Black and white

Still playing with the moodboard at Our Mixed Media Moods, this time I took my inspiration from the fourth picture in the first row: fabrics, crosses and black, white + kraft. Since my project fits several other challenges, I'm also linking to the Designs by Ryn customer creations challenge, the Paperartsy challenge (from light to dark, contrasts, layers) and the Country View challenge (Things With Wings). All the links are at the end of this post!

          

I started with a couple of pieces of linen and stamped my images: the pink stamps are from VivaLasVegaStamps and the moth is from Designs By Ryn. Apart from these, I used a layer of white vellum to break the contrast between the kraft and the linen (and because otherwise the kraft would have shown through the linen. All the layers were sewn on a kraft card base.

          

I wasn't planning to do anything complicated, but ended up stitching the moth (and the crosses) with black DMC... it's probably as close to embossing as possible on fabric, and really gives a good contrast against the white. I do think they turned out quite cool, even though embroidery really isn't my cup of tea :) The chippies are star confetti from Umwow Studio, and besides having lovely varied shapes also had the perfect dark kraft colour. I just glued them down and was done!

     

     

http://deedeecatron.blogspot.fi/2017/07/moodaversary-week-1.html

http://designsbyryn.blogspot.fi/2017/07/july-customer-creation-challnge.html

http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/2017/07/2017-topic-10-dark-to-light-and.html

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.fi/2017/07/july-things-with-wings.html

Gelliprints

Take 3 for the challenge at Our Mixed Media Moods. Check the lovely moodboard here:

http://deedeecatron.blogspot.fi/2017/07/moodaversary-week-1.html

Inspired by the third picture, I created this simple card.

            

I used stuff I've had lying around for ages, a couple of gelliprints made by smooching acrylic paints with my fingers, sprinkling "Sunset Beach" Infusions and spritzing with water (all on a 3x5 gelli plate). The sentiment is from a Paperartsy stamp set and has been heat embossed. I made a bunch of those for a project last summer, and still have a few to go!

                        

I cut the prints into approx 1 inch squares. I don't have a punch for that, I used my craft knife and the squares were not precise... which made it easy to adhere them: I just eyeballed them in place, aiming for a bit of a wonky look.

             

One closeup to show the texture a gelliprint can have, when there has been "too much" acrylic paint... I love how the Infusion granules can also be seen:)

             

Glitter

I have glitter-stuff, but I don't usually use it. The rasberry-image on the moodboard at Our mixed media moods somehow made me think about sequins, and here is the result:

        

Find the moodboard and all the other entries here:

http://deedeecatron.blogspot.fi/2017/07/moodaversary-week-1.html

I simply cut a square from a double-sided sticky sheet and sprinkled on some sequins, small hexacon stuff, Wow Sparkles (Prom Queen) and some white glitter. I started with the bigger pieces and continued toward the smaller stuff. Quite a mess... the hexagon bits were worst, because they seem to cling to everything! The die-cut is from Lawn Fawn. I wasn't sure the glue on the foampads would adhere to the glitters, so I added a dot of PVA glue to each foam pad and squished the cut in place.

       

And one more closeup. Whoever gets this, will certainly have a bunch of glitter all over herself as soon as she takes it out of the envelope :)

       

Just Green

Our Mixed Media Moods is celebrating it's first full year with an awesome mood board and giveaways. I'm planning to see how many of the mood board images I might have time to be inspired by! Here's the moodboard. I started at the top left with the green thread. Entries by other people and linkups to inspirational videos can be found behind the following link: 

https://deedeecatron.blogspot.fi/2017/07/moodaversary-week-1.html

And this is what I started with: cleaning previous clutters from my desk and searching my stash for stuff in the mood board colours...

After pondering different options, I decided to go for a very lightweight CAS look.  I'm feeling a bit awkward about not having any stamps and splatters here, but of course I'm glad about using stuff I never used before. My mom dumped those reeds on my craft table about half a year ago. I guess the bundle is supposed to smell of lavender, but doesn't any longer :) I just cut a pinch of the straws in two and sewed them on a 6x6 card base. Easypeasy!

