Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Pocket Cards

I made these cards awhile ago but just put them aside while I waited for the perfect stamp set and occasion.  My niece had a tea party for her birthday and when I received the Tea Party stamp set, I knew it would be perfect for these cards.


Check out the Tea Party stamp set by Lila Grey Stamps by clicking here.


I should have taken a photo of the cards without the embellishments, but I always forget about the "before".


Anyhow, to make these cards, I grabbed a plan white 12x12 piece of cardstock.  The thicker the better.  I normally buy mine from Stampin' Up.  I really love their quality and thickness of cardstock.


With that, I used paint, inks, distress inks, markers, book pages, washi tape, etc. to come up with the random background.  Once I was happy with the final product, I cut three 4x12" strips.  Those strips I cut into three 4x6 cards and six 3x4" cards; rounded the corners and then it's time to embellish.


Here is a photo of all the cards:


Some close ups:





Techniques:
Stacking Tea Cups:  I used a masking technique to stamp the cup on top of each other.  I stamped the bottom cup on the card and another one on a piece of scrap paper.  I cut out the image on the scrap paper and placed it on top of the cup on the card.  From there, I stamped the second cup in the first cup.  As you can see, the saucer and bottom portion of the stamp does not appear on the final project card.  Once I did that, I used white acrylic paint to paint around the cup.  This allows the cups to pop.


Cupcake:  Paper pieced the cupcake.  I stamped the image onto different colors/types of scrap paper.  Cut out the portions I wanted and adhered them to one image.


Journaling Spots:  I used white acrylic paint to create an area for journaling and then drew lines with a pen.  Easy peasy!


Flowers Patterned Paper:  Make your own patterned paper by stamping the same image randomly on the card.  This was done with the flower image.  I then highlighted the flowers with marker, added dots and other small embellishments.


Each of these cards can be used alone or to add a photo or journaling.  I feel I embellished them enough to where I won't need to add more to them. 


FYI:  Pocket cards can also be used for card fronts.  They are not only for pocket pages in your scrapbook album.


I love the idea of making your own pocket cards.  If you are interested in pocket pages, check out my pages from our trip to Orlando (safari).  I had so much fun making this album.  You can fit so many more photos on each page and once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun.  BTW, the cards that I used for the Animal Kingdom Safari photos were also made a similar way.  I couldn't find anything that worked so I made my own.  The base of these cards was a piece of patterned paper that I knew I was never going to use.  It already had a mixed media vibe so it worked out perfect.  Don't you love that! 

Friday, June 26, 2015

You're A Classic

This is the reason why I like to look for new challenge sites.  The challenge site, Anything But Cute is for mixed media challenges and the current challenge is masculine.  I wasn't even sure if I had anything that is specifically mascaline, but once I started, the ideas just came to me.

So I started with the idea of creating a tag.  I have a Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing plate of measuring tapes.  So I embossed.  Then I added some ink from CTMH (Olive, Gypsy, Black).  I also used a Chocolate ink pad from AMM (had this forever).  Then I stamped the car with black ink and this car stamp I got from a mail-order stamp club that I enrolled in for one month about three years ago  Although I love the car stamp, the quality of the stamp is really poor - thin stamp.

I also stamped a light post from 7 Gypsies with the black archival ink pad from CTMH.  Shaded each of them with Whisper alcohol pen from CTMH.

The white etchings were stamped on with white acrylic paint and a stamp that I got from Rubber Paws.  This is the first time I used it and I can tell I'm going to use it more and more.  I don't know the company or where it was purchased.  Shoot, I can't even tell what it says...if anything.  LOL

The sentiment is from the car set and was stamped and inked and adhered.  Then the twine/button and ribbon.  Sure I like it, but a tag...what am I going to do with it??

Ah ha...my art journal had some violet ink spots and of course the left over splotches from the inks/paints from the tag project.  So I added more of the ink colors and some other random additions to create a background for the tag.  Now it's a page and I plan on cutting it down for a card front.  Love it!



Products used: are listed above.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Drink Tea With Me

I thought I'd enter this in the Try It On Tuesday challenge blog.  The theme is tea cups.  I know this isn't a tea cup, but tea cup/tea pot same thing, right??

Here's another Art Journal page using the Tea Party stamp set from Lila Grey Stamps.  I love this stamp set!  I looked on Pinterest to find a "tea" quote and thought this was simple enough.  The page started off as a clean off page full of random strokes and splotches from other projects.  I doubled stamped the teapot (love that you can do this with clear stamps!) because I wanted a really dark impression.  I colored in the flowers and dragonflies with a variety of markers I have in my stash.  I shadowed the teapot with a lt. gray marker.  I handwrote the title using a black Sharpie and other markers for shadowing and decorations.  Then I used a watered down yellow paint spray to add some yellow.  I always say, every project needs a little yellow.  I used an old drinking straw dipped in acrylic craft paint for the little circles.  I also used this paint and a lacey cupcake wrapper (yup, I kept this from a baby shower that I attended last month) for the "doily-like" design at the bottom of the page.  The random doodled circles are from a black BIC pen that I also use a lot.




