Monday, March 29, 2010

Technique by Design Challenge Blog Hop!


Hi all! Welcome to the Technique Junkie Technique by Design blog hop! If you've arrived here without first visiting the Design Junkies blog, make sure you head over there so you can start at the beginning.

Technique Challenge/Contest
We are challenging you to create a card using the sketch below. Pat will be offering a prize at the end of the contest through a drawing for those who participate in the challenge. Full details can be found on her blog.


My card was created using the Faux Rusty Metal and the Metallic Parchment techniques (both from the Apr/May '10 issue), and the Embossed Crayon Resist technique (from the Oct/Nov '09 issue). The man and measuring tape stamps are by I Brake for Stamps. I also added a tiny strip of my favorite French black border, from my friends at RockCandy Studios.

I hope you are inspired to try this challenge! Your next stop is Chris Dickinson's fantastic blog. Thanks so much for visiting today!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Theme Thursday - 2x4 + New Stamps From Oxford Impressions!

For this week's 2x4 challenge from Theme Thursday, I decided to create a trio of mini cards using the new Farm Boy stamps from Oxford Impressions and one of my all-time favorite techniques from the Technique Junkie newsletter - Faux Designer Paper. OI stamp collections are perfect for this technique because they include so many different stamps!

This technique was a great opportunity to try out some of my new Distress ink colors. I used Forest Moss and Wild Honey. Great color combo!
Such a great quote! I don't feel all that happy when I'm weeding in the hot sun though.....
 
Isn't he adorable? All of my images were colored using Distress inks and a water brush. I still struggle with coloring, but I am learning to love it! To finish off all of my cards, I did a little stitching around the edges.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Wednesday Stamper - Spring + New Stamps From Oxford Impressions!

I am so in love with the new Farmer Boy stamp collection from Oxford Impressions! They are just perfect for Springtime projects. Today's Wednesday Stamper theme is Spring and I thought this tag was a perfect fit - Spring is a busy time on the farm!

BTW, OI is now offering downloadable collage sheets. My milk cap is from the Farm Ephemera sheet. I love digital downloads - they offer instant gratification. :-)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Junk

I went to my favorite junk sale today and got some great stuff!

Silver plated spoons - two for $1. I don't know why, but spoons in my house disappear with alarming frequency. Now I'm set for awhile. Kicking myself for not buying a few knives and forks.

Rusty casters with wooden wheels. I love these!

A whole bunch of rusted drawer pulls.


I also got a box of vintage sewing stuff, an old children's reading primer from 1911, and a very cool vintage Chinese checkers board, and a few other odds and ends. Great day!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Theme Thursday - Masculine


I was so happy when I saw that the theme for the Thursday challenge was masculine - I'll take any chance to show off the pieces I made using the new SteamPunk stamps from Artistic Outpost!

The base of this hanging is made from a wood cigar box lid. It was new, but I wanted a vintage look so I sanded and burned it and inked it up a bit. Most everything else is just bits and pieces of wire, metal, found objects, etc.

One my favorite things about this piece is how I used my tiny attacher (baby stapler) from Tim Holtz. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get all these....what's the word...fussy, hard-to-stick...funky, floppy elements. How was I going to adhere them to the wood?? I whipped out that baby stapler and - presto! It punched right through the wood and clamped everything down quite neatly. When it came time to attach my handle (from Navel Jelly, very cool!) I tore off a couple piece of cloth measuring tape and again - baby stapler saved the day. I love that thing! Tip - if you want your staples to have a vintage look vs. shiny, rub them down with some black and brown Stazon before you load them into the stapler.


One more cool thing - see the brown fabric-y stuff under the stamped image? It's a paper towel that's been dyed using diluted acrylic paint. It's a technique I found in Ruth Rae's book. It looks almost like leather. Love that idea!

Make sure you check out the post below for more great masculine Steampunk-y goodness. There is also a ton of great artwork using these stamps in the Artistic Outpost gallery.

New Stamps From Artistic Outpost!

The March Artistic Outpost releases are now available! To celebrate this release, Artistic Outpost is offering 15% off of almost everything in their store (offer excludes EZMount products)! Just use coupon code: spring2010_15 at checkout. But hurry - this coupon code is only valid through March 31, 2010.

Now, let's see those stamps!
 Lovely Day
 
Inspired by the lovely countryside of Holland, Lovely Day features a Dutch bicycle complete with basket, a photo-like windmill image that is perfect for coloring, and an adorable little girl who is cradling a bouquet of flowers in her hands. The entire collection contains 9 images, including multi-use quotations and sentiments.

SteamPunk
Front

Featuring 10 masculine, Victorian-era images, SteamPunk is a fun and diverse collection. These stamps are perfect for an altered, grungy mixed-media piece, or a simple Father's Day card.

Back

Top

Looking for more inspiration using these new releases? Make sure you stop by the other Design Team members blogs:
Stephanie - March Guest Designer

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Theme Thursday - Spring!

This card was created using the Dabbed Shimmers technique from the Feb/Mar '10 issue of the Technique Junkie newsletter. There are certain techniques that are almost impossible to capture the beauty of in a scan - especially shimmery backgrounds like this. I'm so glad I thought to pull it out and photograph it and submit it for the Theme Thursday challenge. You can really see how shimmery that background is. Such a fun technique!

All of the stamps are from the Birds of a Feather collection from Artistic Outpost. This is a fantastic set for creating Springtime art!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Gothic Arches - Beach Bathing Beauties

My friend Roxi and I have been working on a fabric collage class for our stamp club and I am completely obsessed with stitching anything I can get my hands on. Using lots of different fabrics and an image from Twisted Papers, I created my first fabric arch. It's a little crazy and messy, but I had fun experimenting!

Check out the other wonderful submissions here.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Party Month at Artistic Outpost!

March is a party month at Artistic Outpost - one of the owners (Shelley) and THREE of the designers (Lisa, Gerrie, and me!) are all celebrating birthdays this month. You want to know what's really weird? They are all on March 15th. My mind is still being blown by that! I mean, what are the odds?

We are also helping our friends over at Gingersnap Creations celebrate their first birthday (wonder if it's March 15th???) by giving away some blog candy. Make sure you stop by to get the details. [EDIT: It totally IS someone's birthday on the 15th - it's Shar's, the wonderful artist who runs the Gingersnap blog. Crazy!]

Since AO will be partying all month, they've changed the Monthly Referral Program to a 'theme'. The theme is Party and Celebration. See the Artistic Outpost blog for more information on how you can win a $50 (WOW!) Artistic Outpost gift certificate.

My little hanging shows that you don't necessarily have to have theme-specific stamps to create a birthday card. I used stamps from four different Artistic Outpost collections to 'build' this piece.

My little bird is from the Birds of a Feather stamp collection. He is perched atop a cake I created using paper, inks, stamps, and glitter.


The sentiment is computer-generated (BTW, Joyeux Anniversaire means Happy Birthday in French). I decorated my cake layers with stamps from the Serenity, Birds of a Feather, and Paris Exposition collections. I finished it off with a crepe paper ruffle and flower. My background was created using Vada's Gesso Resist technique from the Oct/Nov '06 issue of the Technique Junkie newsletter.If you look closely, you'll see that, in addition to stamps I used from the plates I've already listed, I also used a small handwriting stamp from the Outpost collection.You definitely need to click on these to see the full sized pics!

So, who else has a March birthday.....?