Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Painting Goodness!

My work desk this weekend was covered in paint.  I had to be at school all day Saturday for PD (professional development) which robbed me of a lot of  play time.  My allergies decided to show themselves thus the appearance of eucalyptus oil sitting by the paints.  The wire is for making the stems of the leaves for the ATC’s and the embossing powders were purchased last week with the intention of learning how to use them.  Gasp! I can hear you now!  But nope, I have never ventured into embossing but after seeing all the beautiful cards you ladies make I got inspired and decided to try it.  Just need some play time!  Again, wish I lived closer so I could get a few lessons.

I stumbled on these awesome ATC’s at April Cole's Studio and knew I had to try my hand at creating my own. 

With the earlier than usual arrival of fall, I decided to use reds, oranges, yellows, and browns.  I never thought to paint on corrugated cardboard before, it was FUN and therapeutic!  I noticed that it looked like the artist’s paint had a thicker consistency than mine.  To achieve that look I tried leaving the paint out on the pallet for 30 minutes before using it and that did seem to give it a thicker consistence but I never did get mine to look like hers.

I needed thicker wire than what I found in the house but at 4 a.m., one just uses what one has.  Making the stems was not all that fun and I found my gluey fingers were constantly sticking to the tissue paper as I was trying to roll it on the wire.

I like the design of the papers I chose for the leaves and didn't want to completely cover them with paint.  Instead, I pulled several metallic paints then watered them down before painting over the leaves.  I thought the metallic colors lent themselves well with painted background.  After cutting the edges of several of the leaves I opted to not do the rest as it just didn't look right.  As a finishing touch I went over each card with BRILLIANCE gold ink (the shine you see).

Here are 2 other ATC’s I made:

GROUP: It's a Rainbow! - brown

ATC of ABCs: #6 "F"
This one is a resend as she never received the original.  I decided to hand color the feathers this time using Sakura Gellyroll Stardust pens (my favorite pens).  This one was a lot less fussy than the original.

Finding encouragement and loads of creativity within a wonderful group of creative people over at What’s on Your Workdesk? Wednesday


19 comments:

  1. Hi Diane,
    Super ATCs! And the corrugated cardboard technique is so versatile!
    You are correct in thinking that I am (deliberately) using the "wrong" side of the canvas. It's usually called a "Reverse Canvas". I like the effect and have made them like this before :)

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  2. Hi Diane, happy WOYWW, wow you have had a painting good time - they look fabulous, and what fun idea to paint corrugated card, the autumn colours are lovely. Cheers and have a great week RobynO#27

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  3. Hey Diane these are just fab, I don't know which I love more, the thought of you tackiling wire sticky fingers and tissue at 4am or the results..they look great. And good luck with the embossing powders...you'll love 'em. You Tube is probably the best educator, but if you need any help - ask a Desker!

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  4. These turned out great! The beauty of the internet though it that you can find out how to almost anything on you tube. I wish that had been available when I started my creative adventures in the early 90's.

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  5. Wow, these ATCs are absolutely stunningly beautiful. Thanks for sharing today. Hope you have a great day and a lovely crafting week to come. Hazel, WOYWW #47 x

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  6. What gorgeous colorful creations you are making! I love that you are using corrugated board for the bases! Glenda #44

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  7. I think it is fantastic what you are doing - and yes! You have your own style which is much better - because it is you! .. Thank you so much for sharing your view on your desk today. It gaves me such an inspiration :) -
    Kind regards
    Mariane
    http://cordes.re/blg/wind/?p=1574

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  8. Your ATC's are just wonderful and the cardboard looks fab behind must try and use that one day and your hand cut out leaves are great :)
    Regarding Digital Stamps they are easy to use and you can get a collection in no time
    I just print mine out on cardstock mostly you can use any paper you want (let the ink dry you can set it with a heat gun or spray a touch of hair spray on them or fixative you get from an art store) then just colour them as you would a stamp. Plus you can resize them to fit any creation you are making if you have more questions send me an email and I'd be happy to help out :)
    hugs Nikki 13

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  9. Thank you for posting these wonderful ATCs! You really gave me some inspiration!
    Cheers
    Gabriele 16

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  10. I hate when work interferes with play time! Love you ATC's.
    Happy WOYWW !
    Tertia #38

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  11. hello Diane, love your super colourful desk and your ATCs are brilliant. I'd say you are going to have fun with those embossing powders :) Have a great week. Elizabeth x #62

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  12. I LOVE all those ATCs! Very inspirational! Zsuzsa #64

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  13. Hi Diane - lovely autumn colours there, and the finished atcs are beautiful. Have a great week, Chris # 29

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  14. ah wonderful desky share, Diane... love the layout addition..
    re using Embossing powder if dont have heat tool I used a toaster for first about three years of embossing.
    Re the Higgins Eternal there is more than one of them:
    http://www.scribblers.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=higgins%20eternal&PN=Higgins%2ehtml#a466

    this is Scribblers, a site in Uk where get things from since shops in Oz closed down. The one I use is the permanent black ink...hope that helps, thanks for popping over
    Shaz in Oz.x #15

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  15. What a lovely lot to look at today, Diane. Glad you still got sufficient play time to make all these wonderful ATCs. The colours are just great. Have fun when using the embossing powders - it took me ages to learn - but I'm glad I kept going, as the results can look brilliant. That added shine... I usually use the versamark watermark ink pad when using embossing powders, as it gives me time! But then, my embossing is only very simple stuff.
    Thanks for already visiting. It has indeed been quite a task to make so many cards so quickly - but I've got 123 marked up ready for Saturday. I'd love them all to sell for Uganda, but, if they do, then you know what it means.... yes, I have to start all over again to do my own cards!!
    Take care. God bless.
    Margaret #2

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  16. I can see you've had some fun! They look great and so colourful! I particularly like the brown one. I hope you get more play time next weekend.
    Thank you for letting me look over your shoulder.
    Lisca#45

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  17. Oh pretty Diane!!!! I never thought of painting on cardboard like that either but I love the way they all came out! And each on is so different and individual! Awesome job!!!

    Happy (late) WOYWW!
    Amy E. #8
    Scrapthissavethat.com

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  18. Well, they look great. Also therapeutic? That is fabulous!
    The feathers turned out so well. Really like your ATCs!
    Thanks for sharing! Have a good week. Hugs, Kathy Jo #41

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