4×4 Friday – Handmade Backgrounds

It’s been ages since my last crafty post, but this week I was inspired by 4×4 Fridays to make something from handmade backgrounds.

The handmade background for this card was made with my favourite methods. I painted a piece of white card with blue paint, using a very dry brush, at various angles. Other times I would add a watered down wash afterwards, but here I was looking for some white space between the brush strokes. Once the paint was dry, I stamped images from Judikins “Treasure Cube” with Staz-on Blue and Autumn Leaves swirl with Brilliance Moonlight White.

4x4 Friday Adventure card

To make the card, a 4″ x 8″ piece of card was folded in half and a square of the background paper was cut and stuck on with double sided tape. Stamped images from StampMania’s Australian Explorers cube, using Staz-on Blue, onto white card, along with “Adventure” by Limited Edition.

Happy creating,

Michelle

4×4 Friday – Numbers

Being an Engineer, I LOVE numbers, so the 4×4 Friday theme is great. But where to start? I chose a rhyme that I’ve been reciting often with my boys, to distract them while walking home from the shops – it seems to work most times!

This has been created with limited resources. We went away for the weekend, to my parents cottage in the bush; card, pen and Derwent pencils. Didn’t have a lot of crafting time, but it was quite relaxing.

Michelle

4×4 Friday – Favourite Colour

My favourite colour is GREEN! So I had heaps of fun creating this piece for the 4×4 Friday challenge this week.

I had already created the green background, using Folk Art’s Hauser Light Green. “Green” was stamped with the Making Memories foam alphabet set, in Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy. As green is my favourite colour I had lots of green embellishments – it was just a matter of choosing the greens that went together. The buttons are from my Grandma’s collection. The green and gold star beads were from the local $2 Shop. I don’t remember where the other bits came from. Gold highlights added with Brilliance Galaxy Gold and a gold Marvey Marker. All bits were stuck on with Folk Art’s Papier Glass Finish.

Can’t wait to see everyone else’s favourite colours!

Michelle

4×4 Friday – Masks

Such a great theme for 4×4 Friday this week – Masks have always intrigued me and the glamour of an old-fashioned masquerade ball sends tingles down my spine!

The blue background was made by me – painted brush strokes with one colour and used the watering of the paint to give it different shades. Stamped with Autumn Leaves Swirls, Stamp Oasis French text, All Night Media motif, in Brilliance ink (Black, white and silver). Image from Art-e-zine. Printed text searched for painfully in pages removed from an altered book (I think I ended up doing more reading than word finding – very annoying when I’d already removed a work from the bit I wanted to read!) Black border stamp by Collections.

The image from Art-e-zine is one of my favourites – If you have great places you’ve found images, please let me know!

Michelle

MMM – Transparencies

Mixed Media Mondays has Femmy hosting this week and she made a piece around the theme of “Transparencies”. These are great for layering, creating depth and making see-through windows. I decided to make two cards, using transparencies I had coloured with Adirondack Alcohol inks.

Using, normal “Overhead projector” transparencies, I added Adirondack Alcohol inks to the sheet and added the blender to create more of a watermark effect. The colours I used were Raisin and Pesto. Marvy Metallic gold marker was used for the gold highlights. Do this in a well ventilated area or you will wonder why you are beginning to get dizzy. Leave to dry.

The images on the transparency were stamped in Staz-On. The small text stamp is by Hampton Art Stamps. The two butterfly stamps are by Hero Arts. Background swirls by Autumn Leaves.

To make the card, I wanted to enclose the transparency so it would look neat inside the card. I took a sheet of A4 paper and cut a 140mm piece; the length being 297mm. Then I scored the card at 100mm – this became the back. Then I scored again at100mm and folded the shorter section in – this became the inner side of the front. To cut the window, I roughly measured up the transparency size and cut through the two pieces together, to create a window. On the inside of the middle section, I stuck double sided tape around the edge of the window, layed the transparency down, added a bit more tape (I didn’t want the frame to gape around the edge), then folded the last section over.

The finishing touches were then added. I outlined the window with Marvy Metallics gold before sticking it all together.

If anyone would like more details, just let me know!

Michelle

4×4 Friday – Tickets

“Tickets” is the theme over at 4×4 Friday this week. If you haven’t been to visit yet, then get over there now (or at least, after you’ve left a comment!) Not only will you find an amazing group of talented artists showing off their work, you will also find the 4″ by 4″ format a great size to work with – slightly bigger than an ATC and nice and square.

My piece was inspired by the green Go Make Something ticket letters. Then I found the lovely ferris wheel picture from a  “Bordeaux” vintage image sheet (don’t know where it came from  – sorry!) Stamp from “Venezia” plate by Oxford Impressions. Also added some little gold stickers and gold ink for depth. No paint this week – I’m a little painted out after my last piece.

This is all stuck onto thin, ivory board. I think I may turn it into a card.

Happy Creating,

Michelle

4×4 Friday – Vintage Brides

Vintage Brides was the delightful theme for 4×4 Fridays this week. I often use vintage colours, so that wasn’t too much of a stretch. I used texture paste for the first time – I wanted the bride to blend into the background.

Image from Art-e-zine (A great place for images!) Texture paste with paint over the top to blend it in. Found objects stuck into the paste. Handwritten text. “NEW” letters from Collections. Edged with copper Krylon pen.

Happy Creating,

MIchelle

4×4 Friday – Florals

This weeks challenge for 4×4 Friday is Florals – not flowers, but florals. So my aim here was to do something “florally”, not just with flowers. I’ve just bought the “elegant butterfly” stamp, so I thought that was a good start; the right size too!

Background painted purple and stamped with Flower Sketch by Rhonda Farrer, in Brilliance Pearlescent Lavender. Music added to corners and sponged in purple chalk ink. “Elegant butterfly”, by Stampington & Co, stamped in black and lavender, then layered and the butterfly glued with its wings up. Kaiser gems added to corners. All edged in lavender ink.

All very purple, but I’m pleased with it! Especially since it’s so different from my first thoughts for “Florals”.

Happy Creating,

Michelle

4×4 Friday – Family

The lovely challenge site of 4×4 Friday has a theme of Family this week.

Alphabet and children image by Collections. Keys from Grungeboard with Vintage Photo Distressed ink. Lace aged with coffee.

Happy Creating!

Michelle

4×4 Friday – Oriental

A quick piece made for 4×4 Friday this week.

The stamps along the border are from a great set of Chinese symbols and characters (which my husband saw and bought for me! Who says 10 years of training isn’t worth it!). The fan stamp in Stamp Francisco. The shiny thing from a $2 shop, sold as bookmarks (stuck on with Folk-Art Papier Glass Finish (like Dimensional Magic).

Happy Creating,

Michelle