A Little Christmas Configuration

I've seen quite a few blog posts of the amazing projects some of my online buds did when Tim taught classes at Absolutely Everything last month.  I was especially taken with the Christmas themed configurations, and decided to do one as a present for a friend.  At the class they used a large configuration, but all I had was the smallest one, which is about 5 1/2" square.  Still......with the right (in other words small enough) objects,  I figured that size would work too.

I was on a hunt.  Found by entering "Christmas miniatures" in google I was on the right track.  Then I took out the word Christmas, because I felt I was possibly missing some things that would work (and I was correct), and found even more sources.  BTW, any place that sells dollhouse accessories is a good place to look.

I'm still waiting for some of my stuff to arrive, but no worries, as I also plan on making some more, in larger sizes.  So, without further verbiage, here is my little Christmas Configuration:

All the components plus the entire base were covered with Tim's Christmas tissue tapes (which were inked), and in addition, the back has some of his seasonal Salvage Stickers.  

And now for some close-ups:

The banner, including the letters are Jenni Bowlin products.  Inside, a tiny tree decorated with fired brick distress stickles and some dabs of white paint.  The gifts came just like this, and a good size for the project.

 The clock started out as a brownish resin, and I used some white paint on it.  You can't see in this picture, but the roof of the clock was covered with white liquid pearls and some chunky glitter was sprinkled on top of that while still wet.  The little plastic deer are on some more of that pearls/glitter combo.  In the next compartment, part of a tiny wood train, a metal lantern and a wreath.  (All the background papers are from Tim's seasonal paper stack)

 The rocking horse is one of those objects I found in the dollhouse section.  While not specifically for Christmas, I thought it evoked a vintage feeling....maybe a gift a child would have found under the tree in years past.  Surrounding the horse, some miniature glass ornaments.

The birdhouse was a dingy dark metal, so I painted it green.  The roof has green distress crackle, which does not really show up in the photo.  The tiny bird arrived with purple feathers, so it got a paint job too, the red being more in tune with the theme.  It is perched on little pine cones.

I have some really cool pieces that were just a tad too large for this configuration (larger trees, super wooden soldiers, larger ornaments), so I can't wait to use them in a larger piece.

Two Challenges, Again....

Very clever of people to schedule new challenges on Mondays.  They can be dreary days (yes, even when you're retired, the sense that something fun has ended lingers on), but new challenges brightens things up.  At least for me.

A Compendium of Curiosities

Week 22

Alcohol Ink Splatter

and

Simon Says Stamp and Show

Whatever Makes You Happy

Even the name, alcohol ink splatter, sounds like fun (and it is).  Oh, yes, I've done this one before, many times, in fact.  I think it is addictive.  As for whatever makes me happy......autumn makes me very happy.  Absolutely my favorite season.  I know for many spring signals new beginnings.  For others it might be the start of a new year in January.  But for me, autumn = new.   That's probably because I spent most of my life in school, first as a student, then a teacher, and the new school year begins in September.  Whatever the reason, I love this time of year.

So, here is my dual entry in today's challenges:

I actually used the technique in two different ways.  For the tag I followed the directions in the book exactly, stamping over the AI splatter background with Tim's Falling Leaves set (black archival ink). Then I did a second background and cut the leaves from it.  I stamped over some of the cut leaves with the Falling Leaves set again (using olive archival ink)  to get the veining.  No, the leaf stamps and leaf die cuts don't match up perfectly, but it works.

The word "autumn" is from Tim's new seasonal Salvage Stickers, and I sanded and inked it up a bit, and adhered it with pop dots for some dimension.

And The Winner Is........

First of all, thanks to everyone who left a comment and played the "guess-the-value-of-the-Ranger-stuff-I-scored-for-$30" game.  I have to say, either I'm a VERY savvy shopper or some of you are hanging out in super expensive stores, because most of the guesses were way over my estimate.

I did say I was guessing on the  conservative side, and also mentioned I was pricing the items as though I got them online.  And I should say, I very seldom pay retail prices.  I am a bit of a bargain hunter.  But seeing all those high figures really made me feel even better about Heather's mad shopping skills.  And yes, she is a great friend to do that for us.

