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.

Chunky Scarecrow!

This is my first "chunky ATC" and I had quite a good time working on all the various sides.  More and more I am just loving working with Mixed Media and even add a little of my own ideas here and there.  I did once do decorative painting!!  So here it is and what do you think and you know I want to hear it "good or bad."  And a big "thank you" to Diane, who not only told me of a really great picture editing site, "picmonkey," but even told me how to add a watermark!  She is so cool, I tell you! 

All stamps are Artistic Outpost and for this I used the Oz Collage and Industrial Backgrounds.  For the background, after sealing, I applied white gesso and stamped my image to keep in mind where I did not want to apply embellishments or texture!  Next I added modeling paste, let it dry a bit and then pressed in my industrial gears on both sides.  I also ran the VersaMark over the top of the gears background and clear empbossed. Even though I was going to layer some metal gears, I wanted a little texture to show through.  This was all covered with gesso and then sprayed with Dylusions and paints.  After all dried, it was highlighted with gesso and sealed.  The scarecrow was stamped with Coffee Archival and then colored with DI

I knew what I was going to do with the front and back, but was having a bit of a dilemma with the sides.  The stamps I wanted to use were out and then when I visited Shelly's "My Creative Rumblings," I was reminded of a Technique Junkie "chalkboard" technique.  Thanks Shelly as I need that push!!!  The filmstrip was cut from brown card stock and then inked with black and embossed.  I also cut some thin packaging strips to cover the images, just like a real filmstrip!

The wings were crackled and then colored with Distress Stains.  I inked and embossed two gears for a front and back to add extra support.  A little grove was notched and hot glue used to keep it upright and I sure hope it remains like that! 

The back was embossed and inked.  The sentiments were all stamped using Archival and clear embossed on tissue paper, cut and then applied with Multi Medium Gel.  You won't even see the tissue edges, so I like that!  Don't like that my "YBR" decided to be slightly off, but once I noticed, it was too late.  This AO Chunky Scarecrow is off to the following challenges and if you have some of these fabby stamps, don't forget the "April Referral Program." 

Simon Says Stamp and Show:  Background
SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge: Fairytales into our Steampunk
Unruly PaperArts: Gears
Bloggers Challenge: Emboss Me
The Artistic Stamper - Texture

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a very creative week! 

Stamps: Artistic Outpost, Oz collage, Industrial Backgrounds
Inks:  Archival Coffee, Distress Black Soot, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Tattered Rose, Peeled Paint
Dylusions Melted Chocolate, Cut Grass, Pure Sunshine

Tim's April Tag!

Today it is very windy here and they have warnings about it!  We can get 80 MPH winds and those are dangerous as power poles and trees have been know to give was.   Why am I telling you this, I don't know, but could be because I just thought the door might blow open from a big burst of wind!  Now that I have gotten that out of my system, how about sharing Tim's April 2013 Tag, which will also go for a visit at Unruly PaperArts for "RAQ 2 Gears." 

Followed Tim's instructions as much as I could, but the IMPROVISING took place with the Distress paints as I only have two and none were Metallics.  Pulled out the Distress Stains and Metallic Stains to mix up as well.  I just played until I was somewhat happy!  Could not get the background effect, but can live with what I did!  This tag with be for my Grandson's #22 coming up at the end of April. 

Used Tim's Mini Blueprint and Tiny Things for my tag.  The world and compass was stamped on plastic packaging as again, I did not have the special product!  Added a piece of filmstrip over the postage airplane, which I wished later I had stamped in black as the sepia ink does not show up that well via camera! 

My number was a piece of grunge board that I played with paints and stains until I thought it was close to Tim's.  The metal embellishments were also treated with the paint and stain mix!  Fun tag and always a challenge to come up with the end project with a lack of product!!!! 

A little excitement to share!  I made TOP 3 at Simon Says stamp and show for this AO Canvas!

And TOP 3 at SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge for this Cuckoo Clock! 

I just was going to go and pick up the mail and I saw the entire air was brown!  It is so windy here and dirt is making visibility very bad!  No, I left the mail, but here is a picture of what would have been a blue sky day!  I took this out my craft room window!

Sorry, I was so photo heavy!  Hope you are having a great week and with a little less dirt blowing in the air.  I know at least one of my blogger friends is probably dealing with the same conditions!  Thank you for visiting today! 







Cuckoo For Steampunk!

Hope you are having a beautiful day!  It is going to be in the 80's here today and I think it will be a lovely day for working in the yard.  Although when I did that the other day, I paid for it will nasty allergies for two days!    I suppose that is like working with stamps and inks and paying for it with stained fingernails?   I don't know about you, but I sure get very excited over Tim's new releases.  All my life I have had pretty good self-control, but not when it comes to Tim!

The inspiration for this Tag came from a brand new challenge blog,  SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenges, "Cuckoo Clocks Go Steampunk."    Inspiration Journal is all about adding a little "P.O.P" and this has pocket watch has two chipboard layers and is further elevation by large "Pop Dots."  We are also taking flight with Bloggers Challenge, "Come Fly With Me."

The new Pocket Watch die was cut from both Black Card Stock and Chipboard, stamped in Opalite Ink and clear embossed.  These inks have a really nice metallic look and I love them!  I then used the steampunk gear to cut out the opening for the sweet little birds, through one layer of CS and CB.  The second CB cut was just for dimension.

The background clocks from Hero Arts was stamped in VersaMark and clear embossed, inked with Distress and then Tim's "Mini Blueprints 3" gears was stamped in Black Soot in a random pattern.  The next step was pulling out that iron and you know the rest!

Hope you are enjoying the week and have a wonderful weekend - almost!  Thank you for stopping by!

Stamps:  Tim's Tiny Things and Mini Blueprints #3, Hero Arts Clock Background
Inks, Opalite Golden Mist and Winter Rust, Distress Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Bard Door, Rusty Hinge, Black Walnut, Black Soot, VersaMark
Dies: Pocket Watch, gears