Enjoy What You Have ATC

I was cleaning up my working area and came across this atc sized piece of cardstock that was painted with Distress crackle paint and just had to do something with it. The paper with the words on it is from a Dove chocolate wrapper - also laying in my work area. The leaves ribbon I picked up in Davenport, also got some silver... cool stuff. I stamped a background image over the crackle paint with Distress Ink broken china and embossed it with clear ep. Glued on the leaves, torn out words, and small piece of German scrap that was also laying there. The flowers are punched from grungepaper, colored with broken china ink and stamped with various background images. Added the flowers and letter beads. Used the inkssential pen to add white "stitching" and dots.

Laminate Chip Hanging

This was a lot of fun to do. I decided to try Wendy Vecchi's pigment and pearls technique on a laminate chip that is about 3 1/2" x 5". It worked great. I used Adirondack pigment inks sail boat blue and bottle and sunflower perfect pearls in the spray bottle. Stamped the Tim Holtz quote image with Versafine black ink and embossed with black detail embossing powder. The flourishes were stamped with Archival ink jet black. Added gold speckles with a Krylon paint pen and blitzer. I put some Rock Candy crackle paint here and there, let it dry. Added a thin coat of Glossy Accents wherever there wasn't any crackle paint. Applied the gold mesh ribbon to the bottom with heavy gel medium. The rose is done with grungepaper and inked with Adirondack pigment inks. Attached rose and ideology leaves with heavy gel medium. Added Rock Candy Distress Stickles around the edges. Punched two holes in the top using the Cropadile to add chain link and jump rings (Ideology). Tied key (Ideology) to bottom with blue ribbon.

Classes in Davenport

I had a fabulous time this past weekend at Scrapaganza in Davenport, Iowa. A friend and I went over there and attended all three of Linda Cain's classes.

This first picture is a of Linda and me.... yep, I went curly this summer... needed something quick and easy since things were kind of crazy around here.


This next picture shows the two pins and slider box I did in the Ten Seconds Studio metal working class. Linda has amazing metal things on her blog... be sure and check them out. I've been interested in metal for awhile and have done a few simple things but had total fun at class learning how to use the molds and tools. I bought some supplies and am itching to get something done here at home.



This next picture is my finished book from the TransAtlantic class.... way cool!!

And finally my finished project from the collage class.... fabulous fun!!!! I love this sooo much!!

And this is my friend, Michelle's, finished collage piece. It is not just fantabulous!!!

And this last picture is of the entire collage class, each of us holding our collages and Linda in the center front.

Linda is a wonderful teacher, a total sweetheart, and funny... I'd recommend her classes if you get the chance!!!!

Imagination Tag

Here's a tag I just finished today and it's inspired by a package of fun stuff that I won from Wendy on the new yahoo group EverythingWendyVecchi. The package included the new Rock Candy Crackle paint and the new Rock Candy Distress Stickles... woohoo!!! I started the tag with a technique that Wendy Vecchi recently posted on her blog called pigments and pearls and for that I used Adirondack pigment inks sail boat blue and bottle along with Perfect Pearls perfect gold mixed in a mini mister bottle. After the background was dry I coated the whole tag with Rock Candy crackle paint and let that dry, then around the edges I rubbed on Distress Ink peeled paint working it into the cracks and then wiping it off the top with a damp cloth. Stamped the quote (Tim Holtz) on with Archival ink jet black. Punched two flowers from grungepaper, colored them with Distress Ink broken china, sprayed them with the gold perfect pearls spray, added gold paint around the edges, layered them with some Ideology floral pieces and attached it to the tag. Then I put Rock Candy Distress Stickles on the petal of the top flower and made some swirls coming out from the flower with Peeled Paint Distress Stickles. Lastly I added some ribbon to the top attaching it using the mini attacher and added a trinket pin that says Ideas.

Time, the great equalizer

Our pastor has made the comment before that time is the great equalizer and it is so true. It doesn't matter who you are or your circumstances, everyone only has 24 hours in a day. The background of this ATC starts with and old calendar page glued to cardstock. Over it I sponged distress inks and used a Tim Holtz mask. All stamps are Tim Holtz. "the great equalizer" is computer generated. Ideology spinners added to the clock image. The edges have some gold Smooch on them and then are sponged with black soot distress ink. I also added some dots of gold Smooch around the clock. Lastly I rubbed some marmalade distress stickles in a couple of places.

