Friday 15 June 2012

My little book of dark arts ( well the cover is done)

Hello again, thanks to everyone who looks and follows, lovely to have you here.
A little while back I picked up a plain thick card book with about 5 thick card pages and I thought it was about time something was done with it,and with a few challenges this week I thought I could combine the effort.Over at Simon Says Stamp And Show it's anything goes. Thanks again to the people over there who voted for me last week. :) Crafty Card Makers have their 70th challenge which is NO cards, tags or ATC's
and finally Poisoned Peas Please have their new challenge which is Goth/Emo.
I wanted to go for a Gothic look for the front cover so I could enter the Poisoned Peas, and I also love Gothic.My teens I would have been goth/emo.

To start with I used some funky paper from 7 dots studio, which was masked for some extra text and then aged with distress dies, a little 2 stage crackle medium in the corners as well. The arches are from Tando Creative, their range of stuff is fantastic. They were coated in Deco art texture crackle and then painted and dry brushed. the figure and wings are from Tim Holtz and the jars are from Wendy Vecchi, they have had the same treatment, I wanted to get the Gothic graveyard feel.
The spine was covered with the Tim Holtz sticky tape and stained and the number was stained with alcohol inks to match the windows in the arches (alcohol ink and Tim stamp)

here are a couple of pics to show the texture off a little better.

thanks, mark. x



32 comments:

  1. Cool project and awesome colour. I see the next price beckons (:o)

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  2. Hi Mark, you have used some great techniques on your cover and produced an amazing result. It does have a graveyard feel to it with the gothic windows. Love the background papers too. Good luck with the challenges(although I don't think you will need it!). Anne x

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  3. Sorry, forgot to say, well done on getting the top three at Simon Says!!

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  4. Oh my gosh..Mark...this is really cool! I love your book cover. I just started my online Timeworn Techniques with Andy Skinner this morning. Found out I didn't have a lot of the acrylics I needed, so had to order some of them...which puts me behind just a bit. Anyway, your really have done a fabulous job on your cover! I can see some of Andy's amazing techniques on this...beautifully done! I really like your background papers, too. And Wendy Vecchi's jars look way cool with your Gothic graveyard rendition. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful art with us at Simon Says Stamp and Show. <3 Candy

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    1. Ah you will love the course, make sure you get in on the forums, I had a blast with the people I met through the workshop. will look forward to your finished piece.

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  5. Mark this is just right up my street, but you already new that HA! Fabulous piece am totally loving the Gothic Windows and the treatment you gave them is the perfect touch. Bravo my Friend. I Love it.

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  6. Replies
    1. hi Clair, thank you. I cant leave comments on your blog for some reason, window opens but it will not let me type, have tried on phone and lap top :( any ideas?

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  7. Stunning! The graveyard elements look amazing on this piece and I love the combination of those and the bright colours.

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  8. ...wowzers Mark this a looking good! really good!...I knew those vivid piece's of inked up card on your desk were destined for greatness, gothic stained glass windows, loVe the stamp work, turning Tim's ideaology doll into a stone angel is so cool, this book cover is darkly awesome with its hot as hell background & crackled spine...your destined for greatness!...Mel :)

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  9. Fantastic book!! Love the arches - the textures are fantastic - as are all the little details!! Thanks for joining us at Crafty Cardmakers!! Cxx

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  10. Wow Mark! Very cool! I love the dimension and the fab bg colors! Your creations always totally amaze me!!! So what is going inside? Inquiring minds want to know!!!

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    1. not really got a clue, Im trying something for the bad baby challenge at smeared ink with another mark Ryden pic but might not get done in time :(

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  11. This is really awesome! LOVE the cool stained glass windows--the colors are fabulous! Thanks for joining us at CCM! :)

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  12. Hiya Mark, my goodness what a great job you did on the cover for your book, wowzerss love the colors and the background on it is fabulous wowwzersss....Thank you for sharing with the DT from SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW Mark, you did a fabulous job. Hugs Terry xxx

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  13. Your book cover is superb... i'm sorry you didnt get to do a bad baby for us at SA....i'm sure it would have been gloriously bad!
    You asked about the stamps on the ATC's i did....
    http://destempelwinkeldesignteam.blogspot.co.uk/?zx=cda30f425277ca57 takes you to the DT blog, there you'll find a link to the shop.... Jetske(owner) is a lovely lass and doesnt rob us brits on postage! She has tons of stamps you'll love. BDx

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    1. cheers fro the link, ill go and have a look. was gutted I didnt get don in time for sa. Im about 90% done with it, ill add it to the bottom of the next challenge entry if I can.

