A couple of little things after a long break

Hi everyone! At last I have come out from under my rock, tidied up my scrapping space and started creating again! I must say I needed the break though - work got hectic, life got in the way and I just couldn't think!

I started in a small way - first with some ATC's for a swap group I've been involved in for several years, and secondly with a mixed media embellishment experiment that I've been wanting to try.

First the ATC's.

The criteria for this swap are different every time, but are open to any interpretation you want - the sky's the limit. This time it was ''Fibre and Feathers'' and this is my slightly tropical contribution.

There are a whole lot of my2angels products here....first the ATC base itself - these ones are Inkssentials Kraft - with a simple gold heat embossed border. I used a swipe from my Emboss It Dabber and then dipped the wet edge of the card into some Zing Metallic Gold embossing powder (sadly out of stock right now, but I need some more soon, so I guess maybe Tracy will get some in ...please when the exchange rate gets better).

After adding a slightly smaller piece of background paper and stamping with a palm frond and Peeled Paint Distress Ink, I added a bit of something sandy with Ferro Metal Effect Texture Paint (gold again) pushed through a stencil and a scattering of Golden Crunch Sugar Beads.

The first of my ''fibres'' was the curly frayed bits you can pull off the edge of an old white elastic bandage...NEVER throw these things away LOL! 

The embellishment on top is made up of a few simple elements. A Mulberry Flower painted gold using metallic acrylic paint, a Frangapani Flower (slightly cut down to fit better on the card, a piece of raffia - tied and frayed - the second ''fibre'' I used - a small Green Mulbery flower and my nod to the ''feathers'', a silver Parrot on a Flower Swing charm. After I'd finished painting the gold flowers I watered down the remaining paint on my palette and flicked some gold spots around on the bottom of the card.

I hope the ladies in the swap will like them :)

After making these cards and sending them on their way in the post I sat down at the still tidy desk (!!!!) and had a play with altering some leaves. 

I used two Large Green Leaves with Cream Edges, several White Mulberry Paper leaves and a piece of an old Prima Vine that was hanging around in the bottom of my Flowers box. Later I added a metal flower made up of several Filigrees...available here.

First paint all the leaves with a base colour - I used blue. Don't forget the stems.

Add a very thick coat of Clear Crackle, some Blue Lemonade Sugar Beads and a scattering of Micro Beads - mine are Silver and Multi-Coloured.

Put more crackle over the beads and wait AGES for it to dry :)

Add a bit more crackle or beads if you like....wait AGES for it to dry.....again 

Use a dry brush and some metallic paint to highlight the edges and the cracks. Did you know that if you mix Inca Gold with a little bit of water you can thin it out a bit and use it just like a paint? As well as ordinary metallic acrylic paints I used various colours of Inca Gold - the bright Gold one on the leaves and also the Turquoise, Cobalt Blue, Steel Blue, and Aquamarine on the flower.  my2angels do have Kaisercraft Metallic Gold paint in stock which will work as well.  When the Aussie $ is more in line with the US$ Tracy will be doing a huge restock of products at the moment it just isn't worth her ordering anything as she will lose so much $$$

Here's how it all came out. I think they turned out to be really pretty and will definitely use them on a layout or card in the future.