For some time I have had a collection of number images from Inka Stamps; however, when she came out with the new image of a measuring tape I knew I had to create a background using SEVERAL of her number stamps. What better way than to incorporate a beautiful lady, Penelope, into my design.

I designed a Chinese take-out box to fit the images available at Inka Stamps coloring the background of the box with alcohol inks for a polished stone effect. (Click on the title as it contains a link to some of the images I used.) The box handle was made from Mizhuki cord. I found a small brass charm of a teabag to attach to the side of the box with the can of tea image. Some of the other stamps used were from Inka's sheet of Asian text images.

This is a fun little box to hold a trinket, coins or even fortune cookies.

I was rushing this afternoon to complete this card for close friends who leave tomorrow for an anniversary celebration in Cabo. The card is more pastel than appears in the photo and I hope they like it.

My DH is my support, the person who critques my work and often comes up with good solutions for improvements.

When I showed him the two canvas pieces he said, "What the heck are these? What are you suppose to do with them?"

It's apparent he prefers my cards over collage.

It is a fun day when I can giggle and not be offended. A good laugh is hard to top.

I signed up for a canvas collage swap for July and wanted to do some experimenting prior to making my swap items. On both canvases, I put down a coat of gesso before I started adding color. For the oriental canvas, I transferred an image from Inka Stamps using gel medium. After it had dried completely, I used a brass stencil and added the red symbol to the lower left of the canvas. Also using a brass stencil, I added the gold "happiness" calligraphy and embossed it in gold. The symbol in black at the lower right is a rubber stamp from Inka Stamps.

On the canvas, "A Different Perspective" I put down two different shades of acrylic paint before I added the transfer. However, my first transfer using gel medium was too small for the canvas and I decided to add a second transfer over the top. The second transfer was done using Omni Gel. If you look closely, you can see a women's face in the bosom area of the top transfer about where the hands appear. I love it when things go wrong and unusual effects surface.

As you can see I need more experience and will continue to experiment until I come up with my theme for the swap.

Any advice or help would be appreciated when you critique these two.

Thanks,
Carolyn

For one of my groups, Latest Trends in Mixed Media, we are going to do a small workshop altering photos using Angela Cartwrights's book, Altered Art Techniques for Photographic Imagery, and our moderator asked us to take a walk around the neighborhood and shoot some photos.

Because I've been waiting a long time for the spring bulbs to bloom I had to capture some of the first ones in our yard. Luckily, I went out on Thursday, because we are back to winter with freezing temperatures and snow predicted for tonight.

My flower photos may not work well following Angela's book, Mixed Emulsions, but I had a great time with my camera. I LOVE FLOWERS!

I had some clay leftover from the bowl, previous post, so I pushed it into molds. These were a little easier than making a bowl-shaped piece and will be used for embellishments on other projects.

Another fun project from our retreat was playing with air-dry clay. We each made a bowl and mine turned out very primitive. What I learned from my experimenting was the clay should be rolled to an even thickness so that when you place it over a bowl or cup you end up with a more uniform shape. (We didn't have a pasta machine and rolled it using a rolling pin and/or brayer.) Also, looking back I should have added some texture to the outside of my bowl. It was suggested to glue on some Washi paper, but the shape is so irregular I was afraid it would enhance the crooked appearance even more. Thus,I just painted it with gold Lumiere. What you see is a photo shooting down inside of my bowl that I textured using plates designed for polymer clay. I used acrylic paint and metallic rub-ons for color. It was a first for me and I admit I had a lot of fun attempting this project.

While in McCall at our stamping retreat, we were experimenting with the Wizard using Cuttlebug folders for our Spirelli cards. Well, one thing led to another so I folded some wax paper and ran it through the Cuttlebug folder. When I returned home I placed it between two sheets of glossy white cardstock and heated it with the iron. Because the design was embossed on both sides of the wax paper, it created a really unique design.

I applied inks DTP (Adirondak) to the white glossy paper and ended up with some beautiful backgrounds. This card is the result. It may be a bit too much for my style, but I do like the background.

I hope you will give it a try.

Last weekend I was fortunate to attend a stamping/art retreat in McCall, Idaho, with four other gals and one of the items we created was a mini canvas collage. Inka from Inka Stamps had a stack of dictionary pages and the word "buggy" jumped out as I had selected the buggy image as my focal piece. Now that's a coincidence don't you think.

We had a marvelous time and as I finish projects I will share what we created and new techniques learned.

Over at Latest Trends in Mixed Media, some of us are participating in a workshop using Julia Andrus's book, PAPER TRANSFORMED. For the April workshop one of the lessons called for making paper to resemble leather.

I started with a brown paper bag, sprayed front and back with Perfect Ink Refresher, crunched it up into a ball, flattened and then swiped with a brown dye ink pad, adding some bronze Perfect Pearls for highlights.

The Perfect Ink Refresher made the paper pliable and I thought why not make a purse using one of Inka's templates.

I modified the design somewhat by folding over the top portion, trimming the edges with gold peel and stick strips and adding a gold foil star which didn't scan well. The inside was lined with a light weight black paper. I merely tied gold cord for a handle.

This was fun and I plan to use it to tuck in a little trinket when I give it away. (Click on the title and it will take you directly to the purse project and pattern.)