Remnants!

How are you doing this fine day? I sure hope happy and doing well. Today is my day to share at A Vintage Journey for the 5th Recipe for May, using four ingredients. Please visit HERE for all the details. Sorry about two DT posts in one day, but it does happen, so please stop by a little later!

Have a wonderful week and thank you for stopping by!

Tim's Tag May 2015

It is Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey and I am just getting this in on time to enter Tim's May Tag challenge for 2015. Oh be sure to check out all the lovely tags my talented DT Sisters have for you!

Already having sheets of Burlap paper, I did adhere a sheet of double sided adhesive to the burlap and card stock and then cut it using the Tag die. My stencil of choice was the stars and then I colored with Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn. Not having Tim's Photo Booth pictures, I colored one of the photos from Vellum Thrift Shop Ephemera Pack using Shabby Shutters and Spun Sugar markers. I then mounted the photo on to white card stock that I distressed and snipped off the corners just so slightly. The collaged ephemera is from a couple of different packs and I really do like the vellum!

The flowers were cut from the Tattered Flowers Garland and the greenery from the Tattered Pine Cone dies. All were lightly distress and inked over in Vintage Photo. Tim's Bird replaced the arrow and was alcohol inked with Caramel and Mushroom as was the tag. The ribbon was stained with Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint. Not having the "Small Talk" stickers, I used Chit Chat stickers and outlined with a DecoArt Paint Pen to finish. Inspiration Journal's challenge for May is "Get Pasted" and so we are off to visit those nice people!

Thank you for stopping by and have a lovely weekend!

Springtime Play with AO!

Hello to all of you and welcome to the "Designers Choice Blog Hop" with Artistic Outpost! All of the team will be sharing their awesomeness with you, so don't miss a thing! Tracy, Shari, Lisa, Kate, Gerrie

I decided to use one of the projects I created with the New Release, "Springtime" and here is how this tag came about!

The little cuties were stamped in Black Archival and watercolored using Brushed Corduroy, Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar, masked off and next the tag background was inked over in Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky, flicked with a little water. Masked off the stamp to stamp on a few Umbrella's using Watering Can Archival and drew on the handles with a marker. I also inked over these a little with the tag background colors to set them back a little. The Fence was also stamped in Watering Can.

To Finish I added a die cut "Play" and that reminds me that there is only a few days remaining to PLAY along in the "Show Us Your AO Art" challenge for May. The sentiment was stamped in Black Archival and inked, then die cut using ODBD Vintage Labels. Finished off all the edges with distressing and inked with Vintage Photo and Black Soot. The ribbon was stained using Weathered Wood and Faded Jeans stain.

Thank you so much for visiting today and have a lovely day and go PLAY!

Letters to Friends!

I almost forgot to post these two letters I altered using lots of mixed media for a couple of fabulous friends! Sure hope Brenda and Chris like their letters as much as I enjoyed making them and trying to add elements and colors to suit them. This did take quite some time between figuring out what to add and of course various drying times. It is hard to take photos during the various stages as you can get really caught up in the moment or just need a break. Be forewarned this will be very photo heavy! I have done several of these Mixed Media projects, but this has been the largest! The Sun was quite bright the day of photos, so these are a little less in your face than it appears!

Both wood letters were purchased at a local craft store and are close to a foot tall, gessoed and then I added various layers from texture paste, crackle, fabric, metal and so on! Once all the elements were glued down using gel medium, again all was gessoed. I just wanted you to see this before the white gesso layer.

Next step was to add sprays and this is what I used. For the "B," Color Wash in Denim, Espresso, Meadow and Dylusions in Melted Chocolate, London Bus and Pure Sunshine. For the "C," Dylusions Crushed Grape, London Bus and a few colors of Tattered Angels in pinks. I then used a heat tool to dry most of the color on and then blotted off the excess with a paper towel. I also will use a soft paintbrush to move color where I wish or where I think one color is too overly saturated. Once this was all dried and I was happy with the colors, I gave a spray of matte sealer to set colors.

