Posts Tagged ‘Collage’
Inchies with Wings
Inchies with Wings
OK, here’s the first batch of inchies I made for a swap. The theme is “Wings” so I decided on bugs, birds and angels. I snail mailed them today to my swap partner in Scotland, two days before the deadline. Whew!
I used a variety of materials and techniques here. Clockwise, from top:
Dream Butterfly inchie: Aluminum flash tape reverse-embossed and colored with permanent markers.
Angels inchie: Iron-on transfer on cheesecloth on a washi paper background, embellished with a bit of ribbon and gold dimensional paint.
Harmony Dragonflies inchie: Dragonflies and Chinese character stamped in black ink on red cotton, and dotted with a tiny bit of gold dimensional paint.
Ladybug inchie: Handmade paper with grass and petals serves as the background for a ladybug doodled on red paper and finished with a dome sticker. (Thanks to my sister Choi for showing me how to make ladybugs!)
Happiness Bird inchie: Iron-on transfer on cheesecloth plus a layer each of maroon and white tulle, all hand stitched together, with a hole cut in the tulle to reveal the image. Happiness stamped on a strip of handmade paper and stitched above the image.
All inchies are mounted on sturdy card. If you have questions about any of these techniques, feel free to drop me a line!
Tags: Angels, Birds, Bugs, Collage, Embossing, Handmade Paper, Inchies, Iron-on Transfers, Markers, Sewing, Stamps, Stitching, Wings
La chanson de la mer
ATC: la chanson de la mer
I made this ATC for a beginners’ swap over at Swap-bot.com. I’ll be snail-mailing this ATC soon to my swap partner in Argentina, and I hope she likes it!
This ATC uses a vintage image from Art E-zine’s Little Darlings collection printed on iron-on transfer and, well, transfered to a piece of cheesecloth.
The image inspired me to add the torn piece of sheet music and the title, “la chanson de la mer”, or Song of the Sea. It took me some time to find the right piece of lace, though (I had wanted to use this lovely scrap that looked partly like a fish net, but it was quite unwieldy and so it ended up as the background for the photo shoot!), and it took me just as long to decide whether or not the dainty lace and ribbon would contrast too much with the rough cheesecloth (which is mounted on some handmade paper). Well, I eventually decided to push through with the dainty stuff, and I’m glad everything turned out pretty well.
BTW, I had just as much fun shooting this card as making it! But I’ll probably save that for another post…
Ink-Painted Cat Tags
Cat Tags
Remember the free online course I enrolled in? One of my assignments was to make an ink-painted flower. It’s basically using the ink from your stamp pad to paint paper. The assignment called for painting a flower cut from a page of text, but also encouraged the use of other shapes. I decided to make a set of tags featuring cats, a text background and ink painting.
Here are the general steps on how to make the cat tags:
- Cut out a tag shape from card stock. An old business card with two corners cut off works nicely too.
- Cover the tag with printed paper (use a page from a book, magazine, or old office correspondence), and trim any excess paper.
- Color the paper with your choice of medium. I used stamp pad ink, but you can get great results too with a watercolor wash, watercolor pencils, or even tea or fruit juice — as long as the text shows through the color. Let the paper dry thoroughly.
- Now the fun part: Add any additional backgrounds such as a strip of decorative paper, a piece of decorative tape, or a cutout paper flower.
- Glue the cat pictures in place.
- Next, use a felt marker to write your sentiment on a piece of paper: Hello! Thanks! Relax! I used a computer printer to print the text on vellum for a soft, blurry effect. Cut out the text and stick it on the tag. Almost there.
- Punch a hole at the end of the tag, add a binder hole reinforcer, or a punched flower with a hole in the middle.
- Tie a piece of ribbon through the hole. Voila!
PS: My cat Picart modeled for the Relax! tag.
Tags: Animals, Cats, Collage, Crafts, Inkjet Printer, Paper Crafts, Vellum
Challenging Myself
Note to self: Find time to make stuff!
I constantly need to challenge myself to “make stuff”. Otherwise I’d end up vegging my weekends away and not getting any art or crafts done. Blame it on poor time management! I envy those artists who challenge themselves to produce one piece of art on a regular basis and actually stick to it — like Randel Plowman and his Collage a Day project.
One of these days I’m going to join Sunday Postcard Art, which shouldn’t be that demanding on my schedule (I hope) since the challenge is weekly.
But given my currently hectic lifestyle (yes, I’m blaming the Day Job!), I needed something that would still challenge me to actually make something based on certain criteria, but would not be too tough on my schedule. My solution? An online craft course!
