I used the pearlescent ink background on this card! I created the embellishment using punched shapes. I layered the small punched flower on punched circle (5/8") and then that onto another punched circle (1"). I glued them to a regular paperclip to so I could slide it onto the ribbon!! Worked out quite well, the paperclip is not visible but the whole embellishment does slide nicely!!

I have much more to add which I will get done over the next week or so. Check back later for more!!


Therese
Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

These two cards were created with the Kaliedacolour pad backgrounds!! Therese

I used the walnut ink background on this card. It was fun to play around with images and give this one a more vintage feel. I did a bit of masking to have the images appear in the text. I created a little wreath of pearl beads on a wire and then wired it to the brown velvet ribbon. The flower and fern are real pressed botanicals.

Therese

I used a tube watercolour background on this card! The vibrancy of the background works well with the more solid looking stamp.

Therese

I really like creating cards with these alcohol and ink backgrounds!! So much potential!!

The daisy card has an embellishment I created using a clipola and a short piece of a wood stirrer stick! I thought it worked well with the ribbon.

I used a self made background rubber stamp on the outside of the Dream card.
Apply cut offs from your SU stamps to a piece of wood. It creates a sort of random background stamp that goes well with the cling wrap backgrounds. Therese

Cling wrap backgrounds created using white glossy cardstock and Kaliedacolor spectrum stamp pads. I brayered the cardstock with a well inked brayer and then spritzed on some water to make it wet. The dye ink then lifted a bit and was manipulated by the crumpled cling wrap. On the right - Creole Spice and on the left - Royal Satin.

The cling wrap I used on the left background is the one I reused on the walnut ink background which gave me the red and blue in that background.

These rolled a little because of the water on the glossy cardstock and needed to be weighted down just slightly.

Therese

My Art - background

This background was created on matte cardstock using pearlescent acrylic inks!! Just applied the colours without mixing too much and laid the crumpled cling wrap over it. The scan does not capture the pearlescense of the paint but it does make a very effective background. You can use any acrylic medium to make these backgrounds. I would recommend thinning regular craft acrylic paints to a soupy consistency to get the best results. Consider adding a bit of metallics to your work for a little sparkle. One of greatest advantages in creating your own backgrounds is how unique they all are and how little they cost!!

Therese

This cling wrap background was created on matte cardstock using walnut ink. I placed a "used" piece of cling wrap that had some colour on it over it which introduced the new colours to the background. Gave an interesting effect! This is quite an unpredictable process but sometimes it yields the most interesting backgrounds.

Therese

These cling wrap backgrounds were created with rubbing alcohol and SU reinkers on white glossy cardstock!! These are really great!! Just create a regular alcohol background by pouncing your cardstock with a felt dabber loaded with alcohol and dye ink in three coordinating colours then while it is still wet add a crumpled piece of cling wrap to cover the surface and leave to dry. The lighter ones were created by just adding more alcohol to a used dabber. I like the dimensional aspect of these backgrounds!!

Therese

These cling wrap backgrounds were created with tube watercolour in yellow, red and blue on white matte cardstock (110 lb cover from Staples). I really love the transparent and vibrant colours!!
Therese

My Art - backgrounds

I am finally back to my blog after more than a month of working on several different art projects and taking a few days off here and there!! Unbelievably, the summer is drawing to a close and many will be heading back to school and most of us back to our regular routines after the summer break.

I made a whole pile of cling wrap backgrounds for a contest over at Wendy's site - Stamp and Scrap Canada . It is a very fun technique that can be used with a wide variety of media - watercolour, ink pads, alcohol inks, acrylic paints, etc.



These were made with some pan watercolours in a variety of reds and greens on matte cardstock!! I used quarter sheets of matte cardstock (110 lb from Staples) and just brushed on some watercolour. Crinkled up a sheet of cling wrap (cheap is fine) and then laid it onto my wet paint. The colour runs along the crinkled surfaces and creates a random pattern. Just leave to dry. It is a bit like Christmas when you take off the cling wrap to see the pattern that has been created! I will be posting some of the other paper I made in the same session.

Therese

Have joined a new list this week - Altered Designs!! What a great bunch of people on there already!! Thanks, Kelly for gathering us into a group!! She issued a challenge to the group - use this "sailor boy" image in some way in a layout.
I created a fat book page (4x4) with him. I printed him out and cut him from the background. Found an image of a dock tie up with some rope so he would have something to lean on. Used some blue acrylic colour wash paper for the sky and found this perfect piece of paste paper in my stash for the sea. Glued all the elements to my cardstock and then wrote the caption on some beige cardstock with a blue marker. It needed "something" so I added some antiquing around the edges with brown watercolour. Added it to my page with antique brads. Decided the sky needed "something" so added a couple of birds with black watercolour!

Done!!

His expression is interesting and I thought it certainly looked like a question. The question I chose leaves lots of room for personal interpretation. What do you think he hears?

Thanks for taking a look!!
Have a great day and take some time to be creative!!


Therese in Trenton
Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

PS: You can find some of the items I have used for creating on my MMM site - music sheets and typewriter letters!

