Recycled Mini-Album–Sun, Sea and Sand Pt 1

The latest page is a remembrance of summer holidays at the seaside, and has just one photo, of the family holidaying with friends, in the 1950s.

The first photo shows some of the supplies lined up, to make a seaside-themed page.

Some time ago, I was experimenting with painting foil with acrylics, and made the two ATC-sized samples you can see on the left, which were then mounted to be part of a display at a craft show where I was demonstrating my stuff. (I don’t seem to have done a post about making these.) Anyway, I thought it would be fun to do the same technique here, and create a fishing net, this time from a fruit net instead of scrim. The small bag contains some spacer beads from a necklace I bought at the village fete and took apart, and these will make great floats for the net!

Also in my stash, I found some pieces of blue card left over from another project, with a rather interesting edge to them, which looks like waves, so I cut them to size, inked them with Salty Ocean distress ink (appropriately), and layered them together with my ATG glue. I added a bit of inking to the top as well, to indicate the sky.

Next step: the foil. I crumpled up a piece of kitchen foil and applied it with generous amounts of regular matt gel medium.

To create the glaze to colour the foil, I mixed a small quantity of phthalo green and Winsor blue, thinning it with some acrylic polymer. (If you use water, you start to lose the adhesive quality of the paint and it won’t stick on.) I didn’t mix it too thoroughly, so that there would be some variation between the blue and green on the foil.

The foil painted with the glaze. It’s quite shiny, but this doesn’t show up ion the photo.

I painted the net with what was left – the blue and green combined with the orange made a nice dark colour. I made a lot of mess on my craft sheet (and my hands!) doing this, and the final stage was to use the net to wipe the remaining paint off the palette. No waste!!

I tried drying it gently with my heat gun, and it started to shrink up (being plastic) – this was actually a good thing because the mesh became smaller, and it had a firmer texture. I must try melting the stuff a bit more and see what happens. Next, I laid the net down onto the foil, again using copious amounts of gel medium. I then added some glass bead gel medium to the bottom of the net, which, when dry, will look like foamy sea water, and some coarse pumice gel medium to the right, to create some sand, which will be painted when dry. I do love these textured mediums! I have used the pumice one to create earth, and the bitumen roof on my beehive explosion box, as well as sand. With the right colour added, it’s very convincing!

Some linen thread and the beads to make the floats.

The floats added to the net, stuck down with a generous amount of matt gel medium. All this gel medium will dry crystal clear, sticking everything down and just leaving the texture.

The excess will be folded round the back or cut off, once the gel medium is dry.

While waiting for the left-hand page elements to dry, I turned my attention to the right-hand page. For this I am repeating what I did on an earlier page, using Versamark to stamp, and then brushing on some Perfect Pearls for an iridescent background against the black page, heat setting it to finish.

I used the Berry Twist Perfect Pearls at the top, and the Biscotti at the bottom – sky and sand! I tore off two strips of the blue card with the wave pattern at the top, and inked them with Salty Ocean distress ink as before, before laying them down with the photo, using regular matt gel medium.

The pages so far. I have laid the left-hand piece in place, but it is not stuck down yet. I added a bit more of the glass bead gel medium along the bottom of the blue card on the right-hand page. Waiting for everything to dry, which is taking quite a long time!

I have completed the border though, using a wavy line to suit the theme, but not so specifically sea-like that it won’t work on the page I’ve drawn it on (larger page on the right, further on in the signature). I still want to do a bit more work on the right hand page as well, and there is some text to be added. Watch this space.

Recycled Mini-Album–Early Family Life

I have completed the first two pages in the Early Family Life section of the recycled mini-album.

The first photo shows the photos for this section, and the materials for the first page. The stamp set is Darkroom Door Alphabet Medley, and I used the larger set. You can see that I have stamped the letters onto scrap card using sepia archival ink.

The photos and letters in place, and the border started. Each letter has been embellished with black and white pens.

The finished title page of the section, with the black border on the right being extended into the photo, and more embellishment added.

