Making Art! Challenge #8

Mornin', Afternoon, or Evenin', depending on where you are and what time it is when you read this....lol...

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone that commented on "private eye girl", that was featured on Wendy's blog this past Wednesday! I was overwhelmed by the positive response, as I know some of my work can be a little "quirky". lol. But, hey, if you know me by now, that's just the way I roll...and expect to see more of it in the future. I was over the top thrilled when Wendy emailed me asking if I would mind if she featured me on her blog, I'm like....heck yes!  Thank you Wendy! And also as a result, I see I gained some more followers, which I appreciate very much! Alrighty, that's about as much gushing as you'll see from me in one post, so....

The theme over at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! Group this week...
a LOT of flowers (more than three) and a Perfectly Pearled grungepaper object. (Is that vague enough for you?)

Well, you know how I love my Wendy flowers, so this challenge wasn't too terribly difficult for me....

Thought I would try something a little different for the background, and cut up some corrugated cardboard, and slapped on several colors of paint and some Viva Inka Gold. Then adhered some Graphic 45 paper to chipboard, ran thru the Ornamental die, and there's my next background. That vine/flourish is a Sizzix die, cut from grungeboard, inked with Peeled Paint and Pine Needles, overstamped with a Wendy background in Olive Archival.
Although you can't see the Perfect Pearls, my "perfectly pearled grungepaper objects", are the butterflies. I sprayed them quite heavily with Sunflower PP/water mix. Very sparkly in real life, I'm just a poor photographer...
The flowers are all grungepaper, inked with distress STAINS and inks. Those stains sure do save a lot of time....love them!  I'm hoping that the rest of the color family will be released this year, surely that's in the works, isn't it?????
Oh, and some Maya Road trinket jewel flowers, and miscellaneous bling for the flower centers...
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Thanks for stopping by today...Go Be Creative! 

Grungy Monday #1!

Woohoo!  Linda L. is continuing the awesome Tim inspired challenges on her blog!  With some fab guest artists! Check it out HERE.

And the first theme is taken from Tim's Tags of Christmas 2008, Day 10!

Here's  my tag, using Tim's new Air Travel stamps.

There's so much stamping on the background, it's hard to see the masking part. But I used the Heidi Swapp World Mask and Tim's Compass mask. You can kinda see South America's outline under the airplane. lol. All the background stamping was done with the Air Travel set, in either Coffee or Black Archival. 

And good old salvage stickers to the rescue for the word at the bottom and the little compass on the top of the tag. I think I'll end up using this on a scrapbook page..... at some point..... hopefully before I kick the bucket.... lol... providing I can find it when I need it, of course.

Alrighty, there you have it...thanks for stopping by today....now it's your turn to Go Be Creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show Me...

...a HAT!

For other details, to see other wonderful creations, AND to enter your own, check out the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog!

So, I went with the silver and black theme again. And I chose to make an "art girl", although as I was making her, I thought she kind of looked like a private eye. lol. I was wishing I could make a little trench coat, but that didn't happen. Help me think of a good name for her, would you? Private eye, remember.

I used Studio 490 stamps from It's Face Art and A Form of Art, grungeboard wings cut with the Heart and Wings die, a Silver paint dabber and Black Enamel Accents to give her some "attitude"!

The wings were run thru a CB folder - Victoria. The paper on the little grungepaper flowers is Paddington-7 Gypsies. The Vine is black chipboard and a Sizzix die, stamped with silver dabber and Wendy's background stamp. The scroll thingy at the top of the hanging is also a Sizzix die.

This week, our wonderful sponsors at Simon Says Stamp are giving away another $50 voucher!  So, be sure to create something and enter it for a chance to win!

Here's a list of the other design team members blogs, be sure to check out their wonderful creations!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Terry
Candy
Sarah

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

Thanks for stopping by!

Making Art! Challenge #7!

Wow! Number seven already over at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! Group! 

The challenge this week... use a scallop frame and a small grungepaper flower.
Hmmm...I thought I had more sizes of chipboard scallop frames than I did. Although, really, it doesn't have to be chipboard, you could draw a frame, stamp it, whatever. But I took the easy way out.
Of course, I used all Studio 490 (Wendy) stamps.

