So Many Challenges, So Little Time

I'm back from a blissful week cruising the Caribbean; I feel invigorated, but still haven't figured out how to squeeze an extra hour or two into the day.  So, when I get the opportunity to create something that can be used for more than one of my favorite challenges, I do jump at the chance.

Here's the rundown:    Grungy Monday 37 calls for wearable art
                                     Simon Says Stamp and Show.....idea-ology
                                     Tim's March edition of the 12 Tags of 2012 features a beautiful mosaic
                                          technique

Tim used his butterfly movers and shapers to create the mosaic; I went for the tattered florals.  He used Ranger's cement embossing powder from the Antiquities line; I used their ancient gold.  And I have a surprise.....the flowers on my tag are actually a pin that can be removed and worn.  My flowers are embellished with some idea-ology that has been colored with distress embossing powder (I used scattered straw, shabby shutters and worn lipstick), so I'm covered for all three challenges.  Wearable art, check.  Idea-ology, check.  Mosaic technique, check. 

Without further blah blah blah, here is my tag:

My background is a gorgeous Hero Arts stamp, lightly inked with tea dye distress ink.  Some antique linen was sponged on afterwards, followed by a spritz of pewter perfect pearls mist.  I wanted a very subtle background so that my pin would pop.

The sentiment is a Wendy Vecchi stamp and the stick pins are from Maya Road.  And here is a closer look at the pin.

Tip:  if you're trying the mosaic technique on very small shapes (like the smallest of the flowers), and therefore using very small bits of paper, you might find it a little difficult to precisely place the glossy accents on the paper only, and not the heat set embossing powder.  I just squeezed a blob of it on my craft sheet and used a small brush.  I didn't exactly brush it on; it was more like a gentle dabbing, but it got the glossy accents exactly where I wanted it, and it self leveled nicely.  BTW, I used a tie tack finding  to make the pin, and all three flowers were glued together with matte multi medium (held in place with small clamps until dry).

Oh, and this is completely off topic, but here are a few shots of Caribbean tranquility:

My Funny Valentine

Big announcement from Tim yesterday.....no more 12 Tags of Christmas (sigh....), but instead, the launch of the 12 Tags of 2012.  A new tag, chock full of techniques and step by step directions each month.  Starting with February, a Valentine's tag.

Not that I'm cynical about love, but whether I've been in or out of a relationship come February 14, it has just never been one of my favorite holidays.  But I couldn't resist the challenge, not to mention I had an idea to put a less than serious spin on things.

Tim's main technique involved the use of a specialty paper that results in a honeycomb (and very dimensional) image.  You have to click on the 12 Tags link above to see it.  Now, as much as I own in the way of supplies, this paper is not in my stash.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, however, was a vague memory of making homemade honeycomb paper with my kids way back when I was an elementary school teacher.  I did a quick google search and found this totally easy tutorial which is just the way I remember doing it.  Does it result in the exact same perfect honeycomb effect as the Inky Antics paper?  Of course not, but if you want to give it a try and are too impatient to wait until you can find the real thing, I don't think you'll be disappointed.  I'm not trying to take business away from Inky Antics, but not everyone has the means to buy every cool product, and besides, it's always nice to know your alternatives.

Before I go into details, this tag will be my entry for two challenges besides Tim's.

Grungy Monday #36 :  V-Day, Tim Holtz style.

Simon Says Stamp and Show :  anything goes

And by the way, both of the above challenges will have prizes sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.

I used Tim's paint resist technique with his Rock Star stamp, then used just about every shade of red distress ink over the entire tag.  The embossing you see on the top and right side was done with one of those skinny embossing folders from Sizzix.  Instead of the lace die for the bottom (which I don't have....and why is that?  Something else for the wish list), I used two Martha Steward border punches on Core'dinations whitewash paper.  I followed Tim's directions to make the heart with the tissue tape ruffled edge, and made the honeycomb heart following the tutorial directions I mentioned above.

When I saw cupid on Tim's blog, believe it or not, I was instantly reminded of the running man from Wendy Vecchi's Gentleman's Art stamp set (similar pose, no?), so I had him holding onto the heart,  and instead of covering him with red stickles, I used black diamond.

I used a plain old office date stamp for the one-day-too-late-for Valentine's-Day date, and right below it, the "oops" is from Wendy's Destination Art set.  The "I'm Late! I'm Late!" is from a Stamping Ground Alice in Wonderland set.

