MAC #3 Improved

So I had my Making Art Challenge piece laying on the counter and every time I walked by it I thought that it just really lacked something... that it was rather drab and needed some sprucing up.  So today I spruced it.  I added some Ideology chain and baubles and a heart charm I had gotten I believe off of ebay.  I spritzed the baubles and the heart charm with Perfect Pearls Mist sunflower sparkle drying with the heat tool.  I sprayed the baubles a second time and re-dried.  So what do you think... did it improve it?

MAC #3

MAC = Making Art Challenge.  This is a challenge happening on the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group and we are on #3.  The challenges are bases on projects in Wendy Vecchi's fabulous books (can hardly wait for book #4 to be available).  This week we are to use a heart and some junk jewelry.

I used a Maya Road chipboard heart for my base.  The junk jewelry is the white flower in the center of the grunge flower.  It was an old clip earring (can't remember where I got it or found it)... I sprayed it with Perfect Pearls Mist sunflower sparkle which looks Fantastic!!!  All stamps used on this piece are Studio 490.  The lace was stamped with Adirondack pigment snow cap and dried with the heat tool.  Inked over the whole heart with Distress ink tea dye and the edges with aged mahogany.  The grunge flower was also inked with aged mahogany.  Stamping on flower is with Archival coffee.  Stamping along edge of heart was with Archival olive.  The black flourishes poking from behind the flower were stamped with Archival jet black.  The saying was stamped on a scrap piece of Prima fairy floral paper with jet black, cut out, and the edges inked with walnut stain.  Stitching added around heart with a black pen.    

A hot bath - with bubbles

Another of Quietfire Design's new stamps There must be quite a few things.  Tim's hanging sign is cut from grungepaper.  The hanger is inked with tea dye Distress ink, embossed with tea dye Distress embossing powder, release crystals removed and inked over with Distress ink walnut stain.  A technique in Tim's fabulous book A Compendium of Curiosities with just a slight change - he inked first with Distress embossing ink, but this worked well also.  The sign is inked with Distress ink tumbled glass first - then I sprayed water on some bubble wrap and pressed it onto the inked sign, pulled it off and dried it.  This left lighter areas where the wet bubbles pressed on the sign - since I started with a lighter ink, they are very subtle but there.  The edged are inked first with faded jeans and then a bit with walnut stain.  The tips of the flourish are stamped with faded jeans.  The white "bubbles" are made using the bubble wrap and stamping with white acrylic paint.  The background paper is from Tim's Lost and Found Paper Stash.  The edges are inked with walnut stain.  The hanging sign is mounted up from the background with either scraps of grunge or foam tape and they are linked together with jump rings.

SALE on Quietfire's New Stamps

There is a sale

        on the new stamps 

                 from Quietfire Design 

                            until March 1st.  

They are 20% off... 

           you don't see the sale price 

                         until the stamp is in your shopping cart. 

NEW STAMPS at Quietfire Design

Suzanne has been busy with her wonderful calligraphy and now has 6 fabulous new stamps available.  You can see them HERE.  

My projects so far use 3 of those stamps (more will be coming).  This first one is a hanging using The doors we open.  I started with a 3 1/2" square art parts piece for my base [art parts are a heavy (not weight but thickness and strength) material made by Stampers Anonymous, designed by Wendy Vecchi and are part of her Studio 490 line].  I covered the art part with a piece of paper from 7 gypsies Savannah 6x6 paper pad using matte medium, let it dry, sanded the edges and inked them brushed corduroy Distress Ink.  Stamped the quote with Archival Ink jet black - my very favorite black dye ink and Suzanne will have it available soon.  Punched two holes using my Crop-a-dile (you could also use a Japanese screw punch or a home pro) and added the hitch fasteners.  Colored 13mm white silk ribbon with Distress inks. Curled copper heavy wire and attached it and the ribbon to the hitch fasteners as shown allowing extra wire on the right side to hang the key with.  Added the lock and key - the high spots on the lock were sanded and then both the lock and key were colored with ginger Alcohol ink.   

