Finally! my last entry in the Tattoo CJ

Well, this was a day I never thought would come - the day I finally get to update the Tattoo CJ in my works in progress list to 100% - yay!

This CJ round was one of those where everything that could go wrong went wrong - a few members had to drop out due to major life crises, and then a couple of other participants went AWOL for long periods of time, sitting on multiple journals for many months that I, as host, had to somehow retrieve.

This, Ally's CJ, was one of the ones that had disappeared into a black hole. I last heard from the lady who had this CJ plus my own book back in March 2009, saying she was just about to post them on. This never happened, and after that she ignored all my attempts to contact her, by text, email, facebook (she defriended me sharpish when I sent a message!), and registered letter.

I had totally given up on ever seeing them again, and then a couple of months ago - woohoo! a parcel arrived totally out of the blue with both missing books in.

I never did find out what the problem had been for so long - the lady had completed her own entries in both books back in December 2008 - so what was stopping her getting to the post office, I have no idea.

But no hard feelings - there's bound to be an explanation - I'm just glad they finally came back.

The timing, unfortunately, wasn't great for me, as I had just started two other CJ groups (the Take One Stamp one and the Disney one), and these were taking up all my making-stuff time....so I wasn't able to find the opportunity to do my entry in Ally's book until the Christmas break from work....but she assured me that she could wait another month or two :)

But her wait is now over...and I *think* this is the last book to go home in this ill fated circle, so I can now draw a line under this one.....thank god :D

Anyway - enough of the preamble - the theme for Ally's journal was "reactions to your tattoos, good or bad"....a great theme, but I was struggling to think of something I could do differently to the girls who had gone ahead of me.

The truth is, none of my tattoos are visible in day-to-day clothing, and so most people don't even know they are there, hence I don't get much in the way of comments or reactions, I've never had a bad one that I can remember (well, other than from my mum :))....and that seemed to be similar to a few of the other participants, who had already done layouts along the lines of "I don't get any bad reactions because nobody can see them"...

But then my clever lateral thinking boyfriend pointed out that there is more than one kind of 'reaction' - and so I decided to do my page on the nasty allergic reaction that I had to the red ink in my latest tattoo:

(that pic was taken before the inflammation kicked in - I don't have a photo of that, but trust me it was manky, all swollen and purple and itchy as HELL)

Apparently, red is the only colour of ink they can't make entirely hypoallergenic. Trust me to be allergic to it, I have always been allergic to lots of stuff. This one I wasn't expecting though, after all, I have a ton of red ink in my backpiece, and that didn't react at all....must be a different brand or something.

But anyway - back to the page - here's how it all came together:

• the pages are made from "Black Magic" coredinations cardstock, which is black on the outside but has a coloured core, red in this case, so you can sand it back to reveal the colour. It's cool stuff, I haven't used it before but certainly will again.
  
• the "DANGER" tape was simply set up in a word processor, printed onto yellow cardstock, cut into strips, and inked a little to distress
  
• the large skull and crossbones is Tim Holtz grungeboard, he's been painted with Ranger crackle paints, scuffed up a little with inks, and has had his eyes filled in with glossy accents, black microbeads and black glitter:
  (he is stuck onto the page with foam squares so he is popping out of the page)
  
• the stencil letters spelling RED were cut on the Cricut three times each from white card, stuck together to make something closer to chipboard in depth, and then triple embossed using red embossing powder...they came out a bit darker than expected, and didn't really show up too well on the black background, so I backed them with the same yellow card I used to make the DANGER tape:
  
  
• the rest of the title is lemon yellow rub-ons that I found at the back of my rub on drawer and have no recollection of actually buying
  
• the fab little stickers are from Paperchase - love them!
  They are metallic and kind of puffy, and you get tons of them on a sheet for a quid
  
• and those pewter stars are brads....I think that's everything....
  

So that's another CJ over....I really need to get around to blogging everyone else's entries in my own book....and the completed fabric CJ I got back a few months ago....so much to do....so little time!

Fashions change, but ink is forever

This is, I think, my penultimate Tattoo CJ entry. Pity because I've really enjoyed this circle.

