Gesso resist ala Studio 490

I hear tell that at a retailers convention last week Tim taught them about using gesso as a resist.  I've seen several of the retailers since post their tags as well as brief descriptions of the technique.  I tend to have a heavy hand with gesso but I'm still pleased with the end result.

Once the gesso was dry I scribbled distress stains over it until I was happy satisfied then dried the tag again.  Using Studio 490 stamps, the solid flower image was colored with distressed markers, huffed on, then stamped.  The sentiment and stitched line were stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink (c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y flipped the image upside down); the dots were stamped in Olive Archival Ink but sprinkled with Ancient Gold Embossing Powder before it dried.  I went around the tag with a Black Micron Pen.  A simple black twill bow and voila!

Studio 490 stamps:  All About Art, Art-fully Said, Just Sew Artsy

Stamping over a stencil

Have you ever tried this technique?  Obviously some stencils work better than others...you need to be able to see what you stamped...at least a little bit.  In my case, only very little.  Sigh.  But it's there, really it is!  The challenge on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo group is to feature stamping over a stencil. 

The background colors were achieved by trying to follow Tim Holtz' April 12 Tags of 2013 technique - marbleizing the new distress paints.  Mine blended instead of marbleizing but put the tag aside for future use.  Well, today's the future! 

I applied Studio 490 white embossing paste through the Studio 490 'Lovely Leaves' stencil, flipping it over for one of the images.  Once dry I colored the leaves with markers; let dry then replaced the stencil and stamped background text (Lowercase Art) in Olive Archival Ink over the stencil.  To clean the archival ink from the stencil you can use rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer.

More images from the background stamp were rolled on to the tag in various places.  I also adhered drywall screen tape in spots and went over that with red distress ink.  The sentiment (Lowercase Art) was stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink; both ovals were cut using Spellbinder dies.  The key was cut with an older Sizzix die.

Love, love, LOVE the Wendy rose!  I'll never forget the first class I took of Wendy's..make this rose.  Using another 'botched' tech tag (or 2) I stamped 4 roses of both sizes on the back.  Once cut and shaped they were glued down with Multi-Medium (Matte).  The other flower is a Gingko Leaf Punch (Punch Bunch) and a Sparkle Punch (Punch Bunch).  Kind of reminds me of a pansy.

More rain on tap for the weekend and next week (heavy sigh)...so I should have more time in my creative space to try this technique again. 

Live your destiny

Here it is mid April and I'm finally able to really play with Tim's new distress paints by Ranger.  His April tag for the 12 Tags of 2013 features them and getting them to marbleize on different substrates.  Not sure this is my cup of tea and it took plenty of tags to even get one I was fairly pleased with.  Oh well...I now have plenty I can use as bases for future projects.

#8 tag; TH: stamps (Nature's Moments), idea-ology, tissue tape, fragment, plastic alphabet, corner, jump ring, tag, mini safety pin; Ranger: archival ink, distress paints, distress stains; Studio 490: Clearly For Art; silk ribbon

You can follow Tim's blog post for details.  I did use the same technique on the fragment as I did the metal pieces.  The paint spread in such a way as to look like one of the weedy flowers so I used that as a dimensional piece over a stamped one.  Bet that won't happen again any time soon!

I'm anxious to use other colors...the red one I tried came out pink overall...a very muddy mess...no marbling.  This technique will require some more trial and effort on my part but I can see using it again...once I've mastered it!

'L' is for leaf

Have you used your masks and stencils lately?  Seems like they're all the rage lately.  Over on the Inspiration Emporium blog they've issued a challenge for them.  One lucky winner will be randomly chosen from all the entries to win a $50 gift certificate to the store.  Are you in?  I am...

I don't honestly remember what the background mediums are on this tag, nor the colors.  However, I do know that Bundled Sage distress paint is on top...I used it to mute the base colors since I don't care for the color in this medium and this seemed like a good way to use it.

At the top of the tag I've used a Studio 490 stencil with translucent embossing paste mixed with a drop or 2 of Peeled Paint reinker.  I tapped the paste with my palette knife while the stencil was still in place.  The added dimension makes for interesting texture.  Tim's alpha masks spell out the word 'leaf'.  You can barely see The Crafters Workshop leaf stencil (pinkish-red) all around the word. 

#8 tag; TH alpha masks; Sizzix tattered leaves die; TCW: Mini Leaf Frame Stencil; Studio 490: Lovely Leaves stencil; Dreamweavers: Translucent Embossing Paste; Ranger: distress paints, distress reinker, clear rock candy crackle paint, Claudine Hellmuth studio paint; Stampendous marble cube stamp; white sharpie; black micron pen; paper tape; chipboard letter

Masks and stencils...they're not just for journals!

Savor the moment

Have you tried using Studio 490 metallic embossing pastes over dye ink sprays?  Or over any other medium?  It's really cool because it often picks up the color under it and gives the embossing paste a different look.  The white, silver and gold will all work but with slightly different results.  It also depends on the base color and its intensity.  Try it, I'm sure you'll like it!  You can check out Britta's blog for some really cool examples.  And there are plenty going into the challenge folder...if you're a member you can see them.

The latest challenge on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo group is to try this technique for yourself.  Not only are the embossing pastes dimensional but colorful.  They dry quickly so you don't have to wait a long time to continue working on your art piece.  Here I've created a tag...I'd love for this to be the view of my window from the street.  At the moment, I definitely don't have golden raindrops and flowers a plenty...only gray skies and heavy rains that are beating down what few flowers I do have in bloom.

I inked up the flowers using distress paints.  I doodled around them with a black pen.  The flower art part was covered with Picked Raspberry distress paint then overstamped with a background stamp using Tarnished Silver distress paint. 

