Inspiration for IndigoBlu

I am back today with a sneak peek at a project for IndigoBlu.  Pop on over to my post there to see what I made and how I did it.

Autumn Leaves

It is time for me to share a new project for IndigoBlu and this time I have created an autumn card.  I have gone for a couple of drives into the country over the past couple of week and these colours are exactly what I saw on the trees - breathtaking.

I started with some Bazzill card stock for the blank and then created a background panel.  I used watercolour card stock and inked it all over with Scattered Straw and Dried Marigold Distress Ink.  I used a stippling brush and a Folk Art stencil called Leaf Variety to add a number of IndigoBlu Matte acrylic paints - Postbox Red, Burning Bonfire, Hunter Green, Hot Cocoa and Lemon Meringue.  I then lightly stippled directly onto the background between the leaves with some Miss Moneypenny Metallic acrylic paint.

I took another sheet of watercolour card stock and randomly painted it all over with Postbox Red, Burning Bonfire, Hot Cocoa and Hunter Green acrylic paints to get a master board.

Using some Coffee Archival Ink, I stamped leaves from the Live, Laugh, Love set onto the master board that I created.

I fussy cut the leaves and added some Miss Moneypenny metallic paint to the edges with a natural sea sponge.  If you find you need a bit more control to get it just on the edges, you can roll up a little bit of paper towelling and that works too.

Next I used a die set from Spellbinders and Tammy Tutterow called Shabby Posies to cut petals from some stiff gauze fabric that I picked up on a visit to a wholesale place in Fancy Gap, Virginia.

I thinned some Burning Bonfire matte paint with quite a bit of water, dipped the petals in to coat them and then scrunched them up and let them dry.  Once dry, I opened them up again being careful not to tear them.  I stacked the petals and joined them together by sewing them in the centre and fluffed them up to make my flower.

Next I used Coffee Archival Ink to stamp the sentiment from the Live, Laugh, Love set onto a scrap of green card stock from Recollections.  I cut the corners off to create a tag and punched a hole to which I added an Avery reinforcement that was coloured with some Crushed Olive Distress Ink.

Before I adhered the background to the blank I added a wide strip of organza ribbon topped with a strip of grosgrain ribbon, both from my stash.  Next I added the leaves, then the flower and finally the sentiment, which I hung on the card with some burlap string.

I hope you will pop over to the IndigoBlu blog because I am sharing this post with some of my team mates on the International Design Team and you will want to check out the wonderful projects they created.

Inspiration Post at Stamps and Stencils

Today I am presenting the inspiration post over at Stamps and Stencils.  Here is a sneak peek of my project and I hope you will go and see what I have done and how I did it.

Wicked Witch

It is time for the new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  Zoe, our hostess is calling it A Very Vintage Halloween and describes it this way:

"With Halloween just around the corner, it's time to get your witches hats on and create a project in a vintage style with a Halloween theme."

I started with some Bazzill card stock for the blank and then added panels of paper from the Tim Holtz Materialize pad. On the top panel, I used a Tim Holtz stencil called Speckles with some Aged Mahogany Distress Ink to add some "blood splatters".  All the paper pieces on this card were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I cut a big circle from Tim Holtz Kraft Core Shattered Collection and topped it with a bat that came in a little goodie package from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  I found the clock face online and added a skull and crossbones charm that I altered with Pitch Black Alcohol Ink and a light coat of DecoArt Black Metal Paint.  The spider charm was also treated this way.

The witch is a sinister looking lady that came from The Graphics Fairy and I hand cut a witch's hat from a scrap of black card stock for her to which I added some dollar store gems.  I made her broom from a wooden skewer and some raffia that has been in my stash for years.

The potion label was printed from online as was the pentagram.  The words were computer generated.  The bird is a Recollections stamp and was stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink.

Finally I added a loopy bow made from black organza ribbon that was tied together with black burlap string to which I added a bat charm.  The bat was altered with a mixture of Pitch Black and Silver Mixative Alcohol Inks.

I think I will enter this card in the following challenges:

Shopping Your Stash - Hey Ghoulfriend (Halloween)
Country View Challenges - All Things Sooky
Delicious Doodles - Halloween
Let's Craft & Create - Halloween/Autumn/Fall
Scrap From Your Heart - Fall/Halloween

The following items used to create this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie

I am presenting the Friday Focus segment at Frilly and Funkie today.  Here is a sneak peek of just one of  my projects so pop on over and see what I am focusing on and what I made.

