More Steampunk And A Gift

I have two more steampunk tags to share with you; one came out of an Inspiration Showcase technique, the other was just me messing around.

This one used Jennifer's stamping on canvas technique for the background.  The man with the birdcage hat is from Tim's Pen and Pencil set, and he was heat embossed with black powder.  The tiny lightbulb was in my stash and I can't remember where I got it, but it's a size that has come in handy for several projects, so I hope I can recall the source and get some more.  The gears on the right are from Tim's on the edge die.  After cutting them from grungepaper, I ran them through the Cracked embossing folder, then inked them with several brown distress inks (but mostly walnut stain).  The words are rub-ons, found some time ago in Michael's dollar bin.

I admit, I love this one.  I used one of Ranger's new tags....the black one, and it is a great addition to their tag collection.  It went through Tim's Pocketwatch embossing folder, and the raised areas were highlighted with some copper paint.  The bird, standing on an idea-ology timepiece is from Oxford Impressions, as is the hat he's wearing.  Both were stamped with black archival ink, then colored slightly with old paper distress ink.  The bird was completely covered with glossy accents and the hat got the rock candy distress crackle paint treatment.  The words on the bottom are also from Oxford Impressions.  The tiny clocks are 7 Gypsys rub-ons.

As for the gift referred to in the title.  I'm in a yahoo group that has a monthly lottery, and the way it works, the winner (picked from those who participated in the prior month's lottery) gets to choose the theme for the gifts she'll receive.  My friend Angie was the winner for September, and being Angie, all she wanted was for us to "make art."  So, I did a small (5x7) altered canvas, using all of the layering techniques I love so much, and came up with this.

Lots of layers, lots of texture from tissue paper, paint, modeling paste, stencils, and random bits from my scrap pile.  The one really recognizable image, the woman on the right is from Graphic45's Steampunk Debutante set.  The piece on the left is one of Pink Paislee's artisan elements, white rubbery ornamental designs that can be altered in many ways, with ink, paint, stain, etc.  The canvas is already on its way to Angie and I do hope she likes it.

I don't know if I'll have any more blog posts until I return from the cruise.....and then I'll have plenty.  My plan for today is to clean up the studio and put everything away and begin the packing process.  We'll see how that works out.  Yesterday I received the three new limited edition seasonal distress inks, and I'm itching to play with them.  

Inspiration Showcase -- The Completed Canvas

There were three new techniques today, all what Jennifer refers to as "finishing touches."  And so all there was left for me to do was put together my canvas of sample birds.  I chose a 6x12 canvas.  Why?  Because that's what I had in the house!  I didn't attempt to do the rows of daily samples.....one way there wouldn't be enough room horizontally.....the other way there wouldn't be enough room vertically.  So, I just attached the samples four in a row (except for the last row), and they fit beautifully.  They are in the exact order as presented in the classes and I have a list on the back of the canvas to remind me.  Of course, I've also downloaded all the PDFs, so I'll have them as a reminder as well.

In Jennifer's canvas it looks to me like she didn't do anything to the canvas itself, which I understand.  The samples should be the star.  But I didn't like the starkness of the white, so I used some light colored distress stains and inks (mainly old paper and weathered wood) to add just a bit of softness.

First, here are the final three samples, pigment pearl and an embossed button embellishment, distress stickles and pearl painting on the wing, and glossy accents resist and solid embossing on the wing.

And here is the finished canvas.  I used pop dots to attach my birdies, except on the rosette one, as it is already pretty dimensional.

And the back of the canvas has the list of all the techniques for handy reference.

More Inspiration Showcase AND Another Wendified Steampunk Tag

Another early morning with Jennifer McGuire's wonderful Inspiration Showcase online class.  The last time I was so eager to see the new project and get going was during Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, 2010.  Yep, I'm liking this THAT much.

Today Jennifer focused on stamping with other than ink and/or stamping on other than paper.  Here are my samples.

 stamping with markers

 stamping on canvas and stamping on vellum (wing)

 stamping with paint and paint texture (wing)

 painting with markers (my favorite, I think)

stamping on acetate and bonus rolled canvas rose technique

Meanwhile, I'm not neglecting my other favorite places to hang out online.  Over at the EWV (Everything Wendy Vecchi) yahoo group, list mom Lori announced the latest Making Art! challenge.  Well, she announced it last week, but I completed my piece yesterday.  The challenge is based on the project on page 27 of Wendy's second book, but if you don't have it, all you need to know is that you should include a face and polka dots.  Since I'm in the steampunk tag swap over at ATT, I fulfilled this challenge with just that.  I think it's a fun piece.

They're subtle, but there are polka dots in the background, achieved with one of the techniques from the Inspiration Showcase classes. And the dots came from a Wendy stamp.   The gears on the left are on an Oxford Impressions stamp, and (mostly hidden) is a very cool stamp I bought at Absolutely Everything last year, but sadly, I have no idea who makes it.  The gears are both grungepaper, cut with Tim's mini mover and shaper dies and from the idea-ology line.  More polka dots made with glaze pens.

But the star of this show has got to be art chick from Wendy's Art Rules set.  I did alter her up a bit.  First of all I gave her a big hat, which is often seen in steampunk images.  I just cut it freehand from some scrapbook paper, my intention being to use it as is.  It is a great paper with embossed gears from DCWV, but it didn't pop with the background, so I covered it with clear embossing ink and black embossing powder and that did the trick.  I also enhanced parts of her face with glaze pens.    More polka dots on the hat, and another of those birds I did yesterday when following along with Tim's technique on the Inspiration Showcase class.

Getting Distressed on Inspiration Showcase

No, not distressed as in annoyed, but you knew that.  Today's video is all about distress inks and stains, and the techniques are fantastic.  Just when you thought you knew them all.....along comes Jennifer McGuire.   But before I get to that.....

The way Jennifer has the class organized, one day she presents five techniques and we do our samples, and the next day she goes into greater detail about one or two of them and shows ways to use them in cards and other projects.  Yesterday, she focused on embossing on acetate and ways to alter rosettes.  I put the two together in one tag, with a steampunk theme.  There is a method to my madness.  I signed up for a steampunk tag swap on ATT and I'm getting a head start.

I used Tim's Steampunk embossing folder on the acetate, and it is backed with some brownish cardstock.  The lovely lady is from Graphic45's Steampunk Debutante line, and I altered her in two ways.  First of all, I replaced the hot air balloon that is her skirt with the very layered and altered rosette I made, and secondly (and I don't know how well this shows up in the photo),  I added lots of lines on her with a copper colored glitter pen.  I topped the tag with a bit of a zipper to continue the steampunk industrial look.

Now, onto today's samples.  Again, sorry I can't go into details but once the class is over you will be able to get the PDFs.  The link to get more information is on my last Inspiration Showcase post.

 pearlized distress resist

 distress stamping

 stamping with water and metallic paper wing

 color blend stamping with distress dots wing

fingerinking (as much fun as it sounds) with distress ink watercoloring wing

Can you believe the amount of information so far?  And this is a two week class!  And, it was only $19.  Maybe the best bargain I've ever gotten.