And I'm thinking this tag will go out in the mail to a friend who I know is also no great fan of V-Day, and won't mind a bit it's being late.



Cracked and Bricked

I'm happy to report that yesterday I managed to create a birthday card that is also OK for Grungy Monday Challenge 34, and the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.
The lovely Linda Ledbetter of GM, asked us to do something that incorporates Tim's crackle resist technique.  And over at Simon Says, we're to do a piece inspired by a song title.

I know this is not a card for everyone, but I'm pretty sure its recipient will like it.  It's grungy and graffiti inspired.

It started with black cardstock, which I embossed with Tim's bricked embossing folder.  I then applied a coat of antique linen distress crackle paint, thick in some areas, thin in others, just like Tim demonstrated in the video.  While the paint was still wet I removed some around the bricks so they'd be more recognizable as bricks.  Then I just sat and waited for the paint to dry and the crackling to begin.

I added some shreds of 7 Gypsies tissue paper to look like the remnants of posters on the wall.  Adhered them with Ranger's Glue N Seal and being tissue paper, they really did kind of "melt" into the wall.

The writing, deliberately wonky (well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it), was done by dabbing black paint through Tim's stencil type.

The shadow of the woman staring at the wall is actually a Wendy Vecchi stamp, from her Regal Art set.

As for the song title.....are you old enough to guess, LOL?  Well, it's Another Brick in the Wall, by Pink Floyd, released in 1979.  And now you have a pretty good idea of just how old I am!

33 Is A Good Number

This week marks both the 33rd Grungy Monday challenge and the 33rd Making Art Wendy style challenge over at the Wendy Vecchi  yahoo group.

The GM challenge is to use the technique that Tim showed us on his blog back in August of 2008.  This particular technique has also appeared in this year's 12 Tags of Christmas, and if I'm not mistaken, in a past 12 Tags as well.  It involves fragments, alcohol inks, archival ink, and for most of us, a good deal of finger crossing.  A true challenge, but when it works, it rocks.

I used a large oval fragment and decided to use it as embellishment on a card.  Not sure yet what occasion the card will celebrate or who will receive it, but I think it turned out pretty good.

I used the script stamp from Tim's reflections set, so with this technique it shows up the right way, not backwards.  The oval fragment fits perfectly in the center of the fancy frame embossing folder, and I did that on glossy cardstock.  I don't think I've ever embossed on this paper before, and I love the way it looks.  It's important to use white paper with the fragment so that the technique really pops.  The embellishments on top of the fragment (attached with glossy accents) are from pink paislee.  Here's a sideways shot so you can see the dimensionality.

The Wendy challenge also involves a Tim technique....this one from tag #2 of this year's 12 Tags.  We're to use the kraft resist technique and some sticky back canvas and Wendy's stamps.  I created my own Wendy kraft resist paper by using her lace background stamp, clear ink and embossing powder on plain kraft paper.  For the canvas part, I stamped two of Wendy's flowers on the canvas, colored them, frayed the edges, and popped them on the background.  Quite a bit of perfect pearls mists were involved.  Oh, and I forgot to mention, I did this on 4x6 light chipboard, and it will be a postcard.









Grungy Monday 31 -- Happy Birthday Tim!

Linda Ledbetter, the brains behind Grungy Monday came up with a real winner this week....this Saturday is Tim's birthday, so Linda's challenge is for us to use whatever Tim products/techniques we'd like and create a birthday card for Tim.  I actually did mine on Monday, even popped it in the mail for Tim yesterday morning, but today is the first chance I've had to post about it.

While I was at it, I noticed that the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is "something old, something new," and my card (and envelope) fit this challenge as well, so here we go with another twofer.

It's an easel card, and what you see peeking from beneath it is the envelope I made for it....which is what constitutes the "something old" part of the Simon Says challenge.  It was made from a sheet of vintage advertising, attached to some sturdy cardstock.  And it was part of a package of goodies sent to me by my good pal Nancy in Arizona.  (BTW, the "something new" is the distressed doily on the edge die I used to keep the easel open.....it was the very first time I used that die).

Here are some more shots of the card and some of the supplies I used.



