Altered Potion Bottles

So the latest installment of swaps from Alpha Stamps proves to be intriguing as always for Halloween.  Inspired by Laura Carson's Pretty Potions and Poisons Apothecary event, this swap is a fun way to exchange bottles, yet have a more customer friendly mailing format. Please click the button on the right for more information on the swap.

My favorite part of making these was playing with Tim's new metallic stains.  They are seriously dreamy right on chip board.  Add a few splashes of water after a direct application to get the distressed look, then buff in some black ink and cardboard turns into metal.  And you all know how much I love metal...  These stains have become my new favorite, which is the theme of the challenge over at SSSS, so I am throwing this post in the mix!

I had fun using the black dazzle lines.  They are so simple, yet when combined creatively they really added great texture and borders on my bottles. 

Here you can really see a lot of the bare chipboard with the stain and ink.  Pretty nice metallic effects.

I used some of Graphic 45's Happy Haunting paper along with classic skulls from Alpha stamps to treat the backs of the bottles. 

I tried to make clever bottle toppers along the way.  I used filigree and trinkets to layer my tops. Layering is a great designers' trick by the way, it makes projects look more interesting and adds additional texture.

I added some funny little cat eyes to this guy and it changes up his look. 

Here I used lots of layering.  There are actually two die cut labels on this separated by a metal filigree piece.

I love the technique I used on the silver spider.  This was simply using a stencil and some stickels.  I can't believe the level of detail.

I hope you are inspired or perhaps learned something new!  I just adore the chance to share with you all. 

Thanks as always for stopping by and checking things out.

Cheers, 

Rhea

Putting steampunk on the map

So one of my smaller art groups, Altered Without Limits, is hosting a really fun swap right now.  I took some time this past weekend to create the pages and I always love to celebrate with a blog post.  The central image needed to be created with a map as the focal.  The artist is allowed to do what the will to alter the map as long as it also fits into the steampunk theme. Our pages are six inches tall by four inches wide and there are ten of us in the swap.

I chose to use my favorite Tim Holtz die, heart wings.  I knew I had a boatload of maps to use for this project and of course I could not find them when the time came.  And yes, I unearthed the lost maps exactly when I had completed my pages! I ended up scavenging a few outdated ones at work which I used creatively for my heart and wings.  The actual wing area was cut from the index section, while the hearts came from more populated areas.

Of course you can hardly tell what is going on these pages now as there is so much going on. I layered and layered many techniques to each little element along the way.   I do feel in hindsight that the mica was too much, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.  Oh well!

If you look really close above, you may notice the geared up background.  This is foil "waste paper" from an industrial re purposing store,  that I have embossed.  Layers of tissue, matte medium, inky mists, watercolor crayons and graphite add depth and interest and grunge.

I dipped into my stash of resistors and added them to the mix.  I thought it was a nice industrial element to add to my heart.  Another element here are these great Masonite gears I picked up from Retro Cafe Art, a very fun artsy resource.  I embellished them with a bit of paint before using up the rest of my spinners from Tim Holtz.  

On the back I kept it simple and embellished a coin envelope and stashed a tag inside with my information on it.  I always love the element of interaction in my paper arts.  I am completely hooked on the distress stains, I hardly ever bust out my ink pads anymore with these around.  It also just so happens that this week's Compendium of Curiosities challenge is to marble stains, which was done to the actual heart pieces and the technique is outlined in Tim's newest book. Distress stains were actually used throughout the project heavily. Please stop over and see what Linda is up to on her blog, she has partnered this week with Eclectic Paperie for this week's challenge.

 

I really can't wait to see what the rest of the group creates.  I will be sure to share my amazing book once the swap is complete.

Cheers, 

Rhea