Transparency Transfers

I love the look of transfers. But I hate, hate, hate rubbing the background paper off the image. So I was very excited to hear about transfers using transparencies and 70 % rubbing alcohol. I have heard of using the Chartpak pens for transfers (link here is a how-to from art-e-zine) but am not keen on smelling the fumes the pen emits. I learned of alc/transp. technique from Kelsey's blog. She is also a member of my inkjet transfers yahoo group. She is an extremely talented artist, and her blog is one of my fav's. Unfortunately, I did not pay proper attention to the directions! After printing images on a transparency that is NOT quick dry, spritz with alcohol, place on receiving paper and burnish. Here is my first go at it. My transparency was quick dry and it was a frustrating experience. I ordered some online today that are NOT quick dry.

Ick! Next are two that I was able to salvage, sorry for the blurry pic:

This one started out as a gamepiece backboard, gesso swirls and doodles, painted with acrylics.

This one was a glossy ATC, transfer, alcohol ink on top, added gold rub-ons. I like this one a lot. It looks kind of spooky. Misguided Angel is one of my favorite songs by the Cowboy Junkies.

Free Cabinet Card Download

Enjoy two cabinet cards from my personal collection. I call the first one Grumpy Guy. Isn't his expression the best??? The back of the card is beautiful also, so I'm including it. This card is 4 1/4" x 6 1/2".

This one I call Two Sisters. It measures 4" x 4". I think the girl on the right is wearing a pocket watch of some sort.
Use them and let me see what you create!!

Bookmarks with Wrapped Chenille Stems

My arttechniquesATC's yahoo group is working out of Sherrill Kahn's book, "Creative Embellishments". Our first projects are wrapped chenille stems and fabric beads. You can see my beads in my previous post, Art in Bed. I decided to mix textures and created two bookmarks.


The first step was digging through my stash and finding the precut cardstock bookmarks. I misted my non-stick craft sheet with water and rubbed my favorite distress ink color, peeled paint, on the sheet. Then I smooshed the bookmark all over it. Added a wash of copper Lumiere paints and Kiwi perfect pearls. After drying I layed a ferny plastic stem down on top the bookmark and smooshed Molding Paste all around and in between the stems. Remove plastic stem. Let that dry for a couple days. Painted with Golden's green gold paint (another favorite) and accented with the kiwi perfect pearls. Lots of nice texture going on here.
Next step was choosing the quotes. I love, love, love Jane Austen so I picked two favorite quotes, one from "Pride and Predjudice" and one from "Persuasion." Printed words on taupe cardstock. Tore the edges and crinkled the paper up in a little ball. Smoothed out and distressed the edges with brown ink and chalks. Used soft gel medium to adhere and seal the surface.
Next step was making the chenille stems. I had a lovely green/gold yarn on hand and wrapped it up! Next I used a fuzzy, sparkly thread sparingly, to add just a little more texture.
Tied a ribbon around the bottom of the stem and added beads as a finish. Here the finished backs:

And the finished fronts:
Hope you like! Try it and show me what you create!

Milagro Heart ATC

Finished this one today. The background is watercolor paper painted with Lumieres, green and copper. The wings are cut out of a vintage ad for different art supplies, over embossed(clear) with texture stamp, and highlighted with gold rub n buff. The stamp is from Invoke Arts. I absolutely am in love with thier stamps. See my earlier post, Matchbox Art, for details on crafting the copper heart.

The corners are from Bonnie's Best Art Tools, and the name says it all!
I colored the corners with alcohol ink. Be careful, if you use a heavy hand, you'll break one like I did! They are delicate and I was manipulating it way too much. Here is the finished piece:
I stumbled upon this incredible artist Thomas Mann, today while cruising the web. Look at what he makes:
How stunning are they! I am coveting these and several of his necklaces.

To Have A Heart

This is my latest piece. The girl started out as a magazine ad for a watch. I scanned the ad, cropped out the watch, and printed the image on a transparency. My original thought was to do a transfer onto the canvas, but it didn't work. Transfers are my Achilles heel. I painted the 5 x 7 canvas teal, and adhered the transparency with gel medium. I did a wash with white paint and scratched the movement of her hair with a knitting needle. I also made swirly doodle scratches in the water areas. Click on the photo and those details are more apparent. Next step was adding the india ink. I lifted the edges of the transparency and let the ink flow under it. I got that cool coral shaped spot in the lower right hand corner, and the moldy looking area around her heart. Dragged india ink along the side and used different nibs for different thicknesses of flowing hair. Rebecca Sower Flourishes stamp in corner. Painted a heart (which I'm not totally happy with, I may tweak it later). Added some white dots and the words printed out on my Dymo machine. It's so weird, but almost everything I create is the result of a happy mistake. This project started out completely different in my mind. I was thinking teal, fuchsia and white squares, maybe a little tiny bit of orange, a closeup of a face. Oh well, maybe I'll go in that direction tomorrow!!

