techniques. For example, cardboard, canvas, cardstock, etc. I am not sure your collage will work on glass or metal.

Having said that, he we go! Today's techniques are: Paint, Paper, Ink

1. Paint: Anything you can apply with a brush. Place paint on your surface to be the starting background of your collage. You can use all one color, mix and match, whatever!


2. Paper: Attach paper onto the painted surface for an accent to the background. Any type of paper will do!


3. Ink: Doodle, spill, splatter, dab, you name it! Add some ink to any areas of your collage.

I decided to my piece on foam-board, as it takes paint well and should be easy to post. It is 6" square. I started with acrylic paint, mostly hot pink, but with red and white added. I wanted the brushstrokes to be visible. The paper is from a fab book of 6" papers from Crafty Individuals. I was thinking of using some text instead, but I didn't have time to go out and find a book to use, and my (huge) collection of books at home are way too loved to use! The ink is Distress Ink in Dusty Concord, plus Nick Bantock Ink in Damson Plum. I have drawing ink in a lovely purple, but had already made such a mess with the paints that I didn't want to risk splattering anything important!
The next stage involves charcoal, which I didn't actually have, but today I went and bought some from...a supermarket! I has the blender stump and everything! And I thought I would have to go to an art shop!
I am really busy at home at the moment and the photos are backing up a bit as I haven't had the time to blog about them. I have also been tagged by Michelle at Faerie*Dust*Dreams, I will do my bit soon! (Michelle does amazing collage and altered pieces, I love the crown she has as her header.) It's nice to be busy, but it does take away from my creative time a bit. But I have a little notebook, so I am sketching away whenever I have an idea!

It's a stamp!

This is just a quick sign in as I think there is a little confusion as to the background on the ATC. Here it is in all of it's glory, it's a gorgeous Anna Griffin stamp! I actually bought it half price at Newbury in the summer. Doesn't it ink up great!

TMTA- Slide Mounts

I actually made this on Monday night, but I wanted to upload Isa's challenge first, so here is my entry for this week's Think Monday, Think ATC. This week's challenge is to use a slide mount somewhere on your work, and I have these lovely card ones which are great for stamping on.
I was thinking of Isa's Alpha challenge when I made this, although it has nothing to do with the letter 'K', but I am inspired by the idea of black and white plus one other colour. I had also watched a demo with Glenda Waterworth from Elusive Images on TV where she did layers of 'spotlight stamping', with the colour on the second and, in her case, third layer.
The main stamp is Anna Griffin, stamped in Versafine on white cardstock. The spotlighted area is the same stamp used with Brilliance Orchid Pink. The slide mount is stamped (Hero Arts) and distressed using Stazon, as it has a glossy finish. The black butterfly is stamped in Versafine, the pink in Brilliance with added Stickles glitter glue. Thanks for looking!

Isa's Alpha Challenge- K and a last minute Wednesday Stamper

After being stuck for a good 'K' word for Isa's alpha challenge this week, I was suddenly struck with inspiration: Kimono. I bought some new stamps recently from Non Sequitur, and had yet to ink them up. The oriental look is so popular at the moment, so I wanted my first effort to be good. I am quite pleased with this, but not with the photo! I may change it tomorrow if I get the light and the time.
To the challenges. Isa's challenge, other than using the letter 'K' was to use black and white, plus one other colour, and to use a script stamp in the background. This week's Wednesday Stamper theme was handmade paper. This card combines both challenges.
The background paper I stamped the text stamp (by Judikins) on is a Japenese Mizutama paper. It has tiny metallic flecks in. The geisha figure was stamped on the origami paper and on white paper, then carefully cut out. The letters for the word are from my stash (All My Memories, I think!). And that's about it, pretty simple for me! All it needs is a new photo taken in daylight, so that the flash doesn't light up all the reflective surfaces. Come back tomorrow!

Edited to add new photo, The flash has gone but it has a slight colour cast. I think it's time to make a lightbox!

Isa's Alpha Challenge- J

This week has been a bit of a struggle for me, time-wise, so I am very happy to be able to post this card at last! Isa is back from her Summer holiday, and she has put her challenges onto a new blog. You can see the button for it on my sidebar, with the Wednesday Stamper and TMTA buttons. I like Isa's challenges, as the only real rule is that you need to use a word on your entry that begins with the alphabet letter of the week. Then there are a couple more options which you can choose to use, or not. I tend to try all of the options, as I like a real challenge!
This weeks letter is J, with the extra options of using a bright yellow and making a Christmas card. As you can see, I have done all three. I couldn't think of another word other than Joy, but Christmas is not the season to get all funky for me, I love it in all of its traditional glory!
The stamped panel is a yellow metallic watercolour background, stamped with the Hero Arts script in Distress Ink Vintage photo, and the Hero Arts harlequin background in Versamark, then brushed with Perfect Pearls. The other panel is an image transfer of a K and Co Christmas paper, transferred using Matt Medium onto gold Mirri card. Then both the panels were edged with Versamark and gold embossing powder. The letters for the word 'Joy' were changed to gold with my new Sakura Pen Touch pen (the budget alternative to a Krylon pen), then distressed by touching it whilst still wet. I did the same to the stars. The cardstock is Bazzill.
As usual, you can't really see the overall effect in a photo. Doing an image transfer over a bright gold card gives a real depth to the translucent image, rather like the gold backing on costume gems. And many thanks to Julie and Carrie, who have both done photo step-by-steps on their blogs. This time I found it easy, and only made a couple of holes in the image with my fingernails as they are quite long! The tip I really liked was to use a baby wipe to take off the backing paper, I found it much easier than a wet fingertip (and much safer, as no jar of water waiting to be knocked over!)
PS I was really surprised and delighted to find that my Wednesday Stamper entry for last week is on the Sampler. Thanks so much, Wednesday Stamper!

I have things to blog, but...

The baby is hyper this morning! His toys have no interest for him, and the room is starting to look like it has been hit by a storm! I just wanted to say that I am ready and willing to blog, but daren't!
If anything in the room is still usable by tonight, you'll hear from me then!

Do not adjust your set...

I have made a cute card! I know this is not my usual thing, but a soon-to-be five year old girl would not really appreciate alcohol inks and image transfers (yet!). It's a waterfall card, and for anyone who hasn't come across one of these before, Splitcoast Stampers has the best instructions that I have found.
The base card is a plain white DL size card, stamped with Aud Design flowers and Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink. The squares are also white card, covered with paper from Karen Foster Design, with fun foam die-cut letters (cut in my Sizzix Sidekick, it works fine!) The band across the front is fun foam, held on with brads, and the strap which is the mechanism is covered with Karen Foster paper, and stamped with my MSE clear alphabet. I haven't taken a half-open photo, but as you pull the fun foam flower, the letters flip to spell 'Tyler'.
I took a photo of the inside of the card too. With all of my cards, I like to add a computer generated insert, and recently I have started stamping inside as well. I think it adds a nice finishing touch. And I do the envelope, does it sound like I just can't stop! This card is in the post now, so I did stop...eventually!