Vintage Fashion!

Hello and I sure hope you all are having a great week! Later this month we will go to Portland, OR to visit our daughter and grandson. My not so much baby girl will have a birthday in February just after Valentine's Day and I decided to make her a fashionable tag using Artistic Outpost's "Vintage Fashion." Holly is very much into fashion and so I think she will enjoy this.

I first inked over the die cut tag with Frayed Burlap, laid Tim's Gothic stencil over it and applied DecoArt Crackle Paint and left to dry. Next I sprayed on Tattered Angels Simply Khaki glimmer spray for a nice little sheen, which also was applied to the hearts. There is also some time remaining to join in January's "Show Us Your AO Art" challenge, so come on and get inky with us!

The lovely Vintage Fashion lady and sentiments stamps were inked with first Coffee Archival and Tree Branch to tone done, shaded in Frayed Burlap after fussy cut and torn. Added a little pop of red hearts to finish.

Thank you for stopping by! We have been working quite hard to go through tons of papers/documents, magazines and books and after 17 years, you can imagine the collection that builds! Well I am proud to say that I was able to load up 6 good size boxes of good quality reading material to donate and we have been shredding about 35 lbs of paper matter. Lots of stuff to do when you get ready to move!!!

A Vintage Christmas!

A big hello to all of you and today I am sharing a little more of the October New Release from Artistic Outpost, "Toy Emporium." Over the next several weeks, I will share more projects that I created and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did creating with the NR!

For all the details and the full picture please visit Artistic Outpost right HERE.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Artistic Outpost October New Release!

How exciting is this NEW RELEASE from Artistic Outpost for October??? I am so happy that you have stopped by today, because the design team has some really inspirational art to share with you and three random winners will have a chance to win a $15 AO Gift Certificate just by visiting and commenting on all the design team blogs. You have until October 9, 2015 at 10:00 PM CDT and winners will be announced on October 10, 2015. Also you can now order AO products as well as NCC and ODBD all from Our Daily Bread Designs website to save shipping!

Tracy, Shari, Kate, Lisa.

For my first project using "Vintage Fashion," I altered a cigar box. After I applied two coats of gesso, DecoArts Traditions Raw Sienna and Raw Umber were slip slapped on with a double loaded paint brush. While in the drying process, I cut a piece of card stock leaving some of the edge to show and covered with Distress Inks, embossed the panel using a buttons folder from Darice and highlighted the raised areas with Frayed Burlap and then shaded with Walnut Stain and Black Soot. Next I finished the surface of the cigar box by sponging on the same paints and some Delta Dresden Flesh.

The images were stamped in Coffee Archival and fussy cut, added some buttons along with other fashion elements and a bobbin for a little handled.

The sides were finished with some zipper trim with a little stamping on it and ODBD Beautiful Borders Trim.

A little McCall's magic for the box lining and some added little spool feet and all was done.

Now onto my second project for the New Release, "Go Team."

The fact that I love Green Bay, Wisconsin and am a Packers fan when I returned home from a visit there and saw this new release, it was like a sign! I obviously went with the colors of the Green Bay Packers for this and also used a souvenir beer mat from Titletown Brewery Company, making it a bit more personal! Using a sheet of ODBD Winter Collection paper, I stamped the trophies in Coffee Archival and the Footballs in Tree Branch

The young football player and sentiment were stamped in Coffee Archival. I cut the oval from ODBD Stitched Ovals from green paper and and threaded with gold. The banners were stamped in Olive Archival and inked over in Mustard Seed.

Thank you for visiting today and I hope you have enjoyed this New Release as much as I did!

Under the Boardwalk!

Under the Boardwalk is exactly where I would like to be and so with a little help from Artistic Outpost and the Sound of the Sea, this girl is California Dreaming! OK, I hope this will help cool you down a bit if you are living in some heavy duty heat!! Before I start, AO is having a Dogs Day of Summer 20% off sale and it ends today, so best hurry up! All the details can be found by clicking the link.