This next card uses Piglet sidled up to Pooh.  It is stamped on the back of an advertisement post card (I've got this old stack and want to use them up) with Archival ink jet black.  I die cut it with Spellbinders long classic scalloped rectangle and then the top and bottom trimmed off.  Inked the edges with Distress ink spun sugar and added the dots with a Tombow marker.  I cut a piece of Prima fairy floral paper and a piece of green burlap and sewed them together.  Also stitched around another trimmed piece of fairy floral paper.  Layered everything as shown including the piece of lace.  Dew drops added along lace.  The flower was colord with Tombow markers and a brad added to the center.  

This last card uses the stamp What you leave behind.  Last month at stamp club meeting I demoed and we played with alcohol inks so I used 2 pieces of paper from that play time on this card.  The lighter piece I stamped the quote on with Archival ink jet black and cut it out using Spellbinders Labels 4.  The darker piece is the background piece - I sponged snow cap Paint dabber around the edges (other white acrylic paints will work). The layer below the quote is purple cardstock also cut with Labels 4 and I spread rock candy Distress Stickles around the edges wide enough for layering and dried it with my Heat-It Craft Tool.  Put everything together as shown including Tim's trimmings and charm and 3 white pearls to finish it off.  

Stripes

I was checking out the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.. found out this weeks theme is stripes.. should have been working on something else... but the ideas flew this way.  I've used all Studio 490 stamps.  This is an ATC... I started with a Ranger atc sticky back canvas blank (white), layed on some strips of tissue tape (holiday so the tape was narrower), sprayed on butterscotch color wash, blotted it, removed the tape and sprayed on sail boat blue color wash.  The bubbles background was stamped with snow cap paint dabber and then the dots were made using sequin ribbon as a stencil, dried with a heat tool.  The red horizontal lines were made by just pressing the edge of the maroon Archival ink pad directly on the canvas.  Dare to be Unique was stamped with Archival ink jet black... I first stamped it on the background but it didn't stand out enough so I went over the area with white paint dabber, dried it, masked off a narrow strip at the bottom and sprayed it with the sail boat blue.  The gentleman was stamped on grungepaper with jet black plus 2 extra hats. Cut out the whole guy, one whole hat, and one hat band.  Added color with Distress Inks (scattered straw, brushed corduroy, barn red) and layered the hat parts up with foam mounting tape.  "Seriously" was stamped on manilla card, cut out, and sponged around the edge with shabby shutters.  Two Ideology mini paper clips to finish it up.

CCC #33 (and #32)

You probably guessed by my title that I again got behind on this challenge... only 1 week - not so bad, lol.  Pop on over to Linda's blog for all the details about this challenge series base on Tim Holtz's book Compendium of Curiosities.  A MUST HAVE book!!  Challenge #33 is altered metal alcohol inks and found on page 56.  I used that technique on the heart and the staples (used my autographed tiny attacher that I won on Linda's blog - thanks, Tim & Linda).  Challenge #32 is inking and stamping masks on page 59 and I used that technique for the background.  Distress inks used - crushed olive, broken china, wild honey, victorian velvet, shabby shutters, faded jeans, rusty hinge.  Alcohol inks - watermelon, sail boat blue.

Making Art Challenge #2

This little piece of art is for our 2nd challenge on the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group.  The challenge this time...  use a CHIPBOARD flower with the pigment ink resist tech.  In Wendy's first book she shares this on page 23 but she also shares the technique on her blog here.  I've used the technique on the background piece (Art Parts 3 1/2" square), on the Maya Road chipboard flowers, and on the grungepaper flourish leaves (a Sizzix die).  All the stamps I used are Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 images.  Distress Ink colores are... background - wild honey and a touch of crushed olive... large flower - broken china... small flowers - victorian velvet and a touch of dusty concord... leaves - shabby shutters.  The butterfly is stamped onto grungepaper, cut out and colored with DIs.  Saying stamped with Archival Ink jet black.  Black Enamel Accents for the dots.  Tim Holtz Ideology pieces to finish things off.  Oh, I almost forgot... I also gave the background a spritz of Perfect Pearls Mists sunflower sparkle, the butterfly a spritz of Perfect Pearls Mists turquoise, and the foliage flower and brad a spritz of Pearl Pearls Mists perfect pearl.

