Jackson Pollock Imitation Card

Hi everyone! I decided in between washing bedding because one of my dogs was sick to finish the card I started this weekend. This is my interpretation of Jackson Pollock's art. I used his "Lavender Mist" painting which has no lavender at all for my inspiratio. Although his is mainly black and white with some rose pink I went with more modern colors. Also instead of doing my drips and splatters with house paint I used String Gel by Liquidtex which I colored with acrylic paint. I did use my brush to push some of the drips into other colors like Jackson Pollock did. This was my first try at using String Gel which has the consistency of honey and dries clear. I wasn't sure if it would buckle card stock so I used a piece of thin cardboard which was packaging material.

I decided to do a hand print like Jackson Pollock did. However, the paint dried too quick which metallic paints appear to do unless extenders are used plus I didn't have a heavy enough coat of paint on my hand. If you look carefully you can  see my fingers. I first used a palette knife to let the gel drip but I ended getting lots of globs. After doing some drips with a metallic turquoise I added some lilac paint to it which gave me the different color of turquoise mottled with the lilac. Then I decided to see if it would drip better if I used a thinner medium so I mixed purple acrylic ink. I still got thicker lines dripping from the palette knife.  Then I decided to make a spout on my disposable drinking cup and poured the string gel getting thinner drips. After the string gel was dried I used my air brush and Spectrum Noir markers to color over the white background. I used my label marker for printing out the quote. This quote is one of my favorites. "Art is the only way of running away without leaving home."

I looked at the card and decided that it needed something else. The lines reminded me of a butterfly in flight. I stamped on plastic using Stazon ink with my favorite butterfly stamp. (This was the first stamp I ever bought which started me on my card making journey a few decades back.) I then used my air brush first with Spectrum Noir markers and then with a gold Sharpie on tissue wrapping paper. I held the Sharpie a distance away from the tissue paper using the lowest setting so I would get  more of a splattered look. I then glued my wrapping paper on the plastic on the backside. When the glue was dry I cut out the butterfly. Then I used a black Glaze pen for the Antennas and body. Under the black I was able to adhere a piece of foam without it showing. The butterfly is semi-transparent so you can see some of the drips under it.if you are looking. If you don't have an airbrush which works with markers you can use color sprays if you wish to make your own embellishments this way. Just remember to color the tissue paper first as the glue will to a certain extent act as a resist. Also you will want to make sure that the tissue paper is down tight. Especially if you are going to cut out.

What do you think of my adventure in creating modern art? Do you think you would buy String gel and play with it?  By the way this is something which older children would have fun with. I'm hoping that I can introduce my oldest granddaughter to this medium. Who knows even my son might have fun playing.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Altered Playing Cards Week 18

Hi everyone! We are now in week 18 of the Altered Playing card challenge and I have not gotten bored yet. Claudine always has a fun technique or a fun theme. This week the theme was beauty. She used the technique of acrylic paints with water. My backgrounds didn't turn out the way her's did. I think I had too much water and my second card definitely got too wet and ended up being distressed looking. Since she used flowers on her card I decided to use flowers on mine also.

Here is the first card I did and I love how the background turned out.

For the background I placed Ivy green, peridot,sorbet,and copper paint next to each other on an old vinyl place mat.. (Who says you need to put out big bucks for a craft mat). I then misted the paint and took my playing card and literally kept twisting it through the paint. until the whole card was covered. The fun part of this technique is that you are never going to get the exact same look twice. I took a Hero Arts poppy cling stamp and decided to stamp the large flower twice and the not fully opened flower once.  I actually stamped them with Stazon Cactus ink but my airbrush changed the color.  Then taking a Spectrum Noir red marker and my eBrush I brushed the petals. In some places I later went over with the blender marker. I airbrushed the stems also. I used a black Glaze pen to accent the dots. Once again my flowers are adhered with foam adhesive.

The sentiment was once again done with my Brother label maker on clear tape. I first printed the smaller font part of the saying and cut the label apart just before never. Then printed the beauty. I carefully adhered the three pieces of tape together. I love how the clear tape allows the background to show through and in my opinion it is less distracting than printed out on my computer would have been.

For this card I put three different colors of paint on but because the paint and card was too wet the light blue really diluted the other two colors. Note to self go easy on the water even playing cards are fragile when wet. I decided for my flower to experiment. I printed on copy paper a photo of flowers I had taken last Summer. Then transferred the photo to canvas using Creative Medium. I don't know if it was because I used Vintage as I have no clear or what but the flower really lost  the variations of color. I decided to use fabric paint over it  which brought the colors out some and then gave it a puffy center. (See photo below) Because the paint made the flower stiff I was able to shape the petals. I then drew a cloud and put text in it for my sentiment.

There you have it my altered cards for this week. Have you tried to transfer a inkjet photo on fabric? If so what did you use as your transfer medium? Have you tried using a label maker for printing out sentiments?

Over the weekend I played a little bit with some String Gel which I bought on impulse. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to use my interpretation of Jackson Pollock's art. For those who don't know Jackson Pollock was a modern art pioneer. He didn't just splash paint on canvas he thought out where he wanted the drips and splashes to go. Even using a brush to help the drips go the direction he wanted them to go. He would walk around his canvas on the floor to decide if he needed to add something somewhere. To be honest I'm not a fan of most modern art but his work at least to me has a mystical quality to it.

Thank you for stopping by. Do come back. I'm hoping that soon I'll be able to post a Valentine card which is totally gorgeous. I hate having to wait but when you are guest designer it has to be posted somewhere else first. ;-)

I challenge you  this year to make time to create. The more you create the more creativity builds up inside of you.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Stenciled Valentine's Card

Greetings from the land of snow. The rain had pretty much scoured out the snow and then off and on today and tonight it has been snowing. As long as it doesn't turn into ice again I won't complain. Besides other than taking the dogs out for a walk I can play in my "playroom".

I am back experimenting. I wanted to see if I could stencil on tissue paper with Distress Paint. My stenciling is not perfect but it is after all a handmade card and not a Hallmark one. I also wanted to see about using lace as a stencil with my eBrush.

I took a scrap of card stock left over from the frame I cut out for a card which I can't post yet and using lace and my eBrush stenciled using a Sharpie maker. I decided I did not want to hide the lace with a sentiment so used a Brother's label maker I just learned I can frame my words with it. I bought the label maker second hand. 

For the heart panel using Distress Paint and a Plaid stencil I stenciled the hearts on tissue paper. When it was dry I used the eBrush and a blue Spectrum Noir marker for the background. I wanted to see if it would change the painted hearts or not. Then taking the same marker which I colored the heart in the dress I doodled on card using my eBrush.  The color looked really dark but once I adhered the tissue paper the background actually ended up being soft.

The rag doll is a Hero Arts stamp. I am fairly sure she has been retired for a few years. It is fun to get out old stamps from my beginning days of stamping and use them again. I colored the stamp with Spectrum Noir markers but since my craft knife needs a new blade I used blue chalk to color the white card stock above her head.  I also used chalk to color the part of her outfit with the heart. I edged her with Vintage Photo ink  and pop dotted her on the card. 

There you have it my play on a snowy day.  Do you make and give Valentine's cards?

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!