Altered Playing Cards, Week 26: Monochromatic

I'm here with Claudine at Claudine's Art Corner for Week 26.  Only one more week after this!  I think I'm going to make it through this challenge.  This week was all about monochromatic,

and for once I will walk you completely through the process of how I made these.  Granted, there were some low spots, and some laughable moments, but in the end, I was really happy with these APCs.

For my first card, I decided to go green.  Not because we had just celebrated St. Patrick's Day, but because I had a lot of green pens I wanted to use.  Supplies include two colors of masking tape, three solvent reinkers, 10 green pens, scissors, a sheet of green printer paper, and my pre-gessoed playing card

I began by placing a single drop of these two solvent inks in a cup.

I added rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl, 91%) and spread the two inks onto the green computer paper.  I then added the third color of solvent ink and more alcohol.  Not sure where all that shimmer came from, but I liked it.

I found the spot I wanted to use from the sheet, glued it to the card, then

cut it out.  I always get perturbed at people who cut up an expensive piece of lovely paper, by using from the center.  I didn't have to worry about this paper, though, since it was not expensive, and I knew I could use the remnants in my scrappy journals.

I drew a line around the card using one of the pens.  Sorry, they have no names on them, and I have no idea where I got them, other than I think they were a gift.

I added a piece of masking tape, then realized I needed to redraw the border.  When I started to take a picture, my camera batteries died.  I would have normally given up, finished the card, then scanned it, and called it good.  Not so this week.  I had more of these rechargeable batteries waiting in the wings (actually the battery charger) and I was on a mission to see these through to the end.

So I was now back on track.

I had only one green ink pad, and it was an old one that was a kid's from Stampin' up.  The ink pad is recessed, so the stamp has be smaller than the pad for it to work properly.  I wondered why they were so cheap when I bought them years ago.  It didn't take me long to find out.   The stamping was a bust, so I put that stamp and ink away and decided I would try

to use one of the green markers.  My friend Krisha of Krisha's Keepsakes told me I could use them if they were water soluble.  So, I crossed my fingers and gave it a try.  Not the best stamping job in the world, but I've never claimed to be a stamper.  And the good news was, the pen worked and didn't damage my stamp.

I had honestly planned to use a bunny on this card, but my brain froze after the stamping fiasco, and I grabbed a gecko stamp instead. I'm not sure how green this looks on your monitor, but it didn't look very green in my craft room.  It sure smelled great, though.

I'm not sure what I thought I could accomplish with this green rub-n-buff, but it didn't work.  Had I not insisted on showing every step along the way, you might never have known I used it.  I was actually trying to cover the mess I made when I stamped the gecko.

I used another of my ink pens to stamp the G.  However, unlike rubber stamps, the foam stamp didn't like the pen ink as well.  Or maybe I didn't huff and puff enough.  Regardless, I had to go over the outline of the G for it to even show up.

To complete the card, I used one of the gelly roll pens I bought last Friday at a deep discount.

For my second card, I decided blue would be my monochromatic color of choice.  Supplies include this lovely blue security envelope, a border punch, blue paint, playing card, pigment ink, and a butterfly stamp.

Glued and cut to size, this playing card was now ready to accept the next step,

which was to run the new ink (I had to remove the protective wrapper, so I knew it was fresh) around the outside of the card.

I painted a portion of the blue paper, and ran it through the border punch.  Sadly, I got it stuck, so it wasn't the best punch job in the world.

I couldn't get the other stamp to show on the paper, so I opted for a different one.  I also stamped the B using the same pigment ink.

This was another of those times I wished I had not stamped on the card.  Nothing showed. 

What to do, what to do?  Clean the stamp and put it away.

That's when I got the original butterfly out again, but this time I stamped it on some of that blue printer paper.  I cut around the butterfly, but can't really call it fussy cutting, since I wasn't too careful with my cut.  For once, I auditioned two pens before I started writing.  I liked the Sharpie better than the Gelly Roll, so used it.

And here is my B stands for blue butterfly card,

along with another look at G stands for green gecko.

Finally, one last look at the two cards together.  All in all, I was quite happy with these monochromatic cards, and loved the challenge prompt this week.

I'm so grateful that so many of you have stuck with me through these last 26 weeks.  It has helped keep me going when I wanted to quit.  But I don't have a whole lot of quit in me, and when I start something, even if I don't have the products or even the wherewithal to make it artsy, I am determined to see it through.  So thanks to all, because next week is the last one!