Think Monday - Think ATC - Slide Mounts (& Other Stuff Too!)

So far I have had a great Sunday! The current challenge on Think Monday - Think ATC is to use a slide mount on an ATC. A few years ago when I was in Brisbane for the Stamping Down Under Convention I was lucky enough to find a very old box of plastic slide mounts while on a foraging trip through some op shops with Gaye Triggs and some other stampers. As a result I have a lot of slide mounts to use!!

I decided to do a very bright ATC this week so I have coloured the plastic mount with Adirondack Alcohol Ink (Wild Plum), Schminke gold powder and purple Moon Shadow Mist. I've used a favourite Hero Arts text stamp on the frame and also on the backing (also coloured with the alcohol ink and the mist) but it isn't overly visible. The stamped layer has been painted with Golden Green-Gold acrylic paint and glazing medium. This is my favourite colour from the Golden range. The stamp is also a favourite and is by Melanie Sage from her "Juxtaposed" limited edition range. I've punched out numerous size holes in the top layer so that the wild plum layer shows through. Not sure why I did it - just one of those "on the spur of the moment" things I guess.
I have also finished my six tissue paper "studies" for a swap I am participating in with the Surface Design group. Basically we had to do six inch squares using tissue paper as the main element - other than that there were no real restrictions. I've gone into a bit of detail regarding the technique in case any of the people I am trading with are interested. I started these ages ago when it was still quite cold and wintry and I was wanting to achieve an old rich but worn leathery "in the firelight" look. I have only uploaded one of the six as blogger is proving to be very uncooperative this afternoon!

I have used some of Dale Rollerson's Frescoes and Fragments techniques as learned at her workshop in March. My six pieces are all slightly different but are made the same way - a piece of crumpled tissue paper (I used printed kraft tissue paper by 7Gypsies) have been fused to coffee coloured felt. I have then sprayed them with various Adirondack Color Washes (butterscotch, pesto and wild plum) and walnut ink and mopped and sponged them until I was happy with the colours. They have then been sealed with Mod Podge and then sprayed lightly with gold and black webbing. I have cut out images of wine bottles from some decorator napkins and lightly painted the back of the top ply of the napkin images with diluted acrylic paint so that they would show up on the dark background. Once the were dry I used Mod Podge to adhere them to the tissue/felt layer. They have then been stamped with text and postmark images in permanent black ink and sprayed with gold Moon Shadow Mist. I fused vilene to the backs and stitched around the pieces. They are nice and light for international posting and can easily be mounted once they get to their new homes.

I have also finished another Lutradur & Lace experiment that I started a couple of weekends ago. I painted the back with gesso and it didn't seem to matter what I did to the front, it stayed too pale for my liking. I have used a huge range of paints, inks, shiva sticks, color washes and moon shadow mists on this one trying to get a colour intensity that I was happy with. These experiments are the result of a challenge on the new Fibre & Stitch yahoo group for subscribers to the new zine. On this one I used the embellisher to secure the lace and muslin pieces to the base rather than a sewing machine and I think it has been an interesting result. I would definitely use lutradur again as a base for the embellisher. In the end yesterday I also used color washes and moon shadow mists to colour the back as well. I finally think it is OK and I will use it as a base for fibre ATCs or postcards. The scan has come up a lot darker than the real thing. I quite like the texture of the back, hence the urge to try more embellishing on lutradur.

I'm off now to do domestic stuff and hopefully, later on I will get a chance to do some more work on my giant jig saw exchange pieces. So far all I have done is select backgrounds and images - I still have all the fiddly bits to do! Jenny Crossley is one of the artists in this exchange and she has finished hers - have a look here - it is stunning!

Saturday (yet another imaginative title!)

The leaf earrings in the photo are made by the talented France and were purchased this week from her Etsy store. I've used France's Etsy photo because it is so much better than the one I took. They arrived yesterday and I just love them!

Other purchases I've made recently but which haven't arrived as yet are some packets of white and black Misty Fuse from Catherine's Place and some ribbons and mini ric rac from Really Just Ribbons, so hopefully they will arrive early in the week as I need them for a couple of projects. I haven't used teh Misty Fuse before but I have read so much about it I have to try it! (and yes, Mum I will send you some as I know you will want to try it too!!)

I have two pieces in the latest Stamping & Papercraft Magazine which arrived here during the week - they were based around a Crafty Individuals stamp of two boys. The requirement was to demonstrate different ways the stamp could be used and it was interesting to see the variety of results the five participants came up with. I like all the pieces but especially love Jenny Crossley's shadow box - her work is so individual and so special!

I wanted to use the stamp on fabric so after stamping and stenciling on a piece of lightweight cotton, I backed the fabric with lutrador which I had painted - I really love this stuff, especially the heavy-weight white one. I backed it with a piece of the much lighter pink metallic lutrador which is marketed by Pellon as rainbowSPUN. I am trying to loosen up style-wise so this piece was a bit of an experiment for me and I really had to force myself not to keep everything rectangular, neat and tidy!