Cherry Blossoms

It is time for a new challenge at Stamps and Stencils and this time Autumn, who is our hostess calls it Elements of Nature and describes it this way:

"Whether you are inspired by the glorious world around us with the changing seasons, or tempted to use elements of nature in your art work, this month we'd love to see your nature inspired entries.

Anything goes as long as you include a natural element in your art which can be either either stamped or an actual item ! As always you need to include stamping or stenciling."

I decided to make a canvas featuring cherry blossoms and while they aren't real, I think they are a great representation.

I started by covering a dollar store canvas with a coat of Liquitex Gesso.  Next I glued some strips of Tim Holtz Melange Tissue Wrap to the canvas along with some torn paper.  I added some stenciling with Golden Light Molding Paste and a Heidi Swapp geometric stencil.  Once dry I covered everything with another coat of Gesso.

I painted the surface next using dry baby wipes and lots of different paints applied in random spots - Golden Maganese Blue Hue and Green Gold, DecoArt Cobalt Teal Hue, IndigoBlu Hunter Green Matte Acrylic and Fresco Finish Pumpkin Soup and Smoked Paprika.

Next I made the branches and the blossoms from Martha Stewart Crafter's Clay and a Wilton Mold.  Once the pieces were dry I painted the blossoms with Fresco Finish Blush, Candy Floss and Blood Orange.  The branches were painted with Fresco Finish Mocha and inked with Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Inks.  The leaves were painted with Golden Green Gold and Fresco Finish Green Olives and then inked with Gathered Twigs DI.

I used Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp the bird from the IndigoBlu set called Live, Love, Laugh and coloured it with Prismacolor pencil crayons blended with Gotrick OMS.  I used Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp the little bee from a Tim Holtz set called Random Thoughts.

The sentiment was computer generated and inked with Cracked Pistachio DI and think it really speaks to the fact that this branch is not very full of blooms as you might see on the trees in the spring.  I personally could be considered the adversity because I ran out of clay and time - lol.

I hope you will join us and share your nature themed project.

Cinderella

Today is the start of a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time Suzz who is our hostess is calling it Author, Author and here is what she has to say about it:

"There are so many wonderful books that inspire the mind to imagine the worlds created within them. Think Fairy tales, mysteries, romances or even science fiction and use that to inspire your art. Provide an explanation of how the book and author inspired your project."

When I was about 5 years old I had to spend an extended period of time in the hospital in a city quite a distance from my family but my Godfather, who did live in the city and was a pioneering allergy specialist would come to visit me every 2 days and on the days in between he would sneak into my room and leave me a new book so I had lots of reading material. I could read quite well by then so I was thrilled. One of the books was a Treasury of Children's Literature that contained a variety of stories, including many of the Grimm's fairy tales.

I still have that book to this day so I decided to make a card based on one of those fairy tales - Cinderella. When I was doing a bit of research I discovered though that the brothers Grimm didn't write those fairy tales but published collections of the stories. Cinderella was written by Charles Perrault in 1697.

I started with some Recollections card stock for the blank and added a panel of paper from Maja Designs Nyhavn topped with a panel from Maja Designs Vintage Spring Basics.  Both were distressed with my scissors and the edges were inked with Stormy Sky Distress Ink.

Next I made a coach by printing clip art I found of a pumpkin and some wheels.  I coloured them with a Krylon Gold Leafing Pen and then added some sparkle with Stickles Glisten to define the lines on the pumpkin.  I cut the opening by hand and then added some Venise Lace and the word Dream, which was cut by my husband and altered by coating it with Gesso and spraying it with Brushed Pewter Distress Spray Stain.  I added some gold brads from my stash to the wheels.

I made the little book from some Recollections kraft card stock and added a cover, which was an image found online to which I added text on the computer before I printed it.  The inside of the book is a bunch of vintage Cinderella images that I also found online.  The little book is tied together with some burlap string and has a flap on the back that slides through a little band of card stock on the card so that it can be removed.

I extracted the Fairy Godmother from one of the book pages and added her with foam dimensional dots before I gave her wings some sparkle with Stardust Stickles.  Next came a bow of silver crochet ribbon topped with flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Walmart.  One of the flowers was coloured with the Brushed Pewter Distress Spray and the flat Walmart flower was inked with Stormy Sky DI to change the shade of blue.

The following products used to create this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique: