Altered Book - Lesson 4 - the sticky stuff!

Four our latest lesson, Elizabeth set us playing with different glues . Good job we get two weeks per lesson to produce our homework - which I confess isn't complete (I blame Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry online class which I spent all weekend doing!)

Actually I don't - I only have myself to blame.  anyhow, Elizabeth asked us to try sticking several of our pages together with different types of glues from our stash and document which we found best and which not. Her recommended ones to try were glue stick, gel medium, mod podge if we had it, pva (white glue) and gesso.

Here are my results!

 I had to take them close in so you could see the tags for our results, which I attached with Tim's Tiny Attacher.  I've just edged the tags with some distress ink so they show up on the plain pages.

I thought this would be best of all, but the Prittstick wins!

 My tacky (pva) glue is very old and I had to prise it out of the bottle - breaking two coffee stirrers in the process. I should have found an old knife...or a credit card as Elizabeth recommended!! (memo to self - listen to the teacher!)

I didn't realise I had any of this - and as the tag says - it stinks!! And the smell lingers. Not a fan, it's gone back in the box to be forgotten again!

I was dubious about gesso working - it's actually less wrinkly now than it looks here! I didn't put enough on the righthand part of the page so had to add some more and press the pages stuck again. Good job it was the outer edge that I under-glued!!

The gesso I used here I did buy specially - what I've been using as gesso in my journal isn't labelled as such but is called "artists' quality background colour" though it does say it can be used as gesso.  My class gesso came from The Works and was £4.99 for a 500ml tub (and I don't much like the smell of that either!)

Then Elizabeth asked us to make a spread of a double page with gesso as glue and sealer if required -  I found that quite helpful as it aided the sticking process!

As you can see  I had to hold the book open in one hand to keep it flat and take the photo with the other - good job I don't use my SLR for my blog photos I'd never have managed... Anyhow, I used the leftover sheet of paper from the front cover and a clock cut from some 7 Gypsies paper - time was going to be my main theme until I used this sheet of paper which referenced Suchard (i.e. chocolate) so now either I'll go both or no specific theme at all (which may prove difficult in the next lesson!)
Next time we're looking at design principles - and I think I will find that much harder!

Chemistry homework - complete

Well, It's April 1st all right... my 'ex' wedding anniversary (yes, really - I think I told the story last year...)

Anyhow Liverpool have lost again and I am in a bad mood - but I have finished my Creative Chemistry lessons (apart from day 6 that I can't do as mentioned yesterday) so here are days, 8 9 and 10.

Day 8

Techniques - Dabber Resist, Crackle Paint Resist and Shattered Stains

Love shattered stains - fabulous effect!
Day 9

Techniques - Perfect Distress Mist, Perfect Distress and Perfect Splatter Distress

Is it me or does the first one look like a coral reef (not that I've ever been down to see one!) all blue sea and  weeds flowing in the water.....
and Day 10

Technique - Rock Candy Distress Stickles

Not sure if I've got enough stickles here, the bottle is nearly empty so it was reluctant to come out!!

A huge thank you to Tim, Mario and everyone else involved in making and producing these lessons - it was an absolute blast!! Hope there'll be more in future. I have learnt a lot and enjoyed some new and some old techniques and have the evidence to refer back to forever. Brilliant!

Creative Chemistry - Days 3, 4, 5 and 7!

Coo what a day I've had - re-watching the lessons - stopping and starting them - and generally getting inky!

Day 3

Techniques - Alcohol Ink Agate, Archival Resist and Reflections Stamping (without reflections stamps!)

Day 4

Techniques - Watercolouring with Re-inkers and Layered Misting (Custom Stamp Pad is missing due to lack of supplies!)

Day 5

Stained Kraft Resist, Stamping with Stains (love this one!) and Marbled Stains

 and a spare Kraft resist piece

Day 6 - missing due to lack of distress markers or any suitable alternatives!

Day 7

Techniques - Nostalgic Batik (without the ironing layer) Rusted Enamel and Distress Powder Resist.

I am quite tired now - I started about 11 am and just finished... the other 3 days can come tomorrow.
Sorry about some of the photos, I ran out of daylight...

Here's what happens to your water brush that isn't Tim's one from Ranger - it sucks up the colour...