A Birthday Card

A birthday card for a special friend... she loves birds and flowers and art. Background is wrinkle free distress and all stamping is with Distress Inks... also used a Tim Holtz mask along the top. Bird is grungeboard and Distress crackle paint on it... after it was dry I used inks to add detail to the belly area, a glittery gem for the eye. Happy Birthday stamped on a scrap of the background, punched out, edged with ink, and a hole punched so it can be hung from the birds beak. A hole was made in the beak with an awl. Most of the flowers are colored and stamped with Distress inks, and Ideology snap, a brad, some buttons, and some Distress stickles are used in the centers of the flowers. All stamps except for Happy Birthdya are Tim Holtz, the Happy Birthday is an old Close to My Heart stamp.

Book RR - My Pages in Betsy's Book

This shows the full spread I did in Betsy's book. Her theme was quotes. I used all TH stamps, crackle paint, distress inks, grungeboard, distress stickles, ideolody stuff... fun, fun, fun!!

This is the left side of the spread. There are 4 tags stacked up with a ribbon tied to the top tag and wrapped around the token at the bottom

This is the second tag in the stack.

This is the third tag in the stack.

And this is the bottom tag in the stack.

The right side of the spread.

And this last tag is the sign in tag for the front of her book and has my information on the back of it.

Book RR - My pages in Brenda's Book

Here is the front and back of the page I did in Brenda's book. Her theme was nature and I had a lot of fun doing these pages. All stamps except the fish are Tim Holtz, the fish is a Stamp Zia image. The first page uses alcohol inks in the background inspired by an article in an older issue RubberStampMadness... first a light color of AI was brushed on and then drops of AIs added either right from the bottle or with a small paintbrush... very cool effect. The second page used Tim Holtz's perfect distress technique in the background.

Great Art and Some Candy

Yogi is sharing a beautiful card and giving it away in honor of her 400th post so hop on over there to check it out.... click here.

Chunky Book Swap at PID

I made 10 of these pages for a chunky book swap on the PID yahoo group so, of course, the main image is from PID, after cutting it out I rubbed some Distress ink around the edges, old paper I think. The base is grungeboard and I sprayed it with Glimmer Mists, added some drywall mesh along the bottom, then the image, then the stamped quote (Stamp Camp) torn out and edged with old paper ink. Finished it up by adding flower soft along the bottom and some butterfly charms.

A Simple Card

I sent this card to my son while he was at camp last month. Pulled the background from my files... can't remember what technique was used on it. Scripture stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs, used a border punch along the bottom, butterflies are punched and I added the dots with an Inkssential white pen.

More gesso play

I started with regular white cardstock and stamped the floral/weeds image (Tim Holtz) on it using gesso.... put some gesso on a cosmetic sponge or foam cut n' dry and then gently tap it onto the stamp. Next I rubbed Ecoline watercolor ink #578 sky blue (available from Quietfire Design) over the paper using a sponge leaving some areas lighter. Then I stamped the words (Tim Holtz) using Archival ink jet black and added highlights to some of the letters using the Inkssential white pen. Using the Tim Holtz ruler and an awl, I pierced around the edges and added marks with the Inkssential pen. Three 1/16th inch eyelets to finish it off.

Birthday Card

Here's a birthday card I made for a friend. The background once again uses the distress inks / perfect pearls technique that Tim Holtz shared and floral stamp is a Tim Holtz. "Happy Birthday" (Quietfire Design) is stamped on white cardstock, cut out and embossed with a Spellbinders die and sponged with distress ink. Stitching added around the edge with the Inkssential pen.

Gesso Pizzazz

The class Thursday night went really well and Suzanne thought she counted about 25 people in attendance. Thanks so much to everyone!!!! I hope you have time to try the techniques and to share your art on the forum... I would love to see what you do!!!!! Congrats to the ladies who won prizes - Carole, Elaine, Diane, and Judi... have fun with your new rubber stamps once they arrive!!!

Suzanne has put the class on her website here so if you couldn't be there, you can still check it out.

Teaching a Class Online - Gesso Pizzazz

Tonight (June 18th) I'll be teaching a free online class on the Quietfire forum. Anyone can come... you do need to register on the forum to be able to get into the chat room... Here's the link Quietfire Creations Forum Class starts at 8:00 pm Central time.

The name of the class is Gesso Pizzazz and we'll be having lots of fun complete with prizes to be given away. You can look, listen, learn, have fun... and then try the techniques at your leisure later. The class will continue to be available after chat is finished if you need to look back at anything.

I hope you can join us.

BLOG CANDY AT CROPPINSVILLE

Croppinsville is an online store and they also have a brick and mortar store in Collinsville, OK. They are giving away some blog candy and they also have a call out for guest designers. Hop on over to their blog to check out the details and enter.

