Santa's Coming!

Hello to all of you and thank you for stopping by! I also want to thank you for the good wishes and prayers concerning my recent skin cancer surgery and am thrilled to report the doctor removed it all! Now that is happy news! While still being careful, I went into my craft room to play with a little shadow box from a Hobby Lobby shopping day with Annie. I am thinking she picked up one as well. With a few challenges in full swing and of course some of the DT are among my favorite people, I had to join in!

My stamps of choice "Toy Emporium" from Artistic Outpost, were all inked in Black Archival and shaded with Distress Vintage Photo and fussy cut. All papers are ODBD "Winter Collection 2014."

The box was gessoed, sanded and then painted with a Delta silver metallic paint which is more of a glaze. Love that! I did a couple of coats. Cut the paper to size, glued down and sanded the edges and then shaded. Also using my fingers added a little of the silver paint and rubbed of the excess and then with a toothbrush flicked on some gold. The inside framing was glazed with both a silver and gold paint. I have had these cheesy colored foam snowflakes for some time and painted them gold to frame around that really cool Santa!

The outer edges were treated with DecoArt one step crackle and gold applied to fill the cracks.

All the tinsel sticks were cut to fit and hot glued down. Boy does that stuff get away from you and on you! Added bits and pieces I have collected.

Now for the fabulous challenges I am sending my little Christmas shadow box off to!

A Vintage Journey "Vintage Christmas" keeping it vintage and used Tim's Vintage Photo and Hickory Smoke Distress Inks, Holiday Word Band and Alpha Tiles.

Frilly and Funkie "Tis the Season" with vintage or shabby chic goodness!

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge "Silver and Gold" and I used both!

Hope you are having a wonderful start to the Christmas and holiday season. I have tons to do as usually, but what will get done will and what won't!!!! Thanks again for visiting! 

Final Destination!

Hello to all of you! Today it is with a heavy heart that this will be my last post for A Vintage Journey. Before I started this adventure with AVJ, I was already blogging friends with so many on the team and I was over the moon excited that I was invited to join such a fun, talented, compassionate and friendly group! This is the most supportive and truly caring design team and I will miss being on this incredible team, but I know these special ladies will always be just a click away. Life has taken me other places with different priorities, but I will continue blogging and hopefully have more time to join in various challenges and just play!

This is only a sneak peak, so click HERE and visit Terminal 5 for all the details and more photos on my final project for AVJ.

Thank you and have a beautiful day!

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!

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!

Spring Colors AVJ Style!

Spring Colors are in order at AVJ and chosen by the lovely and fabulously talented Astrid! Keeping in Tim style (but of course) the team has some really wonderful and inspirational art to share with all of you, so be sure to hop on over and even better, join in! There is a prize offered from Country View Crafts, our generous sponsor!

The burlap panel was painted with Distress Peeled Paint, Deco Art Desert Turquoise and Hansa Yellow. The outer edge was shaded using Vintage Photo. When dried, I applied modeling paste through the Harlequin stencil and while still wet sprinkled on Distress Powder Peeled Paint, Verdigris, Antique Linen, a dark blue unknown name and gold. Let that stay on for awhile and then heat set to get a little shine and rough texture from the bubbled paste. Next I added some tissue tape and colored the butterflies with Sharpie Markers and a little trim.

The paper flower is one I have had for a couple of years and liked how the colors worked for this canvas, so I distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. Using the Pine Cone die, I cut the little branches from grungepaper, colored with Distress Stains Peeled Paint, Wild Honey and shaded in Vintage Photo.

The little birds were cut from Tim's Wallflower Paper and applied with gel medium. Next added a couple of Chit Chat stickers.

Thank you for stopping by today and have a glorious weekend!

I Can See Clearly Now!

"Through The Looking Glass" is the current challenge at AVJ and Julia wants to see a Tim inspired project that incorporates glass, acetate, mirrors, metal sheet, a window, clock face, a hand held mirror or glass bottle. You get the idea! Now for a chance to win a prize and now that our challenges run an entire month, the prize $$ has gone up. Big thanks to our sponsors at Country View Crafts. Make sure to visit AVJ and check out all the DT fabulousness! I have to give a great big shout out to JOY at Inspiration Emporium, who has so generously gifted me the $50 gift certificate for my Blog Candy! Thank you, Joy and IE! Wow!

The image was stamped in Black Archival, clear embossed, and segmented areas were water colored using markers. Once dried, masked and inked over in Antique Linen and Vintage photo. Next I flicked on some water, Black Embossing Paste was applied through Tim's eye chart stencil. When that was good and dry, I stamped a couple of Tim's minis using Black Archival and using Walnut Stain stamped the crackled background.

Oh and before I forget, the winner of my $50 blog candy gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium is the one and only Trash to Treasures,  LYNN! Congratulations and enjoy your shopping spree.

