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.









Journal Pages With An Asian Twist

One of my favorite collaborative journals is turning out to be the one with the Asian theme.  Something about it has made everyone in the group create the most beautiful books for us to work in.  Every one I've received so far has been hand made and they are all just lovely.  The other day I received two in the mail from my pal Lee in Australia.  Yesterday I was housebound and worked on them all day long (well, with a few breaks in between to watch a White Collar marathon on tv).

First up, Daisy's book.  All her pages have a white border and black to work on.  Very dramatic.  Daisy also requested that we use no bulky embellishements or dangly things, so for interest I turned to texture.

Above, the two facing pages.  I started out by embossing black cardstock with Provo's Asian set.  The first page has the bamboo, the second the cherry blossoms.

I then swiped the embossed parts with clear ink and sprinkled some of Ranger's antique gold powder over top.  Sure, some of the powder went to the unembossed areas, but I didn't let that worry me, as I knew I'd be adding other bits to the page.  The gold strips are from torn up joss paper, which you can find online or in many shops in any Chinatown.  The flowers and bird are from a decorative napkin.  The chinese characters are stamped with clear ink and embossed with black powder.

Now, I know I'm mixing up Chinese and Japanese images, but I claim artistic license, and I hope no one reading this blog belongs to the purist/factual police and certainly don't mean to offend anyone.  The kimono is a Judikins stamp which I colored with metallic mica paints.  The gold frame around it was done with sticky tape and gold microbeads.  BTW, I covered the beads with a layer of Ranger's matte Glue N Seal, so they will stay put forever.

The close up above is a little fuzzy, but I wanted you to see the flower....fussy cut from a napkin, and after it dried I outlined it with a fine black permanent ink pen.  You can also see the embossed bamboo on the background.

I'm not sure how much of the shimmer shows up, but the entire kimono does have a subtle metallic glow. 

Next up, Carla's pages.  I started out with red textured paper, over which I glued a decorative napkin which featured cherry blossoms, but in an unexpected color palette....the whole thing just black, white, and gray.  Some of the red peeks through as pink, and I really liked the look.

After the tissue paper tried I stamped over it with clear ink and embossed the images with plain (not antique) gold powder. 

The square above is a stamp from an unknown company, found in my stash, embossed with gold, and popped up on the page with a few foam dots.  A heart shaped "coin" dangles from it, and I added some gold German scrap....not exactly Asian, but it works.

On this page I did something I've been wanting to do for a while.  I acquired a few small brass latches a while back and wanted to use them on a "door" on a page.  I used grungeboard so it would withstand bending from opening and closing it.  And yes, there is something to see inside....some images I took from the catalog my friend Kyoko gave me on the cruise. 

I glued a few select images together and then added the gold embossed stamping of the dragon and the dragonfly.  The red paper you see on the inside of the doors is really just there to cover the prongs from the brads used to attach the latches to the doors.















The Writing's On The Wall

This year I am once again participating in The Sketchbook Project (for more information, click on the link on my sidebar).  A quick summary for those who don't like links:  When you sign up, for a small fee you are sent a sketchbook and a theme (which you can interpret as you like or even ignore....no sketchbook police lurking about).  There are some rules, but they are simple and are all about keeping the books a uniform size and free of embellishments that can fall off or hurt someone.  The books (last year 28,000 artists from around the world requested books and about 10,000 actually finished theirs) are sent back when completed and then they go on a road trip.  Last year we had fun visiting the tour in Brooklyn, NY where it originates and viewing the books of many of our online friends.  And some friends in far away places caught the tour in their home towns and got to see our books in person.  Click HERE to see my post on last year's sketchbook and HERE to see photos of my visit last year.

My theme this year is Writing on The Wall, and I had fun with it, being pretty literal and just making like a grafitti artist.  I actually sent my book back way ahead of the deadline, and look forward to the start of the tour this spring.



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 -- Get Out the Tissues

This week's Grungy Monday is all about tissues.....Tim's tissue paper and tissue tape, that is.  The challenge is simple:  use either or both products on a project.  No other conditions or restraints.  So, remembering to be clever and multi-task, I decided to make a birthday card for my GM entry.

