My Favorite So Far!

Hello to everyone!  Thank you for joining me today.  I have another entry into the Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style to share with you today.  And, as the title of this post says, it's my favorite so far. 

If you're not familiar with this challenge you can find out all about it here.  Linda really inspires everyone with her tags every year and it's so much fun to play along.  Once you've checked out the challenge rules hop over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique, Linda's wonderful shop.  She has great products and fantastic service and prices.

Now on to this week's project.  You can check out Linda's tag for the fourth week here.  If you've read the challenge rules you know that you have to be inspired by something from Linda's tag.  What immediately inspired me was the homespun, vintage charm of this tag.  I also loved the colors she used.  So, I used both of those things in making my page.  By the way, for those of you who haven't been following along with my projects, I'm using 5"x7" pieces of watercolor paper in place of tags.  I'll eventually gather them into a book.  Anyway,  on to the project.  This is what the finished page looks like.

 

 

 

 

I started by using a Wendy Vecchi stencil and Evergreen Bough DI to create the striped border top and bottom.  Then I used Festive Berries for the polka dot background.  I then stamped the vintage catalog page from Tim Holtz on a piece of white card stock and inked it with Vintage Photo DI.  I distressed the edges and used more Vintage Photo to darken them.  After going though my stash of Christmas things I found several of the items that are featured in the catalog page!  Tinsel, a star, ribbons and little Christmas lights are among the things that I had and so I decided to glue them down along the side.  A little sticker that says "celebrate" seemed appropriate and the color was perfect so I attached that to the top of the page.  Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really love this page.  I love that catalog stamp and I was thrilled to be able to feature it.  And, I was really excited to find the star and the little lights among my stash.  I thought the end result was simple and homespun, just like Christmas should be!

 

 

 

I want to thank you for visiting me today.  I've been so busy with all the Fall activities that I haven't done much in the studio.  But, I enjoy making these projects every week and sharing them with you .  Have a wonderful day and I hope you get to find some time to create!

 





Looking for Frosty!

Hello!  I'm so happy you stopped by today.  It will be a short post but I wanted to share my third entry into The Twelve Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style.  If you don't know about this challenge hop over here to find out all the details.  And, then hop on over to Linda's wonderful shop, The Funkie Junkie Boutique and have fun shopping.  The boutique sponsors the challenge.

One of the requirements is that you are inspired by something Linda has done. You don't need to copy it,  just be inspired by it.  You can see Linda's third tag here and then I'll share what I did with my project.

Well, the first thing I saw when I looked at the tag was that fantastic snowflake.  I loved it but I didn't have the die and I immediately thought of a snowman to replace it.  Here is what my project looks like.

 

 

I'm using 5"x7" watercolor paper for all the projects and they will eventually be bound into a book of some sort.  I'm not there yet!  I sprayed the paper with Perfect Pearls Pearl and then with Smoke Blue in some areas.  I then used a Spellbinders embossing folder of wind blown snowflakes and ran it through the machine.  Using my finger I applied Maya Gold in Silver over some of the raised areas.  I die cut the Tim Holtz snowman out of white paper and used Stampendous Spoonful of Snow Embossing Powder and Elements to emboss him.  The "elements" in the chunky embossing powder are flakes of iridescent mylar which melt with the heat.  You need to hold the heat gun under the piece you're embossing.  I put him on foam tape and used pan pastels to create a shadow around him.  The shadow on the right side is not as defined as it looks in the photo but the light created that shadow and I didn't realize it until after I saw the picture on the computer.  But, there is a shadow and it makes a difference on the finished piece.  The banner is from an Authentique cut apart paper that I had and I thought it was fun.  The snowman looks like he's wondering why they can't find him!  I added two little snowflake rhinestones that have an AB finish which looks great with the mylar on the snowman.   The larger snowflake one is one of Tim's and I daubed it with Distress Paint and sprinkled it with clear Rock Candy glitter. 

 

 

Here are two close ups.  

 

 

 

 

 

So, there you have it.  Week number 3.  It's a rather simple project but sometimes simple is nice! 

