Vintage Birthday Image

Thought I would post this vintage postcard image of a young girl with flowers for you tonight.  It may appeal to some of you to add to any cards you're making. 

I like the dreamy faraway look in the little girl's eyes and the subtle colour tinting.

I finally got round to doing a little bit of embossing today for a swap I'm in.  We had to create a 6" x 6" square tile and 12 inchies, all from matboard, using a particular colour range from turquoise through green to terracotta.  The only techniques allowed are inking, stamping and embossing - no embellishments!!! (which is tricky for me as I'm a great one for adding a few "twiddly bits")!  Anyway, I inked and stamped the "tile", lightly embossed a flourish around each corner, and then used clear UTEE to triple-emboss (well, it was double-emboss really, it didn't need a third coat) to cover the entire tile.  For the inchies I used a rubber stamp that Lindsay had given me - it was ideal because it has 12 cat images on it, each one 1" square.  The stamp is called "Kitty Tiles" (4578) from Hampton Art Stamps.  I made 24 inchies in total so that I could keep extras to use on some future ATCs.  Again, I "double"-embossed each little inchie.  So these will probably get posted out tomorrow and then Ali (our hostess) is going to mix up everyone's tiles and inchies so we'll each get back a tile complete with a pattern of assorted inchies on it.  I just love these colours!

I've also made a couple of ATCs for a Lucky Dip swap, we each choose from a list of titles - my choice was "Midnight", "Botanical", "Caged Bird" and "Weathered".  Here are pics of "Midnight" and "Botanical".  Two down, two to go!  I also made another botanical-themed ATC and have another two part made, as I had enough vintage bits of paper left over from the first one.  I used distress inks over the rather shiny plant paper and on the torn strips of paper from an old encyclopedia.  I used gel medium to adhere the paper strips to the background and as a coating over the whole card, which got rid of the shininess.  The card on the "Botanical" ATC is one of those old picture cards that came free in our tea boxes, the equivalent of cigarette cards, do you remember them?  I've added a flower shaped button, threaded with gauzy green ribbon, a skeleton leaf and a rub-on word.

Of course, I had to use Lindsay's "owl" stamp on my Midnight card - I've been using it a lot lately, plus her technique for blowing ink with a straw to create the stark tree branches the owl is sitting on.  I do like those techniques that turn out so random, you just never know what they're going to end up like!

I had the final set of instructions for completing the zetti pages I've been working on too - having added outlines and extra patterns to the pages with crayons or pastels, we now have to spend the next few weeks/months adding journalling to our pages, whatever we want, whenever the mood takes, and on which ever page fits the words (or vice-versa).  I've no idea how my pages are going to turn out, I'm not sure that what I've done so far looks "zetti", but .... we'll just have to see.  Apparently, there's no right or wrong way to do this, I guess I'll know when I've done enough on each page, then I send one out to each of the other participants.  Check out Elena's blog (My Name is Elena) in my bloglist to see what she has done - Elena has really got the hang of this zetti art and is turning out some wonderful looking work - well, I think so anyway, I know it won't appeal to everyone!

I've had a great response to the Witchy ATC swap, the number of people signed up means there are going to be some wonderful cards coming in - if you're still dithering about whether to join up or not, then I'd say jump in, have a go, have fun .... you don't want to miss out on this one.  I've had word that the first set of cards is finished and is on its way to me already ..... can't wait to see what they turn out like!  If you want to see some more that have been made for this swap, then check out my sister Lindsay's blog - she's just posted a pic of the scary witches she made over the weekend!

Just been doing a bit of this and that the past few days - came down with a cold for a couple of days so didn't feel up to doing very much, but on the mend now.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I was having a go at creating some zetti pages; I did the colourful backgrounds and the next instruction we were given was to add paper/magazine cutouts and images to the pages.  So I spent some time searching through my pile of papers torn from mags, etc, to find suitable pieces to stick onto the pages.  Here are some of what I did.  I'm not sure if I'm doing this right yet, but I'll find out when I get the next set of instructions next week!  They all look pretty strange at the moment, don't they?

I'm also working on a couple of board books - you can quite often pick up old children's board books in charity shops or at car boots.  I'm only just discovering how good they are to work on and alter.  Once you've prepared the surface of the pages - either by a lot of sandpapering to rough up the surface or, if you're lucky, the top layer of paper peels off easily - you cover them all with some gesso and then you can more or less throw anything you like at them - add papers, inks, paints, ribbons, embellishments, all sorts .... a lot of fun, especially if you find a book with little cutouts in it or odd shapes, lots more possibilities for altering!

