Gothic Arch Challenge

This is my entry for the challenge at the Gothic Arch Challenge blog here. The theme is metallic fever and I have made a Gothic Arch Wall Hanging. After looking around the web at images or original Gothic Arches and finding a template on the Gothic Arch site I traced the template onto some metal and then cut  it out. I wanted a circular shape at the top so after some trial and error I traced and cut out the shape I wanted. I used Pebble, Sunshine Yellow and Red Pepper alcohol ink on the metal.

I then created 3 card arches each a little bigger than the next. I used barn door and wild honey distress inks around the edges and then randomly stamped a paper artsy hot pick flower.

I found some images of butterflies on Graphic Fairy and cut them out and coloured with the colours above and spiced marmalade and then mounted them one on top of the other with pads to give some depth. I coloured a dragon fly charm with inks and stamped more butterflies from Tim Holtz and Paper Artsy onto the Graphic Fairy images. I then added the large butterfly at the front of the arch and gave it some metal feelers and two red bling eyes.

Finally I used some Tiny Alphabets from prima to create the title and added an eyelet and chain.

Stampotique Altered Poison Bottle

At Stampotique Maria challenged us to alter a bottle to a poison bottle and only use Stampotique stamps... hmmm... much thinking ensued. Here is the almost step by step approach, it just leaves out the  swearing, smiling and general messiness that went on. 

I began with an empty perfume stick bottle which I filled with  sploshes of alcohol inks and gold mixatives but I found it hard to get it to go where I wanted it to go.

I coloured the lid with pro markers and alcohol inks and doodled some details on the lid with sakura white and glitter pens. It is a poison bottle but it also needs an antidote which I created and stuck to one of the perfume sticks.

In my bits and bobs box I found an old dried chilli and that seemed a great antidote to poison when wrapped with beads, ribbons, pin and the definition of antidote. I had to really think about how to get the stamping on and then staring at the glass bottle inspiration stuck - shrink plastic. There was a lot of unladylike cursing at this point as bits curled over too much and got stuck etc but I finally ended up with these pieces edged in alcohol ink.

Angel Boy, Oh Deer, Smushasha and Olivia (Eric had a major melt down and curl up)

I decided the bottle needed a stand so found the plastic protector from a stack of cd's added ink and stuck on some metal fasteners as feet. If I had taken photos in daylight you could appreciate how giving the bottle a base that is raised up helps the colours bounce. I then stuck my shrink plastic stamps to the bottle with glue, masking tape, glue dots, tape and more swearing as a curvy bottle and wavy shrink plastic make it tricky to stick. I also added another layer of ink to my shrink plastic.

Olivia perhaps suffering from Poison?

Angel Boy hiding under what began as a hideous flowery chipboard tag  before I covered it in gesso,  inks and my drawing of a wonky skull and crossbones - and another bead from that box.

  

Here you can see the shrink plastic poison charm above Oh Deer and a key and owl charm that were dipped in alcohol inks and added to the sign.

The curved bits hanging from ribbon on each corner are from a broken shell necklace in my bits and bobs box that I dripped red ink onto to make them look a little like blood. I enjoyed making this. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. 

ATC Chain and Charm Challenge

The theme for this challenge was chain and charm. As usual we are asked to make 3 ATCs for the UK Stampers swap and I decided I wanted them to be the same which I find makes it trickier. First I had to obtain some charms which I did from the lovely lady at EK Craft and Crop (but forgot her name...) then I went through the broken jewellery box for some old chain. I sprayed Cosmic Shimmer Chalk Mists onto the background and then stamped the key and rule stamps from Paper Artsy. Next I layered some thin tissue/fabric style paper, that I frayed, in pink and white. This gives a lovely tactile feel to the card.

I sprayed a small sheet of Lost and Found sunshine paper and stamped the typewriter. Then to be quite honest I was stuck. How would I put it all together and which charm should I use? I searched for apt quotations and sayings but nothing seemed right until... my return from a hellish 10 hour day at school yesterday. We have been back for 10 days and the pupils a week and any of their goodwill has worn off combined with a hellish timetable  and various other factors. I came home drained and in a tired (Lens Guy would say foul) mood and that's when it came to me: Break the chains that stifle creativity.  Inspiration! I used the Stencil Font, printed the text, sprayed and cut it out. I attached charm to chain and chain to ATC with a brad.