Butterflies!

Isn't she something?  I collaged the background with various scraps of scrapbook paper using a gel medium.  I went over the whole background with Tea Dye Distress ink, then around the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I covered the entire background with a coat of Gel medium to seal the distress ink.  I pieced the lady using a photo I found on the Internet and Tim Holtz Caged Bird Die.  I cut the bird cage from chip board and covered it with embossing ink.  I coated it withe Recollections Pirate's Gold embossing powder and heated it.  I love the look of the Pirate's Gold!  Once I tried the lady to the cage, I thought it was a little too big, therefore I cut off the outer two bars of the cage.  Much better!  Then I added some legs that I found on some printable paper dolls that I found on the Internet.  I LOVE her!  Then I went through my stash and found all the butterflies.  I added the flowers.  I typed the quote in Microsoft Word, printed it, cut it into strips and colored them using Scattered Straw Distress Stains.  Once they were dry, I used a black Sarpie pen and drew a boarder around each and glued them down.  I think it turned out pretty nice.

Happy Halloween!

 

I haven't added anything to my blog since March!  Wow!  Spring came and I played in my garden, went on vacation and  dealt with other events in life.  As the cooler weather is coming so is the desire to be back in the craft room.  What better way to start than with Halloween.This was created with various images found on the internet, Tim Holtz Houses die, fence, cat, and bat from a Cricut cartridge.  Background was Distress inks with random stamping.  I had a lot of fun and love the Gargoyles on the house, the little trick or treater's and the skeleton man.

This page started as a big mess...but it turned out pretty good.

I love how this turned out,especially since I thought I was just going to rip this page out of my journal.  I don't even remember what my first attempt was, but it wasn't good!  So I gessoed the page to start over but then that looked terrible.  So I left it for a while contemplating whether I should give up on it or not.  Then I started playing with my Gelli plate and started thinking, what am I going to do with these beautiful prints. So I started by collaging some torn pieces to the background.

I also used modeling paste through a stencil and when it dried I rubbed over it with Inka Gold.  Then I used one of my Gelli prints and die cut it with the Sizzex Branch w/leaves.

 I used Tim Holts distress paints to color the berries on the branches.

 

I lightly touched the dauber of each color to the berry until I got the look I wanted. I punched two of the leaf branch die and cut and glued them to make the long stem.

 Then I used these two Martha Stewart edge punches to make the flower trim above the lace and for the leafy stems for the orange flowers.

I used Tim Holtz distress markers to color them.













I made the flowers using TH Tattered Flowers die and TH Tattered Flower Garland dies.  I secured them with a brad.  The butterfly was in my stash.  I made it a while ago.  My sentiment was hand lettered on a card I punched from the tag punch below.  I LOVE this punch and use it ALL the time.

I wrote the word Bliss using my Pitt pens and then I colored the tag by dragging it through Distress ink sprayed with water that I applied to my craft mat.  When it dried, I flicked it with water, stamped it with brown ink and a circle stamp.  I crumpled it up to distress it a little more then went over it with TH Distress Tea Dye and a blending tool so that the wrinkles would show a little better.  I went around the edge with TH Distress Walnut Stain.  I added a ribbon that I rubbed with TH Tea Dye.

The little girl with the bird is a picture I found on the Internet that I colorized using watercolor pencils and a water brush.  I edged the page with TH Tumbled Glass.

All in all, the page was saved and I like it!

Best Snow Day Ever!

I had the day off due to the snow storm and I had the best creative day ever.  This was so much fun to make.  I took two pictures, one with the flash and one without.  The flash shows the details but washes out some of the color.  The one without the flash is a little darker but you see the color a little better.

  I started with my background using Tim Holtz Distress Paint " scattered straw" (one of my favorite colors".  I added some stenciling using "wild honey" distress ink.  I don't know the name of the stencil (sorry).  Then I found the little girl in a stash of vintage photos and cut her out.

 I used Tim Holtz "Angel Wings" die and colored them with tumbled glass, used a Signo pen to add dimension and distressed the edges with "vintage photo" distress ink.  I found the bird and nest from a book about birds.  I scanned it and cut it out.

