Charming Halloween ATC's???

Hello again this week! Not only have I been busy with class kitting, but I've also been submerged in getting ready for the Artful Adventures in Tuscany with Tim trip! I've had this trip on lay-away for about 18 months, and I have finally paid it off with non-bouncing checks...PHEW!...so I am thrilled to the bone to finally be preparing for it. I've been packing, making, and doing like crazy, and one of the projects I've been working on is for a swap.

One of my besties, Paula, who is going on the trip too, is hosting a Halloween Charm Swap since we will be in route during that occasion, and she begged me to participate. ;0) I wanted to make some ATC's to go with the charms, and since the Making Art Challenge at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group is about 'using Embossing Paste and mixing it with something', I decided to go with that as well. Sadly, this is the last MAC for the Wendy Yahoo Group. It's closing down due to lack of participation which makes me unhappy, but I've loved being apart of this group!

 

The new Tim Distress Paint colors from Ranger were bekoning me, so I used most of them plus Mowed Lawn directly on my craft sheet followed by a good misting of water.

I laid 3 strips of 3 1/2 x 12 inch manila onto the watery color, dried it with a Heat Tool, and then laid it onto the mixture again before drying completely. I had to add the paints and water a few times so I'd have enough. I cut 2 1/2 inch pieces from each strip.

Using my favorite script stamp from Wendy Vecchi, I stamped each ATC on the top portion using Dusty Concord Distress Ink. Then I dabbed one topper full of Picket Fence Distress Paint into the corner to mimic a full moon. Another good dry and they were ready for the next step.

Wendy's new Layered Tree Stencil was an instant love for me and was hollering loudly for me to use it. I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink with it.

Wendy's Embossing Paste can be mixed with so many mediums to color it. I used the new Mustard Seed Distress Glitter and mixed it with the Translucent Paste, and then spread it over Tim's new Stars Stencil, well a few of the stars anyway. I dried it with a Heat Tool. I love the glitter in the see thru stars...twinkle twinkle!

I stamped Wendy's dots and numbers, and Tim's bats onto the cards using Distress Inks as well as the borders of each card. Then I stamped the witch's hat onto manila using Jet Black. After I cut them up, I inked them with Mowed Lawn and colored the trim and buckle up with Glaze Pens. Finally, I stamped Wendy's lovely looking lady onto each card in Jet Black again, and gussied her up with Glaze Pens and a white Distress Marker.

For the charms I used Ranger's Shrink Plastic. First, I used all the Distress Paint colors that I used on the ATC's onto a scrap of Shrink Plastic, and then misted it with water to blend them up a bit. I had to let this dry a little by itself before barely drying it with the Heat Tool, so as to not start the shrinking...a little scary. I used a paper towel to soak up some of the extra liquid as well and it made the most beautiful patterns.

Next, I die cut the Plastic with the Sizzix Mini Tickets Movers & Shapers Die ala Tim Holtz. Then I stamped Tim's Halloween Ticket image from Stamper's Anonymous using Jet Black Archival, before punching a hole...very important to do that before baking. Finally, I baked them up in the oven at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes. They curled a bit, but a shot with the Heat Tool flattened them out perfectly. I added them to an Idea-ology Jump Ring with beads, ribbon, and a candy corn brad that I took the prongs off of.

Supplies:


I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Soar & Make Art!

I couldn't let the month end without having participated in the Making Art Challenge at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group. The challenge this month was to use a die cut on your project.

The reflection from the metal foil wings gave quite a glare with my poor lighting this evening, so the photos do not capture the bright and vivid background like I would like.

Using a lightly water misted #10 Jumbo Manila Tag, I dabbed on some bright Distress Paints and then misted with more water to blend the paints. I did the same thing to the bust of the dressform Sizzix die, Sewing Room.

I placed another #10 tag on top of the painted one and pressed down to make a "kiss" image of all the painted goodness. It came out much lighter, but I love the effect. I began stamping many Wendy Vecchi images using the same colors of Distress Paint and added a little Metallic Distress Paint as well. I inked the edges in Walnut Stain and gave the bottom of the tag a little distressing.

I added Metal Foil Tape to some Tim Grunge Paper and die cut it with the Layered Wings die. Then I ran it through the Wings Texture Fade that matches the largest set of wings perfectly. I placed the smaller ones in as well even though they don't match up, but it still made gorgeous designs. I inked all the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. When I added the wings to dressform a little later, I tried different ways of layering them on each other and did each tag different.

I colored the portions of the dressform that will look like wood with Tea Dye Distress Stain, then stamped the wood image with Wendy's new Archival Ink in Potting Soil. It's a great deep brown.

I used Distress Markers...love the new colors so much...to give Wendy's Blossom Bucket Flowers a little more color.

I stamped three separate sentiments on Mowed Lawn colored Specialty Stamping Paper from Ranger, using the Potting Soil. I cut them out and inked them and placed them on the tag, along with some Walnut Stained Art Part Scallops. A Picked Raspberries colored Crinkle Ribbon finished the tag off.

The lighter tag is behind the brighter, and I left off the "Make Art" from it as well, as it's going to a young lady who doesn't craft.