Moving on to the next pages, for the background I chose one of the alcohol ink backgrounds I made the other day – this is the black and white one, using black, white and silver mixative alcohol inks on the reverse side of a shiny A5 flier relating to solar panels – an appropriate background for this project as it is using recycled paper!  After cutting the sheet into two, cut down to size, I stuck them down, using regular matt gel medium. I chose three photos for this page,and stuck them down at different angles, using the gel medium as before. In the picture you can also see the glass bead gel medium which I used for texture on this page. I love this stuff!

Here is the completed page. I added the white squares of the border using a white marker pen, and the shading was done with a wet brush and some very dilute black acrylic paint. It made the white marker pen run, but I didn’t mind this, as I blotted it off, and then went over the black squares with a permanent black marker pen.

I wrote the title words with a permanent black marker and cut them out, and then distressed the edges with Black Soot distress ink. These were stuck down with regular matt gel medium. The other text was written with a combination of the white and black marker pens.

I applied the glass bead gel medium fairly sparingly around the edges of the photos to mute the edges somewhat, and a little on the background, using a palette knife. When it was dry, I added some silver gilding wax with my finger on the parts over the photo edges, leaving the medium on the background unchanged, so that the background showed through. Unfortunately the photo doesn’t pick this up very well, but when dry, the glass bead gel medium dries crystal clear and the glass micro-beads sparkle.

If you look carefully at the photos, the smallest child in the canoe and in the car, and the small child in the foreground in the group photo beside the baby, is Shoshi!! (I haven’t changed much, have I…) The Ford Consul was new when this photo was taken, and I can just remember this car, which was lime green with a bench seat in the front. Before that we had a Riley but I don’t remember that.

I am making reasonable progress with this album but there are still an awful lot of pages to embellish!! With this double page spread I have begun the second of five signatures. I am determined to finish the project by the end of the year because I am anxious to start on some new work, majoring on textiles, and getting my new sewing machine going, and developing my teabag art.

WOYWW 282

For details of how to join in the weekly mess-fest, please click on the WOYWW logo in my sidebar, which will take you to our hostess Julia’s blog, where all will be revealed.

So… what’s on my desk this week? The next page of my Recycled Mini-Album.

This was my desk as I was sorting out the materials and photos for the page.

This is how far I’ve got.

There’s still a bit of tidying up to do, but I think I’ll probably leave it at that.

I’m sorry I didn’t get to visit many desks last week – in between being too busy for my own good, I had a bad week with my M.E. and spent a lot of time on the recliner, and some of the time was too poorly to be on the computer (and that’s really saying something lol!). I’ve got very behind with everything again, and when I did manage to spend time in my ARTHaven, I seemed to have lost my touch as far as design was concerned – poor composition and generally leaving me feeling pretty frustrated!

See what I mean?

The centre design, made from woven strips of multi-coloured papers from sugar wrappers, turned out quite well, but the Zentangle is a disaster so I’m going to cut it out and re-mount it.

My hubby and I went to the Devon Guild of Craftsmen Centre in Bovey Tracey the other day and I had a good look at the felt in particular – gorgeous work, and it gave me an idea of what to expect at our final felt class which was on nuno felting. This is what I did – I only managed one end of the scarf but hope to complete it sometime.

I’ve got a couple of weeks off before starting another 5-week course with the same teacher, this time on soap making. There will be more felt in February.

Later in the week I got hiiiigh on alcohol ink and made myself even more drunk on my feet than usual, and this was the result – quite satisfactory:

but then I made a card – I had to do it in a hurry because I forgot it was my friend’s birthday the next day:

I was very unhappy with the bitty, messy composition. Am I losing my touch or what??? Time I got my act together again, and hope my creative mojo isn’t on the way out, and that this is just the latest manifestation of the strange disease I suffer from!! (Decomposition? I do hope not…)

Anyway, enough drivel from Shisho (suffering from frainbog) this week – hope you all have a great creative week with lots of mojo and excellent composition. Happy WOYWW everybody.

Sugar Wrappers with Zentangle

When my hubby and I had lunch at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen Centre last week, I picked up these little sugar wrappers because I thought the colours were lovely.

I trimmed off the ends and opened them up, and cut off the printed portions, and then cut them in half long-ways.

Fixing some of the ends down with masking tape, I wove the remaining pieces.

