Sing out loud

Hey, are you up for another series of challenges from the lovely Linda Ledbetter over at Studio L3?  You know the one...the former hostess extraordinaire of the Tim Holtz 'Compendium of Curiosities' weekly challenge?  This time she'll be pulling themes from some of Tim's videos, blogposts, and Christmas tags.

So, Grungy Monday is starting off using the Day 10 Christmas tag from 2008.  You can find a link to the tags on a sidebar on Tim's blog.  How cool is that for easy reference???  I used Tim's music mask, his bird from Artful Flight, the smallest flower from Tattered Florals, a Sizzix leafy vine, and the word from his Grunge Alphabet. 

Ranger products:  Scattered Straw, Fired Brick, Old Paper, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Tumbled Glass, Broken China Distress Inks,  Blue Patina, Mandarin, Gold Perfect Pearls, Sunshine Yellow Alcohol Ink

My workspace has a window beside it allowing me to see outside and hear the birds sing.  We have robins year round so why not make one the center of attention on my tag?

In her Easter bonnet

I just LOVE shopping at thrift stores!!!  We have one that's recently opened and it appears that business is booming.  I've certainly tried to do my fair share...lol!  Yesterday I felt the urge to go visit them to see what was new. I hadn't been in a while and they've already expanded within their space - holy moly!  On a previous trip I landed a book about Queen Bess that I'm going to alter for my niece, Bess, some jewelry parts, craft items including wood eggs, trays for inky messes, etc. 

Here's a gander at what I scored yesterday for less than $3.00: miscellaneous sewing items (vintage snaps, hooks & eyes, googly eyes, trims, seam binding), about 100 silk leaves, 6 different styles of silk flowers (12-18 flowers per style), 25 1/2" wood blocks, 100+ 3 1/2" craft picks, and 50 7" upholstery/drapery fabric squares.

So how does this play into an Easter bonnet?  Look and see...how many items can you spot that are from my thrift store shopping extravaganza?

The background is a fabric square, flowers I dyed with Spun Sugar Distress Ink, leaves and the wood eggs.  This 5"x7" framed piece is being entered into the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge featuring hats.  If you haven't checked out the design team artwork and the other entries, you're really in for a treat - wow!

The memo pin marks the Easter finery from 1960.  I'm the oldest, on the right.  Mom made our outfits and I remember how much I loved that dress...loaded with butterflies and the fabric was kind of shiny.  It's hard to see our hats but they were edged with plenty of lace and flowers. 

I framed the photo using cardstock from a Sizzix pad - found on clearance (yes!) and cut using an old red die by Sizzix.  I did add the pink frame as a mat since the frame's opening was just a bit larger than I needed.

The butterflies were punched out of some pansy vellum (Martha Stewart punches); their bodies are a TH game spinner and mini safety pin.  That's also a MS bunny punch using white cardstock and white flocking.  The 1/2 wood eggs were pressed into the Sailboat Blue and Purple Twilight ink pads and the Raspberry Paint Dabber then quickly wiped dry.  I spelled out 'Easter' on white cardstock using Hero Arts Vintage Alphabet stamps and Nick Bantok's Chartreuse Leaf ink that were punched out, edged with Antique Linen Distress Ink then glued to the blocks.

So if you haven't had a chance to support your local thrift stores or garage sales lately, do so asap!  You just never know what you're going to find...but you do need to keep an open mind.  Happy shopping!

Blue by you

Thought I'd share a birthday card I recently made.  The inspiration piece was made by Terry over on the TechniqueJunkies group.  I changed out the image and added a few things there and there.

All images are by Wendy Vecchi...Rose Art Part 2, Art Rules, Make Mini Art, and Art Parts.  The butterfly was stamped on Wendy's Clearly for Art. 

Ranger products: Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Walnut Stain, Black Soot distress inks, Coffee, Black, Olive archival inks, Broken China, Scattered Straw distress stickles, Butterscotch, Sunshine Yellow pigment inks, Watermark Resist ink

I did scratch off some of the pigment ink on the butterfly to give it more of a worn look.  The head flower was stamped twice on grungepaper; one had the petal insides removed.  Source of the trim and snap - unknown.  Several cardstock layers bring this card up to a 1/2 sheet size.

Another birthday celebrated Vecchian style!

Scallop frame and a grungepaper flower

That's the theme for the latest challenge on the EWV Yahoo group.  Took me awhile to get going on this; I don't know why but it did.  I was wanting to use a set that hadn't seen ink in quite some time.  This set gets to me.  I think it's the flower only being a partial image and it has polka dots.  I'm not a fan of polka dots but will use them on occasion.

The scallop frame was sent to me; I just inked up the sueded surface with Pumice Stone DI and added some dots along the edge.  The blue-toned backing is from Tim's 'Shabby Chic' paper stash and has the background image from Wendy's Funky Flower Art stamped in Coffee Archival ink over it.