Background - bundled sage with brushed corduroy, overstamped with olive archival
Flower - broken china
Leaves - bundled sage
Sentiment is black archival, that actually came out too light, so I went over it with the black Sakura glaze pen.
Dots around the frame are black enamel accents. The stitching inside is the Sakura pen again.
Stem is an Idea-ology spinner, of course, with a "discontinued carefully rationed" snap. lol.
Oh, and the little blingy flower center is a Maya Road jewel flower with a dot of black enamel accent.
Well, sad to say, that's all for this post. I've been busy preparing for some upcoming events, so blog postings may be a little scant the next couple of weeks. I will for sure be posting at midnight, eastern US time on Monday. :) 
Thanks for stopping by, hope you are able to make time to be creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show Me...

...a WORD!

For other details, to see other wonderful creations, AND to enter your own, check out the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog!

I chose the word "CROWN", for this humorous layout of some pictures from the Tim Holtz cruise 2010. The Fabulous Flourish stamp adds some detail to the background using Coffee Archival Ink.  The sentiments are stamps from the Studio 490 stamp set entitled Regal Art, and are embossed with Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder.  And, Tim's "crown" is one of his own stamps, from Mini Ornates!  How cool is that?  And how about some rosettes using the Rosette and Mini Rosette dies?

I have to say, once I got rolling on this, I was laughing constantly.  You really should enlarge the picture to read the words, then look at the pictures again. For some reason, the wording came out a little too dark in the picture.
When I looked at Wendy's stamp with that crown verbage, I knew Tim would have to have a crown (you know, to fit in with the princesses and the queens), and from there it was a matter of changing the word "her" on the stamp to "him".  And the warning stamp under my pic, well, if you know me, it is so..........me.
The background paper, you ask?  Yes, well, it started as one of the pink colored sheets from Vintage Shabby paper stack, and being as how Tim was to be in the pic, I needed to change that, so I slapped on some white and brown paint.  I also sprayed it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearl Mist. Then stamped randomly with the Fab Flourish stamp and the itty bitty crown stamp from Wendy's Regal Art set.
The clock face on the rosette is set for 4 o'clock, because that's what time "Tim Time" was for our group on the cruise.  You'll notice the Tim Time on the upper rosette next to Tim's pic.
And many thanks to my friends Eileen and Pat for allowing me to use their picture! We made quite the royal court....
This week, our wonderful sponsors at Simon Says Stamp are giving away another $50 voucher!  So, be sure to create something and enter it for a chance to win!

Here's a list of the other design team members blogs, be sure to check out their wonderful creations!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Terry
Candy
Sarah

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

Thanks for stopping by!

Making Art! Challenge #5 and #6???

Yep, a little behind. Thought I would have a few more projects to post, but with the warmer weather (a big yeehaw there!) I've been busy outside (well, that and getting the vroom vroom going).
So, let's backtrack to last week's challenge on the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! Group..which was to use a scroll and some chipboard letters.  I guess I've been following Wendy long enough that I know what scroll means in Wendy terms, but some folks don't. Basically, it's a flourish. The end looks like a rolled up "scroll" of paper, though. You'll see what I mean.
I used one of her new stamp sets, Tools for Art.  Here we go:

See the scroll behind the ink bottle and by the brush? That's what Wendy's scrolls look like.  And, since I was going for the exploding ink bottle (I was hoping the scrolls looked like ink coming from the bottle...no?) I decided there needed to be an "ink spill" under the brush, using black embossing powder, so it's shiny...like...spilled ink. lol.  This would also explain the "oops!" stamped by the brush....also one of Wendy's stamps.....
as for the chipboard letter portion of the challenge...well....it's the word "art", in case you don't have a discerning eye for that sort of thing...lol...

