Faux mosaic technique

I almost forgot about the 12 Tags of 2012.  But I've had the theme running through my mind for several weeks.  Guess if it was completed in my head I thought it should magically appear completed on my blog!  lol

Tim's Trick-or-Treat stamps were stamped in Jet Black archival ink and Black Soot distress ink.  The spider is from Studio 490's Botanical Art and was also stamped in Jet Black archival ink.  Not sure what brown distress inks I used; they were already well loved on my blending tool.

Love those mini dies!  The cat was cut from black cardstock; the pumpkin from grungeboard.

I chose the Seasonal Paper Stash for my mosaic pieces.  Sure glad I had the embossing powder Tim used...what a fabulous look!

NO stamps

Got your attention, didn't I?  Just wanted to share how you can make a card with dimension using NO stamps.  That's right.  Not a one.  But I did create my own stencils using punches and die cuts.  I used distress inks and Adirondack markers for coloring, Micron black and Sakura white gel pens for shading and highlighting and a torn piece of paper for the clouds.  Ta da!

The alpha die is Tim's Alphabetical Sizzix decorative strip, the leafy stem is an old Sizzix die and the 2 circles are just punches.  The eye, beak and legs were drawn by hand.

Many, many years ago I was introduced to the Gingerwood bulletin board.  It's an on-line forum for stampers around the world to share, discuss, etc. their fondness for rubber, inks, etc.  It now offers a scrapping board, a cricut board as well as links to members' blogs, etc.  You do have to register but that's because of so much spam that was generated a few years ago.  Any way, one of the members started posting periodic challenges.  You send her a pic of your art and she'll put them in an album so the art can be voted on by others.  No one knows the artist's name until after the voting is over.  Lots of fun and another way to share your creativity.


So, what punches or dies do you have that would make great stencils?  Bet you have more than you thought!

Grungy ATCs

I've now taken 2 ATC classes from Bobbi at The Scrapbooking Studio in Bloomington, IL.  In January the ATCs were inspired by Tim Holtz and featured many of his Sizzix dies and embossing folders and Idea-ology.  Of course you can't forget about the Ranger inks and kraft core'dinations cardstock, kraft glassine paper or tissue tape.  Yum!  Several techniques were used on the bases - lots of learning going on!

Last Saturday the class of 12 included my good friend, Lori (also list owner of the EWV Yahoo group).  Isn't always more fun to make art with friends?  This class used Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 stamps and art parts, and a stamp or two from Tim Holtz.  Some of the ATC bases were cut from the kraft Fun Day collection that belongs to My Minds Eye.  Ranger inks, grungepaper and more kraft core'dinations, and some Idea-ology were used to embellish the ATCs.

Bobbi is the manager of the Bloomington store (there's another location in Moline, IL) and is full of great ideas!  I'll be taking another class with her on Saturday - making a vintage bracelet.  I saw it in the 'idea' stage and couldn't wait to sign up. 

Thank you, Bobbi, for letting me post the pictures of your ideas for some awesome ATCs!

Not only did I leave the store with the ATCs did my part to stimulate the economy with my purchase of new Studio 490 stamps, My Minds Eye cardstock and a Ranger archival ink pad. 

Note of discovery:  See the spool on the 3rd ATC (Wendy collection-first row, far right)?  I think it looks extra vintage-y and grungy.  The spool is 2 layers of chipboard.  I let the glue ooze out and left it there to dry.  When you ink over it the color is resisted but stained a bit.  It looks as if the paper is torn or sanded but it's not.  I've used it lots of times and it never ceases to amaze me how it ages something so easily. 

Here fishy fishy

You know what they say...go with the mojo when it's flowing!  Lori challenged the EWV yahoo group to use 2 ruler pieces as a roof on a project.  The inspiration piece can be found on the cover of Wendy's third book.  Lot's going on in this piece but it actually went together quite quickly and easily...not always the case, you know.

Love, love, LOVE Wendy's Art Parts!!!  The large square frame, the fish and the rulers are all art parts. 

The background on the inside layer was first covered with Tumbled Glass and Broken China distress stains.  The bubble background was stamped in Aquamarine archival ink then again in Broken China and covered with clear embossing powder.  Heat set; spray with Perfect Pearls Blue Patina Mist.

I haphazardly whitewashed the frame with Picket Fence distress stain.  Heat set; stamped the wood piece background in clear and clear embossing powder.  Walnut Stain distress ink was rubbed all over the frame.  The sentiment was stamped in Vermillion archival ink on all four sides; heat set.  Matte MultiMedium was used to hold the frame to the background.  Set aside to dry.

The rulers were stamped with Jet Black archival ink before applying orange and green distress stains (whatever was on the blending tools) and edged with Walnut Stain distress ink.  The 3/16" hole was punched using the Crop-a-dile and a 3/16" eyelet was put in the top layer.  The rulers were glued with MM; set aside to dry.

The fish were stamped in Jet Black archival ink.  Wild Honey, Scattered Straw, Barn Door, Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass distress stains were smeared on the non-stick craft sheet.  Using a water brush I colored the fish and edged with Walnut Stain distress ink.  The top fish was sprayed with Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mist while the bottom fish was sprayed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist.

I used Tim's Tattered Banners die to cut out the specimen labels.  The labels were inked with Jet Black archival ink.  Pumice Stone distress stain was smeared on both then edged with Walnut Stain distress ink.  I crumpled them a bit, poked holes in the ends and then in the art part.  Even Tim's tiny fasteners were too long so I cut off their legs (ouch!) and used MM to glue them down.

The final touch was creating the fish hooks from eye pins.  Once again, MM to the adhesive rescue!

The close-up pic gives you a better feel for the colors I used.  The background is much more blue and the rulers much more brown than the top photo.