 

This is the picture I scanned.  It was too big to get the whole page.  But the bird and the nest were perfect for what I wanted to do.  The leaves were done using the stencil technique here.  This is a close up so you can see the texture.
 

I glued the girl, the wings and the nest together and let everything dry.  I used a heat tool on the texture paste leaves to help it along.  Once the texture paste dried, I sprayed them with Tim Holtz Adirondack spray "Meadow".  Then I glued the girl and nest to the page over top of the textured leaves. 

I punched a tag from scrapbook paper with old writing on it using the tag punch shown here.

Then distressed it with "tea dye".  I went around the edge with "walnut stain" but that didn't seem to make it pop so I used "black soot".  I glued a violet on that I had in my stash for a long time.  I either got them at Michael's or Joanne's. They are very fragile.  After the glue dried, I went over the whole tag with Tim Holtz "Rock candy" crackle paint.

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This is a close up of the tag.  You can see a little more detail.  It is reallllly beautiful.  I'm not sure the picture does it justice.  I stapled the tag with a scrap of old lace to the page.

The border at the top was using a Martha Stewart edge punch from scrapbook paper. I also used distress inks on it so that it blended with the page.  I cut the eggs from a picture in my stash.  I used "Pumice Stone" distress pen to go around things to help them stand out a bit.

The flowers were made using Tim Holtz "Tattered Flower Garland" die.  I cut them from white card stock and colored them with Tim Holtz distress Pens.

I LOVE how this page turned out.  Now I am inspired and have all these ideas in my head but it is back to work tomorrow.  Hopefully I can stay inspired till the next chance I get to play!!!!!

A little late with this post...

These are two pages that I did a couple of weeks ago, but a friend borrowed my camera so I couldn't get a picture.

The flash from the camera washed out the color a little.  I can't wait for winter to be over so that I can get natural lighting again.  I love this little girl.  The original photo is below.  I cut and pasted her into a Word document, sized the picture and printed it on card stock.  I did the same thing with the birds and the mushrooms.  The cage isTim Holtz "caged bird" die.  I embossed it with "aged silver" embossing powder.  Then I gave it a patina look by rubbing "Broken China" distress paint and then rubbing gold "rub n buff" randomly.  The leaf branches are from a Martha Stewart edge punch that I cut and colored with distress markers.  I added a flower that I made from the Tattered Flowers Die, cut from white card stock, colored with distress marks and attached with a brad.  I added buttons to the coat from "adhesive faux pearls" by "Recollections".  The background was created by gluing Tim Holtz tissue paper to the page. The page was then given a wash of color by spraying the page with water and  covering it using distress paint daubers.  I added some molding paste through a stincel in various areas.  I used a white Signo pen to outline some items and added the phrae "A bird's song is sweeter when he is free".  The doodles covered my phrase a little.

This was inspired from a pocket folder that my sister gave me.  When I was cleaning my work space I found the pocket and opened it to see what I had put in it.  Low and behold, it was a pocket full of posies that I punched from Tim Holtz "Tattered Flowers" die. I put them in the pocket to use at a later time.  Seeing them spill out onto my work space gave me the idea for this page.

Turned Out To Be A Good Day After All

I worked on this page today.  The House is cut from Cricut "Heritage" Cartridge.  I made this when I was visiting my sister in Florida a couple weeks ago.  I did the background using Distress inks Scattered Straw (The moon) Stormy Sky and Faded Blue Jeans (the sky) and Peeled Paint (the ground).  I stamped a willow tree, which didn't come out very well because the binding of my book prevented me from getting the stamp all the way down).  Then I cut out the stampotique guy that I colored a couple posts ago.  I had a set of little monster stamps that I bought on clearance and I stamped one on white card stock and colored him with markers.  I cut him out and glued him to the page.  Then I thought I would go for it and color outside the lines, which is very hard for me.  I dripped Faded Blue Jean reinker from the top of the page.  I sprayed it with water and let it drip.  What I failed to realize was that this picture was the back page to my tea pot lady and the ink bled through.  OH NO!