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting with me.  I so enjoy having you stop by.  Have a wonderful day and do something fun!





Playing Catch Up

Hi, everyone!  So happy that you could visit with me.  I've titled this post Playing Catch Up because I'm trying to juggle my time between Fall gardening and getting the inside of the house ready for Fall.  I love decorating for the seasons and I always put out pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns and all sorts of Halloween things, along with leaves and berries for Fall.  I love doing it.  I got a late start this year because we were away for a week the beginning of the month.  That also put me behind with the 12 Tags of Christmas Funkie Junkie Style challenge that Linda Coughlin has going every year.  You can find all the details here.  But I'm on my way and today I'm going to share my second tag.

 

 

As I mentioned last time, I'm doing 5x7 inch pieces that I will eventually put into a book.  When I saw Linda's second tag my eye immediately went to the poinsettia and the checkerboard border.  I knew that would be my inspiration for this second page.  I've been playing with new (to me) products from Lindy's Stamp Gang.  There are sprays, powdered mica paints and embossing powders.  Many of the products are actually two colors combined, a flat and a shimmer.  The embossing powders are basic embossing powder with some iridescence added.   And, the powdered paints have mica in them for shimmer.  I just love all of them.  I don't have many of the colors but I wanted to use them for this piece.  So, I started with one of the powdered paints, called Magicals,  and used a water pen to apply it to the background.  As you can see the color that I used, Ponderosa Pines Olive,  is a yellow green moving into a pine green all with a very light shimmer.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the shimmer to show in the pictures.  Once that was dry I used a poinsettia background stamp to emboss over the background.  I used Deset Moon Copper Pine embossing powder to emboss it.  I know, the color names are swoon-worthy too! The color is a golden copper with a pine green iridescence.  I then stamped a large poinsettia stamp (can you tell I love poinsettias?)  on watercolor paper with Watering Can Archival Ink and used more of the Magicals to color it.  I didn't have a true red so I used Autumn Maple Crimson and a touch of Red Hot Poker Orange with a water pen.  For the leaves I used the same green as the background with a touch of Tibetan Poppy Teal.  I fussy cut it and sponged some Watering Can Archival on the edges and put a Kaiser Craft Sparkle in the center. 

 

 

Here is a close up. 

 

 

 

 

I mentioned that I also loved the checkerboard border that Linda used.  I had just gotten a new die that I thought would work for this design and allow me to have the checkerboard effect.  I cut it out of gold card stock and applied it to the sides instead of the bottom.  I added the Christmas Carol stamped and embossed on the same gold CS to the bottom and a flourish cut from the gold paper behind the poinsettia. 

 

 

Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see some of the iridescence of the embossing powder in the detail photos. 

 

 

So, now I'm feeling better about getting caught up with my chores and with my challenge projects.  The challenge is sponsored by Linda's wonderful boutique, The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  Check it out, there are great products at great prices!

 

 

Thank you for visiting with me today.  I really appreciate having you stop by to see what I'm up to.  I hope you have a wonderful day.

 





It's That Time Again!

Hi all, welcome!  It's a beautiful Fall Sunday morning here and I'm happy to be sharing it with all of you.  We are well and truly into Fall now and if the turning leaves and cooler weather isn't a reminder of that, the fact that over at the wonderful blog The Funkie Junkie,  Linda has started this year's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge!  I love this challenge!  Linda creates a tag each week for the 12 weeks before Christmas and to participate you have to find something in the tag design that inspires you.  You can find all the details here.  By creating all of the 12 tags, or whatever you decide to make, you are entered into a drawing for a gift certificate to Linda's wonderful boutique, The Funkie Junkie.  Whether you participate in the challenge or not, you should visit Linda's shop to see all the wonderful products she carries.  Now on to my first entry.



