Lots To Do: Trees/Leaves Challenge

One day I was meandering through blog world and came upon a blog called Crafty Creations. Each Saturday she posts a new Lots To Do Challenge. This week the theme is trees and or leaves. I submitted the birthday card I made for my husband last week.

Materials:

DCWV black card

Metallic card stock in bronze

Glossy ATC

Tree stamp

Brown distress embossing powder

Blue and brown ink pads

Smooch sprays

Smooch accent inks

Celebrate snap on embellishment

Beatles Swap Entry

Hi gang,
Today I created my entries for Marion Bocklemann's Beatles Blog Swap. Click on the link to find out more about it. I chose "weather" songs (don't ask me why) for my 3 ATCs. I used glossy cardstock, Smooch sprays, pigment ink pads, water colors, gel medium, acrylics, crackle paint, micron pens, and a paper cup.

Paint Chip Shabby Chic Tag

When I first joined Art For The Creative Mind there were several swaps that I was really interested in but they had already closed. This week I had the good fortune of stepping in to take someone's place for the Paint Chip Shabby Chic Tag swap and this is what I came up with.

Materials:

Behr paint card

Tim Holtz Distress Metallic Paint in silver

Titanium White Acrylic paint

In Flight chipboard

Chocolate Box ColorCore Cardstock

Heritage Printed Ribbon

sandpaper

Antique Linen Distress Stamp pad

Sky blue Stamp pad

Modern tendencies

Hi gang! For my second post of the day I am bringing you my latest explorations with glossy paper, alcohol inks and smooch sprays.

My work is featured on a blog!

I am beyond honored and thrilled that the darling Helga (of ARTchix Studio fame) has featured one of my postcard entries for the Create Art Share Happiness Postcard swap (shown below)

You can visit her blog My ARTistic Life, page down about halfway to see it there with my name and everything. I am really excited about this since I have only been doing collage for about 2 months and participating in swaps and groups for about 3. So thank you, thank you Helga for the tremendous ego boost and honor! 

I'm a tree hugger at heart.

Being an artist requires lots of stuff which ultimately makes lots of waste. However, over the years I have tried to find ways to re-use and re-cycle any way I can. I love products that are earth friendly because that means they are also not harmful to me (I have allergy induced asthma). Today I received my Creative Impulse newsletter from Stampinton.com which featured eco-friendly products.

Eco Green Crafts Board Books

Eco Green Crafts Glue

Eco Green Crafts Acrylic Paints

If anyone has had the opportunity to try these or other eco-friendly products please post a comment and share your thoughts.

Two Zens are better than One

I found it difficult this weekend to eek out quality greatness.....the inspiration faery seems to be taking a nap. I did end up creating 4 ATC but the two fine art ones were attempts at new techniques that need.....perfecting. The two zens are a new style inspired by Betsi O. from my yahoo groups.

Don't be such a Zen Head!

Zen Bird

Lots to share.... super long post!

This past week has been ubber busy for me with paying work and I haven't had much time to create or post things I created a while ago. So grab your cup of coffee or tea, get comfy and enjoy!

First, I need to go back a bit to catch up.....
These two pieces I created last week for my FineArtsATCsOnetoOne yahoo group. The first is a watercolor of a Cyprus lined road in Tuscany and the second is Faery Door II, a special trade creation, done in pen & ink, watercolors, and acrylics.

Yesterday, I was finally able to get back into my creative groove and spend some time on challenges. The first one is my entry for the last ARTchix bi-weekly lotto on the Yahoo group. The theme is Pick 3 (colors). I chose Blue, Pink, and Green. The little girl fairy, the eggs piece, text, and the magnifying glass are all ARTchix Studio images. I arranged them on lime green cardstock, stamped and embossed a flourish, used colored pencil, added a paper flower which I highlighted with Smooch Accent Inks, and I used Tim Holtz Linen Distress Pad to age the whole thing a bit.

Another group I really enjoy is Art For The Creative Mind. Tolegranny (TG), our fearless leader, provides varied and plentiful challenges and swaps. This group really pushes me to stretch my creative muscles and I love it!

This weekend TG issued a fun challenge to create anything using embossing supplies, no rules, no guidelines, no expectations, just use what you have. Now, I have many powders, a heat gun, stamps and pads, and pens that I have really only begun to explore so having this opportunity to experiment and play was thrilling. In fact, I had so much fun I couldn't stop with just one, or two, or even three. I did FOUR. All very different and all new things I haven't tried before.

Embossed Artist

Supplies: glossy white ATC card

Alcohol Inks - Rust, Red Pepper, Bottle, Sunbright Yellow, Eggplant, Denim, and Silver Metallic Mixative

Tim Holtz ATC stamp - The Artist

can of air/dust remover

black stamp pad

black embossing powder

heat gun

The background technique, called Alcohol Ink Splatter came from Tim Holtz's new book A Compendium of Curiosities. You simply drop a dot of alcohol ink onto the glossy paper then quickly blow it with your can of air and wallah you get this cool splatter effect. Caution: this does take some practice so try it out on scrap paper first until you get the hang of it. Tim advises to know when to say when on this....it can become a real mess very quickly.

