SYS2 Day 2 -Card 1

I love how pretty the distress ink Pinks are with this embossed hero arts background stamp.

A Quick Card.

I got a text message the other day, the kind every crafter dreads, you know the one just wondering if you could whip up a card for someone who is leaving.

Making my card stash null and void as there needed to be a lot of space to write in.

So here is what I came up with based on what was close to hand and in about 30mins

I automatically thought of the Tim Holtz Bird and Cage die as it looks good and is a quick way to take up a fair amount of room.

So I cut it out of some thin chipboard (recycled packaging). Inked the cage black and then embossed it with silver and used a technique we had learned in Creative Chemistry 102 to make it look a bit more tarnished and old (though I did not get to do it as much as I wanted to to get the look really happening)

I then inked the bird and it’s wing with some distress ink and set them aside, as you can see I was in such a hurry I did not even change my blending foam and some of the black got mottled into the other colour.

I grabbed one of my new hero arts background stamps inked it in one of my fav distress colours Peacock Feathers and spritzed the whole rubber stamp with water.

I stamped it (crookedly, but I will get to that in a moment)

and then blotted off the excess with a tissue.

I took I think it was worn paper or antique linen distress ink with my blending tool and covered the whole background with it as I felt the white was a bit to bright it also aged the Peacock feathers a little as well.

It took me a few minutes to figure out how I was going to get around the crooked background that did not quite cover the whole card, when my eyes caught sight of my tape container. So out came some Washi Style Tape and I used it around 3 of the edges to cover the crookedness and the blank space.

Glued on the bird added on the prima flowers and pearls and viola a card in under 30mins 🙂 I think some days I just get very lucky as a crafter as most of the stuff was pretty close to hand.

12 Journal Pages of 2013- December

Wow another year is almost over and I really had to think about this one owning neither frosted film or clearly for Art. I had an idea and went with it, not quite as translucent as the talented Mr Holtz

One of the best things in bringing my journaling pages together was that I got to use two new stamp sets one a Christmas Present from my Sister and Nieces and the other a set I had purchased for myself as a gift to myself.

 

Soo here is my December Art Journal Pages inspired by Tim’s tag

 

 

 
It started of course with my Poinsettia which I created using a Stampendous Jumbo stamp, gold embossing powder, festive berries ink and a blending tool as well as some plastic packaging and some plain vellum, sadly it photographs a lot less 3d and remember it is going in an art journal so having it to big would have been a bit much though it is 3 layers of work

 

I started by using some matt multi medium in a very very thin layer to add the vellum then I used a brayer to smooth it out.

Let it dry, used my blending tool with some leftover festive berries ink and coloured the vellum

I then used the spritz and flick technique to get the splotchy effect. Dried it and stamped and embossed my poinsettia, I did 3 of them the last layer being the lightest ink.

I used the clear tacky craft glue to put this together as I needed something quick drying and that would hold fast.

And when I was happy added the black gem to the centre I am really happy with how this turned out as an improvised Idea.

I then cut out my white cardstock to use for my background pages

Stained it in two diff blues then used stormy sky ink over the top, some more spritz and flick till I was happy with how cold it looked and then one of my fav techniques.

I really love creating splatters and while a fancy tool is lovely to do it with I am sure I have always just used a paintbrush and tapped it over my hand to get some great splattery effects.

You can also do this with an old toothbrush.

So I did a layer of Snow Cap stain, then Snow Cap Distress Paint and finally to give it just a bit more chill and a touch of shimmer some Pewter Distress Paint. I really love how my background turned out.

I used the word stamp from the Santa and List stamp set to stamp the bottom of my journaling pages it turned out quite subtle in some places but I liked that it was never meant to be really bold.

Added in some film strip ribbon, and some ideaology bits under my poinsettia.

Then I stamped Santa in Archival Jet Black and water coloured him in distress inks adding in some Doodlebug flock for his fluffy furry bits.

Added the Mirrored Merry Christmas from my Stash

and viola another year Done and Dusted

I am so proud of my pages for my Art Journal this year and how they turned out.

It has been a great learning curve for me and I always look forward to learning new techniques and increasing my ever growing craft wishlist.

2014 just to shock you all I am actually doing TAGS I know right that is going to be a real challenge for me as to be honest I am not a big fan of doing them but I am sure I will learn as I go!!

Creative Chemistry Day 2 Faux Rust

Not 100% happy with how this turned out but it is far better than my first attempt which ended up in the bin

Denim Mini Album

For about a year or so now I have been totally enchanted by Donna Salazars work with reclaimed denim from her headbands and hand made flowers and embellishments.

Recently I found a 50c clothing section in one of my local op shops and scored 3 pairs of jeans. One was so lovely with embroidered pockets when I discovered they would fit a friend I told her they were hers until they fell appart then they were mine lol. It was a bit of a wrench to part with them because there is the most adorable little embroidered pocket on the front.

Anyway I have pulled appart and cut up one of the pairs and when I got my New Big Shot this week (thanks to an amazing and generous friend) I did some cutting out of the denim and played a bit with some embossing and Inking.

