Vintaj Workshop

I was able to spend yesterday attending a Vintaj Workshop in Galena, Illinois!! (Vintaj website -- Vintaj blog).   I've actually been buying vintaj metal for some time but not really doing anything with it.... I just knew that I loved it.  I picked up a few of the new DecoEmboss folders and a DecoEtch die when they came out recently (if you scroll down a couple posts you will see a card that I used a Vintaj embossed leaf blank on)... and then I learned about this workshop.... I had to go :-))  I drove over Friday and roomed with the wonderful Lori Hassle and her sweet mom and then Lori and I attended the workshop Saturday.  Jess (Vintaj educator) and Betsy were fabulous!!!!  I had an amazing time and learned sooooooooooo much!!!!!  

This first picture is of all the pieces we worked with but didn't get made into a finished project.  We were able to try all the Emboss and Etch dies/folders along with using paint, alcohol inks, regular embossing powders and clear UTEE.  Totally amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

A few close-ups.

Here are 2 pair of earrings that we made.  We learned how to rivet... yay!!!!  It was much easier than I imagined, lol.

2 bracelets that we made.

A necklace that I didn't get finished.  The focal point is done.. we punched extra holes in the bird and curled one wing to use for attaching.  The frame below the bird we used embossing powders in, added small Vintaj elements and covered with the clear UTEE.  I'll be sure and share a pic when I get the necklace finished.

Here is a close-up of the bird and frame.

All materials were provided and tools to use.... the workshop was worth every penny... totally fabulous (I think I said that before)... if you've thought about taking one of their workshops, don't hesitate!!!

Classes with Linda Cain

Linda Cain came to Memory Bound Scrapbook store in Ankeny the weekend of Oct. 22-23 to teach 3 classes and I was blessed to be able to attend all 3.  Had a Fabulous time!!!!!  And all the projects are way cool!!!!!!  Linda is such a sweetie!!  Funny, talented, and a great teacher!!!  (Hugs, Linda... I'm so glad I found your blog a few years ago and have had the pleasure of taking classes from you 2 different times now)

Here is a picture of Linda and I on Saturday.

This is what we did during the first class on Saturday.  A wooden gift bag, Graphics 45 papers and metal flowers, Ranger's foil tape, paint, ink, stamps, doodads, and Lots of Fun!!!!  

This was our second class on Saturday, a standing curio (the box is a wooded pencil box - the kind with a slide top... amazing, huh)!!!  Totally awesome class!!!  Some people brought their own pictures to use in the curio but I hadn't had time to go digging so I used what Linda provided in our kit which I found out is actually pics of her mom and dad.  I am anxious to start pulling out my huge stash of various wooded boxes and do them up!!!

And finally this was Sunday's class... a way cool canvas!!!!  

This is a picture that Linda took of me on Sunday.  Not a bad pic of me so I had to share it.  

This is a random shot I got of Linda when she was getting ready to take of pic of Marlene and Jackie... Jackie kept us all laughing!!!  They are both wonderful gals that I've known for years. 

These are pictures of all the awesome projects Linda brought with and had on display for us to see!!

A Card for a Friend

The center piece is a Ranger #5 manila tag.  It had some light red coloring on it... I'm sure I probably used it to pick up left over coloring from a previous project.  I laid a Crafter's Workshop 12x12 template of some leaves over it and sponged on the new Limited Edition Distress Inks... stamped a scripture from Our Daily Bread Designs using Archival Ink jet black... distressed the edges with Tim's paper distresser and inked them.  Colored seam binding using seedless preserves and ripe persimmon inks to tie through the top.  Cut a piece of cream colored cardstock a little bigger than the tag and distressed those edges also.  The background of the card is done on cream cardstock... I again used the leaves stencil.. sprayed on some Ranger Color Washes and some water, blotted up the extra liquid, removed the stencil, dried the paper, sponged seedless preserves around the edges and then coated the whole piece with Rock Candy Distress Stickles... after it was dry I distressed the edges.  The background is layered to a folded green card (edges sponged with seedless preserves)... the tags are added using foam mounting tape for each layer.  Made 2 holes in the fold and tied on a piece of raffia.  The embellishment is a Vintaj leaf embossed in a new Sizzix/Vintaj folder... I added color to the leaf with my finger using Archival Ink and heated it.

