Worksheet Wonders Bookmarks

I'm going to my first Art Retreat in October and wanted to make something to trade with other participants. I made bookmarks out of worksheet wonders based on the technique from Trish.
For the front side, I started with a 12"x 12" sheet that had been in the bottom of my spray box.I made stripes by placing down masking tape.

I sprayed some blue Radiant Rain and terra cotta Adirondack ink. When I removed two of the pieces of masking tape, it tore off the underlying color.
No problems, just an opportunity to add more color. I used Distress inks.
I stamped on flourishes with acrylic paint.
Stamped on script with Brilliance ink done sporadically. This is a faint image, here's a close up.
I punched out 14 tags from this sheet, and stamped the word "art" on the front with black Archival ink. Here is a sample of the front varieties. I love how this technique transforms "waste" paper into something "artistic".

For the back, I choose another sheet of 12" x 12" paper that had been in the bottom of my spray box. I added color by rubbing on Distress inks and misted with water.
I added text to a diamond stamp and then stamped on my paper.
I also stamped on a texture stamp with acrylic paint. These two steps add depth to the background.
I stamped a variety of images with black Archival ink.

I covered the surface with iridescent embossing powder and heat set.
Wrinkled up the paper, then straightened it out.
Reheated areas and rubbed on some foil.
I straighted the paper as well as I could and cut out the tags, because the paper was wrinkled, I didn't get 14 pieces, I only got 12. I used some of my previous worksheet wonders to finish the other backs. Here is some of the variety on the backs.

I adhered the fronts to the backs. Used black Archival ink to color the edges and added ribbons.

I hope some of the participants will want to trade with me!

Fan Embellishment & Fan Card

In the instructions for the second step of the page 4 Board Book project, besides making faux washi paper, was to make a large Asian themed embellishment for our page without using any Asian stamps. It was suggested to make an embellishment out of fun foam, utee, clay or shrink plastic. The pages in my board book are 6" x 6", a large embellishment would need to be very large, so I decided to make an Asian fan out of paper. I first saw this technique on A Monthly Rubber Stamp Club in 2003.
I started by cutting a 4-1/2" circle out of one of the Double saran wrap & watercolor sprays papers I just made. And then cut the paper circle in half. I did the over stamping as instructed by Susan for this background technique. I sprayed an orange spray with perfect pearls added to a floral stamp and stamped it onto the paper and let it dry.

I stamped a large pansy image with black Versafine ink on one semicircle and stamped butterflies with black Archival ink on the other semicircle. I think the Versafine shows up better on this colored watercolor paper.
Then each semicircle was cut into 8 sections, like pizza slices. My paper cutter started to tear the colored edges, until I thought to place the colored side down on the paper cutter.
I trimmed off the damaged edges and then colored the edges with the black Versafine ink pad. On the top set, I also rubbed my finger into the black ink and smudged the upper sections.
For the fan that will be used as an embellishment for my board book, I glued the sections onto a black semicircle. I threaded a copper & black fiber through a large black button and glued it to the fan. I think this looks very Asian, and I didn't use any Asian stamps. Even though it's made of paper, I think Trish will approve, because she says in Art, rules are made to be broken. LOL
I took the other fan sections and glued them to a semicircle of copper colored card stock. I added an Asian metal piece to complete the fan. I layered this on background paper and black card stock to make this card:

Double Saran & watercolor sprays technique

Susan has a fantastic tutorial of this technique on her blog. It sounded like a great way to use up the little bits of color sprays I have in mini misters. I laid watercolor paper on an old plastic tablecloth outside and sprayed a mixture of yellows and orange sprays some that have perfect pearls added to them. These are sprays I mixed up for earlier projects, and am not sure what is in each bottle. LOL
The instructions were to have a generous layer of watercolor sprays over the paper, it didn't seem really wet to me, so I sprayed on some water. The colors were very intense, so the water didn't make them too washed out, but did blend the colors together.
Next, I placed a large piece of plastic wrap over the paper and pressed it into the paper and let it dry.
Next I sprayed a contrasting color (here green) directly onto the used plastic wrap and re laid it over the paper and let it dry.
Here is the finished sheet. Susan said we could over stamp at this stage, but I'll wait until I have a specific project to work on as these papers are large 9" x 12" and will later be cut down into smaller pieces.