This is what my tea pot lady looks like now.  I would prefer that it didn't bleed through but I'm not too upset.  I kind of like it.

I cut the clock frame from Tim Holtz Mover's and Shaper's dies.  I colored the frame with my distress markers and then embossed the handle, the bells, the center of the hands and the feet with "aged silver" embossing powder.  Then I had some Tim Holtz ideology paper and found a page with clock faces on it and they fit perfectly.  So I cut one out and glued it to the back.  I love how it turned out even if I did get the embossing powder on the frame of the clock.  The butterfly was simply punched from a card that I did a while ago using aluminum foil and dry embossing it using Tim Holtz, Rivits, embossing folder.  Love both of these and I will find some project to use them on in the future.

This next project was pure experimentation.  I have been seeing all kinds of posts using the Gelli Plate.  I saw a video where someone used an alternative method here.  So I thought I would try using the Spellbinder's embossing pads that I just bought and see if it would work.

 These are the results.  The first picture was done by spreading blue and yellow acryilic paint on the mat using a brayer.  Then I place a stencil over the paint.  I placed a piece of paper over that and then smoothed over the paper with my hands concentrating on pressing through the stencil.  I then removed the paper and the stencil.  Then I took another sheet of paper and put it over the paint that was left with the impression of the stencil in the paint.  I again rubbed the back of the paper firmly with my hands.  The last print was simply taking the stencil with the left over paint and pressing it onto a sheet of paper.  Three different designs. pretty cool.  BUT, the rubber pads that I have are only 5 X 7.  How could I cover an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper?  I remembered that I had some old rubber placemats tucked away.....

This is the place mat and the paints that I used.

 I squeezed three blobs of paint on the mat.

 I spread the paint across the mat with a brayer.

  
I placed a stencil on the paint and then place a sheet of paper over the stencil.  I used cardstock this time. I rubbed the back of the paper trying to make sure I pressed into all the nooks and crannies of the stencil.

 This is the result.  It isn't the best.  I think there are two reasons why. 1. Using cardstock made it harder to press into the stencil and 2. The placemat wasn't as cushioned as the rubber mat.  I suppose that is the point of the Gelli plate.  It is soft enoght to allow the proper pressure to be applied to allow the paint to come through.

This is what the paint like after taking the stencil off.  I too another sheet of cardstock and placed it over this and again pressed down and rubbed over the back.

This is the result.  So pretty!

 Then I took the stencil that was in paint and placed it on a sheet of cardstock.  It went a little wonky because I was on the phone and working with one hand.

This is the result when I removed the stencil.  It is a way to work around not having a Gelli Plate and certainly adds a new dimension to creating backgrounds.  I took everything to my utility sink and washed them right away so that the paint wouldn't dry on them.  The brayer, the placemat and the stencil all cleaned up very well..

Madhatterz Tea Party

I had a lot of fun putting this page together.  It was inspired by coming across the lady with the teapot body.  I put that together a couple years ago and never did anything with it.  When I saw it, while going through some of my stash, I thought, it is about time she had some legs.  So I went through some of my paper doll collection and found the perfect legs for her.  However, she was a bit misproportioned.  Looking at her made me think of Alice in Wonderland's Madhatter's Tea Party.  So I started doing some image searches on google and found the wonderful picture of the rabbit here.  I found the teacup here  I tried to find the link for the tea party sign but I can't find it.  I have it pinned on my pinterest board but the link brings you to some UK shopping site.  Have no idea how that happened.  I pinned it so that I could refer back to it to give credit but..... I colored the rabbit and the teacup with distress markers (I really love these markers. They're so versatile).  the little birdies were from a teacup photo I found here
 
I created the background with pan pastels, stencils using distress inks, and some stamps. I printed the words "curiouser and curiouser" and cut them out and colored them with my distress markers.  Then I glued everything into place and outlined everything with a Pit Brush pen, to make it stand out.  I added a little doodling and there you have it....a page that makes me smile when I look at it.

