Flower Power Canvas!

And Now For Something A Little Bit Different...

On a roll!

My second and final gothic arch is completed for the swap on ATC Addicts R Us.

So what did I add to this Crafty Individuals based background that I created last week with Mumsy? Well, I stamped some teeny weeny swirls in gold, attached a wire coil/ribbon to the bottom left hand corner, then, using wire, attached beads all the way around the arch (quite time consuming but defo worth it).

I used diamond glaze to accent the white butterflies on the background paper, then added 2 glittery flutterby stickers (will never forget how these came to be in my possession - they were a bonus item with one of my first orders from 3D Jean way back when). I gave both of these butterflies antennae (could resist!) Finally I added my alcohol inked metal butterfly, then, some wire coils and a sequin butterfly to take the design off the arch... I think this is my fave of the 2 Gothic Arches I have made. But I keep changing my mind (a girls' perogative!)

To Those That Dream There is no Such Place as Faraway

Ahhhhhh! There was no stopping me then. I grabbed the 4 jumbo playing cards (an extra swap currently running on UKATC) sent to me by Paula, and started creating backgrounds and generally getting all painty!

I used one of Bernie Berlin's techniques on the 2 on the left hand side, "resin fresco" - used Adirondack dabbers over randomly sprinkled and heated UTEE and a couple of brush strokes of gesso. Interesting effect, think it has to be seen in the flesh, or at least very close up, to see the real texture created using that technique.

Backgrounds for Jumbo ATC Swap

On the other 2 backgrounds (on the right hand side of the piccie above) I used watered down acrylic paints brushed on over a layer of gesso (just to prime) and then I scrunched up clingfilm and placed it over the top. When I lifted off the clingfilm, I wanted a bit more of a sheen, so a added a few drops of luna lights and repeated scrunched clingfilm part. Looks kinda marbled, pretty cool! It's amazing what you can do with Morisson's mucho cheap clingfilm!

Rather liked doing that kind of background, so whilst I was all messy, thought I would do a couple on regular sized ATCs too, for future creations!

Acrylic Paint, Luna Lights and Clingfilm

When all is said and done, a very productive day indeedy!

I'm here!

Yesterday I moved into my new place - gulp! At the risk of sounding like I am giving an "Oscar winning thank you performance" I must say ta very muchly to Mumsy and Freaky Deaky Dad, who helped me move most of my stuff, not to mention helping me to spring clean from top to bottom and shift furniture around - rewarded them with a Chinese takeaway!

Now, here's a question for you...

Q: What is the most important part of Freaky Deaky Crafty Chick's home?
A: Craft Space!!!

Here is the "before picture" - taken first thing this morning... oh the jumble!

Then along came my fairy godmother in the shape of my Freaky Deaky Crafty Friendie, and with her magic wand and my fairy dust (plus rather a lot of shuffling things around and re-jigging me bits and bobs) we turned an area of my lounge into this...

Ta da!!!

And do you know what? My FDCF bought me a giftie, well she bought it over here, but she actually created it herself - wow! I was sooooooo chuffered; not only had she taken the time to make me an stonking altered canvas, but she even wrote the words herself - I think I shall start calling her my Uber Talented Freaky Deaky Crafty Friendie!

"A time to craft, a time to play, A time to art your heart away,

A time to get messy, and time to have fun, a time to art until you are done,

New techniques, new tools to use, experiment with them, use your creative muse..."

After receiving such a wonderful gift, and a craft space ready to rumble, how could I resist having a play?! So I made a start on an altered coaster swap for Advanced Artist Trading. Using a technique from Bernie Berlin's book, I created resist backgrounds using acrylic paints, paint dabbers, clear heat embossing with rubber stamps, more paint (dry brushed on) and then applied a hot iron...

For some reason, I didn't get quite the right effect on the top R coaster, and the bottom R one was naughty and some of the actual chipboard of the coaster came off after ironing (iron too hot?). That said, the ones on the left hand side I am well chuffed with :)

Theme for the swap is numbers, so to include my favourite or a significant no. on each coaster. So what's the magic no.? That'd be telling!

Bernie Berlin!

Tried a technique out of the Bernie Berlin book today (kindly given to me by my Freaky Deaky Friendie as a flat warming prezzie :) ) Not that I am in the flat yet... but I am getting there bit by bit!

The technique I tried is called "emboss resist" and I deviated from the instructions slightly (got carried away with adding colour!) but had fun cos I got to play with some of my new toys that arrived from Frantic Stamper - a set of Adirondack dabbers (blues!) and unmounted stamps too!

This pic shows the stage where I have painted ATC sized pieces of mountboard in various colours, stamped and embossed over the top using a clear ink pad and clear embossing powder, then dry brushed another acrylic paint over the top. They look slightly grungy...

And this pic shows the best of the final results after ironing over the ATCs to get that "resist" effect...

I was rather chuffed with what I made! Now... need to finish them off! I have rather a lot of unfinished symphonies at the moment (it's a habit of mine) but these I want to finish in particular, for the swap on UKATC, so watch this space!

