Giggle in 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR

To all my blog friends!!

You are a Blessing to me!!!  I appreciate You!!!

I chose the word 'Giggle' to put on this jar because I need to giggle more.  I tend to be too serious and need to lighten up, laugh, and giggle more.  I'm better than I used to be but intend to keep improving in 2012.  


Don't ya just love the jar!!!  I do!!!!!  It is a Very cool technique that The Wendy Vecchi shared on her blog on THIS post and also check out THIS post for another twist with this cool technique.  I really liked the color of Wendy's bottle so I also used pumice stone Distress Stain and espresso Pigment Ink.   I've had this jar for some time (don't remember where it came from) and I failed to think clearly when I started, lol... I wiped off the jar but I'm thinking I should have washed it very well (even though it was clean) or cleaned the glass with alcohol.  As I was adding color to the crackle I had some spots start to come off so after it was dry I brushed Glossy Accents over all the crackle just to make sure everything was going to stay put and it does.  


Ideology ornate plate, adage ticket, jump rings, charm clips, and ball chain are added to the jar.  I sanded the ornate plate and also added some hazelnut Paint Dabber working all the extra paint off with my fingers.  

For the flowers I glued old music to grungepaper using Glue 'n Seal - covered both sides of the grungepaper... die cut 3 of Tim's tattered pinecones, colored them with Distress Stains victorian velvet, mustard seed, and tea dye and formed them into little roses adding an old pearl to the center of each rose. Instead of using a toothpick like Tim shows I used small skewers so they would be long enough to stand in the jar.  I covered one side of another piece of grungepaper with old music and stamped six of Wendy's rose leaves from the set Dimensional Rose Art using Archival Ink olive, cut them out, colored them with Distress Stain peeled paint (both sides), and stamped the back of the leaves with Wendy's text background from the set Live and Make Art (Archival olive).  For each rose I cut one set of leaves apart and attached them up by the flower and left one set of leaves together attaching it a little further down the stick.  I used floral tape to attach all leaves and to cover the stick so it was green.  Besides the roses I also put a little bit of dried floral something, don't know what they are called, in the jar. 


Here are a couple of more pictures at different angles. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

Sledding Fun ATC

The image used on this atc is from Red Lead.  The "snowy" area at the bottom is molding paste with mica flakes sprinkled on.  I got the sled from Red Lead also but don't see them on their website anymore.

Christmas ATC

The fragment charms on this atc were done using the technique Tim used on his Day 10 tag for the facets.  What a fabulous technique... I totally love the look.  I made a few of these atcs for a local Christmas mail-in swap.  The background has Distress Stains including white, Distress Inks, stamping and a cool background technique shared on The CLASSroom Blog Here.  In the picture below you can see the Rock Candy crackle paint.  The collage images are from REDlead and can be found Here and Here.

Who'd A Thunk....

...that you could go from the plastic ring on a milk jug to a fun, glittered icicle!!!  

I was standing at my main workstation... there was a milk jug ring lying there as I often keep them because... well... they might be cool for something one day... if you're a stamper/mixed media person, I'm sure you can relate...we save some of the strangest things!!  Honestly I wasn't even thinking about the ring... I just picked it up and the idea was just there... don't ya love that.  I trimmed off all the little bit left after it separates from the cap, cut the ring, attempted to pull it out straight and twist... of course it didn't really want to stay... applied some heat from my heat tool as I moved along it twisting and as it cooled it would, for the most part, hold its shape... trimmed the corner points off each end... punched a hole - This Punch that I bought after attending the Vintaj workshop worked perfectly... painted my new "icicle" gold using a Krylon paint pen and let it dry... used a paint brush to apply Glossy Accents and poured on the glitter... after it was dry I painted on Glossy Accents again and now it doesn't drop random pieces of glitter when you touch it.. added a hanger, bow and some holly leaves and there you have it.  I'm not sure I really like the way I added the leaves and will probably change that when I make some more but over all I'm quite please with my Milk Jug Ring Icicle!!!

ATCs

I've been cleaning up the "My Documents" folder on my computer which is where I save edited pictures of my things until they are on my blog and then I move them to their permanent "home" and it looks like I haven't posted these yet.  They were both done for monthly draws (July and Sept) on the VintagePhotoImageATCs Yahoo Group.

The atc above is on corrugated cardboard.. the fence is cut from grunge and has crackle paint on it, the bird is also cut from grunge.