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  14. This is so cool for a book cover. The 3d art is awesome. Thanks for joining us at PPP.
    Hugz,
    Christine

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  15. Gorgeous, gorgeous cover, actually just saying cover doesn't seem enough it's like a work of art in itself!

    Am so jealous of you all talking about Andy Skinner classes, I so want to come play but one of my resolutions this year was no more classes till I finish the ones I've paid for. (It's so hard to resist!)

    Am also VERY jealous if you are getting to see Alice this year. Haven't been since 2009 at Hammersmith Apollo. What with one thing and another getting in the way and now the baby on the way this year (OH is for some reason not happy about me bouncing around like a loon at the moment!) I have to content myself with living through others so I will want ALL the details and lots of pics if you don't mind very much :D

    Also - Am trying to follow your blog but it keeps coming up with my daughter's ID so I'll just add you to my blogroll over at mine for now and keep trying each time I visit.

    Annnnd finally - haven't forgotten your ATC, will get it posted this week :) Thanks for stopping by mine!

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  16. Another fabulous creation, I love the Gothic arches I think you totally nailed the graveyard feel. I really must get onto one of the Timeworn courses your work is so inspiring and I'm dying to learn how to paint like this.

    Thanks for sharing with us at Crafty Cardmakers.

    Feebsy
    xx

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  17. Dude! This is epic! well done!

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  18. haha! Yep - my youngest's middle name is Alice and my middle daughter (who came to the Apollo gig with me) told the nursery teachers when she was there that her favourite song was Dirty Diamonds, they mentioned to me at parents evening about it because she sang it all the time. All the other little kids at the time were in to Beyonce and Britney :D So proud! (She was chuffed to bits he did that song while she was there!) Am a tad gutted as we never thought we would have any more and then suddenly got broody again. I never ever thought I'd have a boy (after 3 girls and am 1 of 6 girls myself) but I always said if we had a boy he would be Cooper. So what did I do? Called our dog Cooper. And what have we been told? 70% chance we're having a boy! Noooo!

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  19. Mark,
    Wow dude! This book cover is brilliant! I honestly love it. You have done a terrific job on this! Thank you for incorporating it to fit the Poisoned Peas Please challenge of Goth/Emo. Your arches are truly awesome! You said you got them from "Tando Creative" so Im going to google that. Clever how you crackled them. Love the angle from TH, and how you cracked her too. This is truly great, looking forward to seeing what you put in side of it. Also I was looking forward to your Bad Baby entry at SA, your comment of wanting to give Black Dragon's doll to a toddler had me laughing so very hard!!!
    Thanks for playing w/ us at PPP challege #4!
    Peace,
    KristyLee
    (PPP DT)

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    1. thank you so much. tando is a uk company, they sell their rang at the craft barn. I didnt crackle the angel, just dry brushed. x

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    2. I really didn't mean to say that the angle was crackled, but that she looks the color of your Arches. I did go and google that store and it did come up as the Craft Barn. However, I didnt find any rates for shipping to the US? So, I'll just have to keep looking else ware for cool stuff :)
      Glad you found a place though.

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    3. as far as i know they post world wide, Ill ask next time im in there as long as I remember ;)

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  20. Mark~Love the cover of your book & I hope that we will get to see other parts of the book as you get it finished as well. Thanks for joining us at PPP & we look forward to having you join us again & again. Patti (PPP DT)

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  21. I love the cover. Thanks for joining Poisoned Peas Pleas. Hugs, Julia

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  22. Mark,
    Congrats on being picked for Top 3 at PPP!!
    Peace,
    Kristy

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