Wintry Aspen

I received the paper version of Club Scrap's December kit, Aspen, last week and finally got a chance to play with the gorgeous tree stamp that came on the unmounted sheet.  I just love the chalkboard technique from Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 102 class this fall and thought the stamp was a good candidate for the technique. Here's what I came up with.

I also tucked in the little half moon stamp from Aurora Borealis and added a popped up sparkly TH diecut deer. The base cs is from a winter Recollections paper pad.

5 days to Solstice, Happy Winter, everyone!

Chalkboard and Sticky Powder

I know it's been awhile since I posted, but I have been in a gift making frenzy the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I won't be posting them here until after the holidays. Might have some sneaky visitors trying to get a peek at their present this year. (you know who you are)

I've also been catching up on the Creative Chemistry 102 class techniques that I didn't have supplies for and I can post those.

Here we have the Chalkboard technique, a new absolute favorite! Who woulda thunk it! and so easy too.

 Stamps are from Club Scrap's Silent Night collection.

 Stamps is from I Brake For Stamps.

Stamp is from Northwoods Rubber Stamps

The next technique is the Sticky Powder technique. Another new favorite product. How come I didn't know about these things!?

The stamps are from Club Scrap's Retreat 2012 collection and Come Sail Away collection. The patterned paper is from their Fossils collection. And the above cards' red papers are from their Workbench collection. 

Getting close to Turkey Day! More fun coming!

Creative Chemistry Day 1 Eroded Metallic

I finally got some metallic Distress Paints. Wow! what a difference from regular metallic paint. Must be the reactive properties of the Distress that does the trick.

The first one is with the bronze metallic. Not the best photo, but it was the best of the bunch I took. It has a real sheen to it. I used Peeled Paint and Salty Ocean underneath and my new senior humor stamp from I Brake For Stamps.

This one uses the pewter metallic over Antique Linen and Salty Ocean. My favorite By the Seashore stamps from Club Scrap with one from a newer kit, Cape Cod. Love the grungy, industrial look you get with this technique.

The Baby Wipes Challenge

Karen, over at the Club Scrap Blog posted a challenge a couple of weeks ago to use a baby wipe as an ink palette. I've been meaning to get to this and finally had a little time yesterday. I used several of the metallic inks (from 2010 retreat, I think) on the baby wipe and then stamped into it with the leaf stamps from 2012 retreat.

I stamped the leaves onto both white and black glossy cardstock. The black I used as is, the white I sponged with Distress Inks.

For these 3 cards I added some of the cracked glass distress leaves I made during Creative Chemistry 101 and 102. The quotes are from Club Scrap's Autumn Garden kit and the papers are from Fossils.

For this one, I distressed some silk leaves with matching inks and used some alcohol ink on a green leaf bead to change it to Fall.

This one uses the black glossy baby wipe print, a crackle leaf, Autumn Garden quote and Kay&Co paper.
It was a fun technique and a great way to make a disposable custom ink pad.

ATC Fun at Rosie's Art Carnival

Had a blast swapping ATC's with some friends in the ATC group at Rosie's yesterday. The first group is the Halloween themed ones. Mine are in the previous post, The Raven and the Chickadee Holiday Cheer one.

The 2 with the holographic stickers have great biographies that Rosie created for them on the back. Had to share that with you.

Here is the second set, including one that I made while we were sitting around chatting. It's the Dance by the Light of the Moon one.

Had a great time swapping!

ATCs For Rosie's

I'm thinking about joining the ATC group at Rosie's Art Carnival here in town, so I decided to play with a couple of the Creative Chemistry techniques and take a couple of samples with me to the meeting tomorrow.

I so love that new Raven stamp and just reduced the Alcohol Ink technique from a tag to ATC size.

Also, did a Holiday themed ATC using one of the Distress Paint techniques. Decided I wanted it a little brighter so added 2 layers of UTEE which gave it a water droplet look.

I will do some trading tomorrow and post all the beautiful art.

Happy Birthday, Dad! I miss you!

Today would have been my dad's 71st birthday. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since we lost him.

 

Blackened salmon dinner in your honor tonight, dad! We miss you bunches.

Creative Chemistry Day 6

Today, I caught up on some of the techniques I either didn't have time for or needed to come up with alternative supplies.

First, is the extra Shabby Chic project I started yesterday. Wanted to make the little trees on the edge die into a tealight for Halloween and came up with this. I used a winter trees stamp to do the embossing and then   Antique Linen distress paint. I think it turned out pretty good.

 Here it is without the flash.




















Next, I tried the Brayered Stains technique. Love, love, love this one. Going to be a new favorite background technique for sure.

I used Weathered Wood, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord stains, along with another favorite stamp, the umbrella man and a little bling.