I decided to cut watercolor paper into 5"x7" pieces and use those in place of tags this year.  I'm going to put them all together in a book after the holidays.  So, that is my starting point for this first project.  My inspiration from Linda's tag was the stenciling and using the stencil to monoprint the background.  I started by applying Old Paper, Iced Spruce, and Bundled Sage Distress Stain to my craft sheet and running the paper through it to create a subtle mottled background to knock down the whiteness of the paper.  It's very faint and you can't see it well in the picture but it does provide a nice background color for the stenciling.  I then stenciled along one side of the card with Gathered Twigs, Bundled Sage and Festive Berries DI.  I applied the inks to the stencil again and spritzed it with water, turned the stencil over and monoprinted on the paper.  I love the watercolored effect that happens with this technique.  I edged the entire card with Gathered Twigs DI and stamped the "Handle with Care" stamp with Festive Berries.  I added the die cut banner that was in my stash to the top and used Stickles glitter on the berries.  The "post card" stamp is part of Graphic45's Christmas sets from a few years ago and I used Gathered Twigs for that.  The Holly Boy card is from Kaiser Craft.  I loved his costume and his face and I thought it was perfect with the holly theme. 


Here are some details.



Love that watercolor effect.  And you can see some of the background color here.

 

 

Here is the Holly Boy!

 

 

Well, there is my first entry for this year!  The year is going so quickly, I can't believe Halloween is 3 weeks away and we'll be in the midst of the Christmas season so soon! 

 

Thank you for visiting with me.  I really appreciate that you take time to visit my blog.  Have a wonderful day.

The Ghostly Witch

Hi, all!  It's so nice to have you visit me today.  We are having some lovely Fall weather and I'm really getting into the Fall spirit.  It's one of my favorite times of the year.  I love everything about it. Since tomorrow is October 1st I'm going to share my first Halloween project of the year with you today. 

I've always loved Halloween.  I remember sitting at our dining room table with my mom a few weeks before Halloween putting together treat bags for the kids who would come to our door.  I didn't particularly like dressing up but I loved all the jack-o-lanterns and other decorations that appeared in the stores in October.  Back then there wasn't all the gore and zombies that are around today.  Just witches and ghosts and jack-o-lanterns with big goofy grins!  It was a fun time of year.  I still feel that way.  I love decorating my house with pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and lots of fun Halloween ephemera.  Every year I add to my collection of mixed media projects and tags.  I love making them! 

Here is my newest one.



I love ATBs, so I thought I would make one for Halloween.  I just bought the lovely witch stamp and decided to make her the focus of the ATB.  And, why use one cube if you can use three!  So, I painted each box with black paint and covered the sides with white, purple and orange lace printed paper from Authentique's new Halloween collection.  I outlined the paper squares and the bottom of the witch's cape with Black Soot Distress Glitter.    I stamped the witch on cardstock with black archival ink and used a Distress marker to color the jack-o-lantern.  After gluing the boxes to one another I wrapped a glittered die cut from Michael's around the bottom box.  I glued the witch to the front of the second box. I attached a glittered flourish from the same group of die cuts on the top box and then a beaded witch's hat as a finishing touch to the top of the ATBs.   I added smaller scrolls and paper flowers to the tops of the other boxes.  I dipped the tops of the flowers in glue and then in the Distress glitter.  Here are some details.





 

 

 



I'm really pleased with my newest Halloween decoration!  I love the way the witch stamp looks.  I named her the Ghostly Witch because she looks rather ephemeral, I think. 

I'm going to enter this in the Frilly and Funkie challenge that is going on now called a Haunting Halloween. 

Thank you so much for visiting.  It's great to have you and I hope you have a wonderful week and get some time to spend creating.

Gelli Prints

Hi, everyone!  Welcome, I'm so glad to have you visit.   Today I'm going to share the work from a class I took using the Gelli Plates.  I had avoided getting into Gelli printing because I really didn't want another tool to work with (crazy, I know) and I really didn't like a lot of the prints I was seeing online.  Too many colors in one print and too random for my taste as a background.  So, I kept avoiding the whole topic.  Several people were telling me I really should try it because I'd be hooked, but I resisted.  And, then a friend of my daughter's bought a small plate, 5x7", and brought it over for us to play with.  I realized that if you didn't use  too many colors at one time you could come out with some good papers.  So, I, along with my daughter and her friend signed up for the basic Gelli Plate class at The Queen's Ink.  We had a great afternoon and we left with two little books full of papers made in the class. 