I stuck down the ends with a spot of Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive to stabilise it.

Turning it over, I stuck double-sided tape over the back.

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I stuck the piece down on to a piece of dark red card.

Adding the Zentangle border. A selection of ATC cards from my Zentangle album for inspiration, and then pens I used.

The finished piece.

This is my first attempt at a Zentangle on a dark background, and I am not really satisfied with the result… I think I might have done better to leave the woven piece alone! I shall think about it, and if I still feel the same way, I shall cut the woven piece out and re-mount it on more plain card. Either way, it will probably end up as a card topper.

I definitely need more practice!

Embossed Cards with Alcohol Ink Backgrounds

The second of two posts today.

Following on from my previous post, I have started making some more cards for my stash, which is now empty and quite panic-generating when I remember at the last minute that it’s someone’s birthday tomorrow! I have started collecting together matching/co-ordinating alcohol ink backgrounds and core’dinations papers embossed with the Cuttlebug. This is how far I’ve got today.

You can see the 6 x 6 pad of “Gemstones” Core’dinations on the left. They are quite pretty, with an iridescent surface with a weave finish, but they don’t respond well to sanding etc. as there isn’t enough difference between the surface and the core. They look very pretty embossed, though.

In this photo I have matched up different Core’dinations papers with the various alcohol ink backgrounds, and selected different embossing folders to use for each one, trying to find something appropriate for the colour scheme.

The Core’dinations papers after embossing and trimming, each laid on top of their respective alcohol ink backgrounds. The turquoise one at bottom left has already been made up into a card and sent off (see previous post).

In case you are interested, the embossing folders I used with my Cuttlebug are, from left to right, back row: Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades (THATF) – Damask (pink); THATF – Rays (yellow/green); Tim Holtz Alterations – Steampunk (all the Mixatives); TH Alterations – Pocket Watches (brown/yellow). Middle row: Stampin’ Up Mosaic Madness (turquoise); THATF – Retro Circles (brown and orange); Cuttlebug – Diamond Plate (black and white); THATF – Bricked (red and cream). Front: THATF – Regal Flourishes (purple, blue and gold).

There is a good selection here to make up into cards, and a couple of them at least (the Diamond Plate and the Steampunk ones, and possibly the Retro Circles one) will make suitable man cards.

A note about the Tim Holtz Texture Fades embossing folders. When I first got them, I noticed that, rather irritatingly, they are the other way round from other embossing folders – i.e. if you use them label-side-up, the will deboss rather than emboss the design. I have therefore written on the name labels I put on them, “Other side up” to remind me to put the card in upside down, so I don’t get caught out. Or so I thought. I used the Pocket Watches one today and… you’ve guessed it, all the numbers on the clock faces were back to front! Duh. Label now altered on that one! Examining it closely, I see that it is not like the other Tim Holtz ones (the Texture Fades ones) and it will actually emboss rather than deboss with the label on top. Something to watch out for when using different manufacturers’ embossing folders.

I have also noticed with the Tim Holtz ones (it may be a feature common to all Sizzix embossing folders, but I only have TH ones so I couldn’t say), that they emboss a bit deeper than some others, and I have experienced in the past that they can even cut through the paper or card. I read somewhere that you can spritz the paper lightly with water before embossing, which will soften the fibres somewhat, to prevent this happening.

Watch this space to see how these cards progress. I may not work on them straight away as I need to crack on with my Recycled Mini-Album and there are always urgent projects that crop up and interrupt the normal work flow!

Alcohol Ink Backgrounds and a Birthday Card

The first of two posts today.

I suddenly realised that it is my friend’s birthday tomorrow and I had no card made, and nothing left in my stash, so I pulled out all the stops to get one in the post tonight. I decided to take the opportunity of replenishing my card stash at the same time, and began by creating a collection of alcohol ink backgrounds. I shall be posting about the cards in due course.

Wanting to use recycled materials as much as possible, I found some A5 fliers about solar panels that we picked up at the County Show in the summer, prior to deciding which company to go with. They are plain white on the back, and quite shiny, so ideal for alcohol inks.

