About a month ago, I used a photo stamp for the first time – Senior Ladies 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ (#8671) from Viva Las Vegastamps! – and created a card. Every time I looked at the stamp I imagined more and more about the two ladies it shows, sitting outside, side-by-side….

…They’ve known each other for many, many years. Perhaps they even knew each other before they emigrated from England to the United States. They played games together, like cards and BINGO. They shared jewelry. They had keys to each other’s homes. Handmade lace doilies were on their coffee tables and the arms of their sofas. Every conversation of importance happened over a pot of tea. They went to church together. They gardened. They met each other in the park to feed seeds to birds. They took their first airplane ride together. They shared many memories. They’re best friends forever (BFF)…

I looked through all the odds and ends I’ve collected and started to pull pieces together to tell their story. The result is this assemblage. If you look closely, you’ll see the music for Jesus Calls, the definition of move taken from an old dictionary, a small bottle of bird seed, stamps of the Queen of England and the Statue of Liberty, an airplane propeller, lace, pearls, a button and more. Maybe you can even piece together your own story about these two characters from what you see.

Here’s how built this piece:

1. Paint an 8″x8″ Studio Flat Panel artist board with Wheat Perfect Pigments™ – Pure Liquid Acrylics™ from USArtQuest.

2. Collage a background on the panel using Perfect Paper Adhesive – Matte (PPA) and bits of music, dictionary pages, napkins, stamps and paper doilies. I sprinkled a little Crystal Effectz™ on the area with the bird and music while the PPA was still wet to give the piece a little sparkle.

3. Tear a piece of corrugated cardboard into a rough square and then tear off part of the top layer, revealing the corrugated folds. Apply Rust and Whitewash Perfect Glazes™ to highlight some of the folds. Attach this to the base using  101 Artist’s Cement.

4. Continue building up layers by attaching ephemera and found objects to the base and corrugated cardboard with 101 Artist’s Cement. It will adhere most any object to any surface!

5. Stamp and distress the  Senior Ladies 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ (#8671) image on glossy paper. Attach the image to the corrugated cardboard using foam strips or pop-dots.

6. Cover a portion of the image with a mica tile using a metal tag (e.g., “Memories”).

Last year I took a mixed media class and the instructor told of how the piece “speaks to her” when she is creating it. Up until this project, I didn’t really understand what she meant. Now I think I have a much better idea. These “Senior Ladies” had lots to say and this project only begins to tell their story.

I hope you’ll consider telling a story with your found objects!

To see some of my other projects, visit my blog on Create & Craft.

Happy Crafting!

Joe

These are the products I have on hand from US Artquest.   I will be using the Perfect Pigments, Mica Tiles, Mica Flakes, brushes and PPA!

This is the tray I started with.  It is made by McGuffey Woodworking.  These trays are by far the best I have worked with for several reasons.  They are made in the USA, made from solid wood and you can take the back off to make it easier to decorate/paint.   I will be using the other design for my Chattering Robin’s post on Monday!

1.  I took a pencil and marked off the sections.  This makes it easy to see where the dividers will be so you can, in this case, paint just over the lines and there will be no bleed over.

You can see the grid marks and I charted which Perfect Pigment color I wanted where.

2.  Paint each section with color desired and then paint the same color on the tray dividers.

3. Continue to paint until you have the entire board painted.  I confess, I goofed a little and marked the colors I was going to use with INK…UGH..so had to paint a coupe of coats.  Fortunately what I am adding will cover any trace of pen marks.

4. I got out my trusty Dreamweaver Stencils and decided which designs I would use for background.  I then used the Perfect Pigment to tint the White Glossy Paste.  This way I had lighter shades of the same colors.

secure stencil

get out small amount of paste

add Perfect Pigment

Mix and apply to stencil.

NOTE:  Due to dry time I started in opposite corners with the stencils and allowed them to dry then moved on.

5. I got out my Mica Tiles and split them into thinner sections so I could sandwich mica powder/mica flakes/PPA/Perfect Pigments between the layers.

6.  At this point you press them together and moosh them around.  Yes, MOOSH!   It blends the colors and anything you have mixed in.  This also makes the tiles stencil ready.

7.  For this project I now attached the back to the frame.

8.  I now choose other elements I want to add to each square.  I use a paper flower, wire and wonderful crystal beads from Connie Crystal.  This is how each section turned out!

Crystal Effects, Perfect Pigments, PPA and Mica Powder tile.

PPA, Perfect Pigments  and Mica Powder Tile

Flower was touched up with Stargazers.  PPA, Perfect Pigments and Mica Powder Tile.

Flower touched up with Stargazers paint. Mica Flakes, PPA and perfect Pigments Tile.

Plain tile.

PPA, Mica Powder, Perfect Pigments Tile.

AND NOW THE SUM OF THE WHOLE!!!!

I hope you have enjoyed my post for this week.  US Artquest will not have a booth at CHA but you can see this piece on display in the Dreamweaver Booth #863!  Come by and see this project up close and personal!  Until then, you can order all the great products used today at US Artquest!

Happy Creating,
Kristi

Today I decided to make some earrings for Valentine’s Day and my 25th anniversary, which is coming up soon as well.

I took a mica tile and ran it through my die cutting machine using a heart-shaped die.  I love the scalloped shape of this die for earrings.

The mica cuts beautifully.  Even the small details come out well.  It’s easy to trim a bit with scissors if you want – but I like the natural edges of this mineral on any overlap edges.

I wanted something swirly for the background of the mica hearts.  Because I’m stamping on a non-porous surface, I know it’s highly likely that I’ll have difficulty getting a crisp image.  Therefore I pick a pattern that will work well for this situation.  A large background patterned stamp would work just as well, but I wanted to maintain a border around my heart that wasn’t embellished on the mica.

