18 pieces down

Week 9...continuing with the altered puzzle piece challenge.

I didn't look at the completed pieces before I started these two.  I used the same 'by the sea' theme and colors last week.  Sheesh.

My collection of embossing pastes only includes white crackle, no clear, so I used Distress Crackle Paint (Clear Rock Candy).  Wish I would have had stamped the map to cover more of the piece; oh well.

Here's what I used to alter my puzzle pieces:  Stampers Anonymous CS124 Warehouse District stamps; Stampers Anonymous stencils (Splatters, Bubble); Ranger distress stains (Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac); Sea Brights ( Pool, Purple Twilight); archival inks (Aquamarine, Deep Purple, Jet Black, Watering Can); distress stickles (Antique Linen); Studio 490 crackle embossing paste; Sizzix mini airplane; My Sentiments Exactly (H179); Hero Arts Printer's Type alpha stamps; paper starfish (gift from The Funkie Junkie)

Let's just sit and play

Here are 3 tags I created recently featuring some techniques I'd seen and wanted to try.



Glue 'N Seal is a wonderful product to adhere old book pages to tags...no bubbles, dries flat...just fabulous.  I gave the page a hit or miss coat of white paint; dried it then added blue distress ink.  Once satisfied, I wiped off the blue ink from the white paint (acts as a resist).  The daisy was stamped in Jet Black archival ink and I quickly added superfine black embossing powder over the image; heat emboss.  More distress inks were used to color the daisy.  The background stamp was covered with Fern Green archival ink and sporadically stamped around the tag.  Wendy's black embossing paste was used with her Classic Words stencil; let air dry.  Using her Sunburst stencil I colored in the rays with yellow and orange distress inks.  Mustard Seed Distress Stickles was added.  Once dry I drew around the daisy and sunburst with the graphite pencil and used my finger to smudge the lines to create shadow and definition.  A distressing tool was run around the edges before brown distress ink was added for dimension.                  

On the 2nd tag I smeared brown distress paint with an old brush; let dry then topped with various brown distress inks.  I then ran it through the Sizzix Wood Planks embossing folder; Walnut Stain Distress Ink was used on the raised portions.  From brown scraps I cut a rectangle and an oval and edged both with gold paint.  From the rectangle I cut Sizzix Celebration Words: Block and backed it with a black rectangle.  From scraps of brown and black cardstock I die cut Sizzix Friendship Words: Script.  Sizzix mini female bust was cut from black cardstock and adhered to the oval.

On tag 3 I just started pulling and playing.  I pulled out the Scribbles, Splotches and Wildflower stencils by Tim Holtz.  Using mini distress ink pads I colored the Scribbles stencil, misted it and the tag, then placed the tag on the stencil and pressed firmly to transfer the ink to the tag.  Heat set or air dry.  I placed the Splotches over the dry tag and added white distress paint in some of the splotches.  Once dry I drew around them with a graphite pencil and smudged the lines to create depth.  Over this I placed the Wildflower stencil and covered it with Texture Paste.   After it air-dried I colored the paste with distress markers and pads.  Shadows were created by using the graphite pencil at the base of the flowers and leaves and the left sides of the stems.  I drew faint lines around the tag using the graphite pencil and smudged them with a damp fingertip.  'Giggle' was stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink and rub-ons were added.  What about those butterflies?  Black cardstock, archival inks and powders...a technique courtesy of Wendy Vecchi.  Very cool and soooo many color combinations!

 

All in all I'd say it was a rather productive play session, wouldn't you?

Still puzzled

It's week 8 of the Altered Puzzle Challenge hosted by Claudine Criner.  Her inspiration pieces were simple to create but pack quite a punch with color and texture.

Imagine...HVAC tape; Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Bricked' embossing folder; Ranger distress paints (Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral); Ranger archival ink (Potting Soil); Idea-ology (hitch fastener, token, mini fasteners); All My Memories word tag; corrugated cardboard scrap

My puzzle piece was a bit thick for the hitch fastener so I carved a bit of the chipboard out of the back...now it will lay flat and screw on correctly.

By the sea...Dylusions Ink Sprays (Vibrant Turquoise, Calypso Teal); Jet Black Archival Ink; Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Waves' embossing folder; lighthouse charm; black Sharpie

I inked up the embossing folder and used it like a stamp...pretty clever, huh?

I can't tell you how much I look forward to creating these mini pieces of art...just a lovely way to jumpstart my week!  Thank you, Claudine!

Puzzled...

Here's my entry for the 7th week of the altered puzzle piece challenge.  If you remember, my theme is 'These are a few of my favorite things' and travel is one of things I love to do.

The die I chose to use as my stencil was large enough so I could use it on both pieces; the first as a stencil and the 2nd as is.  The Globe (Sizzix) thinlits die was cut from Tim Holtz distressables collection (correspondence) cardstock.

