March A Vintage Journey Challenge - Let's Celebrate Our Art

There's a brand new challenge over at A Vintage Journey today.  We are celebrating 6 years at AVJ this month and Brenda is our hostess.  This is the challenge in her words:

"Yes! let's celebrate our 6th Birthday.

Do you remember the words from the Kool and the Gang song?

There's a party goin' on right here

A celebration to last through the years

So bring your good times, and  your laughter too

We gonna celebrate your party with you.

So show us what you are celebrating in your art and craft work at the moment. Don't forget to link us into your blog post and if it's not really obvious share with us how your project relates to the challenge theme. Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk."

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I decided to make a mixed media canvas.  I have seen these made on so many blogs on canvas, on journal covers, on wall hangings, and I always wanted to try it.  I've purchased all the supplies over the past few years that I thought I'd need for it but still never sat down to work on one.
I think it's because I'm basically a clean and simple crafter (!) and this is anything but clean and simple!

So, today I'm celebrating that my art journey has gone into areas unknown - and I am happy to share my first effort with you!
First, several views of the finished product.  My canvas is a small 4"x4".

Close ups to show the crackle and all the dimensional bits.

And a few photos of how I created it!

I had a 4"x4" canvas that I had made years ago that I wasn't happy with but kept it to redo some day.  I ripped off the decorations I had on it, leaving the bit of lace along the bottom.  I got out a few things I thought I might use for my collage.
I made the face pieces from some molds and Model Magic from Crayola. The other pieces were in my stash.

I placed various pieces on the canvas and when I was happy with the design, I adhered them to the canvas with 3D Transparent Matte Gel.  I added some Carnelian Gem Stones, Copper Micro Beads and Art Stones and left it all to dry overnight.

 (I found out you need to have patience in making something like this as each layer has to dry, usually overnight!)

Then I brushed Black Gesso over the whole canvas being sure it got into all the little crevices. Another overnight drying session!

I forgot to take a photo of my next step, which was to rub Bronze Age Metallic Wax and Patina Effect Brass Paste over most of the canvas.  That really gave all the pieces a definition on the black canvas.  Then I covered it liberally with Clear Crackle Texture Paste and left it once again - overnight to dry,  hopefully to crackle!

(mind you, I really have no idea what I'm doing - but I'm sort of following steps I've seen other people do!!)  

With every layer I thought  "Gosh, I hope I'm not ruining this now!"

And once again - the final result!

 I also took a photo of it out in my yard in front of the base of our Japanese Maple where it practically blended right into nature!  

(spring has not yet arrived here in New England!)

So we are looking forward to you joining us this month in celebrating our 6th birthday at AVJ and to celebrate where you are in your art journey!

You'll find lots of inspiration from the Creative Guides over at the challenge here. 

I'm also linking my canvas to:

Country View Challenges

The Eyes Have It (my moon has big eyes!)

Accessories:  Sculpey Art Doll Faces Molds, White Model Magic -Crayola, lace, 4"x4" canvas, metal star, metal flower, plastic flower from stash, Typography Letters - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, 3D Transparent Matte Gel, Texture Paste Clear Crackle, Art Stones, Copper Micro Beads - Finnebair/Prima, Metalique Wax Bronze Age, Patina Effect Paste Brass - Prima, Carnelian Quarry Gem Stones - Emerald Creek, Black Gesso - Dina Wakley/Ranger.

March CAS Stencil Card Challenge - Heat Embossing

The March CAS Stencil Card Challenge has just been posted!  Viv is our creative Hostess this month and she would like us to use heat embossing with our stencils.  There are links to technique videos to give you some ideas over at CAS Stencil.

Here is the card I created for the challenge!

A close up to show you the shine on the embossing.

I laid the Wildflowers stencil  from Stencil Girl, over a smaller panel of watercolor paper.  I actually found an Emboss It Dabber in my drawer (bought in some long ago past, put away and promptly forgotten!)  It works wonderfully over a stencil, being a little more fluid than a Versamark pad and giving great coverage - I highly recommend you purchasing this little treasure if you think you are going to use this technique more often! 