The background paper, as well as the paper used on the triangles is from Tim's Lost and Found paper stack.  The letters that spell out FUN are Jenni Bowlin stickers, and they are attached to cardstock, placed inside blank brads (an old Stampin' Up product), and the whole thing covered with a layer of glossy accents.  I edged the triangles with some white paint so they'd show up better against the background, and they're glued to the string with glossy accents.



The filmstrip was cut from the filmstrip frames die.  Where did I get a stamp that says "Tim?"  Haha, I didn't.  It is actually a stamp from an Oxford Impressions set that says "Time."  I just covered the e with tape before inking, and voila!  A Tim stamp.   (As I take a bow for my cleverness, LOL).

And here is a better look at the envelope.  Although I used s a strong adhesive to seal everything, just to be on the safe side (and to add a bit of decoration) I used tissue tape around all the edges. 



Oh, and my message to Tim is above the doily where it can remain unseen while the easel card is displayed; one of the great benefits of this style of card. 

Only one last thing to say:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!!!



Grungy Monday Christmas Card

I always enjoy the Grungy Monday challenges, but this week even more so.  The inspiration for it comes from one of Tim's 2007 12 Tags of Christmas.  And, since I got onboard the 12 Tags train in 2008, this was a new one for me.  Please click HERE to get all the deets straight from the expert's blog.

Now, as I've mentioned, my intent is to use any challenges I enter to create some holiday cards.  Not wanting to seem like a copycat or anything, my first attempt used a snowman rather than the Santa that Tim used as the focal image.  I really don't love it.  At all.  But will share it so you can see where things can go so very wrong.



I probably should have used black ink on the snowman stamp.  There just wasn't enough contrast between the snowman and the background, which is what lead to my outlining the snowman with my black glaze pen.  Now it looks like the snowman was pasted onto the background instead of being the result of some wonderful technique.  The paint resist snowflakes came out nicely, however.

So, I went back to the Santa idea, and used a wonderful vintagey La Blanche stamp that I picked up recently at one of those deal of the day sites.

I'm much happier with this one.  The snowflakes and script are both Tim stamps; the sentiment is an old Stampin' Up stamp (done with black embossing powder).

I enhanced Santa's hat with fired brick and forest moss distress stickles, his face with rock candy distress stickles, and added some little pine cones and berries. 

By the way, I'm taking Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Card Boot Camp and if you need a little jump start to your holiday cards, I totally recommend it.  Although it already began, registration is open, and once you sign up you will have access to the class FOREVER (and you can download the files and videos if you like). 





Perfectly Distressed

This week's Grungy Monday challenge takes us to a cool video Tim did some time ago on what he calls perfect distress......the wonderful pairing of distress inks and perfect pearls.....click HERE to check it out; it's an oldie but goodie, and well worth re-visiting.  I think this technique will add great sparkle to your holiday projects.  Speaking of which, I'm still meeting my own personal challenge, and my entry for GM is also a Christmas card.

I originally thought I'd just use the technique as an accent, but got totally carried away, and used it EVERYWHERE.  I know that the sparkle of mica powders does not show up well in (my) photographs, so I also took some angle shots.

You can see the effect of the perfect pearls a little better there.  And here's a closeup of Santa.

I stamped Santa (from Tim's Letter to Santa set) on white cardstock with black soot distress ink, and then used several perfect pearls on him:  green patina on the holly, perfect pearl on the hair, biscotti on the face, and raspberry sparkle on the hat and coat.

The Happy Holidays stamp is from Tim's Holiday Wishes set, and I used pine needles distress ink and green patina perfect pearls.  

The last thing I did with this technique was to add both peeled paint and forest moss distress inks all around the card, using a blending tool.  This too, got the perfect pearls treatment; this time I used heirloom gold.

The piece was mounted on a red card base, and at the last minute I decided to add a bit more bling, covering the holly with forest moss distress stickles and adding some barn door distress stickles berries.

So, here it is, still October, and I've already gotten three holiday cards under my belt.  Bring on the next challenge!







Tim In 10

Today's Grungy Monday challenge is perfect for me:  Tim in 10, or, create a card using some Tim
products in 10 minutes or less.  Great for anyone with time issues.  In other words, just about everyone.