What I have learned is that Denim is a great canvas for ink, it embosses like a dream and is quite a versatile medium.

Steel rule dies are the best to cut through the fabric however as long as you do not mind having to do a little cutting, the thin metal dies work pretty well.

I used a combination of Quickutz and M Press Dies for this album as well as one of the reclaimed denim pockets:

I decorated the pocket to match the Album cover with an M-Press Heart that had been embossed with a Cuttlebug Script folder.

The album is cut from the Quickutz Santa’s Workshop Die Set, I used part of the elastic stretch section of the Jeans as a sort of Handle, all the pages are embossed with an M Press Butterflies embossing folder and then inked over.

and from the back:

The Inside Pages: have spaces added for small photos with more quickutz dies, and random stickers and rub ons from my stash.(not sure of the stickers but the rub ons are from Kaiser Sweet Nothings and bon jour)

I also cut out two pieces of denim for each page though honestly it was quite a sturdy denim and would have been fine as indavidual pages. I used OK to wash it glue to stick it all together, MM Crystal brads to hold it all together

and thats it one Denim Mini Album stored in a Denim Pocket. I may end up cutting out a word from Denim and adding it to the pocket just to tie it all together a little better.

A Little Locker

By now you are all well and truly aware I am not only a budget scrapper but a bargain hunter as well.

Nearly all my craft supplies have been gotten on Sale, or at a discounted rate.

I recycle everything I can think of.

I also look for things to play with (though have to stop myself sometimes as I have been trying to use up the OTP stuff I have, needless to say I am almost out of MDF albums and fun stuff to play with)

Anyway the OP shop (opportunity or second hand shop for non Aussies) near my Councilor is a treasure trove of interesting items.

I recently Discovered that they have a section out the back with old jeans for just 50c ( perfect for crafting with at that price and no sadness at killing erm I mean upcycling a pair of jeans)

I have also scored many a good 30-50c book, a whole container with about 60 slide covers again 50c, a bag of dominoes for 2oc

and this little Locker which once upon a time came with a Mary Kate or Ashley Olsen Doll for 50c. It still had the faux magazines and books inside it.

This is just phase one of this project I have an idea for it but it will take some $$$ to get the things I want and a little inventiveness on my part.

Now because I like to pin my posts and I am not clever enough with photo editing to put the pics all Into one I will start with what I have done to it then show you what it looked like to begin with etc. Almost backwards but not quite.

So here is what I have so far (remember this is just a smidge bigger than a barbie type doll):

and here is what the locker looked like originally

and here is is covered in Foil Tape (I got a rather large 2″ wide roll from ebay by searching foil tape worldwide it was about $4 and it is well worth the money as it goes very far.) I was tempted to leave it like this cause its kind of fun and funky all silver but I really do have an idea for where I want to take it.

and again how it looks now.

I embossed the foil tape by tearing it into strips the length of my Cuttlebug embossing folder. I embossed about 4 strips at a time as they are thin and it is much quicker this way. I also did the strips in different sections of the folder so I could mix up the looks.

I then took each strip and used alcohol inks in Lettuce, rust and another colour. Painted it with Black Ranger Paint dabber, left it to dry overnight and then lightly sanded off some of the black paint. I find the steel wool technique does not seem to work very well for me and flattens the embossing a bit to much for my liking.
The best part about the foil tape is that it is very forgiving and easy to add more where needed.

Dr Who + Washi Tape = Tardis Card

Every Dr Who fan knows as a crafter there is very little out there in the way of ready to use Dr Who craft stuff.

Soooooooooooooooooooooo imagine the excitement when Clearsnap posted a blog in conjunction with Viva Las Vegas Stamps and gasp, excitement, woo hoo

there was a TARDIS STAMP!!!!

ok so a blue police box aherm. So we had to have it, My Sister, My friend and talented Scrapper Toni and I all got the Unmounted one so that we could all get it with post for $10.50 each. If we had got it with the cling or block mounted it would have shot the postage up.

I was so excited to get my stamp, also having found out the same day I missed my sisters Fiance’s birthday.

I have also been playing a lot with washi tape.

So of course I sat down and this card was born

The Washi Tape is from Sawyers Place
I also used a dark purple stickles glitter glue
Some Silver Embossing Powder
A fiskers Happy Birthday Stamp

and Distress inks in various blue shades from memory: Stormy Sky, broken china, salty ocean and blue jeans.

As well as a white gel pen.

Other than the Happy Birthday turning out a bit smudged looking I am quite chuffed at how my first use of this stamp turned out.

A Washi Tape Card

This card was done super quick (and I mean like in about 20mins). It was for my Nieces birthday even though it turned out far more Masculine than I intended for it to.

I have been playing with decorated masking tapes and washi tape cards lately using my score board to get the lines needed to cover over. Though you can tell I was in a hurry as one of my lines is still wonky even with a guide.

I used my envelope guide and did my lines 3/4″ appart 3 on each corner then added the washi tape over the lines. Pretty simple but effective and something I will try again the next time I need a masculine card.

