Happy Halloween

Today is Halloween a very commercial holiday. It supposedly ranks #2 behind Christmas in spending for decorations, treats, costumes and all the other things that makes the economy keep spinning. I use it as an excuse to send cards to my family. For these cards I used a Sheetload template and have Crafty Secretes images as my focal point.

Until my next post,
Diane

Classes at Stamp Scrap Art Tour Part 1

This is Jan (from Art Gone Wild) and I last weekend at the Hampton Stamp Scrap Art Tour. It was their last show of the season. I took a great class with Jan using the Clever Cutts templates.

Jan is also the moderator for the Stampers Anonymous Yahoo Group. There are some great artists that contribute to that Yahoo Group. I participated in one of the swaps this year and got some really neat ATC's.

In this class we made two cards. This template cuts the folding envelope and the three holes on the left side of the card. It also uses the very versitile rocker stamps from Art Gone Wild. A few of us got there early so we took advantage of that time to color in our cards using some copic markers.

This inside piece pulls out from the envelope to make the greeting for the card.

This is the other card we made and got a chance to use the template that was provided. As a bonus we got to keep this template a paper pack to make about 7 more cards.It makes a great envelope to insert a cirle with a phrase that spins on a brad. The possibilities are endless with this concept.

 

Until my next post,

Diane

Fall Colors ATC

The theme for this Altered Designs TGIF ATC was Fall Colors. I started with an old cereal box and applied a coat of gesso. On top of that is various colors of Portfolio Oil Pastels that I smeared with my fingers. The way they blend is with some smeared Matte Medium. After it dried I stamped some Inque stamps with fall colors and then outlined the edge with a Krylon pen.

Until my next post,
Diane

Circles ATC

Here's an ATC I made for the TGIF mingle at the Altered Designs Yahoo Group. I used some spray watercolors on semi-gloss paper. After it was dry I ran it through my Cuttlebug embossing folder. I applied a few embellisments and it is done!

Until my next post,
Diane

Writing Instruments ATC

The theme for this Stamper's Corner ATC was Writing Instruments. I started with more of the marbled paper and added a stamped image by Stamper Anonymous. The foreground image is by Tanda as is the ink bottle. I made the ink bottle by stamping on shrink plastic and heating it with my heat gun.

Until my next post,
Diane

A Late Wrap Up about Art Is...You in Connecticut

This was the personalized name badge I got when I arrived at Art Is...You in Connecticut. Obviously the theme was Alice In Wonderland. It was a great event, smaller than Art and Soul that I have attended for the last 3 years in Hampton, VA but still great. We got little bags of whimsy (things to decorate projects) when we signed in, lunch every day (included in the price), a free journaling session in the mornings before class, a viewing of the great documentary "Who does she think she is?" and lots other great stuff.  Each day the organizers would come in the classrooms and pass out snacks and goodies from the vendors. I got vintage postage stamps from Naval Jelly and embellishments from Dime Store Emporium. There was a stash swap (I gave MUCH more than I took and really felt good that what I gave was taken by others). We also had the East Coast Art Trunk (vendor space) for the 3 day weekend. I was good and didn't buy too much but did support them.

I took both of my classes with Suze Weinberg the Queen of UTEE and Beeswax. I took the two UTEE classes with her.

This is a closeup of the UTEE Goddess I made in Saturdays class. The background is a piece of poplar provided by Suze. We molded faces, crowns or wings or just used some of the many molds Suze brought with her. Suze taught us how to make hair out of UTEE and I made my wings with it too. My Goddess is carrying a shield in the shape of a heart. Her body is made from some glittered ornamental twigs. I used foils on the background and toned them down a bit with some metallic rub ons. There is some bling and some of Suzes' old Mini Mosaics that I picked up at the Ranger Industries warehouse sale on the way up to CT a few weeks before.

Here are some of the molds I poured with UTEE over the weekend.

You can make rings with UTEE too! We did this on Sunday in the Faux Soldering class.

We've all got extra CD's hanging around the house. Stamp on them and then dip in clear UTTE and embellish with glitter glue or whatever suits your fancy!

