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.