First thing I did was to apply some DecoArt Traditions paints to a tag misted with water and then I sprinkled on some Color Bursts and further misted with water and let the colors run together by moving the tag. Once I had complete coverage, I misted a second jumbo tag and then swiped the original tag over this, used a baby wipe to blend and lift off excess.

To finish the background, I used Tim's Ray stencil and applied DecoArt Media Crackle Paint, wait a minute to let it set, removed the stencil and then quickly painted over the entire tag with the DA Crackle Paint. When it dried, I reapplied the stencil and inked over it with Salty Ocean, shaded in Black Soot and stamped the Beach Huts in Watering Can Archival.

The sentiment and sign were stamped in Black Archival and cut apart. The little beach goer was also stamped in Black Archival, fussy cut and watercolored using Distress Markers.

Your visit today and comments are very much appreciated and I hope you are having a wonderful finish to summer!

The Secret!

The first Monday of the month and that means another Product Focus from Artistic and all stamps in the "Verses and Greetings" category will be 20% off through Saturday, August 8th! This also brings on the new monthly "Show Us Your AO Art," so be sure to join in for a chance to win a $15 store voucher, but of course using those AO stamps! For more fabulous AO inspiration visit Tracy, Shari, Gerrie,

I think the Boardwalk bathing beauties were perfect to place on top of this so true sentiment from "Quotes and Quotables" all stamped in Black Archival and inked in Antique Linen, Pumice Stone and shaded in Vintage Photo and Black Soot.   Layered it up and distressed the edges and added some photo corners.

Now for my background I wanted something vintage and a little feminine, so I inked up the card stock with the inks above and shaded as well. Next I applied DecoArt Crackle Paint (thank you Brenda) using a painted brush over the Prima stencil. Once dried, I reapplied the stencil and inked over it with Vintage Photo. This is a pretty detailed stencil and my first time used the DecoArt Crackle Paint and I was pleased with the results!

Hope you have fun on the Blog Hop and thank you for taking the time to visit! Have a great day!

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!

A Ruinator I Am!

So you are wondering if I have lost my mind with the title of this blog post, well maybe I have!  You see I signed up for this online workshop by Andy Skinner entitled "The Book of Ruination" and I have been so caught up in learning new techniques!  For some time now I have admired his work, so I was pretty excited to start and finish this project!  Now I won't tell you about the technique out of respect for Andy, but I can tell you that if you like what you see, sign up!  This man does some incredible work and remember any technique can be applied to any style!  Here we go and I will share what I feel comfortable with! 

The outside cover of my paper mache book was done following the technique, which has quite a few layers and a mix of materials!

For the edge treatment, I used Tim's Sewing Room OTE die and this was painted using a mix from the color palette.  Once dried, I embossed and highlighted.  The photo corners were painted and sealed.

All stamps are from Mr. Holtz and the ruler is from his new "Artful Tools" set, which I picked up at the Carson convention!  This was first inked with Distress Inks, stamped in Black Archival, dried and crackled here and there. 

For the box inside top, I stamped the dress form in Black Archival, gave a spray of Goosebumps and then inked with Distress.  Other images were stamped with Aged Mahogany and then given a quick spray with Matt Sealer!

The bottom back of the box, I just stenciled on an image of the dancing ladies.  Not that anyone will see it, but I kind of liked those gals!

This truly was a blast to work on and I hope I did not overwhelm you with an abundance of photos!  Thank you for visiting today and go get inky!

Stamps:  Tim Holtz
Paints:  DecoArt; Quinacradone Gold (Traditions), Prussian Blue, White, Bright Yellow, Tangerine, Mustard Seed, Fresca Finish; Hey Pesto, Delta; Silver
Inks:  Distress; Iced Spruce, Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage, Aged Mahogany, Faded Jeans, Walnut Stain, Archival Black
Misc:  Modeling Paste, Rock Candy Crackle, Masking Fluid, Mod Podge, Embossing Folder