Journal Fun

This journal book was started at a class when I went to Stampaway in Ohio in 2012.  We didn't complete any pages, just did lots of different techniques anywhere in the book with the idea that something is started and we can come back anytime and work on a page that inspires us.  What was on this particular page is the black.  The technique was to take aluminum foil, crumple it, open it but not smooth it, paint it with black gesso, lay it on our page and rub either randomly or in a shape.  On this page I rubbed a flower. Of course you get some random blotches around also.  So the other day I just felt like working on this page.  I painted with a baby wipe Fresco Finish colors yellow submarine, beach hut, and tango.  Then I added brown shed through Wendy Vecchi's brick stencil and put some around the edge of the page using my finger.  I used a heavy bodied white acrylic to stencil the words (another Wendy Stencil).  I stamped in the background Wendy's mesh background image using her Archival potting soil.  There's part of another background image (basket weave) along the bottom with black Archival.  Then some flourishes (Wendy stamp) around the flower with Wendy's Archival fern green.  I picked a quote to use and to be sure if popped a bit more I first rubbed some white paint where I wanted to stamp it, dried it, and then stamped it with black Archival.  I then took a fine black Pitt pen and went around the edges of the word REAL.  Black pen around the edge of the page.  I wanted to do something with the flower and decided first to use a black fine point Sharpie paint marker and did scribbles around each petal and added dots of a yellow glitter Sharpie marker to the center and thought I was done, took pics and everything.  That picture is below.  Then at the last minute I decided that I should have used white around the flower and so did that and added more dots to the center of the flower also.  That is the picture above.  I really can't decide which I like better but it's white now and that's how it will stay.  

Thanks for looking and I'd love a comment if you have a moment.  Which do you like better?

A Tag

I've used Fresco Finish paints to color the tag, for stamping the white dots (PaperArtsy Hot Picks set HP1204EZ), and for stamping the flower and leaves (PaperArtsy EclecTica ELB01). Used the matching die for the flower and leaves.  Other stamping in the background with Archival Ink.  The scripture is an Our Daily Bread Designs stamp.  The flower stamp... the darker lines in the petals actually don't stamp but I had too much paint on part of the stamp and a couple of the lines filled in with paint so I just painted in all of them.  To give the flower more "shape" I flipped it over on a piece of foam and rubbed in the center of the flower and in the center of all the petals with a stylus.  There is some Treasure Gold renaissance rubbed around the edges of the tag.  

Journal Page - Heart Longing

So I decided to turn the heart I shared in THIS post (pic below) into a journal page.  I started with a page that already had some iced spruce Distress Stain on it - I was testing to see if it dried the correct color and it did.  But I didn't have a plan for it so...  I glued the heart to the page with Golden's gel medium and let it dry.  Then I first painted around it with Fresco Finish yellow submarine, let dry.  Then covered the yellow with Fresco Finish crackle glaze, I just spurted some on and spread it with my finger, let it dry... then painted over it with a mix of Fresco Finish very berry and claret, let dry.  Next I used a Crafter's Workshop stencil and gold embossing paste to add another type of crackle along the bottom and in the upper right corner.  I've been looking at it for a couple of days and part of me thinks I should do more around the heart, but don't know what... and part of me like it just how it is, so for now, at least, it's how it is. 

Two Quick Cards

I love the backgrounds on these cards and they are super simple.  I embossed a piece of cardstock using an embossing folder and then went over it with Viva Inka Gold (steel blue, rose) using my finger, buff it up and you have beautiful metallic background.  The butterfly is an old PSX stamp.  

On the pink card I added some gold onto the butterfly after I thought I was done and had taken the picture and then forgot to take another picture.  The gold/yellow was a nice accent and really helped the butterfly pop more.  The sentiment is an Art Impressions stamp.  

Queen of Hearts 2014 .... and the winner is............

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone who visited and those of you that left comments.  I really enjoyed reading each one and many of them were like receiving a hug right through my computer.  I like hugs!!!!!!!!!!!  

I used Random.org to pick a winner and that winner is  Linda T....

________________________

Linda T said...

What a beautiful tag Wanda! How creative. I've never tried the crackling but I would love too after seeing how lovely it looks. Thank you for sharing you're great ideas.
Happy Valentines Day!

________________________

Linda, Congratulations!!!!  Please email me (found in left sidebar) your address and QF will get you your prize!!!

