Metal tape on ATCs

At our quarterly in-person atc swap in October Annette did a demo showing embossing with an embossing folder onto hvac tape (the metal tape rolls you can get at hardware stores to use on duct work), painting with acrylic paint, and wiping off the high spots.  She had supplies so everyone could try the technique and when we were done playing the challenge was issued to use our pieces in atcs and bring the atcs to the January swap.  I had made 2 pieces of tape and these are the atcs I made with them.  Lots of fun!!!  

XOXOs ATC

Another atc I made for the swap last month.  The background is embossed with an embossing folder and (if I remember correctly) painted with gold acrylic paint.  Added the image, XOs cardstock border, button tied with red fiber, lace trim, holographic heart stickers, sketched around the photo with a fine tip pen. .

Key to my Heart ATC

The last Saturday in January was our quarterly in person ATC swap up in Des Moines.  I made several atcs the week before the swap and will be sharing them over the next week or two.  

The heart on this atc was cut from a large sheet of watercolor paper that has been painted, stenciled, and stamped.  You see more pieces from it over time.  Wrapped the heart with cording and hung a key.  The background is just white cardstock embossed with a folder and Lumiere paint rubbed around the edges.  Tim's roses trim along the bottom with pink gems in the centers.  A simple but quite striking atc!!!  

Remembering Mom

I know it's been a while since I've blogged... a busy couple weeks followed by an even busier couple of weeks kept me away.  I do have art to share (several atcs and some cards) that were made towards the end of January/early February and will get to that soon.  But for now a major reason for my absence...... 

My mom's health had been declining for the past couple years and especially this past year.  On Feb. 4 she went into the hospital not doing well at all and passed away on Feb. 11.  Although she never really "woke up" during that week in the hospital I was able to be there with her.  I'd spend all day by her side and sleep at my brother's at night.  After she passed away I helped my brother clear out her room at the care center and meet with the funeral home.  I then came home for a few days, gathered up pictures of her, did laundry, and we all headed back up to Minnesota for the funeral which was on Feb. 17.  I thought I'd share a couple of pictures here. 

I love this first picture.  She is about 16 years old in it.  She looks so pretty and happy!!!!

I can't remember exactly when this 2nd picture was taken (and I know it's a little blurry) but it is totally her.  For years and years she always wore her hair long and straight with a headband, which she has on but you can't really tell because of the glasses on her head.  She loved all animals and especially small dogs.  This poodle, Babe, was a favorite and I still remember how sad Mom was when Babe died.

We love you, Mom!!!!

A Win and A Tag

In this picture of stamps is All 12 of Tim's new sets!!!!  I Won them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..  in a Twitter Contest that Ted, owner of Stampers Anonymous, held during the 12 Tags of Christmas in December.  I can still hardly believe that I have them all sitting here on my counter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A HUGE Thank you to Ted, Tim and Stampers Anonymous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I've had these stamps for a week now and I've been itching to use them and finally managed time yesterday to make this tag.  I started with a Ranger kraft tag, layed on a Crafter's Workshop stencil (cubist), dabbed on picket fence Distress Stain in some spots (I did not add it to the whole tag), took off the stencil (cleaned it) and dried the stain.  Next I rubbed on colored Distress Stains (aged mahogany, victorian velvet, worn lipstick, dusty concord), spritzed with some water and dried the tag.  Layed the stencil back on sprayed with wild plum Color Wash, dried it.  Stamped the tag with a background from the new set Mixed Media CMS125 (it's the 2nd stamp on the sheet) using Distress Ink aged mahogany, dried the tag.  Sprayed the tag with Perfect Pearls Mists (pink gumball and grape fizz), dried it.  Stamped the Creativity quote from the new set Words For Thought CMS132 and embossed it with black ep.  Used the Inkssential white pen on the words finding and making.  Butterflight On-The-Edge die was cut from grungepaper and then one of the butterflies trimmed off leaving the 3 you see along the bottom of the tag, inked this strip first with picket fence stain, dried, sprayed with Color Wash wild plum, dried, sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mist pink gumball, dried, the tops of the butterfly wings inked with Distress Ink aged mahogany, dried, I thought they needed "something" and added the dots and lines with the Inkssential white pen, and stapled them tot he tag using Tim's tiny attacher.  I did just a bit of trimming on the butterfly I cut off the strip to even out the wings as they weren't quite right after it was cut from the strip, sprayed it with wild plum Color Wash, dried it, sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mist pink gumball, dried, detail added with the white pen, punched a hole and hung it as shown using Tim's clip and jump ring.  The ribbon is from Tim's Trimmings... I dipped it in left over wild plum Color Wash and pink gumball Perfect Pearls Mists, scrunched and dried it, stamped it with the same background stamp I used on the tag using picket fence stain as my ink.. put it through the tag and both ends through one of Tim's jump rings and squashed the jump ring with my pliers.  I quite like how the tag turned out!!!!!!  What do you think?