 (The dabber can also be used in the traditional way of Versamark on your stamps when heat embossing but is recommended for larger stamps as I think you'd lose detail on smaller stamps given that the dabber is more fluid)

Here you can see how wet it is - getting into all the little spaces of the stencil.  I lifted the stencil carefully off the watercolor paper and put the stencil aside to wash later 

(it stays wet longer so don't lay anything over it while you continue to create!)

I used two new embossing powders.

(I purchased them quite some time ago so the NEW is relative meaning never used yet!) 

They are from Seth Apter/Emerald Creek - Baked Velvet in Aegean Sea and Lime.  I wanted the Aegean Sea (blue) on the top half where the flowers are and the Lime on the bottom half where the stems are.  So I poured the Aegean Sea over the top first, cleaned up the powder and put it back in the jar.

And then poured the Lime over the bottom half, cleaned up the powder on the paper and heated the panel with my heat tool.  I didn't worry about a little overlap where the colors joined, that just makes it look more blended!

Hopefully you can see some of the resulting shine on this photo.

To finish the panel, I sponged the edges with Antique Linen Distress Oxide, layered it to a card base cut with a scalloped edge die (no longer available from PTI), added the sentiment from Big Hugs and the die cut from Big Hugs Die - both from PTI.  I layered two hugs die cuts together to make it thicker.

(For those with eagle eyes - I actually made a couple of embossed panels while working on this - so the piece shown in my 'how to' photos above was made from a slightly different spot on my bigger stencil than my card shown below!  Just thought I'd mention that for those who may have noticed.)

So please join us this month and show us how you use heat embossing with your stencils!  You'll find links to technique videos, the challenge rules and description and lots of inspiration from the team as well as our talented March Guest Designer Cat (Cat Luvs Paper) over at CAS Stencil!

I'm also linking my card to:

The Paper Players

Happy Little Stampers

Heat embossing

The Flower Challenge

Stamps: Big Hugs - PTI
Paper:  Water color paper - Canson, Tropical Teal, Rustic Cream - PTI
Ink: True Black - PTI,  Emboss it Dab On Clear - Ranger, Antique Linen Distress Ink
Accessories:  S666 Evans Stencil - Stencil Girl, Big Hugs Dies - PTI, Baked Velvet Aegean Sea and Lime Embossing Powders - Seth Apter/Emerald Creek,  Noted A2 Vertical Die: Scalloped - PTI.

March CAS Watercolour Card Challenge - Luck of the Irish!

Well -  here it is - March already.  The new CAS Watercolour Card Challenge is up on the blog - and I am the hostess this month!

So I thought we'd honor St. Patrick's Day since it occurs this month on the 17th - and everyone's Irish on St. Paddy's Day right?!    

So my challenge is to use some green, or a rainbow, or something gold!  It doesn't have to say anything about St. Patrick's Day -  just be inspired by it.

I made a 'friend' card that could say Happy St. Patrick's Day inside or it could be a thank you or birthday card!

I made the background by water coloring through a stencil onto a piece of watercolor paper - the more water you use, the more the color bleeds under the stencil.

 And because I'm the hostess this month -  I made another card to share today using the same stamp set I used on my first card.  This one has a familiar Irish Blessing stamped inside the circle.  

I die cut a circle out of a watercolor panel and water colored around the circle with the same watery green used on my first card.  I stamped the sentiment on the circle cut out.  I layered the outside panel onto a white card base with foam dots and then adhered the sentiment inside the circle.  I added a green die cut 4 leaf clover in the middle of the sentiment with a foam dot and covered it with Glossy Accents.   I stamped 2 smaller shamrocks in the corner in green ink and added Glossy Accents over them as well.

So please show us what St. Patrick's Day inspires in you and link up your clean and simple card over at the CAS Watercolour Challenge here.  You'll also find inspiration from the Design team as well as our March Guest Designer - the talented Hannelie (Desert Diva)!!

Stamps:  Irish Blessings - Papertrey Ink
Paper:  White, Pine Feather - PTI, watercolor paper - Canson
Ink: Obsidian, Hunter Green - Altenew
Accessories: Mini Basket Weave Stencil - The Crafters Workshop, green watercolor paint, paint brush, water, Irish Blessings Die - PTI, Lucky Leaves Die - Memory Box, lacey edge die - no brand, Glossy Accents - Ranger.

Making Boxes with the Kids!