This is kind of my reminder to go those eyes checked! Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to AVJ and how much fun we have in store for you and with prizes! Brenda and Chris work so hard keeping A Vintage Journey the amazing challenge blog that it is and you could not ask for a better and more supportive DT group and I am honored to be a part of and so excited to start year #2! To start off our second year with our new monthly challenge, we are looking for ANYTHING TIM and to make it easier on us, please let us know what your Tim influence might be. Now my fabulous and totally talented DT Sisters also have some incredible art to share and you will find all the details of our challenge and information on all the prizes, along with our sponsor Country View Crafts. So you know a prize package was sent to AVJ from Tim and Mario! Aren't they just so sweet and generous?? And not only is AVJ celebrating an anniversary, but this is my 5th year of blogging as well as something very special. So here we go with what my little deal is!
 

Happy Anniversary to my hubby of 32 years and as it would be, today when the post goes live in Europe, it is our anniversary! To celebrate three special occasions, I would like to offer a little BLOG CANDY to one of my followers as well and that includes my lovely AVJ DT Sisters, who many have been with me from my first days of blogging! Details to follow. "Gear It Up" is the challenge at SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog, so we are taking our celebration over there to share.

Oh I love that man and I wanted to make him something a little different than the usual card or tag and so Tim's Pocket Watch came to the rescue along with many other Tim elements and products.

Tim's Pocket Watch die was cut from three layers 2 grungeboard and 1 chipboard in the center for stability. Applied a coat of gesso and then using a gel medium, I added texture using various bits and trims, modeling paste through a couple of stencils and then this was all covered up with gesso, before I applied crackle over the entire piece. Once that dried I added all of my metal pieces, mostly Idea-ology and a few I just had to add and again covered these with gesso.

Color Wash sprays used, Espresso, Denim, Stream, Butterscotch and Meadow, which are all colors my DH enjoys. These were sprayed on and dried a little using a heat gun and then with a paper towel I blotted off the excess color. Once I was happy with the colors, I did give a quick spray with sealer.

Next step is adding touches of gesso (and or Treasure Gold) lightly brushed on. Using a black marker, I added a few shadows. This was a little on the dark side to begin with, so I was careful to not add to many shadows. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is looking for a "Just A Hint Of Clover" and with a green heart (and other hints of green), we are good to go.

The grunge wings was just my thinking about how time flies and boy does it ever!

The magic of the gesso really makes everything pop! You can see some of the extra little watch gears and bits I added if you look closely. 

I did flick on some more Color Wash just for a little more interest using a toothbrush and let me tell you about stained fingers and fingernails. Oh so lovely! Truly I have so much fun when I work with mixed medias like this. I think this is about my 4th piece going this style and I love the end result.

Now for the reverse side, I wanted it to be a little softer and distress inked some of Tim's paper and where the face of the woman writing the love letter was stamped, I gave a little wash of white paint. A little more stenciling and a few fun elements and all is wonderful!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my project as much as I enjoyed it from start to finish. Now for a chance to win my BLOG CANDY in celebration of March and all the anniversaries, a $50 gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium, just leave a comment by April 1st, 2015. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter and good luck and mostly thank you for being a part of my journey.

Tic Tac Toe at AVJ!

I am so glad you have stopped by today and hope your week is going well. Tic Tac Toe is the current and what a fun challenge at AVJ and chosen by the wonderful Annie. For a chance to win a prize from Country View Crafts, please share your Tim inspired projects with us and for more inspiration and a feast for the eyes, you will want to see what the rest of the team has for you! There are going to be some exciting changes with AVJ's challenges, so be sure to check out the main challenge blog for all the details.

For this challenge I went on the diagonal with Idea-ology, Ephemera and Stains. No stamps or ink this time around and that was a challenge for me! Now you can incorporate those items, but I wanted to just stick with the TTT! The tag was cut from Tim's Wallflower paper and edged and splattered with Stains of Barn Door and Walnut Stain. I also carried that onto the Ephemera pieces as well. A Sharpie marker was used to color the Industrious Stickers.

We are flying to see our Holly for her birthday, so this tag has lots of elements in celebration of being together on a special day and over Valentine's Day! "Love Is In The Air" at Inspiration Journal and so we go there for a visit! What a great excuse this challenge of Tic Tac Toe was to use up some of those items just sitting around. I did have fun just layering them up and playing!

Have a lovely weekend and thank you again for taking the time to stop by.

Love Is In The Air

"Love Is In The Air" at A Vintage Journey and the theme has been chosen by that artfully talented, Astrid! Oh but the talent and great art does not stop there, so please stop by and see what the rest of the team has for you. Don't forget to join in the challenge with your Tim inspired projects for a change to win a store voucher from our sponsors at Country View Crafts.

