A friend for all seasons

When I made the birthday card using the Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps last week I was asked about the value of the sets, my thoughts on them, etc.  I own nearly 4 shoeboxes of their sets but am embarrassed and ashamed to say some of them haven't met an ink pad yet and many haven't been used in a long, long time.  So I set out to remedy that situation.  I created 4 ATCs, one for each season, trying to fit a set for each that would be different and not do a wreath on all of them. 

Susan Walton, Rubber Stamp Tapestry owner, recommends using Versacolor pigment inks but most of my pads are dry and I don't have all the re-inkers.  I use the Ranger inks so much that I reach for them first, only using others when I 'have' to because of color or properties.

Spring features the Cherry Blossoms set (SFL34068), a PSX sentiment (F-3292) stamped with Black Archival ink, EKSuccess Scalloped Punch, Stickles:  Diamond, Lavender, Baby Blue and Lime Green.  Distress inks used: Antique Linen, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, Brushed Corduroy.  Tombow markers:  blue, green and purple.













Summer features the Sand Dollar & Starfish Border (AQU00003), My Sentiments Exactly (H179) stamped with Black Archival ink, sandpaper, charm and fishing line.  Distress inks used: Bundled Sage, Tattered Rose, Stormy Sky, Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Weathered Wood.  Wild Honey Distress Stickles was used on the sandpaper.  The birds are from Tim Holtz' Lost & Found.

Fall features the Pumpkin Border (SFV10004).  The tree is Wendy Vecchi's from Mail Art, stamped in Coffee Archival ink. Tim Holtz' Halloween ticket (Odds & Ends) was stamped in Black Archival ink and distressed with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The bats were punched using an EKSuccess punch.  Distress inks used: Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Wild Honey, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.










Winter features the Winter Pine Border (SBR04004) and Designer
Block Prints (UNM6202).  The pine tree was punched from a Sizzix die.  Santa was cut from Tim Holtz' Seasonal Stash paper and covered with Glossy Accents.  Distress inks used: Pine Needle, Walnut Stain and Frayed Burlap.  A gold marker decorated the tree along with a gold star brad.

The ATCs coordinate with this card that uses all Hero Arts stamps, a Tim Holtz fragment charm and some black embroidery floss.  I used Ranger dye and pigment inks in Lettuce, Butterscotch, Terra Cotta and Denim. 

Halloween revisited

If you don't like the cold/snow, why not think about another holiday?  Okay, so I'm outside the norm today.  So what else is new???  The Compendium of Curiosities challenge is winding down.  We're at week 29 with Weathered Wood Grunge.  I chose Sunset Orange, Terra Cotta and Walnut Stain for my color palette.  The technique was done one one of Tim's Styled Labels with the ends cut off and his Halloween Words embossing folder.

Behind the label is grosgrain ribbon strips in walnut and orange.  Tim's Cobwebs EF was clear embossed on the tag before rubbing Weathered Wood and Pumice Stone distress inks over it to make them show up.  Using PS after WW tones down the blue in the WW so it looks grayer.

Tim's birds (Lost & Found) were stamped across the top of the tag in Black Archival Ink as was Wendy's spider (Botanical Art).  I cut out Tim's Scaredy Cat using black shrink plastic...lots of narrow bits so this was quite tricky and still couldn't get it to come out exactly right.  Sizzix Primitive Stars were cut from a tag that had a previous tech done to it (more leftovers put to use!).  The 31 sticker was adhered to black presentation board and distressed with the sanding grip and ink.  Black Enamel Accent dots were added to the bottom of the tag.

Child's play

The theme for this week's challenge on the Simon Says Stamp & Show blog is to show a childhood memory.  I thought long and hard and tried out various ideas in my head but none were satisfying my inner self.  Then it dawned on me that I was making this much harder than it should be. 

One of my favorite memories as a young child was sitting down with a container filled with paper, fabric scraps, glue, tape, scissors, needle & thread, snippets of lace, buttons, etc....whatever might be left over from a handsewn garment (thank you mom and grandma!) or a school project.  In other words, creating something from what was on hand...no running to the store or going on-line for that special embellishment, paper or die.

I started out with a 5" chipboard circle, taken from a ring of 'pages' that were in the $1 bin at Michaels.  From there I added beads, Sizzix Swirly Heart die, Ranger Distress Inks, Ranger Acrylic Paints, Tim Holtz tissue tape, Prima flowers, soda can (butterfly), Wendy Vecchi background text stamp, Sharpies, paper, vellum, Distress embossing powders, Ritz cracker wax liner (flowers and leaves), Ranger Archival inks, vintage buttons and snaps, air dry clay flower and heart, grungeboard letters, coffee-stained tag, white heart-shaped lace stained with Ranger Colorwash, Tim Holtz Bingo embossing folder and Martha Stewart fern punch pieces.  Whew!  I feel as content with it as I would have as a child. 
I've proven to myself that I don't have to have all the new toys, bells and whistles to make art...but it sure is fun adding a few here and there!  Hope you're enjoing the sneak peaks that are coming out of CHA - wow!

