Book Study - Acetate and Alcohol Inks - 2

I decided to make another card using the technique based on Nancy's card "Tulipa" in Nancy Curry's book "Texture Effects for Rubber Stamping". Because the stamp I was using had lots of fine detail, I used a clear acrylic mount to press a piece of acetate down onto the stamp inked up with StazOn ink. This way I could see I was giving enough pressure to get all of the stamped image on to the acetate.
Got a pretty good image. Since the main details are shown well, I don't mind the splotchy areas, as this will allow more of the color that is going on the back to show through. If the girls face or other similar images hadn't stamped, I would have thrown this out and started again.
On the previous card, when I added the alcohol inks to the back, I gave a splotchy coverage on the back, going for a sky appearance. This time, I completely covered the back of the acetate image with the mixture of alcohol ink, metal mixatives and blending solution.

I trimmed the acetate and adhered it on to white card stock.

I cut out a piece of Double Saran Watercolor Spray background I made last fall (it's the last one shown on this post). And used a small strip trimmed off my background for the March QOTM card.

I stamped some script onto the large background with Watermark ink and covered the script with Perfect Pearls.

I used a gold leafing pen to color the edges of the background and glued it to a dark green card and added the acetate image. I stamped the word "Hope" on to the smaller background strip with black StazOn ink , glued it on the card and added a decorative brad.

Here's a close up of the acetate image. I think the metallic alcohol inks on the back give it an antiquey look.

Book Study - Acetate and Alcohol Inks - 1

We're doing a Book Study as a group on NGS, using Nancy Curry's book "Texture Effects for Rubber Stamping". This week we are looking at her card "Tulipa". In this card Nancy uses alcohol inks on acetate. Here is my playing with this technique. I find acetate very slippery and easily smeared. I ink up my stamp with StazOn ink, keep the stamp face up, lay down the acetate onto the inked stamp, then take a larger wood mounted stamp and press straight down firmly. Then I lift off the stamp I'm using as a press. For me, this keeps the acetate from moving around. Lift the acetate straight up and let the ink dry.

Nice sharp image on the acetate.

I mixed two colors of blue alcohol ink with Pearl Mixative and blending solution onto a felt pad and colored the BACK side of the acetate.

For my card, I cut out some white core blue card stock and ran it through a Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I inked the raised areas with Distress ink, then sanded off most of the raised areas to reveal the white core. There is just a small bit of ink remaining, cool look.

I adhered the acetate onto white card stock, then onto the blue paper. Added a ribbon and three large white brads and mounted all of this onto a white linen card.

March Quote of the Month

I'm participating in the Quote of the Month swaps on ccswaps. March's quote is "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" by Aristotle. I started off with a sheet of paper that had been in the bottom of my spray box while making the pencil box.
I stamped some swirls with Distress ink.

Then covered the sheet with leafy flourishes, stamped with Watermark ink and then brushed on Perfect Pearls.

To give this paper some texture, I painted on Distress Crackle Paint onto a leafy vine stamp and stamped that on to the paper. I heated the paint with a heat tool. Here you can see when I'd done one part of the paper. (Wash stamps right away, whenever using paints on them.)

Once I finished with the Distress Crackle Paint, I re stamped the same vine onto the paper with Distress ink and heat set. This made a nice rich textured sheet for the background paper.

The paper on the left is a scrap that had various left over paints brushed on it. Don't like to waste paint, never know when these funny scraps will come in handy. The paper on the right is black card stock that had a veined leaf stamped with Watermark ink and then colored with various Perfect Pearls.

I used the Cuttlebug to cut out butterfly shapes. Once the shapes were cut, I went back and added some more stamped veined leaves to cover the paper and added more Perfect Pearls.

The yellow butterfly was run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder and the raised areas (most of the image) was run over with Watermark ink and then coated with Perfect Pearls.These butterflies were run through a different Cuttlebug embossing folder, one showing the positive and the other the negative image. I love how the stamped veined leaves, look like veins in the butterflies wings. (I am easily pleased LOL.)

I used the Peeled Paint Distress Stickles to color the bodies and antennae on the butterflies.

I printed the quote onto vellum and adhered it to the background paper with brads. Glued on a leafy vine ribbon and the butterflies. All this was layered on to a dark green card.