This is for Rhian's CJ which had an open theme - ie anything at all to do with tattoos goes.

I thought I'd do something about how each decade has its own signature style, I should know, like everyone else who had a tattoo in the mid 80s I have a Celtic armband :D

The big craze in the noughties is apparently stars, which are far and away the most popular tattoo at the moment, especially for girls. Kat Von D has a lot to answer for :)


The background paper I made for this entry is one of those impossible-to-photograph jobbies, as it's heavy on the glimmer mist and has lots of fairly subtle stamping that doesn't really show up on the pics, but you get the general gist.

It's orange and red distress inks on heavy watercolour paper, with gold, copper, and red glimmer mists on top, and over stamping using red, orange and pink distress inks and rust Stazon.



This CJ is also my first ever attempt at sewing on paper, I haven't done the neatest job but I'm glad I gave it a go.

The title was stamped and embossed with pearlescent garnet EP from Stampendous.

And the dymo-stylee labels were made with my Around The Block label maker using some of their "designer" tape

and that's about it

What's your dream tattoo...?

...if money, time, pain, work etc etc were no object....

that was the question asked by Anna, the owner of the latest journal I've come to tackle in the Tattoo CJ.

I wasn't sure what to do at first as I already have my dream tattoo, my beautiful orcas. But then I thought of all the cool places I'd like to have tattoos if it wasn't for my job.... and this is what I came up with.



Anna's album is one of those see through acrylic jobbies. Which was SO much fun to work on! I enjoyed the challenge of knowing that the work on each side would show through to the other side etc etc.

It was a bugger to photograph though, hence me taking it out into the garden and holding it up to the sky, please excuse my two week old nail varnish that really needs to come off!

Nothing fancy on here technically speaking. Hand was just cut out from patterned paper that I had laid my own hand on and drawn around. Letters are Heidi Swapp I think from an old Costco kit, sprayed with irridescent gold glimmer mist and coated with stickles. Neither of which really show up on the photo, the red stickles on the tiny heart don't either, but they are there, honest.

The swallow and the "take a walk..." are rub ons.

The file folder on the back opens to reveal the journalling:



Ummm, what else? The flourishes around the outside are Autumn Leaves stamps stamped with royal purple Stazon.

and all the rest of the stamping on the back page is snow cap Ranger pigment ink

This was much fun, thanks for the challenge Anna!

I'm slowly playing catch up....

I have been getting worryingly behind with my collaborative commitments recently, partly because life in general has been busy, and partly because the fabric work I have been doing is so much more time consuming than paper stuff.

So I am pleased to have got another entry for the Tattoo CJ done and dusted

This is Vicky's book and her theme is "My First Tattoo"

Well, my first tattoo is verrry old :)

I had it done when I was just 16 (sorry Dad!!!!), and it is a Hawkwind logo.

For those of you too young to remember the space rock geniuses (geneii??) that were Hawkwind, here's what the logo is supposed to look like:


And here is the oh-so-cute Dave Brock, who was singer/guitarist in the band in their best era:



I got a Christmas card from him one year, I nearly fainted with joy!
I've still got it somewhere.....must try to find it......

Ahhh, Hawkwind, Here and Now, the Stonehenge free festival, those were the days!

Anyway, back to the CJ

The background was made with glimmer mists (which makes it so difficult to photograph!) and a mask I cut of the band logo from acetate.

There is also a fair bit of stamping of suitably "space rocky" swirls and things using pigment inks in toning colours.

I highlighted my tattoo on the photo with a little pronged frame thing (I can't remember the proper word for these - a conch? something like that), stamped and embossed the title, handwrote the journalling, and edged the lot with acrylic paint.

That was about it

Close up of the journalling:



(the bit at the end isn't very clear in the photo, it says "I thought it was so damn COOL at the time, but to be fair, it hasn't aged all that well :)")

Close up of the left hand page - I was trying to capture the shimmeryness.... glimmer mists are so fab but you just can't capture it in a photo....



Now on to the next Fabric CJ entry - see you in three weeks!

Creating shouldn't be so difficult...it never used to be

....but this CJ entry has taken me nigh on a week, and it really shouldn't have taken anywhere near that long!