For the second sheet, I used the rest of the blue and purple sprays I had in mini misters, some had perfect pearls in them. It wasn't very wet, and was fairly concentrated color, so I sprayed water of the paper and laid on the plastic wrap.
When it dried, I lightly sprayed gold radiant rain on the used plastic wrap and relaid it on the paper.
Here's the finished sheet:
This one was a mixture of red & orange sprays, some with perfect pearls in them.
I sprayed full strength purple on the used plastic wrap and placed it over paper.

Here's the finished sheet:
For the last one, I sprayed on some the yellows and little bit of green I had in mini misters, some with perfect pearls added. To add more color, I sprayed on full strength green Adirondack sprays and then sprayed on some water to spread the concentrated greens around a bit. When it dried, I sprayed the darker green Adirondack spray on the used plastic wrap and laid it over the paper.
Here's the finished sheet:
These were lots of fun. A great way to use up ends of sprays. I like having the perfect pearls added to the sprays for the shimmering look.

Asian ATC for Art Lottery

The theme for the October Art Lottery on NGS is Asian. A great opportunity to use the faux washi paper I made. I ran a piece of card stock through the xyron and attached the a piece of the last faux washi sheet I made. I colored the edges with a black Archival ink pad. I added stamped images to look like Asian cancelled postage. Tapped on a black ribbon, added an image and a metal fan than I colored with alcohol ink.

Faux Washi Paper

For the fourth spread in the board book project, Trish instructed us to make faux washi paper (she hasn't told us what to do with it yet). You can find her great technique sheet here.
I decided to use Iridescent Dr. Ph Martins. I generously dropped the colors onto a sheet of tissue paper I had sprayed with water.
I used a wet paint brush to run the colors together. Then dropped on bronze.
And spread that ink around with a wet paint brush.
The next step was to spray on water and layer another tissue on top and press to pick up color. Set aside to dry. Continue to moisten the original sheet and add more tissue sheets to pick up color. Each sheet gets progressively lighter. You do as many as you want. I did a total of sheets. You can speed up the drying with a heat tool. Then finish the paper by stamping on images.
For the original sheet, I stamped on cherry blossom branches with black VersaFine ink.
I wanted more color, so I watered down some light purple Dr. Ph Martins and did a light wash over the blossoms. I then splattered on some more of this watered down ink over the paper.
This is the second sheet of tissue paper. It was the first one placed over the original tissue to pick up color. It picked up a lot of the bronze pigment.

I used black VersaFine ink to stamp on images.
This is the third sheet of tissue. I used black VersaFine ink to stamp on images. I made a puddle of ink with the bronze Dr. Ph Martins to pick up color and add to the sheet.
This is the fourth sheet of tissue, the last one to pick up color from the original sheet, and therefore the lightest one.
I used black VersaFine ink to stamp on the images, the painted on undiluted ink from these ink bottles.

Fiona's Deco

I received Fiona's deco to work in. I stamped 4 images with Distress ink on to the white card stock. I used black markers to define the edges and add details. It is like a reverse of the bandanna technique.
It needed something. I ran an embossing pad over the surface and covered it with iridescent embossing powder and heat set. It's hard to get a good photo. It looks like tile.
I added an art quote on velum that I received from Annie when I was the "IT" girl. I blackened the edges with a Sharpie and attached it with black brads.

For the back, I used a piece of paper from the bottom of my spray box, the same one I used to make Chrissy's ATC Holder. I ran it through the dotted embossing folder and colored with purple Distress ink. Then through the diamond embossing folder and colored with silver Brilliance ink. Then through the swirl embossing folder and colored it with blue Distress ink.
I adhered the sheet to the back of the first page and decided the background needed something. I lightly ran a black Archival ink pad over the surface to give it a grungy look and make some of the detail stand out.
To finish the back, I added an image, another quote from Annie and a clear A sticker with silver edges that I placed over a dark sheet that had also been in the bottom of my spray box.