Inspired by???

No guessing necessary; you know.  It's most likely either Tim Holtz or Wendy Vecchi.  And today, it's both.
First things first.....I'll be quiet for a few days (stop applauding, now!) because I will be in Connecticut for three wonderful days with one of my mixed media collage heroes, Lynne Perrella.  My fourth workshop with Lynne, but the first out of town, and I'm very excited.  And I'm going with one of my best art pals, Teri, which will only add to the fun.   Now, on to the projects.

Last night I was with a bunch of friends at Heidi's for a jewelry class.  We made pins using Red Lead's "chotski" pins, and can I give you two words:  EASY and FUN!  We had lots of charms and other dodads to choose from, and I tweaked mine a bit when I got home.  As luck would have it, Red Lead is the vendor of the month at ATT, and they are sponsoring a chotski pin swap, so I'll be keeping one and swapping the other.  Here they are:

See, all you need to do is attach your chosen charms (anything with a hole in it qualifies as a charm, IMO) with jump rings.  The only piece I fussed with at all is the disc next to the parrot in the first pin.  I punched the lady from a Graphic45 Steampunk Debutante paper, glued it onto the disc, then added a rim of micro beads.  When that set up a bit I covered the whole thing with Glossy Accents and dropped a few tiny watch parts right over the ones that were part of the image.  Other than that, it was just a matter of combining and arranging the charms.

I made time this morning to do a piece for this week's Making Art Challenge at EWV.  We're up to challenge 12 already, and it's based on a project from Wendy's first book.  Lori, the list mom, told us to use the technique of stamping on patterned paper, and include a saying in a bookplate.  I did a vintage and VERY faux science exhibit for mine.  Trust me on the faux....I was a liberal arts person all the way.  Even the thought of math or science could cause me to break out in a rash.

The paper on the base and inside the canvas (I used the back of the canvas so I'd have a little niche) are both 7Gypsies, stamped of course with Wendy's stamps.  The wood and sides of the canvas were gessoed and then colored with faded jeans and peeled paint distress stains.  The specimen is a Stampin' Up butterfly, stamped on some old music paper then inked with wild honey, barn door, and faded jeans.  I added a couple of glass vials to complete the laboratory feel, and attached them with resistors.

The bookplate is part of Tim's tag die and I experimented (I WAS in the scientific mode!) with the finish.  I cut it from a scrap of cardstock, then inked it with wild honey, crushed olive and some vintage photo.  While still wet I covered it with Ranger's verdigris embossing powder, heat set it, and then dabbed some black archival ink over top to tone it down a bit.   I'm pretty happy with my experiment, and think it does look like old patinaed metal.  The saying Specimen B is also a Wendy stamp.

The edges of the piece were wrapped with Tim's tissue tape, which I then lightly colored with faded jeans distress stain.

And now.....I really do have to shut up and start packing!