BRUSH MARKERS AND STAMPS

BRUSH MARKERS AND STAMPS - EXAMPLES

I'm still making myself explore different ways of adding colour to images.....who knows it might grow on me.

I have used my new set of Art Stamps Australia brush markers for these images.  These pens are water based (i.e. not alcohol based like the new Kaiser pens or Copics).

They are suitable for colouring straight onto stamps before stamping BUT they work best on rubber rather than acrylic.

The solid "LIFE" (Kaiser) stamp was the worst result - the colour beaded and went distinctly splotchy.....I guess if you're after a distressed result it might have applications.  The butterfly outline stamp (also Kaiser) was a bit patchy but worked OK.

I wasn't overly keen on the results on the rubber (Rubbadubbadoo) trees either - once again the ink seemed to bead.  this might have been my fault, however, as I think I might have used too much ink.  A lighter touch on the strawberry (also Rubbadubbadoo) worked much better.  Finally the result I was seeking!!!!

The best outcome though was actually colouring in a prestamped image (Judikins).  I just put a tiny bit of colour on each petal of the flower and dragged it using a damp paint brush and "ta da"...instant shading!  I think this is how I'll be using the markers from now on.

RUBIK'S CUBE NEVERENDING CARD

I did a demo at work this week with a 70s theme.  I'm not sure that anyone else liked this, but it was my favourite - an adaptation of the "Neverending Card" as a Rubiks cube card (and yes I know I've forgotten the orange!).

There are lots of different instructions available for the neverending card - some can be horribly confusing.
 http://www.victorineoriginals.com/images/samples/instructions/neverendingcard.html has great easy to follow steps.  Obviously there are more conventional ways to decorate these cards.

ORIGAMI SHIRT CARDS

ORIGAMI SHIRT CARDS

Not all origami is highly three dimensional or huge.  There are lots of models that can be either used "as is" or easily adapted for use on cards.

This shirt is one of my favourites as it can be modified in lots of different ways to suit the particular occasion - add buttons or brooches, ties or scarves, colour in various ways etc.  Add a pocket and fill it with various items (hankies, tools, pens etc.etc.  There are a so many things you can do.  I've just made a couple of quick examples.

This shirt pattern is from Start Origami by Mark Bolitho but lots of other variations are available on-line

DISPLAYING ORIGAMI

ADD TO AN EXISTING DISPLAY

 You have probably gathered that I really like paper.  I find folding it to be a very relaxing thing to do, and I love the tactile aspect of many papers.  The problem (such as it is) is what to do with the end results as (much like this blog) its the doing rather than the end product that is the main attraction for me.

I rescued the dictionary from which these examples are made from the bin at work, and rather liked them, so I'm putting my mind to thinking about how to display little bits of origami around the house in such a way that it doesn't look like a tip.

DECORATE YOUR POTPLANTS

Here are a couple of ideas .


The motif is made from interlocked waterbomb bases with a split pin in the middle.

The butterfly is the Yoshizawa butterfly.  You'll find lots of instructions on-line if you want to make your own.

BREAD TAG MONSTERS

BREAD TAG MONSTERS

 Bread tag monsters are everywhere at the moment (just do an image search and prepare to be amazed).  Just looking at them gave me a hundred and one ideas of different things to do.

I promised to do a couple of kid's cards for an upcoming demo, so here is my version. I've kept it very basic.  The white ones have two eyes, the red ones one eye and the blue ones three eyes.  You could do all sorts of "educational" things to do with counting, colours and storytelling, but just making them is fun.

If sticking the googly eyes on is too difficult adhesive pearls would be fine and/or if really little people might eat them you could draw them on with a permanent marker.  ( Be aware that bread tags could be swallowed too!)

CABOCHON NECKLACES FEATURING PAPERS

IDEAS FOR BEZEL & CABOCHON PENDANTS
I've been experimenting making pendants with bezels and glass cabochons,  I think some work better than others but all of them are wearable.  Plus, I had lots of fun playing!!!

KAISER FUSION MARKERS ON DIFFERENT SURFACES

SOME THINGS TO COLOUR WITH KAISER FUSION PENS 

I've just treated myself to some of the new Kaiser fusion pens.  I haven't really played around much with  alcohol markers before so I'm still at the experimental stage.

So far.....they work well on peel-off stickers and silver rhinestones but the colour is affected by the surface so in this case both turned out several shades lighter than the tomato red marker marks on white paper.

The colour was "truer" on the gold split pin, although this was harder to colour than I had anticipated - there may have been a coating on the metal??  Some "blingy" trims (Green Tara) coloured really well (and yes I did use purple for the second one, it isn't a weird colour effect!

Overall I was pretty pleased with the results but have made a note to myself to colour test first if I'm colouring an unusual surface to make sure the results will be what I'm seeking.  I'll be experimenting more in the near future.

SHAPED MASK STAMPING

CIRCLE MASK

This is what I did with the circle shape I cut out last week to make the circle stencil, and its just as easy.  I was tempted to say that I attached the circle to the page with repositionable tape but actually I just held it in place and worked around my fingers..so however you want to tackle it...Put the circle or shape  you want to use as a mask wherever you want it to be on your card front and just stamp over it.  When the circle is removed a blank area remains for decoration or a greeting......too simple!!

