A Vintage Journey - April Tag Friday - Imagine

Whenever there are 5 Friday's in a month we have a Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey.  Several of the Creative Guides signed up to make tags in April - including me!

I wanted to use my brandy-new Tim Holtz Gadget Gears #2 die and also try a 'rusting' technique that I saw somewhere on a blog (and I'm sorry - I neglected to write down where I saw it so please tell me if it was you!)  I die cut the gears out of kraft card, brushed them with Black Gesso - and when they were dry, I painted on Twinkling H2O's in Chestnut Brown and Spiced Pumpkin.

Here's a closer look at the rust effect.

I die cut a piece of striped Paper Stash paper using Tim's Tag and Bookplates die and adhered it over a #8 Manila tag. I sponged the edges with Ranger Distress Ground Espresso.  I added some ephemera, also with sponged edges, stapled on a strip of  Tissue Tape and a piece of Film Strip Ribbon.  I added one Chit Chat Sticker at this point.

Then I started layering on my gears using foam tape and added Orange Glitter Gem Stickers to the centers of the gears (like Tim's gumdrops but cheapies from Michaels!). I sponged Distress Ground Espresso ink over the tops of the gems to dull the shine a bit.

 Next I added more Chit Chat Stickers -  Imagine a different, beautiful, new world.  I drew around the stickers with a black Stabilo pencil and rubbed over them with a wet finger to smudge the lines. I wrapped some heavy carpet thread around a pen nib that I colored with Adirondack Alcohol inks in Butterscotch and Raisin. 

To finish the decoration of my tag - I added 3 wood veneer stars.  I cut a piece of black card slightly larger than my tag and adhered the tag to it - punched a hole in the top - looped 3 different pieces of Trimmings through the hole and tied them with another piece of heavy button thread.

If you'd like to see several more inspiring tags -  please hop on over to A Vintage Journey Blog!

Paper:  Manilla #8 Tag - Ranger, Kraft, True Black - PTI. Tim Holtz Paper Stash - Regions Beyond.
Ink:  Ranger Distress Ground Espresso, Adirondack Alcohol Inks Butterscotch and Raisin.
Accessories:  Gadget Gears #2 Bigz Die, Tag and Bookplates Die - Alterations/Tim Holtz, heavy black button thread, black Stabilo Pencil, Wood Veneer Stars - Studio Calico/American Crafts, Idea-ology Ephemera/Thrift Shop, Regions Beyond Tissue Tape, Film Strip Ribbon, Chit Chat Stickers, Pen Nib, Trimmings - Natural/Black/Cream, Mini Attacher - Ranger, Black Gesso - Dina Wakley, Glitter Gem Stickers - Michaels.

Fusion Card Challenge - April 28 - Sweet Orange Blossoms

There's a new Fusion Card Challenge up today!  Sweet Orange Blossoms -  can't you just smell that delicious scent??

 I was inspired by the orange flowers and decided to use the beautiful Queen Anne's Lace flower from the Meadow Greens set from PTI -  I LOVE this flower stamp!  

(It reminds me of when my sister and I were little and we would go camping in Maine in the summer.  When we walked down to the state park store we often saw Queen Anne's Lace growing along the road and our mother showed us how the root looks like a carrot - it really made me remember the name of the flower!)  

I paired it with a really old sympathy sentiment from Close as a Memory by SU.  I bought the Meadow Greens dies when I bought the stamps (of course!) so I die cut and layered one of the flowers.  I used a little poetic license with the colors as the only color I've seen real Queen Anne's Lace in is white. I added a rhinestone to the center of each bloom.

 I can't wait to see what inspires you on this week's Fusion Card Challenge - the photo, the colors, the sketch? or will you do a Fusion and combine it all??!!   You'll find the link for your creation as well as tons of inspiration from the Design Team here.

Stamps:  Close as a Memory - Stampin' Up, Meadow Greens - PapertreyInk

Paper:  White, Simply Chartreuse - PTI

Ink:  Archival Jet Black, Orange Zest, Bright Buttercup, Simply Chartreuse.

Accessories:  Meadow Greens Die Set - PTI, Rhinestones - Kaiser.

