Double Deuce Dare You!

Thanks to Pea on CC Swaps, I got to participate in one of the most fun and challenging swaps you could imagine. In my mailbox, I received an AOL tin, stuffed with all sorts of amazing bits and pieces. Our mission - make something with it!

I fretted for a very long time, but finally my inspiration came from the scrabble tiles the came in my package. They spelled 'UNIQUE'. There were also lots of images - the ones I chose were of a boy, a man, and a woman. Hmmmm, boy goes to school, journeys around the world to seek his fortune, is smitten by a lovely lady, marries, and lives a rich and colorful life in between. That's what my package (and my muse) said to me.

Here is what I made, along with an explanation of what I used and what I added.

First, the tin....
I sponged the tin with Lumiere paints and painted the scrabble tiles I received with Twinkling H2O's to give them some sparkle. The bottle cap and the metal charms were also part of my package - I colored those with gold Krylon pen and added some images and words to begin telling my story. I lined the inside of the tin with some papers I had on hand, and started to work on a tag book I wanted to place inside. I decided I'd like it to fit diagonally, so I trimmed the bottom corners to get it to fit snugly. Both the image and the twill tape on the front were included in my Double Dare.

Double Deuce - Our Hero Seeks His Fortune

On the next page, our hero begins to seek his fortune. In my package were conveniently placed a fortune telling card, with a swami, a slide mount, and some travel images. The swami fit perfectly in the slide mount, which I finished with some distress inks and a text stamp. Everything on this page, with the exception of the postmark came in my package in some form or another.

Double Deuce Dare - Love is in the Air

The next page started out with a silver german scrap shrine and a mysterious woman. These were both in my package as well. I used alcohol inks to color the shrine, and the hearts are part of another image from the previous page.

Double Deuce - Fulfullment

Our hero experiences love at first sight, and marries his dream girl on the next page. These are images that I had on hand, and they seemed to fit. At the end, he's looking back on a fullfilling life, time has flown by too quickly! The watch face was included in my package, and the little beauty that is my thoughtful older man came from Adrienne in a previous swap. Fits perfectly - thanks Adrienne!!

What a fun project this was - thank you Pea!

Background ATC's

This month's ATC theme on CC Swaps was backgrounds. We have recently switched so that we do two sets of 5 rather than a single set of 5. For the first card, I chose to do embossing powder enamel. The entire card is covered with embossing powder and then additional colors are added on by sponging on the embossing powder. Then I stamped the diamonds and embossed them in black so that they melt into the enamel. I learned this technique at a demo of Powder Keg embossing powders.

The second card as done by applying bands of color direct to paper and then using lots of impress me stamps to get color. A few of them were stamped with Lumiere gold paint. Then I created strips of gold paint between the bands with a credit card. Thanks to Julie Jarvis of Cornerstone Art Stamps for this one.

Another deco book

These little books are so exciting to receive and work on. And what a great added bonus, you get to see the wonderful artwork of those who have gone before.

I've just received my second deco, and added my pages. For this one, I used a brilliance rainbow pad DTP and stamped some texture for the background. The flower is another Basic Grey Rub On. Hope the eventual recipient likes it!

First Deco Book arrives

I'm currently participating in a round robin deco book swap. Each person's book makes a journey to several other swappers until it's been filled with art by everyone. There's no theme, so you can do whatever strikes you.

I decided to use a background technique I just learned at a class last night. It involves gesso, direct to paper and stamping. I didn't get too adventurous with the colors yet, I didn't want to take a chance. (-;