Monday, August 31, 2009

Ready-Steady-STAMP! Challenge 4

The 4th RSS challenge includes: 1: the letter A, 2: brown, cream& white, 3:rain drops, 4: scalloped circle, and 5:canvas. This gave me another chance to use my Oxford Impressions Alice stamps for the "A". I used images from both new sets: Wonderland and Classic Alice. The canvas was painted with cream paint and I used white Distress crackle paint on the edges. I also used tissue paper stamped images ( except for the photo stamp of Alice) and adhered that to the canvas with gel medium. I'd read that technique in a recent Craft Stamper magazine and love how you can get clear, crisp stamped images on the canvas - great trick!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sunday Postcard Art


This is my fish postcard for the challenge at Sunday Postcard Art. The fish are from an Oxford Impressions collage sheet and the background is made following a tutorial on Hermine Koster's blog that you can find here. (I always find such inspiring ideas on her blog!) It uses foil, acetate, alcohol ink and Diamond Glaze, and she's right - it takes forever to dry! I can still kind of squish around the glue after waiting overnight - I guess that kind of adds to the 'watery' look for the background...sorry you can't assess 'squishiness' with a photo!!

Saturday's Workout - Chunky ATC's

This is my chunky ATC for this week's challenge at Saturday's Workout. I made it using a wood block as the base - I'd say the toughest part was sawing the wood to the proper size - next time I'll get my husband to do it-he's ever so much better with a saw! The image is from Paper Whimsy and the harlequin background stamp is from Crafty Individuals.

Art Creations Friday Challenge

These dancers are the image this week at Art Creations Friday. My project made me immensely happy this week - I was able to do a gel medium transfer with it using my own printer! I've always had to make a color copier copy at the store because I have an inkjet printer and had read that it wouldn't work. Just on a whim, I tried it because my Epson printer uses pigment inks not dye inks and IT WORKED! I transferred it onto a collage sheet image from Paper Whimsy. Love the ethereal quality it gave the image - can't wait to try this again!

Theme Thursday - Quotes

I've been playing with my new Alice stamps from Oxford Impressions and used the quote from the Wonderland set - I think it's a fun one! All the stamps used are from Oxford Impressions, some are from the Classic Alice set. My background is made with Glimmer Mists and a screen.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Sunday Postcard Art - Botanica

This is my postcard for Sunday Postcard Art where this week's theme is Botanica. I used a favorite tulip stamp from Oxford Impressions' Fairest Flower plate, and combined it with a couple of other stamps from the same plate and a cool border I find myself using a lot from Technique Tuesday. When flipping through an old dictionary, I found a page with the word "tulip" in the upper corner - how perfect a fit for my idea - just love it when that happens! I also have to thank Jamie at Arteology for the ledger paper I purchased through her Etsy shop - such gorgeous writing! - I think the pages were from 1834.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Saturday's Workout Challenge - Mica


This is my card for Saturday's Workout. I stamped on the mica with an image from Oxford Impressions and layered it over 2 postcards from an Oxford Impressions collage sheet. Looks like it's part of the postcard, doesn't it? Love how the mica does that! The next layer is a scrap of paper using an embossing powder resist with perfect pearls (stamp: Stamp Camp), and the final layer is a handmade paper scrap with copper flecks.

TGIF - banner

Here's my banner for the challenge at TGIF this week. My background is a french dictionary page sprayed with Glimmer Mists. Image: Lisa's Altered Art, Stamp: Technique Tuesday.

Ready-Steady-STAMP! Challenge 3


My RSS entry comes with a Maine history lesson! The ingredients for this challenge were 1: Monument, 2:Blue, 3:Metal Embellishment, 4:Cuttlewax technique, and 5: Cork. I had a hard time with the Monument part and took a long time trying to choose something. I wanted to use something that reflected where I live, and finally had my idea while going to the Maine State library in Augusta at lunch where this statue of Samantha Smith is located. The story behind the monument is written on the plaque on a granite rock adjacent to it - that's the second photo.
For the project, I stamped on the cork background with a flourish stamp from Green Pepper Press, and then layered a gel-medium transfer of my image over the Cuttlewaxed paper. Other stamps used are from Technique Tuesday and Purple Onion Designs.

Tag Tuesday - inspired by background paper



The challenge at Tag Tuesday was to use a background paper as your inspiration for the tag. I chose a swirl paper (I LOVE swirls and flourishes!) from Rusty Pickle. The paper had swirls that had subtle text within them and there's also faint text in ivory over sections of the red background. To create my tag I used a Prima stamp that had swirls with not so subtle text, applied acrylic glazing liquid over them, then inked over the tag with Distress inks and removed the ink over the swirls with water. I added subtle text in places by overstamping with a Stampin' Up stamp. I had so much fun creating the background that I didn't want to cover it up so I just added a few butterflies cut from Graphic 45 paper.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sunday Postcard Art

With a "glamour girl" theme, I couldn't pass up a chance to use a vintage image on my project for Sunday Postcard Art. The image is from Altered Pages - with that feather hat and fur cape she certainly looks glamourous! Stamps: Oxford Impressions, Paperbag Studios, Technique Tuesday and I Brake For Stamps.

