Technique Junkie Treasure Hunt!

Welcome to the next stop on the Technique Junkies Treasure Hunt! If you have arrived here without stopping first at the Design Junkies Blog, you need to head back there so you can get the info on what you're hunting for.

During the Treasure Hunt the TJ Designers will be showing sneak peeks of techniques from the Oct/Sept Technique Junkie newsletter. My sample above is the Shadowbox Card technique - one of the coolest techs I've seen in ages. I changed mine up a bit by stamping chicken wire on acetate and putting that in my window. I think it really enhances the 3-d quality of this card. What's great is that the whole thing folds flat for mailing!

The Country Girl stamp collection from Oxford Impressions is one of my all-time favorite stamp sets. Can you believe the little girl and the house are both rubber stamps?! I will never stop being amazed by photo realistic stamps. I have used them with Paper Temptress' Heavenly White Premium Ultrasmooth cardstock. This is probably the BEST white cardstock I have ever used. The finish is silky smooth and it takes ink wonderfully, with no bleeding. You get a crisp clean image every time.

I hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek! Your next stop in the hunt is Manna's fantastic blog. We will be having a treasure hunt on the last Monday of every month, so make sure you check back in October!

Your letter for this stop is:

Theme Thursday - Script/Writing

This is a 4 x 4 piece I made a few days ago. The background was done using Trish Bee's worksheet wonder technique - one of my all-time favorite techniques! The addition of the vintage German paper made it perfect for the Theme Thursday challenge.

Little boy and dog stamp is from Oxford Impressions and the quote is from I Brake for Stamps/Time to Stamp.

Published!

Last year, I was lucky enough to be asked by the wonderful Audrey Hernandez to participate in a 'With One Image' challenge for Somerset Memories. It had been so long since I'd submitted that I was a little rusty! Sometimes I feel like my blog has taken the place of being published - there is no deadline, no typing up instructions, and no letdown if your pieces don't get chosen. Instant gratification!

The cards appear in an article in the Autumn issue of the magazine. The other artists are Carlene Federer, Karen Brown, Dawn Rice and, of course, Audrey. Everyone's pieces came out so great - unique and different, yet all of them seem to complement each other. Here are mine:

The first card was created using the Wrinkle Free Distress technique (aka Watercolor Distress to Technique Junkies), which I have been in love with ever since I saw it on Robin Beam's blog. I thought the blue and brown looked really good togther. I made another one with pink and brown around this time - also very cool looking. I need to dig it out and make something with it.

This card was one of my favorites. Guess where that tag came from? The dump! Well, the Desoto County Rubbish Pit to be exact. No, it's not a nasty garbage dump, just where you take all your stuff when you're remodeling or cleaning out your shed. Once I saw a guy bring a boat that had two jet skis sitting on top of it! Since we've been remodeling our house for the past 6 years or so, I've had lots of opportunities to hang out at the dump. Some day I'll post pics of all the cool stuff I've found there. This tag was in a bundle that was held together with a rusty bulldog clip. I did let it sit out in the rain for a long time before I used them. I figure nature cleaned anything nasty off. :-)

This is the third card I made. Sadly, it didn't make it into the magazine. I thought that of all of the cards, this one would have made it! I like the simplicity of it. I think I was in a 'clean and uncluttered' mood when I made these.

Thanks so much to Audrey for inviting me to be part of this - I had a blast making these cards. Maybe I'll get my submission mojo back. Maybe.

Tag Tuesday - Children

I was so happy to see the theme for this week's Tag Tuesday - I could use my new stamps from the Oxford Impressions Haunted collection! Suzanne has outdone herself again. This is another perfect set of Halloween images that is truly a must-have.

Check out the trim along the bottom. It looks like Dresden trim, right? Well, it's a stamp! I was pretty proud of that, lol. I stamped and embossed it on the bottom of the tag and then cut out as well as I could. Now I will never run out of my favorite trim. ;-)

Wednesday Stamper - Dress

Every couple of months my stamp club has a challenge. We are given different materials to work with and/or alter. Our completed pieces are brought to the meeting two months later to share. At our July meeting one of the members passed out these:

They were little voodoo dolls that had been given out as part of a promotion - I think it was for DirectTV or something like that. The doll was supposed to represent cable, I think. Anyway......

I had thought that I might do something where I bound the doll and made it into more of a cone shape. Last night I was hit with a flash of inspiration and came up with what you see at the top.

Thanks to being such a junk collector, I had everything on hand. The legs and head were cut off and reused as the strips for the top skirt. It's hard to see, but there is a harlequin pattern stamped in black on the strips. I know it's not a lot of stamping, but I think it does (barely) quality for this week's Wednesday Stamper Dress theme.

It is always very interesting when we have these challenges. It brings out something in me creatively that I can't explain. Here are a few other things I've made for these challenges.


This is another art doll I made. The challenge this time was to alter an eyeglass case. This, along with some of the other member's cases was featured in an article in Altered Arts magazine. Unfortunately, they photographed most of them as a group and it was impossible to really appreciate any of them. Very disappointing!

This is a book I made to hold pages from a Gothic Arch swap. The covers are made of ceiling tiles. Very fun stuff to work with!

This one has been on my blog before. It's a plastic medicine bottle that I altered.


Last one! This is a cover I made to bind all the pages from our coffee filter swap. It is much cooler in real life - the brown ink on the burlap seems to have lightened and turn a bit reddish over time.

Apparently when faced with a challenge, my weapons of choice are wire, copper, and rust!

Tag Tuesday - Grid Tag + UHU

I haven't participated in Louise's Tag Tuesday in ages and I've really missed it! I think doing a quick tag is a great way to get your artistic juices flowing.

For my grid squares, I cut up a background piece I'd made awhile back using the Background Smoosh Resist technique from the Feb/March 2009 issue of the Technique Junkie newsletter. If you look closely, you'll notice that I also used the Drywall Stitching tech from the April/May issue and if you look really closely you will see that I used the Painted Mesh tech from the Dec/Jan 2008 issue.

To put the whole thing together, I used my trusty classic purple UHU glue stic. UHU is my favorite brand of glue stick because it really sticks! I am a diehard glue stick fan because no other type of adhesive gives enough 'open' time for me to move my pieces around. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I need to be able to adjust!

Did you know that every month the nice people over at the UHU blog give away free samples? All you have to do is promise to use the sample in a project on your blog. Head on over to snag a sample of UHU Twist and Glue - I'm excited to see how this works with things like ribbon and other embellishments. Tell them Shelly sent you! :)

Stamp credits: Oxford Impressions and Innovative Stamp Creations

Technique Junkies - Faux Sanding & Simple Whitewash

I haven't been too busy in the studio lately - I have been trying to get caught up on so many different things it seems like I never have time left for fun! I did take some time earlier this week to play around with two techniques from the latest Technique Junkie newsletter.

The card above uses a technique called Faux Sanding. I absolutely love the texture you get from this tech. I added a background stamp from Oxford Impressions and the girl is a wonderful photo stamp from ARTchix Studio.

This card uses a technique called Simple Whitewash. It is true to its name - very simple! I love the Shabby Chic look that it brings to the background. The main image is from Artistic Outpost's new Generation Redux collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Technique Junkie - Another CD7 Sneak Peek!

Here is another sneak peek at one of the Bonus Techniques from the new Technique Junkie CD. This one is called Art Squared. I love how quick and easy it is!

After I made the background I knew I wanted to use some kind of masculine stamps - I was thinking automotive, but what stamps did I have? Hmmmm.....aha! Artistic Outpost's Route 66 collection has just the stamps I needed. I think this will make a fantastic card for a man's birthday.

Here's a little embossing tip you might want to try. There are times when I want the look of metallic embossing, but I don't care for the brightness of it. To tone it down, take a fine grit sandpaper or sanding block and lightly rub it over the embossed image. It takes it from 'in your face' shiny to a slightly more vintage look.

If you haven't checked out the Technique Junkie Treasure Hunt, make sure you read this post!