 

 

I am also submitting this to Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper challenge for using "Metal".

Supplies:

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

A Wendy Tag...Finally!

I've not participated in so long at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group, so it was high time! The challenge this month is "something blue with metal", and with 4th of July around the corner, and a remnant from my Tim June tag, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make a quick and simple tag. This one took about 15 minutes! 

Last month, I was so fortunate enough to be able to take a class of Wendy's, at The Crafty Scrapper, where she taught us several tricks in making this precious Art Journal! One of the several things I took away from the class was using Specialty Stamping Paper more, so I've used it here on this tag.

I applied a few colors of Distress Paint to the craft sheet and misted with water, then ran the paper through it. After drying, I did it again.

I stamped the star image and the sentiment in Jet Black Archival. Doodling and Idea-ology embellishments finished this simple tag up.

 

Supplies:


I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Distress Powder Flower Power!

Well...not really, but it sounds cool! I absolutely HAD TO participate in the Making Art Challenge #7 over at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group, which is based on Tim's Distress Embossing Powder, because I missed the last one (No time!) and am going to miss the next. 

Why am I going to miss the next one you ask? Well...ahem...it's because...ahem...I AM GOING ON A TRIP TO ENGLAND WITH DEBBY SCHUH!!! Yes...I am soooo excited! Debby is the ultimate tour guide, and she twisted my arm real hard and made me go on this trip, and then twisted my hubby's arm to allow it all to happen! I am one of seven, and we have a week of adventures awaiting! I'm hoping for good weather! And I am really hoping to see Hels!!! We have a plan in the works, and I have the Cheetos's ready, among a few other things! So of course, I am linking this tag to her Sunday Stamper challenge this week for "Nature"...it will be the last one for a while. After England, I am taking a little super secret side trip that I will want you to guess about a little later! ;0)

Layers and layers of Distress Paint made the background! I love this stuff!

I painted Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper with Mustard Seed Distress Paint, dried it, and stamped the Wendy's flower with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I covered this with Spiced Marmalade Distress Embossing Powder. I should have removed a little here and there...forgot. I heated and removed the release crystals when it cooled. I cut this out, and inked the edges in the same Distress Ink.

I thought using Wendy's new British Art Stamp Set was appropriate for this...hehehehe! I stamped the pen in Jet Black Archival, and poured Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Powder on it, heat, cooled, brushed...you got the picture. I love the green on the black. The pics do not do this justice. I stamped the Ford's Pen sign in Broken China Distress Paint.

I started stamped some of my favorite background images on the tag using various brightly colored Distress Inks. I messed up on stamping the sentiment with the Jet Black and got ink in places it shouldn't be, so out came the pen to help with doodles and such. I stamped the grass portion with the Houndstooth in Mowed Lawn Distress Paint.

I loved the Houndstooth so much, I kept going onto the ribbon.

The Blossom Bucket center needed to be orange for this, so Alcohol Ink came to my rescue. More doodling and outlining with Distress Markers helped the scene, and I finished the tag by inking the edges with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

 

 

Supplies:


I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon! Cherrio Chaps!!!

A Whole Lotta Green!

***FYI: I've been getting horrible Anonymous Spam Comments so I've had to enable the dreaded "Enter What You See Here" thingamajig, at least for a while.  I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, and if you don't want to leave a comment, no biggie, I understand. 

Hi crafty peeps! Thank you for all the emails, tweets, facebook messages, and even texts from those of you wishing me a get well. It's not been a good few months for my immune system. ;0) Even the doctor chewed me out and said I can't venture out in public until I get boosted up and get healthier, which means lots more sleep. Easier said than done. Just started my third round of new antibiotics today. If this doesn't work I will have to become a real hermit!

Anyway, back to this post. A whole lotta green don't mean money money money, unfortunately, but instead means color! It's almost St. Patrick's Day, and it's a day we celebrate here at our house, so I've made a few things.

The current Making Art Challenge at the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group is "Shadowbox". HUH? This was definitely a challenge for me, as I didn't want to use a premade box, and I already had my tag planned out and I was not going to budge on the main design of it, which was using a very traditional love/friendship/loyalty symbol of Ireland, the Claddagh, although this one is a little non traditional looking.  So I tried many things, but ultimately came up with making a teeny tiny shadowbox inside the heart of this Claddagh, a treasure of sorts. I hope that counts!
I am also submitting this tag to Hels Sunday Stamper for "Use Some New Stash",  and to the Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog challenge for "Tags".

I tried out many Maya Road crowns, this one did not make the cut, but Wendy's Parts did. I did bend the fingers a bit to mimic holding the heart. These Parts can take a beating. I cut a rectangle bubble from some packaging from Tim's Idea-ology Keyholes.

I found some shamrock paper from literally 15 years ago, gave it some of Dyan's Dylusions, and adhered it to the package bubbles, now shadowboxes. I adhered these to the hearts, and then covered them with Wendy's Gold Embossing Paste that I just spackled on. I should have added some other stuff in there, like gold coins or something, but hind sight you know!

The hands were painted with Victorian Velvet Distress Paint, and her nails were manicured with Distress Markers. A little ribbon and a gold hightlighted puffy silk shirt made from Prima Flowers, and they were ready to go.