From this point layers of white gesso and white acrylic paint is used to highlight the areas and you can go as light or heavy as you like. I don't think the highlighting is quite as heavy as the photos may show. If you click on the photos, you can also see more detail.

The "B" in halves!

Now the bits and pieces!

The "C" in halves!

 

And the bits and pieces! I am thankful for the friends I have found in this lovely blogging world of ours, so I am linking this up to Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, "Thank You," Frilly and Funkie's "Happy, Happy, Happy," because these two projects and playing with so many different mediums and elements so does make me happy and Inspiration Journal's, "Pasted."

Thank you for stopping by today on this long photo journey! Next I have an "H" to work on for my Great-granddaughter! Have a lovely day!

Memorial Day!

With the upcoming Memorial Day here in the USA, I decided to honor and give thanks to all the men and women who served and protected this great country and their families, so that we can continue to enjoy all of our freedoms. It seemed so appropriate to use Artistic Outpost's "Hero" stamps in remembrance and celebration. My patriotic tag will also join in Lisa's Bloggers Challenge "Red, White and Blue."

The image and sentiment were colored with Stampin Up Markers in Not Quite Navy, Real Red and Black and stamped onto white card stock. Very lightly inked around the edges with Antique Linen and then shaded with Vintage Photo and cornered with Black Soot.

By accident I cut a leftover piece of matte photo paper for my tag and thought, "what the heck." This was inked with Fired Brick and Stormy Sky. I decided I wanted a little more of a watered effect and literally tossed a good amount of water on the tag and let it run and puddle, then lifted off the excess with a paper towel. I dried the tag and then went ahead and flicked on some smaller water drops. The interesting thing is that the flicked drops mostly accumulated in the areas that did not pool and I personally loved how it looked! The next step was to stamp the flag, which I did mask off the frame and sentiments within.

Well I do thank you for visiting today. For those in the US, have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend and a happy weekend to everyone!

Artistic Outpost New Release Blog Hop

WooHoo Artistic Outpost has a fabulous New Release Blog Hop for May, "Wander and Dream" and "Springtime." Please join in the Blog Hop as all the DT has some wonderful treats for your viewing pleasure! Shari, Tracy, Kate, Gerrie, Lisa. And here is the prize information oh my!

Prize Information:

Just for commenting on the Design Team Blog Posts, you have a chance to win a $15 Artistic Outpost Gift Certificate, good towards the purchase of AO Stamps.  You have until May 23, 2015 at 10:00 PM CDT to leave comments on the participating designers blogs for a chance to win! Three random winners will be selected from the comments left on the designers blogs, the winners will be announced on the AO Blog on May 24, 2015, be sure to check back there to see if you have won! 

This first card I am sharing today uses the Wander and Dream stamps, so perfect for the fact I live in the desert! Of course it is also perfect for a real masculine themed project or for those who just love good old country themes!

Lots of masking took place and it began with the the couple being stamped in Black Archival, watercolored with Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar, Antique Linen, Black Soot, Creamy Caramel SU marker, masked before stamping the Desert scene in Sepia Archival. I also continue the Desert scene to cover the entire area and this was inked over with Antique Linen. The skyline was inked using a mix of Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans. A little more masking and then the Cactus were stamped using Coffee Archival and colored in with Creamy Caramel SU marker. The edges were distressed with Black Soot. The sentiment was stamped by masking off each line and then spread across the great big sky!

My second card is from Springtime and I just love these kids wanting to play and have a great time and not caring at all about a little rain! I decided to add the entire group, pup included!

On a piece of ivory paper (usually my paper of choice), the children and child with dog were stamped in Black Archival, inked over the entire paper with Antique Linen and edged with Brushed Corduroy. I will admit it took a couple of attempt to align them properly! Next they were watercolored using Brushed Corduroy, Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar and Antique Linen. The edges were distressed, added some curled corners and a few little tears for that old vintage photo look. Stamped the sentiments in Black Archival and shaded with Black Soot. 

Thank you for stopping by and joining in the AO New Release Blog Hop and as over the next weeks, I will be sharing some more NR creations! Have a fabulous day! 