This heart took like 10-15 minutes maybe to do.  All the color is done with Lyra Aquacolor crayons.  I took a scrap of watercolor paper and starting at the center drew a heart and  just kept adding colors around it.  It got lopsided but, oh well.  Cut out the heart.  I sprayed some water on it and then using a large brush wet with water I went over the heart, just as if you were drawing it, so that the colors blended out just a tiny bit.  I started drying it with my heat tool,  then thought I should crumple it and did... flattened it back out and finished drying it.  Next I stamped the quote (This heart longing for you Quietfire Companion set) using Ranger's Archival ink jet black.   The crackle (an old Paper Inspirations stamp) is stamped with Archival potting soil.  

2014 Queen of Hearts Blog Hop - You Are Amazing

Welcome to the final day of  the 5th Annual Queen of Hearts Blog Hop and challenge.  If you've been following along, I hope you've had a good time and are filled with inspiration from the wonderful projects that have been shared!!!  If you just found out about it, look down at the end of this post and go visit everyone you've missed.  There are prizes to be won but comments must be made by midnight PST tonight.  And don't forget the challenge part of all this... link your Queen of Hearts project on the Quietfire Creations blog (all details below).

Now for my tag.  I've just recently started playing with crackle paste and it is sooooooo much fun.  You can use either Dreamweaver's or Wendy Vecchi's paste.  I put a very thin layer of gold paste over the whole tag using a pallet knife and let it dry.  Next came the crackle paste and again I applied it with a pallet knife.  If does not have to be an even coat, mine is not.  After the paste was dry I inked over it with worn lipstick, then fired brick keeping to the outer area and finally brushed corduroy by the edges.  The 3 hearts along the bottom were stamped with red geranium.  The I Love You Alphabet is stamped randomly over the tag with brushed corduroy.  love you forever is stamped with jet black.  The mini dotted harlequin border is stamped repeatedly around the edge with jet black.  At this point I was wishing I hadn't used black and so to tone it down a bit I dabbed picket fence stain around the edged blotting some up if it was too white.  Then to define my edge again I went around with red geranium.  

Now for the big heart.  I stamped You Are Amazing onto vellum using jet black, dried it and then die cut the heart.  Next come the sewing.  I thought for sure I'd mess it up... get it majorly crooked or something but, yay, it came out great!!!  Then I inked the backside of the vellum with red geranium leaving some of the center without ink.  To make the edges curl up I laid the heart on foam and worked a stylus just in the area between the stitching and the edge.  I decided there was too much red and I needed and the heart blended in too much so I put picket fence stain on the back between the stitching and the edge and inked the edge from the front first with brushed corduroy (hmm... needs to be darker because of the dark border on the tag) and then with jet black.   

The ribbon was colored with fired brick.  Gold embroidery floss on the heart and key charms.  

Quietfire Design Stamps - You are Amazing, love you forever, I Love You alphabet, Large flourishing inside heart, mini harlequin border

Ranger #8 Manila Tag

Vellum

Embossing Paste - gold, crackle

Spellbinders nestabilities - scalloped hearts 

Distress Ink - worn lipstick, fired brick, brushed corduroy

Ranger Archival Ink - jet black, red geranium

Distress Stains - picket fence

13mm White silk ribbon

Charms - heart, key

Sewing machine, white thread, gold embroidery floss

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Now for the Nitty Gritty of the Blog Hop and Challenge... Quietfire Creations Blog is HERE.  

Welcome to the 5th Annual Queen of Hearts Blog Hop and Challenge!

There are a whopping ten designers sharing their artwork with you during this Queen of Hearts Blog Hop and you will be visiting each one, two per day. They won't all be Valentine projects, but love will be in the air!

You can win prizes!! On each participating blog, the owner will randomly choose  a winner from the comments left on their Queen of Hearts Blog post.   The blog owner will post the winner after Feb. 14.  Please check for your name on each blog and contact the blog owner privately with your name and snailmail address.

Winners from each blog will receive sets or a collection of Quietfire rubber stamps valued at approximately $15. You may only win once!!  Sorry!

DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: Midnight PST February 14, 2014.  Winners will be chosen on the 15th and posted shortly after.

However, you can also win on the Challenge portion of our event.

Create some artwork, add it to your blog (or wherever you post online) and  link your artwork on the Quietfire Creations Blog.  DEADLINE FOR Your Artwork ENTRIES: Midnight PST February 14, 2014.   See more details below.