A few of you came close to the number I wrote down, but one person nailed it.

                             Kathy Eddy said...                             She did a splendid job! I am guessing $198.00.
                             Does she want to shop for me next year?

Well, Kathy, I can't tell you if Heather will shop for you next year, but in a way she shopped for you this year.  I put together a little sample of the stash and am just waiting for your address to send it out.

Nothin' Says Lovin' Like Somethin' From the Kachelofen

Huh?  Let me begin at the beginning.  I received Lee's Marie Antoinette journal a few weeks ago but only got to it this week.  Her sub-theme is recipes and events where the recipe would be appropriate.
Here's how my brain jumped from thought to thought to.... I made up a story in my mind that Marie would at times like to play at being a commoner, and serve up some treats for her kiddies that she herself prepared.  I don't have a clue if this is true or not, but it's a nice idea, so I ran with it.
Then.....I remembered that Marie was not actually French, but Austrian.   This took me back several lifetimes ago to a summer spent wandering about with a Eurail pass and a copy of  Europe on $5 A Day. 

A few wonderful days were spent in Salzburg,  and I definitely remembered touring a castle and gawking at these huge and gorgeous tiled stoves.  I did a little google search and found many beautiful examples.  From this, my pages were born.

A recipe for Parisian macarons, and  Marie with her hand in the oven  kachelofen, getting ready to remove a tray of the dainty morsels for her hungry offspring.

Again, a disclaimer....I made this all up.  Did Marie actually grow up in Austria with kachelofens?   Did she miss them and have one brought to France?  I don't know.  But it made for a good story in my head and I thought, some fun pages to do.

So, here's cookin' with Marie:

Both backgrounds were done with Stampin' Up paper called Presto Patterns.  The paper looks blank, but when you add color (I used Adirondack Colorwash in eggplant and Perfect Pearls Mist in forever violet), the "hidden" embossed pattern emerges.  Makes for an easy and beautiful background.

The recipe (thanks to Martha Stewart, LOL) was printed on vellum.

For the kitchen page.....I printed a photograph of an actual old kachelofen, added color with glaze pens and pastels, and a lot of bling with german scrap, crystals, stickers and enamel accents.

Marie herself is a graphic I snagged from Val (my go-to gal for great images), and I dressed her with ribbon and flowers and bling.

My little narrative (remember, all a figment of my imagination) was also printed on vellum.  The title banner above it is a cool embellishment left over from one of the cruise projects.  It's from Pinkpaislee, and it is a rubbery product, originally white.  I used copper paint on it and some brown ink to age it a bit. 

What's In The Bag?

A whole lot of goodness, that's what's in the bag.
One of the really cool things that happens on the east coast is the Ranger Warehouse Sale.  Last year I went with some of my best art friends and we scored BIG.  I think I spent $20 and I still haven't used everything I bought.

I was really looking forward to the sale this year, but as fate would have it, Ranger was cleaning out its warehouse at the same time that I was on the Tim Holtz cruise.   Pat and I were disappointed, but our pal Heather said if she could get there, she'd shop for us.  

Good news.  Heather has a GREAT EYE for bargains.  Last year, even though we were all in the same place, she came away with some fab things we never even saw.  So we knew we were in good hands.
We both told Heather that if she wound up going, to just spend $30 for each of us.

This is how the sale works.  You enter the warehouse and are given a big white painter's bucket.  You fill it up.  Or fill two up.  Whatever.  When you're ready to check out, your bucket (or buckets) is weighed and you pay $5 a pound.  That's is.
All Heather did was take things in multiples of three, and when she got home she divvied the stash up.

Pat and I finally were able to get together with Heather this past weekend, and here is the low-down on what we all received.  For $30.  I have to repeat this a few times.  You'll see why.

Glossy paper, 2 packs of pre-cut shrink plastic (a Suze Weinberg product and very cool shapes in there), embossing pens in black, some Adirondack markers, and 4 packs of pop dots.

 9 paint dabbers and 1 colorwash....and here's the amazing thing.....all in colors that I don't already have!!  Told you Heather had the magic touch!