I think the trick to accomplishing this is to have a plan, and by that I mean a really thought out plan, so you don't waste any of those precious minutes thinking or futzing around looking for just the right embellishment.  Added to that, I wanted my card to actually look like it might have taken more than the allotted time, so I figured I'd need to use a quick and easy (yet impressive) technique.  I decided on one from last year's 12 Tags of Christmas.  Click here for the details on Tim's blog.  And now, my card:

A piece of scrap plastic was cut to the same size as the white shimmery cardstock, then embossed with Tim's Snow Flurries folder.  If you click on the link to Tim's blog above, you'll see how you can use this technique to create a very impressive piece when you have more than 10 minutes to spare.

The blue snowflakes are part of Tim's on the edge die which is also called Snow Flurries.  It is the same blue cardstock I used as the card base.

I can't tell you the origins of the ribbon, it's just a scrap piece from my stash.

The Merry Christmas ticket is from the Odds and Ends set.  It was stamped with black archival ink on a scrap of white cardstock, then lightly inked with Faded Jeans distress ink.

The adhesive that holds the plastic to the cardstock was placed where the ribbon would eventually hide it, so nothing shows through.

If I had more than the 10 minutes (the whole thing actually took a bit less than that) I'm sure I would have added more "stuff," but I'm happy with the way it came out and wouldn't be embarrassed to send it off to someone.



OMG, A Non-Cruise Post!!

Grungy Monday #22 - A Tim Inspired Halloween

and

Simon Says Stamp and Show Something With Wings

I was so happy to see Grungy Monday reappear, and lucky for me, I was able to create something that also works for the Simon Says challenge this week.

I'm not much of a Halloween person, but I know plenty of people who are, so this tag will be headin' out sometime soon.

The base is a black Ranger tag which was embossed with Cuttlebug's spiderweb folder.  Embossing ink was swiped over the raised parts and then brushed with copper and grape Perfect Pearls.  The top of the tag (where there was no embossing, is covered with some of Tim's Halloween tissue tape.

The bird is from Tim's Raven/Scaredy Cat die.  It was cut from grungeboard, inked with black embossing ink and covered with black embossing powder.  Then it got a coat of rock candy crackle paint.  When I went to finish drying it with my heat tool it did some crazy bubbling, but I'm going to say it was deliberate because I like the texture.  (But it really was a happy accident).

Behind the bird are both sizes of the mini rosette die. They were cut from some Cosmo Cricket Halloween paper that I've had for about two years.  The Happy Halloween ticket is hanging from a bit of ribbon behind the raven.

OK, I think I'm done with spiders and black cats and ravens and witches.  Bring on Santa!

Singin' In The Rain

Last night mother nature treated us to some light show in the sky....thunder, lightening, powerful winds.  I was glad to be inside, and the storm probably influenced this morning's piece.

Early today I was happy to see that the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge was to use any Tim technique, because obviously that would work with Grungy Monday.  I had to wait until 8am my time to see just what that one would be, and was well rewarded, because it's one of the coolest to come out of The 12 Tags of Christmas, 2010.  Click here to be taken to Tim's blog to see what I'm talking about.

I've always thought that Tim's "Rays" embossing folder looked like rain fallling, and I used it to that end, embossing on some scrap plastic.  With Umbrella Man underneath, can there be any doubt?

I think it took longer for me to figure out how to minimize the glare and take a decent photo than it took to make the tag.  It really is a fast and easy no-fuss technique.

I misted my tag with:  Adirondack color wash in denim, sailboat blue and purple twilight, then added a spray of Perfect Pearls turquoise mist.  All were blended together by pouncing with a balled up paper towel.  Of course I didn't throw the towel away....it will show up in some future project for sure.  Oh, I almost forgot.....the tag looked a tiny bit too dark, and though I liked it I wanted Umbrella Man to show up, so after drying the tag I dabbed some of the new picket fence distress stain over top and blended it in with a rag.  I lightened the tag up just enough.

Umbrella man was cut from plain black cardstock and glued onto the dried tag.  After embossing the plastic it was cut to the size of the tag.  Before attaching it (with four small black brads) I printed out the sentiment with my label maker.  I found it with a google search of rain quotes, and it is attributed to singer/songwriter Roger Miller.  Kind of a humorous twist on the sadly overused weather the storm vrs. dance in the rain saying.  And I like it.

Goin' Hauntin'

I had a blast working on this week's Grungy Monday project.  Linda L. chose a cool technique for us to incorporate.  Click HERE to see how it's done from the master himself.  And for those of you who just arrived in my world, I am referring to Tim Holtz.