Petite posies

It's been awhile since I used any of my Rubber Stamp Tapestry sets.  If you're not familiar with them, they're mostly small peg stamps although they do have some larger sentiments and now fabric stamps.  I have 4 shoe boxes full and they do work up into nice, easy cards that take no time.  A friend has a birthday near Valentine's Day so thought this heart-shaped wreath in pinky-corals was fitting.  RST promotes using Versacolor cubes and I do have quite a few but decided to try distress inks for a different look.

This set is called Cherry Blossoms.  Isn't it dainty?  I used Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive and Frayed Burlap instead of the 4 colors they suggested.  There are some Diamond Stickles scattered about the flower centers.  The sentiment is also by RST.

I love this Doily Lace Trim punch by Martha Stewart.  I just have to remember to punch all the way down as it seems to almost be like a 2-step punch.  Either that or the Bazzill is a bit thicker to punch than some of my other cardstock.

One of the tricks to getting a nicely shaped wreath is to draw a light pencil line first.  This time I cut a foam heart using a Sizzix die then stamped it with Antique Linen on the paper first.  You can barely see it in the actual card but it gave me lines to follow. 

In the eye of the beholder

It's Week 28 of the Compendium challenge - Colorful Layered Fragments - you can find the details for creating this look on page 57.  Remember me posting about my numerous attempts to master the Scribble Stain Distress?  Well, this tag was one of the ones I didn't like.  Not one to throw away possible background pieces I kept it knowing one day it would come in handy - either as a whole tag or one that could be punched because of the color combo on it.  When I saw it I thought of eye colors (blue, green and brown) and pink eye...no telling where this mind will wander!

So I chose Tim's Oddities and City Central sets for the background and the larger of the 3 eyes; Wendy's An Eye for Art gave me the small and medium eyes.  After very carefully applying the Glossy Accents to the outer edge of the fragments, I dropped the large one and smeared the GA.  Hence, the caption of 'evil eye' since it looks creepy and just plain weird.

I used the Dymo Caption Maker (as seen used by Tim on Tag 8/2010) to create my sentiments.  The largest one I got from Wendy's set Art Begins.

As you can see, the 'eyes' have it and this tag is complete.  Okay, I'll give up the play on words and poor pun.  But somebody has to do it so why not me?!!?!? 

Seeing spots

The challenge this week on the Simon Says Stamp & Blog is to show some polka dots.  Boy, the design team were really seeing spots!  I knew right away I wanted to use Wendy's tulip (Art From The Heart) and put it into play on shrink plastic.  I colored it with several distress inks in the red and green families.  I left the one leaf curled since the stem was already stressed to the breaking point.  It adds extra dimension.

Next I stamped Tim's rabbit (Spring Sprung) and masked it on an ATC.  I overstamped the weeds in Olive Archival then rubbed green and blue distress inks at the bottom and top (grass and sky).  I removed the mask and added the black & white polka dotted ribbon and made a charm, suspending it with Tim's tiny pin.  The ATC was layered onto black, dotted paper, more black, then solid cardstock. 

A few Easter eggs at the bottom got distressed in the shadow area.  It's a gray day here with snow falling periodically.  Maybe this will brighten things up a bit in my art room.

Art is...

Here's another Wendy-style card.  I only used 3 sets for this one...mainly Art Inspiration.  The wood fragment was stamped in Pumice Stone and with multiple images becomes the background.

The letter 't' and smallest of Tim's Tattered Florals die cuts were treated to the same Faux Tarnished Metal technique I told you about yesterday but this time I used gold instead of silver.  The bottle and label were stamped on shrink plastic and colored subtly with colored pencils on the back side then shrunk. 

Wendy's rose was made from thin cardstock.  I took the larger flower and stamped 3, cutting 2 of them apart to make the 3 layers.  The polka dots were darkened with Black Enamel Accents.  A gold button forms the flower center.  The snap is an antique that came from my neighbor's collection we found in the old family barn.

Chipboard photo corners were inked green then given BEA polka dots.     A chipboard bracket was inked in green, cut in half and forms the stem for the 3 flowers.  There's a clear button up by the bottle that was stamped in Black Archival ink on Wendy's bingo background.  Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint is on the oval...love that stuff!!!

Well, back to my room where lots of creativity is about to take place...I hope!