The crown was painted with Ranger's Silver Paint Dabber and then covered with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. After it was dried, I misted it with Butterscotch Color Wash to seep into all the cracks. I wiped the rest off. I added emerald green rhinestones, gold cord, and a green rose from my stash to finish it off.

More 15 year old paper was adhered to a piece of corrugated paper...to the front side to give extra strength after I mutilated it.

I turned it over to the back portion, and used all the greens from Tim's Distress Paints and just painted some stripes on in each color. I left brown areas from the base on purpose.

I used the two background images from Wendy's new Heirloom Art and Sunshine In Art from Stamper's Anonymous, and hand stamped them in Jet Black Archival so only portions of them showed up and I didn't crush the ridges of the base underneath with my major stamping muscles when I use a block.

I tore portions of all that hard work away, revealing the corrugated ridges underneath. The distressed look is very cool I think. I was able to cut this piece into two #10 jumbo sized tags and two #5 small tags (I just traced around them and cut out with scissors.).

Carolyn from The Crafty Scrapper wanted me to try out Tsukineko's Goosebumps Texture Spray, I have never used it before. I thought it would be perfect to add a little more texture here and to protect parts of the brown corrugated paper from being colored. I wanted portions of it to remain as it was. I was worried of course, but BINGO...it worked, gave it shine, gave it texture, and even darkened parts of the brown areas where I sprayed it a little more heavy. I love this stuff! My wheels are turning on how to use it next. It reminds me of the starch I used to cook on the stove, spray on my jeans, and then have to iron them of course for the crispest pair of pants you ever wore. They stood by themselves. Those days are over!!!! Boy was I dumb!

Next, I took a Wendy Diamond Stencil and Bottle Paint Dabber and added it here and there. Love!

And the last thing I did to finish this background off was spray it up with some Dylusions in Lemon Zest, Squeezed Lime, and Fresh Cut Grass. The Distress Paints, Acrylic Paint, and Goosebumps all acted like resists, so only the untouched base brown areas were colored! LOVE!!!! I could totally have a wall look like this...even in green! I love this background!

A little Citrus Alcohol Ink and these Idea-ology Plaquettes were perfectly Irish. ;0) I added everything on, and found some more trims perfect for this, like Maya Road's Zippered Ribbon in the perfect shade of green, and I even found some beads that I am sure someone forced me to wear one St. Pat's!

 

I also made a card for a friend as well, using basically the same supplies, but I tweaked an image of Wendy's from her new Heirloom Art set that I thought was perfect for St. Pat's!

I used watercolor paper for a card base, and sprayed it with water. Then I added Salty Ocean, Bundled Sage, and Peeled Paint Distress Paints and blended it all up with the water again. FUN! It's matte and strong. I stamped Wendy's Flower Image in Jet Black Archival three times.

I stamped this background image over it in Olive Archival Ink, covering up some of the areas I didn't want stamped with sticky notes. I drew in more leaves with a black Sharpie so that they now look more like shamrocks.

Using Distress Markers, I just started coloring in the leaves and flowers. I also used a White Uniball Signo Pen to help, and added a little doodling with the Sharpie.

A Pearl Paint Dabber made clouds, and Stickles added shine to the leaves. I found some pearl string and added more flowers. I added the sentiment From Crafty Secrets, and Butterfly Pins from Maya Road.

Supplies:  The Crafty Scrapper

Corrugated Cardboard

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Mowed Lawn

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Peeled Paint

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Bundled Sage

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Forest Moss

Stamper’s Anonymous Wendy Vecchi Sunshine and Art Stamp Set

Stamper’s Anonymous Wendy Vecchi Heirloom Art Stamp Set

Ranger Archival Ink In Jet Black

Tsukineko Goose Bumps Clear Texture Spray

Wendy Vecchi Stencils For Art Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend

Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber In Bottle

Ranger Dyan Reaveley Dylusions Ink Sprays In Lemon Zest

Ranger Dyan Reaveley Dylusions Ink Sprays In Squeezed Lime

Ranger Dyan Reaveley Dylusions Ink Spray In Fresh Cut Grass

Wendy Vecchi Art Part In Dress Forms and More

Maya Road Large Chipboard Crown

Dreamweaver Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste In Gold

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Victorian Velvet

Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber In Silver

Ranger Tim Holtz Crackle Paint In Rock Candy

Ranger Adirondack Color Wash In Butterscotch

Prima Craftable Flowers

Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber In Gold

Maya Road Zipper Ribbon In Green

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Number Plaquettes

Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink In Citrus

Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Salty Ocean

Tim Holtz Distress Markers
Uniball Signo White Pen

Ranger Stickles In Orange Peel

Ranger Stickles In Firefly

Ranger Stickles In Mystic Green

Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber In Pearl

Crafty Secrets Card Sentiments Stamp Set

Ranger Archival Ink In Olive

Specialty Stamping Paper 8.5 x11

Tim Holtz Distress Ink In Black Soot

Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool

Prima Green Mini Roses

Maya Road Trinket Pins In Vintage Butterfly

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!