See You Around...

I may not be around as much as usual online over the next few days/weeks. :(

 

DH's laptop has developed a hardware fault and need to be sent off for repair. But he needs to have a laptop for his work. So... he's borrowing mine. *sobs*

 

So come tomorrow night my beloved lappy will be heading off to London with DH, leaving me with only my desktop... and I can only really use that in the evenings once the kids are in bed. I can check emails and Facebook and surf the web a bit on my phone during the day but commenting is a pain and I can't do anything fancy like upload to my blog etc.

 

So before I go, metaphorically speaking, I thought I'd post a quick card that I made this evening:

 

 

 

 

The image is The Octopode Factory's Rapunzel and she's coloured in with my Promarkers. I felt like doodling tonight so I've done away with patterned papers or stamps or the like and doodled to decorate my card... I thought the doodly style went quite well with the quirky Octopode Factory image. :)

 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers - Monochrome image with unusual hair colour

The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge - Circles

 

See you around folks... keep your fingers crossed for me that DH's laptop gets fixed and returned ASAP! :lol:

Octopode Alice

Remember the scrummy Octopode Factory Alice in Wonderland screen that I made for a screen swap and could barely bring myself to part with? ;)

Well, I've been at it again. :D Not a screen this time but a CJ entry. The journal I had to work on for the art journal CJ I'm taking part in had the theme of "Steampunk Alice". I immediately thought of the fab Octopode Factory images and lo and behold the CJ owner even put in her instructions that she liked the Octopode Factory Alice in Wonderland images. :) Perfect.

So I used similar techniques to the screen, using Dylusions sprays to make the background and to paint in the images (love the versatility of the digi images, that I can resize them to suit the project I am working on). This is the CJ page - and matching tag - that I made:

As it happens, this week's theme at the Octopode Factory Friday Challenge is "anything goes" so I am entering my CJ page and tag.

The CJ is going in the post today - it's got several more people to get around before returning to the owner but I hope, when she does get it back, she likes this page as much as I do! :)

P.S. Really must make *myself* one of these Octopode Alice projects... I always seem to have to keep giving them away! :lol:

Awww, do I have to?!!

So you may have seen Linda's gorgeous decorated screen on the cover of the March issue of Craft Stamper... it's an awesome project and inspired a few select nutcases *ahem* crafters over on UKS to organise a screen swap, whereby we would each make a decorated screen (we would be allocated a partner to swap with and what theme they wanted for their screen) to swap.

I got allocated Karen who wanted "Stampotique/Octopode Factory-style" for her screen. And so, after one false start (I didn't like the background I made so I cut new panels and started over), this is what I made:

The only problem is... I like it so much I don't wanna give it away! :lol:

But I will. *sob* I will send it on its merry way.

I'll just have to make another one for myself! :lol:

I think what I like most about this screen is how the background turned out (ironic, given that I'd abandoned my first attempt cos I wasn't happy with the background). I used Dylusions spray inks, stencils and spritzed water to make a vibrant, subtly patterned background - I think what I like most about this is how I managed to work the four separate panels as one unit, with the colours flowing and mixing across from one panel to the next. :)

I added some Alice in Wonderland quotes (from an Indigo Blu stamp set) in toning colours and in black and then drew a wavy striped line (to echo the wavy curve of the top of the panels) across the lower part of the panels and coloured it with black and white pens. I printed Alice in Wonderland Octopode Factory digi stamps onto white paper and painted them in using the Dylusions ink sprays and then cut them out and attached them to the panels so they were "standing" on the striped line (a fab Kat Crane tip to "ground" your figures, rather than leave them floating on the page).

I covered the backs of the panels in a vibrant, sparkly K&Co paper that seemed to fit with with the intense Dylusions colours and, to finish, bound the panels together using medium-thickness black waxed cord (it seemed to "fit" better than using ribbon).

Et voila. I really do love this and I've really enjoyed making it. I shall *definitely* be making more of these screens. But for now, this one must needs tomorrow be trusted to the tender mercies of Royal Mail. Adieu. Adieu. :)

ATCs

I made some more ATCs recently to swap...

The first set I made using one of my fabby new Octopode Factory stamps:

The ATC is cut from mountboard using a Sizzix die and I made the background by spritzing and splattering with Cosmic Shimmer chalk inks. I stamped the Souxsie image onto - by complete, but as it turned out, happy - accident, onto photo paper (I grabbed what I thought was a remnant of white SU card, which I find is great for using ProMarkers on, but it turned out it wasn't! :lol:) and coloured in with my ProMarkers. I found I really liked the results - the photo paper took the ProMarkers well and gave the finished image a nice bit of gloss. :)

I stamped the wings (a Paper Artsy stamp) onto coloured vellum and cut out before adhering to the ATC and cutting out and attaching Souxsie over the top of them.

The next set was essentially me playing with some new ideas and techniques! :D

I painted the mountboard ATCs with orange acrylic paint and then mixed sand medium into bronze paint and applied that thickly through a Tando stencil. Once it was all dry, I rubbed Inka Gold paint around the edges. I made the butterfly using FIMO (I bought some aaaaages ago intending to have a play at using on cards etc and somehow have just not gotten around to it until now!) and, once set, hot glued it onto the ATC. :)