While I do enjoy the quirky, I am not particularly a lover of all things Halloween.  However, at this time of year so much of the new crafts products seem to involve that holiday, so it's been on my mind.  And, I had this leftover cover from a small configurations project, and some Halloween tissue tape, and a stamp set, and ......

So, here is my skeletal friend, just chillin' in front of his digs, doing some last minute prep work before his big day:

I lined the inside with one of Tim's Halloween tissue tapes, and the outside with the other.  The back on the inside is the apothocary label page from his Lost and Found paper stack.  Here's a side view:

Inside, behind Mr. Skeleton is the piece I did with this week's challenge technique.  I used the witch hazel stamp from Tim's Haunted Mansion set.  Attached to the top of the box is a raven, also from that set.  I put a poison label (from the Curiosities set) on a small vial, and attached it with wire to the vellum piece.



The haunted house is actually called Rickety House, and it is a Tim Holtz Sizzix die.  I cut it from a piece of Core'dinations paper (the black magic line), then ran it through my machine in the Cracked embossing folder, and sanded the raised areas.

As for Mr. Skeleton himself.....I bought a bunch of them in Mario's shop on the 2009 cruise to Mexico, and this is the first one I've used in a project!  He's somewhat pliable, so I've managed to sit him up, cross his legs, and manipulate his arms so he's holding his book.  C'mon, admit it, that book tickles you as much as it does me. 

I tore some black lace up and attached it the top.  It sort of hangs down, and I'm not sure how well you can see it, but here's trying:

I didn't even try for any twofers or threefers this week.  This was one of those rare times when I actually had a clear picture in my mind of how I wanted this to turn out.  So, now I'm off to see what I can do with the Simon Says challenge.















Rock On

So, the challenge on Grungy Monday is rock candy, not the cavity inducing kind, but what you find in Ranger's Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint and/or their Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  Both products are clear, but do very different things.  Check out Tim's video here to learn more.  To fulfill this challenge use one or both in a project.

Luckily enough, over at my other favorite challenge site, Simon Says Stamp and Show, this week is an "anything goes" week, so I'm good to go there too.  Thanks, universe, for cooperating.

I did this piece, though I'm unsure how I'll use it.  It may turn out to be part of a larger project,  or a masculine card front, or the cover for a travel journal. 

Yes, this is a rather dark piece, but in person not nearly as dark as this photo.  Sorry about that!  I cut Umbrella Man from the advertising that came with some Graphic45 tags.  If you click on the photo to get a closer look, you might be able to see the writing, especially on the umbrella.  I inked it after cutting with stained walnut and black soot distress inks,  then applied a fairly thick coat of the crackle paint and allowed it to air dry.  After it dried I applied some additional black soot and worked it into the cracks.

As for the old jalopy.  I made a stamp using fun foam and the jalopy die, just like Tim showed us last December.  Click here for more on that.  The fender (or is it a bumper?) was cut with the die from some scrap Ten Seconds Studio metal.  I used the silver side but toned down the shine with some coffee archival ink.

All of the background was done with distress inks and a blending tool to get some depth and shadows.  And Umbrella Man was attached with foam so he has some extra dimension as well.

The sentiment is, of course, one of Tim's.  I think I have that in several sizes, and I find I use it a lot.

Tiny Houses, Made of Grungeboard.....

I've had to steal a moment here and there, and it took me three days, but I do have a piece that fits the themes of both Grungy Monday (grungeboard/grungepaper) and Simon Says Stamp and Show (embossing). 

Using plenty of goodliness from Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi, I created a nameplate for my desk.  Not that I work any more (retired) and need to identify myself to anyone, but I thought it was cool and wanted one. 

First I cut up some grungeboard using Tim's Artful Dwellings die, then added a few of Wendy's Art Parts from her Residences set.  Let me tell you, the Dwellings and Residences play very nicely together.

Allow me to take you on a little guided tour of this grungy village.....

First of all, I wanted you to see that all the buildings are arranged and glued (Claudine Hellmuth's matte multi medium rocks!) onto an old Scrabble tray,  colored with peeled paint distress stain.