On my other piece I used my Making Memories Tag Maker which has been a rather under-utilised purchase. I love it and I am not sure why I don't think to use it more often as it makes great little metal rimmed tags. This time I didn't fight my natural style...

I am so glad it is the weekend - I am dying to do something creative! I have plans to do lots of different things and as it is a grey and somewhat wet day here I won't have too many distractions (other than a nice afternoon nap, maybe?).

Weekend Report

So this was my weekend - woke up Saturday still feeling a bit off so thought I would delay housework until Sunday apart from doing the washing. That way I could indulge myself with some creative activity. Unfortunately feeling a bit off also affects creativity so I now realise I would have been better off doing the housework yesterday! I did get a bit done - I finished my Beeswax Rome ATCs (picture above - they are in their plastic sleeves so the scan is not brilliant), made a fabric ATC for Diane M (pictured at the bottom), started on some napkin/fabric postcards and read lots of blogs! In the late afternoon I went outside and enjoyed the winter sunshine while I painted some fabric and dyed some muslin (yes I was using my favourite Adirondack Color Washes!).

(This is the start of my napkin/fabric postcard - the original napkin is in the left corner and the rest shows the napkin once it is adhered to felt, dyed and partially stitched by outlining the flowers. I love these napkins!)

Today I was back to normal and after a good sleep in and a lovely cooked breakfast (a Joseph speciality) I went to the Boulder monthly markets to see if the "bush scavengers" were back selling old rusty bits and pieces. Unfortunately they weren't there so I went to the craft shop instead and bought a large crochet hook and a few bits and pieces, along with some lovely flower sequins and scrapbook papers from a cute little scrapbook shop (I must post a photo some time as it is the tiniest sweetest little shop). I have decided I need to learn to crochet and as I am going to Wiluna again tomorrow for work for a couple of days I thought I could use the evenings productively by teaching myself. I have gone to the library and got a book on huge crochet hooks so hopefully I will be well underway by the time I get back on Wednesday.


(Re the fabric ATC - the pink beads are stitched into holes that are melted into the fabric sandwich with a wood burning tool - the backing is painted lutrador which shows through the holes behind the beads.)

Today I did do the housework and then spent the late afternoon again outside but this time I was painting canvas boards and lutrador. I could do that for hours! So I didn't really finish a lot this weekend but I have quite a lot "underway"!

A Small Quilted Wall Hanging Finally Finished!

This is my piece for Fiona in response to a small group challenge to incorporate paint, metal and fabric in an item for an allocated partner. I am running late with mine but this is the link back to the beautiful piece Jo made for me.

My quilt is based on a stamped image from the Oxford Impressions Bird's Nest plate on beautiful smooth Fabriano printmaking paper. For some reason (no doubt the photographer!) the photo is a bit blurry. Anyway I coloured it with Adirondak Color Washes and then sprayed it with my favourite Gossamer Gold Moon Shadow Mist. This piece is stitched to three layers - a piece of Lutrador that I painted with green acrylics and Glazing Medium, a piece of music themed fabric and then a piece of felt.

The lutrador has been melted around the edges with a wood burning tool which I also used to make all the little holes to get a polka dot effect. Lots of little yellow seed beads were stitched on to anchor the frame part of the Lutrador and then the quilt was free motioned stitched with gold thread. It then was beaded with little brown seed beads.

The key and other metal piece were glued/stitched on. I bound the quilt with tarnished copper mesh tissue which was lovely and easy to sew through and the backing is the same music themed fabric as the front. The hanger is tarnished copper wire with a few sweet little rusted diamond shapes (that I have been saving for years for a special project!).

I'm quite happy with it although I would do a few things differently if I did it again - such as use a more rigid backing given the type of hanger I wanted to use. It wouldn't have mattered if it was hung on a rod/sleeve arrangement but I wanted to use the wire and I think small quilts look better with hangers a lot of the time.

I love Fridays!!

It has been such a busy week - going back to work after a couple of weeks on holiday is always a shock to the system BUT now it is Friday morning and the weekend is in sight!

I have been reading about Lutrador over the last 18 months(?), primarily in Cloth Paper Scissors but it didn't particularly attract me as something I had to try. At the recent Art Retreat in Fremantle, however, my friend Sue did Lesley Riley's Fabric Book workshop and I saw the wonderful results when this "fabric" is painted and stitched, so I had to try it.


The Thread Studio got some to me virtually overnight and I spent most of a very hot morning last week cutting it up into manageable pieces and painting it. Thought I would share some of the results. It would have been better if I had photographed them as they look fantastic in a colourful pile but this morning I am in a rush (to get to work) so I have just scanned them in colourways.


Hope you enjoy them - I'm looking forward to using them on some projects, especially fabric postcards..