Your Word Card

The finished size of this card is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". All the coloring on this card was done with alcohol inks. I used stream, sailboat blue, pearl mixative, and blending solution for the background. Then using the same piece of felt which had just a little color left on it, I added sandal to the felt and did another piece of cardstock for the lighthouse image. Both the lighthouse image and scripture (Our Daily Bread Designs) were stamped with Archival Ink jet black. I cut out the lighthouse with a Spellbinders oval die and embossed the edge. Also cut the scalloped oval (glossy white cardstock) with a Spellbinders die and then used pearl mixative and blending solution on it which worked great to give it a pearly look. After stamping the scripture on the background I used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the folders by just putting the paper part-way in the folder. Also edged the background with a Silver Krylon pen.

Birthday Card

Here's that birthday card I mentioned I would be making using Tim's new technique. I have one picture tilted so you can see the Perfect Pearls in the background. The bird is a grungeboard shape coated with Crackle paints... after it was dry I added some ink to the belly/chest area. Created the circle tag and hung it from the bird by making a hole in the beak and tieing on the tag with a metallic thread. The for the flower I sponged Distress Inks on white cardstock and punched out the flowers. I was only going to add a couple but then just kept going and going but I quite like. I also used a punched flower and a sticky-back pearl for th eye. White "stitching" was done with the inkssential pen. "Happy Birthday" is an old DOTS stamp and all others are Tim Holtz stamps.

Distress Inks & Perfect Pearls

Tim Holtz has a new technique video on his blog here... and I just had to try it... very cool. I used some of the same stamps he did to make this atc. You can kind of see the perfect pearls on the atc and the ink bleeding out from under it.

Secrets ATC

Again I've used crackle paints and Distress inks for the background. I stamped over it with a flourish image (Quietfire Design) using Distress Ink aged mahogany. I had a punched shape (black cardstock) laying there and decided to cut it in half and add it to the background. I cut out the collage image (Quietfire Design) with a Spellbinders die and also the scalloped layer behind it. Rubbed a little aged mahogany ink on the lace, wrapped it around the atc and attached it with a trinket pin (Tim Holtz Ideology). I used a white paint dabber over the word "secrets" and rubbed off the extra to bring the word out more.

Desert ATC

The background on this atc is done with Distress inks and crackle paint. I was actually showing my son how he could make a hot sun on a card and one thing led to another. I thought it was very cool and then I had this stamp that was just perfect over it. Added a torn piece of muslin.

CBC - Pink & Green

This weeks challenge on Created Byhand is to use the colors pink and green. The printed paper that started this background was cut from the piece of paper that came in the current Take Ten magazine. I stamped and embossed the saying in black. Stamped the flourish in pink. Used a border punch on white cardstock, tore the opposite edge, rubbed the piece with pink VersaMagic ink and added it to the atc. Attached the metal and silk flowers together and adhered them to the atc with a glue dot. Punched the fern pieces from greencardstock and added those.

The background for this atc along with the stamping was left over from a swap I worked on... I had actually got the words crooked and through it aside. I grabbed it yesterday and trimmed it down so they were straight, sponged some ink on the edges and layered it to brown cardstock. Added the sticker and the embellishment. The embellishment is inspired by a project on Wendy Vecchi's blog Studio 490. For mine I did not have the new pens so I just dripped the alcohol ink on and moved it around with a Q-tip. I used meadow for the leaves and raisin for the flowers. All stamps are Tim Holtz. The clock sticker and embellishments are Tim Holtz Ideology.

Swimming By ATC

I've had this background laying around... it was done with some kind of sprays, I think some from Lindy's Stamp Gang. I stamped a fish scale image (Stamp Zia) over part of the atc with blue ink. The fish (Stamp Zia) was stamped with Archival Ink jet black and then colored using flourescent crayons in some areas and then sponging over with Distress Ink broken china. I also used the Inkssential white pen on the stomach area and circle of the eye and after it was dry used the clear Glaze pen over the whole eye. I sprayed a piece of cheesecloth with Glimmer Mists sandy beach and iridescent gold, dried it with a heat tool and attached it to the atc with gel medium and also attached the shells with gel medium.

Sail Away ATC

The background is alcohol inks.. the technique where you put the alcohol inks along with some blending solution on a craft sheet or plastic wrap and lay your glossy white cardstock in it. I stamped and embossed the ship in black, stamped the words with black ink, stamped just the water area of an image along the bottom with 3 different blue inks, and added the Tim Holtz Ideology journey embellishment first lightly rubbing white paint (paint dabber) over the raised part of the token. I finished it up by dabbing first the white dabber and then the silver around the edges of the atc.