Studio 490 stamps:  Remnants of Art, Art For Men, Evidence Of Art, A Form Of Art, She Created Art, Call It Art, Art Inspiration

Note:  I pulled my tag from the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge and entered this piece instead.

Spring plaid

I wasn't gonna...I started making the Grungy Monday tag with the wrong inspiration piece, husband has bronchitis for the 2nd time this year, the weather is too gorgeous to be inside...you get the picture.  Life!  But then something happened and quick as can be this all came together while driving to a Wendy-inspired ATC class (more on that in another post next week).  Since this week's challenge over at Simon Says Stamp & Show is 'anything goes' I'll let this tag work for it, too.

The inspiration for the tag is from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas 2009, Day 3.  I opted for spring colors to give the piece a lighter feel.  After all, spring starts Tuesday!  The recycled packaging from some of the dies was cut with a butterfly die then colored with the alcohol inks and attached to the bow with the tiny stapler.  I know it's hard to see but it's there and it's wings were folded so it's 3-D.

Ranger products:  Jet Black, Coffee archival inks; Citrus, Cloud Blue, Shell Pink, Sunset Orange, Espresso alcohol inks; Blending Solution; Matte Medium; whatever orange and brown distress inks were on the blending tools

Tim Holtz:  sentiment stamp (Stuff To Say), tag background (Spring Sprung), wild grasses (Spring Sprung; mini rabbit, mini butterfly Sizzix dies; mini stapler; recycled packaging (butterfly on bow)

Misc.:  Hero Arts paper (rabbit); Martha Stewart silk ribbon; Sakura Gelly Roll white pen; pom pom, 1/8" narrow ribbon from Michaels; Bazzill Just The Edge cardstock strip

Something different

I've been dabbling in making jewelry when my mojo has gone astray.  These pieces were inspired by some I saw in kits either in a book or a local store.  I've also been doing a lot of reading, enjoying March Madness (love college hoops!), and working on one of several family trees.  It's always nice to have some project or activity to keep you busy and let your mind wander.  You never know where you might find inspiration.

My photography skills aren't the best, sorry about that.  Between my vision and my unsteadiness it's always something.

The bottom pair of earrings use Vintaj blanks and one of their embossing folders.

Grungy Monday on a Saturday

The first part of my week seems to be filled with things other than being in my room and making art.  And if an idea hasn't hit me by Friday, I'm probably not going to have one hit Saturday either.  This was nearly the case this week but I remembered I hadn't put ink to one of Tim's latest stamp sets, Roadtrip, so I sat down and thought about the inspiration tag that can be found on Day 2 of the 2007 tags of Christmas. This is the theme for Grungy Monday 38...ack, I'm running out of display space!

Ranger:  Jet Black, French Ultramarine archival inks; Weathered Wood, Pumice Stone, Black Soot, Gathered Twigs distress inks; Snow Cap, Lake Mist dabbers; clear embossing powder;

Tim stuff:  license plate card stock, game spinner, mini stapler

Misc.:  plastic packaging (recycled), #8 tag

I used the Route 66 sign in the same way Tim did the snowflakes on his tag.  I couldn't make out the sign on the tag so I carefully and lightly stamped the image using French Ultramarine archival ink.  I had initially removed the ink once I had the sign cut out.  Lesson learned:  do this with a light touch in the beginning and you won't have to do it a 2nd time.  I attached it using the mini stapler. 

Not being a car buff I have no idea what make, model or year this vehicle is but I do remember having a similar one in the family when I was growing up.  If any one knows the particulars about this vehicle or the train in his other new set, I'd love to have the info. 

Using the ol' noggin

I wasn't going to participate in the recent Grungy Monday (wearable art) and Simon Says Stamp & Show challenges (Idea-ology).  I've been doing some dabbling in other artistic areas and working diligently on my family trees.  But two ideas popped into my head and wouldn't let go.  It was probably best to try at least one of them so I could move on.  Once the idea was formulated I realized it would also qualify for the Clearly For Art challenge on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo group. 

Recently Wendy had demonstrated her technique to create a metallic looking embellishment using Black Clearly For Art.  I also tried it on the white and clear versions of Clearly For Art and loved the end results with them just as much.  Possibly more because I'm not  black & silver girl but more gold and copper with rusts and oranges.  While Tim's Idea-ology flowers are fun to use on a project, creating custom metallic lightweight flowers is even more so.

(Please look beyond my gray hairs and unruly curls!)

Tim's Sizzix dies (tattered florals) cut the CFA like butter!  Even with all the glue and crackle paint on it.  First I measured a piece of clear CFA for the base of the headband.  After coloring it using Wendy's technique I stamped one her text stamps (A Form Of Art) using Jet Black Archival ink.  I tried using Claudine Hellmuth's Matte Medium to adhere it to the band but ended up using 527 Multi-Purpose Cement on the ends.

On white CFA I colored a scrap piece with the same technique then stamped 4 of Wendy's roses (Dimensional Rose Art) and 2 leaves (Dreams Of Art) in JBA ink and cut them out.  I used the black CFA and Wendy's technique for the large and small flowers.  I heated the CFA to shape my layers then glued everything together with the 527 mpc.  I wear a headband nearly every day so I needed real staying power with flexibility.

Ranger:  Jet Black Archival ink; Clearly For Art (clear, white, black); Glue N' Seal; Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint; Gold, Silver, Copper, Pearl Alcohol Ink Mixatives; Pool, Ginger, Rust, Oregano, Meadow, Latte, Butterscotch alcohol inks; Blending Solution

My second idea is to make a mask using the Clearly For Art.  I'm thinking Mardi Gras or Halloween.   What do you think?