 This is a technique that I saw a while ago on this link (http://kayskreativekorner.blogspot.com/2011/04/brick-texture-chipboard-tutorial.html) and I wanted to try it myself.  I finally found the materials and the time and here are my results.

I used more Stickles than it called for, as I covered the whole thing and the directions said to add it randomly.  I find that I'm not good at random.  It never seems to be enough.  As I dabbed it here and there, I kept thinking that it didn't look evenly random. LOL. So before I knew it, the whole thing was covered.  I took two pictures at slightly different angles, because I wasn't sure how well it would show up using a flash.  In the end, I really like it. It has the rustic, leathery look that I wanted and I can't wait to think of how I'm going to use this??????

Art

A doodle page from my Art Journal and a couple of backgrounds.  I have no idea what I will put on the two backgrounds but I sure do like how they turned out.

Working With What You Have.

I did the background on this page a few weeks ago and I hated it.  I was trying a method that I saw on the Internet and for some reason I chose gray as my main color and added barn red highlights.  It reminded me of a big boring ugly battleship.  So I decided to leave it for a few days and come back to see if I changed my mind..... I didn't.  Since I had some time today, I thought I would play with it and see if I could save the page.  I really wish I had taken a "before" picture.  It looks completely different from where it started.

I had no idea where I was going with it.  I started by adding some more colors of acrylic paint (turquoise and Ivory).  I tried some stenciling with spray inks but they seemed to just sit on top of the paint.  They didn't absorb. I finally sprayed some Dylusion ink and it took.  I stamped the bird because I thought he was cool and I was going to do some layering with other stamps (that didn't happen).  I added the lace down the side because...well, lace makes everything look prettier.  Next I stamped the lady on a scrap piece of card stock and colored her with water color pencils.  I stamped a crackle stamp with Sepia Archival Ink over the image.  I used a stencil  template and drew an oval around her and cut her out.  I distressed it using Tea Dye ink.  I placed her on the page and decided that more was needed.  So, I tore some newsprint scrapbook paper to frame her in.  I used Vintage Photo distress ink on it.  Next, I added the flower that I made a few days ago.  I tore paper for leaves and distressed them with Vintage Photo ink.  I doodled around the frame and the flower.  I hot glued the feathers using a piece of paper that I punched with a half inch punch.  Then I was looking for some type of quote or saying to put on the page.  I found this quote from Jane Eyre, "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."  I thought "perfect, this makes the page look like it was well thought out", when in fact it just evolved!

A Little Organization.

I decided that I needed to do a little organizing of my stash.  So I pulled out a shelf that my husband made for my son, to store his DVD's.  My son has since moved out and the shelf has been sitting in the garage collecting dust.  The original plan (for me) was to paint it white to match the other accessories in my room, but I just can't get myself to paint over the beautifully stained oak.  So, instead of staying in procrastination mode, I decided to use it "as is" and set it on top of an antique table in my craft room.

The table top is a little warped.  If you look real close, you can see the cardboard that I used to shim the bottom right side of the shelf, to stop it from wobbling.  Also, you can see the carpet squares that are intended to be used for the room (more procrastination).

 This is a close up of the top two shelves.  You can see my Tim Holtz dies on the left and some of my embossing folders on the right.

This is a picture of the bottom two selves.  The bottom shelf holds my cricut cartridges and the DVD cases that I use to store my loose stamps in.  I love it.  Now I can see all my stamps, which will help when I am working on projects.  I didn't realize I had as many stamps as I did!

Several Things I Have Been Playing With...

I have worked on a few things over the last couple of weeks and decided to post them all at once.

 First are the magnets that I made for my Dry Erase Board. You can find all kinds of tutorials for these on the Web.  They are the half marbles that you buy in the flower section of Michel's.  You use a 1/2 inch circle punch to cut out any picture or design paper that you like, glue it to the back of the marble with Glossy Accents, wait for it to dry and glue a magnet on the back.  You can use a glue gun for this.  I used the Glossy Accents since I had it out.  The marbles magnify the picture and give them a real cute look.  For these, I used the 1/2 inch punch as a template and drew circles, then drew a simple picture and colored them in with Sharpie markers. After they were colored in, I punched them, glued them and there you have it. It was very hard to get a good picture due to the reflection from the glass.