 

 

 

The covers are book board which we covered with the sheets that we used to clean off the plate.   Truthfully, they ended up being some of my favorite prints of all!  We used sticky back canvas that we printed for a spine binding.  I may eventually embellish the covers but for now this is how they look. 

 

For the pages we used unlined index cards to make the prints.  Terry, the instructor who does great Gelli prints, brought in all kinds of things to create texture on the plate.  We used stencils and masks, the bottoms of cut up flip-flops(!), textured wall papers, sequin waste, the list is endless!   To make the pages we folded the cards in half and glued the them together.  It's a really quick way to make a little journal.  I'm going to use mine to record quotes and do some Zentangles.  I've done a bit of both in one of the books. 

 

The rest of this post is going to be pictures of some of the prints in the books.  Enjoy!

 

 

 



I used metallic copper paint and a piece of textured wall paper.  I really like this one a lot!  Some sage green paint from a previous print showed up in some areas.

 

 

 

I didn't like the colors I got with the first pull so I put cream paint over the plate and ran a comb through it.  Voila!  I liked it  with the previous colors just peeking through.

 

 

 

I did some tangling on this spread and used a quote that I've always loved.  There will be more of these as I work in the books!

 

 

The leaf shapes were from a mask that I laid down on the plate before I printed. 

 

By using just a copper paint and a light blue paint I was able to control the colors.  The picture doesn't show the copper metallic well but it looks great having that glimmer show though.

 

This print I did when our friend brought her plate over to play with.  I used a leaf embossing plate on one side.  I liked the print so much that I used the new TH leaf die and embossing folder to cut a leaf.   The colors were so fall like and there is a copper glimmer on this one too!

 

 

 

I found that the prints I liked best were the ones where I was better able to control the colors.  And, some of the textures were great.  I also discovered I loved metallic paint peeking through.  The glimmer is very cool. 

 

 

I'm glad I bought the plate.  I like the papers I made with it and I want to work more with colors combinations and the metallic paints.  I'm sure you'll be seeing more backgrounds in my work that I've created using my Gelli Plate.

 

 

Thank you for visiting with me today.  I'm glad I got to share my first adventures with the Gelli Plate with you.  I hope you have a wonderful day and a great week. 

 

 



 

 

 





Hello again!

Hello!  It's been so very quiet around the blog lately!  I'm sorry about that but it seems the Muse has been on vacation and didn't want to return.  But, slowly she's beginning to realize that return she must and so things are beginning to happen in the studio again.  Seriously though, my mojo up and left after mid-August, but with the coming of Fall I'm beginning to slowly come back to creating.  And, I'm so happy to be back in the studio.

The summer did provide two new things to put in the creative tool box.  Zentangles and Gelli Plates!
My daughter and I started learning the Zentangle method and  yesterday we took a class using the Gelli Plate.  We came home with two tiny books of papers we painted with the Gelli Plate.  I'll show those to you soon.  We both decided to use them for Zentangles.  We tend to do that sometimes, get the same idea independently of each other!  It's fun when it happens.  But, today I have something different to share. 

My dear, dear husband bought me a Speed Fire mini kiln for metal clay firing and I finally started working with some CopperClay.  I love metal clay.  It's magical to me that you begin with clay and end up with metal!  I had worked with PMC3 and BronzeClay before but never copper.  Well, along with the kiln he provided me with a package of CopperClay.  Here are my first pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

I found that CopperClay is easy to work with and the firing went well.  I used a floral border stamp as a texture plate and cut the strip of clay into rectangles.   I wanted a neutral combination so I chose some 10mm black fire polished beads from the stash to use with the copper.  I'm pleased with the results of my first attempt at using my own kiln. 

 

 

That is my first entry back into the creative world I love so much!  I want to thank you for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful week!