EWV #27

Found a little play time today and made this tag for challenge #27 on the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group... our challenge was to use a smaller stamp repeatedly to make a background.  I've had this tag (Ranger #5 kraft) laying on my work area for awhile... I had used it to pick up extra color (distress stains including picket fence and perfect pearls mists) when working on another project... so I decided I would use it as my starting point for this challenge.  I chose a small Studio 490 flower to stamp on it... first using Archival Ink french ultramarine and then added more flowers using Archival Ink deep purple.  The french ultramarine faded a lot as it dried (because of the picket fence stain which lightens colors you put over it)... but looks very cool as you catch glimpses of it when looking and moving the tag (hopefully you can see some in the close up pic below). The saying (also Studio 490) is stamped with Adirondack pigment ink pitch black and then also embossed with black embossing powder to help it pop more.  Studio 490 Art Part flowers and flourish... colored with distress stains (peeled paint, dusty concord, broken china), stamped with various Studio 490 background images using Archival Ink (olive, deep purple, manganese blue).  Dabbed the edges of the tag and art parts with snow cap Paint Dabber.  A tiny button with white thread tied through the holes finish off the flower.  Idea-ology ribbon colored with Distress Stains (broken china, dusty concord) and an Idea-ology bauble and chain tassel finish the tag.

Catching Up

I don't have any "new" art to share but I have these atcs made in the last couple of months that I hadn't shared yet.  

These first two have corrugated cardboard for the bases and the focal points are pieces made from UTEE that I had left from a play session with a friend earlier this year.  

This atc uses an old PSX stamp for the background... stamped with Archival Ink jet black and colored with Prismacolor pencils and distress inks.  Image is from Paper Imagery Designs. 

  

Here we have a textured background (Tim's dot embossing folder), paint, ink, and stamping.  Gears (Tim's die) cut from grunge and painted layered with Idea-ology products.  Image is from Altered Artifacts.  

 

EWV - Challenge #26

It's been a long while since I found time to play along with a challenge on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo Group.  But I managed squeak in on Challenge #26.  Requirements - polka dots, a face or eyes, and at least one Studio 490 stamp.  I made an atc.  All stamps are Wendy Vecchi Studio 490.  The base is a piece I had left after working on THIS class.  It's cardstock with modeling paste embossed with Tim's embossing folder (it was still white so I could make it work for this project).  I colored it first with Antique Linen Stain but decided I wanted it much brighter and went over it with mustard seed Stain.  Stamped the dots with Archival Ink jet black.  Used gold Paint Dabber around the edges and rubbed it on the high spots using my finger.  Stamped the framed eyes on white cardstock with jet black.  Colored it using a paint brush and either Adirondack (raspberry, sunset orange, meadow) or Distress Inks (antique linen, broken china).  Stamped the words on white cardstock with jet black, cut them out, added color to "Vision" with the same inks as the face.

Guest Artist

Here is a little peek at a project I did for the blog Crafting with OWSE after being asked to be a guest artist for their Wednesday Women.  I am very thrilled that they asked me and had a fabulous time making this piece of art.  The full project with a tutorial and lots of pictures can be found HERE. 

CBC - Shades of Blue or Lace

This weeks Created Byhand Challenge is Saphhire/Shades of Blue/Lace (blog or forum) ... I went with both shades of blue and lace.  The tag is cut from Kanban paper using Tim's tag die.  The flowers are made from the packaging of the Kanban paper... I cut it with Tim's tattered floral die...stacked up some flowers... put a brad in the center, used the heat tool to melt the edges of the petals and then added color with alcohol inks. The Tim book plate is dabbed with acrylic paint and excess wiped off.  The bottom large flower is cut from grungepaper, inked with distress ink, and embossed with Tim's dot folder.  "Just for you" and "Just because" are both Quietfire Design stamps.  You can find links to all the products on the challenge blog post HERE.