The atc below was for a Fairy Tale theme.

Birthday Card - EWV

I haven't shared this yet.  I was part of a year long birthday club on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo Group.  The last birthday of the year was in November and this is the card I sent.  All Studio 490 stamps, Art Part flowers and stem, and Clearly for Art butterfly.

Tag #2 - Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

Above is Tim's fabulous day 2 tag (go HERE to see it on his blog) .

Below is my tag.  I don't have the Christmas kraft resist paper so I used regular but I loved how he did the holly in the corner so I stamped some holly in the corner with Archival ink sepia before adding the white stain.  I also stamped "Joy to the World" with the sepia ink before staining.  I also don't have the green trim so I used mini red tinsel garland and then also made my ribbon red (festive berry).  Bells hanging instead of a star.  At the end I also restamped "Joy to the World" with Archival ink jet black so it would stand out more.  I love the deer done with sticky back canvas... the texture is great for it.

Tag #1 - Wendy Inspired

On the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group there is a challenge to create Tim's 12 tags a la Wendy!!  And here is my go for the first tag.  For the poinsettia I glued printed paper onto Clearly For Art Whiteout using Ranger's Glue 'n Seal matte and then cut the flowers using Spellbinders dies.  The dies didn't quite cut all the way through but it was easy to finish trimming using scissors.  Edged them with Distress Ink and heated to shape.  The heart is an Art Part - I painted it with gold Paint Dabber and then added chunky glitter to the front.  The scallop border under the flower and hand are also Art Parts and they are inked with Vintage Photo.  "Make it Merry" - I glued a piece of pattered pater to a piece of grunge, sanded the edges, inked them, and stamped the sentiment with Archival jet black.  I used old pearls and a part of a piece of old jewelry for the flower center and bracelet.  The pearls are colored with Alcohol Ink.  For the background I used a red kraft core cardstock, an embossing powder that is more of an off-white than white (don't know what kind it is), and I made sure to brush off more of the powder than I did on the last tag.  I did not add ink after sanding and then distressing the edges because I thought the kraft color looked perfect.   Seam binding colored with peeled paint for the ribbon.

Day 1 - Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas

Today starts Tim Holtz's 5th year inspiring all of us with his 12 Tags of Christmas.  Above is a picture of his tag and all directions including a video can be found on his blog HERE.  (ps.. if you are seeing this post at a later date and the link doesn't work, look towards the bottom of the left sidebar of his blog for the links to all of his 12 Tags of Christmas)  I think this tag is gorgeous!!!!!

Below are pictures of my tag.

I don't yet have his pinecone die or the festive greenery die so I improvised.  I made my own pinecone by watching the video closely, taking a piece of kraft core cardstock and lightly sketching my own cutting lines on the back, cut it out and assembling as per the video.  I got a somewhat dilapidated but very usable pinecone, lol... and I only made one!!!  I do want to get this die especially after seeing that it can also be used to make wonderful flowers!!!  For the greenery I used plastic and velvet items that I had.  I did dab the plastic ones with snow cap dabber for the snowy look.

I don't have any fine silver glitter so I first painted the letters with silver paint dabber and then used a chunkier silver glitter on them.  Joy is a Sizzix die cut from grungeboard.

My white embossing came out much heavier than Tim's tag but I sanded a bit away and also sprayed my tag with Perfect Pearls.  I forgot to brush some of the embossing powder from around the edges and didn't like quite so much "white" so added blue dots with a Sharpie marker.

6 x 6 Page Swap

These are 4 pages I made for a 6x6 swap.  For the background I used a Crafter's Workshop stencil with butterflies and a stencil with diamonds, Stamp Zia sprays, Ranger Color Wash, Ranger Perfect Pearls Sprays... sponged ink through sequin waste, stamped gold paint dabber using bubble wrap, stamped Studio 490 butterflies and colored them with Lyra bright colored pencils.  Saying, large leaves, and large butterfly are all Studio 490 stamps.  Leaves are stamped onto grungepaper, cut out, colored using Distress Stains and Perfect Pearls Mist.  Butterfly is stamped on grungepaper, cut out, colored first with white stain and then used Lyra and Prismacolor colored pencils.  Antenna have Glossy Accents over them.  Wings have Distress Stickles rock candy.  Small leaves are die cut from grungepaper.  