And the Winner Is....

...

But first I want to thank everyone who visited!!!  And give extra thanks and hugs to everyone that left such sweet comments!! You each brought joy to my heart and a smile to my day!!!  I'm so very glad you liked the projects!!  I really did have a wonderful time making them!!

And second I'd like to share one more cute little project with you..

I thought a Butterfly Bouquet would be fabulous!!!  I stamped the larger flourish butterfly 5 times, each with a different color of ink, onto natural cardstock and cut each one out.  I took a piece of matching colored wire for each one, wrapped it around a skewer, took it off the skewer, and pulled both ends to again lengthen the wire but now it has a wave.  I attached the wires to the backs of the butterflies with a little blob of heavy gel medium.

The bottle is from Tim's corked glass vials.  I again used that very cool technique Wendy Vecchi shared for giving a faux crack to the bottle.. first brush on a thin coat of Ranger's Glue 'n Seal, let it dry, and then brush on a coat of rock candy Distress Crackle Paint.  After the paint was dry and cracked I added ink to the bottle for color.

I stamped the part of the large butterfly circle quote that had the words 'time enough' onto natural cardstock using Archival Ink jet black, cut out the words and glued them to the bottle.  The 4mm white silk ribbon was colored with Distress Ink and tied around the bottle.

To help the butterflies stand in the bottle (and also to give it a bit more weight) I put clear acrylic pieces you can find in the floral section of the craft store... I can't remember what they are called but they look like Dew Drops.. into the bottle.

And now... the winner is Nelda!!!!

Absolutely gorgeous, as usual! You continue to amaze me with your artistic abilitiy to apply ink to stamp and to cardstock!    Nelda

Nelda, you need to email your address to Suzanne of Quietfire Design, her email is   suzanne at quietfiredesign dot com.  

Suzanne will be posting all the winners on the Quietfire Style blog Here.  

Today - Friday - Is the last day...

...to leave comments on the Blog Flutter Posts for your chance to win $50 worth of Quietfire Design Rubbah!!!! There will be one name drawn from each blog.  Go HERE on my blog to leave a comment if you haven't already and find a list of the other designer blogs participating in the Flutter.  Names will be randomly drawn after midnight tonight (I'll draw mine in the morning because I'll be sleeping at midnight).

Quietfire Design Blog Flutter is Here!!

Quietfire Design would like to introduce you to the new Butterfly Circles stamp set! (Note from Wanda - I LOVE this set)  Each day of the flutter one of the designers will be posting brand new artwork they have created using this set.  Visit their blog on the day of their featured project, post a comment on their Blog Flutter project post and you will be eligible to win a grab bag of Quietfire Design rubber stamps valued at $50!   We will be giving away five grab bags in total and all the names will be drawn on Friday, January 20^th at midnight PST, one name from each blog, so you have lots of time to enter!  Tell your friends!

The Butterfly Circles rubber stamps will remain on special at 20% off throughout the Blog Flutter!

Each Design Team member will be randomly choosing a winner from their list of comments, so make sure you’ve commented on each blog.