CBC - Red+Blue=Purple

Red plus Blue does equal Purple!!  And it's a fun color combination too!!!  It's my turn this week to have the sample for the Created Byhand Challenge (Ning Forum and/or Blog) sponsored by Quietfire Design.  I started with a Ranger #8 Manila tag and added Distress Inks using the ink blending tool.... barn door starting at the top left corner and working to the center... broken china starting at the bottom right corner and working to the center... blended the 2 colors together and then also added some dusty concord for more purple... also added some stormy sky over the broken china to get a little deeper blue.  To get the image in the background I used Tim's water stamping technique that is listed in the Compendium of Curiosities book except instead of using a rubber stamp I used his clock embossing folder as my stamp.  The edges of the tag are distressed using the paper distresser.... black dots are made with a Sharpie marker... white dots are made with the Inkssential white pen.  "How old would you be" rubber stamp is stamped using Archival Ink jet black.  I LOVE the flower and leaves and can you believe I made them with plain white copy paper???  I was so psyched when I was done with them.  For the flower... I used Tim's Tattered Floral die cutting 9 of the smaller 6-petal flowers... I stacked them up turning each layer so the petals did not match up... pierced a hole in the center of the stack and added an Idea-ology hitch fastener to hold them all together... next you start with the top flower pulling all the petals up and squishing them around the hitch fastener... move to the second flower and do the same thing... continue doing each flower separately until you have them all done... then begin pulling each flower back down - not straightening all the petals but allowing them to form the flower.  After all the petals were the way I wanted I sprayed the flower with purple twilight Color Wash - I sprayed from each side but not too close or too much as I didn't want the flower saturated with color - dried the flower with the heat tool.  Then I took a little bit of grape fizz Perfect Pearl (found in the Confections set), put it on my craft sheet, sprayed on a little water, and mixed to have a shimmery paint... using a small paint brush I brushed a bit on the edges of some of the petals.  Next came the leaves... I cut 2 leaves using Tim's Tattered Leaves die, sprayed them with meadow Color Wash, dried them, added a little dusty concord ink along one edge of each leaf, trimmed off the large end of each leaf, crumpled them up, used sour apple Perfect Pearl (also in the Confections Set) to make a little shimmery green paint and brushed some on the leaves... not everywhere, just for highlights. I'm still amazed when I look at them how great they come out!!!!  The ribbon is 13mm white silk ribbon colored with distress inks and scrunched as I dried it with the heat tool.

Steampunk Owl

So I had one of those messed up Pooh Rainbow tags sitting on my work area... didn't want to waste the manila tag by just throwing it away and thought I would just cover it up.  Some time ago I got a couple of Viva products as I was hearing about them on blogs and hadn't ever tried any so I decided it was time to open them up.  I first used a pallet knife to add Viva Terra (sahara color) to the front of the tag and then used a wadded up baby wipe to give it a texture and let it dry.  Next I brushed on Viva Ferro Metal Effect Colour old gold adding water to my brush as needed to help spread the ferro and let that dry along with giving it some help from my heat tool :-))  Then as I was taking some time to catch up on emails and a little blog hopping I noticed that this months challenge over at Dezinaworld is "Golden" and decided to pull out my Dezinaworld images and see what I could come up with.... and this is it.  The owl is from a sheet of birds and eggs (I can't seem to find it on the site right now) and the hat is from the Steampunk 3 sheet.  Along the left side of the tag is a piece of Tim Holtz tissue tape colored with Distress Stain peeled paint.  I used Tim's Gear dies, both the large and minis, to cut gears from grungeboard and then decided which ones I wanted to use - the medium sized on from the large die and the 2 minis.  The largest gear I painted with tarnished brass Distress Crackle Paint and the other two are painted with Gold Paint Dabber... let them all dry and added some black soot Distress Ink.  The circles you see on top of the tissue tape are actually the left over circles when cutting out the gears... they are painted with gold paint dabber and the black dots are made with Ranger Enamel Accents.  Tim's Idea-ology gears are mixed in with the grungeboard gears.  A piece of black rickrack is along the bottom of the owl image.  A hitch fastener is at the top... it's been colored with Alcohol Ink gold Mixative.  "things to discover" is from Tim's Stuff To Say stamp set.  