Here is our Blog Hop Schedule and the dates each designer will be posting (Click on each person's name to go to their blog):

Feb 10 - Holly and Teresa - setting the bar!
Feb 11- Sherry and Jutta
Feb 12 - Wendy and Terre
Feb 13 - Yogi and Robyn 
Feb 14 - Suzanne and Wanda 
   

Now it's your turn!  (All linking is done on the Quietfire Creations Blog)

You're going to create artwork to share with all of us. You don't have to use Quietfire stamps, but we'll love it if you do. You'll post your artwork on your blog (or other online spot) and share the link on this special post . On February 14th we'll close the submissions and then we'll allow voting! So make sure you tell your friends to make art and come visit! Get out your crafting supplies!

This is the blog post where you will post your artwork using the Inlinkz Linkup from now until February 14th, 2014 at midnight. If you have questions, please email Suzanne (email link is in the sidebar! >>>>>>>>>

Voting begins Feb.15 right here. The top two entries will win $50 worth of Quietfire Rubber Stamps. Another $50 prize will go to the Judges Choice. You may only win once in this category.

Good luck and happy creating!

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A hearts and flowers kind of day

I was playing a bit with some new paint and stamps.  Over a year ago I got a few bottles of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint  and really liked them.  Then I got a few more last summer and then last month I had some Christmas money and PaperArtsy was having a sale so I got some more and a few stamp sets.  There are still many more colors I don't have but I'm having fun with what I got.  

Above is the front of the tag, a #8 Ranger tag.  I wanted a heart that fit the tag so I made my own stencil/mask old school style - take a piece of paper, fold it in half, and freehand cut a heart.  I used the stencil and painted a heart using Very Berry paint.  Then I used the mask and painted with Guacamole.  Stamped the flowers (JOFY 14) with Ranger Archival jet black.  Added the white with a Sharpie paint marker.  Painted in the flowers with Beach Hut, decided I wanted more color and maybe a bit of bling so used a glitter Sharpie paint marker.  Next I wanted the outside to have a yellow tint so sponged on some Yellow Submarine paint and then added dots in the same color using a stamp from the Hot Picks set #HP1204EZ.  Decided to define the heart a bit more and painted London Bus around the edge and then used a Stabilo pencil for some shading.  The XOXO stamp is a Quietfire Design image from there newest Valentine set, Calligraphic Love Bits.  The tiny hearts are a very old DOTS stamp.  A little Treasure Gold around the edges and finished.  

Below is the back of the tag.  I had managed not to get hardly any paint on it and so thought I do some quick decorating.  I stamped another flower and quote from the same JOFY set.  Painted the flower with London Bus, Yellow Submarine, and Tinned Peas and added streaks of Tinned Peas to look like grass.  Sponged some Yellow Submarine around the edges and in the background.  Stamped Valentine (another Quietfire Design stamp), painted the heart and finished.  I wrote a personal note over the grassy area.  Oh, the white dots in the flower are with the Sharpie paint marker.  (I took a pic of the back before I added the ribbon)

Queen of Hearts 2014

Today begins the 5th Annual Quietfire Queen of Hearts Blog Hop and Challenge!!!!  I was thrilled to be invited to join in with the blog hop and my post will be on Feb. 14th, but I'm giving you a little peek today.  I hope you will follow along all week and come back to visit me on Friday.  

Here are the details and schedule as posted on the Quietfire Creations Blog.

Welcome to the 5th Annual Queen of Hearts Blog Hop and Challenge!

There are a whopping ten designers sharing their artwork with you during this Queen of Hearts Blog Hop and you will be visiting each one, two per day. They won't all be Valentine projects, but love will be in the air!

You can win prizes!! On each participating blog, the owner will randomly choose  a winner from the comments left on their Queen of Hearts Blog post.   The blog owner will post the winner after Feb. 14.  Please check for your name on each blog and contact the blog owner privately with your name and snailmail address.

Winners from each blog will receive sets or a collection of Quietfire rubber stamps valued at approximately $15. You may only win once!!  Sorry!

DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: Midnight PST February 14, 2014.  Winners will be chosen on the 15th and posted shortly after.

However, you can also win on the Challenge portion of our event.

Create some artwork, add it to your blog (or wherever you post online) and  link your artwork on the Quietfire Creations Blog.  DEADLINE FOR Your Artwork ENTRIES: Midnight PST February 14, 2014.   See more details below.