Anyway, it's done now :)

This is my entry in Lori's book in the Tattoo CJ circle. Her theme is "the good, the bad and the ugly" - great fun theme - it gave me an excuse to scour the net for some really naaaasty tattoos, and also some really amazingly wonderful ones.


The actual layout uses all sorts of random stuff I had lying about - the fabulous leg was cut out of a tattoo mag; the black netting used to add a bit of texture to the background, while also toning down the bold pattern of the floral paper underneath, was cut out of an old pair of Connor's tracksuit bottoms lol; and the black tape around the edges of the pages is hockey tape - which is JUST like 7 Gypsies bookbinding tape but about a tenth of the price :)

I got the gorgeous wooden swallows from Etsy.



The text up in the top right hand corner (which is somewhat less violently pink in real life, the flash messes with it) was generated with an Around The Block label machine - just like an old fashioned Dymo but with cooler fonts



I made my leggy lady a footrest from red felt, with stamped calico labels for three little accordion books - these contain photos of good, bad, and ugly tattoos I had found on my Google expedition. I had to hand sew this onto the paper and mesh backing, because my sewing machine wasn't having any of it.

The accordion book covers were made with some leather-style vinyl I picked up in the scrapstore years ago. It was white, but I coloured it with red and black alcohol inks, and perforated it around the borders of each cover with a tracing wheel, which you can't really see in the pics, but it makes them look quite convincing IRL.


The accordion books look like this ^ once opened.

A closer look at the contents of the three books is below:

The good


The bad


The ugly


So that's one CJ down 2 more to go in the next couple of weeks - it's a good job I have deadlines because it is keeping me making stuff even when I'm not really in the mood for it. I know I would be really frustrated with myself if I let myself stop altogether.

This appears to be my 600th post

Is "blog candy" traditional? I think it is. OK, please feel free to comment on this or any other recent post. I'll choose someone at random from anyone who comments on anything at all over the next 2 days, and send a little goodie bag of nice things :)

It's always cool to get a handle on who out there is actually paying attention.... :)

Anyway - here's a badly photographed CJ entry.

The theme for this journal is "the story behind your tattoo", so I've homed in on my most recent one (my backpiece of the mother and baby orcas) and explained what it means to me.

Rather than being a double page spread this one has the "why orcas?" page on top, which then lifts up to reveal the page with the tags. So, no, I don't have the binding holes on the wrong sides :P

I went a bit crazy with my new sewing machine on this, just because I could :) So the big orca on the first page is a little "quilt", complete with wadding. I stamped my beautiful Michelle Ward original onto denim, and then painted over the top with Lumiere paint. Then I machine sewed BADLY around it a few times.

The smaller orca is the same stamp on clear shrink plastic with gold ink. I punched the holes before shrinking and hand sewed it to the page.



Oh and the background is three colours of Ranger pearlescent acrylics scraped onto cheap watercolour paper using an old credit card.

On the second page there is a naaaasty photo of my flabby back. I would have preferred not to expose my extreme chub to the world but I can hardly do a CJ entry on my backpiece without a photo of my back! :)



The tags explain what the tattoo means to me - freedom, motherhood, Canada and the most beautiful sport on god's earth.

The little tiny acrylic picture frame (1" square) holds a photo of the tat in progress:

And I made the embellishment below by embossing a thin sheet of copper over an Orca pendant I bought when I was in Vancouver (and highlighted it with acrylic paint and alcohol ink)



So, hopefully, now everyone knows - that's why orcas! :)

Taking the scenic route....

....as Sir Timmy would say.

Here's my entry in Willow's tattoo CJ.

The theme of it is "a tattoo tour" - and basically the idea is similar to Ann's CJ that I did last month - it's a "show me all your tattoos" type thing - but the vibe is less scrapbooky and more artsy/collage.

So that meant that despite the similar theme it really did feel like doing something totally different. And it was mucho fun.