 Next a couple Photo Art Projects:

This probably looks familiar because I used this same lady and bird to do an ATC.  Here she is glued to chipboard and is a stand up decoration.

This just tickled my fancy.  I thought the little girl was adorable and I thought it was funny to have her holding fish.  I don't know about anyone else but it makes ME laugh every time I look at it.

Onto Some ATC'S:

I did the background on this with the Dylusion inks (Love them).  Then I stamped the image of the house and colored it in using sharpie markers.

 These are to finish out my ATC shelf from 7 Gypsies that I posted a couple posts back. In the one above, I was playing with embossing resist and layering.   I think it's cute but wish I had gone with a different background color.

 You can't see it but this is the word "Dream" from an old Dictionary page.  I did some doodling and used some old lace that I distressed with Tim Holtz "Vintage Photo" distress ink. I glued some black lace and some punched flowers and stuck a bow made of baker's twine.

This was inspired because my sister likes owls. So what better than a whole collage of owls?  Then I used Washi Tape to finish off the sides and give it a border.

While I was doing Google searches for owls, I came across this guy and he just looked like he had bed head and wasn't happy about it.
 

 I love the vintage feel of this one.  I cut out an image that I had of some violets and glued it to a background of some old newsprint scrapbook paper.  I used "Vintage Photo" distress ink around the edges and glued some blue lace down.  The flowers were from some white trim that I had.  I used Tim Holtz distress ink daubers and colored them "Victorian Velvet".

Next Are A Hodge Podge Of Items:

I was simply playing with some new stencils that I had just bought and thought that this came out beautiful.  Unfortunately the photograph doesn't show the gorgeous richness of the colors.

I made this because I watched the following YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP2kGHQGTjU.  It is amazing.  I didn't use the Tim Holtz "Artful Dwellings" die cut, but I did use the brick embossing folder and the Martha Stewart lace border punch for the roof. I cut my own house and roof by hand.  Then embossed it with the brick embossing folder and inked it using the Tim Holtz blending tool and vintage photo distress ink.  I cut the windows and door from some tags that I had inked previously.  I used a black marker to go around the edges and frame in the windows and then a white paint pen to go around the outside of each.  I had a spider web stamp that I used in the bottom two windows.  I love how it turned out.  Now I just have to figure out what project to use it in.

 This is an ATC where I folded aluminum foil around the card and then embossed it in my Cuttle Bug.  I then painted it with black acrylic paint and wiped it off with a paper towel before it dried. This is actually the wrong side of the card.  If you look real close you can see the folds of the aluminum foil.  BUT, the numbers in the upper right corner are embossed correctly.  Below shows my mistake.....

This is the front of the card. Notice the numbers at the top left.  They are the mirror image because I didn't pay attention to which side was going to receive the embossing when I put it in the folder.  Oh well, I still love the metal look to it.

Playing in my journal:

I was practicing drawing eyes and this is what the page turned into.  The eyes are colored with Distress markers and sharpies (the sharpies bled through the back of the paper).  I colored the background in with water color pencils and then used my water brush.

 

 This journal page was inspired by a picture I saw from Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/repacheco/5508119472/in/set-72157614255985873/ and thought that I would try to draw the flowers.  Although it doesn't look much like the original, I do like how it turned out.

 This is a new Tim Holtz Alterations die cut that I bought.  I just can't seem to put the bird in the cage.  He NEEDS to fly free.  Anyway ,I embossed his wing with a Cuttlebug folder. and then distressed it with distress inks and a blending tool.

Making Flowers:

These are two flowers that I made after watching this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51xEsr5HtEg  My flowers didn't come out anything like hers but I am still happy with them.  I obviously did not have the same flower punch that she used.  I tried her method with two different punches that I did have and put a button in the center of the bigger one and a brad in the center of the smaller one.  I am sure that I can find a fun project to use these in.