Creative Chemistry 101 - afterwards...

So what have I been doing (craft-wise) since my last post?  I've been busy playing & experimenting some more, & doing a few cards for Easter etc
I tried the nostalgic batik technique again...

My first attempt (above) didn't work too well - the card I used was very porous, & the heat embossing of the elephant & the trim didn't work too well!  At first, I thought it was my embossing powder (I noticed after I'd bought it that it said it was for pigment ink) but, as a 'creative chemistry graduate' (!!!) I experimented with different inks & cardstock... It was definitely the card!! And then I got too much water on the card (by the elephant's head) and the card started to disintegrate!  So this ended up just a practice piece, and I took note not to use this card again for this or similar techniques!!! I liked the colours though, and the design!

I tried again with the elephant, stamping & heat embossing onto a small 2 1/4" square canvas...  After I'd inked it up, I used beeswax to seal it - it rather 'lost' the embossing! & I need to perfect adding a top coat of beeswax! but it did work!


So third time lucky!  - I did this card for a friend who likes butterflies ...

Tim's nostalgic batik technique as before - butterflies in vintage photo and trim in dusty concord - both clear embossed.  Then I distressed the background with broken china, dusty concord & vintage photo,  and stamped the 'weeds' over with black soot.  To finish, I used spritz & flick technique.


& now onto Easter... first a very simple card

I just inked the embossing folder with mustard seed distress for the chick, and for the background, I just embossed the card, & then coloured it with distress inks in shabby shutters, broken china & mustard seed.

For the next cards, I cut egg shapes out of card, then used the stamping with reflections technique with the springtime background texture fades and finally sprayed with heirloom gold perfect mist.  I added a die-cut felt bunny on top of some lace & a little bit of 'grass' texture fade (inspired by Tim's Easter tag), but roughly cut the edge to shape (I haven't got any kraft core at the moment).

And finally another Easter card - I wanted a pastel, 'shabby chic' feel to this one.  I used similar techniques to the ones above, but I stamped the texture fade with aquamarine archival using the script stamp from one of Tim's Christmas sets - of course the script is reversed, but because so much is embossed I think it just gives almost a texture to the background...  Again I sprayed it with heirloom gold perfect mist.   I used some printed tissue paper for the 'lace' and die-cut the flowers out of alcohol-inked paper. I used the  bunny from Tim's March tag... and used scraps of the alcohol-inked paper (and one of the tiny flowers) for the bunny's mosaic, and embossed with tattered rose distress embossing powder (the powder seemed to want to stick onto the paper, so I carefully brushed the paper with a small brush!). And I heat embossed the bunny's bow with gold embossing powder to match the flower brads.


So my next two projects must be Tim's Easter & April tags, which I haven't done yet!


Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!!  Back soon!  Kay

more mixed media

I've now caught up with the last two assignments for the Mixed Media Workshop - lucky they have Thanksgiving in the States, (and didn't post a lesson last week) otherwise I'd still be playing catch-up!

Anyway, the one for 2 weeks ago was to create an abstract collage using a shape - I decided on squares (although a couple of rectangles managed to creep in!).

And last week's was a beeswax collage - luckily Robin's mum had bought me a lump of natural beeswax years ago - I knew I would use it sometime!!  I didn't really have any of the other recommended tools (apart from a heat gun) but I at least managed to produce something!

This is smaller (5" x 7) than the other canvas. I knew what stamps I wanted to use & for it to have a vintage, grungy & distressed feel - I definitely had moments of distress when it wasn't going right! - it's the first time I've ever used beeswax, so it was a great 'learning curve' for me!  Very Tim Holtz, this one - I used his stamps, distress inks and alphabet die! (link to his blog).
I don't really know about this one - I like the design, but what I don't like is that the surface should be smooth & level (apart from the holly texture & the die cut letters), but it isn't - I shall have to practice some more! (and maybe get a different heat gun which isn't so 'blowy', which was one of my main problems - it moved the melted wax around too much, so some parts were hardly covered, and other parts were too thick!).

Talking about Tim Holtz, every year he produces 12 Tags for Christmas, doing one a day (starting 1 December) & posts them onto his blog - can't wait to see what he does this year - so looking forward to his inspiration!

And I'm hoping to do a "White Christmas" themed 'something' for the Chocolate Baroque challenge (see sidebar) - I've got a couple of weeks to get it done!
Back soon!     Kay