Gothic arch challenge Trees

My arch shows trees throughout the year, and as I love trees I might just do an arch book of trees, but not this side of Christmas.

http://gothicarches.ning.com

My pieces for my two themes

These are the pieces that I have done for my own themes. The first one is my angel, and the last two are for my Oriental jigsaw. They are all complete, so will mount them onto canvas as soon as I have bought them. I seem to have every size apart from the one I want.

For the Oriental ones, I have used stampboard, friendly plastic, charms, and beads to give them a three D dimensional look. The backgrounds on all of them were painted with a pearlescent acrylic dabber, and then stamped. The Oriental ones have been embossed with clear powder. Two of them have my favourite accent beads on.

The last jigsaw

Gosh, did I struggle with this one. It's for Sheila, who wanted a homespun, rustic, country, shabby look, in faded blues, green, and cream. I painted the background with acrylics, stamped the rag doll, shrank another one, and added various bits and pieces. I think I got carried away, and put too much on.
Just my own to do now.

Created by hand -- Red and Green

These are two very simple Christmas cards, that happen to fit the challenge on Created by hand this week. When you have 130 + cards to make, the simpler the better

http://createdbyhandchallenge.wordpress.com/

Gothic arch challenge Snow

This week the Gothic arch challenge is Snow.

On this one I used puff-up paint for the snow, and stamped some trees and snow flakes, and embossed them The image was added, with some punched snowflakes around the arch top

http://gothicarches.ning.com/

The last but one jigsaw piece

This one is for Carol, who wanted a vintage Christmas in red and gold. As Carol is hanging hers individually, it meant that you could do what you wanted around the edges, as it wasn't fitting against another piece. The background is painted in gold, and edges embossed with Chinese red. The image is stamped and painted, with other ephemera added. There are bells and beads hanging from the bottom.

Altered jigsaw pieces

These two pieces are for Sherry, who wanted a vintage Christmas in red and gold, and a folk art one in red, green, and brown. The first one is a stamped and embossed angel,on a painted background. Other ephemera added, and beads hung from the bottom. The other piece has a embossed background. The Xmas tree is alcohol inked shrink plastic. The other bits are wooden buttons and objects

These two pictures are the back and front of Margaret's hanging piece. Margaret wanted white, gold and red. The front has my favourite stamped angel, which I embossed and painted with pearlescent paints. The top wings have a covering of a sort of shiny gold see through paper. I have added some gems and other bits. the back shows the paper up well, it's the piece to the right of the angel. There is a metal snow flake hanging from it, which I have embossed with snowflake powder.

The big blue bit is for John, who wanted Christmas afternoon in purples and blues, with red and orange for contrast. It had to be done, 'cos what do lots of men do in the afternoon, yes go to sleep, full of Chrismas dinner, usually listening to the Queens speech.

The background is painted and embossed, with an added piece of purple card. The stamped image has an embossed edge. The dark blue Christmas tree has wire and red beads wrapped around it.

The one with the green angel is for Cindy whose theme was Wings. The packground is painted with pearlescent liquid acrylics. the angel is stamped and embossed. The bottom butterfly is friendly plastic, and the other two collaged and coated with lacquer.

Whoops,put this one in twice, and can't get rid of it

These two are for Viv, whose themes were Vintage Christmas, and Time. I love doing time things, and used shrink plastic, and watch parts on a stamped and embossed background. There is also a small jigsaw piece there as well.

This one is Viv's Vintage Christmas. The background is painted and embossed, with the image and ephemera added afterwards. There are beads hanging from the bottom

This is for Jinny who wanted a floral theme. I have used shrink plastic, friendly plastic, and paper flowers on a painted background.





At the moment June is offering some vintage images for an altered jigsaw piece challenge, so have linked her to my blog, as there are loads of altered jigsaws on here.

http://junesartyretreat.blogspot.com/

Gothic arch challenge -- Buttons

This is my arch for this weeks challenge. It's mainly stamping, with buttons and lace added http://gothicarches.ning.com/

My Round Robin pages for Sian and Nicks

This page is for Sian, whose subject is 'What colour are you' As I seem to use turquoise a lot, I decided that that was what I would use. It is a mixture of Paint, mesh, grunge board, friendly plastic, stamping, air dry clay, and wire. The surface to the left is a baby wipe, that I had used to clean a stamp after stamping with turquoise ink.