Inspired Tag

Above is the front of a tag I made for a wonderful lady in our local ATC group who just celebrated a special birthday (below is the back of the tag).  "Inspire" is a metal piece I made some time ago but hadn't used in a project yet...  it is made with Ten Seconds Studio metal, mold, and tools.  The tag is a Ranger #8 manila colorized with Distress Stains including the new picket fence.  I used the technique Tim shared in the video on his blog Here putting the stains on the craft sheet and rubbing the tag in it... this technique is great with Distress Inks or stains by themselves but add the white... totally different and fabulous!!!  All stamps used on the tag are Wendy Vecchi Studio 490.  The butterfly is stamped on Wendy's Clearly For Art with black archival ink, heat dried, cut out, colored on the opposite side of stamping with alcohol inks, heated and shaped.  The flower uses Tim's tattered floral die... the smaller 6 petal die was used to make the rose.  The flowers and leaves are colored with the stains and stamped with Archival Ink.  Rock Candy Distress Stickles added to the red flower and Sunflower Perfect Pearls Mist sprayed on the yellow one.  Seam binding ribbon colored with the stains.

The back of the tag is also done by pressing the tag into stains on the craft sheet, no white added this time but there might have been a little residue of white left on the craft sheet.  The 3 larger flowers were stamped on grungepaper, cut out, colored with stains.  Sticky back gems added to the smaller, stamped on the tag with Archival ink flowers.  Ideology snaps added to the centers of the larger flowers.

Corrugated ATCs

I made these ATCs last month to take to an in-person swap.  The base for each one is thin corrugated cardboard with some of one side ripped off so you can see the corrugation...  I then spritzed each one with Ranger Color Wash spray, dried them and lightly brushed over some areas with White Paint Dabber and gave each one a spritz or 2 of Kiwi Perfect Pearls Mist... some of them I also edged with Gold Paint Dabber.

This first atc uses a part of an old mini calendar page, crinkled, colored and attached along the bottom.  The truck is an Art Part stamped with it's matching Studio 490 stamp...  stamped with Black Archival and colored with Distress Ink.  "Journey" is a Quietfire Design stamp... stamped with Black Archival onto a scrap of white cardstock colored with Distress Ink, attached using Tim's Tiny Attacher.  "dreams" is from Tim's Stuff To Say stamp.  White Enamel Accents make the white dots along the top and bottom.

Idea-ology film strip ribbon is attached over a piece of printed paper from Tim's crowded attic Paper Stash.  The butterfly is Tim's sizzix mini butterfly die cut from Clearly For Art... paint dabber brushed over the back, scratched some away and then painted over the back again with black Paint Dabber.... a little alcohol ink along the edges on the front for more detail... black sticky back gems along the body.  "embrace life" is also from Tim's Stuff To Say.  White dots made with Enamel Accents.  Black dots (under the word life) are also Enamel Accents.

Lady is an image from Dezinaworld off the sheet called Lilac & Lavender.  Bird is the mini Tim Holtz movers and shapers die cut from grunge.  The wing is 2 petals from a paper flower.  Leaves are a Sizzix die embossed with Tim's dot matrix folder and sprayed with Pertect Pearls Mist.  Tissue tape along the bottom behind the lady.  "timeless story" is again Tim's Stuff To Say.

The "Artful" piece is shrink plastic... a piece I did a long time ago... stamped the word and added the eyelets before shrinking the plastic.  Flower... bottom layer is grungepaper cut with Tim's Tattered Florals die, colored with Paint Dabbers, stamped with Studio 490 dot background using Archival Ink.  Next layer is screen also cut with Tim's Tattered Florals die.  Next layer is a metal twist on bottle cap cut down the sides where the seams are, spread out, colored with Alcohol Inks.  Next layer is again screen cut with Tim's die.  Center is an Idea-ology accoutrement.

CBC - Rainbows/Multi-Colors/Wings

As you can see I went with Rainbows for my choice of options for this weeks Created Byhand Challenge... blog here or ning forum here.