This tags background was a labor of love and took a lot of patience waiting for gesso, paints and crackle to dry! First I cut my corrugated cardboard tag and torn away some of the areas. This is such fun, but a little hard on the hands! Next I applied white gesso and let dry.

Paints were applied as follows, first I brushed on DecoArt Desert Turquoise and then with a dirty brush (lightly wiped off), applied some Peeled Paint, Fresco Finish Haystack and around the edged Vintage Photo. Again we wait for the drying.

I applied two varieties of DecoArt crackle, One Step and Weathered Wood in the center. This took a good two hours to dry and cure, before I applied thinned stains of Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo using a paint brush. Once I liked this, I gave a little splatter of Fired Red paint and also applied this on the edges. After this again dried, I have it a spray with matte sealer.

The hearts and cupid were die cut, covered in gesso and then white paint. Inked over in Brushed Corduroy, shaded with Walnut Stain and a little Black Soot here and there. The "Love" sentiment is an older text stamp of Tim's and this was inked up with Coffee Archival. Had to give cupid a little stenciled heart!

Well there you have it and I hope you have enjoyed your visit which I am very thankful for!  

Tag Monday or Sunday for AVJ!

We are having a little TAG fun at A Vintage Journey, so stop on over and have a look at all the talent up on display! There is still time to join in the current challenge, "Use A Portrait" as well.

The background first started with a tag being covered via my fingers with white gesso and when dried I randomly applied Distress Paints Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo. Gave this a mist of water and let the colors run together. Next I used a gorgeous Bird and Bird Cage die that Chris had sent me over Christmas, embossed and highlighted with Pigment Brown Ink.

Next I used Tim's Lattice stencil and applied crackle through it and leaving the Bird Cage untouched. After the crackle dried, I inked over with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. The bird was covered in Alcohol Inks and the flowers from my stash were distress with Vintage Photo and highlighted with Treasure Gold as well as touched some of the raised areas of the stencil. Added a crackled branch from Tim's movers and shapers.

Thank you for visiting me today and I have a new camera, so bear with me while I learn all the tricks! I was in a hurry to take this and the outside light was a little bright! Enjoy the week!

Wish!

My "Wish" is for all of you to have a fabulous finish to 2014 and a most wonderful 2015! Wow, how time flies and next year, I am going to be ready early for Christmas! Since it is still Christmas here in the US, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Now on to the current challenge at A Vintage Journey is "Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New" as chosen my the talented and most lovely Brenda! Be sure to visit AVJ and treat your eyes to some real gorgeous work from the team! There is always a prize from Country View Crafts, so come on and join in the last challenge of 2014!

I decided I would combine this challenge to "Ring Out" the old craft year by finishing Tim's December Tag with a few improvisations! The tag background was done as directed and for the embossing I used his snowflakes and ice edge little folders. I sanded these slightly and then applied white paint with my finger. After all I am wanting a little snow effect.

Next I stamped the the MidWinter sentiment from Artistic Outpost in blue and clear embossed and then cut apart and shaded the edges. Again I was keeping in step with the Snow!

Not having the thinlits, I used the "Wish" movers and shapers and cut this from using ODBD Vintage Label Dies and sanded and then edged in white paint. Cut an oval in white and then did the glue n seal thing and added Rock Candy Glitter. Can't have enough snow and sparkle when you live in the desert!

Now I do not have that gorgeous Prancing Deer (but it is on the list) and I do have Tim's other deer, but I decided I really want to use the little movers and shapers and having them looking up at the "Wish". These were done using the guidelines and I just added a little more white paint and of course they have to have a nose to breathe! Finished off with the wintery greenery that also got a little snow treatment and added a few jingle bells and what a nice sounding tag. That is that!

Thank you so much for stopping by and will see you all in 2015! Well maybe before, but I am thinking I might take a week off and seriously organize my craft room. It is hard to venture out and try new things with such chaos!

Secret Santa A Vintage Journey Style!

The most lovely and talented artists at A Vintage Journey are revealing their Secret Santa gifts, received and sent and it is a blog hop to not miss. Sadly, I was unable to join in all the festive fun and yet, that did not stop my Secret Santa from making sure I was a part of all the fun!

Can you believe this gorgeous canvas created by Brenda for me?? It truly brought tears to my eyes in many ways.

The sheer beauty of it and that Brenda would think of me with how incredibly busy this lady is! I love it with all my heart, but more so, I love the friendship that Brenda and I share. Thank you my dear friend!

Now Brenda, that most amazingly talented, great friend and my Secret Santa has this to say in brief, "This is a CHRISTMAS GIVE-AWAY and CREATIVE GUIDE HOP" and for all the details and to join in, just click the link above.

You won't want to miss this blog hop and join in all the festive fun and Christmas give-away. Thank you for visiting and I hope you have a lovely day!