Alrighty, and on to this week's challenge, already at #6! The theme this week is to make a TAG USING ONLY ONE STAMP SET OF WENDY'S.  Yep, you heard me. Use only ONE stamp set.  In reality, this is a little harder than you might think.  I chose to use her new Steampunk Art set.  Now, this set doesn't have a background stamp, a lot of the others do.  BUT, it does have the phrase "steampunk art".  So, I started by applying Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo distress stains to the tag, sprayed them with water and let them bleed into each other, then pounced over the whole thing with Gold Alcohol Ink and Blending Solution. I keep forgetting that alcohol ink isn't just for glossy paper....wanted to keep the metallic theme going. I then stamped all over the tag with the phrase "steampunk art" in Encore copper and gold. Kinda hard to see, but it does add another layer.  And here it is:

Notice how the glossy accents isn't quite dry on the boot....I wanted a black patent leather boot.  And then there's the stinkin' glare on the light bulb, which is made from Clearly for Art modeling film, and filled with watch parts, which are being poured from the boot, get it? And a light bulb above his head for a bright idea? lol!  Here's a side shot, you can see where I hooked a watch spring from the gear in his hand up to under the boot. THAT was fun to glue down. Thank goodness for clamps.

I'll see what other things I might be able to come up with for this week.
And by the way....I suppose technically you don't have to be part of the Yahoo! group to enter these challenges, but the pictures are posted to an album in the group. It just takes you out of the running for a possible random prize draw.  The only hard and fast rule about these challenges is you need to use at least ONE Studio 490 stamp (Wendy, lol) in your project. After all, it is the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! Group.
Thanks for stopping by today, any questions, please ask!
Go Be Creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show Me...

...STARS!

For other details, to see other wonderful creations, AND to enter your own, check out the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog!

I decided to go with one of Tim's signature stamps, Umbrella Man, from the Life's Possibilities clear stamp sets, in a rectangle Art Part frame and backing for this week's project. The sentiment that goes along perfectly with this image is from Tim's Good Thoughts stamp set.  I added some stars embossed with silver embossing powder being poured from an "inspiration" bottle made with Clearly for Art  and a Studio 490 stamp from the Art Inspiration set.

I used some hinge clips, ball chain, and a little Idea-ology for the hanging bit.  It's hard to see, but I sprayed the frame with Blue Smoke Perfect Pearls Mist.

This week, our wonderful sponsors at Simon Says Stamp are giving away another $50 voucher!  So, be sure to create something and enter it for a chance to win!

Here's a list of the other design team members blogs, be sure to check out their wonderful creations!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Terry
Candy
Sarah

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenge Me.....

...I like challenges. Why, you ask? Because at least you have a starting point for an idea...

So, I will try to keep the words brief, because I have three challenges to show you.

First, the final CCC.  What can I say, it's been a great ride! Lovely Linda has put so much time and effort into this event, I can't thank her enough!
I ended up taking bits and pieces of stuff I had left over from other projects and put them together. The stitching thing with wire, was, well, frustrating. I poked way too many holes. Finally, I just ended up using the tiny attacher, and realized half way thru that I couldn't reach the one side with it. Hence the mish mash of staples and wire. lol. Oh, and the heart is metal, puffed out, which you can't tell here...

Over at the Order of the Opus Gluei, the theme is "show us a NEW TRICK".  This could be taken several ways, lol, but according to the orders bestowed upon us by the Poobahs, it involves showing a new technique. Using something from the paper craft world. Not what some of you might be thinking...yes, it's a rowdy crowd I run with....
My new trick is using metal tape sheets on Clearly for Art, which is a plastic modeling film that you can mold when heated. It doesn't shrink either. The lovely Wendy is the genius behind this product and I so willingly admit, the technique itself...it can be found on the butterfly on this tag, which is also the tag that was empty a couple of days ago, except for the "perfect stamping" background....

All stamps are Studio 490, the banner is from Tim's Regal Crest die, I folded it at the ends so it really stands out from the tag, but you can't tell that by this photo. On the metal on the butterfly, I used alcohol inks in yellow, orange and watermelon.

And finally, Hels Sunday Stamper this week is "NATURE".  Well, I had this tag leftover from a previous project, it is collaged paper from 7 Gypsies Conservatory, with a coat of beeswax over it, and I added a little banner with sentiment (Studio 490), the butterfly, which is a rub on, and my little UTEE bluebird. I haven't decided what might be a good topper for it yet...lol...suggestions are welcome. I might just put it on a card or something.