I know I say that about virtually everything :D But I really DO have so much fun making stuff - it's like being in pre-school again :)

I started this one off by cutting lots of relevant words and phrases from some old tattoo mags and sticking them onto some DCWV 'Far East' paper, more for the texture than the pattern as it was going to be fairly well covered up:



Then I toned it all down with some scraped on gesso, and added a wash of yellow, orange, red and purple acrylic paints:



The background was finished off by stamping with a GPP corrugated cardboard style stamp in brown chalk ink and edging with deep purple distress ink (I don't have a separate pic of that stage but you can see it clearly enough in the main photo above)


The lady is an image transfer of an inkjet print onto watercolour paper using Stewart Superior Transfer Ink (I love the soft quality of these transfers), coloured with watercolour pencils.

I cut stencils in a post it note for the crosses (which mark the locations of my five tattoos) and the dotted lines, and used chalk ink cats eyes DTP through the stencils to decorate her.

The road sign (Viva Las Vegas stamps) was stamped onto some Basic Grey spotty paper, watercoloured with brown dye ink and a waterbrush, and covered in crackle glaze.

The shrink plastic bird (Tim Holtz) is completely irrelevant but I had it lying around and thought it looked good :)



I printed pictures of my tattoos on transparency, cut them out using a stencil cutter (heat tool), and stained the edges with brown ink to make it look like they had been burnt. Each of these was tied onto the background using brown waxed thread.

To each of the pockets, I tied a tag which had been sprayed with orange and red glimmer mists, which explained a little about each tattoo.

I didn't go into huge detail though, as I figured that everyone who sees this will also have seen the layout I did in Ann's CJ, which has a little more info.

There is a swipe of titan buff paint behind each transparency just to make the tattoo pics clearer to view when the tags are out.



And the title "Take the Grand Tour" was cut in an art deco font on my Cricut (via SCAL software), painted with Aged Mahogany crackle paint, and then highlighted after drying with gold rub n buff to highlight the cracks.

And that's about it for that one. Can't wait to receive the next journal :)

It appears to be silly o' clock

But I kind of got on a roll with this CJ entry and wanted to finish it (I'll be shattered at work tomorrow, but).

This is my entry in Ann's tattoo CJ. Her theme is "tell me a story" - the idea being we explain the meanings behind our tattoos.

It's very much not my usual inky, painty, arty farty style - I even used patterned papers instead of making my own, which is unusal for me nowadays - in fact it's decidedly scrapbooky - but I really really like it :)

The cool thing about this particular CJ is that it's designed to hang up vertically - so a 2-page spread has a top and a bottom, not a right and a left. That makes an interesting change.

On the top page I had an awful lot of info to fit into a 6x6 page, so I did a bit of paper engineering to give me a bigger canvas. I like how it looks shut, and open it gave me plenty of room to explain the ins and outs of my 4 old tattoos (if you want to read, you'll need to click):



On the bottom page, which was all about my new backpiece, I HAD to use the beautiful orca stamp that Michelle carved for me. This is the best stamp I own without a shadow of a doubt.

Looks great doesn't it!

Behind the orca I put some cream vellum just to tone down the colours of the backpiece photo, as the bright reds and blues don't really go with the olive/currant papers I used.

That's the same reason I changed the colours of the Canucks logo, I hope they won't sue me for using the wrong Pantone :)

Here's the bottom page open:



I really enjoyed working in this book. It's always fun to do something a little different.

Tattooed Heroes...my entry in the altered book

My book is now ready to post off, I've really enjoyed working in it - I hope the other girls do too. It might be the first time some of them have had an Altered Book to play with - but hopefully they will have fun with it. My first time was in a CJ round too - and that inspired me to make one of my favourite CJ entries ever - so hopefully this one will inspire a bit of experimentation too, at least it will give people something a little different to work on.

Here's the intro page for my book:

I used Hambly rub ons for the scrolls (and a Creative Imaginations one up in the top left). The word "celebrate" was cut on my Cricut using SCAL software (which can cut any true Type font). The rest of the title was stamped.

My main entry is pictured at the top of this post.

All the photos are from Modblog (don't click through if you're squeamish!), and are printed onto transparency - because I wanted some of the text from the old book to show through in places, and because I love the intensity of colour you get from a transparency.