Then ink up your stamp, stamp over the splatters, sprinkle with embossing powder, heat and you are done. Unless, of course you want to add other embellishments!

Embossed Deco

Supplies: glossy white ATC card

Alcohol Inks -Red Pepper, Denim, Eggplant

Stamp - Art Deco

black stamp pad

  Embossing Powder - black

Acrylic Craft Paint - Vanilla or Cream

Stickles - Black Diamond and Tiara

heat gun

craft sheet

blending solution

paper towel

The background technique, called Alcohol Ink Monoprint, came from Tim Holtz's new book A Compendium of Curiosities. Basically, you drip and/or scribble alcohol inks onto a craft sheet, shake on some blending solution and swipe your paper (glossy side down) through the ink. Then re-swipe going in a different direction. Again, I caution you to experiment with this technique as this also takes practice.

I then coated my deco stamp with black ink, stamped it onto the background, and embossed with black powder and allowed to cool. Next, I diluted a small dab of Vanilla craft paint with blending solution so that it was nice and watery and brushed it just over the stamped area. Then quickly wiped it off with a damp paper towel and allowed it to dry. I then squirted a dab of Tiara Stickles onto my craft sheet and using my finger "painted" it onto the borders around the stamped area and allowed that to dry. For, the finishing touch I squeezed a line of Black Diamond Stickles around the edges of the stamped area to frame it off.

Embossed Owl

Supplies: glossy white ATC card

Alcohol Inks - Bottle (green), Denim, Sunbright Yellow, Silver Metallic Mixative

Stamps - Owl, flourishes or branches

Stamp Pad - embossing pad

  Embossing Powder - bright blue and copper

Smooch Accent Inks - Ocean Soul, Luscious Lime, Moonlight, Tuxedo Black, Molasses, Gold Lame

heat gun

blending solution

The background technique, called Alcohol Ink Monoprint, came from Tim Holtz's new book A Compendium of Curiosities. Basically, you drip and/or scribble alcohol inks onto a craft sheet, shake on some blending solution and swipe your paper (glossy side down) through the ink. Then re-swipe going in a different direction. Again, I caution you to experiment with this technique as this also takes practice.

 

I then coated my Owl stamp with embossing ink pad, stamped it onto the background, and embossed with bright blue powder and allowed to cool. I repeated with process twice with a branch stamp and copper powder. Using Smooch Accent Inks I colored in and highlight the owl and the leaves on the branches.

Embossed Palm

Supplies: glossy white ATC card

Alcohol Inks - Bottle (green)

Stamps - Tree (only use trunk)

Stamp Pad - embossing pad and pale blue

Embossing Pen - Brush

  Embossing Powder - brown, cream, and gold

Martha Stewart Dye Ink Craft Markers - Indigo, Turquoise, Cornflower, Sepia, Pewter

heat gun

blending tool 

can of air

To create the background I used Tim Holtz's blending tool to pick up color from the soft blue stamp pad then using a swirling motion I applied color from the outside edge inward. This created a soft sky with clouds look. 

I created the Palm tree using the Alcohol Ink Splatter technique I shared above. The trunk was created by using an embossing pen and only wetting the trunk part of the tree stamp. I used brown embossing powder and the Sepia craft marker to give the trunk texture and definition. 

I then drew the sand area with the embossing pen and sprinkled it with a very light dusting of gold and then a good amount of cream and applied the heat tool. Using the two colors gave some dimension to the sand.

The water is simply a combination of the blue markers with the darkest one being most prominent in the back and the lightest being the most prominent in the front. A stylized V in pewter marker creates the seagull.

Next time I promise not to write such a long post!

I hope you enjoyed and found inspiration in these techniques. No go create something!

Card of the Month - "A Different Fold"

My yahoo group Art For The Creative Mind, held a Card of the Month swap called "A Different Fold" (think flowers). Below is my interpretation of the theme which is heading to my partner tomorrow.

I made the card and envelope using Far East Paper Pack and iridescent pink and green ribbon from Oriental Trading, and Cricut cut-outs created with the Pagoda cartridge. The card shape came from a free template I found on www.Stampington.com and the envelope is a winged it special by me. I also used a distress stamp pad and Smooch Accent Inks from Sky Blue Pink to highlight and accent the flowers and dragonflies.

I used the same paper pack on the inside. The solid center piece is the reverse side of the lotus paper and is attached with dragonfly brads from Sky Blue Pink.

Although this is my very first card from scratch I think it turned out pretty good. I hope my partner agrees!