Aqua

I have been knitting a lot for the past half-a-year, and really not crafting very much. So just to get me going, I had to pick out some challenges... and Paperartsy always has interesting topics :) This was quite an easy one, Aqua, and I took my inspiration from the challenge post = simply the beautiful colour and the fact that I had a suitable starting point in my junk drawer.

Here's the link to the challenge:

http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/2017/07/2017-topic-9-aqua-introduction-and.html

I started with a piece of glossy card coloured with alcohol inks. No idea how long it has been lying around! I stamped with Ellen Vargo stamps, embossed with Wow embossing glitters, used some texture paste and splattered paint. The sentiment is from an Emma Godfrey set. This closeup is trying to show of the shimmer of the embossing glitters. I used "Under The Sea" with Versafine ink and "Sparkling Snow" on the texture paste.

Rust

I'm making confirmation invitations for my son, and decided to play with a steampunk CAS look... besides, I just got the Finnabair rust pastes, and I had to try them out :) I'm joining in Sandee and Amelie's steampunk challenge and the Country View challenge (rust). Here are the links, since I'm posting on my tablet, and can't embed them.

http://sandee-and-amelie.blogspot.fi/2017/04/round-two-of-our-april-2017-challenge.html

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.fi/2017/04/april-2017-rust.html

And here's the card in all it's simplicity: just a rectangular piece of cardstock from which I first diecut a cross (the die is from Paper Smoochies) and then covered with brown and red rust paste. Once it was approximately dry, I put it under weight for the night to straighten it out. It has been adhered with foam dots. Love the way it turned out! And I can see myself using these pastes for all sorts of stuff...

Blue and Ochre

I am playing with the "Blue and Yellow Ochre" challenge at Paperartsy, but also with the moodboard challenge at Our Mixed Media Moods. The moodboard has a mustard theme that fit well with the Yellow Ochre, and I was especially inspired by the photo with lines of stones. I have had something like this in mind for about a month (since I got the background done...) and I'm glad this is done at last!

I want to link this straight away, so here is the link to the Paperartsy challenge: 

http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/2017/03/2017-5-blue-and-ochre-challenge.html

And the "Our Mixed Media Moods" linkup:

http://deedeecatron.blogspot.fi/2017/03/metaphysical-our-mixed-media-moods.html

I'm posting this on my tablet, so I can't make a neater link :)

The background is a square piece of junk wood that has been covered with book paper and painted with a rylic paints. I sprinkled pigment powders into the pain while it was still wet and spritzed some water. I had planned to use it for a previous project, but just didn't want to cover so much of it, because it turned out quite magical, so I set it aside for the right moment...

I decided to combine the background with a gelli print that I had stored away. The print has yellowish and white acrylic paints, and Infusions (The Sage and Golden Sands) have been sprinkled in the paint before drawing the print. I cut out some wonky circles and smudged the edges with acrylic paint. (Actually I used more Quinacridoe Nickel Azo Gold than the Indian Yellow) I considered inks, but I only have Distress Inks in suitable colours, and being water soluble, they wouldn't have worked with the gel medium I used to adhere the pieces.

While I had the gel medium out, I decided I wanted some glitter too... so I took fake gold leaf and added little bits here and there. I finished the piece with some metal wire and a frase sticker from Tim Holtz. Here are some more closeups :) 

Catkins and Snowdrops

Joining in the fun at Our Mixed Media Moods (moodboard with grey shades), Paperartsy (doors, windows and architectural structures) and SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk/industrial challenge.

I made a wall spring themed wall-hanging in black and grey colours.

