Handmade Journal Cover

Hello!!!  I made this journal cover for our daughter-in-law for Christmas.  She had put a leather journal on one of her Pinterest boards as something she'd love to have and it was a wonderful, handmade journal and quite expensive.  It had gun shells/bullets/casings - whatever they are called- on it and lots of wonderful details.  This is certainly not close to that but it was made with love.   The material is Kraft-Tex and it was the first time I had used it.  It wonderful stuff!!!!   After cutting a piece the size I wanted, I dampened it and then crumpled it over and over.  After lots of wrinkles were made I inked over them with Distress Ink, lightly misted on a bit more water and then left it to dry.  Looks fab, huh!!  The two strips across the pens and casings are also Kraft-Tex without the wrinkling.  The top one is edges a bit with ink and the bottom one is not.  I used glue and folded all the edges in.  After that I used eyelets to make the flaps that hold both covers of a purchased mixed media paper journal and for attaching the strips to the front.  I didn't want to glue the shells so went outside and found a stick to sew below them so they wouldn't push out when putting the Micron pens in and out.  The pens are all black and each has a different size tip.  God gifted her with a talent for drawing and she really likes the Micron pens.  

My Portion

Hi There!!!  This card was made a few months ago and hadn't yet made it to the blog but now it has.  The scripture is an Our Daily Bread Designs stamp.  The panel under the scripture panel is a piece of Through The Lens paper from Elizabeth Craft Designs altered with inks.  The background, if I remember correctly, is paint, then Americana Weathered Wood Crackle Medium, and then Distress Crackle Paint Picket Fence over the top.  Once dried and cracked thre was ink added.  There are various gears and metal embellishments, flowers, an Idea-ology key, lace, and some dots of both Enamel Accents and Liquid Pearls.

Road Trip

Happy Sunday to you!!!!!!!  Our daughter and I are continuing with our "challenge" to do the Simon Says Monday Challenge each week (she missed last week because she had Influenza and was not well at all, but she is doing better.. Praise God!!).  This week Simon Says... Transport. 

I pulled out an older Tim Holtz set of stamps (CMS128) and created this card.  Both the background and the main panel started with Distress Mixed Media Heavy Stock.  For the main panel I stamped the car with Archival Ink Jet Black, stamping a few times to get it nice and dark.  Vintage Photo Distress Oxide was applied using a blending tool and sprayed with water while drying.  Black pen dots were added.  Along the left side of the background panel I added Crackle Paste through Tim's tire tread stencil and left it to dry and crackle.  Next I sprayed the panel with both Weathered Wood and Pumice Distress Spray Stain, blotted up some of the color on the flat (no paste) area and dried it.  The edges were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide, lightly misted and dried.  RoadTrip was stamped with Jet Black.  No, it didn't stamp completely where the paste was and I used a black pen to fill it in.  The flower is from the new Wildflowers 2 pack, cut from Mixed Media Heavy Card, inked with Distress Oxide Worn Lipstick and Fired Brick, dried and while drying sprayed with water.  The black Distress Crayon was used on the Idea-ology typed token to darken the letters.  Idea-ology Hex Fasters finish things up.

Out of the Cold

Hello!!!  I've had out some Wendy Vecchi products and made this card for the challenge over at Frilly & Funkie - Out of the Cold.  I started with a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavy Card and sprayed it heavily with Wendy's Archival Ink Cactus Flower and Garden Patina made into sprays using 91% Rubbing Alcohol.  Over this I've stamp with her Les Roses background image using Garden Patina and I've also inked through her stencil Vintage Quilt with Cactus Flower.  I recently acquired her Stitching Templates and used the rectangle one to make 2 rows of holes along the bottom and stitched it with Tim's Craft Thread.  I used her Stamp-It Stencil- It set Build-a-blossom stamping the flower on a scrap and the leafy stem onto the card, both with Archival Ink Jet Black.  I then used the coordinating stencil to sponge on Archival Ink.  The flower was cut out leaving a white border, some highlights added with a white gel pen and shaped it with a pad and tool.  The stem for the flower is part of her stencil set 3 Fresh Flowers.  I applied tinted embossing paste through the stencil.  This tinted embossing paste was mixed probably a year or more ago and placed in one of her storage containers.  It was still good to go.  The butterfly is from her stamp set Card Art Sentiments, stamped, colored with Distress Markers and cut out.  Hello is from her new Stamp-It Stencil-It set Select-A-Sentiment, I used white embossing paste and then sprinkled on Distress glitter.  The attached leaves are cut using a die from Tim's Garden Greens set, sprayed with Distress Spray Stain, dried, stamped with Wendy's Les Roses background, cut apart and attached to the card as shown.  Highlights added with white gel pen.  The edges of the panel were distressed.  The next layer is white cardstock and I applied Wink of Stella Gl. Clear around the edge area.  I also swiped some touches of the glitter pen on the flower petals.  

Shimmer Sheetz Earrings

Hello!!  I made these earrings earlier this month for a gift.  They use Elizabeth Craft Designs Shimmer Sheetz and Jewelry Set 2 cutting dies.  Embossing folders were used to create texture and then the high spots were lightly sanded to help bring out that texture.    

PaperArtsy New Release - Infusions

Infusions Colors - Magenta, Raspberry

Note -  this is a very long post with a LOT of pictures. Pictures can be seen larger if you click on them. 

If you haven't noticed, it's February New Releases this whole week on the PaperArtsy Blog.  Today is the official release of 12 new Infusion colors.  Talk about EXCITING!!!!!  My assignment, if I chose to accept it, was use some of the new colors along with some new Lin Brown stamps (mostly used ELB32 & ELB33) to create some samples.  My response... "YES!!".  I had a LOT of fun!!!!!!  So much fun in fact that it was hard to stop making samples!!!  But there was a time limit and after 8 projects I needed to package them up and send them across the pond.  

