Category: Art and crafting styles

So today I have a mammoth 12 ATCs to share that I made for a swap with the theme of Mixed Media! Of course I can’t make 12 all the same so I decided instead to go with six pairs. 

So I cut some mixed media cardstock into six panels of 5 x 3.5 inches and then added either tissue paper, sewing pattern paper or wallpaper to each of them and added some gesso too. 

This gave me the following six panels to work with…

I then worked on each of them at a time adding colour and texture. 

This first one was the floral tissue paper that had come on an artful days goodie box and I added distress crayons over the gesso. 

I then added some stamping using the badass chick stamps and a piece of the textured wallpaper in the centre. I then mixed some modelling paste with distress crayon and added it to the card through a stencil.

I left that to dry and moved onto the next card. This one had the sewing pattern paper on it. I added some book print and then distress stains. I love the different vibrancy as a result of the gesso and non gesso papers.  I then got out the sewing machine to add some stitching for extra texture.

The next one was tissue paper from a shoe box which had some pattern and some numbers on it.  I added blue gelatos to colour and then heat embossed the stars with white powder. Then I added pieces of a blue doily and some sequin waste using some blue staples. Finally I added some book print it had added colour to using distress oxides.

Right onto the next one… 

This was some floral vintage style tissue paper. I added some red card that I had impressed a brickwork die onto but by the time I had added gesso over the top and Matte medium this had pretty mich disappeared. I then added some more colour using gelatos and then through a stencil I added some of the art alchemy paint in a pale pink colour.  Finally I added two strips of wax paper that I used the sewing machine to adhere to the panel. 

Next I had a bit of a heat him issue with! But still I love it! 

I used some spotty tissue paper on this and after a very light coat of gesso I added some transparent glossy texture paste through a circles stencil. 

This once dry added a lovely resist so then I added distress stain in blues and greens but when impatient for them to dry I took my heat tool to speed things up forgetting that the texture paste doesn’t play with heat so ended up making a bit of a mess of the circles which meant the ink did seem into them. Ah Well! Never mind. To add to the circle theme I wiped some of the ink away through another stencil and then added the Finnabair circle stamps.

Final one… I had added the textured wallpaper to this one in torn strips. I used the Paperartsy fresco finish paints to add the colour and then used the Art alchemy sparks paint to paint a piece of watercolour paper that I then die cut using a Tim Holtz die. After adhering this I added some text stamping using the Gummipan stamp.

So these were my six panels ready to make into ATCs.  I took each panel and trimmed it to size and then started adding the rest of the pieces on to turn them into mini artworks. I used a mixture of stamps and embellishments to do this.  And this is where they all got organised and adhered. Particularly like the Craft stamper Magazine star that Kim Dellow designed. And I hadn’t used the Clarity tangled heart in a long time! 

Then it was time to finish each piece off.

The first panel I added the Badass chicks girl head stamp and gave her a body from book print. I coloured her with distress crayons and then added stickles to one set of the flowers and glossy accents to the other.  I then chose some sentiments for the titles.

The next one I added some diecuts from craft foam and one of the stamped girls from the Stampin Up Beautiful You set.  I also added a sentiment for each. Then on one I chose to add the glitter flakes and the other got a button.

I think this next set might be my favourite. I added some navy thread behind the stars that I stamped in distress oxide and heat embossed with clear powder. I then added some spots of glitter and on one of them I also added some tiny star sequins. I then added the sentiments.

I didn’t add much to these except two Gorjuss girls and Tim Holtz sentiment stickers.

I ended up adding some netting to these next ones and some more sewing. Then I added the star stamp which again was stamped with distress oxide and heat embossed.  I then added the gems from the artful days goodie box.  Then on the one on the left I added some of the blue stars and some glitter glue. 

And the final set… I heat embossed the heart and then added distress oxides.

So happy with all of these and how I managed to make them all different! 

Happy crafting 

Catherine 

Today I’ve got 5 ATC’s to share with you with the theme of Nautical. They were made for a Facebook swap in a group I am in. I’m excited to see what comes back from others too. 

This first one started as a piece of map that I added some acrylic paint to. I then added some stamping to it using a Hot Picks Paperartsy stamp which features a fish.

I added this paper to a plain background and added some sewing along the edge to add some texture and made sure it was adhered. Then along the other side I added some iridescent medium through a stencil that looks like bubbles.

The next one has some of the Tim Holtz tissue wrap on it and some of the opal magic art alchemy paint underneath. This gives part of the card some sheen which is lovely.