CC#3C - Alcohol Ink Ombre

Hello to all of you wonderful crafty people and I hope you are doing great! Yes, I am still having Internet issues and until Verizon actually makes the much needed repairs, this will be ongoing! Just trying to edit a picture is so frustrating when you do whatever changes and go to save and then the "page is not available" and that is why I am lacking on blog visits! OK, enough of my problems with Verizon and just know that I am still looking and enjoying your wonderful artwork! Really I am!

I decided to work my Artistic Outpost Generation Redux and Flower Market stamps right into Linda's CC#3C lesson, "Alcohol Ink Ombre," on page 57 of the Compendium of Curiosities III. Tim's book is amazing and to play along you must work from  your own copy! The wonderful sponsor this time around is the Funkie Junkie Boutique and of course there is always sometime from Tim and Mario as well, chosen by that lovely and talented Curiosity Crew! I decided I would go with a tag and used the more pastel colors of alcohol inks and although I can't share the technique, I can tell you that I used Mountain Rose and Salmon!

Thank you for visiting me today and especially that I have been lacking and hopefully this will all be resolved soon.

Internet Issues!

Hello to all of you and I hope you are having a great start to May! I just wanted to let you know that I am not actually MIA, but my Internet is!!

I apologize for not visiting very much at all, but our Internet Service Provider is not doing their job very well at all! About 2 months ago we had phone issues and then slowing of the Internet. Verizon came out and gave a little bit of a fix and then left! Again this same issue started with the phone line about two weeks ago. I mean so bad that I cannot even use the land-line phone, so again a phone repair person was sent. He verified that it is not on our end, but theirs and that it is not the wiring and in fact is the cable that runs underground! The next day they sent out a cable-man and he did another quick fix and said someone would be out during the following week. We did verify that we would not be home and was told that was not an issue as it is not on our end. Well they left! And just for fun, again they sent the same phone repairman from almost two weeks ago our yesterday! He said he already told them that it is the CABLE! So we wait again and of course they were supposed to be out earlier and Steve called and was told he is having lots of work (DUH) and will be out at 1:00 and the fact it is now almost 3:00 PM, I have this feeling nothing will happen. Now tomorrow we won't be home as we are meeting up with that most lovely Brenda and her hubby, Ken!

My Internet service is really slow as you might imagine and it can take a good five minutes for a blog to load up, you know we do have lots of good pictures on our blogs! Well I am not a very patient person and when I wait and then it breaks up, I kind of give up. The extreme noise on the line is just not allowing full transmission of data! Even trying to photo edit pictures is a real well, I will keep this clean! Please understand that I am trying to get around, but it is next to impossible with this incredibly slow Internet and then failures thrown in for fun! As soon as I can, I will resume my lovely visits with your blogs and will try to visit while this is going on! I wonder what will happen if they have to pull the cable???

We went to Portland for a few days and it was so lovely with all the blooming flowers and trees and my poor hubby with all his allergy issues did not enjoy the beauty as much as I did! I saw one house that had Red Iceland Poppies that stood a good 3 feet tall!!! What a breathtaking eyeful that was! Well today I am sending you all a rose from my garden and hope that Spring has found you! Hugs to all and will catch up soon!

Hero!

Here we are at the start of May and that means a new Product Focus at Artistic Outpost and we are being "Patriotic"! I chose stamps from the "Hero" collection and you will just have to visit the rest of the team to see what they came up with right here Kate, Shari, Tracy, Lisa, Gerrie. All stamps is the Patriotic category are also 20% off through May 9th as well!

The flag image was colored with Stampin Up markers Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, Real Red and Black. After I huffed and puffed to reactivate the inks (and felt dizzy), I stamped the image to white card stock. The background was then inked over in Distress Stormy Sky, Fired Brick and shaded with Vintage Photo and Black Soot in the corners.

I decided to collage images around the flag, which were stamped in Black Archival. The two Hero sentiments were stamped in Black Archival as well and then clear embossed. I stamped a third Hero and cut it apart and shaded around the edges with red and blue!

As this is the beginning of the month, the new "Show Us Your AO Art" has started and we would love to have your AO inky goodness join us! Thank you for visiting me today and have a wonderful week!