Holidays Blog Hop with AO!

It is time for the Holidays at AO and we have a festive Blog Hop in store for you! Visit all the DT for more Holiday Inspiration! Tracy, Shari, Kate, Gerrie, Lisa.

I so love that gorgeous Cardinal from the MidWinter collection and he looks even better on the Christmas Paper 2013 from Our Daily Bread Designs die cut using Tim's Carved Ornament. Stampin Up markers in Pretty in Pink, Going Gray, Crushed Curry (beak,feet) and Certainly celery were used to color in various areas. I stamped the image a second time and fussy cut the pine cones.

The Sentiments were stamped in Black Archival on the same Christmas Paper collection, torn and also layered on more torn CP.

The background was done first with a coat of tan paint and while still wet, I sprinkled on Color Burst (LOVE) in Pthalo Green and Alizarin Red and then I spritzed on water and allowed some to drip. Once this was completely dry, I applied a two step crackle and did allow the 2nd step to dry for 8 hours. Next I sprayed on Chalkboard Hot Chocolate Glimmer Mist and wiped off the excess. Stamped on the Pine Branches in Black Archival.

Thank you for your visit today and I hope you are having a great day! There are only a few days remaining to join in the "Show Us Your AO Art," so come on and play!

Spring's Greatest Joy!

Today the Springtime kids are coming out to play in the Artistic Outpost sunshine and I hope you will visit my DT blog post for all the details and to say, "Hi."

Thank you and I hope you have a lovely weekend!

In Springtime Play!

Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the Summer! When I worked on this tag, all I could think is how we surely could use some rain in California!! Maybe these lovely Springtime children from Artistic Outpost will do the rain dance for us!! If you have AO stamps, please join in the monthly challenge "Show Us Your AO Art" and you could will a store gift certificate!

The images and sentiment (masked the lines) were stamped in Black Archival, fussy cut and shaded in Black Soot. I also outlined the the separated lines to the sentiment.

Color Burst (thanks Gerrie) which I ordered from the Funky Junkie Boutique and just love the magic, was used to color the tag. This was my first experiment with the product and what I did was to sprinkle a little on my craft mat and you don't need much! Then I misted my tag with water and placed the tag on top of the CB and patted it down into the product. I also gave it another direct mist and when dried did a little more flicking of water drops! Using a brick stencil from TCW, I layered some bricks with modeling paste and a washing of white acrylic paint and a wash of Weathered Wood in the grout lines. Added a few stars and a tie and off we go to play!

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for taking the time to visit and comment!

Celebrate 60!

Hello to all of you and hope you are in the mood to Celebrate, because that is what we are doing at A Vintage Journey with "Celebrations" chosen by the fabulous Sandy! Be sure to visit the entire DT as they are fabulous! As some of you may know, I have had very limited Internet which eventually became non-existent and hopefully has now been repaired and I will be catching up on all your lovely blogs, which I have so missed!

My wonderful and amazing husband is/has turned 60 by the time this goes live and so I made this card using Tim's Pocket Watch die, which was painted and crackled. I decided to go with red colors! The tag background was embossed with a Cuttlebug large Domino folder and then highlighted in Black Archival. The card background was stamped using a few of Tim's stamps and then metal bits added along the way! A couple of Tim's Elementary Flash Cards, flicked and edged with the Paints mentioned below.

My Celebration will also be linked up to Linda's Compendium of Curiosities III challenge, which is Tim's Eroded Metallic technique, which I cannot share and hopefully you have your own book to open to page 44. I can tell you the colors I chose were Fired Brick, Black Soot and Antiqued Bronze. The lovely people from Inspiration Emporium are the sponsors this time around and there is always a second chance to win a package from Tim and Mario.

Thank you for visiting today and being patient with me while my Internet was acting so badly! Have a wonderful weekend!

Color Burst Fun!

Hello! Recently while I had little Internet and then none, my order of Color Burst from Linda came in and I had some extra playtime! I will be sharing a few projects soon. I got very interested in this when Gerrie had posted a pretty fabulous card using the Color Bursts. Now I am not usually one for the more vibrant colors on my projects, but we need to get out of our comfort zones and here is mine!

For this one, I did spritzed the tag first with water and then applied the color and misted a little more. Next I used a stencil to add a little texture with modeling past. The butterflies were cut using Tim's Movers and Shapers and then stamped in Sky Blue Archival using Stampin Ups French Script background.

I remember those tiny clothespins and thought those would be great for my butterflies in flight!

Had great fun with this stuff and hope you enjoyed my PRETTY post today! Thank you for visiting and now that I am caught up on all my DT posting and projects, off to visit and hopefully the Internet repairs stays!

Road Trip AO Style!

It is time for a Road Trip and another Product Focus at Artistic Outpost from the Masculine collection of stamps and 20% off through Saturday, June 6th. Be sure to visit the rest of the team! Tracy, Gerrie, Kate, Shari, Lisa.

I decided to ink up Route 66 and started with the background, which was inked over with Vintage Photo, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo and shaded with Walnut Stain and a little Black Soot. Next I masked off the Road Trip to spread over the tag in Black Archival and then clear embossed. The MOTEL was also stamped in Black Archival and colored with Squeezed Lemonade and Mowed Lawn and again clear embossed. The map was stamped randomly in sections with Watering Can Archival. Well I was really liking my background and did not want to cover it all up, so the Shrink Plastic was brought out. I do not stamp shrink plastic with Archival as it does not dry and even with spraying it with sealer, you can have issues. I used Stazon inks in Black and red and colored on the reverse side with markers. I will also use a little foam applicator and Blending Solution to soften colors, even after the baking process.

The little "EAT" scene was backed in glossy card stock and the Route 66 and Gas Pump were painted on the backside to avoid them just getting lost on the background. Had not played with Shrink Plastic in awhile and it was quite fun.

Thank you for joining us for this month's Product Focus and being the start of June the "Show Us Your AO Art" has also begun, so come on and ink up your AO stamps and join in!

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!