Simon Says Stamp and Show Us......

......an old wive's tale.  Hmmm....strange theme but I'm up for a challenge.  Not sure what the difference is between a superstition and an old wive's tale (if there even is one), but all I know is, ever since I read about the challenge I can't get the Stevie Wonder song Superstition out of my head.  Well, great song, so it could be worse.  But I digress. 

I did a google search, wanting to find a less well known tale to use as my inspiration.  This one appealed to me because while I am not particularly fond of live spiders, I really do love Wendy's little spider stamp.

What I used:

• the background is LuminArte paints, Egyptian Gold and Bronze Medallion
• the spider web was made with a Tim Holtz mask on white cardstock with black soot distress ink
• the compass in the center of the web is a Stampin' Up stamp
• the spider, as mentioned is a Wendy Vecchi stamp
• the old car is a Tim Holtz stamp
• the banner waving from the car is by Jenni Bowlin

Other details:

• all the stamping was done with Ranger black Archival ink
• after stamping the spider I went over it with a Sakura black glaze pen
• the car was covered with a thin coat of Glossy Accents



In The Pink

In the world of collaborative art journals we're sometimes called upon to work with colors or themes that we don't necessarily love.  I really don't mind stepping outside my comfort zone, but a challenge it is.

Enter Jen's Artistic Evolution journal......gorgeous to be sure, but an explosion of pinks and purples.  I don't have a bit of either color in my home and almost none in my wardrobe.  I can admire those hues on others but am rarely attracted to them.

BTW, this is a fascinating journal, with pages of varying sizes so that the previous artist's work peeks out from behind your own.  Click here to learn more about it.

In this journal, our pages are to evolve from those that came before.  Elena's pages had to do with transformation and there were a few butterflies, so I ran with that.  Here are my two pages, side by side, followed by individual shots.

The backgrounds consist of a whole lot of spraying.....glimmer mist, homemade mist, perfect pearls mist, colorwash.....if it even resembled pink, I used it.  There was also a lot of masking, some stamping, rub-ons, gesso dabbed through sequin waste, and every butterfly die I owned worked overtime.

I'm not sure if it shows up, but the lavendar flower that Elena used and that I can see behind my left hand page inspired me to add lavendar to my pink pages.  I think of this concept like the art version of the old telephone game.  Who knows what the last pages will look like?  Maybe there won't be any pink left at all!

What will peek through to the other side, and what the next artist will have to work with, is the edge on the right hand page.  I cut it with Tim's on the edge scallop die and tied yarn and ribbon through the holes.



A Masking Triple Challenge

Oh, lucky me....this week both Simon and Linda say:  show me some masking.  Well, Linda actually says to do the distress misting masks technique, but you see my point.  Two challenges, one technique.  Hence, the oh lucky me comment.  And what does the word triple refer to in my blog title?  Both challenges are posted by 8am my time, and at 10 I have to leave for the airport.  So, the third challenge is a personal one.  Create something and blog about it in time to finish packing and get out of town.

I had fun with this one, because a) I love masking and b) I love spraying and c) I love greens and blues, my chosen colors and d) I love embossing, not that anyone told me to emboss, but I threw that in anyway.

If it looks a bit unfinished, two reasons for that....I just didn't want to cover up the masking on the bottom.  I think it looks too cool to hide.  Also, at some point I plan to add a small sentiment down there and send this off as a card.  It has NOTHING to do with my time constraints.  NOTHING.

What did I do?   First I put some color (wild honey and broken china) on a piece of cardstock.  Then, I placed a Heidi Swapp mask down and followed Tim's technique.   A bit more color was added with the blending tool, then another mask (Tim's flourish) went down, and more misting (with different colors). 

When all that goodness dried (OK, I rushed that along with my heat tool), I cut the tag shape and then ran it through the regal flourishes embossing folder.  Last step on the background.....highlighting the raised area with some forest moss.