All winners will be posted on the Quietfire Style blog on Saturday January 21^st. If you are one of the lucky winners, please contact Suzanne privately with your snail mail address within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen.  (Her email address is in the sidebar of the Quietfire Style blog) 

Here is the schedule:

Sunday, January 15th: Yogi  

Monday, January 16th: Suzanne 

Tuesday, January 17th: Robyn  

Wednesday, January 18th: Monica 

Thursday, January 19th: Wanda  (that's me)

Happy Fluttering!!

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I am lovin' this set of stamps but how could I not when the theme is butterflies.  I have always liked butterflies!!!!  And I was very excited when Suzanne decided to do more butterflies (I've used her other butterflies a lot).  I have 2 projects to share today and will share another one when I post the winner of $50 worth of rubber stamps from my blog on Saturday... be sure and leave a comment on this post for your chance.  

My first project is a card...

It's a 6" x 6" square card.  The base is folded Core'dinations Distress Cardstock, light pink (should be either spun sugar or tattered rose but they aren't marked so I'm not sure which).  Around the edge of the front I've stamped the smaller flourish butterfly using Distress Ink fired brick and then peeled paint and finally also stamped some with white paint.  There is also Distress Ink peeled paint sponged around the edge using an ink blending tool and foam.  The next layer up is a piece of paper from the 7 gypsies 6"x6" pad Savannah trimmed to 5 1/8" square and edged with gold paint.  The next layer up is a piece of paper from the Prima fairy flora collection and the edges have been distressed using a Zutter Distrezz-it-all.  Finally our focal piece....  I stamped the circle "butterflies" with Archival Ink jet black onto natural cardstock, centered the Spellbinder Butterfly Circle die over it and cut it out.  The edge has been inked with Distress Ink spun sugar.  The smaller butterfly flourish is stamped in the center using Distress Ink fired brick plus an extra butterfly stamped on a scrap of natural cardstock.  The extra butterfly is cut out (just the butterfly, not the flourish or antenna), inked with spun sugar, and just the center glued over the original butterfly so that the wings fold up.  Pearls added between the punched butterflies and on the center butterfly.  The 13mm silk ribbon is colored with Distress Ink spun sugar.  Another small butterfly is stamped on natural cardstock with fired brick, cut out, inked with peeled paint, glued onto the bow and a pearl added to the body.  Three larger pearls are attached to ribbon as shown.  

  

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My second project is a 5" x 7" canvas board...

I placed the Dreamweaver Vertical Butterflies stencil along the left side all the way to the top and added white embossing paste, removed the stencil and let the paste dry.  After it was dry I sprayed the canvas with Ranger Color Wash butterscotch, cranberry, and espresso.  I dried the Color Wash with my heat tool and when it was almost dry I also dabbed a little in a couple places with a paper towel to create texture in the color and then finished drying it.  I used a brayer to add gold paint on the butterflies and also in random spots on the rest of the canvas and on the edges, dried it.  Placed the stencil back over the butterflies and added more gold ink to the tops, removed the stencil and dried the paint.  Used a black fine tip pen around the butterflies to give shadow and depth.  Sponged white ink through punchinella here and there and then did the same with paint.  The quote is stamped on a piece of paper from the 7 gypsies Savannah pack, edges distressed with the Distrezz-it-all... this is layered onto a natural piece of cardstock with the edges distressed (Distrezz-it-all).  I cut a piece of natural cardstock using Spellbinder's Butterfly circle for the outer edge and Scalloped circle for the inner edge.  Inked both the outer and inner edges with Distress Ink fired brick and vintage photo.  Cut the circle in half, over-lapped an edge of each one and stapled them to create the center of my border, glued the piece to the canvas and cut off the extra from both sides so it was even with the canvas.  I cut one butterfly from the scrap, inked it and placed it as shown where the 2 pieces met on the canvas.  The rose trim (Tim's trimmings) is sprayed with butterscotch Color wash, dried, and lightly inked on the top of the roses with fired brick and vintage photo.  Took some of the butterflies left from die cutting and glued them on as shown.  And finally sanded a bit around the edges.  