Treasure Box Commences!

Backtracking - 2nd July 2008

Finally got started on my Treasure Box swap for Advanced Artist Trading Cards. Off to Paris again (can't I think of anything new and innovative?!) but I do love using my Crafty Individuals stamps, and know I have lots of embellishments that tie in with the theme of Paris, so as this was my first swap for Advanced ATCs, I wanted to be in my comfort zone and feel confident (well, as confident as Freaky Deaky Crafty Chick ever can!) in my ability to create something half decent!

After priming with gesso, I used 3 shades of Adirondack paint dabbers to colourise the box all over, in a random fashion, til I had something which I was satisfied with. Then I stamped using Stazon and my favourite Crafty Individuals rubber stamps (text, friends in Paris, Paris postmark) onto tissue paper, and used modge podge to apply them onto the lid of the box, layering and overlapping.

Not actually very happy with the way the word "friends" cannot be seen easily at all. Will figure that out another day, in fact, I will probs end up covering it up with something. But what..?

A Crush On Canvas (and crafting with a cold *atchoo*)

Backtracking - 25th June 2008

Why, oh why, oh why do I feel so poorly? Cos I have caught a cold! How did I manage to catch a cold in the middle of Summer?! Cos I am just plain freaky. I should change my blog title to sneezy-wheezy-crafty-atchoo-chick cos I am sneezing like the clappers and it huuuuuuuurts! *sniffle*

But I wanted to craft, so I can't have felt *that* poorly! With my crush on canvas still as rampant as ever, I made 4 backgrounds, using acrylic paints, luna lights, gold ink, stamped tissue paper, applied with modge podge over gold mesh...

...which was great... until I got to the part where I had the idea of using gold ink and embossing powder around the edges to give some texture... and sneezed... then sneezed again, and again, and again... (my record so far these past couple of days is 11 in one go!!!)

So crafter's, if you're out there, take heed - do not craft with embossing powders (or glitters for that matter!) when you have a cold! You're only asking for a room to get covered in sparkles and powders, and you know what that means - hoovering up!

N.B. No backgrounds were sneezed upon during the making of these canvases.

Bottle Caps - Squishy-Wishy

Backtracking - 20th June 2008

Bottlecaps - themed swap for UKATC this month, so I couldn't resist having a play and taking part, so I bought a bottle cap image sheet from www.digitalcollagesheets.com which of course fitted perfectly in my bottle caps, which I had squished with my Wizard aka Merlin.

All the backgrounds were done on canvas, being such a canvas freaky at the mo, what else would I use?! Kept them pretty plain and simple, only using one or two colours of acrylic paints, stamping one of my new-ish Paperartsy border stamps on the left hand side. Then I simply added a little bit of mulberry paper across the bottom, and created an embellishment using the bottle tops, images, a teeny pearl flower, diamond glaze, and some good old wire and beads!

Now, they needed a finishing touch. Something... I don't know what! I was going over to see my Freaky Deaky Friendie and after much conflab, she gave me 3 words from a sheet of doo-dads she had, in very cool colours and they matched perfectly. I have now added these to my list of must-haves!

Thank you Freaky Deaky Friendie :)

Texture Paste - cool! - and Bubbles Galore

Backtracking - 14th June 2008

I got me some texture paste, with a project in mind, but had no idea how this one was going to work out... found a really old pic of Freaky Deaky Dad with his brother on a beach and thought it would make a good Father's Day prezzie if I could create a frame for this pic...

I took a boring frame that cost me a pound (bargainous!) and used a pallette knife to spread Texture Paste over it... bit like icing a cake! Then I took a plastic fork and plopped it over the paste to create a kind of spiked, wavy effect...

I was trying to re-create the seaside scene so it would eventually look like the frame was a continuation of the beach on which Freaky Deaky Dad and his bro are sitting on (those of you who are curious, it is Brighton circa 1953!) Anyways, took acyrlics in yellows and blues and mixed and blended with white to lighten and create a sand to sky effect from bottom to top...

By then I had been crafting all day, so what does a crafter deserve after a lot of hard work? A bath full of bubbles! To be precise, a Lush bath full of bubbles. I love Lush! This bath has Karma bubble bar slice in it thanks to a Freaky Deaky Friendie of mine :)

Lie back and r-e-l-a-x...! :D

Background Bonanza

Backtracking - 13th June 2008

Friday 13th - not unlucky for crafty chicks! Went bonkers with backgrounds, along with Mumsy, and look what we made! Got out some canvas, acetate and textured wallpaper as bases.

To add colour we used:

• Adirondack paint dabbers
• luna lights
• regular acrylic paints
• chalk dew drop inkpads

To add texture we used:

• string
• plastic forks (drag through/scrape the acrylic paints - try it! Makes cool patterns)
• toothbrushes (old ones!)
• sponges

The paint fumes sent Mumsy quite doo-lally (either that or it was spending time with Freaky Deaky Crafty Chick that was the cause of her delirium!!!) It was a stonking afternoon, don't get many of those round here so will remember it always :)