A Vintage Journey December Challenge - ATC's for Christmas and a Fond Farewell!

Brenda, the creator of A Vintage Journey Challenge Blog, has, after much deliberation, decided to close the blog - it seems that people are moving away from blogging to other media and it was felt that the close of 2020 was a good time to say goodbye.

But we are going out with a festive celebration!   

This month we invite you to join our final AVJ challenge which is: A Merry Little Christmas

Celebrate the season by making an ATC (or a set of ATCs) depicting Christmas scenes or colours.  Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

Here's my A Merry Little Christmas ATC - A Winter Forest!

Not sure you can see the sparkle on the snowflakes?   I shook Clear Rock Candy Glitter over them when they were still wet and its really sparkly IRL!

I started with a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" panel of watercolor paper.  

The first layer of background is Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Spray - spritzed lightly as shown below.

I spritzed it lightly with water and then dried it with my heat tool.

Next I laid my mini pine stencil over the panel, leaving some space at the top for my snowfall.  I sponged over the stencil with a finger sponge using Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide Ink.

Here's how it looked at this point.

I laid my mini snowflake stencil over the panel - lining the edge up along the top.  I spread white embossing paste just over the top and down the left side - leaving some open area on the right.  Wash your stencil and pallet knife immediately after use.

Before the embossing paste could dry I poured Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter over them and tapped it off.  Then I set the ATC aside to dry.

When the paste was dry - I sponged around the edges with Vintage Distress Ink and added a Metallic Holiday Talk Sticker.

Each Creative Guide has also made a Farewell ATC.

I found this sentiment in a stamp set I purchased when I was doing the Wanderlust Online Classes several years ago.  I had it on my shelf and had never used it -  these words express a lot of my feelings both for this past year and the ending of the AVJ team!    

I believe in: Gratitude, People, Peace, You, Freedom, Love, Beauty, Change, Compassion, Serenity and Friendship!   I couldn't have summed it up better!

To create this ATC - I started with a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of watercolor paper.   I rubbed Speckled Egg and Vintage Photo Distress Inks onto my craft mat in separate spots and spritzed them both with water.

First, I pressed and pounced the panel onto the Speckled Egg Distress Ink.  I dried it with my heat tool.

Then I pressed and pounced the panel into the Vintage Photo Distress Ink and dried it with my heat tool.

Then I went back to the blue pressing into what was left on the mat until I was happy.  I dried it again and then pressed into what was left of the brown on the mat.  I liked how it looked at this point.

Here's the stamp set I used for my sentiment.  I lined it up in my Misti in case the first stamping didn't cover well but luckily it did!

I cut this piece of a larger Paper Doll group to fit in the space beside the sentiment.  I embossed the clothing with Distress Embossing Glazes in Rustic Wilderness, Tattered Rose, Speckled Egg and Fossilized Amber using a Versamark pen to wet the area and embossing only one color at a time.

I added a little wood veneer star to one of the trees on my Merry Little Christmas ATC and sponged the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink

I added Tuxedo Clay Hearts around the sentiment of my Farewell ATC and sponged the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

So please join us in this, our final A Vintage Journey Challenge - you'll find the challenge details and some wonderful ATC inspiration from all the Creative Guides here.

Stamps:  Everything Art EEA03 - PaperArtsy.

Paper:  Water color paper - Canson Cold Press.

Ink:  Obsidian - Altenew, Ranger Distress Vintage Photo, Speckled Egg, Ranger Distress Oxide Speckled Egg, Versamark Marker.

Accessories:  Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Spray, Ranger Distress Embossing Glaze - Rustic Wilderness, Tattered Rose, Speckled Egg, Fossilized Amber, Mini Stencils Pines and Snowflakes - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, water mister, heat tool, Metallic Stickers Holiday Talk - Idea-ology, wood veneer star - American Crafts, Tuxedo Clay Hearts - Honey Bee Stamps, Paperdolls - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste, pallet knife.

Die Cut Relief Card Tutorial - for A Vintage Journey

Today I'm sharing a card tutorial over at A Vintage Journey and thought I'd put it here on my blog as well!    I made my card using a technique called Die Cut Relief.  You create the look by layering a die cut scene on an embossed panel and then dry brushing with 3 colors of paint.

So first I got out some dies to create a scene as well as some dimensional snowflake stickers and a Weathered background embossing folder.   I used watercolor paper for the background panel and all of the die cuts.

I embossed the background with the Weathered Embossing Folder, then glued all the die cuts onto the card using Matte Medium, let it dry and then brushed over the panel with the Matte Medium again and let it dry.

 (lots of 'letting it dry' coats here!)

Since the snowflakes and star were silver, I brushed over the whole panel with Gesso to make everything white.

I dry brushed over the full panel with my darkest color - Manganese Blue Hue, and let it dry completely.

Then I dry brushed over the raised and open areas with Burnt Sienna and let it dry completely

My final coat is white which I dry brushed on lightly over the raised bits and open areas - brushing from all angles so all edges of the die cuts got white on them to give the scene dimension.

I adhered my panel to a white card base.

I'm going to try this again with different colors and different dies - I love the look of this!

Paper:  Water Color Paper - Canson Cold Press, white - PapertreyInk.

Accessories:  Liquitex Matte Medium, Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Manganese Blue Hue and Titanium White, Winsor and Newton Burnt Sienna Acrylic Paint, brushes, Weathered Embossing Folder - Taylored Expressions, Tiny Town Holiday Yard Die, Wonderful Words: Holiday Die - Papertrey Ink.

