Art Notebook Cover

I decided to make something for the fun of it while I am staying indoors and trying to keep warm.  I try to make notes of the products I am using in projects as I go along so that I can keep the clutter at a minimum as I am working but have the information available to do my blog posts without having to dig everything out again.  I found these great composition notebooks for 50 cents each at WalMart and decided to jazz one up.

I started by coating the cover, front and back with a coat of Liquitex Gesso.  Once dry, I added some Golden Molding Paste through a Heidi Swapp Harlequin stencil in random spots.  I also added some drywall tape in other random spots.

Next I covered the cover with alcohol ink from Ranger.  I used a blend of Wild Plum, Eggplant and Copper Mixative in some areas and a blend of Lemonade and Peach Bellini in other areas.  Once it was dry I gave the cover a watered down coat of Gesso and then spritzed it with some Pegleg Pete Purple Moonshine Mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang.

Next I did some random second generation stamping using Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger.  The stamps I used were from Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge set and from Wendy Vecchi's True Art set.

Next I started to collect some embellishments and alter some of them.  The letters are a mix of chipboard from my stash and wooden letters from Dollarama.  I gave each one a coat of Gesso and then I painted them with Orchid and Wild Orchid Acrylic Paint from Americana and Purple Pearl Metallic paint from Deco Art.  I used a Recollections script stamp and some Ranger Deep Purple Archival Ink to add some interest to a couple of the letters.

The flowers are a mixture of roses from Wild Orchid Crafts, a wooden piece from Dollarama, a Recollections daisy and a silk flower that I took apart and painted.  One flower layer was painted with Wild Orchid and the other was painted with Purple Pearl and then rubbed with some Festive Berries Distress Ink from Ranger.  I added a dollar store pearl to the centre of one flower, a button from my stash to another and a tiny rose to the last one.

I altered a little metal frame and a filigree medallion with some Wild Plum and Eggplant Alcohol Ink.  I painted a little metal butterfly that was a gift from my friend Pamellia with Purple Pearl paint.  I added some beads, gems and cup sequins from my stash.

Finally, because the Gesso and other media made the covers warp a bit and want to pop open, I added a button to the front and back with a string closure.  The string is attached at the back and finishes at the back  One suggestion is that you make sure that your string will wrap around the back button a number of times to determine what length you need.  I just wrapped mine around twice and cut it only to discover that it has a tendency to spring loose.

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Alphabet Soup
The Mirror Crack'd - Album/Journal Cover
Inky Chicks - Flowers
Altered Eclectics - Anthing Goes (must be altered item or mixed media)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Altered Item/Mixed Media

Winter Getaway

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and since I am hosting the challenge, I thought it should be called IT'S TIME FOR A VACATION. It is time to get away from winter and go on a vacation somewhere - it could be a warm beach, an exotic locale with lots of sights to see or even in your own back yard so let's see a vintage or shabby chic project that depicts where you are going. 

If you are tired of all the brutal cold and snow that we have had in the eastern half of North America, then you too are ready for somewhere warm.  This mixed media canvas I have created is meant to depict what I might be seeing from a glass bottom boat in the Caribbean.  I might see the same thing if I was snorkeling but I don't do snorkeling.

I started by covering a thin canvas from the dollar store with Gesso.  Next I made a stencil on my Cameo that I will call pebbles and used some texture paste mixed with sand through it to cover the bottom portion of the canvas.

I used more texture paste with a Dylusions stencil to create the dots on the top portion - bubbles maybe?  I added some burlap to divide the sections and glued on some diamond leaf guard pieces.  Once the leaf guard was dry I decided I didn't like it and pulled it off but it left some neat glue impressions so I left those there.  I also added some cheesecloth for a little more texture or maybe flotsam and jetsam.  Then I covered the canvas with another coat of Gesso.

Next I covered the whole canvas with a coat of Peacock Pearl metallic paint by Deco Art and let it dry.  Then I sprayed the top portion with Blue Patina Perfect Pearl Mist and the bottom portion with Lindy's Buccaneer Bronze Mist.  I rubbed some Aquamarine Treasure Gold wax paste on the dots and some Renaissance Treasure Gold in a few places around the edge of the canvas.

The next step was to make the mermaid.  I got her body as a free template from The Enchanted Gallery, took her into my Cameo software, scaled her to the size I wanted and cut her from an old cracker box.  Next I painted the pieces with Buttermilk Americana acrylic paint and then inked the edges with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I drew her face by hand and since I am no artist, don't look closely.

To make her tail, I covered a piece of scrap card stock with foil tape and ran it though a circles embossing folder.  I took a pair of Fiskars scissors called wave and cut strips that I glued to the tail.  Then I covered the tail with a mixture of Meadow, Pool and Sailboat Blue Alcohol Ink blended with some Copper Mixative. 

Her hair is some doll hair I found in my stash and I dyed it with some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink and then gave her a little piece of seaweed punched with a Martha Stewart punch from some copper card stock.  Finally I put her together and added a couple of shells for her bra.  By the way, if you were constantly underwater, you would be having as bad a hair day as she is :)

The next step was to organize all the embellishments.  I painted some venise lace with some Bronze metallic paint by Craftsmart.  The seaweed was made with crafter's clay and a mold and then painted with Crystal Green metallic paint by Deco Art but I thought it was too blue so I gave it a light coat of Avocado acrylic paint from Americana.  The starfish are hand shaped from crafter's clay and painted with the Bronze metallic paint.  The rest of the embellishments are beads from my stash, a filigree metal piece, a gear, a couple of buttons, some glass chunks, some cup sequins and lots of shells.