CIRCLE STENCIL STAMPING

CIRCLE STENCIL STAMPING

An extra simple technique this week - just die cut a circle from thick paper, place the latter over your card front and stamp over the hole with a background stamp (the one I've used is from Kaiser).  Next week I'll post the example of using the circle as a mask!

EARRINGS

NIB EARRINGS

This is quite probably more accurately paper-related rather than papercraft as such but........I was rather pleased with these earrings - just made with an iron ore bead threaded onto a beading post which is then threaded through a hollow nib.  (This one is designed for use with a Pergamano tool).  A jump ring and posts are added to finish - literally five minutes work from start to finish and yes, I have worn them several times and no, I haven't skewered myself on the pointy ends yet!

CHALK/EYE SHADOWS ON BLACK CARD

EYESHADOW/CHALKS ON BLACK CARD

Just when you thought I'd put the eye shadow away.....I didn't expect much in the way of impact when I tried the eye shadows on black card (chalks will work the same way) but was pleasantly surprised.  The real thing has a slightly dreamy feel to it and the colour is quite subtle but it is there.  I used an embossing folder in my Cuttlebug as decoration - embossing on black alone doesn't show up particularly well because of the abscence of shadow but the chalk/eye shadow highlighted it nicely without being over the top.  I added the text on the computer as it looked a bit bare and I didn't have time to make a "proper card" but hopefully you get the idea.

EXPRESS SCRAPBOOKING

Scrapbook Express

I was a day late posting (first time ever in over a year) last week.....partly because I was working on this week's offering.
We had a weekend in Melbourne and rather than consign the photos to the "Gunnadoo" pile I decided to do something with them straight away.  I'm not at avid scrapbooker but quite like the concept of mini albums which in my household are more likely to be looked through than 12 x 12 epic productions.
Luck (good or bad I'm not sure which) would have it that I only took my little pocket camera with me and somehow in re-setting the light sensitivity I also changed the image quality to small.....no more that about four inches at 300dpi.  That meant I didn't have to agonize about appropriate sizing - basically everything was edited to 2 x 3, 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 (inches). This also made layouts simple as the pages were cut to fit these sizes  I used textured ivory off-cuts. I kept to a simple colour scheme - ivory, black, red and silver.  As the aim was to undertake this project  immediately while events were fresh in my mind and before it became just another thing on the "to do" pile I decided to try and finish within a week (bearing in mind I work full-time so we are talking evenings).  As a consequence rather than play around with fancy binding I made a template to ensure that all the holes were cut  in the same place and simply punched a hole in the corner of all the pages and fixed them together with a screw post.  I used my Cuttlebug to die-cut the front page title but other than that all the rest of the journalling was handwritten.  (This was actually the biggest challenge as I always feel that my writing is never neat enough even although intellectually I know that this is not the point).  I used my score board to score lines onto ivory card before writing so that I could keep the text more or less straight and I didn't ruin a whole page if I made a mistake. I cut most of the journalling blocks with a 2 inch square hole punch.  
Everything that would fit went onto the pages- over 100 photos, footy and movie tickets, boarding passes etc and yes......it was finished withing the week!!!  It won't win any prizes for neatness or originality and I won't be bringing it out to show the visitors........but I didn't make it for them.  In 10 years time hopefully I
can browse through the pages and remember a really lovely weekend away.  So my advice to myself is don't always put it away until I have time........JUST DO IT!!

DREMEL AND CHIPBOARD

CHIPBOARD WITH DREMEL DECORATION

This is a little sample I did to answer the question of whether or not I could use my Dremel heat tool to scorch a design into chipboard (without setting it on fire!!!).  The answer is obviously "Yes I can" which opens up a whole new set of ideas to explore!  (And as must be obvious from my rather dodgy example.....new skills to practise!!)

EMBOSSED SOFT DRINK CAN

EMBOSSED SOFT DRINK CAN

This is cheating a bit, as its not paper as such, but soft drink cans emboss beautifully in the Cuttlebug......just cut the top and bottom off with kitchen scissors.  I'm a little bit cautious about scratching the folders so whilst I have done this without, I think its a good idea to sandwich the aluminium between a couple of pieces of kitchen toweling to be on the safe side.  I've coloured this one with Sharpie pens, but any solvent based pens would do.  The finished panel can be mounted on the front of a card as a background or as the main feature.  If it insists on curling and can be "tamed" with some split pins to the corners to attach.  It would also be a nice box top or tag.

CROCHET WITH FILTERS

PHOTO OF CROCHET MAT

EMBOSS FILTER

GLOWING EDGES FILTER

PHOTOCOPY FILTER

STAMP FILTER

I've spent the last couple of weeks making a couple of crochet mats, so most of my papercrafting has been work-related HOWEVER when I took a picture of one of the finished mats it did occur to me that it would make a great background for a greeting card, and that it was ideally suited to playing with the Photoshop Elements filters.  I've used different colours for each of these examples but other than that its a straightforward application of the filter as captioned to the original image.  I can't wait to get the time to print some of these out and use them!