Super Bowl 51

It's Super Bowl Sunday!  The Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots are meeting at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas to determine who's the better team this year.  I've never been a fan of the Patriots, and that goes even more so for Tom Brady.  You can do this, Falcons!!!

This card has red and gold fireworks going off while Matt Ryan, Atlanta's quarterback, has the game-winning football in front of him.

Stampers Anonymous:  CMS212 Bird Crazy

Sizzix:  660954 Bird Crazy, Ticket Strip, Typeset, Football & Helmet, Grass, Snow/sand mound (the last 3 old yellow dies but still have plenty of use left in them!)

Ranger:  Jet Black & Red Geranium archival inks, Shabby Shutters & Tumbled Glass distress inks

black, brown & white cardstock..Uniball Signo white gel pen...Micron black pen...ColorBox Gold Pigment ink...Hero Arts Printer's Type & Lower Case alpha stamps...Art Impressions H-1100

Time is...

Yes indeed, time for another challenge from the lovely Linda who's hosting the 3rd round of Compendium of Curiosity challenges.  This challenge features the technique Faded Layers that can be found on p. 58 of Tim's newest book.

The sponsor for this challenge is The Funkie Junkie; they're offering a $25 gift certificate to a winner chosen via the Random Number Generator.  There's also a prize that comes from Tim and Mario and that will go to the 'Curiosity Crew's Choice'.    It's so much fun seeing how everyone interprets the technique.

Ingredients:  Glossy paper, alcohol inks, Clockwork stencil, sentiment & watch face from 'The Journey' stamp set, mini mover & shaper pocketwatch, vellum, tag & bookplate die, Inkssentials gel pen, black micron pen, miscellaneous leftover letters and numbers

It's harder in the photo to see the stencil I used but the pocketwatch is in the center of the lower clock.  The faux stitching is where the stenciled clocks are not.

Well, what are you waiting for?  This challenge ends 8/15 at 11:59 MT.!  But don't forget to check out the blogs of the Curiosity Crew and leave a comment for each of them...that's part of the requirement!  You'll find plenty of inspiration on their blogs.

Archival re-inker technique tag

Remember when I shared my first attempt following Wendy Vecchi's archival re-inker technique?  I finally turned it into art an put it on a tag.

Ingredients:  'From The Garden', '2 Fancy Flowers',  'Honeycomb' Studio 490 stencils, distress ink, 'Art-Fully Said', 'Art For You' Studio 490 stamp sets, archival ink, distress markers, Sakura Gelly Roll Glitter Pen, .005 Micron Black Pigment pen, clear packaging (wings), Black Superfine Detail Embossing Powder, clear embossing ink, foam tape

Can't wait to try more color combos!

Let's try tracing a stencil

Honestly, this technique never occurred to me.  But I know I'll use it again.  A word of caution:  pencils tend to leave shavings behind and can smear (ugh!).  I found that a large, fluffy brush was just the thing to keep this from happening.

Ingredients:  Tim Holtz Stars stencil, Prismacolor pencils, white & black card stock, Studio 490 'Art Comforts' stamp set, Jet Black Archival Ink, Tim Holtz/Sizzix mini pinking on-the-edge die, black Micron marker

Halloween tags in disguise

Since Halloween is all about disguises it seems only fitting that the newest Frilly & Funkie challenge is all about using tags but not letting them look like tags.  Oh, and you need to feature fall or Halloween in your disguise.

I remember making gift boxes from tags way back when.  It took me a bit to remember how to construct them but once I did, disguising the tags was oh-so-simple.  I'll share a few construction photos; dimensions would vary depending on the size of the tags.

Now I'll show you how I disguised those 4 tags.

Side 1

Side 2

Side 3

Side 4

Top of box

Oh, I almost forgot!  There's a $25 store gift certificate to be awarded to a random artist!  Who can't use a shopping spree with the holidays upon us????