I put a little bit of Duo Embellishing Adhesive onto a square of Cut ‘n Dry foam to make a stamp pad.  Use this as your ‘ink’ to stamp the image onto the mica hearts.

Once the glue is dry (clear) and tacky, apply leafing foil and brush off lightly using the texture sponge.

Here is what they look like now.  You can spray a sealer onto the leafing foil to prevent tarnishing.  I am going to flip them over, so the foil is peeking through the mica when I wear the earrings.

Now for a bit of wire working.  I wire-wrapped a couple of Czech glass beads and added a small key on a jump ring to these adorable tiny door plates with crystal knobs from my stash.

I placed the mica hearts, leafing side down, onto a cork tile and line up the embellishment.  Use a metal awl / piercing tool to punch a tiny hole through the mica tile.

I ran my ear wires through the hole and adhered the embellishment to the mica tiles with PPA.

These are super easy and really fun to make.  Now that I’ve made them, I am imagining all the other wonderful shapes I could die-cut.  The Mica Shapes, Corners would make great chandelier-style earrings.  A coordinating pendant is definitely in my future!

US Art Quest Products used today:

• Mica Tiles
• GildenGlitz Leafing Metal in Brilliant Gold, #ANC202
• Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) in Matte finish
• Duo Embellishing Adhesive
• Texture Sponge
• Cut ‘n Dry Stamp Pad Material

Misc. products for this project, two of each:

• Earring Wires
• Jump Rings
• Head Pins
• Czech Glass Beads
• Embellishment, if desired.
• Die, Die-Cutting System or pre-cut shapes.

Make sure to check out HSN today!  Susan Pickering Rothamel will be on at 7:08am est and 12:26 in the afternoon.

Thanks for looking!

Sally Lynn MacDonald
www.sallylynnmacdonald.com
www.facebook.com/sallylynn.macdonald

I am loving all of the beautiful tutorials by my fellow Design Team Members and I hope you are too!  My name is Lesley Venable, I am a self taught mixed media artist and I am sooooo excited to be a part of this wonderful and special group of artists!!!

Gesso is one of the most versatile and favorite supplies that I have in my studio so you can just guess my surprise and delight in finding Spray Gesso!!  When I found that I just knew what I would be creating for you this week….beautiful and simple journal backgrounds.

Here are the supplies I used in my journal page layout:

Spray  Gesso

Sandi Miller Original Art Stamps – Handwriting Background

Mica Tiles

PPA

Vintage Image, Fluid Chalks, Glue Stick, Scissors, Vintage Papers, Sketching Pencil, Plastic Doily (paper doilies work well also), your journal, copper foil (optional), fluid chalks, a spare piece of heavier paper or the back of a pad

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Before I begin working with my journal pages I like to put a sheet of cardstock between the page I am working on and the page that follows.  This keeps any glues/paint/ink, etc. from getting on any of the pages below….

Using a brush and your PPA cover your pages using vintage ephemera…..

Use your scissors to trim away excess along edges…..

Use your fluid chalks (or your preferred ink) to add color to your pages having the edges a bit darker than other areas of  your page….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Remove your stamp from its packaging (it does not matter whether you use mounted or unmounted stamps and both are available at the UsArtquest website).  Lay your stamp down so that the stamp portion is face  up to you…..

Use your fluid chalks or preferred ink pad to “ink” the stamp.  Stamp your image onto your page in random patterns….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Take your journal, your plastic or paper doily and your spray gesso to a well ventilated area of your home (garage, outside, patio).  Be sure to protect anything that you don’t want to be gesso’d (car, patio furniture, you (smile)).  Determine placement of your doily, shake the can well to mix up the gesso and then use short bursts to cover “gesso” over the edges, and any other cut out portions of your doily.  You may  need to hold the doily in place with one or two fingers.

~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~

 ~~~~~~~

Remove the doily and Voila!!!!  A beautifully soft and romantic background is taking shape!!!!!  ALLOW TO DRY COMPLETELY BEFORE PROCEEDING

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Once dry take your journal back to your work table and choose a vintage image to work with.  I cut out my image to be placed on top of a portion of my stenciling but you may decide you wish to use your entire image.  Use a glue stick to glue the image down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Print out a quote on plain paper and adhere it to the back of a piece of mica using your PPA – allow to dry completely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When dry use a bit of heavier adhesive, such as E6000, to adhere the mica covered quote to your page.  Allow to dry. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Use a bit of copper foil to cover the rough edges of your pages.  I did this along the inside spiral binding of my journal to make cleaner edges. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next take your sketching pencil and draw/doodle along the edge of your copper foil and around your mica covered quote…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your journal pages are now ready for you to fill them with your thoughts and feelings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and that you will continue to visit to see all of the wonderful creations, ideas and inspiration that the Design Team will be sharing with you.

Have a wonderful day!

xo,

Jessica, this is a technique that really launched Mica Tiles in the art and crafting, rubberstamping and scrapbooking marketplaces.  Mica Tiles can be separated into many pieces. Therefore, by means of a mechanical attachment, such as brads or eyelets, they can be reassembled.  If something is trapped inside two pieces, it is encapsulated.  Very often I use Duo or PPA Gloss to adhere pieces back together, but I’ve also used wire (Wireworks), tape (Foil it) and ribbon (through eyelets or the like.)

Here are two cards, one with a pressed rose and the other with the Japanese Maple leaves.  Both feature the encapsulation technique, or a variation of it. Either way, Mica Tiles are beautiful with natural leaves and flowers – but they are also stunning with unique postage stamps, small photos and other flat paper ephemera.

The pressed Rose