My last project for Eileen Hull's Blog Posts in February was actually not made by me but by my 9 year old grandnephew Landon and 7 year old grandniece Mila!   I was babysitting for them last week when their parents went out on a date.  

I always bring a craft whenever I babysit for any of my 4 grands.

I was trying to think of something they would like to make 

(I often bring the packaged crafts from Michaels). 

I know they love to have boxes just to 'put stuff in' and the light dawned!  They could each make and decorate a box using Eileen's Sizzix Gift Box! 

Here they are adhering patterned papers, that I had cut to size, to all the panels.  They did this before we assembled the box pieces.   

Mila got a little overzealous when I asked them to smile for the photo!!  

She was excited that I was going to put this on my Blog.

 I helped them line up the edges that I had put Red Line tape on and we put the box together.  I had picked up several packages of stickers at the Dollar Store a few months ago (you know, just because I might want them sometime!?!), dinosaurs, sloths, robots, llamas and forest animals and they had fun choosing the ones they wanted to decorate their boxes with.

To make the boxes easier to open, they adhered one of the scallops from the die onto the front edge of the cover - so they could just pull on that to open them up.

They were really happy with their new storage boxes and were telling me all of the things they might put in them -  a very fun and easy craft project with the kids!  With such professional looking results!

 If you missed them - check out my other projects using the Gift Box Die

Paint brush holder box

 

Circus Party Box 

Don't forget to check out Eileen's blog for more inspiration from her Inspiration Team!

Paper:  white Little Sizzles Matboard - Sizzix, designer papers - Papertrey Ink
Accessories:  Red Line Tape, roller tape, various stickers - The Dollar Store.

James Skiing on TV - Eileen Hull's Display Stand Sizzix Die

Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team is continuing to create with her newly released Display Stand and Gift Box dies.  Every Wednesday the team's projects will be featured on Eileen's blog.

This week I have made a project to give to my 8 year old grandnephew, James, featuring a photo of him skiing this winter on a retro television!

I usually use white matboard to cut out Eileen's dies but I do have a few pieces of black matboard (no longer available on Sizzix site unfortunately)  and so I thought I'd try cutting the Display Stand die in black this time.   

For some reason, when I folded it all together - it looked like a TV set to me!!??!!   So then I Googled vintage retro TV images and scrolled through all the different sites that popped up until I found a TV image that I liked.

Then I decided that this photo I had of James (from his mother's FB page) would look nice on the TV screen.  I sized the photo to fit and printed it on white card stock.  I adhered it onto the TV screen and then covered the screen area with Glossy Accents to make it look like glass.  

I let it dry overnight and then adhered the image to the Display Stand die cut with lots of ScorTape as the Glossy Accents made the paper warp a bit and I wanted it held on flat.   I added little Neutral Candy Dots from Stampin' Up over the knobs printed on the TV to add some dimension.  I used stamps and dies from Two Feet Deep by PTI for the skis and sentiment.  The sentiment is popped up on foam dots.

This came out just how I had envisioned it in my head (which I'm sure you know doesn't always happen!?)  and I'm so happy with it! 

James skis most winter weekends with his family and also in an after school program and he's really getting good at it!  I think he will enjoy seeing himself skiing 'on TV'!

Eileen's Display Stand is a great platform to highlight special photos.

 

So then I had to make one for his 5 year old sister Madelyn, who isn't quite as skilled yet, as she just started last year, but she is a fearless wild woman on the slopes!!

And I made one for my other niece, featuring a lovely family photo!

Don't forget to check out Eileen's Blog to see more uses of her new dies!

If you haven't see this die before - you can check out how you fold it up on my previous post here.

Stamps:  Two Feet Deep - Papertrey Ink.
Paper:  White - PTI, Black Matboard - Sizzix (only white available now).
Ink:  Obsidian, Ultramarine - Altenew, Silver Pigment Ink - Color Box
Accessories:  Display Stand Bigz Die - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Two Feet Deep Dies - Papertrey Ink, Sentiment Strip die - Neat and Tangled, Neutrals Candy Dots - Stampin Up, foam dots, ScorTape, Tombow Glue, Googled retro TV image.

Feb Mid-month Reminder - CAS Watercolour and CAS Stencil Challenges

I'm here today with my reminder cards for both CAS Watercolour and CAS Stencil  challenges.  You have until Feb 24th to link up your cards!

