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! 

Chalk It Up!

Hello to all of you! When I saw the current challenge chosen by the Shelly at Frilly and Funkie "Chalk It Up," well I had to get busy with my Artistic Outpost's Chalk It Up and Christmas Chalk stamps!

I painted a black tag with DecoArt Chalkboard paint in black and while still wet grated on a little white chalk and using brushed it with a mop paint brush. Gave this a spray with clear sealer. A few chalk lines were scribbled in as well.

The frame was stamped with VersaMark and embossed with white. The snow flakes, deer and sentiment were stamped in VersaMark and sprinkled with a mix of grated white chalk and Perfect Pearls Confetti White.  To finish I added some of those brads from years back and layered up with paper. Easy enough for those many cards/tags we need to send at Christmas!

Thank you for visiting today and there are only a couple of days remaining at AO's "Show Us Your AO Art" challenge, but October is just around the corner and a hole new challenge will begin!

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!

April Showers!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I have wanted to play along with The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge for awhile and today, I decided I was going to play along with "April Showers" using Mr. Umbrella Guy, Alpha Letters and Speckles texture for that rain effect bringing on those May Flowers!  They have a wonderful DecoArt  prize package for 3 winners and that is very tempting! Most of the products I used are actually from the DecoArt Media line or Americana also DecoArt. Frilly and Funkie's current challenge is "Spring Time Die Cuts" and I have used Mr. Umbrella Guy and Butterflies!

It all began with a 6" x 6" canvas, which was gesseod and then painted with a mix of Phthalo Green-Blue, Ultramarine Blue and Opaque White and blended with a baby white. I also added a little Quinacridone Gold. The brickwork first had a path painted using a mix of Quinacridone, Raw Umber and Carbon Black lightly dry brushed in. The texture bricks was a combination of Quinacridone Gold, Raw Umber and Raisin Alcohol Ink mixed with Modeling Paste. I wanted a rough texture and when dried, Carbon Black was used to highlight. The sun was a bit bright and some of the background colors just did not show up well, so sorry.

The pot was a plastic cap that I saved from our refrigeration water filter and cut it in half, spray primed and then applied black gesso, One Step Crackle and then a mix of QG and Naphtnol Red. The pot was filled some long stem roses, moss and a trellis made with the help of oval dies and thin strips of black card stock. The Butterfly Frenzy were leftovers cut and inked from tissue wrap.

The Umbrella Guy was cut from black chipboard, painted with Black Chalkboard Paint and the umbrella handle was colored with silver metallic paint. I cut and trimmed a second umbrella piece from grunge paper and that was painted with QC.

Thank you very much for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

Tim's March Tag of 2015

OK some one needs to slow down the passing of time! Seriously, I just can't seem to catch up on anything and with Spring in the air, that means lots to do! I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the warmer weather. Tim's tag for March was simply gorgeous, but I did not have any of the more pastel paints, so my colors of choice were Peeled Paint, a touch of Chipped Sapphire, and Brushed Pewter.

Now I wanted to stick with a theme of Spring and all that brings and I could not help but think of my yard birds and in particular the Blue Scrub Jays. These birds and I assume they are the same due to personality, have been coming around for a few years now. There is one that is very friendly as far as wild birds go and will sit right outside my kitchen window and wait for breakfast. Blue Scrub Jays love peanuts and I am not sure how I realized that, but believe when I used to toss out my Fred's leftover seeds in the morning, I must have watched them carry them away. These birds will hang out in the yard when we are working and now even have accepting Steve.

The other day, I watch the friendlier of the two gather up nesting material while I was just a foot away. So my yard Blues as I call them are the inspiration of my March tag! I am also linking this up at Frilly and Funkie's Challenge Blog for the "Bring on the Bling" with my sparkly Silver EP and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, "Lions and Lambs, oh my" and my animal inspiration is obviously my yard birds!


After I stamped Tim's bird, I cut slits around the feet to be able to pull through some dyed cheesecloth as to represent my Blue's carrying off their soon to be babies new house material. You know we have never seen the little ones, so maybe this year. These birds hang around all year and a few times a year they don't show up for a couple of weeks and I worried at first, but now I just wonder what they are up to!

Finished it off with adding a painted grunge number 3 for March and adding a little birdhouse charm that Brenda gifted me some time back. Tied it off with dyed ribbon and cheesecloth.

I have to tell you something kind of funny! We have been really busy working around the yard as pretty soon it will become extremely hot and much better to take advantage of the cooler weather. The last two weekend we have (mostly the man) have been putting together the new storage shed. Actually the last three weekends as first we had to tear down the old rusting away metal shed. No wonder I have no time! Well we are kind of small people and of course older. First we buy this very heavy (two big boxes) "Lifetime" shed and there was help to load, but not to unload once we were home. We literally had to take the pieces out of each box to move them from the truck. So now the man starts to read the directions and of course a "platform" is required! Next day off to buy the wood to make the platform and that took a weekend. Further reading states it is a 3 Man job!!!!!!! We did it and yes I did help and now we have a lovely little looking cottage shed. We did realize that we are getting a little on the old side to be carrying on in such a manner!! This weekend we will be getting stuff packed and ready for a little mini trip next week, so I am sure happy that shed is done!

