Thursday 28 February 2008

Friendship Card

This is a Friendship Card
Background gold shiny card stock
Torn piece of background paper
Tags covered in same.
Now comes the exciting bit making the butterflys !
I first stamped on acetate the butterflys with a black Stazon pad,proceeded to colour in with Sukura stardust pen's they are so glittery and beautiful colours,after cutting them out,
I then attached them onto the tags(wished i had edged the tags in gold now !)
with brads,added a couple of paper flowers at the edge.

Altering Jigsaw Pieces

This is fun to do !
Altering a jigsaw piece,they make great embelishments for cards .......
First i found a childs jigsaw in a charity shop,which are larger than the normal ones.then picked out the piece i wanted to use,covered it with backing paper,collaged,added a flower and a heart,thats it !
Wish i had more time,there is such a lot of different designs and colours,to make each one unique,like embossing them, painting in Acyrlics,inked up backgrounds etc ,etc ! blogging about it has inspired me to take a day out to just spend playing with these haha.

Oriental Wall Calender

I
I love anything to do with the Orient ,so today i wanted to show you the Oriental Calender i made a couple of years back,(2005 as you can see !)
I belong to a couple of Oriental Art groups on the internet,this was for a project within the group.
Quite easy to create its just coming up with the ideas,i decided to make it for holding ATC's ,one for each month of the year.
So hence the pockets at the bottom for holding them,which i just washed some colour over with a couple of inkpads and rubber stamped the oriental dragons onto.

Monday 18 February 2008

Artist Trading Cards




I seem to be doing more blogging than creating lately,but i did want to get a record of my work on here,and hopefully make it worth reading,for people who are interested.


Today is an example of an ATC .........


I quote from a little bit about what ATC's are (Artists Trading Cards)




ARTIST TRADING CARDS are miniature works of art created on 2 ½ X 3 ½ inch or 64 X 89 mm card stock. they are originals, small editions and, most importantly, self-produced. anybody can produce them.the idea is that you trade them with other people who produce cards, either at TRADING SESSIONS or wherever you meet another ATC trader in person.it is important that you meet other people in person to trade - i.e. it is ok to trade by mail or to participate in editions but the main purpose of this performance is the trading session and the personal meeting. It's not about money: participants in trading sessions and editions should not be charged any money: the point of the project is the exchange of cards as well as personal experience.there are monthly TRADING SESSIONS at different places (zurich, calgary etc. see EVENTS) and you can start your own Trading Session wherever you live. there have been other TRADING SESSIONS at irregular intervals in other cities.the project was initiated in 1997 by zurich artist m.vänçi stirnemann. since then several hundred people from all over the world have traded ATCs



The above bottom ATC i used a napkin and a photo slide,i think by just looking at it you can see how it has been created,this ATC was for a swap,The top ATC was created by using acrylic paint,throwing some gold sparkle ,then attatching some accent beads to complete design.
Artists from all over the world trade these little cards through the internet/Yahoo Groups etc.

I have a huge collection now,it is wonderful to see all the techniques people apply when creating these small original works of Art.I treasure my collection !


Saturday 16 February 2008

Altered Book Cover

Altered Book cover (Birthday Gift)
I love to use napkins in my art work the background of this book is covered with a napkin using Mod Podge (a form of glue for collaging)which makes a nice shiny surface.
I had some large letters but altered the colour with acrylic paint,then used Dimensional Magic to gloss them over.
The clock face (dismantled fob watch from Ebay lol) i stuck on and a added coin,(as time is money theme) also hung a small key.

Altered CD

I,m really into blogging today so thought i would put another couple of my mad creations on here lol
This project was to see how i could make embellishments for my cards,with out spending money !
I first cut up a discarded CD ,then inked it up for a pretty background using Adirondack Alcohol inks.
Then stamped the oriental lady on with Stazon ink pad.
I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Watercolour Card

Watercolour
This card is very quick and simple !
all you need is=
Card stock of your choice
rubberstamp
Watercolour Paints&Paper.
Fold the card to the size you want and proceed to stamp a background.
Using a smaller piece of watercolour paper and paints,wet the paper all over then drop colour onto it turning the paper and watch the colours intermingle,(its so exciting lol)its better to have 140lb paper it takes the water much better.
You can then layer the card up with your choice add a quote etc.
I stamped the ladies head on a different colour paper,cut her out and stuck on.
Then you can attach ribbon or braid.

Altered Books




Altered Books
My most favorite craft is to alter a book
Definition

An altered book is an existing book that has been changed or altered........
glued,painted.collaged,rubberstamped,cut,torn,or added to,
It is an expression of ones self,a piece of art,
an experiment or a conversation piece

This really challenge's me in all sorts of way's to be more creative






Friday 15 February 2008

My Complete Profile


My passion is Art and Craft's,Art has been all my life, starting with College in London,going on to work as a tracer in a drawing office,then studying landscape and all forms of Art in watercolour,pastel,oil etc. That took me onto having my paintings published by a well known London publisher,what an experience that was !! then i decided to go freelance,working for agents,until retiring.Through my agent I was commissioned by Royal Doulton,to create handpainted scenes of cottages on a set of mugs also plates,I also had numerous greeting cards published, But no, my art did not stop there,i can now do what i want,and self express myself in the form of art cards,altered books ,artist trading cards, anything goes,i just love to alter stuff :)thats where the internet plays a big part as i have met artists from all over the world to trade and learn new techniques. I hope to blog my techniques soon,and keep a record of my crafts here,hopefully other people can learn a few tips and tricks,from actual watercolour painting to rubber stamping,cardmaking,Altered Books,ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) etc all the crafts i love to do !