I started out with the idea in mind of using the tissue paper technique Tim used on tag 12 of the 12 Tags of Christmas this year.  Except that I didn't go back to review the steps.  I just plowed ahead, and as a result skipped a few along the way.  But no worries; my unintentionally simplified version works too.

I stamped the background with one of Tim's flourishy stamps, filling it up (using black archival ink), then covering it with a piece of the music tissue paper (using Ranger's matte Glue N Seal).  Since I skipped the step where you lighten the stamped images with Picket Fence Distress Stain, you can see quite a bit of the stamping under the music.  Which works for me.  I also skipped the wrinkling the tissue paper step as well as the cover it all with stickles step. 

To add even more tissue to the mix, the image I chose is actually cut from a decorative napkin, glued down with....you guessed it.....Glue N Seal.  I covered her printed feathers with some real ones and added a bit of bling in the center.

The bits of sparkle around the edges comes from Suze Weinberg's Beadazzles (in Purple Rain).  In case you don't know, Beadazzles are a great mix of micro beads and glitter, and I stocked up on a huge number of them at a Ranger Warehouse Sale a couple of years back.  I don't even know if they are still manufactured, but they are a very cool embellishment.  And a tip:  after adhering them to your project, a light coat over top with....yep.....Glue N Seal, will keep them all in their place forever.

The birthday greeting was made from Jenni Bowlin's mini letter stickers.

If you look closely, you can see some of the stamping/music tissue paper through the image of the dancer, and I think that is very very cool.





Artistic Evolution, Steampunked

Almost a year ago my journal loving friends and I began the Artistic Evolution, another collaborative project that due to the varying sizes of the pages allows for some previous (and future) work to show through, and encourages an evolution from artist to artist.  For more detail about this process and lots of illustrations, click here.

A few days ago I received Val's fantastic book from Elena.  Val's covers and art are all about steampunk, and she requested that we stick with that theme if possible.  I love steampunk, so have no problem staying with it.

Neither did Elena, and her pages are full of gears, wheels, watches, and beautiful images from Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante line.  My pages evolved easily from hers, and I took most of my inspiration from this portion of her work:

Here are my two facing pages.  You can see some of Elena's work behind the left hand page.  I used Tim's Weathered Clock die because it looked good with the gears from Elena's page visible behind it.



And here are the two pages separately:

I used DCWV paper with a steampunk theme for the backgrounds, but of course added layers of ink, stencils, masking, paint, modeling paste, etc. to what was already there.  I cut the Weathered Clock die from a background I'd made ages ago and never used.  The butterfly wing (yes, that's what it is) to the right of the clock is a stencil and I smeared modeling paste over it, then inked it when the paste was dry.

The steampunk gent is a Wendy Vecchi stamp on a coordinating art part, so it's very dimensional.   His hat got the patent leather look from Glossy Accents, and it is further decorated with a spring, a resistor and some watch parts.

Here are some close ups from page 1:

 

The second page has more gears and sprockets (mainly from Tim's idea-ology line), another art part from Wendy, some stamps from Oxford Impressions, and the edge treatment that the next artist will have peeking out from behind her work.







Wendy's watch art part was inked with pumice stone distress ink, then covered with rock candy crackle paint.  It was filled with various watch parts, embedded in a layer of Glossy Accents.  Some ball chain is glued around the whole thing.

My edge treatment is Tim's Iron Gate on the edge die, inked with vintage photo then covered with Glossy Accents (both sides, as both sides will show).  I punched small holes in the tops of the gate and strung thin wire from post to post, with a bit of spring in each section. 

As soon as I get to the post office, this wonderful book will be on its way to Lori in Missouri!  You gotta love a well traveled journal.



To All My Friends in Blogland......

PEACE, LOVE, AND JOY

XOXO

Eileen



Rosette Snowman

Yes, I'm still here.  It's been over a week since my last post, but I've noticed that things in blogland seem to get quiet right after Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas finishes.  And I'm no exception.  What I've been up to.....working on collaborative books as they come my way, finishing Chanukah and Christmas cards, spending time with my mom, and trying to just sit down and create something for no specific reason.