I sure do thank you for stopping by today and listening to me ramble on.

Tim's January Tag of 2015!

Hello to all of you and I hope you are enjoying the New Year! Tim's first tag of 2015 worked out so well for me as I have a grandson with a birthday, so pretty much following the instructions given by Tim, here is my take on January's Tag. I will also be going the current challenge at Frilly and Funkie with their "Anything Goes."

The paints I used on the tissue wrap were Fried Brick, Chipped Sapphire and Peeled Paint as directed. Now I did not use the Alpha chips, but used some Chipboard pieces of Tim's that I have had for ages and they contained the elements I wanted. I did flick on my gold and white flecks using a paint brush. When all was finished, I sealed the entire tag.

Hopefully the birthday boy will enjoy his tag! Thank you for stopping by today and have a wonderful week.

For those of you who have asked and thank you for your thoughts, there has been no improvement with our Molly. We just keep her as happy as we can with the fact she has no use of her back legs. It is not easy, but we have lifted her into the car and still take her to lunch and let her have a little time at the park. We will keep doing as much as we can in hopes, but we are happy we have had so many years with her and that she did have another Christmas with us and celebrated the New Year!

Tim's October Tag of 2014

Tim's October tag for 2014 was great fun as most usually are. Like so many of us, there is something about Halloween that just adds that little extra magic and childlike feeling. I am also linking this up to Linda's Frilly and Funkie for the "A Haunting Halloween Challenge."

Following the guidelines, I stamped and cut my masks using that cute owl and spider and my stencil of choice was "Speckles." I do not have the new Distress Stain Sprays, so did mix my own using reinkers Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Barn Door (orange combo), Dusty Concord and Peeled Paint. Flicked on a Metallic stain with a toothbrush.

The funky witch was calling my name, so she became the focal point and was stamped on manila card stock (because I forgot to using watercolor paper) and using the waterbrush was colored with Barn Door, Shabby Shutters and Dusty Concord. I did have a difficult time getting the shine to show through.

I stamped over the Alpha Chips using Tim's web and flicked on some Barn Door and then shaded around the edges with black.

Finished off with what I had or should say because I could not find where I placed the monocles, recently purchased!!! What can I say!

Hope you are having a wonderful and inky start to the week. Thank you for visiting today and taking the time to comment.

Heavy Metal for AVJ

Hello and welcome to my edition of "Heavy Metal," the current challenge at A Vintage Journey and chosen by me. AVJ is all about Tim Holtz style and products, so we hope you will join us in this current challenge, which runs two weeks. Country View Crafts is our wonderful sponsor and there is always a prize to be won and a chance to be among the "Pinworthies," so that is pretty nice. My incredibly talented DT Sisters have some wonderful inspiration as well, so do stop by AVJ for all the details and get "Metal" on.

This began as a framed tile my DD gave me years ago with a matching little pitcher. I really tired of the pretty little flowers, but could not part with the gift, so it was SALVAGED as well as the light on top (the hubby replaced it from my car). I am also going to take my Spooky little adventure over to my old stamping ground, Frilly and Funkie's "A Haunting Halloween Challenge."

The first thing I did was to figure out what was going to cover the tile and I decided on the "spider web" paper from the Laboratorie stash! This was inked with Wild Honey and Dried Marigold, added some background stamping using Weathered Wood and various Halloween Tim stamps. Next a flicked on some thinned Tarnished Brass and Antique Bronze Distress paints with a toothbrush. Next all edged were shaded.

Next we had to build out house which was done from foil backed grungpaper inked with Alcohol Inks (Pitch Black, Butterscotch, Sunset Orange) and Mixatives Silver and Gold. Using a Dylusions stencil, I added some leaves and again the Metallic Distress paints were applied after the Black paste dried. The people were painstakingly cut from the same Laboratorie stash and glued to the backside.

No house is complete without a picked fence, right? This was cut and painted blacked and then I dabbed on the two metallic paints.

At this point I had most of my items pulled out and ghouled up and played with the arrangement!  Now time to figure out what to do with the actual frame!

First I covered in white gesso and then two coats of black paint. I used the Shattered stencil and using a stencil brush, dry brushed on the Brass and Bronze paints.

And we finished our frame with bits and pieces, tinted with metallic and all chained up.

I had quite a bit of fun with this altered Halloween Heavy Metal project and now I will probably send this back to by DD in an altered state! Thank you for stopping by today and hope you will join in the challenge!