Here is our Blog Hop Schedule and the dates each designer will be posting (Click on each person's name to go to their blog):

Feb 10 - Holly and Teresa - setting the bar!
Feb 11- Sherry and Jutta
Feb 12 - Wendy and Terre
Feb 13 - Yogi and Robyn 
Feb 14 - Suzanne and Wanda 
   

Now it's your turn!  (All linking is done on the Quietfire Creations Blog)

You're going to create artwork to share with all of us. You don't have to use Quietfire stamps, but we'll love it if you do. You'll post your artwork on your blog (or other online spot) and share the link on this special post . On February 14th we'll close the submissions and then we'll allow voting! So make sure you tell your friends to make art and come visit! Get out your crafting supplies!

This is the blog post where you will post your artwork using the Inlinkz Linkup from now until February 14th, 2014 at midnight. If you have questions, please email Suzanne (email link is in the sidebar! >>>>>>>>>

Voting begins Feb.15 right here. The top two entries will win $50 worth of Quietfire Rubber Stamps. Another $50 prize will go to the Judges Choice. You may only win once in this category.

Good luck and happy creating!

A canvas... and another... and another... and another.

Earlier last year some friends and I began exchanging canvases... did a couple... switched to doing some other things... and decided we needed to finish up with the canvases at the end of the year.  For a reminder the first two I did and received can be found in THIS post and in THIS post.  It began as 4 x 4 canvases and quickly changed to 'you can do whatever size you want'.  I totally loved doing this swap and the canvases I received were all totally fab!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last two canvases I made are both 8" x 8".  This first one went to Trent.  I began by gluing down rows of Tim Holtz tissue tape, every row a different tape.  Then I added some grunge paste from PaperArtsy, both through a stencil and also some random areas just smeared on and tapped with the pallet knife to give texture.  This was the first time I'd ever used a paste that gets hard (I've always used embossing paste or light modeling/molding paste) and it's very cool stuff.  After it dried, I sanded it a bit to get off any really rough spots.  Next came paint, stamping, stenciling, and Viva Inka Gold.  The leaves and flower are die cuts (Tim Holtz dies) and there is painting, inking, stamping, and embossing.  The frame is die cut with Tim dies.  The top layer is watercolor paper and embossing paste through a stencil.  Then there are a couple layers of grungeboard to make it thicker.  It's all painted black and then Inka Gold used for highlights.  The framed piece (attached to the back of the frame) has ink, paint and stamping.  The butterflies are a Tim Holtz stamp.  The quote is a Wendy Vecchi stamp as are many of the other stamps used on the canvas, leaves and flower.   I stamped the butterflies and additional time on scrap and cut some out to add to the canvas.  

This next canvas went to Michael.  I glued a layer of very wrinkled white tissue paper to the canvas, let it dry, and added paint.  I thought about doing more to the background but I loved it just the way it was!!!   I then stenciled the rays (Tim Holtz stencil) with white embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi) and let it dry.  I added paint to the top of the embossing and used a Posca pen to extend the rays to the edge of the canvas.  The words on the rays are Tim Holtz rub-ons.  The quote is a Tim Holtz stamp.  The butterfly is Tim die cut from grunge.  The bottom pieces are painted.  I added the colors of paint and while it was still wet brushed through with a Catalyst #15 B-05 which gave the fabulous marbled look.  The top layer is just painted black.  Along the bottom I used a Wendy Vecchi stamp both in green and in black.  The gold highlights are Viva Inka Gold.  

The next canvas is the one I received from Nancy.  It is 4" x 4" and I love it!!!  

And this next one is from Lori.  It's 8" x 10" and Fabulous!!!!

The door was marked You.....

Both the quote and the flourishing inside heart are from Quietfire Design with the quote being one of the newest stamps.  The quote is stamped with Ranger Archival jet black and the hearts are with Ranger Archival red geranium.  The piece they are stamped on is a scrap from playing with Wendy Vecchi's Archival reinker technique - I'm pretty sure I used red geranium, orange blossom and watering can.  The butterflies are Memory Box die, butterfly delights border.  The gold speckles and gold edging are done with Distress Paint tarnished brass. 

Live the Life Mr. Octopus

The octopus is from the Dylusions set, Under the Sea.  Isn't he fun!!!!