Oops, what a mess in the background of the shot.... oh well a creative crafty space, you've all seen worse! (and look, I found the hole re-inforcers - they weren't where they are now, when I couldn't find them yesterday, honest, I'm not that poor-sighted!)
Now for my steak and chips...if I can unfurl my knees!

Creative Chemistry - Day 2 lesson

Tim Holtz has as most of you know, been running a great online class and I dithered about signing up (was trying to save money, though it's not expensive and wasn't sure if I'd have time but blah blah blah here I am and it is FAB) Hope that link works - it keeps remembering me as a student and takes me straight in!!

So, even though everyone else is on the final day, I am just starting  - here are my Day 2 tags.
Blended Distress (Spritz and Flick)      Brushless Watercolour and    Wrinkle-Free Distress

I have done each of these techniques before but love them all, although I have to say my wrinkle-free is one of the worst I have ever done (but am too tired to do it again tonight!)  Alison, I told you I'd use this stamp for the brushless watercolour!!

Hope to get a few more days lessons done over the weekend!!

Simon Says - Show a Tag

Evening! A bit of a late one for me - but I was suddenly struck by inspiration for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Tag.  Well, as you all probably know, I use a lot of tags, so I had to take part this week!!

Anyhow, I have belatedly signed up to follow Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry online course and was rummaging around in one of my drawers of ink pads seeing what was there - and the rest as they say, is history.

I started with Paperartsy Fresco paints - base coat on the tag of Inky Pool, covered with crackle glaze and after that dried, a layer of Honeydew for the crackles - I still think it's magic watching this paint crackle so easily.

I stamped 'Elegant Stems' (Stampington) using a Ranger Antiquities inkpad (in Topiary - which almost exactly matches the Inky Pool paint) I had forgotten I'd got some of these inks - certainly haven't used them for several years - but now I've rediscovered them.....
I added depth with the limited edition distress ink in evergreen bough round the edges of the tag, then sponged the same colour through some sequin waste and used vintage photo round the edges of the tag.  Added just the top part of the stamp, inked in black archival, at the bottom of the tag and the text is from a Wendy Vecchi set.  Added a row of flower trim, coloured with the evergreen bough inkpad, and a piece of ribbon (same again) at the top.

Sorry it's not a very good picture. I couldn't get in close enough without the flash bleaching out every detail, I'll try and take a better one in daylight at the weekend.
Once again, there is a fab $50 random prize up for grabs. Thanks, Simon Says!

WOYWW 147 - 28 March

Morning all, hope this find you enjoying a warm (if not hot!) Spring day again - we are blessed currently in the UK with our weather. Long may it continue, though we do need rain, really... I've updated to the new blogger interface (accidentally!) so I hope this schedule works!

Anyhow, you're here to see my workdesk courtesy of Julia at the Stamping Ground - which today is not very exciting, apart from a RAK (Random act of Kindness) gift I won from SimonSaysStamp (for a tweeted comment) last Thursday and which arrived on Tuesday - from the States, which I think is brilliant. Here it is -

some gelatos (I have seen Donna Downey use these so will enjoy them I am sure!) a Big Brush pen and a brush - thanks again, Simon Says.

This next photo is for Elizabeth (whose Altered Book course so many of us are following) - my "proper" camera - she has often commented on my love of photography and her lack of decent camera - this is what I take all my"Kew" photos with (click the fountain on the top of my side bar for my other blog!)

The standard lens is 25-80mm focal length and the big zoom is 75-300mm

When I win (ha ha) the lottery I will upgrade to a digital SLR camera  but for now it's a film one!

Anyhow, we are meant to keep our WOYWW posts short and sweet and once again I've failed, so I'll shut up now! Have a good week all.

A little Bird Told Me...

that today's theme for Hels' Sunday Stampers challnege is "birds".  I had this little bird shape I bought a while ago (could I find it, was the only issue... yes, phew!)

I used distress inks (evergreen bough) and stain (broken china) over the base shape, leaving a beak shaped space  on which I used mustard seed stain, and stamped the flowers (fromTim's Nature's Discovery set) in chipped sapphire.

Covered the whole bird with distress embossing ink and clear embossing powder - several layers for some shine

And yes, I DID do both sides!  Added some bling to the centres of some of the flowers and black enamel accents for eyes. 

Probably shouldn't confess this, but I had to re-do the photos cos the first ones showed up the dust round the bowl of pot pourri (which used to smell of chocolate but doesn't any more, sadly!) (bad housewife skills!)