  

  

Reminder - Quietfire Design Blog Flutter

Here is a sneak peek of one of the projects I'll be sharing Thursday for the Quietfire Design Blog Flutter.  If you haven't been following along there are links below to the fabulous projects already posted on the other blogs.  Remember... Comments on specific Flutter posts are Good... there is rubber to be won.  I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see my projects and don't forget to leave a comment on tomorrow's post for your chance to win on my blog.  

*****************************************************************************************************

Quietfire Design would like to introduce you to the new Butterfly Circles stamp set! (Note from Wanda - I LOVE this set)  Each day of the flutter one of the designers will be posting brand new artwork they have created using this set.  Visit their blog on the day of their featured project, post a comment on their Blog Flutter project post and you will be eligible to win a grab bag of Quietfire Design rubber stamps valued at $50!   We will be giving away five grab bags in total and all the names will be drawn on Friday, January 20^th at midnight PST, one name from each blog, so you have lots of time to enter!  Tell your friends!

The Butterfly Circles rubber stamps will remain on special at 20% off throughout the Blog Flutter!

Each Design Team member will be randomly choosing a winner from their list of comments, so make sure you’ve commented on each blog.

All winners will be posted on the Quietfire Style blog on Saturday January 21^st. If you are one of the lucky winners, please contact Suzanne privately with your snail mail address within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen.  (Her email address is in the sidebar of the Quietfire Style blog) 

Here is the schedule:

Sunday, January 15th: Yogi  

Monday, January 16th: Suzanne 

Tuesday, January 17th: Robyn  

Wednesday, January 18th: Monica 

Thursday, January 19th: Wanda  http://artbywanda.blogspot.com/  (that's me)

Happy Fluttering!!

Starting Sunday - Quietfire Design Butterfly Blog Flutter!

Quietfire Design would like to introduce you to the new Butterfly Circles stamp set! (Note from Wanda - I LOVE this set)  Each day of the flutter one of the designers will be posting brand new artwork they have created using this set.  Visit their blog on the day of their featured project, post a comment on their Blog Flutter project post and you will be eligible to win a grab bag of Quietfire Design rubber stamps valued at $50!   We will be giving away five grab bags in total and all the names will be drawn on Friday, January 20^th at midnight PST, one name from each blog, so you have lots of time to enter!  Tell your friends!

The Butterfly Circles rubber stamps will remain on special at 20% off throughout the Blog Flutter!

Each Design Team member will be randomly choosing a winner from their list of comments, so make sure you’ve commented on each blog.

All winners will be posted on the Quietfire Style blog on Saturday January 21^st. If you are one of the lucky winners, please contact Suzanne privately with your snail mail address within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen.  (Her email address is in the sidebar of the Quietfire Style blog) 

Here is the schedule:

Sunday, January 15th: Yogi  

Monday, January 16th: Suzanne 

Tuesday, January 17th: Robyn  

Wednesday, January 18th: Monica 

Thursday, January 19th: Wanda  http://artbywanda.blogspot.com/  (that's me)

Happy Fluttering!!

Queen of Hearts

With Valentine's Day coming up Quietfire Design is again having a Queen of Hearts Challenge with prizes awarded!!!  Go HERE to get all the details.

Blue Jeans

In the Winter 2011 Somerset Studio Gallery Issue, Pages 36-39, by Lori Lundy, is the inspiration for these jean pocket wall hangings.  I totally fell in love with the ones she shared in the magazine and had to make some as gifts for Christmas.  The first picture here is the first one I made and sent over seas to a terrific online friend.  Then I made a few more, tweaking the design (which for the most part came from a sample in the magazine) a little.  I love these and will be making more with lots of themes... I'm already thinking of some love, Valentine themed ones.  Lori Lundy has an Etsy store HERE with wonderful pieces of art (yes, I've already purchased one thing from her that I fell in love with).

                            

You will notice that the pictures below have no red "berries" (alcohol ink on pearls) by the bow... I took the pics and then realized I had forgot to glue them on.