Ingredients:  #8 tags

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous 'Mini Halloween', 'Mini Halloween 3', 'Apothecary', 'Calendar 2'

Sizzix dies:  Scaredy Cat, Candlelight Fright, Mini pumpkin, Autumn Gatherings, Mini 31

Ranger:  Squeezed Lemonade, Ripe Persimmon, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Gathered Twigs, Black Soot, Weathered Wood, Walnut Stain distress inks; Jet Black archival ink; Black Soot distress Stickles; Picket Fence distress crackle paint; Terra Cotta paint dabber

Misc.:  grungeboard, black bookboard, Plain Jane laser cuts by Laserline, black Micron pen, Clearly For Art (white), white Sharpie, black tulle, black organza, orange silk ribbon

I don't know why Blogger lets you format your page one way only to have them display it completely wonky.  Heavy sigh.

Our house...is a very, very nice house....

with 2 cats in the yard.  Okay, I'll quit singing now.  And correct myself...our cats don't go outside.  This tag was created for the 50th challenge on the EverythingWendyVecchi Yahoo group.  It's based on the technique Tim Holtz shared in his Stamptember video for Simon Says Stamp.  I loosely followed along; but that's what makes each person's art his/her own.

Stampers Anonymous/Studio 490 stamps:  Homemade Art, The Essence of Art

Ranger:  Jet Black, Coffee archival inks; Pumice Stone, Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserves, Crushed Olive distress inks; Tarnished Brass, Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive distress stains

Sizzix frame (was light blue and leftover from a previous project); Micron pen (journaling on frame); cat punch (drew around the image)

And guess what?!?!?!?  Wendy is giving away a new stamp set and a package of Art Parts to one lucky artist!  Got my fingers crossed!!!

P.S.  The challenge ends at midnight 9/18 central time.

Enameled Stamping

8 p.m. MTD tonight is the deadline for the latest StudioL3 challenge from Tim's 2nd Compendium book - Enameled Stamping and it's explained on p. 44.  I opted for fall colors and a Halloween theme.  The owl piece features the technique, the rest is just ad libbed.  Spider webs were embossed, gone over with white ink and glitter, some stamping done using pigment inks, how about a bit of blood dripping across the top of the tag?  It's hard to see but IRL it looks real!

Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz stamps"  Haunted Mansion, Apothecary, Mini Halloween 3

Sixxiz/Tim Holtz:  Mini black cat movers & shapers, wordplay dies; Mini Spiderweb, Halloween background embossing folders

Ranger:  Black Soot, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Seedless Preserves distress inks; Crimson (discontinued), Sepia archival inks; Purple Twilight, Lettuce, Snowcap pigment inks; Watermelon alcohol ink; Glossy Accents

Misc.:  Micron pen, white Sharpie, Sakura jelly roll glitter pen; black, green, purple, glossy cardstocks

I am so ready for fall!!!!

Read all about it

It's Stamptember over at Simon Says Stamp and Shows blog.  One of the challenge themes is reading, words, books, etc.  I chose to alter a fuschia composition book that can be found at most office supply stores for about $1.  In my journal I'll be logging in all the winning moments I can remember...in and outside the art world.  Some of my friends were teasing me about how lucky I was last month, so this prompted me to really think about this.  And yes, I really do seem to be pretty darned lucky, especially when it comes to random drawings. 

The following items were used:

Studio 490:  For The Arts (gentleman); Brick Wall (stencil)

Ranger:  Brushed Pewter d. stain; Sunshine Yellow, Lemonade alc. inks; Tattered Rose, Antique Linen, Old Paper, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Mowed Lawn, Iced Spruce, Frayed Burlap, Brushed Corduroy, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Rusty Hinge d. inks; Purple Twilight pigment ink; Pale Ochre, Venetian Orange, Olive, Jet Black archival inks

Tim Holtz:  tissue tape, grungeboard, Idea-ology

Dyan Reaveley:  Around The Edge stamp; stencils

Sizzix:  Leaf stem, shamrock, Holiday Lamppost (TH), Mini Bird (TH)

Misc.:  Lasting Impressions stencil, Dreamweavers embossing paste, watercolor paper, Yes glue, cellophane, Micron pens, olive Sharpie, paint chips, washi tape

By the way, in honor of the blog hop the randomly chosen winner gets a $100 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp!!!!!   Even if you're not able to meet the challenge deadline (09-09-12 at midnight EST), just by leaving a comment on the blogs within the hop might find you winning a $25 shopping spree!

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!