I went through my box of semi-finished projects and found the rosette and grungepaper flower (made with some of Wendy Vecchi's stamps) and added those to the top, since the colors went well with the tag.  (There are some scallops behind the rosette).

Phew....now I can enjoy my visit with my mom without wondering if I'll be able to do this week's challenges.  I know what you're thinking, but I admit it....I'm addicted to these challenges and hate the thought of missing any.

See ya in about a week!

The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 8

Masks And Wire

No, not part of a robber's kit or a bondage outfit, but two of the cool techniques in Tim's day #8 tag.  This was a challenging tag for me to make.  While I loved the one Tim did, I'm less than thrilled with the two I came up with.  Part of it might be my stubborn determination not to copy; the mask Tim used is just perfect in size and shape for the tag.  Well, it is what it is, and I learned new techniques, so what am I complaining about?

Tim used the outside of his santa sleigh mask (the part we usually discard) as a stencil, positioning it on the tag and inking it and stamping over it.  I cut my own mask from the pine tree die instead, working vertically on the tag instead of horizontally.  I added some extra trees with a Stampin' Up stamp (one of my favorites, BTW).  Love the technique, not wild about my execution.  I think I should have positioned it lower on the tag and eliminated the trunk.  Also, my stamping over the stencil was a bit sloppy imperfect. (I'm embracing my imperfection, honestly, I am!)

I didn't have the distress stickles that Tim used to give the look of snow on the rooftops, so I substituted a regular stickles called stardust.  Not quite as effective and it took forever to dry. 

Also loved using wire to create the look of smoke coming out of the chimneys.  I didn't have the same gauge wire Tim used, and I would have liked to have the thicker wire.

I also like using my retro Dymo label maker to create the look of a banner, and that's a technique I'll use again for sure.

The last technique Tim used was dabbing metal with white paint, then rubbing it with a finger tip for a nice shabby look.  Tim's metal pieces included corners, a clock face and a spinner.  Because of my tag's orientation I really had no place for the corners, and though I tried a clock face on mine, I didn't care for it.  I opted for a grommet with a brad that fit inside the hole, trying for the look of the moon in the sky.  Hey, I said trying, not succeeding, LOL.

And now, my Wendy version:

I think this one works a little better, but I guess I just have to admit that today's attempts are not my favorites. 

This one obviously doesn't have a Christmas theme.  I started by making a mask from the Sizzix lovebird die.  After inking the stencil part of it on the tag with different shades of green, I over stamped with one of Wendy's stamps, using olive archival ink. The leaves in the background (done with coffee archival ink) are also from a Wendy stamp.   Since I opted not to use the townscape on the bottom, instead of using wire for smoke, I used it for tail feathers, pretty much following the curves of the tail on the die.  Again, I wish I had thicker wire for this technique.

My whitewashed metal includes corners (smaller ones than Tim's), a funky little piece I had in my stash that fit perfectly on the bird's head, a tiny brad for the eye, and a larger brad which is keeping all the wires in place.

Instead of a Christmas sentiment, my label has one of Wendy's favorite sayings, make art every day.



Something Spooky

Well, not really.  But I'm saying spooky because that's the theme for this weeks Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.  I doubt anyone would be spooked by this tag, but since it involves spider webs and black cats, I think it will qualify.
And, of course, to make my life a tad easier, the tag also qualifies for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge, Week 19, which is Extreme Masking.

,

And without giving away anything of the masking technique, the details are:

I used one of the spider webs from Tim's "haunted" mask, and made a custom mask of the cat from his "raven and scaredy cat" die.  The inks I used were dusty concord, spiced marmalade and a little black soot.

All the stamps I used (with black archival ink) are from the "haunted mansion" set.

My scaredy cat is standing on a fence which I cut using Tim's "on the fence" die.  I used black paint dabber on it, sanded it,  added some snow cap (white),  decided I didn't like that, added more black, and finally called it a day.

Don't forget to click on the highlighted links above to learn more about both challenges, find out about the cool prizes, and see the wonderful work that has already been done.