A Travel inspired card with a twist

This was made for a friend who loves the colour pink and has always wanted to travel.

I used a combination of Tim Holtz Air Travel and Mpress stamps. Some ranger adirondak and jenni bowlin paint dabbers, a background technique I will share a tutorial on next month (I am completely swamped this month with some artworks for a local art comp), some gold embossing powder.

The brad was one I had in my Stash that I covered in Malted Milk Paint Dabber, and the Quote stamp I think is a scrappy cat one.

I was really happy with how unique this card turned out I so hope she will love it and it will remind her to never stop reaching for her Dreams.

150th Post 12 tags of 2013 April

Can you believe it just about a year and a half ago I started this blog spurred on by what was the final 12 tags of Christmas 2011.

It felt like any other post would not quite fit this rather special occasion. After all it started with 12 tags and so my 150th post (and believe me I have been putting off posting some other projects to make it so) is my Mixed Media Journal Pages for april as always based on the Maestro Tim Holtz’s Tag

Now as usual I was missing a rather major component of this tag this month. No distress paints as yet. However I had an idea and it all started with the dragonfly.

The dragonfly was actually done in stages the first being the wire wings. I used the Tattered Angels Dragonfly stamp and made wire frames using the cover piece that is printed and wire, when I was happy with my wire work (it was never going to be an exact match) I then covered the frames in fantasy film (there are different types of this the one I used is sort of like a cellophane that you crinkle to get pretty shimmery effects).
You then heat it the more you heat it the less the shimmer shows but the more you get some cool melted spots and holes. I did quite a few layers wrapped around and around to get mine to look like they do.

Then I beaded the body with swarovski beads (from ebay before you go but she is a on a budget I lucked out and got them very cheaply). Then attatched it with yet more wire to the wings ( you twist them all together then wire the beads over the center).

I then decided to try stamping each wing with the dragonfly stamp I think it turned out pretty well (though I would suggest doing this before you put your dragonfly together).

I then stamped the body on a small piece of Manila cs and fussy cut it. I tried it plain but was not feeling it so added in the watch parts for my cogs and gears steam punk style element and that is how I got my funky dragon fly.

After I had been working on my background a bit and when I had used some expresso paint dabber on the watch parts I also ran it over the dragonfly for more of a distressed grungy look. I also rubbed over a little crushed soft charcoal.

the dragonfly really was the inspiration for my page. I saw Tim’s and have done the acetate type thing before and being me was like how can I make mine a bit different. I have been working with Fantasy film making butterflies for my Happiness Jar Decorating Kits (will do a blog about the kits soon) and was like Bingo.

Here is the page:

I did distress stains on Ranger Manila cs. For the background and also inked over it with a mix of tea dye, vintage photo and walnut stain (the holy trinity for a true aged distress look). I also rubbed over some crushed soft willow charcoal (it is so hard to explain what it does but it really adds another element to your distress)

Added in the tissue tape Nostaligic and inked over it with tea dye just to tone it in a little.

Then I will be honest I got stuck. I had no real idea about what I wanted to do next. I had my dragonfly stamped where I wanted it. The background pages done, the Journaling book pages inked so it all toned together but not a clue as to what I even wanted to do next so I left it alone for almost a week.

Tonight the damn burst and my mojo was in full swing as I pulled out some stamps ( two sets Air Travel and Urban Tapestry)

I used the big map stamp all over my background inked with picket fence distress stain. I really love how this looked over the background.

I then used my favorite brilliance ink Coffee Bean (I really need to get a re-inker for mine I use it so much) and used the ticket stamp and stamped bits of it over the page.

I then did the same with the Ink splatter stamp.

Used the compass stamp and embossed it in gold. Liked it so much I used the ink splatter stamp in some spots and embossed them in gold as well.

Added in the quote stamp which did not stamp perfectly but I kinda like that it didn’t it fits the whole grungy vintage vibe.

Added in the corner flourishes in black from yet another set of Tim Stamps (not sure of the name they are clear acrylic ones from ages ago).

Then thought about what else I could do. Went to my Tim/Ranger embellishment box and found some Alpha cards and thought ooooh so cut out the letters for April, inked them in tea dye and that is it.

Aprils Mixed Media Journal pages broken down and completed.

I have been having so much fun doing Mixed Media Journaling for the tags this year. Not only am I getting to play with the new techniques that we get each month (or improvising when I do not have the stuff to use) but I get to stretch my mixed media skills and I really love just getting to fool around and play.

If you haven’t guessed it yet I am a crazy fly by the seat of my pants crafter it is very rare for me to plan what I am doing I just tend to flow and hope I get something good out of it.

Have to say I am so pleased with how these pages turned out. It was so much fun to go from a pristine shimmery dragonfly to a steampunk grungy vintage type one still with some of the irradecence.

And so we come to the end of this amazing Milestone. For anyone who has been taking my creative journey with me I appreciate you visiting.

I love hearing your comments on my work and enjoy being inspired by you all.

Lots of Hugs

Amanda