The base is a wood panel that I covered with some stamped scrap paper (the squiggly plant is from Designs by Ryn) and coloured with acrylic paints in grey and white and pigment powders. I sprinkled black bister and Paperartsy Sage infusion onto wet paint, spritzed and let dry. I sewed together a pile of fabric and started stitching snowdrops by hand. I was quite surprised how fun that was (I'm not really that interested in embroidery, but knowing the back could be full of strings and jumps made it a bit easier). I found some welding practices in the trash of a metal classroom at school, straightened one out and decided to make it a wonky window.

Actually I felt a bit bad about covering the embroidery. I wanted to add a bit of air to make it possible to see the sewing behind the frame. I nailed four nails so that the frame is on top of them. Right now it's fastened with glue dots, but I think they aren't enough against gravity, so I'll have to figure out something stronger. It's hard to show the dimension with pictures from the front of the project.

Stars

Joining in three challenges with this mixed-media card: Our Mixed Media Moods (used the colours, blotches, tiles and stars on their moodboard), Paperartsy (I don't have blue infusions, but used Bister with gloss gel), and SanDee and Amelies steampunk challenge (new stash/forgotten stash, I used my new alcohol inks and a bunch of stuff that's been lying around for ages.

I had an old metal background in my stash. It's aluminium tape on card, and I've embossed it with a stencil from Designs By Ryn. A stencil doesn't give as deep impressions as a folder, but it's a way to get a favourite pattern embossed. I had originally coloured it with light green alcohol inks, and now I took out my new inks in denim, eggplant and slate... I went for a blotchy inky look, but it really didn't work out for me! Still need quite a lot of practice with those inks.

I created the tile effect with gloss gel on waxed kraft paper (Paperartsy). I sprinkled blue bister crystals on the wet gel and got some nice spotty tiles. Then I spritzed with a bunch of sprays, bothe mica and not. Both the paper and the gel resist the colours, but ... it just works anyway. I dried the sprays with my heat gun, and tore a piece of suitable size.

I sewed together my papers and some metal stars that I've dug from a trash bin (there's a metal-company near us, they make lanterns with star-shaped openings... and throw away the  cutout stars!). I decided to sew the stars in place, perhaps gel medium would have worked too, but I think this is quite cool.

I twirled the twine several times wondering how I could get it to work without bulging the card. This was the best I came up with: pieces of corrugated cardboard so there is space for the bundle of twine. I laid this on my card base  under pressure for a while before adding the dimensional Finnabair stars.

Here you can see the sewing over the stars and the way the heatgun boiled the gloss gel.

I like how the torn kraft papers give light frames to the otherwise dark surface :)

Graffiti

A quick card for the VivaLasVegaStamps Graffiti -themed February challenge (splatters, drips, dots, orange, banksy...) and the Country View crafts February challenge (time challenge, max 30 minutes). Had a bit of a hurry with the embossing and fussy cutting, but the background was a ready piece from my stash :)

I just love this little Banksy rat balancing on a chain. I heat embossed him with black embossing ink, continued the line of the chain first with a black marker, then with an embossing pen and embossing powder. A touch of fussy cutting, and my focal point was ready. It has been mounted on thin strips of foam tape. The background is from last summer: Brusho colours dripped and dropped on ink jet photo paper. Love the effect! I stamped the background with stamps from VivaLasVegaStamps and Archival inks in black and grey.

Gelliprints and doodles

The Paperartsy challenge for thee pat 3 weeks has been asking for masks. After wondering how I could find time to do something for the challenge, I realized that I actually have this WIP notebook. It's small, about A5, and I gelliprinted all the pages before starting to doodle.

I used acrylic paints and a few masks (swirls, a doily and some blobs on sticks) and a dot stencil. 

My idea is to use this notebook for doodles. I started Rae Missigmans Art marks-challenge. It's long past, and I haven't done all thirty of the marks, but I'll continue filling in the pages (and perhaps later find out what more I want to do with them. The gelli-printing gives a nice tarting point, I'd feel quite intimidated with the blank page, since doodling is out of my comfort zone. 

before

after