CBC - Quilts or Stitching

I have had a package of ExtravOrganza for at least a few years and as I thought about this challenge it started calling to me "Hey... look here... I've been waiting a long time for you to use me and the time is now!".. so of course I had to agree.  The collage image is printed on the ExtravOrganza... VERY cool!!! It worked great!!!  And since I printed the whole digital sheet, you'll be seeing more things with the other images I have.  Next I took a piece of muslin, rubbed on a little distress ink (I actually just used what was already on the foam applicators from previous uses, didn't reink), and stitched the ExtravOrganza on top.  Now I'm not a big sewer (translated I've done very little - HomeEc in high school and since then mostly just simple mending when needed)... but it too has been calling to me lately (I sewed on some atcs a few weeks ago).  My machine was giving me fits when I first started stitching the pieces together... I had to stop and pull threads a couple of times but I didn't want to waste the image so I persevered (and used some flowers to cover the really bad spot).  I like it and the very subtle colors showing through from the Distress Inks.  The background printed paper is Prima Fairy Floral.  The saying is stamped on the same paper in a quieter area, cut out, edges inked, and the heart colored in with a Tombow marker.  The butterfly is stamped onto grungepaper with Distress Ink pine needles, cut out, Distress Ink scattered straw sponged over it to add color to the open areas, and the lock attached to it with brads.  Faux stitching with a black pen around the edges of the background.

Details of the challenge can be found either on the Created Byhand Challenge Blog or on the Quietfire Creations Forum.

CCC #31 - Rusted Enamel

Rusted Enamel is a very cool technique!!!  It has been awesome working through Tim Holtz's book Compendium of Curiosities... I've learned soooooooooooo much... and to think there are just a few weeks (techniques) left to do.  As always, pop on over to Linda's blog Studio L3 to get all the details on the challenge.

My Distress ink colors used on the tag are worn lipstick, tea dye, and brushed corduroy.  The flourish is stamped with Archival olive.  The bottom cut with an On-the-edge die.  The flowers are cut from white felt, sprayed with Color Wash cranberry and then Perfect Pearls forever violet, dried, sprayed again with violet and dried.  Amazingly the shimmer of the Perfect Pearls Mist does not stand out on the felt like it does on paper and grunge.  I then ran a bead of Rock Candy Distress Stickles around the edge of each flower and let it air dry.  I then realized that I was going to stamp on the flowers and had forgot so I stamped a text image on them.  Cut the ticket from a piece of Tim's Vintage Shabby paper, stamped the Valentine's ticket with Archival jet black, added a little worn lipstick and then black soot ink around the edges, and went over the "14" with glaze pens.  

The Lord Bless You Card

A very springy, blingy card made for a very special friend!!!  The background paper is Prima Fairy Flora.  The scripture stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs, specifically this set.  The flourish is grungepaper colored with Distress Inks and sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mist.  The rosette was cut with Tim Holtz's rosette die from Fairy Flora paper.  After it was made the edges were coated with glitter glass using Glossy Accents.

Queen of Hearts ATC

The Created Byhand Challenge (CreateByhand Blog or Quietfire Creations Forum) theme this week is Queen of Hearts.   This is timed to correspond with the 2nd Annual Queen of Hearts Challenge on the Quietfire Style Blog... there are prizes!!!!  My atc base is an actual queen of hearts playing card.  I adhered a piece of fairy flora cardstock over it tearing off the corners so you could still see the card and sanding the edges.  The edges are inked with Distress Ink brushed corduroy and the flourishes stamped with the same ink.  Added the collage image, the gold crown charm, red gems on the crown.  "Queen of" and "Everything" are stamped on vellum, torn out, wrapped on the card taping to the back.  I went over the red heart on the card with red Glaze pen.  Gold brads and black dots on the edge to finish things off.

Live the Life

The tag is grungeboard cut with Tim's tag die and then embossed with Woodgrain texture fade.  The tag started longer and I had put a border along the bottom but decided I really didn't like what I was doing and cut that part off... but not wanting to waste an otherwise nice beginning to a tag I chose to make a short tag. The coloring on the base tag is Tim's technique Weathered Wood with white and yellow paint dabber and a few colors of Distress Inks.  The bird and cage are cut form grunge.  The cage is embossed with the dot matrix texture fade, painted with silver paint dabber and then some black ink over that to tone it down.  The bird is colored with Distress Inks and stamped.  The bells were silver and colored with black alcohol ink.  The black dots around the edge and for the bird's eye were done with black Enamel Accents.

