I don’t know how much of this art shrine sample was shown on TV last week… I certainly didn’t have enough time to demonstrate how I put it together, so here comes a tutorial to follow if you want to make your own 🙂
I was on your viewing screens last Friday (you can still catch up at hochanda.com until 16th Oct, 8am & 11am) showcasing the latest releases from That’s Crafty! Part of the mega-pack was a bumper pack of greyboard ATCs, and also available were acrylic and MDF ATCs. Combining these with multi surface paints, shimmer paints, Sparklers and Lynne’s new affirmations clear stamp sets, here are the samples I made, some of which I demonstrated on air.
GIVEAWAY:
If you’d like a chance to win all of the ATC samples I made, comment on the blog post, and at the end of the month I will pick someone at random to receive them. UPDATE: Congratulations to Doreen, who won the draw.
I am live on Hochanda – the home of crafts, hobbies and art – available on Sky 663, Freeview 85 or Freesat 817, and on www.hochanda.com right now. With top tips for working with That’s Crafty! Surfaces, clock stacks and dreamcatchers, I’ll also be showcasing Pentart glass paints and Express Transfer medium.
I’ll be posting mini-tutorials for each of the projects over the next week. Don’t forget to check out the fabulous That’s Crafty! blog and the design team blogs (on the That’s Crafty! blog side bar) for more inspiration and projects.
Oh, I’m on at 11am as well, or you can catch up or watch again for the next 10 days over at Hochanda’s online TV Schedule – just set the date in the drop down list for 7th October and look for my shows at 8am and 11am.
A recent craft magazine article showed some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs, 2½” x 3½”) made of clear acrylic sheet. By decorating the front and back, there was depth added to the whole image. I loved the idea, so got hold of some pre-cut acrylic ATCs from That’s Crafty. All being well, I’ll be cutting my own soon enough on one of my aforementioned machines.
Anyhoo, the makers of the Pick A Stick Challenge FB group (for art journalers) have come up with a new challenge – the Pick A Stick ATC Challenge. Instead of ten prompts, ATC Challenge has just three, but they still have to be done in order. This month, the steps are:
What a chance to use a transparent ATC! But that was the last step… what to do? Work out a new technique of course! Continue reading
I’m catching up on my Wanderlust course, and in week 6, we were introduced to origami wallets to hold small journal cards/zentangle cards in. To be honest, I didn’t like the style taught as it was open on all sides. So I dug around in Pinterest, and Google and developed this version. On the product list for the lesson was ‘lokta paper’ – which is quite fibrous, hardwearing and handmade in Nepal. So I searched for that too! I eventually found this wonderful vintage style paper that, to me, seems to be a cross between old leather and hand rolled tobacco leaves. The shop that sells it (PaperPod) was one flooded in York this winter, but still managed to get my order out to me in good time – fantastic since the shop is still drying out and all the (dry!) stock must be somewhere else.
I got a bit carried away and worked out all the sizes for my various journaling cards. All I need now is to monogram the fronts, label the bands, and get journaling! Note that the brown colour is a dye and moves about when wetted… I may seal it with a suitable varnish, or just let it do it’s thing as it is handled.
I recently undertook a house clearance, and one of the items that caught my eye was a wooden caddy that had been used for many years to keep tea bags in:
I decided this box needed a new lease of life, and rescued it from the pile destined for the tip. A quick discussion in one of my Tuesday evening groups came up with the suggestion to make it a seed storage box. After a bit of a rub down, addition of some moulded embellishments and some cut and layered lettering, I painted everything with Americana Decor Chalky Finish in Lace:
I then decided to age it, and covered it in tarmac and left it over night to ‘set’ before cleaning it back to get the vintage look.
It was at this point the seed of an idea took root and I decided that it would become a ‘seeds of inspiration’ box and went on to cut out and make matchboxes, pillow boxes and seed packets ready for my collection. Over the past few weeks I have filled, labelled and collected and here present my altered art assemblage ‘Inspiration Seeds’:
Now when I have a creative block, I can dip into my box, and with just a few items can hopefully spark off the next piece of creative genius.
I’ve got into the studio at last to do my own thing in between some craft room reconfiguration and college work! I’ve chosen to do some quick mixed media tags using mainly Ranger/Tim Holtz products:
I’ve been busy melting powders today… the last of my ATCs for this weekend’s swap with the Wow! Embossing Powder Design Team are complete! As normal, the photo doesn’t quite do them justice 🙁
And the last of my creations to be made in time for the trade show at the NEC is this lovely gift box – it’s just 5 cm square at the base and made from a sheet of A4 coloured card. The stamps are all from Wow! Embossing Powder, as is the fabulous no-messing-about-with-antistatic-bags white embossing powder.
I’ve been busy quilting for the last few Thursday mornings, and all weekend – I’ll be showing the quilts off in due course once they are finished. I also spent several hours this week doing 3 metres of bunting for the WOW! Embossing Powder stand at the NEC trade show this weekend:
We’re also doing a Design Team ATC swap at the show, and have been encouraged to share our favourite embossing powder techniques… here are two of mine: