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Sunday, November 30, 2008
Gothic Arch - Snow
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Ancient Fragments Tutorial
First off, let me say that I am certainly not the originator of this idea - I think it's been around forever. But, I've looked all over the place and I can't find any tutorial/instructions/name for this technique, so I am showing you how I did my Nepal piece and calling it Ancient Fragments, which is what I wanted my "exotic" artwork to look like. Okay, let's get started!
First of all you will need a firm base. I used a 5" x 7" piece of mat board. Color doesn't matter since you'll be covering this up. I cut my edges roughly so it wouldn't look too perfect.
Next, you will need Joint Compound/Drywall 'Mud'. This is the stuff that they use to cover the seams when they put Sheetrock/drywall up. You can find it at the hardware store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) and even at places like Walmart. We've been remodeling so we have a fairly large bucket of it, but you can buy smaller tubs too.
Begin by applying a fairly even coat of mud to your mat board, using a scraper or palette knife. You want it thick enough so your stamp will make a nice impression, but no so thick that it will take forever to dry or squish all over the place when you stamp into it.
The next step is the most important! You need to let your mud dry until it's just the right consistency to stamp into. If it's too wet, you'll end up with an unrecognizable blob, too dry and you won't get an impression at all. Because I have no patience, I use my heat gun to speed up the process. Just keep checking until you think it's ready. *This will take a very short time - don't leave it overnight and expect to be able to stamp into it!
Take a bold image stamp (this one is from Jim Stephen) and press evenly into the mud. Pull up and check your impression. If it looks good, continue to stamp, covering the entire surface. If it's too wet, smooth it with your knife and wait a bit. If it's too dry, you'll either need to add another layer of mud or start over again. You might try re-wetting it, I haven't done that, but it might work.
Let dry - you can use your heat gun to speed this up!
When dry cover the entire surface with slightly watered down acrylic paint. I used burnt umber craft paint.
Wipe/blot off with paper towel. Oooh, how cool does that look now? Your paint will catch in all the little cracks and crevices. I was tempted to stop here!
The next part is entirely up to you and your creative muse! I can't tell you what feels right for what you're trying to achieve, you have to experiment for yourself. For mine, I painted the depressions with red acrylic paint, added Brushed Corduroy Distress ink, more brown paint, gold and copper rub on paint (from RockCandy Studios), oil crayon, and black acrylic paint. You just have to play with it until you're happy! I also sealed mine with an acrylic sealer when I was done.
I hope you've enjoyed this - please let me know if you try it and send a link to your artwork!
First of all you will need a firm base. I used a 5" x 7" piece of mat board. Color doesn't matter since you'll be covering this up. I cut my edges roughly so it wouldn't look too perfect.
Next, you will need Joint Compound/Drywall 'Mud'. This is the stuff that they use to cover the seams when they put Sheetrock/drywall up. You can find it at the hardware store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) and even at places like Walmart. We've been remodeling so we have a fairly large bucket of it, but you can buy smaller tubs too.
Begin by applying a fairly even coat of mud to your mat board, using a scraper or palette knife. You want it thick enough so your stamp will make a nice impression, but no so thick that it will take forever to dry or squish all over the place when you stamp into it.
The next step is the most important! You need to let your mud dry until it's just the right consistency to stamp into. If it's too wet, you'll end up with an unrecognizable blob, too dry and you won't get an impression at all. Because I have no patience, I use my heat gun to speed up the process. Just keep checking until you think it's ready. *This will take a very short time - don't leave it overnight and expect to be able to stamp into it!
Take a bold image stamp (this one is from Jim Stephen) and press evenly into the mud. Pull up and check your impression. If it looks good, continue to stamp, covering the entire surface. If it's too wet, smooth it with your knife and wait a bit. If it's too dry, you'll either need to add another layer of mud or start over again. You might try re-wetting it, I haven't done that, but it might work.
Let dry - you can use your heat gun to speed this up!
When dry cover the entire surface with slightly watered down acrylic paint. I used burnt umber craft paint.
Wipe/blot off with paper towel. Oooh, how cool does that look now? Your paint will catch in all the little cracks and crevices. I was tempted to stop here!
The next part is entirely up to you and your creative muse! I can't tell you what feels right for what you're trying to achieve, you have to experiment for yourself. For mine, I painted the depressions with red acrylic paint, added Brushed Corduroy Distress ink, more brown paint, gold and copper rub on paint (from RockCandy Studios), oil crayon, and black acrylic paint. You just have to play with it until you're happy! I also sealed mine with an acrylic sealer when I was done.
I hope you've enjoyed this - please let me know if you try it and send a link to your artwork!
Wednesday Stamper - Exotic Places
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I photographed my steps when making this - I will probably post a tutorial later tonight if anyone is interested. If you've never tried it, it's a really fun technique!
Oh, and thanks to Michelle for reminding me - this is a picture of a Temple in Nepal, somewhere I've always wanted to go!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Created By Hand Challenge - Christmas Music Cards
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Here's a treat for you! I hope you can use this music in your Christmas creations. Let me know if you make something cool! To download large size, click on image, then right click and save.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Gothic Arches - Yuletide Blessings Contest
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Thursday, November 20, 2008
Which Came First?
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Theme Thursday - Western
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday Stamper - Snowflake Kisses
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Snow Day!
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As I mentioned in my last post, I had a great time yesterday playing with glitter and styrofoam and all things winter-y with my friend Suzanne. Inspired by the latest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors, we went to town! Suzanne chose to do a traditional three-tiered glittery snowman, while I went with a bit more of a grungy guy. It's when I make things like this that I am so thankful I a
m a world-class pack rat! It's nice to be able to not just have vintage measuring tape - but to be able to have my pick of several sizes and shapes and finishes. The letters came from who knows where - those I scuffed up a bit with sandpaper and added Walnut Distress ink to give them an aged feel. The inside is filled with pearl beads and vintage glass beads that came from an old garland that fell apart. The scarf is some old seam tape. I wish it had photographed better - it's actually quite a bit darker than that. If you look closely you can see I used a bit of trim from RockCandy Studios on the hat. The best part of the whole thing tho.....the Martha glitter!! Oooh, that stuff is pretty awesome. Don't be surprised to see that on everything I make for the next month or two. ;-)
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Created Byhand Challenge - Christmas Tags
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Sunday, November 16, 2008
Gothic Arch Challenge - Silhouette
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
Theme Thursday - Birds
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My stamp club is thinking about doing a Skinny swap, so I used the Theme Thursday challenge to make a sample to show everyone. I did a back to it, thinking I could submit it to the new Simply Skinnies challenge, but the theme there is AIR travel, not just travel, duh. Guess I need to read things better! Oh well, I got to play around and it was fun.
Both pages use the peeled paper technique, but each goes a different direction after that. For the birds I added Shabby Shutters and Worn Lipstick Distress ink and gessoed over that. For the Venezia piece I did a lot of sanding, a bit of gesso, and inked it with Brushed Corduroy, Spiced Marmalade, and Fired Brick Distress ink.
Both the Bird stamps and Venezia stamps are from Oxford Impressions. Don't forget, you still have time to enter your artwork for the Design Team search!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wednesday Stamper - Telephone
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This week, the Wednesday Stamper theme is telephone. When I first read that I was totally stumped! I was racking my brain, trying to remember if I had any stamps that had anything at all to do with phones. I thought that I had a photo stamp from The Stampsmith that was someone talking on the phone......a quick rifle thru the stacks and I found the perfect stamp! Then I ran into my next problem - I knew I was pretty much out of glossy paper to stamp on. More shuffling of piles and I found a scrap of paper, just big enough for one go at it. Now, the thing about photo stamps is, it sometimes takes a few tries to get a good impression. I had only one try! And I'd never even used this stamp before - I had no idea how well it stamped. Well, the stamping gods were looking down upon me. One shot and it came out perfect! Woo hoo! The background is a page from the telephone book that I practiced my peeled paper technique on. I've never tried that but it's a pretty cool tech! Add to that lots of gesso, Distress inks and sanding and I was almost done. I added a flourish stamp (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous) which I stamped with gesso. A bit of stitching and some flowers and I was finished. Whew. Love these challenges!
Quick tip - if you are trying to scan artwork that you've used photo stamps in, you may notice it gets really pixel-y. To fix that, use the blur tool to slightly blur the image. It will smooth the pixels out and give you a great image!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
AI Float Cuttlebug Embossed Ornament
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Whew, that's a long title, lol! This piece is a combination of several different things that have inspired me over the past few days. I found this ornament template recently while surfing some blogs - I have no idea where. If you recognize it, please let me know the blog addy so I can give proper credit. Then, someone posted a card recently using the AI Float technique from an old Technique Junkie newsletter. Again, have no clue who it was, but it stayed in the back of my mind.....mostly I keep seeing things and thinking, 'hmmm...that would look great Cuttlebugged and embossed!' I pulled out an AI Float piece I'd done back when that issue came out and thought it would be perfect for what I had in mind.
First, I covered the piece with Versamark and clear embossed. Then I ran it thru the Cuttlebug, hit the high spots with Versamark and gold embossed. I traced the shape onto the back of the piece and cut it out. More gold ep on the edges, some ribbon, a sentiment (Oxford Impressions) stamped on a scrap and - poof! AI Float Cuttlebug Embossed Ornament.
Check out the One Powerful Hour challenge blog for more beautiful ornaments!
UPDATE! I found the artist who posted the ornament template (thank goodness for Google Blog Search!) Here is a link - Eclectic Visions of an Altered Journey.
Created Byhand Challenge + UHU Card Sketch
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This week's Created Byhand challenge is to use alcohol inks ink your artwork. I had come across this by Thealie while browsing through blogs and thought it was fantastic. Unfortunately, I don't speak or read French! A quick cut and paste into Babelfish gave me a general idea of what she'd done, so I hunkered down in my studio to see what I could come up with.
The translation basically said four things - gesso, Cuttlebug, alcohol ink, and embossing powder. I guess that's as good a launching point as any! Maybe that's how all challenges should start. Just list three or four things and let everyone figure it out, lol! For me that meant scraping gesso onto a piece of chipboard (more cereal box scraps) until it was well covered. Then I used my new Adirondack alcohol inks in Red Pepper, Butterscotch, and Meadow (part of my winnings from the Ranger group challenge!) over the top. When it was fairly inked up I spritzed it a few times with alcohol. It was seriously cool looking by that point! Next, I put it through the Cuttlebug, hit the high spots with Versamark and embossed with gold ep.
After I had my background, I decided I would use it for the Glue With UHU November challenge. If you haven't been to this blog yet - get over there! They generously offer free UHU products in exchange for participation in their monthly challenge. This month I chose the original UHU glue stick and Mary Anderson's card sketch. UHU glues sticks are a staple for me. I have tried everything out there and I always come back to my UHU! It seems to be the only glue stick that is long lasting and doesn't give out over time. It's always dismaying to come across a piece of art that has fallen apart a few months after you've made it. With UHU you know that your art will last for a long time!
Stamp credits: Innovative Stamp Creations.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Gothic Arch Challenge - Buttons
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This week's theme at Gothic Arches is 'Buttons'. Perfect theme for me! I am a hoarder of vintage buttons. I buy up every tin I come across at estate sales or thrift stores. I'm sure there is a limit to how many a person can have - but I sure haven't found it yet!
For my base I used a piece of chipboard that I cut from a cereal box. I've been pulling apart and saving all the heavy cardboard packaging that I would usually throw away. It is perfect as a base for ATC's, etc. Sometimes it's pretty too! In this case, I liked the look of it so much I decided not to cover it, except for the bit of French text in the corner. After I glued that on I ran the arch through my Cuttlebug and highlighted the raised areas with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink. I way dying to use my new Sally stamp from Inka Stamps. I think she's adorable! Her wings are Grungeboard covered with more vintage paper. The bottom is trimmed with some vintage rickrack and buttons. The quote is from Time to Stamp/I Brake for Stamps.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Glue with UHU - Saunders Aluminum Box
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I was lucky enough to get one of these Saunders Aluminum boxes from Alyssa, a designer on the Glue With UHU blog. I had so many ideas for what I wanted to do - I ended up setting it aside while I finished up a slew of design projects. I'm really glad I did because, in the interim I discovered stamping on Grungeboard! I pulled the box out today and immediately knew the direction I would go.
First, I covered the top with a piece from an old Algebra book I bought a couple weekends ago. After that, I inked the visible metal parts with Ranger alcohol inks in Espresso and Butterscotch. Next, I inked the top with Corduroy Distress ink. I stamped various images from I Brake For Stamps new Grunge sheet (LOVE these stamps!) using Black Soot and Corduroy Distress inks. I Stamped the two men (from an Oxford Impressions sheet that is no longer available), and the watch face (also from Oxford Impressions) on Grungeboard using black Archival ink. I inked them with Corduroy Distress ink and cut them out. I punched a hole in the clock face and added a idea-olgy gear and spinner. The key is also Grungeboard - it's painted with silver acrylic paint and tied with a piece of vintage twill tape. Vintage buttons and a strip of metal measuring tape finish it off. I really love doing masculine things like this - I plan on giving it to my husband for him to keep his pens, memory sticks, etc in.
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tim's November Challenge
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Wednesday Stamper - Angels
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Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.
It is a piece from her inaugural poem from 1993. It's a beautiful, uplifting poem and I am feeling particularly uplifted right now. I found her poem entitled Touched by an Angel which fit this theme perfectly. I've used the first portion of it in my piece. Again, it is an amazing poem that brings tears to my eyes. I hope you enjoy how I've used it.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Created Byhand Challenge - Black & Brown Tones
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This week's Created Byhand Challenge is to use black and brown colors. Considering what an important day it is here in the US, I decided I would make something appropriate for how I'm feeling. I am so excited to vote today - my husband and I will be going with my daughter later this afternoon. It is her first time to vote and I am thrilled she will be participating in one of the most important elections of our lifetime.
Now, off my soapbox and onto the art! The base of this 4 x 4 is mat board that I've painted with black Distress Crackle paint. It cracked so perfectly! The 4 + piece is from a vintage flashcard - I have a bunch that, if I can ever get off my rear and get my Etsy store opened, I will be selling. I was thinking about using one in this way and finally had a reason to. The 'Vote' stamp is from Vickie Enkoff. I've always wanted to use this stamp and haven't had an opportunity to until now. It is part of a really cool set that Alluring Impressions is now selling. It's stamped on a wood circle that just happened to be the exact size. I love when that happens! The 'Hope' stamp is from Innovative Stamp Creations.
"The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men."
Lyndon B. Johnson
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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