Sunflowers & Dragonflies

Faux Encaustic Wax and tutorial

From the February 2013 Technique Junkie Newsletter comes Faux Encaustic Wax.  As luck would have it I did a similar tutorial several years ago which you can see here.

I hope I inspired you to try this technique.

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by

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Sunflowers and Dragonflies Challenge 27: ATC’s

Howdy.  Can it really be Saturday already?!  Where does the time go.  I can’t believe it’s the end of January.  Are you feeling the same way?

We love our ATC’s here at Sunflowers and Dragonflies, so we’re doing another ATC challenge.  If you are looking for stamps that are perfect for ATC’s, may I suggest our very own Beautiful Life series.  These ladies have coordinating flourishes and fit perfectly on an ATC.   These stamps can be stamped just as-is or can be coloured in.  Our ladies are ethnic in origin too.

My card uses the recent Side Step Card technique from Splitcoast Stampers.  The decorative paper was made using the Technique Junkie’s Waxy Cuttlebug technique.  The ATC uses our Melody and Melody Flourish, and the sunflower was made using Spellbinder’s sunflower die cut.  Many layers of yellows, oranges, burgundy and brown ink brought the flower to life.  The butterfly is from K&Co.

This week’s prize

Any two of our beautiful ladies and their coordinating flourishes

Kim used Cheyenne and Cheyenne Flourish

Beth used Amber and Amber Flourish

View of Beth’s ATC closed.  BasicGrey DP was used as well.

Cathy used Cheyenne and Cheyenne Flourish as well as BasicGrey

Karen used Lottie and Lottie Flourish

Jerusha used Amber Flourish, Amber and Joy

Rose used Melody and Melody Flourish

Beth used Cheyenne

To be eligible for this weeks prize drawing, please post a direct link to your challenge project from either your blog or an online gallery to the Sunflowers and Dragonflies blog, specifically on the Challenge #26 Blog Post, so we can view it. If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword SD25.  Don’t forget to add Sunflowers and Dragonflies name and link on your post.

Deadline for this challenge is next Friday, February 5th.

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ATC’s–anyone interested in a swap?

Two more ATC’s that I made for a swap a couple of months ago.  I just mailed out swaps for this month and will post them once everyone has received theirs.  Don’t want to spoil the element of surprise.

These photos were downloaded from Etsy.  After downloading from Twisted Papers, I learned it pays to buy high quality images.

Is anyone interested in trading some ATC’s?  Please let me know and I will arrange the putting together of a little swap group.  Just use the words “sign me up” in your comment section.  Please note that these ATC’s are not available.

Hugs,  Beth

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Vintage Toys ATC

Vintage Toy ATC swap.  The lady who hosted this swap kept the ATC on the left because she said that the little girl looks exactly as she did when she was her age.  I was tickled when I heard the news.

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Vintage Toys ATC

Vintage Toys was the theme for November’s Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap.  For those who are not familiar with ATC’s, the size is 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″.  I used a variety of images, so the 10 ATC’s that I made to trade were all different.

I started by using watercolour paper with the Distress Ink technique and then I tore pages from an old book, and distressed the edges of the paper with ink.  Next, I added the vintage image, which I downloaded from an Etsy purchase, and adhered the image with Golden Gel.  Once the gel was dry, I embossed gold along the image (stamp is Odd Bird Planet).  Red brads were added. The image was then layered on top of black cardstock, and then layered over another page from a book, and then placed my final layer onto purple cardstock.  The last step was to use a gold Krylon pen to trace around the edges.

Have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by!

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Four Seasons

Good morning folks!  This is my artist trading card for the Four Seasons theme I created for a recent swap.  This is 1 of the 11 that I made.  It was awesome seeing how others interpreted our topic; they were all so magnificent.  I will share the ATC’s that I received in this swap with you later this month.

In order to stick with the 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ rule, and put everything into my ATC that I wanted to, I used a style that isn’t used a lot–a bi-fold opening.

To create the swirls in the background, I did the Waxy Cuttlebug technique from the Technique Junkie Newsletter.  This was applied to the front and again on the back.  The sky and ground were brayered, as was the sun.  The spring and winter background was stamped with seasonal items, and the bottom of the ATC was stamped with the tip of a tree to resemble a bush.  I used my Four Seasons stamp set, and stamped out each tree onto watercolour paper and watercoloured with watercolour markers.  I added black lines and a dark hole onto the winter tree with a very fine permanent marker.  Next, the trees were cut out and adhered to the ATC.  Punched autumn leaves were glued underneath the autumn tree.

This is the closed ATC.  A dragonfly brad was adhered.  Notice how the backside prongs were hidden by the spring tree.

On a side note, my girlfriend (hi JoAnn) told me this summer that my nails are something of an interest, and since then I hear others telling me the same thing.  Well, the holidays are upon us and I had my nails filled and painted yesterday.  If you tilt your head to the left you should be able to figure out what design I had airbrushed onto my thumbs and pinkies.  I couldn’t resist a little bit of eccentricity.  Someday I’ll show you the huge (and I mean huge) flower ring I wear to work and around town.  I enjoy looking as eccentric as I can.  Donnie has taught me to “be who I am” and it feels great to do just that.

Weekly Challenge

Don’t forget to get your card into us for this week’s Oh Canada challenge.

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