The first artful dwelling was embossed with Tim's burlap folder and inked with scattered straw and forest moss distress inks.  The opening was cut with a keyhole mover and shaper die, and I stuck Mona Lisa in that window, covered by a bit of mica.....just because.  The roof is topped with Tim's wings and some foliage.  Now, on to the next structure:

This one was embossed with Tim's bricked folder, and colored with fired brick and aged mahogany distress inks.  A bit of scrap paper from one of Tim's paper collections tops the roof.  As for the number......well, I love Tim's plaquettes and in fact have them, but you know, sometimes you just may want a number that is not in the set.  80 is my house number, and that's what I wanted.  So, I covered a plain metal disc with clear embossing ink and white embossing powder and heat set it until the surface was nice and smooth like porcelain.  BTW, I needed two coats to achieve that.  When cooled, I distressed the edges with some black archival ink and used it to stamp the numbers as well. Archival ink dries quickly and is permanent.

This house was embossed with Tim's checkerboard folder and inked with tea dye and vintage photo distress inks.  The large keyhole opening is also a mover and shaper die and behind it, a bit of text from the scrap pile.  Defining the roof is an Art Part....painted with snowcap, then colored with peeled paint distress stain, which gives it a softer more pastel look.  Over top, some random dots from an old SU! stamp, inked with sepia archival ink.  You can't see it in this picture, but if you look again at the shot of the full village, you'll see I used a hitch fastener as the doorknob of this building.  I love the versatality of the idea-ology line.

This little house is an Art Part, colored with monarch orange archival ink, then stamped with one of Wendy's background stamps with coffee archival ink.  The opening was covered with one of Tim's keyhole idea-ology pieces.  A teeny light bulb I had in my stash fit perfectly in the opening.

Lastly, this tall skinny Artful Dwelling had the three squares cut into it with a Sizzix mover and shaper die.  Behind the openings, some leftover paper from the dryer sheet background I showed you the other day.  Held in place with staples and Tim's tiny attacher. The grungeboard was inked with saffron archival ink and stamped with another of Wendy's background stamps with sepia.  Yet another idea-ology keyhole decorates the peak of the roof.

As for my name.....I used a variety of letters from my stash.

















:Leavin' Town, But Had Time For A......

......threefer!   Here are the challenges I think I've met:

Grungy Monday:  Tim Holtz    alcohol ink techniques

Simon Says Stamp and Show:  a word

Everything Wendy Vecchi Making Art!:  red, white and blue

And here is my piece.....and a Happy Fourth of July to all!

 

For the alcohol ink technique I did the splatter, which is what you see on the bottom layer.  You're supposed to use compressed air, but I couldn't find the can in my stash, so I blew through a straw instead.  Maybe not as much fun, and I think I collapsed a lung, but it worked well enough.

 

The next layer features one of my favorite images, Lady Liberty, a Viva Las Vegas stamp.  I used a little flourish/flower stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Botanical Art set around the edges.  That stamp has always reminded me of fireworks, so it seemed appropriate.  I used two of the new archival ink colors:  vermillion and manganese blue.  That takes care of the red, white and blue portion of our program.

 

As for "show us a word,"  well, I showed a few, but used Jenni Bowlin mini stickers to spell out LIBERTY.  The sentiment on the bottom is from Wendy's Evidence of Art set.

 

And since I'm using this piece as a way of wishing you all a happy and safe Independence Day, I'm thinking I actually accomplished a fourfer, or maybe let's just call it a quad.

 

Take care, and I'll be back as soon as I can!

Grungy Monday and Showin' Some Metal

Today's challenges:   Grungy Monday #12 refers back to a technique Tim demoed in April of 2008.  Click HERE to see it from the man himself.  Click HERE to see what Linda L. and her guest designers did for the challenge.   Over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.....the show part is metal.  Click HERE to go to that blog and see all the projects the team did.  The third challenge, a personal one, was to create something that strikes fear in the heart of most card makers.....a masculine card.  I think I've scored a threefer here:

The background, which is the technique from Tim's blog, was done on the vintage license plate paper from Lost and Found.  I used Wendy's houndstooth background stamp and Ranger's hazelnut paint dabber.  

Metal shows up in two places.  First Ten Seconds Studio rock star black metal was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.....a houndstooth design to echo the background stamp.  It was then cut with Tim's Hanging Sign die.  You'll notice that I trimmed the hanger part to fit this somewhat smaller than standard card.  The metal was lightly sanded and then rubbed with archival ink in sepia.  Some leftover bits of chain connect the sign to the hanger.  The other metal comes from the brads in the four corners....they are actually very glittery, and come from Stampin' Up.