 Stickles, glitter and embossing powder.  What's in the shrink wrap?  Oh, only 6 bottles of Rock Candy Distress Stickles.  Yep.  On the right, mostly Glitz Stickles.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these products.  Some may be discontinued (or the packaging has changed), and in many cases there is no label or the label is damaged.  But the product inside is just fine.

And here we have 6 jars of Perfect Pearls, and 6 of Suze's Bedazzles, which are a kind of mix of teeny beads and glitter.  Very blingy, and can't wait to play with them.

 Above, two jars of Distress Crackle Paint, 2 distress ink refills, 4 small sepia accents, the clear resist pad and a reinker for that pad.

And last of all, 7 bottles of alcohol inks and 2 liquid pearls.  You can see the missing labels.  But who cares?  I know what they are!

So, how do you think I did?  (Or  I should say, how do you think Heather did?)   I've done an estimate of what I would have paid for all the above if I'd have shopped in a place like scrapbook.com.

My estimate is conservative, as I couldn't find prices for some items, so didn't even include them in the final tally.

Comment with your best guess as to what this stash is really worth, and the one who comes closest to my estimate will win some of the stash.  I'll give you until Friday night.  The winner will be announced on Saturday.

Perfect Distress and Favorite Stamps

Simon Says Stamp and Show asked a difficult question for this week's challenge.....what is your favorite Tim stamp?  No way to answer that with any accuracy, but I do have a current favorite set, one I know I'll be using a lot this month.
And as it just so happens to also work well with the new Compendium of Curiosities challenge, it's a no-brainer for me.
Add to that, it results in a completed holiday card, and I'm totally happy.
So,  CCC#21 is (as the title of this post cleverly reveals),  perfect distress, which is one of those great techniques I learned early on, but seldom remember to use. 

Here is the card I made for both challenges:

The background is very simple.  I stamped the christmas carol stamp from the holiday wishes set in olive archival ink on white cardstock.  Then I inked over the whole thing with peeled paint, then toned it all down with a whitewash of snowcap paint dabber.

The stamp set is grunge flakes, and I used the various snowflake stamps while doing the perfect distress technique.  Here's a little tip for you:  don't go overboard when you get to step 5 of the technique.  I'm just sayin'......

Distress inks used:  broken china, stormy sky, faded jeans, tumbled glass, and weathered wood.

Perfect pearls used:  turquoise, true blue sparkle, blue smoke, blue patina, and perfect pearl.

The snowman, tall trees and sentiment are all from the mini holiday set.

The trees were stamped right over the background with both pine needles and black soot.

The snowman was stamped with broken china and then embossed with  Zing embossing powder (in wave), cut out, edged with chipped sapphire, and attached to the card with pop dots.

At the last minute I decided that the fairly monochromatic card needed a pop of a different color, so I added the red ribbon scarf and put the sentiment on a red mat.   I'm not 100% on that, but think it turned out OK.

Oh, and while I was working on this card, I heard something that sounded harder than rain on my windows.  Hope I didn't bring it on, but there's a whole sleet and wet snow thing going on outside.  In November!  And wasn't it just last week that the temps hit 70??? 

Atlantis Lives! (In My Dreams)

One of my favorite collaborative art journal groups is JOD (Journal of Dreams) because it is the least restrictive.  No particular theme or color combination.....just whatever the artist dreams up.  And that dream can be a literal night time dream or a wish, or whatever.
I received Gina's journal a while ago and it has taken me this long to come up with an idea.
I can't even put my finger on why I thought of Atlantis (no, not the resort in the Bahamas; I'm talking about the lost city of mythology).
In my head, however, Atlantis did not sink into oblivion.  Nope, my Atlantis is a thriving city where the people just learned to ADAPT.
So, maybe adaptation has been on my mind.  Who knows?  Like I've said before, I really don't like to spend too much time on interpretation or explanation.  So, without further psychoanalysis, here is my Atlantis:

Sadly, much of the texture and dimension doesn't show up in photographs, and there is a lot of both on the page.  The stylized city on the bottom was done with modeling paste and a cityscape stencil. The upper part of the background received texture with gesso, tissue paper, bubble wrap and some scratch tools.
Color came from some of the new Perfect Pearls mists, distress inks, and of course, my favorite, Portfolio water soluble oil pastels.
Most of the images are courtesy of my pal Val and her amazing collection of graphics.  I did a bit of work on them with pencils.
The cool steampunk looking lady with the binoculars was a freebie from someplace on the internet....sorry I don't remember where.