Wow, I'm exhausted. Perhaps a piece of chocolate might give me a burst of energy...
Hope you all are having a good week, thanks for stopping by...
Go Be Creative!

Making Art! Challenge #4! and some UTEE...

Today I have a tag to share that I made for the Making Art! Challenge 4 over at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! Group. Wow, that was a mouthful. The challenge was to use Wendy's "perfect stamping" technique. You can find it in a couple of posts on her blog, HERE and HERE.

See how the green and blue are kinda blotchy? I used the new Distress Stains, used Broken China first, just on a portion of the tag, then ran Peeled Paint round some of the edges where the Broken China wasn't, then spritzed with a little water where the two met. I like it!  I also tried the technique on the flower that Wendy showed on her blog HERE, where you attach metal tape sheets to Clearly Art, then run thru an embossing folder and color with Alcohol Inks. I used Currant, Stream and Rust AI's. With the glare, it's hard to see, but it is really luscious in real life...lol...the bottom of the tag is one of Wendy's new stamps embossed with Queen's Gold EP. Oh, and the little birdie is the same material as the flower, I just didn't run him thru the embossing folder.... thought it might hurt....

The Perfect Stamping tech came out a little too light, here's a closeup, see the faint lines running from top to bottom?:

And here's the background I should have used, more on that later:

Also took some time to play with molds and UTEE.

Yep, made some molds from Tim's buttons, and wanted to try molds from facets, it worked pretty good. The facets took a little fiddling around, I was trying to get a nice smooth surface. Notice how the blue one made from the facet mold has a bumpy surface. It had air bubbles, and when I went over it with my heat gun, the bubbles started popping and left a bumpy background, which I think is rather cool. Also notice how the clear UTEE pieces are a little different in color if you let the UTEE sit in the pot for a bit. I rather like it though, looks a little more vintage. And of course, I can change the color with Alcohol Inks if I want. :)  . I got the blue color by adding To Dye For in blue, to clear UTEE. I added a little too much though. lol. But I rather like the deep color.  Speaking of To Dye For....I have several packs of the Primary colors (Blue, Red, Yellow) that need a good home. So, if you KNOW you are going to use it and DON'T have any..send me an email. First three emails.....

Simon Says Stamp and Show Me...

.....METAL!

To check out other details and enter the challenge, go to the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog!

Oooo, can't tell you how I was looking forward to using some Ten Seconds Studio stash...lol..
I combined Ten Seconds Studio Rock Star Black Metal, Clearly for Art modeling film, Ten Seconds Studio Kabuka mold Girly and Studio 490 stamp sets It's Face Art and Just Sew Artsy to dress up a "stubbie", yep, that's what I call chunks of 2 x 4 lumber...and black and silver are my "theme" colors this week....lol...

I used clear Clearly for Art, and painted the back with Black paint dabber. Silver paint dabber to stamp dots and other patterns on the flowers. Her "neck" is a memo pin, tucked behind the dress form. The dots are my new Chrome Silver Viva Pearl Pen.

Studio 490 stamps in silver pigment ink from Just Sew Artsy.

This week, our wonderful sponsors at Simon Says Stamp are giving away a $50 voucher!  Just think of all the great stuff you can order with THAT! lol!  So, be sure to create something and enter it for a chance to win!

Here's a list of the other design team members blogs, be sure to check out their wonderful creations!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Terry
Candy
Sarah

Linda E - the DIRECTOR
Thanks for stopping by!

Dimensionally Collaged Retro Postcards..

Over at the Order of the Opus Gluei this week, the theme is POSTCARD.  I took them literally on this one, and made a couple of postcards using Tim's Retro Grunge paper and the Artful Artifacts stamp set.

I kinda like how the rays on the paper on the left are shootin' out of his head, and how the circle on the paper on the right just hits him right at the cheekbone. Totally unplanned.  I masked the face and the stars before stamping the city skyline. And I have to tell you, this is the FIRST time I've used that face stamp (I think it's called David). I never knew what to do with it. lol. So I avoided it.

The sentiments are Tim's too, (I know, contain your surprise), mounted in my new favorite bookplate from the tag and bookplate die.  I just cut off the little holder tabs on the sides.

