Day 1 at Art and Soul last year

While I’m at Art and Soul for the next few days I’ll show what I made last year at this time. Hopefully it won’t take me another year to photo what I am currently making!

I had two classes with Albie Smith last year. In the first we made a great signature book with an interesting beaded binding. We started out making the pages using watered down gesso in various colors along with other art paints. The signature covers and the binding also had a paste paper treatment. To preserve Albie’s original design I won’t go into more detail but if you take one of her classes you’ll get all the secrets.

Until my next post,
Diane

Art and Soul Hampton 2009 ATC

Art and Soul starts tomorrow and I've got 46 ATC's ready to trade. I'm excited, I'm enrolled in SEVEN classes! I'll be tired but artfully revived after this intense event. The theme this year is Rock and Roll. I took the official logo and transformed it to a rub-on using Grafix Rub-onz. First I took an 18x24" piece of Strathmore watercolor paper and cut it into ATC size. Then I took some Daniel Smith Gold gesso and watered it down to make a wash. I wet the watercolor paper first to minimize the warping. After the wash dried (each one is unique and that's neat) I stamped the background sheet music stamp from Inka Stamps. I then took my Studio G $1 stamps and spelled out "art n soul" and "rock n roll" and intertwined them. I added the rub on and another music stamp in black by Rubber Stampede. The finishing touches are the brass embellishments by Fancifuls Inc. and the gold outline using the Deco marker. Some of the brass embellishments are almost covering (or in some cases do cover) the letter "l" in soul. I hope it doesn't deter from the overall ATC.

Until my next post,

Diane

Postal ATC

I may have jumped the gun a bit but I was looking at Photo folders in the Altered Designs Yahoo group and noticed that there were two folders for the TGIF ATC swaps with dates in the future. I made this one for 24April and as I post this on the 9th we'll see if it ends up actually being one I send or hold onto for a later trade. I made this using Ranger Distress Inks on stamps from Inque, Impression Obsession, River City Rubber Works, Stampers Anonymous, Non Sequitur and 100 Proof Press.

Q: "Diane you sure do have stamps from a LOT of companies...just how many stamps DO you have".

A: "I'm sorry you have dialed a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please try your call again". One could also say that it is an UNLISTED number.

I used some extra mat board as the surface for this ATC. I also used glue stick. I had stopped using it -- probably because I was a cheap a** and bought lousy glue stick then cursed when I didn't get the results I liked. In this case I am still a cheap a** but finally some Uhu color stick. I found it at Michael's on discount. I guess they stopped carrying this size. It goes on purple but dries clear. How cool is that?

Until my next post,

Diane

Yet another Sheetload...this time a small one

I made another mini Sheetload of cards the other day. I think I'm getting better at this. It is sort of like cooking...at the beginning you follow the recipe exactly. As you get more comfortable you start modifying and making substitutions. All the paper for these cards is from the Super Slab by Provo Craft and the stamps are by Heidi Grace from the Quotes set.

Until my next post,
Diane

Homeless ATC's get adopted

One of the neat things about joining Yahoo groups is "meeting" people (via the internet) you have a common interest with -- like creating cards or ATC's or mini books. I posted an image to the Altered Designs group of one of my TGIF ATC's and got a comment back asking if I wanted to do a swap apart from the group. These previously homeless ATC's are now in the hands of Stephanie of Joyulision. She does some neat digital creations with Photoshop -- give her site a look/see and I think you'll like it. She also has a keen photographic eye and has some beautiful photographs on her site. Two of the ATC's (the middle and right one) were already featured on previous posts. The were colored with Ranger Alcohol inks and the phrases printed in acetate. The one on the left is another of my recycled cereal boxes with gesso and Portfolio Oil Pastels. The stamps on that one were from...you guess it Studio G.

Until my next post,

Diane

The Colors of Spring ATC

This ATC was done for my Stampers Corner Yahoo Group and the theme was "The Colors of Spring". The stamps are from Impression Obsession and I used chalks from Inkadinkado to color in the flowers. I also did a little masking to give the illusion of depth with the two flowers. The stamps are two part -- one with the outline inked in black and the other a solid that I inked with VersaMark. The chalks cling very well to the VersaMark.

Until my next post,

Diane

The Eyes Have it ATC

The theme for this ATC mingle from the Stampers Corner Yahoo group was "The eyes have it". I used two stamps I had gotten in a grab bag at a local stamp show by Artful Illusions. the in is Ranger Archival in the sepia tone.

Until my next post,

Diane

Games ATC

I didn't do the mingle ATC swaps with Stampers Corner when they first came out-- I took a little break. Lately though I've been participating quite a bit. It is a bit easier to do just one than a group of four. I felt I had to take the envelope to the post office to ensure I had enough postage. Now you just make one and send it directly to your partner. I think I like that better. This one was made with a Tim Holtz stamp by Stampers Anonymous on semi gloss paper. Then I lined up the bingo chips and stamped them with StazOn. I adhered them with glossy accents then added a black backing that I outlined with a Gold Deco marker.

Until my next post,

Diane

Circus ATC

Here's an ATC I made for the Stampers Corner ATC Mingle with the theme of Circus. I didn't have any stamps that fit the theme but I did have some patterned paper from the Kazoo Kids collection by K&Company. I also had some embellishments left over from cards I made last fall for nephews so I put it together and came up with this quick and easy ATC.

Until next time,

Diane

TGIF Eggs ATC

Here's an ATC I made for my Altered Designs Yahoo group with the theme of "Eggs". I used some scrap background paper and outlined with a Krylon pen in pale gold. On top of that is the background from Gaby. I stamped some of the new Tim Holtz stamps by Stampers Anonymous that are exclusive to Michael's. I used VersaMark ink and them embossed with a detail clear powder. To bring out the detail in the embossing I used Ranger Distress Inks to darken the collage. The final touch was a bit of ribbon.

Until my next post,

Diane