This is my page for Nicks in Astrids Round Robin. The colour I chose is Bronze, as I know Nicks likes that colour. Her subject is 'Lessons for life' I painted the mountboard, and then added tissue paper, plasterers mesh ( we are having an extension built, so I pinched some) metal, grunge board, stamping, and shrink plastic. The wording is stamped on metal with black Stazon. The back has other words and sayings on.

Gothic arch challenge Vintage children

The Gothic arch challenge this week is Vintage Children, which is one of my favourite subjects. I have made one, and put another one in that I made earlier.

http://gothicarches.ning.com/

Large Gothic arch

This is a large Gothic arch, measuring approx 14" x 9". The outside hardboard covered with embossed metal, coloured in places with alcohol inks. The inset is fabric that has been stamped, and coloured. The fabric is quilted, with beads and buttons sewn on. The fabric is coloured with chalk inks, and then the whole thing placed inside the metal frame. The beads at the bottom are made in a melting pot, and attached to the bottom with wire. The whole arch is backed with hardboard. If you click on the image you can see my uneven stitching.

Fabric hanging

This is a fabric wall hanging I made at a Crafty Individuals course a few weekends ago. The two pieces of fabric are silk, and I painted the front one with silk paints. Torn up handmade paper was then stuck onto the silk. The images are stamped onto tissue paper, and stuck onto the silk with spray mount. The whole thing was then adorned with buttons, stitching, and beads. It was then atached to the backing silk, just at the top, so they both hang free. It was great fun to do. Some of the beads on the hanging threads to the left are home made out of handmade paper, to match the ones on the hanging. The hanging is approx 2ft long. If you click on the image you can see it a lot better.

Jigsaw Book

In a moment of madness, I decided to make myself a jigsaw book. It measures 8" x 4", with the knobbly bits. The subject is Vintage children, and I really enjoyed making it. It's mainly collage and stamping on inked or backing paper backgrounds. I have added some lace and flowers on some of them, and butterflies, which I covered in a 3D lacquer. Only the front cover (Last picture) is a jigsaw piece, the others I cut out of card. ( And what a right royal fiddle it was as well) Note to self, do it with all jigsaw pieces next time.

Sunday postcard -- Halloween

The challenge on Suday postcard this week is Halloween. I think this is too dark, so might have another go http://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com

Gothic arch challenge Wee Witches

The challenge this week is Wee Witches, and as I haven't had a go recently, this one appealed. I'm sure most little boys think little girls are witches anyway, so this will only confirm that thought.

http://gothicarches.ning.com

MAMMA Swap -- Vintage tag

This week the MAMMA swap is a vintage tag, which I couldn't resist. I love doing vintage. The image is one I did ages ago, and is transfered onto fabric. It's not very good, as I always rub too much paper off. I'll keep practicing.

ATC ---Nature

I have made this ATC for a friends birthday. The front was painted with gold acrylic paint and heated to make it bubble. The middle portion is gold embossing powder, I then added air dry clay words, mushrooms, and leaves.
The inside is made with foam board, covered in a page from a book, and inked. The nest, bird and mushrooms are made from air dried clay , and placed in the opening. The other side is inked and stamped. The butterflies and dragonfly are also air dry clay, and are very fiddly, as they are so thin and small. I have more dragonflies without wings than with.

The scan has unfortunately made the colours look a bit dull.

Round Robin page for Susan

This is my Round Robin page for Susan, who choose Woman as her subject. I inked and stamped the background, and added the images. I finished it off by adding a flower embroidery strip at the bottom.

Skinny row houses

Some of these are for a swap, which stipulated that they had to have a house on a skinny page. I enjoyed doing them and got a bit carried away and did some extras, which I will make into a book. That is when I have done some more. I have shown the backs and fronts, as they had to be done on both sides. Some have inked backgrounds, some have my own backgrounds. They are all stamped and collaged.