This is the journaling page: 

What I'd like to share about this page is what I did with a very cheap and (IMO) tacky charm.  That fish.  It was bright.  It was gaudy.  It was cheap and tacky.  First I dabbed some green paint on it, wiped most of it off, and added some white paint, also wiping most of it off.  That toned down the glare but wasn't quite enough.

So, I made some marks on it with an embossing pen and sprinkled some Ranger verdigris embossing powder (from their Antiquities line) on it and heat set.  I'm not sure if it shows up, but there is also a dot of purple embossing in the eye. 

Framed and Grateful

Note to self:  not every blog post title has to be clever.  LOL!  What can I say?  I try.
I belong to a group that has a monthly lottery.  A theme is chosen, everyone who is interested creates something within the theme, and at the end of the month one name is drawn from those participating.  That person wins the whole enchilada (and gets to choose the following month's theme).
So, November's theme is related to gratitude.  I had this unfinished wood frame I picked up ages ago in the dollar bin at a craft store.  It was so long ago I don't even remember which store.  This is what I made:

 The frame is roughly 4 1/2 x 10" and will hold a 4 x 6" photo.  I figured that whoever wins can insert a picture of whoever or whatever they are grateful for.

 The leaves were all cut using Tim's fantastic tattered leaves die.  I had some scrapbook paper with writing on it, and just inked the leaves after cutting, in a variety of autumn colors.   To give them some strength and (hopefully) longevity, I covered them with clear embossing ink and powder, which is why they have a shine.

The wood was stained with forest moss ink and the front covered with tissue tape (which was also inked).  For the word "grateful," I used letters from Tim's new lost and found salvage stickers.

When Shabby Met Grungy....

Monday, which means my two favorite challenges are up and running.  The Compendium of Curiosities challenge (week 20!!) is Industrial Grunge,  and over at Simon Says Stamp and Show, the theme is Shabby.   (Click on the links to learn more about the challenges and the cool prizes up for grabs this week).

Hmmm....not two styles that seem to work together.  Or do they?  Well, you know I like to get two for the work of one, so I'm determined that my project will qualify for both challenges. 

Here's what I came up with.  Did I succeed?  I like to think so.  

The industrial grunge technique was done on the raven (that die was one of the freebies on the cruise and I just love it).  I used copper metallic mixative and black soot and aged mahogany distress inks.

Nothing says shabby to me like crackle, and that is the top layer of the background.  But I should begin at the beginning.  I had the idea of using a technique from an earlier C of C challenge....alcohol ink agate on grunge....but it just didn't work with the raven.  So, I covered it with some green paint.  Then I dry brushed some white over top, most definitely a shabby look.   A whole lot of rock candy crackle paint on top, and when that dried I went over it with black soot to highlight the crackle.

The bottom of the tag was cut with Tim's new iron gate die, and some black lace and netting (another nod to shabby) finished it off.

Off topic, I've been whining for a while now about autumn not really making an appearance here in NYC.  Where are those crisp days, the orange and yellow leaves?  Well, finally, finally, summer-like temps have vanished and this is what I saw from my window this morning.....Autumn on the Hudson River:

Ahhh, life is good!

Things To Do With The Rosette Die On A Chilly Afternoon

Okay, so it doesn't have to be chilly, but it is here, and I'm happy being indoors with my creativity hat on.
I spent much of the morning and into the afternoon playing with Tim's fabulous rosette die.  I don't know what it is about making rosettes that is so much fun, but it's like an addiction.  You can't just make one....
And I love the challenge of finding new uses for things.
I started out by cutting some of the width off of the die cuts before assembling, so I could have some layers.
And here is my three tiered flower:

I'm reminded of those little cocktail umbrellas when I look at a rosette, so that was the next project.  I glued a circle on only one side of the rosette, weighed it down, and when it was totally dry, I formed the umbrella shape and glued a smaller circle on the other side.  I used a Maya Road stick pin as the umbrella handle.

