Another month gone ...

... so quickly.

I made this today - it's for an 'Altered Wooden Heart' swap. This poor heart has been through at least four incarnations and has ended up ENTIRELY different from my plan - which just wouldn't work.

I ended up over-painting several other layers of papers, collage etc and finally used some turquoise acrylic colours - then finally breathed a sigh of relief - I felt there might be somewhere to go. The painted background ended up so pretty I really didn't want to cover it up ...

... but I had to so in the end just did this ...

... I covered the sides in lace and copper and that's where it will be left ...

Clipboard ...

made for a swap on UK and Ireland Craft Swaps Group

The flowers are made using a Spellbinders die and the leaves are a sissix die. The tag measures 7" x 4" and hasan altered clothes peg, lace, a decorated envelope and 3 journal spots.

Something new ...

I tried my hand at some clay modelling yesterday - just followed the instructions by Christi Friesen and this is how it turned out ...

Cute (sorry it's a bit blurry - I couldn't get the camera to focus properly) ...

and here he is in his purple nest (an altoid tin) ready to go off to a new home for a polymer clay swap (I used Premo) ...

The colour is more accurate in this picture.

ATCs

Three ATCs made for a swap - they have a printed text background which I have painted over using Paperartsy's Fresco Finish paints. The die cuts have been layered up to give them some dimension and then painted and stamped with a Paperartsy text stamp. They are glued down and then a swirl stamp has been used around the edges of each card and words stamped and added. The ATCs have been finished with a couple of layers of gloss medium

Another project

This is an ATC accordion book I have made using pictures of Mata Hari ...

folded ...

and stretched out ... the background papers are a cotton rag paper coloured with Adirondack Colour Wash Sprays (I know it's spelled without the U but I just can't bring myself to use this way). They are stamped with  wonderful Paperartsy stamps - including the fine background text stamp, Mini 61, which I love and then over stamped with some swirls using copper Brilliance ink ... text paper has been added to the bottom, and the images and ATC edges are finished off with Derwent Inktense pencil in Bark. I've added some star shaped brads and given her a halo with Liquid pearls - many would say she doesn't deserve a halo - but I love her. The words are computer generated, printed and cut out. 

Here are some close ups with a little more detail ... the light is terrible today despite the snow and my camera flash has washed out some of the rich colour the sprays give.

I do like how this project has turned out and just need to finish the cover.

Using Stash

This is what the fantasy film 'items' turned into ... the tag is coloured with Distress Inks as is the seam binding ...

My intention this year is to use up what I've got (a lot!) - and buy less - it's going well so far but we are only 2 weeks in and I have some Christmas money to spend ...

Anyway with this in mind and the prospect of some proposed swaps with groups I belong to I have been spraying different papers with Colorwash ink ...

... they're really pretty so I took my favourite and added some stamping with Archival Coffee and Briilinace Bronze ...

... I'm not sure yet what this will become but it will involve cutting it up - probably into ATC size ...

Fantasy Film

I've been playing with Fantasy (Fusible) Film with these results ...

Faux carnival glass (tutorial by RachO113) - the light isn't great and the flash shows a bit but in real life these are very pretty and shiny.

I wanted to try something else so I took various scraps of painted paper and using gel medium pasted the film to the papers. For some of them I crumpled the film first and on some of them I cut little pieces out. I also glued the papers to lightweight card stock for a firmer foundation. 

When they were dry (well nearly dry ... I was impatient) I blasted them with a heat gun. They turned out very pretty and I used the Tim Holtz tattered florals die to turn them into flowers ...

Again in real life these are beautifully shiny. I curled the petals a little to give dimension. 

I only had one colour of Fusible Film - Crystal Aurora - from Crafty Notions.

Concertina Card

I've been working on this little project over the last few days - its made from an A4 sheet of Kraft card cut diagonally and then folded into four - I've decorated it for a sort of feminine/French(ish) feel

This shows it standing up ... and then I've laid it flat so you can see the pages more easily ...

The 'front' pages above and the 'backs' below ...

The tallest page has a pocket on both sides each containing a tag ... they were made this way because I only had 6" paper and it didn't reach to the bottom of this page! Embellishments are metal wood, shrink plastc and punches