ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi everyone, The June issue of Craft Stamper featured an article by Lisbeth Fidder, showing how to use household bleach to add accents to stamped images on a Distress Ink background. There was also a free stamp designed by Riikka Kovasin on the front cover of the magazine. I decided to use the bleach technique AND the free stamp to create my ATCs for the WOYWW 6th Anniversary ATC swap ... I used the colours in the May Colour Challenge over at Rubber Dance , so I'm going to link up over there as well, as there is a chance to win a FAB prize! Here's how I made my ATCs ...

Hi everyone,  The great day is finally here woooHOOOO!!! WOYWW 6th Anniversary ... WOYWW 6 blog badge by Nikki C To celebrate, we are having an ATC swap - do feel free to join in, dip in as much or as little as you like or just find out what I'm on about by popping over to Julia's Stamping Ground , because that's where it's ALL happening :o) Ok, so this is the bit where I have to show you What's On my Workdesk this Wednesday ... hmmmmm .... bit embarrassing this week .... I had meant to tidy up and have some gorgeous ATCs lined up all ready for the Big Occasion but it just didn't happen. Although in my defence, there was actually quite a lot going on here - I'm part way through putting together a project based on Helen Allen's clever Pyramid template. If you look very closely, towards the front of the cutting mat you can see a tiny baby which I made with Fimo and will be curled up sleeping inside the pyramid eventually - watch ...

Not much blogging going on this week as I've done me poor old back in again - it's fine as long as I don't sit, stand, lie, walk, bend, cough, laugh or sneeze!!! :o) I've been dosing myself with all sorts and trying to keep mobile and do everything in small doses, so small projects like tags and ATCs are perfect for a bit of dabbling and tinkering that doesn't take too long. These two are for the Frog Dog August challenge and I really enjoyed experimenting with just a few of the products from my first  Frog Dog  mixed media kit, as well as some stuff I already had. The kit was packed full of gorgeous goodies (I joined mid-month, so this was the July kit) which I will be playing with a LOT - I'm new to the whole mixed media thing but it really calls to me ... so much to learn and so much inspiration out there. This is what I used for the first ATC: Two colours of Distress Paint (Antique Linen, Peeled Paint) from the kit dabbed on my craft mat, sprit...

It's Week Six of the Summer of Colour challenge over at  Twinkle,Twinkle  and I can't believe it's nearly over - it's been so much fun and so inspiring to see the amazing pieces of art that everyone has come up with. This week's colour prompt was Watermelon Ice - gorgeous mouthwatering red with little chips of dark chocolate for the seeds And this is my effort Summer of Colour is all about "celebrating art in all its hues", so I decided to make a series of 6 ATCs, each one a reflection on what art means to me and why my arty-farty endeavours are such an important part of my life. Then I made a little fold-up book to put them all in - one side is a rainbow spelling out Summer of Colour and the other side was given 3 coats of gesso and then painted, inked and distressed to make a background that would set off all six ATCs with their very different colour combinations. It didn't really come out quite as I'd hoped, but I had SUCH a lot of fun pl...

Week 5 of the Summer of Color Challenge already - "celebrating art in all its hues" with a new colour inspiration from Kristin every week,  each based on a different weird and wonderful flavour of iccream - have a look for yourself at all the amazing pieces of art over at  Twinkle, twinkle This week's inspiring combo was Wild 'n' Reckless Sherbet! Wow!!! And here is my interpretation - I've been doing ATCs (my first foray into the world of tiny artwork) - don't have much time this week, so bit of a rush job, but LOVED playing with these colours! I really MUST try to improve on my photography....anyway, the background for these was done by squirting pearlescent glues onto white card, then squidging together with another piece of card, peeling them apart and leaving to dry before adding the other bits and bobs. These glues make a lovely pearly sheen, which is a pretty effect in real life, but maybe doesn't photograph very well. Still, you get t...

