Rust and fibres

I got inspired by several moodboards, and ended up with this card. I'm posting it for the VivaLasVegaStamps challenge, check the moodboard and links here (inspired by foliage, nature, bugs, wings, numbers, script, invoice, background stamps, tan, black, white, brown, distressed, grungy and Corrie's lovely butterflies in this DT-post). I'm also linking to the challenge at Our Mixed Media Moods. Their previous moodboard had lovely rusty bits and bobs, and that's when I started building the dragonfly. The new moodboard has wings, copper flower stems and fibres, so all in all the result is using everything but the magenta colours. All the stamps I used are favourites from VivaLasVegaStamps.

I like to collect rusty bits that I run into outdoors, and this nail is one of those... I used pliers to straighten it a bit. The wings of the dragonfly are from "girl with wings". I stamped the wings twice on acetate, fussy cut them and tried to adhere them to the nail with gel medium. I wanted them on top of the nail, like on a real dragonfly. It didn't work, but they attached to each other, which was a step in the right direction. The next step was Glossy Accents, which seems to have done a good enough job. The fibres have been adhered with gel medium and once that was dry, the dragonfly was stuck down with some rolled glue dots.

The background is cardboard with a layer of gesso. I stamped the Invoice and Numbers -stamps with Archival ink. This Tree Circle stamp is one of my first VLVS stamps! I stamped it with Versamark and embossed it with WOW Copper Pearl embossing powder. 

A last photo of the whole piece. Love it! And by the way, I bought one of those bright light- lamps... I'm overjoyed to be able to take pictures like this without daylight :) 

Steampunk projects

The SanDee and Amelie's steampunk challenge is asking for three favourite steampunk projects from 2016. At first I thought I might not even have three projects to show, but actually I did... I even got to pick and choose! Here they are, in no particular order: a set of ATC:s and two cards.

Original post here

Original post here

Original post here

A Misty Morning

Joining in the Country View January challenge and the Craft Stamper "Take it Make it" challenge. Both are running with anything goes, and that's great for getting rid of some bits and bobs that have sat in the WIP pile for too long :) I'm also joining in the moodboard challenge at Our Mixed Media Moods, because it made me remember these pieces and dig them out. The Craft Stamper demands stamping in their challenge. Well, I haven't actually stamped, but I've used a rubber stamp to make the focal piece... hope that counts!

Here are the pieces, all experiments from last summer. I played with Paperartsy infusions on several surfaces. The large background piece was made with Sage infusions sprinkled on thin wrinkly kitchen wrap. I spritzed with pearl spray and pulled prints onto inkjet photo paper. I love the hazy, misty looka and rusty spots from the walnut stain in the Infusions (fits perfectly with at least parts of the OMM mood board). The small paper is the same infusion dripped onto the photo paper and rinsed away with water. The walnut stain rinses of and the intensity of the colours depends on how long you wait before rinsing. The focal piece was made with a rubber stamp and gel medium. I spread the gel medium over the tree stamp (Paperartsy Urban Snapshots), left it to dry till the next day and peeled it of the stamp. Not only did the stamp become red and clean, but the negative silhouette really worked nicely to give a good relief. It's been spritzed with different sprays and perfect pearls etc. Not all of it stuck to the surface, so I can't really say what I would use to repeat the same effect...

Here's a closeup that gives a hint of the subtle shine on the different layers.