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my blog friends

I hope you have wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The Antiquated Collection by Lisa M. Pace

The Antiquated Collection by Lisa M. Pace

This pic is just one set of Lisa M. Pace's new stamps released this weekend by Pink Persimmon.  They are wonderful vintage images with lots of fabulous detail.  Pink Persimmon is giving away some of the stamps on their blog HERE.  Head on over there to see all the stamps and leave a comment if you'd like a chance to win some. 

Five Cards

These are some fairly simple cards that I've made in the last few months and hadn't yet posted to my blog.  

The Joy of the Lord

This piece measures 9" x 12".  The background piece is some very inexpensive watercolor paper (Artist's Loft back to school value pack)... I picked up a whole pack for a very good price and this is the first time I used it... can't say I'm fond of it but I didn't really do watercolor on it and maybe it works better for that.  I sprayed the piece with Ranger Color Wash sprays and dried it... decided I wanted it lighter and went over the whole piece with snow cap Distress Stain although... there are some "streaks" that didn't get as white as other areas or that I missed altogether but I rather like the look of that.  Stamped the vine and sponged through some sequin waste, both with Archival Ink.  Stamped the scripture with both Distress Ink (the lighter stampings) and Archival Ink.  Used a scrap of Manila Cardstock for the layered scripture using the same colors and supplies as the background.  Studio 490 Art Parts flowers and stem inked with stains (white first and then color) and stamped with Studio 490 background images.  The center flower I made last year (I thought I had posted it but have searched my blog and could not find a post for it)... I die cut flowers (Tim's tattered floral die) from an Archiver's plastic bag, inked the flowers with alcohol ink, stacked them together offsetting the petals (I can't remember how many I stacked up), put a brad through them all and finally used my heat tool to melt the ends of the petals... patience is required (I know, not easy) - you go in close with the heat, back away and keep worked until you like the result.  The leaves are die cut from grunge, stained and stenciled with sequin waste.  

Three and One

That would be 3 atcs and 1 tag.  I made these last month before an in-person ATC swap in Des Moines.  At the previous in-person (3 months before) I had taken my newly received Distress Stains with for everyone to play with after the actual swapping... we all had a great time and a challenge was issued to make something with our playtime pieces and bring them to the next swap.  I had stained a tag and had also soaked up some extra stain with a paper towel (and then spent the rest of the time watching everyone else, lol).  So I used the paper towel on backgrounds for 3 atcs and finished up the tag I had stained.  Here are the results.  Lots going on... stamping, sewing, collage images, die cuts, and well.... FUN!!!  If  you have any questions about any of these, please don't hesitate to ask.  

Lynn's Blogoversary

The Trash to Treasure Art blog is 3 years old..... Happy Anniversary, Lynn!!!!!... and Lynn has some gorgeous art pieces, a surprise, and a bonus to give away!!!  Click HERE to go directly to the blogoversary post... but if you don't check out the rest of her blog you will be missing some wonderful art!!!!

Vintaj Workshop

I was able to spend yesterday attending a Vintaj Workshop in Galena, Illinois!! (Vintaj website -- Vintaj blog).   I've actually been buying vintaj metal for some time but not really doing anything with it.... I just knew that I loved it.  I picked up a few of the new DecoEmboss folders and a DecoEtch die when they came out recently (if you scroll down a couple posts you will see a card that I used a Vintaj embossed leaf blank on)... and then I learned about this workshop.... I had to go :-))  I drove over Friday and roomed with the wonderful Lori Hassle and her sweet mom and then Lori and I attended the workshop Saturday.  Jess (Vintaj educator) and Betsy were fabulous!!!!  I had an amazing time and learned sooooooooooo much!!!!!  

This first picture is of all the pieces we worked with but didn't get made into a finished project.  We were able to try all the Emboss and Etch dies/folders along with using paint, alcohol inks, regular embossing powders and clear UTEE.  Totally amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

A few close-ups.

Here are 2 pair of earrings that we made.  We learned how to rivet... yay!!!!  It was much easier than I imagined, lol.

2 bracelets that we made.

A necklace that I didn't get finished.  The focal point is done.. we punched extra holes in the bird and curled one wing to use for attaching.  The frame below the bird we used embossing powders in, added small Vintaj elements and covered with the clear UTEE.  I'll be sure and share a pic when I get the necklace finished.

Here is a close-up of the bird and frame.

All materials were provided and tools to use.... the workshop was worth every penny... totally fabulous (I think I said that before)... if you've thought about taking one of their workshops, don't hesitate!!!