Back Home!

Why is it that the events you most look forward to end so quickly?  Keys4Art2012 is over, and that is a little bit sad, but I have to say, I am still feeling the warmth of friendship, and believe it or not, I am still relaxed.

I flew to Miami with Pat and Teri, and we think our pilot was in a rush for a hook up, because we landed almost an hour early.  We met up with Daisy at the baggage carousel, then headed for Chili's where we'd spend the next MANY hours, waiting for the others to arrive.  Several quesadillas and margaritas later, we piled into a van and headed for Elena's home in Key Largo.  Elena stayed behind to wait for the two latest arrivals, Val and Jen.

No photos to post of our first night together.  I wound up with so much stuff, I had to pack a lot into a box for Elena to ship, and some of the projects and gifts are in that box, but this is what things looked like the next day:

Daisy, Jen and Jacquie

Working on our postcard project:

When I first met Karen at the airport, I thought she

was a little bit nuts for bringing so many suitcases,

but now I know better.  One was entirely filled with

treats from Louisiana.  Today we got cajun chips.

We didn't have anything special planned for day one, so

I had time to make the covers for my postcard book.

I slept on the couch.  Right next to me were Teri and Pat

on air mattresses, and all the way on the other side of the

room was Daisy on a matching couch.  We were right next

to the room we worked in.

A view of the room from the other end.

Here's Pat with her smash book, one of many gifts

awaiting us.  When my box arrives I'll be able to

post pictures of all of them.  We were very very spoiled.

My Oregon art sisters, Marita and Gina:

Pardon the fuzzy photo; this is a little travel journal,one of many
gifts waiting for us from Elena.  She purchased them from Tim, and
the kits include a miniature suitcase that the journals fit into perfectly.
Mario sent along a special gift from him:  Tim Holtz aprons for
everyone!

Because we had so many people coming this year (17), we had some overflow staying at a fabulous beach house, thanks to one of Jacquie's clients.  While Elena and Teri went to Miami to pick up Lynne Perrella at the airport (more on that later), the rest of us headed to the beach house in the late afternoon to get dinner ready.

Jacquie was going to make paella, and I couldn't believe the size of the pan.  We helped with the prep work, and I have to say, it was the first time I dealt with a recipe that called for 16 cups of rice and 2 gallons of chicken broth, not to mention similar huge quantities of vegetables, chicken, sausage, shrimp, lobster, clams, mussels, and crab legs.

The view from the deck:

Do you believe the size of the paella pan?

The house as seen from the water's edge:

Most definitely the best paella I've ever had.

Bernie (Elena's husband), cracking the crab legs:

The next day we began our 2 day workshop with Lynne Perrella.  Fantastic!  And to be continued....

It's Here At Last (Well, Almost)

Keys4Art2012

It's that time of year again, when my great friend Elena opens her home (and her heart) to her lucky art pals, for a week of creativity, friendship, great food, and unending fun.  Three years ago we started out as virtual strangers, knowing one another only through online groups.  Elena brought us together, and now we are ready to begin our third annual get together in the Florida Keys.  The group has grown, and now two of my best local art friends are part of the excitement.  Teri started coming last year, and for Pat, this is her first time.  We are on the same flight, and will be heading south early tomorrow morning.  Woo Hoo!

 

We've always made little gifts to bring for everyone, and this year we decided keep it simple and alleviate stress.  So instead we've all made postcards for everyone, highlighting where we come from (and we come from all over the US and Canada).  I'm sure all my fellow travelers are way too busy packing (and some are already on the road) to look, so here is what I've done:

Since I live in the Bronx, which often has a bad reputation, I focused on things that defy the stereotypes.....the unexpected Bronx.

The front is a photo collage (done the old school way, cut and paste, no Photoshop skills for me!)

 The back explains what is on the front, features me in the stamp, and contains all my info.  This is an extra; the ones I'm giving out are all addressed to the recipients.



 

Nothing much left to do but wait.  I am more than ready.  And the overstuffed suitcase that weighs in at 45 pounds is mostly full of art supplies.  I think maybe 2 of those pounds represent clothing. 

 

 

Click HERE to see what happened in the Keys in 2011 (that will take you to the first of MANY posts).

And HERE for the first Keys4Art, in 2010.

 

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.



I'm Still Here.....

......and I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post.  When  life (as in family and health issues) gets in the way, it does it big time.  Doing something creative is about my only link with sanity, and I'm trying to squeeze some of that into each day, but it hasn't been easy.

But, enough of that negative crapola.  I did a little something this week, and I have to say, I'm getting a LOT of mileage out of an ATC.  You'll see in a bit how it qualifies for three challenges.  And, truth be told, I'm just happy to have something new to blog about.

The challenges:  Grungy Monday just wants an ATC featuring any Tim products and techniques.

Meanwhile, over at Simon Says Stamp and Show.....there is a recipe.  Make something that contains torn edges, distress inks, a button and some wings.

Last, but certainly not least, the Making Art challenge at the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group is to make something that incorporates at least one of Wendy's stamps as well as her technique for creating custom "epoxy" embellishments.

It's amazing how much you can get on a 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" piece of cardstock, if you put your mind to it.

The base is one of Ranger's newish black ATC blanks.  The top stamp is from Tim's Rock Star set; the hearts on the bottom are Wendy's from her In Love With Art set.  Both were stamped with clear ink and embossed with white powder. 

The two hearts that sit on top of the Tim stamp were cut with his mini hearts movers and shapers dies.  I used some scraps of watercolor paper which were embossed and then colored with several shades of red distress ink and some distress stains as well.  They were also dusted with perfect pearls for a little shimmer.  The wings and button were in my stash and have no idea who to credit for them.

Poking out of the hearts is the epoxy embellishment.  The glare off the glossy accents was unavoidable, but what I used was a circle of pink paper and a tiny gold heart charm.

The sentiment on the bottom is a stamp from Wendy's Seriously Art set.

And I seriously hope that it won't be another two weeks before I have something to blog about.

Oh, and although it doesn't show up too well in the photo, the edges of the ATC are distressed and torn up a bit.  (Just in case anyone from the challenges police is reading this).

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.