A Prize and A Tag

In December Ranger Ink shared 12 Days of Ornaments on their blog and they gave away prizes just for commenting.  This picture, taken from their blog, shows what the prize consisted of and I was thrilled when I was one of the final prize winners!!!  Woo-Hoo!!!! Sooo......

...as I was creating using my new Antiquated Collection stamps plus I had this wonderful prize sitting here I decided I should use some of it also.  I realized that this lady from the Society Lady set would look perfect in the Memory Frame.  I stamped her onto natural sticky back canvas using jet black Archival Ink, colored her using Cut n' Dry Nibs and Distress Ink, added white to the pearls with the Inkssential pen, added ruby slippers Glitz Stickles onto the 'berry' (or whatever they are) areas of the hat and rubbed some crystal ice Ice Stickles around the edges.  When it was all dry I sandwiched it between 2 pieces of Memory glass and into the frame.  For the background I did Tim's wrinkle free distress technique with festive berries Distress Ink, dried it, stamped the background image (Studio 490 background from the set Sentimental Art) with Archival Ink sepia, added Distress Ink vintage photo around the edges using an ink blending tool.  Added lace, brown mini rickrack, and sticky back pearls (cream over the rickrack and red on the lace) to the bottom part of the tag.  Hung a heart charm from the loop on the Memory Frame and attached the piece to the tag.  Stamped "Society lady" onto a scrap of cardstock, sponged on festive berries ink, and attached it as shown.  Rubbed a bit of the crystal ice Stickles around the edge of the tag and tied lace to the top to finish things off.  

This picture captions some of the sparkle from the Stickles.

Stylish and Fashionable

Back in November Lisa M. Pace, along with Pink Persimmon, debuted her new stamps, the Antiquated Collection.  I've purchases a couple of the sets so far and finally took time to play with one of the sets.  These are clear stamps that stamp beautifully with lots of details.  The old images are just fabulous!!!  I've used stamps from the Stylish and Fashionable set.  I started with a Maya Road chipboard heart... added Distress Crackle paint rock candy... after it was dry added pink sherbet Paint Dabber... stamped the leaves (an old Posh Impressions stamp) with Adirondack Pigment clover... stamped the hearts (Stamps by Judith) with Adirondack Pigment watermelon... stenciled on some snow cap white ink... I also stamped a "Love" stamp by Hero Arts with a light ink and although you get some added contrast from it you can't really read it... and added gold Paint Dabber around the edges... made sure everything was dry and embossed 2 layers of clear UTEE over the heart (a variation of Shelly's technique Here).  Stamped the lady and gentleman onto cardstock with Archival Ink jet black... cut them out, cutting off the guy's book and the lady's umbrella... colored them with chalks... sealed them with workable fixative. Cut up a little bit between the man's arm and his jacket to make it easier to stand them together with there arms around each other... bent the lady's arm up at the elbow... glued them together with Glue 'n Seal and then onto the heart with Glue 'n Seal... I used glossy so if any smeared onto the heart it would blend with the glossy UTEE and not be visible... and then trimmed off the extra the hung below the heart.  For the ruffle around the heart I used Tim's tissue tape... I placed double sided tape around the edge on the back of the heart... pressed on the tape ruffling it as I went... the back of the tissue tape is facing the front... after the tape was all attached I brushed perfect gold Perfect Pearls onto the sticky side of the tape giving it a beautiful gold shimmer and you still get some of the pattern of the tape showing through.  Colored a scrap piece of grungepaper with gold Paint Dabber, dried it, stamped the bird with Archival jet black, cut it out, added a dot of white gel pen to the eye pressing over it with my finger while it was still wet thereby removing some of the white so it wasn't so bright, and added it to the heart with foam mounting tape to help it stand out more (this also covered the hole that comes in the chipboard).  Stamped "Stylish and Fashionable" on cardstock, cut it out and glued it on as shown.  Wrote "My Love" on a scrap of cardstock, cut it out and attached it as shown.

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!!!