#8 tag; Studio 490: Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend stencil, gold embossing paste, stamps (Art is Therapeutic, Art Colors Life, My Kind Of Art), art part; Ranger: eggplant colorwash, distress paints, metal foil tape, archival ink; canvas mesh; black micron pen; buttons; chipboard; Sizzix: pediments die, gridlock embossing folder; Tsukineko spray inks (don't care for them!)

Last week..lots of rain and gray skies...this week same forecast and next week's is shaping up to be more of the same.  Hopefully we'll no longer be in a drought from the past 2 years!  Can't be outside so might as well clean off the table so I can play some more!

Allerton Park in April

Allerton Park is one of Illinois's amazing parks and is a National Natural Landmark.  If you've never been there, what are you waiting for?  You don't need an invitation to witness all the beauty you'll find within the grounds.  Flora, fauna, special gardens, etc. await you.  Deer are frequent visitors, especially at dawn and dusk.  Butterflies adore all the floral displays, seasonal and wild.  This is definitely a place to put your life on pause and soak up what nature has to offer.

I've tried to encompass the beauty that can be found there on my art piece that I'll be submitting to Ranger Ink for their Seasonal Color Palette challenge.  Yes, I was one of the lucky winners in the March color palette challenge...maybe I'll be lucky two months in a row!

#8 tag; Ranger:  archival ink, distress stains, distress paints, distress markers, Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints, rock candy glitter; Spellbinders die; Sizzix: TH Tattered Flower Garland, mini butterfly, mini deer, Pennants dies; Studio 490: stencils, embossing paste; The Crafters Workshop: Mini Leaf Frame Stencil; Stampers Anonymous: TH Artful Things stamp set; chipboard; card stock

Special find:  I discovered that Rock Candy Distress Dry Glitter will adhere to the distress paint in the wet stage.  Once dry, the glitter does not flake off!  Pretty cool, huh?

April showers

Springtime in the midwest...rain, thunderstorms, tornadoes.  So far we've had all 3 but no severe impact, just some localized flooding.  I'm guessing we've licked the drought issues from the past 2 years. 

Here's a simple card I put together using Tim Holtz, Sizzix and Ranger products.  I found the sheet music for 'The Umbrella Man' on the internet somewhere and thought it was the perfect background.  The base card is kraft, the next layer is light blue and was texturized using an older Sizzix embossing plate of raindrops.  Umbrella man was cut from black cardstock.


Stay safe this spring!

Di(e)orama

Recently I had to stop in at our local Sprint store and saw a tabletop display* that caught my eye.  I told my husband I could make that using Tim's Sizzix dies and embossing folders.  He asked why I wanted to recreate the display.  Huh?  "Because I can!"

The internal display is roughly 3.5" h x 5" w; the external frame and embellishments bring the dimensions to approximately 6"h x 7" wide x 1.5" d.  In between the 6 layers within the shadowbox are spacers ranging from 1/16" deep to 3/8" deep.

Ingredients:  core'dinations (kraft core, distress); Sizzix (on-the-edge dies: On The Fence, Townscape, Tree Line - negative & positive pieces, mini pinking for the grass), (decorative strip dies: Alphabetical, Tattered Banners),  (dies: Reindeer Flight, Bird Branch), (embossing folder: Rays); Ranger: Claudine Helmuth sticky back canvas, distress inks, distress stains, Stickles, Multi-Medium; Idea-ology (corners); Martha Stewart hydrangea punch

I'll be entering this piece into the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge where 'Absolutely Anything Goes!'


Just so you know, I wasn't sure this piece would actually come to life so the back is less than attractive!  lol

I don't throw anything away...here I recycled a cracker box and a manilla folder.

*The display was roughly 2' square and 4" high, made of corrugated paper, and had a similar layout as my diorama (shining sun, trees, buildings) - something to do with them being eco-friendly.  Wish I'd taken a picture.  Sigh.

Be a designer of dreams

It's time once again for another challenge on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo group.  The current challenge ends April 9th and must feature Ranger's Distress Embossing Powder as well as at least one Studio 490 stamp.  Sometimes I look at a set of stamps and don't see a correlation between the images.  The set, Botanical Art, is one that has always confused me...German text, spider, flourish, a flower, and a sentiment.  So I challenged myself to use all the images on my challenge piece.  I was successful and pleased with the results.  So perhaps there's more correlation than I thought...I just need to think about the bigger picture.

My #8 tag was a leftover from a 'clean off the craft mat' where inks and sprays had made a mess.  I stamped the German text in Vermillion Archival Ink; the spider in Jet Black Archival Ink and the flourish in Olive Green Archival Ink.  A white Sharpie accents the flourish. 

I distressed the edges of the tag with my scissors then edged the tag with black acrylic paint.  The silk ribbon was colored with various distress stains, crumpled, then left to dry.  The sentiment was stamped in JBAI onto the smaller piece of ribbon and attached to the tag using Tim's tiny stapler.  The silk ribbon at the top was treated in the same manner but German text was stamped onto it using Vermillion Archival Ink.

The center piece of attention is where I used Fired Brick and Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Powders.  The flower was stamped onto another tag that was also used to clean off my craft mat once upon a time.  (See, you don't need to throw everything away!  lol) This layer was also distressed and had black acrylic paint added to its edges. 

In my scraps I found the two number 5s.  (I told you I don't throw much away!) The reddish one had been die cut (Word Play) kraft core while the black one (Typeset) was cardstock.  The red one was sanded; the black one was edged with a white Sharpie and covered with Glossy Accents.

Do you think I can design a journal page from this tag?  Hmmmm.....