When the rosette dies first came out I did a lot of experimenting with them and they really are versatile.  The other day Tim showed how to turn them into trees.  If you follow his directions for shaping the rosette you also have the makings of a sweet umbrella.  But that's not what I've been up to.  I decided to try my hand at a rosette snowman.

I used all the rosette sizes for the body, which was cut from lightly patterned white cardstock.  After assembly, icicle stickles were rubbed around the edges.

The hat was made by glueing several layers of circles together (cut from patterned black cardstock) for the brim, and more (smaller) circles for the top, finished with one very small rosette....made by trimming some of the width from the smallest of the rosettes.  Caution:   you really must reinforce the rosettes with tape before folding, especially if you plan to cut one smaller.  If you don't, you'll wind up with a handful of pieces.

The broom handle is part of a paintbrush that was no longer brushing, and the broom itself was made with twine and a whole lot of glossy accents to keep it all in place.  It is attached to the snowman with thin wire.  The "hand" is a bit of twill ribbon that hides the wire.

I'm laughing right now because in this closeup I think it looks like a chicken.  However, if you go back to the full body shot, I do believe it does resemble a snowman.  The eyes are just black cardstock cut with a plain office supply hole punch.  Can you guess what the nose is made of? 

I sacrificed the tip of an orange crayon for that.

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to all my friends in blogland!

The 12 Tags of Christmas -- Day 12

So, it's the 12th and final tag of Christmas for 2011.  Kinda sad, but I think Tim and Mario need those 6+ hours back each day, not to mention running all over Prescott looking for a signal when their internet goes down.  Thanks for the fun, guys.  Your generosity is beyond measure.

Today's tag features one of Tim's little faux frozen Charlottas.  You know, those bizarre porcelain dolls with missing limbs.  I don't have any of his version, but I knew I had a bag full of some I'd gotten on the internet, but when I looked......no bodies, just heads.  Even more bizarre.  So, that caused me to change up my design quite a bit.  One head would have looked a bit lost sitting on top of the artful dwelling that Tim used.  So I did a rosette instead.  Which would lead to another change, and another......well, before I go into all that, here is my tag:

First, I should mention that I did use the background technique with Tim's tissue paper.  What I added after the stickles was some weathered wood distress stain.  And under the tissue paper I used the background stamp from the Papillon set.  Much of this is covered with the tag's embellishments, but it is a really lovely background.

I don't have the decorative strip die that Tim used to make the faux German scrap, so I thought I'd try one of my border punches.  Varied success.  The first one I tried, a Martha Steward punch, didn't cut through the metal tape all the way.  My second choice, also one of Martha's, worked perfectly.  Go figure.   If you don't have any decorative punches, maybe you still have one of these oldies but goodies lying around:

That's right, decorative scissors work like a charm.  And if you want more detail, you can pair them with a decorative hole punch.  Here are some examples.  The first is the border punch I wound up using; all the edges of the ones that follow were done with scissors.  The one in the middle also has my tiny flower shaped hole punch.

A closer view of my faux German scrap (the metal tape I used was glaringly bright so I toned it down just a bit with some black archival ink):

For the letters, I did use Tim's tip of cutting them twice; once from the cardstock covered with metal tape, and once from black cardstock.  They really do pop.   And I discovered that if you attach your metal to textured cardstock, when you run it through your die cut machine the letters take on that texture.  How cool is that!  Good way to use up those pieces of paper with nice texture but hideous color.  You know, like that neon paper pack that was such a big bargain.  :))









I made a tissue paper flower, following Tim's easy directions, and it is so sweet:

Too bad I couldn't find a use for it on this tag.  Remember, I opted for the rosette, and it and the flower were just too close in size and shape, and looked terrible together.  So, I adapted another of Tim's tissue paper techniques, and using my trusty fringe scissors (yes, I really do have a pair), I followed the pom pom directions, but stopped just shy of  making the pom pom and popped the fringe behind the rosette.

I haven't figured out yet what will occupy my early mornings now.  Sleep, maybe?????