The dots are Viva Pearl Pen in Chrome Silver.  Can you believe it.. a color called CHROME Silver.  Had to have it, if just for the name. LOVE these Pearl Pens. So easy, and they don't clog.

Ok, and over at the second to last CCC, the theme is Dimensional Collage Fragment.  Here's one that I'm not real happy with, but, some days you have that.

I wasn't real keen on the way the collaged fragment came out, so I put some rub-ons on the top. I guess it's ok.  I used the question mark from the stencil letters, figured I wouldn't be using it anywhere else..lol... the flourishes are painted with Pewter Crackle paint.  The flowers were just white, so I treated them with Blue Smoke Perfect Pearls spray.

Alrighty then, another two challenges down, and a couple more to do this week.... hopefully before the weekend....guess I better Go Be Creative! Oh, and a reminder, you can still email me if you want to participate in my "vintage humor" ATC swap, read about it HERE.  Come on, it's only 3 ATC's!
Thanks for stopping by!

My Eyes, My Eyes!

...good grief.  The reason my title is that is because...I saw something very strange in the sky yesterday, and now today!

It's a brilliant orb of light that radiates heat, I think in some civilizations they call it "sun".

I haven't seen it for ages around these parts.  Now my pupils are dilating trying to keep up.

Ok, let's see, where was I?  lol.

The theme for Hels Sunday Stamper is Paris....ooooo....it just so happens that I still had some G45 Transatlantique paper laying around from the SSS project, which is filled with reference to Paris, France, etc.  Imagine---paper laying around.....so I came up with this tag, which also gave me an opportunity to use my Sizzix Eiffel Tower die, and the Tag and Bookplate die, love the shape of those bookplates!  Here we go:

Crackle Accents in the bookplate...Fab Flourish stamp used on background!

Added my fave French saying---actually it's about the only one I remember from French class in high school.  The bird and the Fleur de Lis are.... get this.... Friendly plastic I pushed into a mold of Tim's adornments. Looks almost like the real thing, doesn't it?  Thanks to my blog friend Alison, for turning me onto that little tidbit of useful info.  Friendly plastic can be found at most of the "big box stores".  Not Walmart usually...lol...

And on to Tag Tuesday, of which is a two week challenge this round, so I'm actually a little early... lol... the theme is postcard...so here it is...I'm not especially thrilled with it...not sure why, maybe you can tell me...

I had this tag actually left from the cruise, I don't have the embossing folder, although sometimes I wish I did...lol.... so.... I used some Wild Honey Distress Stain, and let me tell you, talk about fast coverage, these babies can do it! I was impressed!  Then I used some Walnut Stain (ink pad this time) over the embossed areas and the edges of the tag.
Made a rosette out of some Lost and Found paper, and since the theme was postcard, brilliantly chose to use a postage mark for the center. lol.
Then, I know this is a stretch, but since the theme was Postcard, I thought of travel, which leads to the Gypsy Girl advert there, 'cause, you know, gypsies travel around. lol.
Dunno, I think it's too blah.  Maybe more embellishments. I just hated covering up the embossing.  That's usually my biggest problem, covering up the base.  I'm sure you've noticed that.
And now, a little digression....I was given another award!  This time from my newfound blog friend, Candy, over at Creativity is Contagious!  Thank you so much Candy!  She does simply spectacular art, you should really check it out!  It's the Leibster award...and no... I don't know what it means, other than I need to pass it along to at least three other bloggers who inspire me, so I guess that's what it means, people who inspire you. 

There are a LOT of blogs/artists that inspire me, I mean, if I miss one day on my Google Reader, I will have about 100 new entries the next day!  And other than what I call the "big three", Tim, Wendy and Suze, I really have to think who to bestow this on, because it's so hard to narrow it down...
Hels would be one that really inspires me, especially where using Tim and Wendy stuff is concerned! lol!
My SSS team member Linda C, does some of the most amazing cards I've ever seen.... 
And Shelly's blog is great for tutorials and trying new things... If it has the word "faux" in it, she's done it! And of course she does wonderful art!
So...I probably named some that have already received the award..if so I apologize, but there you have it!

Don't forget too, about the vintage humor ATC swap I'm hosting, read about it HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today...Go Be Creative!