Saturday, April 28, 2018

Saturday Showcase at Frilly and Funkie


I am presenting the Saturday Showcase at Frilly and Funkie today.  Here is a sneak peek at what I have made but you will want to check out the post to see what it is made from.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Mostly Neutral


It is time for the newest challenge at Frilly and Funkie and this time, Sara Emily is our hostess and calls it Neutral Point of View and describes it this way:

We're seeing a lot of pastel and brighter colors this time of year. For this challenge we're inviting you to step away from all that color and play with your neutral art supplies. You can add a few pops or hints of color, but be sure we see mainly neutrals on your vintage or shabby chic design. (Think black, white, gray, brown, beige, cream, ivory; even gold and silver.)

I went with mostly grey, white and black for my neutrals but there is a tiny bit of pink added.

I started with some grey card stock for my card blank and used a number of papers from a pad called Rose Quartz (Prima).  First came a large panel for the background and then I added two smaller panels of different designs along with a couple of tiny fishtail elements.

Next I added a doily cut from a scrap of black card stock using the crochet doily die from Prima and then a sentiment that I fussy cut from one of the papers.  Some venise lace was added as a border at the bottom of the sentiment.

The big Prima flower came next with a beaded stick pin that I created from my stash along with a feather and some tulle and then a bit of pink crochet lace ribbon was tucked underneath the flower.  Tip:  Always keep even the smallest leftover bits of ribbon because they can make great added elements for your cards even if there isn't enough to create a bow.

Finally I altered a metal flower corner with some Snow Cap Mixative Alcohol Ink and added it.

I hope you will join us for this challenge. it runs until 11:55 pm EST on May 8th so you have lots of time to create.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Altered Bottle


I decided to play one day a while back and altered a bottle that I picked up from a charity shop for $2.00.  The bottle came with a glass and cork stopper so I think it was meant to be a wine decanter.

Sorry, there are no process photos because I was intending to use this for myself as decor in my great room.  I have a 15 foot ceiling so tall items look best but this turned out to be too short on its own even though it is 12" tall.  I guess I will alter a couple more bottles and make a grouping.  Lucky for me my Son-in-Law owns a restaurant and he has been giving me some cool whiskey bottles so I have lots to work with.

In the meantime, here is how this one came together:

1.  Painted it with white chalk paint (Americana) because that seems to stick very well to glass without any other prep.
2.  Coated it with a layer of Black Gesso (Finnabair).  Using black chalk paint would have saved me step #1 - live and learn.
3.  Covered it with Crackle Paste (Golden).
4.  Used Soft Gel Medium Matte (Golden) to adhere a variety of elements to the bottle - lace, flowers, buttons, metals, charms and wood bits.
5.  Painted everything with Black Gesso (Finnabair).
6.  Painted everything with Black Cherry Acrylic Paint (Folk Art).
7.  Sponged on some Aged Mahogany Distress Stain (Tim Holtz).
8.  Rubbed the highlights with Rose Quartz and Aquamarine Treasure Gold Wax Paste (Connoisseur Studio).

I am going to enter this in the following challenges:

Country View Challenges - Pimp it Up! (Reuse or alter something).
We Love 2 Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
Crafter's Castle - Anything Goes - Optional Dimensional Projects
Creative Artiste - Anything Mixed Media Goes
Try it on Tuesday - Recycle Something

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Jewel Tones


It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and I am the hostess this time.  I am calling the challenge Elegant Jewels and here is how I describe it:

Let's make a vintage or shabby chic project in jewel tone colours such as deep purple, emerald green, jade green, burgundy, bright turquoise to name a few AND to make your project extra special, add some sort of jewel or gem, which can be anything from a dollar store find to a piece of broken jewelry.

I created a z-fold card for this challenge and used papers from the Graphic 45 Fairie Dust pad.  I made this the week I looked after my Grandchildren and since I was so scatter brained at the time, I totally forgot to take process photos.  Forgive my lapse but I will describe how it came together.

1.  Cut a purple card blank 6" x 12" (Recollections) and score on the long side at 3" and 6".  Fold in half at the 6" score line and then fold the 3" score line back toward the 6" fold making a z-fold.


2.  Finish the inside first.  The right side has a patterned paper panel topped by a sentiment that I created on the computer, inked with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and mounted on a purple card mat.  Fussy cut stamps from the paper pad and adhere on either side of the sentiment.
3.  The left side has a patterned paper panel topped with corners cut from a different paper and punched with a lace edge punch (Martha Stewart).


4.  Add a panel of patterned paper to the front.
5.  Cut a purple mat large enough to cover the sentiment panel.
6.  Die cut a doily from purple card stock using a Crochet Doily die (Prima), cut it in half and add to the right side of the purple mat.  Top with a fussy cut image from the paper pad.


7.  Cut leaves from the Garden Greens (Mini) die (Tim Holtz) using purple and blue card stock.  Adhere to the front panel.
8.  Dye seam binding with Dusty Concord Distress Ink (Tim Holtz) and create a loopy bow.  Create another loopy bow from burlap string and add with a button to the top of the seam binding bow.  Tuck a variety of purple toned flowers on both sides of the bow.


9.  Add a gem on top of the doily.

There you have it - a card in jewel tones. I hope you will join in on the challenge and show us your elegant jewels. You have until 11:55 pm on April 24th.

