Butterflies and Golden Doors

Here is my swap for RSA ATC's shaped ATC swap for December.

The background is using a technique I stumbled across on an online search of art journals.

I started mixing gold and cornflower blue acrylics with water, a very thin solution.
I then painted this on in long wide blushstrokes. I splattered the wet acrylic with isopropyl alcohol and forced dried using a heat gun.
This is a must try! the reaction bleeds the most amazing backgrounds .......... it also works effectively on non gesso'd canvas.
Too much isopropyl alcohol will make a mess so it takes a bit to get.

The inside is colour is paint soaking throughthe paper from the above technique,  i liked the look of it so decided it would stay as is.

The inside has been stamped with Kaisercraft clear stamps and set with gold EP.
I have coloured the wings of the butterfly using red and yellow watercolour pencils on a wet base.

I have cut the door using a stanley knife and folded the hinge.

All edges have been dusted with Tim Holtz Faded jeans and the edges have been coloured using gold metallic paint pen ............. something I havnt used since high school!

The outer butterfly has been stamped, again using faded jeans and coloured using a soft wash of watercolour pencil in aqua.

 

The background canvas is one im working on currently ................ hmm aqua and gold are an obvious favourite at the moment.

 

I hope you like, Pete

Opening Doors

Here is my practice run for the RSA December series swap.
I love to do a good practice run before the real thing, so decided I may as well do a few as giveaways.

This is an exclusive giveaway for RSA members only. There will be 4 ATC's available to the first RSA members to comment. (please note the comments are moderated, I will recieve them in turn via email and post them accordingly, including the "winners") These will be posted to the winners in conjunction with the December RSA ATC shaped swap.

The background CS is a cream base that I have watercoloured over, in red and orange. I have then stamped using a harlequin clear stamp over the top, while still wet in Stampin Up rose red.
Edged the whole inside and outside using a full strength red watercolour. This watercolour is not an artists quality but from my sons craft box, so did not act like a normal watercolour, more like a thick and thin paint.
I have base coloured the whole front and back of the CS.

To get the internal stamped images to line up accordingly, I have used pencil marks, on the inside to give me the layout and eyed the image placement.

I have chosen Kaisercraft clear stamps from 2 sets to decorate, a floral range and a solid silouette set, which includes some perfect little insect/bird and butterfly images for ATC's. All stamped with black Stazon.

After cutting the door which I marked in pencil earlier (making sure not to cut the hinged sections)  I used 6mm DS tape to run around both the inside and outside cut edges, folded in half and pressed down firmaly to seal the front and back.

Over the edges, inside and out and the outer edge of the doors. I have sponged using blazing red Stazon.

The door latch is again from the range above, cut and stitched using metallic silver thread for both the twisted closure and the butterflies body.

I hope you like guys.

 

 

Pete

Pretty Shabby Butterflies

This is my Shabby Chic/Vintage ATC series swap for RSA.

The background is a Kaisercraft and vintage paper torn and sponged using Tim Holtz distress inks in vintage photo and faded jeans.

I have stamped in black stazon both the butterfly image and music notes, clear stamps by Kaisercraft.

The butterfly stamp has then been stamped on cream CS, using a mix of stazon, saddle and stazon cherry red, cut and mounted using rolled glue dots, to give some depth.

Both foreground butterflies have also come from the original background.
The first cut using a punch and the second cut by hand, both have been given dimensional magic treatment, again giving some depth.

Something that has become common practice for my atcs is using corresponding Tombow markers to seal and finish all cut edges, a really small thing to do with fine finishing results.

I hope you like.
Pete.

Fly Away : Monochromatic Purple ATC

Hi there

Here is my submission for the RSA series swap for this month.

The background is using the credit card technique, grape, lilac and white acrylic, swiped on gloss white cardstock.

The image has been stamped using purple tombow on a Papererbag Studio "Addison" cling stamp.
I have added my own Kaisercraft wings, coloured with tombow using a watercolour brush.
The birds are from a Tim Holtz set.

The text is from the Frank Sinatra classic, printed and watercoloured.

I have hand coloured the rik-rak using watercolour to change it from cream to the purple specified in the swap.
Love the way the colour has bled and is not quite perfect!

I have mounted this all together using glue dots to give my usual 3D effect.
This is a fiddly little process and takes a long time but I love the effect it gives.

 

Hope you like.
Peta

Happy Maggie's Day

This is the first time I have attempted a canvas of this size in about 20years.
It's a 50x60cm and a lot bigger than my normal ATC sized works.

I have used acrylics for the background and the main image.
The sides have been sponged out using black stazon and I have used a Kaisercraft buterfly selection to stamp on the background.
The colours do look a bit washed out in the photo, the red is very deep in the background itself.

Needless to say I had quite a few struggling moments but came through in the end with something I am happy to give as a gift.

This is for my mum for Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day mum! xx

Pete

Resin Charms for some "Charming Ladies"

These are for a swap I am participating in. Make 7 charms, keep one myself and receive 6 in return. I decided to make my "practice" charms as an included gift.

I have stamped various images onto clear acetate sheeting using black Stazon, then cut them to fit the molds.

The resin is a 2 part epoxy that I have been experimenting with, by Barnes, it is really easy to use and the clear resin allows embedded objects to look as if floating.

I have placed a small amount of resin and allowed it to become tacky in the mold, carefully placed the acetate image into the part hardened plastic and then placed more resin to encase the acetate.

Once hardened I have drilled a hole in each and placed a jump ring in charcoal grey, then miniature fishing swivel and finished it off with another jump ring.

The card has been made just to complete the charm, they just looked a little lonely without it.

The background has been swiped with apricot and white acrylic.
I have overstamped using Tim Holtz text and Kaisercraft butterfly in black Stazon.
All edges have been finished in saddle and black Stazon and the butterfly has been hand coloured using watercolour to bleed over the image and give a translucent look.
I have then handstitched the charms in place.

I hope my swap partners like the finished result.

below are my return charms :)

Pete

Marlibug and Cuppie's Showcase

I am happy to introduce this amazing opportunity to my talented friends and friends-of-friends.

Anyone interested in showcasing a hand made product is welcome to join, contact Phaedra for furthur information.

See you there!

Pete