My collection of alcohol inks consists of some from Adirondack, including the four Mixatives (Gold, Silver, Copper and Pearl) and a set of Pinata alcohol inks. In the list of ingredients below, these will be indicated “A” and “P” accordingly. I cleared up the mess on my non-stick craft sheet with surgical spirit (rubbing alcohol) and kitchen paper. Horrible smell!

1. Clover, Stream and Pearl Mixative (all A):

2. Wild Plum (A), Sapphire Blue (P) and Gold Mixative (A):

3. Pitch Black (A), White (P) and Pearl Mixative (A):

4. Burro Brown and Sunbright Yellow and Lime Green (P) and Copper Mixative (A):

5. Chilli Pepper, Calabaza Orange and Sunbright Yellow (P) and Gold Mixative (A):

6. Wild Plum (A), White (P) and Pearl Mixative (A):

7. Burro Brown, Calabaza Orange, and a very little Sunbright Yellow (P), and Copper Mixative (A):

8. Sunbright Yellow and White (P), Wild Plum and Pearl Mixative (A); I also dropped a lot of Pearl Mixative onto the sheet at the end:

9. All the Mixatives (A): Gold, Silver, Copper and Pearl, with some Clear Extender (P):

10. Re-used felt applicator from #8 above, with the addition of some Clear Extender (P), and then plenty of Pearl Mixative (A) and White (P) dropped onto the sheet at the end. I added plenty of the white because the printing on the reverse was starting to show through a bit.

11. Re-used felt applicator from #6 above, with White and Clear Extender (P) and then Pearl Mixative (A) dropped onto the sheet at the end. I love these pale marbled-effect ones.

The whole collection of alcohol ink backgrounds. Quite a good collection to be going on with! Unfortunately, as usual, the shimmery and metallic effects don’t show up very well on the photos. I love those Mixatives, especially the pearl one.

Just before I finished, my hubby called me down to pay the builder who’s been working on our outhouse, and I admitted to feeling even more unsteady on my feet than usual – all those alcohol fumes had gone to my head and I felt distinctly woozy!! My hubby said to the builder, “There you are, you can charge what you like – in that state she’ll sign anything” lol lol!!! Until I stood up I hadn’t realised how much of the fumes I must have been breathing in! You definitely need adequate ventilation for this job, especially if you are doing a lot.

I think I’m feeling a bit hung over now…

Now for the birthday card. I chose the alcohol ink background #1 above, and a matching Core’dinations paper from the “Gemstones” range. This has been in my stash for years, along with some other Core’dinations papers, and I thought it high time I used them up. The “Gemstones” range has a lovely iridescent sheen to it, but it doesn’t respond very well to the usual treatments that work so well with these papers (sanding, tearing etc. to reveal the core) so I tend just to emboss it and leave it at that.

Being a skinflint and a cheapskate, I cut the middle out of the alcohol ink background layer so I wouldn’t waste any – you can waste acres of card over the years by not doing this, and covering it all up when matting and layering!! I embossed the Core’dinations sheet with the Stampin’ Up Mosaic Madness embossing folder, using my Cuttlebug, and attached some dark red rick-rack across the corner.

I chose some flowers that I’d made some time ago, out of my stash, and attached them with hot glue. Then I used the Stampin’ Up Mosaic Madness punch to punch out some shapes from the strip of alcohol ink background that I’d cut off the bottom, and stuck one of these down onto the embossed card, and the others onto some offcuts of Core’dinations paper (before embossing). There is a small piece of this inside the card as well. The punched out pieces had a line of Aged Mahogany distress ink added with the Ranger brush tip to give them a bit of definition. The “Happy Birthday” stamp was one I’ve had for years, and I have no idea where it came from or who manufactured it. I repeated the same stamp inside, and in both cases used Aged Mahogany distress ink to co-ordinate with the large flower and rick-rack. The smaller flowers were made from Penny Duncan’s Hibiscus cutting file. The base card was inked lightly with Peacock Feathers distress ink, and also on the back and inside, and I applied the same to the edges of the envelope. This card isn’t one of my best – I’m not entirely happy with the composition, but I was working under pressure to get it done in time and I finished with 10 minutes to spare before my hubby had to go out!

I’ll hope to do better with the others. Watch this space.