Speaking of SU, I used a punch of theirs that is a very similar shape to the hanging sign to cut the cardstock that the birthday greeting (also from SU) is on.

BTW, the background technique is one of my favorites.  Although I used a really nice looking paper to stamp on, what I love about this technique is how it can totally transform the appearance of patterned paper you don't much care for, turning it into something special.  Try it.



Two Challenges, A Book Cover And A Collage

But first, an update on my 500th post giveaway.  I'll be choosing (well, not me, Mr. Random Dot Org will do it) the winner this weekend.  Stay tuned.

Now, on to new art.  Here are the challenges:

     Grungy Monday:  Do the faux batik Tim demonstrated in his January 2008 technique challenge

     Simon Says Stamp and Show:  distressed and/or torn edges

I also needed a cover for a travel journal, so I combined the two challenges with my own project and came up with this:

First I stamped a collage (using masking) on paper from Tim's Crowded Attic stash, and followed the steps to create the faux batik look.  Most of the stamps I used are from Air Travel and French Market.  There is some accent stamping as well.  The only non Tim stamp I used is the Hero Arts Statue of Liberty stamp in the corner.  The edges are covered with tissue tape.  For the distressed/torn edges, you see that on the little passport and the rolled up map, both attached to the bottom with a hinge clip.  A mini compass completes the embellishing.

Last Friday I got together with some friends and we worked on 12x12 wrapped canvases, using paints, stains, inks, every Golden medium in creation, sprays, all sorts of papers,  and lots and lots of stencils.  I am very pleased with what I did.  I tweaked it a bit when I got home, which brings me to my tip of the day.  Which sounds very official and like I've been giving out daily tips all along.  Which I haven't.  Anyway,  here it is:  when you are finished with a piece, take it off your work table and put it someplace else.  In my case, I put the canvas on a shelf in my living room where I'd be looking at it in a new context.  If you are really finished, I think you'll know that.  But if you aren't, before too long you'll know what to do.  I had lots of black circles on the left, done with paint and sequin waste, and though I liked them well enough when I was working on the piece, staring at it in my living room, I realized they were too dominant in the design.  So I covered some of them and repeated the harlequin design (in a smaller scale) instead.  I'm back to staring at it in the living room, but after two full days it still looks finished to me, so I'm calling this one complete, and I'm off to sign my name.



Distressing Over Tags

No, that's not a description of my current mental state, just a shortcut title combining the Grungy Monday and Simon Says challenges this week.  For GM, Linda L. says go at it with your distress inks, and at SS, Linda E. says stamp and show a tag.  Actually, this is going to be a threefer, because I need some tags for a swap that showcases masking.  So I threw some of that in too.  LOTS of distress inks found their way onto my tags, my fingers, my clothes, and probably some other places I haven't looked at yet.

I started with one of Tim's most basic distress ink techniques.....wrinkle free distressing, and used dusty concord, milled lavender, worn lipstick and tattered rose.  I then stamped the dress (I won that Impression Obsession stamp in a raffle on the Ink Pad bus trip to the W. Springfield stamp expo last Saturday.  Yea!), covered it with a mask I made of it, and restamped it so it looks like one is behind the other.  I used black archival ink for that.

Next, I covered both dresses with masks and stamped over the whole tag with a Wendy Vecchi background stamp, using one of the newest archival ink colors.....sepia.  Which is one of the (many) things I purchased at that stamp show.   To continue with the masking theme, I put two Heidi Swapp mini butterfly masks on the piece (with the dress masks still in place), and using the blending tool, covered everything with some dusty concord.  After removing the masks I decided there was too much contrast and went over the lighter areas with a little broken china.

A little rose just under the waistline was part of the stamp, and I covered it with a tiny Prima flower to add a bit of dimension.  The sentiment is another Wendy stamp and it was cut with a Stampin' Up punch.  The final touch was the beaded trim, a ton of which I scored at a very good price at the stamp show.  Thanks to my friend Heidi for pointing me in the right direction or I would have missed it.

