Think Monday - Think ATC - Alice in Wonderland

Another quick little post to show the ATC I finished last night for the Think Monday - Think ATC theme of "Alice in Wonderland".

The stamps are all from the Whimsy plate by Non Sequitur, colouring by Tombow pens, and an ancient piece of background paper from when I first started stamping! The plastic flower sequin isn't the right embellishment but that top left corner needed something and this was all I could come up with. Maybe I should have left that decision until morning when I might have had a better idea!

Planning for lots of creative stuff this weekend - in between domestic responsibilities of course - so I expect I will be posting again later today.

Wednesday Stamper - Chair

This week's Wednesday Stamper theme (which of course changes tomorrow) is "Chair". I found that, in my thousands of rubber stamps, I was chair-free apart from this wonderful Non Sequitur Egyptian image (which, while not chair-focused, at least includes a chair of sorts!).

The background is a piece of Basic Grey paper which has been painted with diluted Distress Ink and then stamped with a very large hieroglyphics image. The triangle metal embellishment has been "coloured" with Krylon Pale Gold and is meant to create a visual association with pyramids! My scan looks a bit darker than the real thing.

I got back this afternoon from my trip out past Meekatharra - two very busy days of glorious sunshine and a lot of dirt-road kilometres! Only one eagle, but 8 goannas (man, they were big ones!), lots of kangaroos, one emu and lots and lots of wild goats. Too may ants to mention!!

Gothic Arch - Vacation / Place

This week's theme for the Gothic Arch challenge is "Vacation/Place" and, as some of my favourite holidays have been spent in various Asian destinations, I have chosen Asia.

The background started off as a greenish and red Basic Grey paper and I covered it with Asian stamp images - primarily Bento Box stamps from Lazar Studiowerx and also some postmarks etc. I decided to add some extra colour with Moon Shadow Starburst Stains in orange and teal and then stamped a large text image repeatedly with turquoise Neopaque paint - such a wonderful colour! All of this means the original stamped background is barely visible but my son Zach reckons it adds depth so I guess it was worth it. The arch/doorway (can't think what the proper name is unfortunately) is a Non Sequitur stamp which I have cut out with a craft knife. I have "framed" the arch with a black tape and red bamboo stickers and then added some focal embellishments from Chinese speciality shops.

And on a totally different subject - last night when I was desperately trying to finish my fabric postcards which were supposed to be mailed last week, my trusty old sewing machine stopped working properly and no amount of cleaning or fiddling would fix it. So this morning I had to make an unbudgeted sewing machine purchase - I didn't go overboard at all but judging from my play this afternoon I am going to be very happy with my new little Janome. It is has a lot more stitches than my old basic model but I must admit the old machine has given me excellent service over the years!! So expect to see more fabric art coming from me now...

Artwords - FIGURES

This is my submission for Artwords this week - the theme is "Figures". I decided to use the number type figures as well as the human figure as a change from relying on text as my background.

I have painted a canvas board with acrylics and then added stamped images of the arches (Stampington) and the figure (Non Sequitur) on white tissue paper. These have then been lightly washed with Adirondak Color Wash. I have added two strips of recycled red tissue paper (it has red words on it but you can't see it in the photo) at the top and bottom. This was then all sealed with diluted PVA. The numbers (also NS) were then stamped straight onto the canvas as are all the crackle, text and splatter stamps that form the background (and which are not meant to be particularly noticeable given that I used gray and red inks!). The piece needed something else and the ric rac seemed like a novel solution - I am trying to avoid always doing the same/predictable things to finish off. The board is then edged with gold ink.

I actually loaded the photo to this post and checked the preview - seeing it that way changed my perception of it and I realised it needed ric rac on the bottom as well to look balanced. Quickly fixed and rescanned!

Now to work on my Wednesday Stamper submission...