Singing Birds ATCs

Singing Birds ATCs - May 2008
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

It seems everywhere you look these days you see birds being used in artwork - on people's blogs, on their ATCs, in collages, altered books, greeting cards, inchies, decoupage, rubber stamps - you name it and the birds are there.

Ok, so yeah, I've also jumped onto the "bird wagon", so to speak - well who can blame me when there are so many fine feathered friends out there just cooing and twittering to be stamped and stuck onto your art? I recently purchased a sheet of stamps from Oxford Impressions and am having a whole load of fun creating a flock of bird related art. So far I've only been using them on my ATCs but I plan to use them on greeting cards and as covers for some of my handmade books.

This series of singing birds has been a joy to create. I've used the watercolour ink technique on the backgrounds using Adirondak ink pads and then stamped and embossed a swirly tree image (from Paper Artsy) onto each card.

I then stamped two different birds (from the Oxford Impressions sheet) onto a printed magazine page and cut them out and fixed them onto the branches with foam pads.

Then I stamped and embossed some swirls at the bottom of the trees and added musical notes here and there and edged each card with a Krylon pen.

To complete, I finally stamped some words onto that plastic binding stuff they bind cartons with and adhered that to each card.

You can find them all flocked together here and they're all available for trading:-)

Birds Series ATCs

Birds Series ATCs-May 2008
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

These are a series of bird ATCs I recently created. They're made using fabric and paper and I've stitched elements on to some cards and stamped onto others.

Birds and all things bird related are quite popular at the moment and that's really good I think - we should be more aware of nature and the beauty of God's creation all around us. I know it's made me notice the birds in my garden more and I actually like observing them and the funny little antics they get up to. It's only when we notice and observe, do we truly appreciate the wonder of creation.

Well these cards are all available for trade - you can see each of them separately on here - get yours before they fly away!

Yesterday1, Charming, Yesterday 2

Yesterday1, Charming, Yesterday 2
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

I felt in a vintagey mood whilst making these cards. I started with the backgrounds - just playing around really. I had a bar of beeswax and thought I'd apply it all over the card and take it from there.

I just got my heat gun out and put the bar of beeswax to the card and let the heat melt the wax to the card while I rubbed it over. It melted quickly and covered the card quite easily. Then, while the wax was still hot, I inked up a script stamp with Versamark for the two "Yesterday" cards and pressed into the still warm wax to leave a slight impression.

When the wax had cooled completely I rubbed a little bronze mica powder into the impression and polished with a soft cloth. Where the impression was the powder clung into. For the "Charming" card I stamped a swirl stamp into the warm wax and went over with bronze mica powder. The overall effect had quite an aged feel about it, which was perfect for the images I'd chosen.

The images were all rub-on transfer images which went really well with the aged effect of the background and I completed the cards with lace embellishments and buttons.
Available on my Flickr site for trade :-)

Dragonfly 3 & 4

Dragonfly 3 & 4
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

More silk flower with dragonfly ATCs in another colour theme. Available for trade from my Flickr site :-)

Dragonfly 1 & 2

Dragonfly 1 & 2
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

These are a few silk flower and paper dragonfly ATCs that I've been creating.

I inked up the backgrounds using Adirondak inks and stamped script onto them and then layered printed text onto the cards before adding the final flower with jewel and dragonfly. Available for trade from my Flickr site.

Something Fishy ATCs

Something Fishy ATCs
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

I was experimenting with background techniques and in the past when I've taken the brayer to the inkpad and brayered it over my card/paper, the result is a smudged muddy effect of colours - not really what I want. So this time I thought let me try putting the card on top of the rainbow inkpad and brayer over the top - well the results were far better and each band of colour was clearly visible and bright.

My next thought was, "what if I don't want to see the separate bands of colour, but instead want to see the colours merge into each other flawlessly?" So I remembered water colour techniques and I dampened my card stock with water and then laid it on top of the ink pad and brayered over it with the brayer and the result was beautiful - jewel like colours bleeding seamlessly into one another, without any muddiness or lines. This is exactly what I was hoping for and when I looked at each card I saw an underwater theme emerge and thought of tropical fishes in the colours of the Mediterranean seas.

I added a bit of dimension to each card by stamping bubble wrap on to the cards with Versamark and then dusting over with mica pearl powders. The shimmer added depth to the cards.

I had some fish greeting wrap from PaperChase, that I'd saved from ages ago and thought that would be perfect, so I cut the fishes out and stuck them on to the backgrounds with foam pads and then added some Beadz Accents to represent the sea bed and coral. To complete the scene I dotted air bubbles to the fish with the end of a pencil dipped into white gesso

I'm really pleased with this series and now they're available for trade -get yours before they swim away! :-D

Quirky Town ATCs 7-11

Quirky Town ATCs 7-11
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

These are the rest of the "Quirky Town" series.

Quirky Town ATCs 1-6

Quirky Town ATCs 1-6
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

These are a set of cards I created with my recently purchased stamps from the Ally Pally Show last month. They're by Paper Artsy, who produce such amazing stamps! This particular sheet is called "Architecture"

The buildings are so quirky that I decided to title this series "Quirky Town" - quite apt I thought :-D

I used Adirondak Ink Pads to colourize the background and spritzed them with water to get that blotchy effect. I then stamped and embossed swirls onto the background and added some trim to each card. The buildings I stamped and embossed onto paint swatches and cut them out and stuck them onto the background with foam pads to give them a little lift :-D Finally I edged each card with a Krylon pen.

Now they're all up for grabs and you don't even need a mortgage! - check them all out on my Flickr site and I'm happy to trade :-)
http://www.flickr.com/lubsy1/photos

Birdcages ATCs

Birdcages ATCs- April 2008
Originally uploaded by lubsy1uk

These are a series of bird related ATCs that I created today. I bought this sheet of u/m stamps from the BSSBS at Ally Pally a couple of weeks ago and now I'm just playing around with them. These were produced using just 4 of the 20 or so elements from that sheet. I've run out of Kling-on - that self adhesive foam backing for mounting stamps - so I can't use the other elements until I've bought some. You'd have thought the amount I spent and bought at the Ally Pally show, I would've bought more sheets of this stuff - honestly I'm hopeless sometimes!

Anyway, I'm happy with the results and colours and now they're ready for swapping - contact me soon before they fly away:-D