A Vintage Journey - Tag Friday

It's the 5th Friday in October and whenever there is a 5th Friday in a month -  we celebrate by having a Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey!

My skater got a little lost with the matching colors of the background - so I outlined him with a White Stabilo Pencil to give him some definition.  I actually did cut him out of several different colors to try but this looked the best to my eye.  (He is ONE with the forest!)

Here are a few process photos.

I scooped small amounts of spray inks out of the bottles onto my craft mat leaving some distance in between the colors.  I used Dylusions White Linen Spray Ink and Distress Oxide Spray inks in Cracked Pistachio and Fired Brick.

I pressed a panel of Matte Black Yupo paper onto the colors and rubbed over the panel not moving it around, just wanting to spread the circles of color.  This is how it looked when I lifted it up after the first press.

Then I pressed the black areas, one at a time, into what was left on the craft mat and ended up with this.  You never really know how a panel will look at the end - each time it comes out differently!

I die cut my panel with Tim's Tag and Bookplates die.

Then I die cut the trees and my skater from Tim's Thin Ice Die - cutting the skates and hat again out of the pink.  I cut a holly and berries using dies from Winter Wardrobe to decorate his hat and scarf.

I splattered the trees with black water color paint, colored the skate blades with a Krylon Silver Leafing pen and also added circles of the Krylon to the background for a little shimmer.  I added white berries and skate lace holes using Nuvo Simply White Crystal Drops and a Clipping Stickers:Christmas sentiment!  I adhered my tag to a slightly larger piece of the pink paper and tied a piece of wrinkled seam tape through the hole.  The skater is popped up on foam dots.

Come and see all the beautiful tags the Creative Guides have to share with us over at A Vintage Journey -  you'll find the post here!

Paper:  Kraft Stock Classic Paper Pad - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, Matte Black Yupo Alcohol Ink Paper - Ranger, white - Papertrey Ink.

Accessories:  Tag and Bookplate Bigz Die, Thin Ice Thinlit Dies, Winter Wardrobe Thinlit Dies - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, Distress Oxide Spray Ink Cracked Pistachio and Fired Brick, Dylusions White Linen Ink Spray, Craft Mat, black water color ink, water, brush, Nuvo Simply White Crystal Drops, Krylon Silver Leafing Pen, White Stabilo Pencil, Clipping Stickers: Christmas - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, Ultra Bond Adhesive - iCraft, foam dots.

July - A Vintage Journey Tag Friday

This month there are 5 Fridays - and when this happens - we have a Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey!  Any tag will do as long as it's in the vintage, shabby, mixed media, rustic style and everyone is welcome to join in and link up their tag to share with us!

I used Gertrude front and center on my tag today!   She's having a snack of leaves and standing in a bed of flowers!

I had the background of the tag already done. I had made it after watching a Saturday blog post that Tim Holtz did using Ranger Distress Resist Spray.  I put Tim's Heart Struck Stencil over the 3 1/8' x 6 1/4" manila tag and then sprayed through the stencil with the Distress Resist Spray.  I washed the stencil immediately and let the tag dry.

I rubbed Distress Oxide Inks in Seedless Preserves, Candied Apple, Squeezed Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and smooshed the tag into the colors, one at a time, drying between colors. (Sorry - no photos of this process!)

I thought it would make a great background for Gertrude!  

Die cutting all the various pieces for Gertrude out of specific colors seemed rather tedious to me.

(although the pieces are conveniently marked on the back saying what color to cut them in if you are following the photo on the packaging!) 

So I thought I'd ink up an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of watercolor paper using 4 brownish Distress Oxide Inks - Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain -  light to dark - and use that sheet for all the pieces.

The first layer was Antique Linen DOX. 

I used the same method with each color,  rubbing the ink on my glass platform,

(yes, I finally cracked and bought one!)

spritzing with water and then smooshing the paper on to the color. 

When I had the coverage and look I wanted, I dried the panel with my heat tool and went on to the next color.

Second layer of color was Frayed Burlap DOX.

Third layer of color was Vintage Photo DOX.

Fourth and last layer of color was Walnut Stain.

Then I die cut all the pieces from the panel.  My only design thought was to have the largest piece and the giraffe dots piece be from the darker areas.  I then glued Gertrude together, following both the picture and the score marks on some of the pieces. 

I did cut the mouth, eyebrows, lashes and hooves out of black card.

I wanted her to be eating some leaves off a tall tree and to also be standing in greenery and flowers so I got out the Funky Foliage die set. 

I actually missed putting on the second layer of two of the legs and a base layer over the ears (you can see those pieces in the top right corner!)  but it was too late to put them on - and luckily Gertrude looks fine -  next time I'll know better!  

DOX inks are kind of dull when they dry - so I rubbed over Gertrude with Distress Glaze and then buffed it with a paper towel - to seal the ink as well as to brighten the color a little bit.

I love long tall Gertrude, and I think using the one sheet of mixed colors worked out well!

So please check out the rest of the Creative Guides inspiring tags.  We hope you'll link up a tag that you have made to share with us!

Here's the link to A Vintage Journey Tag Friday!

Stamps:  What's Up - Avery Elle

Paper:  Water Color Paper - Canson, True Black - PTI, Manila Tag - Ranger, green, tan, red, Kraft Core Core-dinations.

Ink:  Obsidian - Altenew, Ranger Distress Oxide Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Seedless Preserves, Candied Apple, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmelade.

Accessories:  Gertrude Colorize Die, Funky Foliage Dies - Tim Holtz/Sizzix, Distress Glaze, Distress Resist Spray - Ranger, Linen Ribbon - Idea-ology, water mister.