An Artful Adventure

I really enjoyed making these cards using Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 stamps and Art Parts plus some other things.  The largest flower and stem are art parts.  The other flowers, leaf, and bird are grungepaper.  The printed paper in the background is from a Tim Holtz paper stack.  The bird is cut with Tim's die.  I sprayed a bit of color wash on the background and added stamping.  The bird is sprayed with color wash and then Perfect Pearls mist.  The flowers, stem, and leaf are colored first with Snow Cap pigment ink, dried, colored with Distress Inks, stamped, and finally sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mist.  There is some Beadazzles in the center of the flower glued on with Glossy Accents.

Snowman in Love

I know.. a snowman with flowers!!  But I really like it!!!  The scrollwork border makes me think of love swirling all around.  This card along with directions are now posted to the Quietfire Design Project Gallery  Here.  If you have time, leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the card.

Live Your Dream ATC

We've just begun a series of challenges on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo Group.  These challenges are based on Wendy's "Make Art Studio 490 Style" books and each challenge will run from 1-2 weeks usually depending on the type of challenge.  The first one is easy and is taken from book 1, page 16.  The idea is not to duplicate Wendy's projects but to be inspired by them!!  This first challenge required us to use a butterfly and a scallop in our piece and the project in the book is an atc so most people are also making an atc.  Since this is taking place in the EWV group we must use at least one Studio 490 stamp in each project.  My atc uses all Wendy stamps.  My base is a Ranger manila atc blank.  I've used color wash sprays and distress inks.  The butterfly is stamped onto grungepaper twice, cut out, colored and layered.  My scallop is a stamp and I created a frame by stamping all 4 sides.  The black dots were made with Ranger's enamel accents.

More ATCs

These are some atcs I made last week to take to an in-person swap I attended this past Saturday in Des Moines.  I had a great time at the swap!!  and added some wonderful atcs to my collection!!!  

CCC #30 - Altered Metal with Paint...

... and because I got behind AGAIN..   this tag also includes CCC #29 - Weathered Wood Grunge and CCC #28 - Colorful Layered Fragments.  I went a little crazy with the color this time... I'm thinking it must be because of the blizzard... ya, that's it :-))  The tag is cut from Grungeboard using Tim's tag die.  I used the woodgrain texture fade on it... the paint for the weathered wood technique was mixed using some Paint Dabbers (I need to get more colors of these), some reinker, and some Golden fluid acrylics... and then the ink used was dusty concord.  All stamps are Tim's except for the letters to spell "Love", those are Studio G.  The spots were made with bubble wrap and sunshine yellow paint dabber - also dabbed it around the edges of the tag.  The ribbon was colored with color wash butterscotch and wild plum.  Ideology film strip ribbon, trinket pin, and philosophy tag.

All details about the Compendium of Curiosities challenge can be found on Linda's wonderful blog.

Follow your dreams....

All stamps (flourish, butterfly, quote) are from Quietfire Design.  The technique used on the main panel is Neutral Shadows from the current (Feb/Mar 2011) Technique Junkie Newsletter.  The colored ink I used for the technique is Adirondack currant.  Border punched (EK Success) a piece of paper from the Fairy Flora collection.  Sticky back pearls on the butterflies and along the border.

This card works for the Created Byhand Challenge (ning group or blog), I have a dream.

Journey ATC

Lots of fun stuff with this atc.  The very textured paper in the background is wallpaper sprayed with Ranger's color wash sprays and some Perfect Pearls Mist.  There are some scraps of lace and paper (you know when you rip a piece of paper from a spiral bound notebook and you have all those holes along one edge.. I cut that edge off and saved it to use), some stitching, a left over rusted grunge flourish, white German scrap colored with Distress Inks, paper flowers, sticky back gold pearls, 'find joy in every journey' is a rubber stamp from Inky Antics, and the girl collage image is from Collage Stuff.