I'm into dark, rich colors at the moment. Love playing with texture. Here is a close up of one of the butterflies:

Pencil Box

I had lots of fun decorating this pencil box today. It's a birthday present, I think I'll keep who to a surprise. I started with the inside. I wanted to toughen up the paper mache box and make the inside shiny and bright. I mixed two colors of mica powders with glossy gel medium and brushed all the interior surfaces. Wasn't sure if the gel medium would be enough of a fixative, so I brushed on a wet layer of water with gum arabic. Let it dry. Here's a close up, you can see the hint of blue with the gold:

I mixed dark brown Color Wash with gold mica powder and gum arabic in a mini mister and sprayed the outside surfaces of the box. I let the liquid bead up, and set it with a heat tool.

To richen the color, I sprayed on some watered down Butterscotch Color Wash and set it with a heat tool.

I also sprayed some of the watered down butterscotch Color Spray on the inside of the box.

I randomly stamped some text over the outside of the box with black StazOn ink and heat set it.

I stamped on some pear images on the top of the box with thick layers of gold and green olive Lumiere acrylic paint (wash stamps off soon after using acrylic paints).

I sprayed the dark brown with gold mica powder spray over the top to blend in the pear images (and make them appear more antiquey). And stamped some of the text over these pear images with black StazOn ink. I think the outside looks good. There is a great shimmer in the dark stain that shows up as the box moves in the light.

I wanted to add some pear imagery to the inside of the box as well. I stamped pears on to a pliable speckled lined paper with Distress inks and then over stamped the pear images with the text in black Archival ink and cut out the images.

After adhering the images to the inside, the seemed too light. I sprayed them with a lovely color that was in a mini mister from another project (so I'm not sure what I used to mix it up). Once the color absorbed into the linen paper, I decided to brighten the interior by giving it another coat of glossy gel medium. This photo doesn't show it, but you can still see some of the blue highlights. I love the contrast of the dark exterior of the box and the bright, shiny interior.

Hope "someone" will enjoy this box and put it to good use.

Flight ATCs

The theme for the April 6:5 ATC swap on ccswaps is flight. I know April is a couple of months away, but I like to work when I get an idea. For some reason, this popped in my head fairly quickly. I stamped a crane onto glossy card stock with black Archival ink and heat set.
I filled in the crane with Clear Glass Finish and let it set.

I made a mixture of light blue color wash, perfect pearls, and water into a mini mister and sprayed over the ATC, spraying heavier on the top half of the ATC, and set with a heat tool.

Then made a mixture of purple color wash, perfect pearls and water in a mini mister and sprayed over the bottom half of the ATC and set with a heat tool.

For the final spray layer, I used dark blue color wash, blue & violet mica powder, gum arabic (the mica powder doesn't have a fixative in it) and water in a mini mister and sprayed over the entire ATC and set with a heat tool.

I used a damp tissue, to wipe the color spray off of the crane image. I like how a small amount of the color spray crept in to the crane image.

I placed a piece of sequin waste over the lower left corner of the ATC and sponged on some purple Distress ink. Next, moved the sequin waste over a small part of the upper right corner of the ATC and sponged on blue Distress ink.

To finish the ATC, I stamped out type set letters onto glossy card stock with black Archival ink and cut out the shapes. I then covered them with the Clear Glass Finish and let them set. To give the letters an aged appearance, I "cracked" the surface by bending the images. Then glued the letters onto the ATC. It's difficult to get a good photo of the shimmer on this ATC, but you do get a glimpse of it here.

2/28 update: As I was getting these ATCs ready to send off, I decided they needed "something". I decided I wanted the left/bottom to seem heavier than where the crane was flying off to, so I trimmed the ATC and off set them on dark blue card stock. Now they are done.

Mask ATCs

The theme for the March 6:5 ATC swap on ccswaps is masks. I wanted the masks to be the main visual on my ATCs, not just one part. So I did a double mask. I chose a metallic speckled linen paper as the base. Used a mask by Heidi Swapp. I was going to spray on a blue Shimmering Mist spray, but the nozzle got clogged and I couldn't get it unclogged. I used a Jumbo Dauber and sponged on the Shimmering Mist over the mask.
I cut the paper down to ATC size and placed a "B" mask from a Tim Holtz alphabet mask set onto the paper and added green Distress ink over the mask to color the ATC (the B mask is on the middle piece of paper below).

I stamped a saying onto a cut sheet of the original paper I made with the floral mask, and layered it on to the ATC. I also stamped the word beautiful on to the ATC.

I layered the paper onto black card stock and glued a small dragonfly charm onto the corner of the "B".

Charm swap completed

I received all of the charms for this bracelet a couple of weeks ago, and finally got them all attached to my bracelet. I was pleasantly surprised, how light this feels on my wrist with all it holds. You can see the charm I made and how it was done here.