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

Altered Eclectics  - Anything Goes (must be mixed media or altered items)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Altered Art/Mixed Media
Opus Gluei - Need A Little Vacation?

The following products used in the creation of this project came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique where you will find lots of exciting new products:

Saturday Step X Step at Frilly and Funkie

Today it is my turn to present the Saturday Step X Step over at Frilly and Funkie.  Here is a little peek at what I have made so pop on over to see what it is and check out all the details.

Together Heart

I decided I better get moving and make a Valentine's Day card for my husband and this is what I came up with.  I know this has a lot of pink on it but my husband has a couple of fabulous plaid shirts that have predominately pink in them and he feels quite confident to wear them so I forged ahead - pink and all.  BTW, he eats quiche too :)

I started with some Recollections white card stock for my blank and then tackled the background.  The background started with a pink and white striped paper from a My Mind's Eye pad called Blush.  First I did some random stenciling - Wendy Vecchi Watering Can Archival Ink and a TCW stencil called Mini Chickenwire Reversed and then Aged Mahogany Distress Ink from Ranger and a Wendy Vecchi Stencil called Polka Dotty.

Then I used some Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger to stamp some flourishes from Wendy Vecchi's Daisy Art stamp set.  The next step was to put some of Wendy's White Texture Paste through a cross hatch stencil that I made myself on my Cameo.  The final step for the background was to distress the edges and add some scraps of a polka dot paper from the MME pad to a couple of torn spots and then run the Aged Mahogany DI around the edge.

Next I used some Glue and Seal from Inkssentials to add a piece of old book paper to a scrap of white card stock.  Once it was dry I used some of the Aged Mahogany DI and a large multi heart stencil from Heidi Swapp to make all the little hearts.  I outlined each one with a black Pigma Micron pen.  I cut each one out and then took some Jet Black Archival Ink and stamped bits on each heart using the Wendy Vecchi Large Collage background stamp that I have cut into sections.  You will notice that the Aged Mahogany looks a little more brown on the old book paper and for a split second I throwing them out and starting over but then decided they were kind of funky and I was just going to live with them.

I took another scrap of Recollections card stock, cut a heart out of it and then ran it through a Tim Holtz embossing folder called Sheet Music.  I rubbed the raised areas with Treasure Gold Rose Quartz and a little bit of Jaygot Silver wax paste.  Next I took a scrap of floral paper from the MME pad and softened it with my crimper until it felt almost like fabric - a trick I learned from my friend Pamellia. Once it was soft enough I stamped it with some Aged Mahagony DI and a Recollections script stamp.

I added the softened paper to the back of the cutout and then added a couple layers of quilt batting cut in the heart shape and then a backing rectangle of card stock so the patterned paper now puffs out of the cutout.

Next I cut some filigree leaves with my Cameo from white card stock and then rubbed them with silver wax paste.  I made some shabby roses from a couple sizes of Marvy Uchida punches.  The little flowers were made from scraps of grey card stock and have Making Memories pewter brads for centres.  The larger flower is made from another paper from the MME pad.  All the flowers have had a bit of white acrylic paint added to the edges.

The sentiment was printed on my computer, cut into individual words and the edges were inked with Aged Mahogany DI.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Artist Trading Post Exchange - Love Is In The Air
Make Art Challenge - Hearts
The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Think Pink
Penny's Paper Crafty - Embossing
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Sweethearts and Roses
Stampotique Designers Challenge - It's All Love and Hearts - SDC 182
Papertake Weekly  - Hearts and Flowers
Tuesday Throwdown - Love Is In The Air
In The Pink Challenge  - Love Is In The Air
Crafty Cardmakers - Love, Love, Love

A Mixed Bouquet

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  This time Sue is our hostess and she is calling it Winter Blooms.  With gardens pretty gloomy in many areas of the world right now (or covered in snow as mine is) she want to see vintage or shabby chic projects with lots of handmade flowers.  You can make roses, daisies or any other type of handmade flower you want.

I started my project with some white card stock from Recollections for the blank.  Then I got out my Coff in the Arbour paper pad by Maja Designs and picked out some co-ordinating papers in pink and yellow.  The striped paper went down first after I distressed it with my scissors.  Next came a yellow piece topped by a lattice panel that I cut with my Cameo.  Then I added some triangles of a teeny floral pattern to two corners.  I added a bit of Victorian Velvet Distress Ink to the corner panels.

I found the lovely vintage lady online at Create with TLC and after I printed her I added some venise lace around the edge of her from behind.  I cut the fancy frame on my Cameo, spritzed it with some Perfect Pearls and then mounted the image on top.

The flowers are not really representative of any particular type but were fun to make and all started as white card stock.  The large pink flower was made with scalloped hearts that I cut with my Cameo and then inked with Victorian Velvet DI.  The large yellow flower was made with more Cameo die cuts and inked with Scattered Straw Distress Ink.  The little yellow flower was made with a Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and inked with Scattered Straw DI while the little pink flowers were made with a daisy punch and Victorian Velvet DI and have little white pearls for centres.  All the buds were made from the smallest flower on the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.  The leaves are punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

To finish the card off I added a loopy bow made from seam binding dyed with Victorian Velvet DI, a couple of vellum and card stock butterflies made with some Martha Stewart punches.  Their bodies are pearls and then I scattered a few more pearls in one corner.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

Through the Purple Haze Challenges - Use Some Flowers
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Anything Goes
That Craft Place - Anything Goes
Pile It On - Use A Bow
Card and Scrap - Use Flowers
Cut It Up Challenges - Romance - Flowers, Lace, Pearls

The following products used to create this card came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique where you will always find prices lower that the MSRP and now there are lots of great new products to choose from.