Brave Intuitive Painting

Today I'm sharing something very different from what I usually do in my creative life here on the blog!  I made these two abstract contemporary canvases for a Wanderlust Class called Brave Intuitive Painting taught by artist Flora Bowley - and I must say I feel very brave in that I actually created them but not sure how intuitive it was!

Flora used really big canvases 36" x 36" and she hung them on her wall to work on them -  I used smaller 9" x 12" canvases that I had on hand and worked flat on my work table. 

First we were to chose just 3 colors for each canvas.  Three warm colors on one and three cool colors on the other.

Then we were to add 2 cool colors to the warm canvas and 2 warm colors to the cool canvas.

For the next layer we were to add some white

and then some black - I think I over did the black (!)

and finally we were to add one color to each that we 'felt' we wanted to see on the canvas. 

I also added a little bit of a golden yellow color  and a little more white to each canvas.

So here they are all done and in the light of day (finally!)

Flora suggested we turn the canvases around as we were working on them as they can look quite different when looking at them one way or another.

So here is the 'cool' blue one, one way and then turned upside down

and here is the (warm) magenta one in both views

I may or may not ever do something like this again - but I'm glad I stretched myself and gave it a try!  I think if I did them again I'd get better at using a greater variety of brush strokes and not cover up the layers beneath quite so much!

Guest Designer for Merry Monday Challenge!

I'm excited to share that today I'm the Guest Designer over at the Merry Monday Challenge!  I was invited after Colleen chose this card two weeks ago as the winner.   Here's the lovely inspiration for this week.  Use purple, white and silver.

Even though the image is of ornaments - somehow I immediately thought of using the lovely Nativity stamp and die set from Simon Says Stamp that I purchased last year (and only used once!) 

 I die cut the Holy Family, stable and star from white card stock, silver embossed the images over the pieces and then sponged over everything (accept the star) with Ranger Distress Wilted Violet Ink.   I left the baby Jesus a little lighter than the rest and added a clear rhinestone for his head.

The silver really shines IRL - not so much in the photo!

I'd like to thank the Design Team at Merry Monday for inviting me to join them this week - it was an honor and a pleasure!   We hope you will join in as well -  so come along and get one more Christmas card done!  You'll find the challenge here.

I'm also linking my card to:
Happy Little Stampers Christmas - use Die cuts

 

Stamps:  Nativity - Simon Says Stamp

Paper:  White, Plum Pudding - PTI

Ink:  Versamark, Ranger Distress Wilted Violet

Accessories:  silver embossing powder, heat tool, foam dots, rhinestones, Holy Couple and barn Dies - Simon Says Stamp.

 

Fusion Card Challenge - April 14 - April Showers

Just in time for spring - there's a really fun new Fusion Challenge posted!   We seem to have had lots of rain already in March in my corner of the world so hopefully we can just move on to the flowers for April!!

I was inspired by the umbrella and the rainbow colors this fortnight.  I did a watercolor wash background by brushing water over a panel of Arches Watercolor paper and then brushing on watered down red, orange, yellow, green and blue water color paints.

I dried the panel with my heat tool and then stamped the umbrella and sentiment from Scattered Showers by PTI.  I added Tiny Twinkles to the umbrella where there were little circles on the stamp and scattered 3 enamel dots.

I layered the panel to a white cardstock base.

What inspires you for this week's Fusion Card Challenge?   The photo, the colors, the sketch or all of it??!!  You'll find the challenge details and link here as well as lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team!  We'd love to have you join us!  We also have a new April Guest Designer - Bonnie Sharp - so let's give her a warm welcome!

Stamps:  Scattered Showers - PTI

Paper:  Arches Watercolor Paper, White - PTI

Ink:  True Black, Stormy Sea, Green Parakeet - PTI

Accessories:  Tiny Twinkles - Taylored Expressions, home made enamel dots, watercolor paints, paint brush, water.

The Wonder of 2

Today was grand-niece Madelyn's 2nd birthday - and the family gathered at her house to celebrate this grand occasion and I, of course, made her a personalized card!  This is a photo of Madelyn that her parents took during a recent trip to Disney.  I just printed it on a piece of white cardstock and cut it out.