For my Red and Black watercolour card - I stamped one of the flowers from Wallpaper Art set by Altenew onto a panel of water color paper using Obsidian Ink also from Altenew.  

I brushed over a few petals at a time with just water and then dipped my brush in watery Rose Madder Deep water color paint and touched it onto the wet areas.  I added more color or took away color with my brush until I was happy with the look achieved.  I brushed Cadmium Scarlet water color paint on the center of the flower.  I sometimes dried an area with my heat tool to see how it looked.  Then I could add more color with water if I wanted.  

I brushed water around the outside of the flower and used the same process of adding black watercolor paint, letting it really spread into the water as I wanted it to be like a grounding shadow rather than stark black.   I let the water define the edges.

When I was happy with the colors, I dried it again with my heat tool and then stamped my sentiment from Rubbernecker.  I layered the watercolor panel to a white card base.

For my foil stencil card - I once again used foil with Transfer Gel and my laminator.

A few process photos.

First the supplies - the smallest Pierced Feature Frame die from PTI, two pieces cut from my foiled panel, Soft Lilac Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray from Altenew, Decofoil Transfer Gel, Deco Foil Rainbow Shattered Glass, #78 Stencil designed by Olga Heldwein  from Aall and Create.

I spread Decofoil Transfer Gel over my stencil with a plastic spatula onto a white card panel and let it dry over night.  I got out this sheet of beautiful Rainbow Shattered Glass Deco Foil.

 

I placed the foil shiny side up over the stenciled panel, put it inside a folded piece of computer paper and ran it through my 13" Royal Sovereign Laminator putting the fold side into the machine.

And it came out like this, its really hard to show the gorgeous shiny colors in a photo!  Notice how white the stenciling looks (where there was no gel and so no shiny foil adhered to it).  I decided to spray the panel with Soft Lilac Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray from Altenew to tone down the white. 

(I wiped the spray off the metallic areas after spraying as it doesn't stick there anyway.)

For my card, I cut a piece from the panel using the smallest Pierced Feature Frame die. This area had blues and greens.  I stenciled over a white panel with Distress Tumbled Glass ink using a Blender Brush and the same stencil as used with the foil.  The sentiment is from  Keep It Simple: Friendship Mini Set by PTI.

I adhered the outside of the frame with foam dots and the inside just with tape runner inside the frame.  You can see more shimmer at this angle and you can also see the Lilac Ink Spray on the pattern. The spray has a shimmer as well!

I was able to cut a another frame from my original foiled panel and made a second card.  This section of the panel had blue and purple foil.  I used the same process of stenciling behind using Wilted Violet Distress Ink with my blender brush on this one.

 Once again a shot of both cards
CAS Watercolour and CAS Stencil

 

So if you were thinking of joining us in either challenge - now's the time to get it done!  Can't wait to see how you watercolor with black and red - and/or use foil with your stencils.  You don't have to use a laminator - there are other ways to use foil.  There are technique videos linked at the challenge.  Check out CAS Watercolour here -   check out CAS Stencil here!

Thanks for sticking with me for such a long post!

I'm linking my Sympathy Card to:

Fusion Card Challenge -  just the sketch
(although I did use red on the flower!)

 

 Creative with Stamps

 Water Cooler Wednesday

I'm linking my Wonderful Friend card to:
TIME OUT Challenges

 Try it On Tuesday
Share the Love

Watercolor Sympathy
Stamps: Wallpaper Art - Altenew, You are in our thoughts - Rubbernecker
Paper:  water color paper - Canson, White - PTI
Ink: Obsidian - Altenew
Accessories: Kuretake water color paints - Rose Madder Deep, Black, Cadmium Scarlet, water brush, water, heat tool.

Wonderful Friend Foil
Stamps:  Keep it Simple Mini Set: Friendship - PTI
Paper: White - PTI.
Ink:Obsidian - Altenew, Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass and Wiled Violet.
Accessories:  #78 Stencil - Aall and Create, Deco Transfer Gel and Deco Foil Rainbow Shattered Glass - Thermoweb, Pierced Feature Frame Dies - PTI, Royal Sovereign Laminator, foam dots.