By the way, there is a story behind the gem.  I have a lot of my late Mother-in-Law's costume jewelry.  She wore clip-on earrings every day until her dementia got so bad that she was losing one or both - by then she was 92.  I figured there would be something in that pile that would work on this card so I dug through the bag and lo and behold I found this earring.  Now I was looking in the bag in a closet late at night and I thought I had a teal coloured earring and it would be fabulous.  

The next morning I realized it was royal blue so I had to balance it on the card, which is why there are some blue leaves.  I actually dyed some white flowers with Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink and put them on the card but after looking at it for a few days, I realized how much I despised blue flowers and replaced them, which made me much happier.  I come by my dislike of blue flowers and lots of other blue things honestly because my late Mother collected blue glass and I inherited over 800 pieces of it - needless to say, I have sold most of it and only kept a few sentimental pieces.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Broken Heart


A couple of months ago ago I created this steampunk inspired canvas with a large rusty gear and it has been sitting in my studio staring at me because I wasn't sure if I was happy with it - I wish I had put the gear on a smaller canvas.  Then yesterday, I saw the new challenge called Rusty and Crusty at A Vintage Journey and decided I would leave it as is and enter it in the challenge.  I started searching for the photos I took and couldn't find any.  I had a computer crash a while ago and I thought it recovered just fine but I guess not because I seem to be missing some folders. 😒

I took the photo of the finished canvas today and since Mother Nature is off her meds and can't decide if she wants it to snow or not and the sun can't decide whether to shine or not, I am getting shimmer from the metallic paint because I used my office lamps.  Next time I want shimmer to this extent, chances are good it won't happen.

Here is what I did:

1.  Stole a wooden heart from my husband's workshop.  It is 8" in diameter and was one of the first things he created and cut when he got the laser cutter.
2.  Conned him into cutting a wooden circle and three wooden hearts in various sizes and cutting a zigzag line down the length of the smallest one. (I know, I am so lucky to have him and the laser cutter available to me.)
3.  Glued the circle and then the largest heart to the gear using Soft Gel Medium Matte (Golden).
4.  Coated the gear and the circle with Coarse Pumice Gel (Golden).
5.  Glued a variety of hardware, electronic bits, buttons and small wooden gears to the circle around the heart.
6.  Covered everything in Black Gesso (Art Basics).
7.  Glued the next largest heart on and covered it in Black Gesso.
8.  Sponged randomly over everything with Espresso and Black Acrylic Paint as well as some Worn Penny Metallic Acrylic Paint (DecoArt).
9.  Painted the broken heart pieces with a mixture of Dark Scarlet Acrylic Paint (DecoArt) and Black Cherry Acrylic Paint (Folk Art).
10.  Joined the broken heart sections with copper wire and then sponged the edges with Worn Penny Metallic Acrylic Paint before I added it on top of the heart stack.
11.  Prepared the 12" x 12" canvas board (I wish I had used a 10" x 10" canvas) by coating it with White Gesso (Liquitex) and then gluing on some crumpled up tissue paper with Mod Podge.
12.  Stenciled clocks through a stencil called Mini Time Travel (TCW) using Light Molding Paste (Golden).
13.  Painted the canvas with Natural Tan Grout Acrylic Paint (DecoArt) and then sprayed with Gathered Twigs Distress Spray Stain (Tim Holtz).
14.  Adhered the gear using Soft Gel Medium Matte.
15.  Sponged more Worn Penny Metallic Acrylic Paint and more Black Cherry Acrylic randomly over the background.

This was fun to make and for a change there wasn't any deadline for it.  I need to play like this more often.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Lying In the Meadow


It is time for a new challenge at Stamps and Stencils.  Rachel is our hostess for this one and is calling it In the Meadow.  She describes it this way:

Meadows are such amazing places - lots of different grasses, wild flowers and wonderful wildlife. Let your imagination run wild ...and use stamps or stencils too! Enjoy!

I decided to make a page for my art journal this time and wanted it to depict what I would be feeling if I was lying in a meadow - and taking time to do nothing.


The first step was to stamp some grasses on the page using a set called Victorian Garden (IndigoBlu) and Olive Archival Ink (Ranger) and Fern Green Archival Ink (Wendy Vecchi).  Sorry about the glare on the photos but it was miserable out when I took the photos and I had to turn the overhead light on in my studio to get anything half decent.


Next I stenciled some wildflowers by putting Translucent Embossing Paste (Wendy Vecchi) through a stencil called Mini Wildflowers (TCW).


The next step was to ink the whole page using Twisted Citron and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide (Tim Holtz).  The embossing paste acts as a resist so I just took some paper towel and rubbed over the wildflowers to bring them to life again.



I stenciled some butterflies (Heidi Swapp) with Fern Green Archival Ink and then I left the stencil in place and stamped over the butterflies with a set called Ultimate Grunge (Tim Holtz) and Olive Archival Ink (Ranger).


I decided there would be lots of bees in the meadow, especially if there are wildflowers so I added some using Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger) and bees from the Victorian Garden set (IndigoBlu) and a set called Random Thoughts (Tim Holtz).


I added some Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain (Tim Holtz) randomly over the page.

Finally I created some text on the computer, distressed it and inked it with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink (Tim Holtz).

I hope you will join us for this challenge - you have until May 2nd to create.