Not that I have any immediate plans to use the umbrella; I just wanted to see if I could make one.  Right now both it and the layered flower are just decorating my bulletin board.

My final rosette challenge of the day....bird feathers.  Yep, you heard me right.

Start with a rosette strip.

Cut it into two pieces, one a little larger than the other.

Run a line of glue across the straight edge.

 Do the fan fold and secure the glued edge with an alligator clip.  Do this to both pieces of paper.

While secured by the clip, fully fan out the rosette piece.

On the smaller one, cut each fold on an angle and separate the paper at the perforations.

Use the larger piece as tail feathers and the smaller as head feathers.

I'm thinking this is only the beginning.  I just KNOW that there are even more things to do with the rosette die on a chilly afternoon.

Art Journal Updates

The collaborative art journal groups I belong to have given me some of my most pleasurable moments in the studio.  Every time I see a priority mail box outside my door I am a very happy camper.  What will I be called upon to create.....pages inspired by a color combination, by dreams,  by the life and art of Frida Kahlo, or maybe by the opulence of Marie Antoinette?

Last week brought three arrivals, and I have completed pages for two of them.
First, for Jacquie's IDIC (I Dream In Colors) journal:

Jacquie's chosen colors are blues, browns, and a touch of metal.  I did these pages right after my Lynne Perrella workshops, and you can see that Edgar was still on my mind (and apparently still on my work table).

My backgrounds were done in the gesso/collage/texture style I've learned from Lynne and love so much, and most of the images are toner copies of internet graphics.  There are also some stamped images in there.  The color....mainly from my much used and loved Portfolio water soluble oil pastels, as well as my other favorite, distress inks.

The next project was for Marita's Marie Antoinette journal.  Instead of embellishing and altering an image of Marie, I decided to do something a little different this time: 

 

First, a few words about the backgrounds.  They are collaged and colored with the Portfolios and distress inks, but the papers I used for the collage are almost entirely papers I've received from friends.  Many were done by my good pal Lillian, and several were done by Nancy.  I love the idea of incorporating the work of my artist friends into my own.  Thanks Lill and Nancy!

Marie and the hot air balloon were both done with free hand paper piecing, again using scraps from my friends' papers as well as bits and pieces of my own backgrounds.  There are a very few fabric and metal embellishments, but I'd say 95% of these pages were done with paper scraps.

Waiting in the wings.....Gina's gorgeous Journal of Dreams.  Hmmmm......what will my dream be?

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.

What Do Edgar Allan Poe and Jane Austen Have In Common?

Probably not much, but I used both writers as inspiration in the two Lynne Perrella workshops I took last weekend.

Lynne is a fabulous mixed media collage artist, and I was fortunate enough to take workshops with her last year as well.  I credit those with transforming my own collages to a much higher level, and the journal pages I've done since then all do reflect the many things I've learned from Lynne. 

The classes were sponsored by The Ink Pad, and held in the very spacious community room at Westbeth, an artists' residence in Greenwich Village, right off the Hudson River.  We had lots of space to spread out and work.

And right outside, a beautiful spot for lunch.

On Saturday, the theme was Edgar Allan Poe.  Pat, my great pal and cruise roomie took this workshop with me, and it was wonderful to share the experience with her.


Lynne's preferred surface is a humble piece of red rosin paper, the kind contractors normally use to protect floors during construction.

We cover the paper with gesso and add a great deal of texture at this point.

Then acrylic paint.

Then more texture, more color with portfolio water soluble oil pastels, ink....

Then additional collage elements, stencils, altered graphics.....

Above is the Edgar Allan Poe piece I left with on Saturday.  It isn't finished (I plan to add some machine stitching and possibly some further images), but gives you a good idea of what can be done in one day with Lynne.  BTW, it is a 24" square.

The following day, the theme was "A Novel Approach," and we were to choose a favorite novel and bring images with us to support our choice.  Mine was Sense and Sensibility, and my work here was totally different from the Poe piece.

The background technique was the same, but my color palette was way different, and I chose to do a book rather than a painting.

Front cover:

Inner pages:

Back cover:

In May, my friend Teri and I are headed for Connecticut for an entire weekend with Lynne.  Yippee!