Close ups of the tea pot and sentiment.  I'm entering this on the Try It On Tuesday challenge blog.


Never Ending Adventure

Here it is...
Art is an adventure that never ends.  I know it's hard to read, but I just can't get a direct shot.  This is just inside the door when you walk in to the Command Center.

 The painting wraps around this skinny wall.  The wall facing the open door is the artwork above.

Here's my son Tony checking out the wall.  He thinks I'm crazy.  Who knows...maybe I am.  LOL

I treated these walls like a mixed media canvas.  Paint everywhere, distressing sprays and markers everywhere.  It's all crazy but I think it gives the Command Center an artistic, fun look.  I have a feeling that I'll be adding, covering, and revising these walls a lot.



Tuesday, June 23, 2015

An Adventure?!?

OH EM GEE!  I am working on something in the Command Center that I'm pretty excited about.  I am hoping to finish tonight.


No sneak peeks and no hints on what it is, but I think you'll either think I'm crazy (like my family already does) or love it.  LOL


Pictures are coming soon!!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Celebrate!

Thinking outside the box is where this one came from:

I used Lila Grey Stamps (set:  Home Sweet Home) for the "fans" and the bar across the page.  I used Ranger distress sprays for the background colors; white acrylic paint and bubble wrap and some random spritz of blue, yellow and white to create a confetti feel.  The lines both straight and squiggly are handdrawn.  I outlined the "fans" with white gel pen and used a black Sharpie for "Celebrate".  More handwriting.  LOVE!

Here are some close ups:


Saturday, June 20, 2015

Girly Things

Here's another Lila Grey Stamps set and an Art Journal page I completed.  This set is called Home Sweet Home.

Click here to go to her website/store.

As part of the design team, I created a few different items using two different stamp sets.  I started this piece by inking and stenciling some texture page to one corner.  I then stamped the medallian all over the page to create a background.

Then I decided to cover the whole thing with gesso.  I knew I wanted to showcase the chandelier on this piece so I stamped in Versamark and embossed with black embossing powder.

Handwrote the title and adhered.  After that I realized that it needed to be more girly so I added some fingerpainted circles, pink washi and random gold and silver metallic paint dots.  I also colored in part of the shades with markers.

The finished product and close up:


I love this chandellier!  I can see myself using this on lots of fancy pages/cards and other art projects.

Supplies: 
Lila Grey Stamps (Home Sweet Home)
Inks by Stampin Up!
Gold/Silver Metallic Paint Marker
Markers
Washi Tape
Homemade Texture Paste

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Still; Be Still Before the Lord

This week's Bible Study Challenge is "Still".  I really like this week's study because this is something I struggle with.  I often tell my adult children to trust that God has great plans for them, but deep down, I struggle with anxiousness for things to happen for them.  I hope they don't see that anxiousness but only listen to what I am telling them and have faith that it will.

You can click on the Triple the Scraps badge on the right to get to the website for the complete bible study.

Here is my art:


This page was one of my splatter pages.  Just left over stuff from other projects.  I wrote the verse in block letters and stopped there.  I was going to keep it simple.  Then I added the doodle edge on two sides.  After that I spritzed some watered down acrylic paint all over which smeared some of the letters.  So once it dried, I started outlining some of the letters with both white and black markers.

Then I added drops of re-inkers in violet and bright blue.  Blotted the excess.  Grabbed some paint and fingerpainted around those drops and drew circles around it.  That's basically it.

I love the verse.  It just tells it like it is.  No fussing.  "Do not be anxious about anything."  You cannot interpret this any other way!

Hey Sweetie!

I'm so excited to announce that I've been selected to be on the Lila Grey Stamps Design Team (click on the icon to the right).  The stamp designs are unique and have many creative possibilities.  I can't wait to share what I've been doing with them!

I started this piece knowing I was going to use the pedestal and cupcake but like all my mixed media/art journal pieces, I never really know where the piece is going to take me.

Here are some shots of the final piece and some close ups:




I know you're thinking "that lettering is amazing!"  I am so excited on how it turned out.  I watched a handwriting tutorial on making a font from your own handwriting and thought I'd practice on another piece of paper, but if you know anything about me and I'm sure you do, I love to just dive right in.  Why not?  I wrote the words with a fine point BIC pen and then sketched around and filled in to make lines thicker, etc.  Filled in with a Sharpie and highlighted the bottoms with Wink of Stella Glitter White pen (HEY) and the white Gelly Roll pen (SWEETIE).  LOVE!
See the tutorial  here:

The pedestal was stamped directly on the page but the top part (bright blue) was pieced.  The cupcake was paper pieced together.  I used my assortment of pens to highlight the frosting, color the cake and highlight the flower).