You know, if I had one ounce of patience I would have waited until Wednesday to see what Lori's Making Art challenge theme is going to be at Everything Wendy Vecchi this week.  Maybe I could have had a fourfer.  Or should we call that a quadfer?  No matter.  I lack patience.  I couldn't wait.  So I guess I'll be making something else on Wednesday.  Hey, another excuse to ignore the growing mountain that is my laundry basket.  A good thing.



My Favorite Stamp, Shabby Chic-afied

So, this week, Simon Says Show Us Your Favorite Stamp (except they spell it favourite).  Which means I am pretty much assured of being able to use whatever I create for the Grungy Monday challenge as well.  As long as stamping is involved.  There I am, early Monday morning, waiting for it to be 8am my time, so I can see what Linda L. has planned for us.  And it is a great stamping (yea!) technique from Tim.  In fact, it dates way back to December 2007, one of the 12 Tags of Christmas, and it is called shabby chic.

It's always difficult to select a favorite anything.....stamp, color, song, book.....there are so many and for most of us the concept of favorite is kind of fluid.  That being said, I do know what ONE of my most beloved stamps is, so I'm using that one.  It is the artsy chick stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Art Rules set,  and I do use it a lot.  Also I just liked the idea of doing artsy chick in shabby chic.  First I just played around with the technique on scrap paper, trying different paint colors. Looking at the array of samples on my work table, I was hit with an idea.  If one artsy chick is good, how great would eight be?  And this is what came out of that:

Each part is ATC size, and they are done on black foam board.  Which I painted black as per Tim's directions, because I found out the hard way that the technique just works better on a painted surface.
And, because I had just scored a bunch of metallic paints, I used them instead of the paint dabbers and I absolutely love this variation.  The bits of gold, however, were done with a paint dabber and a stencil.  I added some number rub-ons (which I sanded a bit to shabbify them) and decided it would be more interesting if they were out of order.  Then I just arranged them on a larger piece of foam board, and it is, as they say, ready to hang.



It's always a little difficult for me to photograph anything with a shimmer, so I hope this close up gives you a better idea of how the metallics work.



I'm A Tagmaniac!

I'm part of a group called Artistic Portfolios....mainly the women I do collaborative art journals with, and most of whom I get to see in Key Largo at our (now) yearly Keys4Art retreat.  We've been creating backgrounds and journal pages and sending them to everyone in the group.  Our next project is tags, and we're making two for each participant.  Of course we can do whatever we like with them, but the idea is to incorporate them somehow into the journals that we're going to make with all the pages we'll be getting.

I used this as a way to play around with some of the techniques I've been doing lately, some from weekly challenges and some from workshops. 

These use the brushless watercolor technique that has popped up on TWO recent challenges (see prior posts for the details), and I've used Wendy Vecchi stamps (except for the sentiment, which is Stampin' Up):



This next set of tags has the nice and easy color blocking technique by Sir Tim (see last week's Grungy Monday for the deets):

The background stamp is Tim's and of course, umbrella man, who looks great on the colorful base, is a Tim die.

One of my all time favorite techniques (and I don't know who to credit it with because I've seen it in so many different places) is a variation of Joseph's Coat.  You stamp over patterned paper with clear ink, emboss it with clear powder, and then cover the whole thing with dark (usually black) ink.  The embossed areas retain the original pattern, and if you've used colorful paper it really pops.  I did several tags with that method:

I did the technique on 12x12 papers and used very dark blue ink instead of black, then cut the papers up into tag size, which is why each background is slightly different.  They're also all embellished differently.  I've used Spellbinders butterfly and dragonfly dies, Tim's mini butterfly and cage/bird dies, and one more.....

To get that rich deep and very distressed looking blue finish on the butterflies on the ribbon, I stamped the row of butterflies from Tim's Papillon set on black paper with clear ink, and then used blue UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).  Then I just cut them out and fastened them to the tag with the tiny attacher.

The next few tags gave me the opportunity to play around with the use of stencils over collage. 

Small squares from a previously done collage were glued down on the tag on the left.  The entire tag was covered with adhesive.  After the squares went down, gold UTEE was applied....embossing powder/enamel sticks to glue just as well as to wet ink....which created the mosaic effect.  Final touch:  stenciling in black paint and then some black crystal bling.

On the right, the collage was not cut up, but the same stencils and bling were used.

All of the following started out as collaged pieces, mainly text and patterned tissue paper.  Some had a little embossing added, others received images, and all were stenciled.