The grungepaper flower (same set) was colored with Broken China but I didn't like that so I added Sunshine Yellow and Butterscotch pigment inks as well as a shimmery spray. 

The chipboard key was painted black then covered with Peeled Paint Distress Crackle Paint and hit again with black ink.  The leaves are a set of wings that are now blue and turquoise.  I think it was a drunken technique from last year.  Makes a great set of leaves when you're trying to use some pre-made items that you haven't thrown away because they're too good for that.  lol 

The sentiment (same set) was stamped in Black Archival ink on a coffee stained tag.  I think the little blackbird is a Martha Stewart punch.

I was really wanting something brighter and cheerier to match the daffodils blooming outside but that obviously didn't happen.  Seeing any sort of blooming flowers right now makes me happy.  Grungepaper ones will have to do for now. 

By the way, I was quite skeptical that this would work but after much effort (even developing a blister) of adding hot water and stirring, I was finally able to get all my (old style) paint dabbers reconstituted.  Some were rock hard so I was surprised at those the most.  Of course, my favorite colors were the most affected by the drying out.  I can only think that time and lack of use caused them to harden or dry up.  All is well now, that's all that matters. 

aRt

Got to spend some time in my creative space today so I'm working on some challenge pieces.  This one is for the Simon Says Stamp & Show blog.  The theme is to feature a word.  I chose the word 'art' and made faux letterblocks to start off my piece. 

I started out with a Li'l Davis canvas frame that I distressed with several brown inks.  Over that is stamped the polka dot background (Wendy's All About Art) in Coffee Archival ink. 

On a scrap piece of cream cardstock I used Scattered Straw, Wild Honey and Vintage Photo distress inks before stamping the grid background in Sepia Archival ink (Wendy's Flower Art) and the leafy background (Wendy's Rose Art 2) in Olive Archival ink.

The leafy vine is a Sizzix die that got lots of TLC from several brown distress inks as well as a red one.  The butterfly (Wendy's Make Mini Art) was stamped on a scrap of acetate in Black Archival ink.  Using Sharpie markers and a Sepia Copic marker I colored the wings on the reverse side.  With a little bit of heat I was able to bend the wings forward, as if in flight.  The sentiment is from Hampton Arts.

Well, back to my creative space so I can make more art...this time for the EWV challenge.

Celestial Art

Possibilities

Shooting Stars

Spring

Wish

Over on the EWV Yahoo group this week's challenge theme is to create a tag using only O-N-E of Wendy's stamp sets.  We can use stamps from other designers to augment our tag.  Wow!  I wasn't sure how easy or difficult this was going to be but I guess the set you chose would determine just how creative your juices could flow.

I sat down and challenged myself to come up with more than one idea for this set (Celestial Art, from her latest release).  Actually, I've decided to make at least one project for each Wendy set I own.  I want to see how creative I can be and not always rely on what Wendy has done.  Face it, I'm not Wendy and my art should be a reflection of me using her style and techniques for inspiration.

I've used paint dabbers, distress inks, adirondack and archival inks to create the looks you see here.  Some of the techniques I tried were the smoosh & spritz technique, stamp kissing, Perfect Pearls +, and some resist techniques.    Two of Tim's on the edge dies show up (more leftovers from earlier projects) as well as some punches and die cuts.

If you have stamps that haven't been used, ever or in a long time, I challenge you to get them out and start playing with them.  Be creative: use a technique you hadn't tried before, dabble in another style, just do it!

The stars at night, are big & bright...

Yes indeedy, the stars are shining on my latest creation.  It's for the Simon Says Stamp & Show blog challenge 'Stars'.  There's a lot happening on this tag so I'll just list what I used.  I did start off with a chipboard tag that I covered with a a neutral cardstock.  Wendy's tissue tape & color wash technique was used but once everything else was added you wouldn't know that.  The inspiration for this piece can be found on Wendy's blog.  All the parts were leftovers from earlier pieces - more gone from my stash!

Stamps from Wendy's collection:  Celestial Art, Mail Art, All About Art, Live & Make Art; Make Art, It's More Flower Art, It's Face Art, Art Rules, Residential Art 
Ranger Inks +: Snow Cap White Pigment, Black & Coffee Archival inks, Gold Paint Dabber, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Fired Brick, Faded Jeans, Forest Moss, Old Paper, Worn Lipstick, Broken China and Wild Honey Distress Inks, Black Enamel Accents, Black Soot Distress Stickles, Inkssentials pen, Sunflower Gold Perfect Pearls

Tim Holtz: Townscape, Scallop on the edge dies, Regal Crest & Banner die, Tattered Florals die, grungepaper and grungeboard

Misc.:  Maya Road star stick pin, vintage seam binding, Sakura Glaze Pen, chipboard, unknown star with 's', unknown '2'

And to think I got all this in a 4"x6" space!