Thursday 24 May 2012

Round robin postcards

We've had a "round robin" swap on UKStampers over the last few months - we each chose a stamp and sent it to the next person in our group and then after two weeks we passed on the stamp we'd received and so on until our own stamps came home. We had no limitations on what we made and could do whatever we liked with our projects.

I decided to make postcards with the stamps I received and I'm sending the cards to the people who own the stamp used to make it. The cards are all ones that can be posted as genuine postcards (no envelope) and standard postcard size (6x4"). I'm blogging just a couple here.

Pat sent us this Roman statue stamp to play with. One of the beauties of this kind of swap is that you get to play with stamps you wouldn't normally choose and this fell into that category for me!

I started thinking about grafitti because of the lettering down the side of the image. I stamped the image, masked it and then added some random lettering masks and sponged with neutral inks. I added a crackle stamp over the top, using only part of the stamp and moving it around randomly to get patches of crackle effect. I used markers to add a drop shadow to the image to give an illusion of some depth.

Materials:
Pat's stamp (I think it might be a Crafty Individuals' one?)
Crackle glaze background stamp (Indigo Blu)
Versafine Onyx Black, Adirondack Pebble and Mushroom inks
Copic W1 and W3 markers
Tim Holtz Ransom Alphabet masks

Witchy chose this photo-realistic image of Elvis to send out (I recognise it as a Stampsmith stamp). I happened to have an Elvis set in my own collection so I used a couple of those faces as part of the background by stamping in the same colour as the sheet music stamp I used.

This is also a one layer card - I stamped Elivs in black and masked him then stamped a ticket and masked before stamping the final ticket, masking that and stamping the background. Again, drop shadows added with markers help to create "layers" from the elements,

I did the wording by printing out (mirror image) onto an acetate sheet and then rubbing over it with a lolly stick to transfer it to the postcard - I like the slightly grungy look it gives and you don't have to fret about lining up a postcard to go through your printer!

Materials:
Witchy's Elvis stamp (Stampsmith)
Elvis Faces stamp set and Aged Sheet Music Scrapblock (both CHF, retired)
Versafine Onyx Black and Adirondack Denim inks
Copic C1 and C3 markers
Inkjet printer and acetate

Thanks for stopping by!



Wednesday 9 May 2012

Kid's stuff

The challenge this month at Tando Creative is to "Alter it". Now I'm in the camp that says to be really altered, something must be changed beyond its original use rather than just decorated in a certain style. Others are in the other camp and that's fine!

I started with a child's board book picked up for 30p in a charity shop. I'm not sure I would have given it to a child (a bit too much evidence of its previous owner's snacking habits!) but it was ripe for a bit of cutting and sticking.

The pages are covered with scrunched tissue paper and then painted with acrylic paint for a textured, leathery sort of effect.

On the front, I've added a bookplate with a stamped sentiment (Time to Stamp was one of my very first purchases from Cornish Heritage Farms way back when so I'm delighted that it's formed part of the first release now that CHF has new owners).

I painted the bookplate with gold acyrlic, beat it up with an embossing stylus and added a tiny bit of brown paint for the textured look.

The little stud on the right of the plate is actually the book closure - a Sam Browne stud (that's a hitch fastener if you're in the world of Tim Holtz but a whole lot cheaper if you're in the land of leather supplies).

 I cut a niche by removing the centre of most of the pages and sticking them together. Versamark dabbed through a mask and brushed with copper and bronze Perfect Pearls adds some pattern over the scrunched tissue paper texture.

I added sketchy circles with gesso on the inner page to suggest a clock face and added the ornate chipboard hands, painted with gold acrylic. They're positioned so that the thick bit where they are stacked on top of each other goes inside the niche when the book is closed.

Inside the niche I've sponged over a clock mask, added a stamped sentiment and a "rusty" chipboard key (coloured with a copper Krylon leafing pen and then given a coat of Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder).

A bit different for me but I had fun doing it and it's certainly not going to be used by a child to learn about colours and shapes so it fits my altered requirements!

Supplies:
Board book
Keys grab bag, Clock hands, Bookplate, Bamboo mask  (all Tando Creative)
Time to Stamp and Key Expressions stamp sets (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black) 
Versamark by Tsukineko
Acrylic paint (Dark Umber and Gold)
Gesso
Perfect Pearls (Copper and Bronze)
Distress Embossing Powder (Vintage Photo)
Krylon leafing pen (Copper)
Timeworks mask
Tissue paper
Lace
Paper roses (Wild Orchid Crafts)
Sam Browne stud
Crop-a-Dile

Thanks for stopping by! As ever, we'd love to have you play along with the challenge and be in with a chance of picking out some lovely Tando goodies as a prize package if your name comes out of the hat at the end of the month! Details here: Alter it