Steampunk Time!

Hi, servus and thanks so much for stopping by today! As always on the fifteenth I am sharing my make for our "Anything Goes - Steampunk/Industrial" mixed media challenge over at SanDee&amelie's Steampunk Challenges alongside with the other lovely ladies from Team B!

I love ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and APCs (Altered Playing Cards) and found that I haven't been doing any of these lately. Sometimes I just seem to forget about favourite techniques or projects as there are so many new techniques out there that I want to try and learn...but I am not sure anymore that this is what will make me happy in the long run. For quite some time now  I have been feeling I would love to find my "home" and also be able to "come home" as an artist - to my favourite techniques, my favourite colours, themes, formats,...

So I decided to pick up doing the really small formats again and created an APC duo for this month's challenge:

I still had some prepped playing cards in my studio (covered with old book pages on both sides) and what sparked mojo this time was a "stained" card on which I had "cleaned" my palette knife during a different project...

...when I simply had added drops of DecoArt media fluid acrylic paints (English Red Oxide, Cobalt Turquoise Hue and Diarylide Yellow) and dragged them across the surface using a palette knife.

As I try to never waste any paint or other media I had scraped the excess across a third and fourth card (sometimes I do this on simple white scraps of card stock too that I always have ready at my desk...these can be used in so many ways on future projects!)

To soften the edges of the scraped on paint and also tone down some areas, I added a scraped on layer of white DecoArt Americana premium Gesso here and there. As the premium Gesso is very liquid it creates a transparent effect if being applied very thinly (which was exactly what I needed).

Once that had dried, I applied DecoArt media white Crackle Paste in some spots (using a very small palette knife this time). I put the two cards on the heating to speed up the crackling process. 

Using black Staz-On stamping ink I added some images from the Tim Holtz "Dapper" stamp set. 

I had painted two Calico Craft Parts gears and two pieces I had die cut (using the Tim Holtz "Industrial" Sizzix die) with DecoArt Dazzling Metallics "Moss Pearl" and "Teal"...

...and dabbed on a bit of DecoArt media Carbon Black Antiquing Cream with my fingertip to add a bit of a worn look to them. 

The words I wanted to use were stamped onto some yellowed paper from an old magazine and fussy cut. 

When all had dried and was ready, I glued everything in place using matte DecoArt Decou-Page. 

Then I finished up the APCs with some doodling with a white gel pen and washi tape. 

To make the crackles from the paste more visible (and also because I found the cards were still looking too clean) I applied a mix of DecoArt media Raw Umber and Carbon Black Antiquing Creams here and there and wiped back until I was content. 

The finished pair of APCs:

I hope you like them! If you want to get the chance to win a fab bundle of DecoArt media goodness or boozybear steampunk chipboard pieces, simply hop over to the challenge blog, check out the makes of my two wonderful teams to get that mojo flowin' and play along! 

Hope to see you over there!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx

52 Card Pickup - Fog-inspired

Finally the time of year has come when living on sixth floor and looking out of our flat's windows feels as if the world outside has simply vanished at times.

I love fog!
Well, not exactly when I have to drive a car, but when walking the dog and finding ourselves being somehow "wrapped up" in a blanket that cannot be touched but that reduces sounds and makes me feel as if the existing world was only just within that small bubble around us that somehow "moves along" as we walk on.

Today I tried to capture this feeling in images and (my own) words.
I hope at least some of the meaning gets through to you. ;)

Have a lovely weekend! xxx

Stamp used: Indigo Blu - "Bare Forest I"
Stencil used: Tim Holtz - Sizzix - "Birch Trees"

52 Card Pickup - Session 5

It's been quite some time since I have done any altered playing cards for my 52 cards pickup project. If you don't know that "52 Card Pickup" means, learn more about it here.

This time my group of four cards look a bit less "lighthearted" and "fun"...which mainly is caused by the fact that I have been struggling with constant nervousness and sometimes also panic attacks from out of the blue for the last months. And although I still try not to let it take me down too much, I have reached a point where I can feel the exhaustion quite a lot. (The source for this still isn't found yet, but my doctors and I are getting closer it seems...).

You will find that the quotes I used on these four cards indicate some of the struggle I am in at the moment. But then I think: in that hectic life most of us have they should be helpful to others too sometimes.

#17

#18

#19

#20

Materials used:  Paper Artsy Eclectica Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics "Chutney", "Chartreuse", "Seaweed" and "Tikka" alongside some scraps from the Prima "Cartographer" paper stash. Washi tape, some Bo Bunny, Kaisercraft and Prima stamps for texture and Distress markers "black soot" and "broken china" to shade in the word tiles and hearts.

Hugs,

Claudia x

52 Card Pick Up - Session 4

Welcome back for another 52 Card Pick Up Session!
Cards 13 to 24 are meant to combine doodling with mixed media techniques which opens new ways on creating you otherwise would not have thought of. I found it hard at the beginning (having to tear my doodled cards to halves) but creative thoughts soon developed their own direction and pace and I let them take me with them.

I also feel the need to express how happy and proud I am that my cards were able to inspire and lure some other folk like Brenda Brown for example into signing in for the 52 Card Pick Up too! It seems she even likes my style of displaying them so much that she has adapted it for the cards on her blog too.

I think inspiring and getting others to seek for new styles and creative paths is the biggest laud you can get honestly. So thank you!

This time I start with showing you my doodled cards first so you can see where I have used parts of them on the cards number 13 to 16 afterwards and how I tried to incorporate them into the design.

Two of them haven't been used yet and I am not sure if I will. I think I'd rather do some new ones...now that I worked my way towards making them blend into the cards design.

 #13

I am afraid on card number 13 I painted all over my doodled word because I had used too many various colours so it just did not fit in.

#14

#15

#16

Numbers 15 and 16 are my favourites because the doodles worked quite well with the 52 Card Pick Up design...but still make them more personal. 

Hope you like some of them too ;)

Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia x

52 Card Pick Up - Session 3

Here come my numbers 9 to 12 from the 52 Card Pick Up. The next twelve cards will look a bit different because we are to doodle and use part of it on the cards. So I am off to practice my doodle skills which have rusted I am afraid ;)

But for now I hope you enjoy having a look at my third set from the class. Again I had some happy time at my crafting desk creating and adapting ideas for my own cards, because for this set Stephanie left a lot of room for own interpretation and merely gave hints or impulses than a ready design.

No. 9

No. 10

No.11

No.12

I enter these too to Inspiration Emporiums "Say it with Words" challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia x

52 Card Pickup - Session 2

As my desk was already a total mess yesterday afternoon (after I had done the first four cards for the 52 Card Pick Up) I decided to do the next four cards as well.

No.5

No.6

No.7

No.8

Again I had a wonderful time playing with chit chat and letter stickers and a lot of distress products. I especially like the shading around silhouettes as it gives a lot of depth to the design. 

I love especially the quote on the second card of this set as it speaks of an important truth which we often forget about.

I enter this set of cards to Inspiration Emporiums February Challenge "Show It With Words!".

Have a lovely Sunday! 

Happy crafting,

Claudia x