Happy Hour

Hello all... and welcome to the results of a very happy hour of Skype crafting last weekend.  I didn't have time for a full session, so I suggested that Nikki, Brenda and I could do a "time-limited" quickie.  Last time we embraced the Tim Holtz quote Out of limitations comes creativity, and worked only with limited ingredients, declared in advance, so no chance to change your mind part way through.  This time we would just have an hour to work with but we could play in any way we chose.  I chose ATCs.

I love working with the ATC (Artist Trading Card) format - just 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size - and often work in pairs or sets when I play with them.  I thought a trio should be do-able in an hour and, in fact, apart from time taken to choose exactly the right word stickers, I was done much more quickly than that.





I started with some old playing cards.  I really liked the design on the back, especially after I'd sanded it back to remove some of the glossy finish, and got a softer weathered look as a result.

I mounted them on some waste cardboard to give them a sturdier presence.











There aren't many process photos - no time to stop and click constantly! - so you see them now after 1) a quick brayering of a watery wash of white paint; 2) torn strips of tissue and design tape applied in places; then...












... 3) texture paste applied through a Crafter's Workshop stencil of quavery Latin lettering; and 4) washes of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic in Payne's Grey, Raw Umber and Quinacridone Gold, spritzed with extra water to let it run down between and around the letters.

And of course the leftover paint on the craft mat got splattered over the top.












The blue design of the card background pretty much dictated the choice of the rusty browns... 














Give me blue when I'm under pressure and I'm likely to head for my favourite blue and brown combination.















With that scrumptious dribbly rusty Quin Gold paint concoction...














... it was a pretty short step to the addition of some rusty wire, wound round at various heights to create variation across the set.











A quick flip through the Idea-ology Paper Dolls brought these three characters to the fore, and thankfully I had each of them in the appropriate size to fit on the ATCs.

Then it was just a question of positioning them so that they wouldn't cover up too much of the background, but it still needed something else.  

These Scrapiniec stems have been hanging out on the craft table lately.  They almost made it on to my tag, The flowers appear on the earth, but in the end the lavender didn't need any extra support.














They almost put in an appearance on the Catching up journal page, but simplicity won out that time.   But finally, here, their patience was rewarded.














They're made in very pale wood in any case, but they've had a wash of snowflake just to make them even lighter in contrast to the rusty shadows in the background.

As I said, it took me a while to get exactly the right word stickers in place.

But these ones not only seemed to suit the respective Paper Dolls, but as a trio of phrases they also reflect the crafting friendship which was the reason these ATCs came into existence at all.











If we hadn't had the Skype session set up, it's unlikely I'd have got myself to the craft table that day.  So the "lasting friendship", sharing a creative hobby which is "nearest to my heart" (or at least one of two areas of creativity nearest to my heart), definitely makes me happy.











It was a very happy hour spent chatting as we each pursued our own crafty paths, and I hope you'll hop over and take a look at how Nikki and Brenda filled their sixty minutes of time.








These two sneak peeks ought to tempt you, I would think.  You'll find Nikki's project here at Addicted to Art, and Brenda's here at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

The Skype session also nudged me into spending at least a bit of time at the craft table on subsequent days, so the inspiration was ongoing, and you've already seen one result of that with my Daisy, daisy (daisy) painting, and there's more to come soon.

In the meantime, I wish you all well.  Stay safe, stay healthy, and I hope you have some happy creative hours of your own in the next few days.

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
Charles Darwin

With my spritzed and dripping painty background, I'd like to share this trio at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where they are playing with Spritz and Splatter this week
The More Mixed Media Challenge are on Anything Goes + Optional Pink - can't quite take up the option this time, sorry - rust is as close as I can get for now!
Creative Artiste Challenge Blog are, as always, playing Anything Mixed Media Goes