I love that pedestal and plan on using it a lot!  Can you see it holding a Christmas tree or other holiday icons?  So cute!!


The yellow circles on the top right was another experiment.  The technique is called bumping.  Basically, you paint inside a stencil with a light (or dark) color and then slightly move the stencil (bump it) and paint another color (lighter or darker depending on your first color).  It gives a shadow effect.  Unfortunately, the white that I used did not show up well enough to see the bump.  I still love the random circles on this page.


Supplies:
Lavender, green galore, yoyo yellow and tempting turquoise ink pads from SU!
Black Re-inker
Yellow acrylic paint
Yellow and Red Spritz paint (homemade)
Brass Alphabet stencil
Grunge Stamp Set SU! (Those beautiful lavender splotches on the page - wait...is that an oxymoron?)
Tea Party Stamp Set Lila Grey Stamps (click here to view the stamp sets)

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Goodbye Coach

Our friends are moving to Tennessee and Saturday was their goodbye party.  Nick coached football with Kenny for about six years.  They have become good friends of ours.  He's a fan of my homemade salsa so I knew I wanted to make a jar for their party.  Of course I couldn't send it without embellishments so I made this quick and cute tag.  The paper is all from CTMH.  I love the country feel to it.  I think it's perfect for the salsa.


Cricut Cartridge Used:  Country Life

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Thanks Again Rubber Paws

I don't know if you remember, but about two years ago, I was gifted many, many supplies from my sister's sister-in-law.  Her artist name was Rubber Paws.  I am reminded daily of her because not only is the Command Center filled with supplies from her craft room, but her style and talent is something that I look upon often.

Her art was just that...art.  As I rifle though supplies, I remember how much she used gold leafing in her projects, how she used embossing powders, micro beads and many, many more out of the ordinary stamping supplies.

The Art Journal book that I'm using was from her as well.  Each time I start a new page, her inspiration is with me.  You know, I only met her once.  And even then, I didn't take the opportunity to actually talk to her.  It's so unfortunate because I think we would have had a lot of talk about and learn from each other.


See my original post here.



Here are some photos of projects I'm doing using "out of the ordinary" products:
Do you see the gold leafing?
The dress is made with torn purple paper scraps & then coated with Wink of Stella.


This pen holder was part of Rubber Paw's gifts and a stamp pad holder too.


Products used for the mixed media piece.

This wreath stamp was hers too.  I almost gave it away, but I'm so glad I didn't.  I love it!



These are only a small portion of items but ones that I have been working with this past week. 


Thanks again Karen aka Rubber Paws.  I hope you approve...R.I.P.



Thursday, June 11, 2015

Quinceanera Painter's Tray Gift

I have a quinceanera on Saturday and realized I either needed to buy a gift or make something.  Well, this special  young lady is the daughter of one of my friends/coworker and she used to come over to my home and craft with us.  I thought I would make her a mini-album that she could put some photos of her birthday party in, but remembered I had two of the 7 Gypsies Painter Trays.  I found them in the clearance section at Joanne's before Christmas.  They usually sell for at least $19 and they were on clearance for only $7!! I bought the only two they had.

For those of you who don't know, a quinceanera is a 15th birthday celebration in the Catholic Hispanic culture.  It's a day to celebrate when a girl becomes a young lady.  I've been to plenty of them and Kenny & I have participated as padrinos (Godparents) in two of them - the first was for Vanessa and the second for Erika.

The parties are just like weddings - very elaborate and very special.

Now to the project:

Here is a photo of the entire thing:



And some close ups:




The color of her dress is a salmon color and the decorations are a mixture of the same color and a light teal blue (I'm sure there's an official name, I just don't know what it is).  I started off with a paper line from CTMH but realized the "salmon" color was really more orange than I hoped.  I accidently found a scrap piece of some paper that we had forever.  In fact, it's one of the first paper pads Carly and I bought.  I no longer have the cover page, but the pad was a Rock Star pad with lots of coordinating papers (probably DCWV, but I'm not sure).  I used those sheets and added a teal color as accent.

The light wood and gold accented papers are from a paper pad from DCWV.  I love this pad!!

So the idea of the painter's trays is to decorate it and she can fill the empty spaces with photos.  I really like the way it turned out.

I used my Storybook Cricut cartridge for the crown, "15" and the mats; Tie the Knot cartridge for the "V"; SU! pennant punch for the pennant; SU! doilies; CTMH washi tape; the micro beads, gold flowers and assorted ribbons are from my stash.

I hope she likes it.



Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Peace

I finished another Art Journal page.   I worked on the base of this page awhile ago and then moved on  to other pages before going back to this one.