I added the word travel through a stencil using modelling paste which provides some nice texture.

The feature image is the lovely fish from Indigo Blu and then I layered the paper onto another painted paper and then onto a black gessoed card.

Next are two lighthouse ATCs … this first one is distress oxides on a map and then the stamps from Creative Stamping magazine. These were added onto a piece of paper which had some gelli printing bits on it too.

The second one is also distress oxides as a base but also some netting and machine sewing. I love all the layers and soft finish to the image and colour. 

Finally a sepia one… book print onto some cardstock and plenty of distress inks.  Then added a little painting with cracked pistachio distress oxide onto the boat.

Also added sewing to this too and some white gel pen. 

So these were my five nautical themed cards.

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Yesterday I spent a fair amount of the day getting messy and having fun in the craft room. This is one of the projects I made. 
I wanted to play with my artful days goodie box stash and so pulled out some stash and then set to on having fun being creative. 

I filmed the whole process so you can see how the artwork came together… here is the link.

And here is the actual project.

Love how pretty this turned out to be … such a change from more recent crafting endeavours to make something bigger than an ATC too! 

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

So I decided to challenge myself to using stuff from the bits and bobs box which I keep next to my desk. I put in the bits and pieces I’ve been using and want to save, part finished projects or things that people have gifted me in a swap.  So I filmed the process of going through the bits and bobs box and came up with a few projects.

This is what I ended up making… 

I have to admit it isn’t the shortest video but hopefully you can see how easy it is to come up with something from relative nothing in a short space of time and just adding a few mediums and some imagination. 

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

Last month I joined in a swap through the Mini Marvels Facebook group. The theme for this swap was a zig zag book. I’ve just realised I never shared what I made on my blog…. ooops! 

Here is what I made… using fresco finish paints and Darcy’s Paperartsy stamps. 

It was so difficult to photograph. 

Loved making this project. And certainly quite a cute project as pretty much ATC sized.

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Hi

Today I have a piece of the background I made as part of last week’s crafty session with friends which I cut out to use differently than the sample. 

I then took the hot air balloon I had created for another card that night and added it to this instead.

I don’t like creating the same thing over and over so it was good to find these went together so well! 

What’s more this has given me the idea for the next playtime session with friends! 

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

P.S. it’s my Dad’s birthday today but I didn’t give him this card …. instead I gave him the boat card I shared last week. But still … Happy birthday to my lovely Dad! 

P.P.S. I actually haven’t given him any cards as he is away…. they are here for when he gets back to the UK! 

I’ve joined another swap on Facebook and the theme is flowers.

I started with three scraps and ended up with three very different results!  I filmed the whole process in a ‘fast forward’ video here on YouTube .

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

Here are the three ATCs I made from some scraps and some punched hearts I received in a swap.  I filmed the process… Here is the link to the YouTube video. 

Really pleased with how these came out. 

Always a challenge to just use a few supplies and come up with something a bit different. In fact that gives me an idea for a challenge… just using the bits and bobs left on my desk to create stuff… will have to find a spare hour and get something sorted! 

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

Hi there… today I have an ATC made out of a scrap of a stamped paper I didn’t use for a card.  It is stamped with an Indigo Blu stamp and then coloured using Brushos.

Then I adhered it to a blue card and some torn white paper. 

Next I added the dragonfly that I coated in embossing powder to make it shiny and then added the title using my Dymo label machine.

Happy crafting!

Catherine 

Hi there and happy fathers day to all the dads (and the single parents who have to do twice the work!!!). 

Firstly I have the fathers day card I made for my hubby … the best dad I could wish to raise our daughter with! 

And if you think it looks familiar… it is actually using the bits I created as part of the crafty session on Tuesday.

I did change it up from the original a bit with the heat embossed heart, the additional panel to frame and the stamping on the side. But otherwise it is the brushos background and the Indigo Blu bare forest stamp. 

I also didn’t get round to making exactly the same as the samples. In fact I’ve so far made one ATC and am part way through finishing a couple of cards off too! 

Here is the ATC! 

I used the green torn paper from the hot air balloon card and the car from the painted card to create this. I just added some sewing and some texture paste through a stencil … oh and some raffle ticket bits too.

Love how this came out. I also added some blue and yellow neocolour to the edges and then some black ink. 

I did finish one card in class…  I only changed it a bit from the sample with a different focal stamp. 

Happy crafting! 

Catherine