I started with a piece of kraft card and stenciled it using a WV Check Mate stencil with WV Archival Pink Peony Ink.  Then I sponged the edges with Ranger Distress Tea Die ink.  I added Idea-ology  Chit Chat Stickers, Remnant Rubs/Botanical and Label letters.

I outlined the Chit Chat Stickers with a black Stabilo pencil then rubbed over the lines with a wet finger to smudge them.  I added 3 wood veneer stars from Studio Calico.  I cut a 2 using a PTI number die.  The banner was cut with a die from Winnie and Walter.  The Happy Birthday is from Keep It Simple Birthday II from PTI.

I made this just a card front - and adhered a die cut easel to the back so it can stand up on a shelf for display.

My niece loved my card for Madelyn - and we had a wonderful family gathering to celebrate her day.

I'm linking my card to the following challenges:

Cas Mix Up 

The background is stenciled, I stamped on the banner, I added rub-ons, stickers and a banner.

 Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Dimension

the photo, sentiment banner and #2 are popped up on foam dots, I added wooden stars

 Seize the Birthday

 Twofers Challenge - Birthdays

Stamps:  Keep it Simple Birthday II - PTI

Paper:  Kraft, True Black, White - P TI

Ink:  Wendy Vecchi Archival Pink Peony, True Black - PTI, Ranger Distress Tea Dye.

Accessories:  Wood Veneer Stars - Studio Calico, Dies: By the Numbers and Jar Labels - PTI, The Big, the Bold and Extras - Winnie and Walter,  small easel - Tim Holtz/Alterations, foam dots, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Check Mate Stencil - Wendy Vecchi/Stampers Anonymous, Idea-ology - Chit Chat Stickers, Remnant Rubs Botanical, Label Letters.

Variations on an Ombre Birthday

Goodness - I feel like having a piece of cake with a big glass of milk after looking at the delicious The Cake Blog Audrie has to inspire us for the Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers!

I was attracted to this ombre Pink Grapefruit cake particularly because I recently purchased the Ombre Sentiments Birthday stamp set from Papertrey Ink and wanted to try them out!

For my first inspired card - I inked my sentiment with Orange Zest and Bright Buttercup Inks and stamped it on a white panel. I layered it to a piece of patterned paper with foam dots and added some Lemonade Blend sequins to it.  I stamped another sentiment using the same two colors of ink on the inside.

Then I went in another direction creating  an ombre panel by rubbing Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw Distress Inks on my craft mat, spritzing with water and then dragging a piece of Arches Watercolor paper through it.

 I dried the panel with my heat tool and then black embossed the sentiment on it (stamping doesn't always come out clearly on watercolor paper because of its rough texture - I tried 3 different black inks before deciding to emboss instead!).  I layered the panel over a strip of patterned paper with foam dots and added Lemonade Sequins.

Here's another variation - such a different look just by making the patterned paper a smaller strip!

and a masculine variation using a piece of rust Coredinations Ranger Distress paper instead of a floral.

So now I have several birthday cards to add to my stash - all from one inspiration!
I'm also linking my first card  to:
Seize the Birthday - Floral

 Twofers Challenge - Birthdays

Happy Weekend everyone -  tonight I have the pleasure of babysitting for these two sweeties - my 5 year old grandnephew James and his almost two year old sister Madelyn.   Tomorrow we'll be celebrating Madelyn's 2nd birthday!  Here they are in their Easter outfits.

Ombre Birthday Stamping
Stamps: Ombre Sentiments Birthday - PTI
Paper: white - PTI, DP Fine and Summy Paper Pack - Kaiser Craft
Ink: Bright Buttercup, Orange Zest - PTI
Accessories: foam dots, Lemonade Blend Sequins - Avery Elle

Ombre Panel cards
Stamps: Ombre Sentiments Birthday - PTI
Paper: white - PTI, DP Fine and Sunny Paper Pack - Kaiser Craft, or rust Coredinations Ranger Distress
Paper Size: 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
Ink: Versamark, Ranger Distress Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Strw
Accessories: mini mister, craft mat, black embossing powder, Lemonade Blend Sequins - Avery Elle, or orange enamel dots