Here are some close ups:


The super cool Leopard Girl. Her frame is made from funky foam, heated, stamped, and then painted once it had cooled down and set in shape. The black tribal motif below her was cut from a dingbat font using SCAL/Cricut, and then coloured with black pigment ink and clear embossed.

The white tribal motifs you can just see to the right of her were stencilled with white pigment ink through the waste cardstock left over from cutting the motifs.


This ripped page flap (actually about 5 pages stuck together for sturdiness) was painted black and then oversprayed with red glimmer mist. (The central section where the transparency was going to go was left plain though - with just a bit of white gesso toning down the underlying text a little). Once the transparency was stuck down and outlined with purple metallic pen, I stencilled tribal designs over the top using "watermelon" pigment ink from the new Ranger pigment range (those inks are da bomb!!!! AMAZING coverage over pretty much any surface)



Journalling on the back of the page flap - handwritten with certain words stamped for emphasis - pretty self explanatory. Again over a stencilled design (this time using "snow cap" ink)


I just LOVE the white ink tribal design on this guy's forehead - stunning work. Hard to see in the photo but this chap is set into a niche cut through the pages of the book. I dry brushed some deep purple paint around the outside of the niche to provide a subtle frame. And set some tiny microbeads into the corners.


This guy looks super cool - but that's one look I definitely won't be copying, don't think it would go down too well in the office :) He is set into pearly coloured paint with some red glimmer mist sprayed into the mix. The border of the page has been cut into a zig zag, and then stuck down onto some more pages underneath, just to give a bit of interest/texture to the edge of the page.


And finally a close up of the X as you can't see it all that clearly in the main picture. This was also cut with SCAL - 5 times - and then all the pieces were stuck together to make the letter nice and thick like chipboard. The top X was coloured with watermelon ink and then overpainted with black soot crackle paint. So when it cracked you could see the red beneath. The rest of the "Xtreme!" title was stamped.

I think that's everything. Now I just need to wait 9 months for the book to come home again - it's like waiting for a baby :)

Tattoo themed altered book....

Last night was weird.

After I heard the news about Luc, I kind of just sat there staring into space for hours. And cried a lot. And wondered why it had hit me so hard (I still can't really answer that one). But the upshot was, I didn't move off the sofa for hours and hours.

It got to about half past one and I got up and stretched, and figured I ought to go to bed.

But then I caught my half finished altered book (to be used for a tattoo themed circle journal round robin) out of the corner of my eye.... and decided I didn't want to go to bed having achieved nothing but a lot of weeping and wailing.

So I stayed up half the night and got it finished. And here it is :)



This started life as a book on the Life of Wellington, dated 1885. Don't worry - I did check with the antiquarian book dealer I bought it from that it isn't in the slightest bit valuable. The fact he sold it to me for £2.50 was a big hint that it doesn't belong in the Smithsonian. So I don't feel too guilty for covering up the tatty but pretty cover with pictures torn out of tattoo magazines :)



Once the book was totally covered with magazine images, I put on a thin layer of gesso (scraped on with an old credit card), gave the gesso a bit of colour with distress inks, and then sprayed the whole thing with matte acrylic sealer.

A couple more magazine images were added (not gesso'd over this time) - and some swallows (Hambly rub ons).

Next, a niche was cut in the cover of the book. And behind the niche, the title was added (freehanded in sharpie onto a gesso'd book page). The niche borders were covered with a stitched black leather frame (and matching corners were added to the corners of the front and back book covers).









Finally, I added some tattoo themed charms to the spine, hung on black leather cord:
A swallow to represent old school tattoos ; a tribal charm for, well, tribal :) ; a skull and crossbones for the whole skulls and demons badass biker type style ; an angel's wing for religious and fantasy tats ; and a piece of celtic knotwork for the whole celtic style which sadly doesn't seem to be as popular as it was when I first started getting inked 20 odd years ago...



That's it. Oh - apart from the 7 Gypsies book belt. I bought this as I figured the book will end up pretty fat by the time everyone has finished playing in it - and the book belt will help it stay closed-ish. And it matches the leather embellishments used on the book cover, which is a lucky coincidence :)