I saw somewhere that someone adhered rolled pieces of paper to their canvas so I thought I'd like to try it.  I grabbed some scrap pink paper and started inking it up.  I also stamped random background on some of the papers.  I also grabbed my trusty English/Spanish dictionary and tore out some pages.

Once I adhered them to the page, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.  I used an empty toilet tissue roll to apply white paint circles on the 3D papers and then decided to make one of them a peace sign.  Then grabbed some white rub-on letters that I have and wrote the word "peace".

Here's the final page:


Another shot and a side view:



So here's what I hate about the Art Journal.  I really, really,, really like how this turned out and would love to frame it but I have more art work on the backside of this page.  I really need to only work on one side of pages.

I love how this turned out!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Virtual Room Tour

On Saturday, five of my scrapbooking friends and I had a Craft Room Crawl.  We met at the home of our last stop and then carpooled to each others crafting rooms - five stops total.  First stop...amazing! This room was called the Girl Cave.  Karen's room is layed out perfectly with different stations for different mediums.  There's a cutting spot, glitter, flower, etc.  The entire space is cozy and girly and all supplies are stored in a way that you can just grab and get creative!  Awesome!

Second stop is the Fungeon.  Nancy's room is very organized with lots and lots of shelves to put everything.  She definitely won the contest of "she who has the most paper".  The room is painted in a beautiful soft blue that is so relaxing!  Her spot is a "everything has it's place" craft room and plenty of room to spread out and get your scrap on!  Love it!

Third stop doesn't have a cute name, but Dawn said she'd work on it.  Her room was spectacular!  There are custom made cabinets surrounding her double tables in the center of the room.  The cabinets have plenty of storage on shelves or in drawers.  I love that she had plenty of Disney inspired art.  Her containers are labeled so you can find what you're looking for.  It is put together well and very, very nice.  Classy!

The Command Center was the fourth stop.  My room is at least 1/2 the size of everyone's and so quirky.  Carly and I love our space.  There is lots of inspiration art and photos all over the walls.  I love our thrifts store and yard sales pieces that fill our space with a lot of storage and work stations.  Carly and I cleaned that room like it's never been cleaned before!  There's so much to look at and love.

Here's a virtual tour made just for you.





I hope you like the Command Center as much as we do!

Last but not least was Wanda's almost empty craft room.  She had a table and a shelf and that's about it!  She sure did get lots of great ideas and inspiration by looking at each of our rooms.  That was her intention!  So we ended the night eating cupcakes and drinking wine.  Oh I forgot to mention at each stop, there was food/drinks to share with the tour group.  It was nice relaxing outside at Wanda's and talking shop.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Shade Tree of Love

Here's my project for the Mixed Media challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  The challenge is to either use a hole in your project or to make something beautiful out of an "oops".  I chose Option #2.  This page is from my Art Journal.  I worked on this awhile ago.  It started out as my mixed media projects usually do...a little of everything.  The circles on the left where punched out of a baby shower invitation.  I was making a stencil but thought I'd use the circles too.  So I adhered them and then painted over them.  Sprayed some distressed ink and then drew circles around them.  The right side, I adhered some paper tickets that I had laying on my desk.  I didn't know what my plans were but it just seemed random enough to be cool.  Well, I was wrong.  I regretted it almost as soon as I put them down.  After throwing some paint, ink, sprays, stencils, etc, I still did not like what was happening.

I did however love the left side circles.  With the pink background it sort of looked like balloons in a pink sky.  I loved that and wanted to keep that side.  Now what....

Sky = tree scene...so now the tree idea.  So I cut out a "fluff" for the tree and adhered it.  Then I used a brown ink spot to just spread into a trunk.  I cut some branches and put them in the tree...hated it!  So then I decided to use punched hearts for the "leaves".  I grabbed my green scraps and punched away.  I glued the hearts within the tree.  Then I painted a watered down green acrylic paint wash over them.  Used a baby wipe to remove some of the paint to show the patterned paper.  Charcoal pencil for shading everything!

Then I grabbed some small stamps and started randomly stamping shapes as flowers on the bottom.  Used a doily as a stencil and randomly painted white acrylic.  I added some teal ink right above the "grass area" to add some blue to the sky because before that it was all pink.  I added the K+D in the heart on the tree trunk - FUN!


After all that, I decided it needed something on the left side.  I added the house.  The base is an old book page; roof is scrap paper and the red door.  Again, used charcoal pencil to shade.  I want to add a quote but I'm not sure what yet.  Oh, before I forget...I put the moustache down at the same time of the tickets.  I thought it adds a little humor and kept it there!

All ink is Stampin' Up!
Heart Punch is also SU!
Acrylic Paint is assortment
White Pen is Sigma (geez, is that the name??)