In one of the board books I'm trying out different techniques, mostly with acrylic paints, torn paper strips, ink washes, gesso stamping and printed quotes .... again, this is another little challenge on one of my atc groups.  The other board book I'm working on is entitled "Paraphernalia" and each person in the swap suggested a page title - mine were "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Gothic Architecture", others included "Angel Shrine", "Seasons" and "A Very Extraordinary Queen" (12 titles in all).  The idea behind this swap is that we each work on our own board book, creating a page for each title, as well as decorating the front cover and putting our details on the back.  In November we will be told who our swap partner is and then post out the finished book to them as an early Christmas pressie!  I only just started decorating my book this week so I need to get a move on - here is a picture of the first couple of pages, I've added an extra flower now to the second page since I took the photo, and when the book is finished I'll probably go back through it and add more ribbons, fibres, charms to the pages.

 

And yes, the photo IS one of Lindsay and I when we were young!!!  Who knew what we'd turn out like?  *LOL*

Finally, for tonight, here is another Witchy ATC that I finished making today.  The ghostie glows in the dark!

Last week I said that I was joining in a project to create zetti pages and the first thing we all had to do was cover our pages, front and back, with a colour wash - using one or more colours.  So I had a session creating very colourful backgrounds onto some heavy watercolour paper.  For some I used acrylic paints and others, "Sticky Fingers" acrylic inks - they all turned out pretty bright and colourful (which was my aim), as you can see.

The backs of the pages were done in different colours to the front, but the size was bigger than I needed for the project, so I had to cut them all down with my guillotine - which left me with lots of colourful strips, including strips where the pages were pulled off the binding in the watercolour pad.

So I then thought I'd like to make some atcs using some of these jewel-coloured offcuts and also try to make use of the torn binder strips too, just to see how effective they could be and not waste anything.  These are the three atcs I came up with - I've used some vintage-style rubber stamps on a couple of them, along with extra embellishments - brads, adhesive gems, colourful plastic discs, stamped hearts with gold cord and dictionary words.  For the mermaid card I added some alcohol inked clear acrylic, beading, angelina fibres and little shells - all scraps and oddments from my stash.  I'm quite happy with the way they all turned out and it just goes to show what you can make with a few offcuts and bits and bobs lying around.

Now that I've finished my zetti background pages, the next thing we have to do is add some images and paper cutout shapes to each page - it's all new to me so I'm intrigued to see how my pages eventually turn out, but it's certainly fun to have a go at trying out a new style of art or technique.  I'll let you know how I get on!

An ATC Fan

At least the weather has perked up a bit again after the past few dreary wet days - the sun's been shining and apparently it will continue to shine right through to the weekend (or so the weather folks tell us)!  It's amazing how much more cheerful everyone feels with a bit of sun on their faces - maybe we're going to have what they call an Indian summer after all, though there's definitely an autumnal feel in the air too - not an unpleasant feeling though, I actually rather like that hint of cool, clean freshness as the sun starts to slip down the sky at the end of the afternoon. 

Anyway, I thought I'd show you pictures of a piece I created for a swap recently.  We were each sent instructions and an example of how to construct an atc-sized folding fan by the hostess (Laura Carson).  The fan was constructed out of five atc-sized "blades" with curved tops, we could decorate and embellish them however we liked (bearing in mind which parts would be hidden when the fan was folded).  The blades were attached together by a series of ribbons on the back which had to be assembled in a particular way so that the fan could fold up and a brad held the base of all the fan blades together.  It took me a good while to get started on mine because I wasn't sure how I wanted to decorate it and also wasn't sure how easy it was going to be to put it all together - I thought I might end up making a real mess of it all !  Well, I eventually chose an oriental theme and embellished the fan with beads, ribbons and one of my own beaded dragonflies (the instructions for this dragonfly are included in one of the projects in my book).  Everyone in the swap was allocated a partner to send their fan to, so mine has now gone to a new home in Australia.

I'm going to be having a go at creating my first zettiology pieces soon.  A small group of us will be making a page in zetti style for each person (five others plus myself).  Ali, who has organised the group, will be giving us bit by bit instructions for creating our pages over a six month period.  The first thing we have to do this week is paint a colour wash onto our pages - we won't know what we're going to be doing next until after we've all done our painting - any colour, one or many, with or without textured effects.  Well, you may be asking, what on earth is "zetti"?  Not easy to describe I'm afraid, all rather surreal-looking, heads and bodies all mixed up, black and white stripy legs, hats, lots of colour ..... hmm, if you really want to know what I'm talking about go take a peek on  Teesha Moore's website and have a browse around, you'll understand what I'm talking about!  Anyway, I shall keep you posted of my success or otherwise!