Versatile Alcohol Inks

Did you know that you can dye buttons,ribbon, metal bits, and more with alcohol ink. The technique is simple! Put some buttons and/or ribbon in a zip lock bag. Sprinkle in the alcohol ink. Shake it up. Done. Instant aging or customizing colors for your art project.


I learned this simple but significant trick from Traci Bautista at Virginia Art and Soul 2007. Try it and let me know what you create!

Got the Blues???

These folks definitely have The Blues! This is South Saturn Delta. My friend April has the smokey blues voice, and Dave, well Dave is a guitar virtuouso!! Thier second CD is soon to be released and the party is at Red Hot and Blue in Cherry Hill. Check out their link for more info. Be There or Be Square!

Hair Art

Today I went to see my friend and hair guru, Terri. She is an artist with hair chemicals! Although I was born with red hair, lately it has started turning more brown then red. Terri to the rescue. She is able to give me the color I had in high school, and today she curled me up! I had to share her genius!!

She loves me even though she knows I could never recreate this look on my own!
Thank you, Terri, at Salon Rouge!!!

Art in Bed

Feeling punk with the flu is no reason not to do Art! My arttechniquesATC's group is working out of Sherrill Kahn's "Creative Embellishments" book. Our current project is making wrapped chenille stems and fabric beads. Last year at A and S, Virginia, 2007, I made altered baby wipes for trades. Well, they went over like a fart in church, so I brought most of them home.

Here is a close-up of the tag:

Here are a few close-ups of my favorite wipes. They are painted, stamped, alcohol inked, and left to dry.

After gathering up my supplies:

I cut straws of different sizes because I'll want to use some on ATC's and some on larger books and canvases. Next step add glue to wipe and roll that straw up.


Here they are rolled and ready to embellish:

Now since the stand up and roll part was done, I took to my bed:
Where I wrapped chenille stems with fibers:

Here is one finished:
Here are the ones I finished by adding sparkly fibers, metal fibers, beads and toulling.

Gotta go post em on my group, then it's off to bed for me. Doing a 12 hour work day tomorrow.

Have a great Monday, and wash your hands!!!a lot!!

Beating of My Heart

Stayed up LATE last night working on this ATC. I can't breathe through my nose, so I can't sleep! Feeling flu-y. This ATC's theme, when first examined, may seem full of darkness and lonliness.


There is a hidden message though. If you read the entire poem, written by Paul H. Beattie,
it is quite beautiful and full of hope. Consider taking a moment to read the entire poem. Let me know what you think.

Brighton Tins

For all you assemblage artists out there: have you ever heard about Brighton jewelry? It's lovely stuff. I bought myself an "I love me" ring not long ago. It is smokey quartz, I think. I love it and I wear it every day.

Anyway, it came in a tiny heart shaped tin box.

I purchased my ring at East Meets West Emporium in Shippensburg, Pa. I put the tin aside for a rainy day of altering. It just so happens that I will be attending Kathy Wasilewski's "Tin Soul" workshop at Virginia Art and Soul. Here is a workshop example posted by Kathy on the supplies list for the class:

Now my wheels are turning.....I went on ebay to find a larger Brighton tin for the mid section of my "tin soul". Purchased 3 necklace size boxes:

When I enlarge the picture it gets too blurry. Got 3 for $10.50 which includes shipping. I'm hoping the size is right, and that I'll be able to trade the other 2 with another attendee of the class. My inspiration for looking on ebay was from my arttechniques or arttechniquesATCs yahoo group. Some of the artists were chatting about purchasing Godiva candy boxes on ebay after Valentines Day. Thought I should spread the love!

Winter White

Our January challenge at my arttechniquesATCs yahoo group is "white". Boy, was I stumped. I'm not very inspired by white. Well, that's why it's called a challenge! I got to thinking about the color white and eventually started remembering winters in Ohio. My family lived in Ohio for about 6 years. I have never encountered snow as heavy or as beautiful since. My ATC is inspired by the memories of wide expanses of land bordered with green snow fencing bending this way and that under the weight of all that snow. It could get so cold that your clothes felt wet. The top layer of snow crunched when you stepped on it and glittered in the light.

Unfortunately the scanner does not pick up the sparkle of the glass glitter. I painted craft sticks with Goldens Phalo Green followed by Delta Crackle medium, topped with white paint. The snowdrift is Golden's Molding Paste. Light grey wash on watercolor paper base. Puffy white paint snowballs. I thought about adding thin wire to connect the fence posts after I already glued them down. Next time!