Love themed atcs

I am taking part in a love themed atc trade, normally I make three the same, but this month I have been influenced by Julie Steed ... So here's my atcs :

First is inspired by last weeks wanderlust class, which was about zentangle and abstract doodling. This heart is cross hatched, I used a Faber Castell artist Pitt pen and graphite pencil with a blending stub :

                                              

The second is using an image, Lil Love from Vera Lane Studios. She is printed and coloured with copics and I added highlights and details in her hair using a sharpie white acrylic paint pen. 

It is a painted background and I added molding paste through a stencil. When it was dry, I put the stencil back on and used versa mark with white embossing powder to make the swirls stand out more and add some texture/dimension.

Final details included a bit of washi, some hearts and words typed on my typewriter, a little blue edging. I don't know about you, but the words of this Justin Bieber song keep playing in my mind ... Yours now too .... Lol

                                              

This third atc features the image, Two Monkeys, from Carmen's Veranda, with a painted and stencilled background. The hearts are punched and coloured, the other words typed on my typewriter. 

                                               

Finally this is an atc using a vintage nude stamp from Paper Artsy, this has been the cause of great amusement. It's stamped, decopauged, fussy cut, coloured with copics, prismas, sponged in brown and blue embossing powder. I loved adding the hair, isn't she a doll :

                            

Altered Playing Card Week 19

Oh my, I am on a roll ... only a week behind in this Altered Playing Card Challenge.

Here are my Week 19, Steam Punk APC's : 

 This first APC uses a Tim Holtz embossing folder on black cardstock, then I went over the raised areas with a silver gelato and rubbed all over with my finger. I added the Steam Punk train stamp across the bottom with versamark, and embossed that in silver embossing power. Did the same for the cogs too, used a cling set by Prima. The little wind up bird is from the same Prima set, I stamped him in stazon on water color paper and colored him with inktense pencils and fussy cut him. The wheel he is standing on is from a Memory Box cog die set. I liked 'Enjoy the Ride' as the little bird is walking around and around on the cog :)

 I was having a lot of fun with this APC, when I first started it and added the mesh tape and some ink it looked really really awful. An 'Oh no' moment for sure ... LOL. So I added some white acrylic, some washi (to co-ordinate with my snail) and a couple of cogs from the Memory Box cog die set. This wonderful snail is an Eclectica individual stamp from Paper Artsy, EM04. How fab is that, a steam punk snail ! He is colored with inktense pencils and india ink. 

For the wording I wanted to mention travelling as the snail is moving slowly forward ... But I liked the idea of incorporating a little Hash House Harriers humour.  Hash House Harrier groups are all over the world, especially active in expat communities. They are a social network, they describe themselves as a drinking group with a running problem. LOL I was fortunate enough to be a Hasher while I lived in Hong Kong, a few years ago now .... The combination of snail and a running chant was amusing to me :) 

But then 'on' ,,,,, (pause) ...... 'on' .... can also indicate a slow rate of movement.

Oooh a double word play, love it ....

Thanks for stopping by x

Altered Playing Card Week 18

Flowers is this weeks theme at the Altered Playing Card Challenge, week 18 :

For this APC I smushed my card through vibrant red, green and blue acrylic, then stamped the flowers from a Paper Artsy flower set, fussy cut them and added the sentiment.

Firstly, can you believe I used the same paint as for the APC above ? The addition of white made all the different in muting the tones. For this APC I used a flower from a retired Stampin' Up! set. When I had smushed my card through the paint for the background I smushed another pice through, then stamped the flowers in black and fussy cut them. I love that the colors all co-ordinate that bit better :)

 Thanks for stopping by x

'Do not Disturb' atc

Had sooo much fun with this title, I love this atc, its the first one I haven't wanted to give away ... LOL. I normally make one for myself but in this case I did not, and yet its such a personal one. I really should have ... darn it. So here is my interpretation of 'Do not disturb' :

 The front door opens to reveal a totally bonkers image ... A Paper Artsy boy with a big fish ! I made this atc because in my crazy household, you really can not expect anything normal to happen. The unexpected and crazy madness is always around. So I am saying 'Do not disturb' because you never know what you may find going on here .... LOL. I added a little white detailing to the boy and the fish is actually sparkly - I use my wink of stella pen.

 Look at the detail of the front door panel, a house number - so cool. I did this using masked die cut numbers and Wendy Vecchi clear embossing paste.

 The back of the atc is also suitably decorated, with the second generations stamped image

Some lucky recipient of this atc .. I wonder who it will be ?

Feel the Love .....

I came across this quote by Pamela White, and it just struck a chord with me. We should love who and what we are. We can be so down on ourselves, lets give a little praise and love instead. 

"Theres nothing more dangerous than a lack of self love. 

So put your hand on your heart and feel the love"

My 4 page journal spread features Pondering Petunia from Dylusions, Paper Artsy 'Smell the Flowers' stamp set and chipboard heart frame HRT-076 from Southern Ridge Trading Company. I actually used my dylusions shaped stamping block as a guide to cut the middle page of the spread down, as seen in the pics below :

The wording of the quote goes across three pages : 

I really liked this chipboard heart frame,  HRT-076

And look how flippin' awesome Pondering Petunia looks. I colored her with inktense pencils and then added pink flowery washi tape to her dress. The hat is made from Dylusions set, doodle. Then I colored them with inktense, added a layer of the same washi tape. Cut them out, edged with black sharpie and intertwined them. I think THAT is an awesome hat :)

My background was made by adding various colors of acrylic paint to the page, then covering in a solid layer of titanium white. Whilst the paint was still wet I flicked water onto it, which prevented those sections from drying. Then when the rest of the white was dry, I removed the water and wet paint with kitchen paper. I saw a similar technique in an Andy Skinner video on you tube.

I love this Paper Artsy flowers cling stamp set, called 'smell the flowers', I have coveted it for a long long time .... Finally it is mine, all mine (insert maniacal laugh here .... LOL). I stamped them in coffee archival ink and colored them with my gelatos. A strip of the pink flowery washi was added to make the ground :)

It was fun and so therapeutic making this page, and I used all my favorite colors :). Hope you find some positive inspiration here :) Nikki x