TGIF Challenge - A Day at the Beach

Here's my project for TGIF this week. My vintage image is from Lunagirl and I combined it with "wavy" elements: Stampington scroll stamp, transparency scrap, and swirls and loops of wire.

Art Creations Friday Challenge


This beautiful image was for the challenge this week at Art Creations Friday. I've made an ATC with a background made with the waxy Cuttlebug technique.

Dans ma maison il y a ...des ailes

I enjoyed creating this piece for Dans ma maison il y a... this week. The theme is des aisles which translates as wings so this is my house with wings. I had seen the Tim Holtz metal corner embellishments used as a house roof and wanted to try it and attached it to my soldered microscope slide collage. The translucent wings are acetate over vellum. Images: Lisa's Altered Arts and Collage Stuff.

Theme Thursday - Orange


This is a card for Theme Thursday 's orange challenge. My images are from Lisa's Altered Art and Sabine Sydney, and stamps are from Oxford Impressions and Technique Tuesday.

Created Byhand Challenge - favorite backgrounds

This is my card for Created Byhand where the challenge was to make something with your favorite backgrounds. I used a blue-green piece made with the Glimmer Mist on stamped tissue paper technique, and then also used my other favorite kind of background - layering. Of course I had to include a piece of text paper - makes any project better! The "B" can represent "background" but also "bliss" which is pretty much how I feel when I can spend time creating. Image: Enchanted Mercantile, Stamps: Stampington and Stampin' Up.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Tag Tuesday - More Than A Tag



This week's Tag Tuesday challenge is to make a tag that's more than a tag. So I made 3 graduated tags, stacked them, and used my Bind It All to hold them together. Images: Digital Collage Sheets, Text stamps: Oxford Impressions and Paperbag Studios, Border stamp: Technique Tuesday.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Saturday's Workout Challenge - Texture Paint

I love when Saturday's Workout has a technique challenge - always enjoy trying out something new. This was a lot of fun using a heavy paint and then using a comb and chunky Making Memories foam stamps to create these patterns. I adhered a piece of vintage text paper to my canvas board with gel medium first so that you would see something through in the background when the paint was removed to create the texture. Once the paint dried I sprayed the piece with Glimmer Mists and sprinkled some blue patina Perfect Pearls in spots.

Theme Thursday Challenge - Purple

This is my purple collage for Theme Thursday - the picture actually looks more blue, but it really is purple. I tried a background technique that involves an embossing powder resist and then purple Perfect Pearls mixed with water and brushed over top. It's a little shimmery, but not quite as much as a Glimmer Mist would be...then again anything shimmery is hard to show in a photo! Vintage image is from Enchanted Mercantile; stamp is from Stamp Camp.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Tag Tuesday - Summer Flowers

This week at Tag Tuesday the challenge was to use flowers and I found a tutorial for Wendy Vecchi's dimensional grungepaper roses to try out. She warned that they are addictive and she's right! I cheated a little by using a six petal diecut as a template because I didn't have her stamp set. I've used one of the flowers on a small canvas tag painted with twinkling H2O's. Stamp credits: Stampers Anonymous and Technique Tuesday on the canvas and Stamp Camp on the flower. I'd encourage anyone to try out Wendy's tutorial on her blog (here) - these really are a lot of fun to make.


You can see that I couldn't stop with one and thought I'd take a picture of the others I made with various colors of Distress inks. Stamps used on the flowers are from Stampin'Up, Stampington, Scrappy Cat, and Stamp Camp.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Ready...Steady...STAMP Challenge



I found a link to a new challenge called Ready...Steady...STAMP and what's really cool about it is the list of 5 ingredients your piece must contain. Such fun to ponder all the combinations and come up with an idea. For challenge #2 there must be: 1. Sun, 2. Yellow, 3. Ribbon, 4. Triangle, and 5. Acetate. Here in Maine we have had such a lack of sun this summer that I thought a bright, sunny project would be just the thing - and this is my creation. The overall piece is a triangle card that unfolds. The template I think came from an article in Somerset Studio awhile ago. The sun, well that's kind of obvious - I liked how it peeked out in the card's folded form like it's hiding behind the clouds. My yellow is in the background paper made with Glimmer Mists and Distress Inks and a Glimmer Screen. The ribbon ties the card together, and the acetate is a folded piece with a stamped swirl from Stampers Anonymous to embellish the Prima and Hero Arts paper flowers. The acetate was a little problematic - it's stiff and makes the card a little hard to fold up flat. Alphabet stamp credit - Technique Tuesday.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sunday Postcard Art


I found these great bingo cards in my stash and thought I'd use them for the Bingo challenge at Sunday Postcard Art. With 2 of the cards promoting "Ladies Night" and "Ladies Auxillary Charity Night" I had to use this fun picture from Designer Digitals with a fun-loving group of ladies - they look ready for a game of Bingo don't you think? Border stamp: Prima Build-A-Frame.

Saturday's Workout Challenge

The challenge this week for Saturday's Workout is to create a peeled paint background. I found that I could get a more streaky look if I used a thin layer of petroleum jelly and loved the overall shabby chic effect it created. Image is from Altered Pages.