I've been really REALLY enjoying the Summer of Color challenge over at  Twinkle, twinkle  - each week, Kristin gives us a new colour prompt based on a flavour of icecream and the idea is to make a piece of art inspired by those colours. It can be anything, but I decided to have a go at ATCs. There are some amazing pieces of work to see - pop over and have a look (or even join in - it's all calorie free!) This was Week One - Rainbow Sherbet   Week Two - Mint Choc Chip Week Three - Baseball Nut Week Four - Strawberry Lemonade Punch And how about THIS for an icecream flavour?! - Wild 'n' Reckless Sherbet!!! I've been working on a little booklet to put all six ATCs in at the end - I'm aiming for a sort of rainbow effect ...

I'm really enjoying the Summer of Color challenge over at  Twinkle Twinkle  - each week, Kristin gives us a colour inspiration based on an icecream flavour and this week it was Strawberry Lemonade Punch Yummy strawberry pink with zingy lemon yellow. The challenge is to produce any piece of art inspired by these colours. Here's my interpretation My plan is to do an ATC every week and then at the end of the 6 weeks they will all go into a mini book. I've already started work on the book - bit of a rainbow theme going on. Here are a couple of close ups (I'm trying really hard to improve on my photography skills) A piece of ratafia wrapper was adhered to one card, then I swirled crackle effect modelling paste by Pebeo on to both cards and added tiny chips of yellow card. Glossy Accents were added to the yellow chips, then everything was left to dry overnight . Next morning, I used stencil brushes to add Worn Lipstick Distress Ink over the whole thing and Wal...

Here is my effort creation for week 3 of the Summer of Color challenge over at  Twinkle, Twinkle  - each week Kristin gives us a different icecream flavour for inspiration and this week it was "Baseball Nut". Now, I had never heard of this (probably can't get it in the UK) but it looks and sounds deLISH A smooth, vanilla flavored ice cream swirled with a black raspberry ribbon and loaded with cashews" -Baskin Robbins Mmmmmmmm...... anyway I digress - and I am in danger of dribbling on my keyboard!  I've been wanting to have a go at ATCs for a while now, so I decided I'd try and produce one for each of these six weekly challenges. Not sure how successful they are so far, but I'm having a lovely time!  I got really messy with gesso, tissue, inks and liquid pearls for this one. I've also started working on a little fold-up book to put them all in at the end. If you haven't already, pop over and have a look at some of the amazing pieces o...

Here is my take on week two of the Summer of Color challenge over at  Twinkle, Twinkle . Each week features a different icecream flavour and the inspiration for this week was Mint Choc Chip. I wasn't too sure about working with these colours but in fact I really enjoyed myself and I must say I'm really getting into the ATC thing now - might have to find a swap site... Oh dear, they didn't really scan too well (because of the lumpiness I think!) - in real life they're more textural and less blurry than this! Don't have time for too much waffle tonight as I need to get some sleep before I go to work in the morning (work SO gets in the way sometimes!), but I used acrylic paints with a crackle medium and walnut stain distress ink, a swirl of pearlescent glue, some tiny scraps of ribbon and a couple of glittered brads. The flower on the left was a printed chipboard shape which I roughed up a bit and the spiral rose was made from an old book page coloured with distress...

I only came across this challenge yesterday, but it looks really fun and inspiring so I'm going to give it a go - only trouble was, I only have a couple of hours this morning to come up with something in order to make the deadline for entries and now I have to post it quickly as we have unplanned visitors turning up any minute! EEEK! If you want to see what it's all about, click on the blinky over on the right of your screen, or click  here The challenge is to create something (anything) using the suggested colours which are all icecream flavours - this week it was "Rainbow Sherbet" and next week is "Mint Choc Chip" Here is my somewhat rushed attempt - also my first ever ATC! I will try harder next week - that's a promise! Ok I've had another play with these colours - still not quite happy with it but I'm enjoying the journey and that's the important thing! Anyway, I need to start thinking about mint choc chip now ... :)