The technique below is Faux Soldering. Take and image and put it between two pieces of Ranger Memory Glass and then dip the piece into the UTEE. The one on the left was done at the end of the day and has colored UTEE. The one on the right was done with clear UTEE and To Dye For inks. I embellished with some beads. DON'T use regular reinkers with the UTEE in the pot they can't handle the heat!!!

Here are the UTEE donut necklaces you might have heard about if you are a fan of Suze. Hers is the red one the left, she is MUCH better at it than me.

These two UTEE charms were done by overlaying a greased cookie cutter (with embossing fluid) on an image and then pouring the UTEE in.

Have some memory frames or other small frames hanging around? You can insert a picture and then pour tinted UTEE in as I did on the left. On the middle and right I put the frame on top of a mold and then poured in the colored UTEE.

Everyone has cardboard or chipboard around the house. Dip it into colored UTEE, pull it out and immediately stamp with a rubber stamp that has embossing ink on it. Texture stamps work the best. Make sure you use real rubber not the clear stamps.

All in all it was a GREAT weekend. Next year Art Is...You! has a Wizard of Oz theme and moves from Cromwell in the middle of the state to Danbury to the western edge. I look forward to seeing who is going to teach what next year.

Until my next post,

Diane

3 Little Mojos

Here are three cards made with from same Mojo Monday pattern. This is the first time I've used one of their patterns. It is a similar to Sheetload in that you get a layout to use as a guide but different in that you have to pick the sizes of the paper. Sheetload gives you paper sizes based on the card the designer made. I used paper from a K&Co bulk pack and stamps from Heidi Grace.

Until my next post,
Diane

ATC for Art is...You

Here's the ATC I came up with for Art is...You that I just attended. I don't like making ATCs in a mass production method but I do for an event like this. For this event I made 16 ATCs. I used watercolor paper as the background. I stamped the images by TJ Designs and colored them in with good old Crayola Crayons. This acts as a resist so the spray watercolor and Glimmer Mist I used wouldn't color the stamped images. I added a stamp by Inka to give it a bit of dimension.

Until my next post,
Diane

Friends are the Flowers...

Here's a card I made using a technique from Tim Holtz. Drop some alcohol inks onto glossy paper and immediately squirt with a burst of compressed air from a can. After that I stamped with an image by Impression Obsession. The phrase is also from Impression Obsession and I stamped that onto vellum and adhered it to the card using my Xyron.

Until my next post,
Diane

Painting with words in Illustrator

This assignment was for my Typography class. We were to pick a font family and use the pen tool to select various sections of a portrait photo and insert text to illustrate highlights and shades. We used different sizes of the font along with bold and italicized characters to enhance this process. After finishing the portrait I used a sky image that I posterized to have a background.

Until my next post,
Diane

Betwitching ATC

Stamper's Corner had a Bewitching ATC theme and here's what I made for it. I shrunk down some themed sheet music I had downloaded and then used stamps from Artistic Outpost. The final step was to outline with a Krylon 18kt gold leafing pen.

Until my next post,
Diane

Girly Girl ATC

This ATC was for the Stamper's Corner ATC Lottery. The previous winner picked the theme of Girly Girl. Not having any collage images I chose these stamps by Artistic Outpost. I stamped the girl on paper I marbled using the shaving cream technique. It is a great way to make background paper.

Until my next post,
Diane

Quotes and Words of Wisdom ATC

This Stamper's Corner Yahoo Group ATC had the theme of Quotes or Words of Wisdom. I used a background stamp by Hero Arts after I masked the cat by Repeat Impressions. The quote is also by Repeat Impressions. I colored in the cat and pillow with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

Until my next post,

Diane

Fall Themed ATC

This Stamper's Corner ATC had the theme of Fall. I took a stamp by Stamps on Fire and inked it with Ranger Distress inks in fall colors. I used a fine mister with water to spritz it then stamped to give the image a faux watercolor look. On top of the stamped images I overlayed a vellum quote by DCWV and then added some bling to the corners.

Until my next post,
Diane

Owls ATC

Here's another ATC I made with my stash of marbled paper. This one was for the Stamper's Corner Yahoo Group with the theme of Owls. The owl image is by Inkadinkado, the quote from Inka and the border is from Hero Arts. As a finishing touch I added white Inkessentials pen to border.

Until my next post,
Diane