For my 11th and 12th pieces I used:  Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint (Charcoal Black, Blank Canvas); Jet Black Archival Ink; Cloudy Blue Sea Shells ink; brown distress ink; stamps (Catslife Press for the sentiment, JD Impressions for the car and vintage Hero Arts stamp for the plane).

Traveling around the U.S.A. is on my bucket list (only a few states I haven't seen) as is an African safari.  One day.....

Wendy's latest and greatest technique!

Have you seen her newest tutorial?  Oh my stars...it's FABULOUS!

Here's the inspiration for the first sample I created.  These are Rustic Black Hills flagstones and now create a winding path through our newly overhauled backyard of all hardscape materials.

And here are the 4 samples I created in a manner of minutes.

1 - Tree Branch ink/powder; Potting Soil, Tiger Lily, Watering Can inks

2 - Orange Blossom ink/powder; Tree Branch, Watering Can inks

3 - Buttercup ink/powder; Leaf Green, Fern Green, Tree Branch inks

4 - Pink Peony ink/powder; Tea Rose, Hydrangea inks

 

Stop whatever you're doing and go try this technique out NOW! 

 

And guess what?  Overheating the piece created additional visual appeal (for me).

Life is good

It's been a few weeks of bird stuff around here so I thought this robin was quite appropriate to grace my version of Tim's June tag of 2015.

-- My nest of 4 robins fledged...got to witness 3 of them making that first leap of faith...and 2 several leaps of faith as they left our yard. 

-- Two days ago I found a house wren's egg on the ground...so tiny I thought it might have belonged to a hummingbird but I was wrong.  Those things must really be tiny!

-- We acquired a rooster for our backyard...he's not real but very handsome now that he's been cleaned up and treated to a new coat of many colors.

Here's what I used to create my tag:  birds in flight stamp from 'Lost and Found'; life is good from 'Simple Sayings'; and faux zigzag stitching from 'Spring Sprung'.  To create my plaid I used a monochromatic color palette of Fossilized Amber, Rusty Hinge and Spiced Marmalade.  The background is Twisted Citron...what a bright and cheery green...didn't think I was going to like it so much but I was wrong.  What a breath of fresh air!  The words were stamped in Jet Black archival ink; the birds in Watering Can.  The bird and branch (Sizzix) were cut from chipboard and corrugated chipboard...several distress inks made them pop with color.  Love the green strip behind the banner...it's kitchen towel that was used to clean up my spray box.  A few rub-ons at the bottom and a snippet of twine at the top...I'm pleased.

Whoa...just looked at the tag and it looks like the bird is wearing a crown!  Not planned and it's not a crown but one of the birds from a second stamping.

Meet my new backyard companion

He didn't always look this handsome.  No siree.  And he wasn't always mine.  Our backyard neighbors just sold their house and didn't take him.  I met the new neighbors and said I was interested in him if they weren't.  Next thing I knew he was being handed over the fence and into my waiting hands.  Yay!

 

 

 

You see, he used to look like this all over...but worse.  Much, much worse.  Of course, I was so excited to make him all new that in my haste I forgot to take a picture.  Oh, the best of plans!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took him outside and gave him a healthy dose of indoor/outdoor flat black spray paint.  He has a few holes, cracks in his foundation, and broken feathers but they're much harder to detect now.

 

 



To the rescue came all my Ranger distress paints...over a dozen in all (yellows, oranges, reds, greens and browns).  Using my finger I swiped over all the raised areas applying the colors where I felt they would be naturally.  Once dry, I then applied various brown and gray archival inks to tone the vibrancy and to make him look a bit weathered. 

He's now standing proud out by the windmill in our backyard.  In time I'm sure I'll move him around, maybe have him watch over the hen & chicks that are planted in an old chicken feeder (another cast-off).

By the way, he's about the size he would be in real life.  But now he needs a name.  Any suggestions?

It's puzzling...

Week 6 of the altered puzzle challenge.

Ingredients:  Spellbinders Harvest 1 die (S3-003); Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint (Yellow Pastel, Altered Orange, Blank Canvas, Charcoal Black); Tim Holtz Distress Paint (Barn Door, Twisted Citron); Tim Holtz stencil (Harlequin); A Stamp In The Hand pear text (N-1766); My Sentiments Exactly (B352 word); Jet Black Archival Ink

Ingredients: Sizzix Tattered Florals Die; Clearly For Art (white); Ranger Archival Inks (Buttercup, Dandelion, Tiger Lily, Orange Blossom, Monarch Orange); Tim Holtz Distress Paint (Evergreen Bough, Mowed Lawn); Tim Holtz Distressables decorative paper; decorative paper clip; Ranger Orange Blossom Embossing Powder; brad; Idea-ology foliage; gold metallic marker