Last month I signed up for My Creative Classroom’s free course called “Everyday Moodlings”. Every month you’re taught a fun craft or technique via video or PDF, and you have to upload a photo of your assignment to the site for grading. Since classes started last January, I’m like four assignments behind (argh!), and have lots of catching up to do! I’ve already submitted a few assignments, and I’ll post them here next time. For now, I’ve some homework to finish…
Tags: Artists, Collage, Musings, Online Courses, Postcards, Websites
Dream
An ATC of my cat Piper sleeping on my computer monitor.
“Dream” is an ATC version of a scrapbook page I made titled “Piper’s Dream”. The leaves punched from vellum mirror the falling leaves used on the background paper, and emphasize the autumn scene in the picture.
A totally unplanned effect was the text. I used an inkjet to print on white vellum, and the edges of the text bled into the paper, adding further to the ethereal, dreamy effect. Talk about serendipity!
Tags: Art Cards, Artist Trading Cards, ATCs, Cats, Collage, Craft Punches, Digital Photography, Inkjet Printer, Vellum
Mother and Child
Mother and Child, Collage.
Perfect for Mother’s Day! I was lucky to catch Piper and her kitty Strider in this really “Aww, that’s so sweet” moment, and knew this photo had to be in a vintage sort of setting. I converted the photo to sepia, put it in a heart-shaped frame under a vellum sheet embossed around the edges to resemble lace, and added a pink satin bow.
The background paper, btw, is a vintage paper-backed foil giftwrap that reminded me so much of my mom - she had this ottoman upholstered in yellow leatherette with huge copper rose prints, plus recipe books covered with paper-backed foil giftwrap that was so popular at the time.
Anyway, going back to this ATC - I loved this picture so much that I made a digital scrapbbook page for it! Check it out at my other blog, Scrapbook Cats.
Tags: Art Cards, ATCs, Collage, Digital Scrapbooking, Embossing, Scrapbooking, Vellum, Vintage
Shoe Crazy
Faro is Shoe Crazy!
What is it with cats and shoes anyway? If they’re not commandeering your flip-flops, they’re turning your patent leather shoes into a scratching post, or locking your sneakers in a tight embrace.
Faro seemed to be loving my battered (and hopefully not smelly!) sneaker to pieces when I snapped this pic. A background of Post-Its, inkjet printed text (font: Girls are Weird), and some hearts cut out from foil completed the look.
Tags: Art Cards, Artist Trading Cards, ATCs, Cats, Collage
Bad Days
Fifi having a bad day.
Another excuse to use my latest find — dome alpha stickers! The background is actually metallic blue card (it doesn’t show up nicely in the pic) with a strip of vellum acting as a mat for the letters.
I only realized a day after taking her photo that Fifi wasn’t feeling quite well, hence the long face, so we made a quick trip to vet. We learned she was dehydrated, and had her confined. She quickly recovered, but ran off after a few months — my sister saw her at the sari-sari store down the block. Fifi looked contented with her new family, so we didn’t bother to get her back. I still see her strolling near the store once in a while, but she probably doesn’t know me anymore.
Tags: Art Cards, Artist Trading Cards, ATCs, Cats, Collage, Scrapbooking
Best Buds
Best Buds, 16 March 2008. Collage.
One of my more recent ATCs. Note the happy, scrapbookish style. I assembled this when I was in one of my scrapbooking moods, and I was excited to try out my new heat gun, embossing powder and clear stamps.
This card commemorates the unique, though sadly short-lived friendship of Coal (in black fur) and Tubby (in white fur). Tubby passed away a few days after this was taken, a few hours into the New Year, due to some strange malady. 
Coal passed away last week of September this year due to some kidney ailment. Oh well, we’ll meet each other at the Rainbow Bridge…
Trivia: Yes, that’s a stainless steel mixing bowl they’re snuggled in!
Fun tip: Jewelry price tags are the perfect size for ATCs, and for scrapbooks as well!
Tags: Art Cards, ATCs, Cats, Collage, Embossing, Scrapbooking, Stamps
Drifting, Falling
Drifting, Falling, 1 May 2006. Collage
One of them quickie ATCs I made just to get over a “gotta make stuff” fit. I had just bought a pack of gem-like leaf embellishments and I needed an excuse to use them pronto! Handmade paper and vellum over patterned paper, topped off with a leaf embellishment and inkjet-printed text inspired by The Ocean Blue’s “Drifting, Falling”.