Tags!! I found this image in my folder and realized I had not uploaded it when I created them! These were for a project I was working on in June!! The tags are made from mat board onto which I stamped a word background ( lost in the scan - sorry), added some torn handmade decorative papers, a scrabble tile, a punched letter and a round layered heart element. The heart element is created with SU punches - 1 3/8'" punched in black and 1 1/4" punched from the page of a book. Added the large folk art heart punch over that!
Wanted just a sublte message on the tags and I think it worked fairly well.
Added a string to attach it to the project!!

Therese

My T&T fat book page for July features Amelia Earhart! What a fascinating woman!! I know the scans are not the greatest but it was hard to capture the subtleties of this layout. She flew because she was fascinated with the beauty of the sky!! I wanted to have this layout have that feeling. I used black cardstock and used a ripped piece of paper to create the horizon using white ink. I added stars to the sky with silver pigment ink and a stipple stamp. The larger stars I penned in with a silver gel pen. On the bottom edge of both sides I wrote out some of Amelia's favorite sayings. The two photos I found on the internet and printed them the size I needed. To keep the page closed I added a silver clipola onto which I tied a little airplane charm. I am very happy with the way it turned out - has exactly the feel I was looking to create!!

Therese

My yellow and/or musical ATCs for the monthly 1for 1 swap! I made packing tape transfers for these ATCs. So totally fun and easy.

I created cardstock backers with strips of yellow cardstock just for a bit of a change and to include more colours. I colourwashed some old music sheets with yellow acrylic paint and used it as decorative paper behind my tranfers. Added some images to some - postage stamps! They are little mini pieces of art that are so well suited to ATCs. I downloaded the images I used for the transfers from the internet. Added some words and I was done. The font was also downloaded off the internet. Made them all a little different so that if the numbers are low this month it will be easier for the hostess to swap them out.



If you have never made packing tape transfers here are a few instructions. You need some images, letters or words that you can adjust to be the width of your tape in your favorite photo editing software - I use Corel Draw. Print the images on bond paper with your laser printer. Cut them out as you wish. Lay them on your surface with the image facing up. Apply a piece of packing tape over the top and really burnish it to make sure it is in good contact with the image. Now soak the whole thing in water. It will take a few minutes for the paper to absorb the water and soften. Remove from the water and slowly start rubbing the back to remove the paper. Be gentle - you want to remove only the paper not the b & w image that has become fused to the tape (unless you want to remove some of it for a distressed look). Now wipe off both sides and your transfer is ready to be applied to the surface of your project. You will see that the stickiness of the tape is still intact and will allow you to adhere it without any other adhesive. Lots of fun!! Try it!!

Enjoy!

Therese

Some refurbished cards!! A while back I had someone donate a BAG full of cards to me. I refurbished the handmade ones a while back and this time did some of the commercial ones along with some of the handmade ones I have received in the last while. I donate my refurbished cards to a non profit organization who puts them to good use!! It is a win - win!!

I would highly recommend doing the same! Seniors residences, churches, hospitals, etc can all use the cards for anyone who is needing a bit of cheering up or to honour a special occasion when they know that no one else will be sending along any good wishes.

Therese

White on white is always an interesting challenge. Am participating in a fat book exchange with this theme! It took a while for the pieces to fall into place but I am happy with the way it turned out!!

Used the d'vine swirl embossing folder on the pages. Added a flower stamp which I stamped with white pigment ink and embossed with pearl embossing powder. Added a tab with a white brad and tied on some white eyelash fiber. Layered two small silk flowers and added a small button in the middle which I hot glued to the page. These flowers looked very white before I glued them to the white page.

Added a white punched flower to the back to cover the tangs of the brad and added a tag with my credits. I printed the credits on white cardstock and punched them out with the large SU punch. Added a "lace doily" punched shape to the other side to complete the look. Tied them to the tabs with white crochet thread.

Really looking forward to what the others have created with this theme! It is always so interesting to see what others have created!!

Have a great day and be creative!!

Therese in Trenton
Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/

Yeah, my son is in the left seat!! He has been promoted to captain of the Navajo!! It is his birthday next week so I combined the two events in this card!!

I cut the "bravo" out of a magazine and added the "zulu" which when combined mean - good job!! I colour printed and added a photo of the plane he is flying!!

It is so great to know he has diligently applied himself to the tasks at hand and to now see him achieve his goal!!!

Therese

Cards for my exchanges!

Inked the flowers in several colours of pigment ink and stamped them over a polished stone background then embossed with a combo of pearl/pastel and iridescent ice embossing powders. A very subtle effect which I really liked but it did not show up very well on the scans. Made several so I have a few extra for special occasions later on. Layered the accent on several layers and over a card front which had been stamped with a script background.

Really liked the way these turned out. I so enjoy the versatility of the polished stone backgrounds.

Therese

Created this frame for a friend who is moving away!! Primed a wood frame and gave it a burnt umber wash. Quilted some of my handmade paper to cover just the front, rough trimmed it and then used modge podge to glue it in place. I put it under pressure for a while to make sure there was good contact between the paper and the wood. Once it was dry I trimmed the paper from the back and then sanded the edges to make them smooth and soft. I added a small piece of matboard as a backer for the open area. It has a small dowel in the back to make it stand up. I added friends with Scrabble tiles.

I can see so many possibilities for this process using a wide variety of paper - scrapbooking, hand decorated, gift wrap, music sheets, dictionary pages or maps!!

Have a creative day!!


Therese in Trenton
Mixed Media Market
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mixedmediamarket/
Where you can find some papers for this project!