Jessica Sporn Framed Me?!?

Well...she didn't frame me in the criminal sense. I just wanted to grab everyone's attention! Instead, Jessica Sporn asked me to be apart of her Stencil Test Drive Blog Hop using her "Frames" stencil from Stencil Girl Products. I am sure you can imagine my excitement just at the asking, but then I received her fabulous stencil and I was elated! There are so many uses for this smart design...just look at all the different frames to choose from! WOW! Thank you Jessica for asking me! I am truly honored.

Since I have so many photos of my children laying all around my crafting cave, I decided to use the stencil to frame some. 

I used Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste in Gold through three of the stencils.

I cut them out of this repurposed cardboard after they air dried.

I put the frames back under the stencil and reapplied another layer of the Embossing Paste. I have never done this before, and did not know if it would work, but it did. The height of the paste was impressive. It made for great depth.

I cut out the centers, and misted them with Ranger's Cappuccino Color Wash. It resisted the Embossing Paste wonderfully. Then I inked the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I had a wood plank that needed tending to, so Red Pepper Color Wash gave it some life. The water helped it coat evenly.

I thought it needed aging, so Snow Cap and Gold Paint Dabber helped. I used the Speckled Stamp as well.

I used lots of stamps with Archival Ink and Pitch Black Paint Dabber too.

I wanted to give this some sheen now, so I coated it with Glossy Glue N Seal. HOWEVER, my jar was a little old and clumpy, but I decided to use it anyway. Instead of the glossy sheen, I got muted color and milky streaks. It's not a bad look, and it provides for a great vintage look, BUT it wasn't the look I wanted. Live and learn.

I loved the 'corner frame outs' on this stencil, and used them with more Gold Embossing Paste for each corner. I love this design feature of the stencil.

 

Now go see what the other Artists did with the Frames stencil!  But before you do, be sure to leave a comment here because Jessica is giving away one of these stencils to one lucky winner, and EVERY comment in the test drive will be eligible to win.  The more times you comment, the more chances you have to win!

Linda Kunsman

Maria McGuire

Nathalie Kalbach

Kristin Van Valkenburgh

Janet Joehlin
Valerie-Jael 

Jessica Sporn

Good luck, and I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

A Flying Paintbrush?!?

It's a very special day...Carolyn Ross's birthday, Mrs. Crafty Scrapper herself! And, in honor of this occasion and for all the wonderful things she has done for me, I've made her a little something something that she has been wanting for some time, made with lots of Wendy Vecchi goodness. I hope she likes this altered paintbrush!!!

 

 

 

 

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Are You The Winner?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! Well...no chicken really, just some art goodies! AND, the cool part is this is my 300th post, so there is much cause to celebrate, and giving away something is perfect to do so!

Here is what you are winning again...

And the winner out of 78 comments is...

#51, Tarnished Rose

Tarnished Rose September 26, 2013 at 6:44 PM

LOVE your tag.
I knew I hadn't gotten an email lately with a blog post. 

 Glad to see you back posting. You do such wonderful work.

Please email me with your address!

Thank you so much for all the comments everyone. I wish I had enough loot to give to all of you.
I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

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!

12 Tags of 2013 - September (+ A Give Away!!!)

Hello everyone and happy happy Autumn! 

I've been so busy kitting lately for the biggest class I've ever had...Christmas Village Centerpiece... so I'm sorry to have been gone for so long. MASSIVE "Thank You's" go out to all of you who commented on the baby shoes! I was absolutely blown away by all the attention they received. I really thought I'd get some sad faces over those, but it was all good...again thank you tons!

AND, with all the kitting came a little clean up, which produced the freebie products that I was supposed to give away after CHA Summer! HELLO! None of you reminded me that I was supposed to do that! ;0) I totally forgot and I am so sorry, but don't y'all want some goodies?!? I'll choose a winner from this post's comments and let you know who won on Monday, September 30th.

Now onto my September tag for Tim's 12 Tags of 2013. I followed all the steps, but gave it an Autumn twist...my favoritest season!!! While I did like a few things about the tag, I definitely thought it was way too cluttered up, so I gave it another go. I know, so not me to do a redo. I am a firm believer that there are no mistakes in Art, but I just wasn't satisfied.

 

I used the Clockwork and Rays Stencils with the Distress Paint after I added the Embossing Paste leaves using Dyan's Leaf Flourish Stencil. I was definitely a little sloppy with the Clockwork one...you cannot even make out the clock, but I thought I should keep going on it.

Autumn colors of Stains came next and I was much happier because of the warm coloring, but then I just couldn't stop adding more stenciling and stamping. Why do I have to be so gaudy?

 

 

 

I added the new Distress Glitter in Mustard Seed to Translucent Embossing Paste to make the stars. I love how they came out, and I was much happier with this tag, although I liked the colors of the first one better. Oh well...live and learn.

We get a creative bonus this Autumn Season...Tim's Creative Chemistry 102! Woohoo! I can't wait to get started on it next week! I hope you all join in on the fun, AND...don't forget to comment for a chance to win the loot!

Supplies:


I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!