The first thing I did once I had the 5 colors sent to me in my hands was to find out what they looked like.  Oh, and I must inject here..... it was really exciting to have these little bottles of fun before they even had official labels or even knew some of the names.  Ok, back...  I used a piece of Heavy Smoothy (all project backgrounds began with Heavy Smoothy), wet the paper, sprinkled on each color, lightly sprayed on extra water if needed and left the paper to dry.  Aren't they delicious!!

I'm sharing all 8 of my projects in this post, not step by step, but with any information I think you might need/want.  Please don't hesitate to ask if you have questions!!!

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This first project incorporates a couple of techniques that I have extra pictures for.  During one of the January releases while watching the release video it was mentioned that someone (can't remember who was mentioned, sorry - let me know) had figured out that you could ink a stamp with embossing ink, sprinkle on Infusions, rub them around with your finger, mist it with water and stamp.  I did this and loved it.  I misted lightly spraying from a distance 2-3 times, stamping, misting again, stamping...etc.  These eight prints are from one application of infusions on the stamp.  After I'd stopped and cleaned the stamp I thought, "I should have continued just to see how many prints I could get" ... maybe some day.  It was very cool how more brown was coming out as the misting and stamping continued. 

These are the first 2 prints.

These are the last 2 prints.

Another technique I found to be fun was to stamp with Fresco Finish Paint that was sprinkled with Infusions.  Here I've used Zucchini Fresco Finish, spread it on my craft sheet with my finger, sprinkled on some Magenta Infusions, gave just one or two very light, from a distance, mists with water, tapped my stamp a couple times in the mix and stamped it onto paper.  Isn't it fabulous!!!!  That blend of color plus darker specks... love!!!

Additional information for this project...  For the background I stamped the circle images with embossing ink and embossed with clear powder.  I added water and Infusions using a fair amount of water so the color would move around the embossing and blotted as needed.  The panel beneath the background is kraft card and the folded card is dark brown.  Inspire is stamped on an Infusions scrap and below it is Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper that was crumpled and then flattened back out.  I've also used some brown string.

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Background - Leaves stamped with Pearl Glaze, let dry, add water and Infusions, blot areas as needed, dry.  Stamp larger circles image using Nougat Fresco Finish Paint sprinkled with Terra Cotta Infusions, dry.  Stamp smaller circles image using Mushroom Fresco Finish Paint sprinkled with Raspberry Infusions, dry.  Splatter with Chocolate Pudding Fresco Finish Paint thinned with water.  Main Panel - brayer with Pixie Dust and Autumn Fire Fresco Finish Paint.  Stamp grass with Archival Ink Potting Soil, dry.  Stamp grass with Embossing Ink and emboss with Queen's Gold powder.  Stamp all words with Archival Ink Jet Black.  Butterfly and little squares are stamped with Potting Soil. Crumpled Crunchy Waxed Paper, Orange Fiber Ribbon.

Infusions Colors - Raspberry, Terra Cotta

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The background is the Infusion colors, stamping done with ink, and splattering with Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint.  The burlap doily is highlighted with Treasure Gold Spanish Topaz.  The leaf is the stamping with Infusions technique using Rocky Road Infusions.  The corrugated panel has Fresco Finish Paints French Roast and Snowflake.  

Infusions - Violetta, Magenta

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Not too much water used with the Infusions in the background but a lot of water used on the main panel.  Inspire stamped with Tree Branch Archival Ink.  Leaf stamped with Violet Archival Ink and sketched around with a fine tip black pen.  

Infusions - Violetta, Raspberry

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Background - Stamp texture image with Old Gold Fresco Finish Paint, dry, add water and Infusions, dry blotting any dark areas, stamp circles with Potting Soil Archival Ink, edge panel with Autumn Fire Fresco Finish Paint.  Main panel - stamp leaf using Chalk Fresco Finish Paint sprinkled with Magenta Infusions, stamp little circles along edges with Autumn Fire Fresco Finish Paint.  Stamp little circles around folded kraft card with Potting Soil Archival Ink.

Infusions - Terra Cotta, Magenta

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Add water and Infusions to panel.  More water was used with the Rocky Road than with the Terra Cotta, dry.  Stamp grass with Squid Ink Fresco Finish Paint.  Stamp little squares with Embossing Ink and emboss with Queen's Gold powder.  Stamp Love with Nougat Fresco Finish Paint.  Stamp and emboss words with black.  Stamp butterflies on scraps with Orange Blossom Archival Ink, cut out.  I added a little bit of Distress Marker Picked Raspberry to one of the butterflies.  Use a white gel pen along the stamped grass. 

Infusions - Terra Cotta, Rocky Road

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Both Infusion colors in the background.  Grass stamped with Rocky Road Infusions along the top so it looks like hanging branches.  Leaf stamped with Violetta Infusions.  The quote is stamped onto vellum with Jet Black Archival Ink, wrapped around panel and stapled using the Tiny Attacher.  I mixed some Violetta Infusions with water on my craft sheet and then dipped the edges of the panel in it.  White thread and gold thread behind the leaf. 

Infusions - Violetta, Rocky Road

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The background begins with Fresco Finish Paint Eggplant and Pansy painted in strips blending into each other.  Over this is stamping, some with paint and some with ink.  Then the leaves in the background are stamped with Chalk Fresco Finish Paint sprinkled with Infusions.  White Fire Fresco Finish Paint thinned with water is splattered on.  There are more leaves (Chalk paint with Infusions) stamped on both Smoothy Card and Kraft Card, cut out, words stamped on them with Jet Black Archival Ink and attached as shown.  

Infusions - Violetta