I'll first point out that quote stamps beautifully but I accidently tipped by acrylic block just a bit when I was stamping it and that is why the lower right side looks thicker, almost smeared a little bit... grrrrr.  This was actually the 3rd... yes, you read that correct - 3rd, as in 3 - Three... time I made this tag. The FIRST time I didn't get the rainbow quite how I wanted it but went ahead anyway and then when I was coloring in Pooh and Piglet I was using a water brush and got too much water and the color was bleeding out of the lines.. almost chucked it then but continued... until I stamped the quote crooked.  So I started a SECOND one... rainbow was better, coloring was better... double and triple checked that my stamp was straight on the acrylic block and then managed to fumble the block when I was stamping and got a double impression on part of it which looked totally bad.  Those 2 tries were last night and then I gave up, lol... just to decide to try again tonight and well, I almost chucked this one too but decided to share anyway.

I started with a Ranger Inkssential #8 manila tag... stamped Pooh and Piglet with black Archival Ink.  Colored in the image using a small paint brush and Distress Inks - just a touch of water added.  The craft sheets works great for this... dab the ink pad on the sheet... in a different spot spray a little water... touch the paint brush in the water, brush of extra, rub it in the Distress Ink and paint... sooo easy.  I used wild honey and barn door on Pooh... spun sugar and worn lipstick on Piglet.  The "rainbow" is made with Distress Inks (dusty concord, broken china, bundled sage, mustard seed, spiced marmalade, barn door)... I used an ink blending tool tipping it so I just used the edge/side/corner of the sponge... began with dusty concord and worked by way up... went back over each color a 2nd time blending them together more where they met.  The quote is stamped with black Archival. Using the ink blending tool I also added antique linen under the rainbow area and some peeled paint along the bottom.  Edges are distress and "stitching" added with a fine tip pen.  Some rainbow colored ribbon to finish it off.

The quote is a Quietfire Design calligraphy stamp.

The World of Reality

When I sent out the blog candy packages I just had to include art and made a tag for each person.  This is one of the tags and the others were nearly the same.  I started with a Ranger Inkssential #8 manila tag (did you notice that they've now released tags in kraft and black... I'll be trying those soon).  I added Distress Inks rusty hinge, pine needles, dusty concord and barn door using an ink blending tool.  Next I stamped Tim's background from the Papillon set across the tag using the water stamping technique from his book and dried it.  Butterflies from the same set are stamped down the left side using Archival Ink monarch orange.  The edges are distressed with his Distressing tool. The butterfly is cut from grungeboard using the Tim Holtz movers and shapers mini butterfly die, inked with wild honey Distress Ink, stamped with monarch orange (same background stamp as on the tag), edges with gold Paint Dabber and glittery pink sticky back gems added to the body.  The roses and ribbon are colored with Distress Stain spun sugar.  I added pool Paint Dabber to the Ideology token, let it dry and then sanded it off the high spots.

CBC - Peridot/Shades of Green

This weeks Created Byhand Challenge (blog or Ning Forum) is Peridot or Shades of Green.  

I started with a #8 manila tag...  sprayed it with meadow Color Wash and a bit of water and then pressed it onto a craft sheet, heated it, pressed it into the droplets left on the craft sheet and heated it again...  embossed it with Tim's gear folder... used a sponge to add white gesso just on the raised areas, dried it... went over the gesso with Distress Ink shabby shutters using a blending tool, dried it... distressed the edges and inked them with peeled paint... added stitching with a black pen.  

Die cut 2 flowers (Tim's tattered florals) from manila cardstock... inked both the front and back them with shabby shutters... gave them a light spritz with meadow Color Wash... embossed them with Tim's dot matrix folder... inked over the dots with peeled paint.  

"Don't let yesterday" was stamped with Archival Ink jet black onto a scrap of natural cardstock, cut apart, and inked lightly with shabby shutters.  

For the clock face and spinners... I put some gesso on the craft sheet, spritzed some meadow color wash on the gesso and mixed them together... sponged the mix onto the pieces and dried them.  I added a little spritz of the Color Wash to the spinners to make them a bit more green.... sanded the paint off the high spots of the clock face.