For my second try, I used Wild Honey, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord stains. Several of the journey stamps and a few stickers from the Ideology line.

I was very intrigued with the faux cracked glass technique when I watched the video and is it ever cool in real life. It's hard to see, but I did a little wine bottle and grapevine collage inside the vial.

I also tried 2 more of the techniques from day 1. Eroded Metallic, up top didn't turn out so great, as I don't have any metallic distress paint and just used some gold I had. I think I should have thinned it. The bottom one is the Altered Surface technique. I did better with this one altering some old fishing tackle that I want to use on a windchime later this month.

Creative Chemistry 102 Day 5

Really wanted to get to all the techniques today, but I'm lacking both Frosted Crystal and sticky EP. My LSS doesn't have them either, but the owner, Rosie, ordered them for me, so I'll have them next week. That's ok, just extends the playtime.

The two I did get to were the Shabby Chic technique and the Tarnished Silver technique.

I had some Basic Grey chipboard ornaments, so thought I'd try the Shabby Chic technique on those. Not sure I got the correct result, but I like them and think they will make great package tags.

I think most of the stamps here are Clearstamps, with the exception of the script on the pink tag. It is from Club Scrap's Silent Night collection.


































And for the Tarnished Silver tech, I chose to diecut the Weathered Clock from grungepaper and try it on that. It really does look like tarnished silver. I just mounted the clock on some black paper for the picture. I'll probably use it on a collage or scrapbook page.

Should get lots of time to catch up this week end. Looking forward to watching some of the videos again and getting inky!

Creative Chemistry 102 Day 4

I know it looks like I skipped day 3 and I kind of did.
 When the salmon are on the bite here in Oregon
 you go FISHIN'!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. Day 4 of Creative Chemistry 102. This lesson was all about Alcohol Inks. Mine have been so lonely lately. I think it's been months since I got them out to play. And the new, fun things to try with them were just the kick in the pants I needed.

First up, the Faux Patina technique. I dug out some keys and staples
and really like the effect you get with this technique. I will definitely be
using it for mixed media collaging.

Next, we have the Ombre technique. I think I may have reversed my light and bright colors, but I still liked the effect. I used a mixture of Clearstamps (the eye and eye chart) and Club Scrap's Bookshelves kit (the globe and saying and Haberdashery (fleur di lis grid) .

Next, is the monoprint technique. Love this technique, even though it wasn't new to me, it was fun to play. And I got to use my new stamp. The Raven by Stampendous. Also, my favorite Poe story. Added the Clearstamp birds and pumpkin from Craftsmart. I tried this one with 2 different mixatives, Copper (left) and Pearl (right), but the same transparent colors. Like them both.

And my last Alcohol Ink technique, Faded Layers. Really enjoyed this new tech too. Just love the way these inks react. Another new stamp here too. From I Brake for Stamps, The Christmas Spider. I tried this one twice as well. The top one with lighter colors, I like a little better than the one with darker colors, but nothing wrong with the darker one. I used a hexagon stencil and a Club Scrap stencil for the technique.

BONUS:

I finished the Colored Crackle technique from Day 1.
 Love that Rock Candy Crackle!
Looks just like fall leaves.

And the Smudged Stamping from Day 3. This was really fun, and you get a 2for, what could beat that!

Stampscapes tree branch and Clearstamps used for the stamping.


















Looking forward to Day 5 tomorrow and doing some catching up over the week end.

Creative Chemistry 102 Days 1 & 2

I'm thoroughly enjoying the second semester of Tim Holtz' class in Creative Chemistry. I love learning new techniques to try with inks, paints, powders and glitter. I had never tried the new Distress Paints and was itching to get at it. I haven't done all the techniques from Day 1, but here is a sample of what I have done so far.

This is the Marbled Distress Paint technique. The one on the left is just the paint. The one on the right is the same tag with Distress Inks added to help the colors pop. Love the technique.














Next, is the Distress Paint Resist technique using a Club Scrap Stamp from the Spring Chorus kit. Love the detail you get with the Distress Paint. I used Antique Linen for the stamping.

I don't have Distress Paint in the Black Soot color, or the texture fade with the rivets, so I chose to try the Industrial technique with some different colors and textures.

This one uses the Cracked Glass texture fade with Salty Ocean and Seedless Preserves Distress paints. I was going for kind of a wintry effect. I think it needs a darker blue instead of the purple.

I also tried the Tattered Leaves texture fad with Mustard Seed and Raspberry Distress Paints. Still need to work on this technique some more. This was as far as I got with Day 1. I have some crackled leaves ready for one of the other techniques, but I was ready to move on and try some Day 2 techniques next.
















Day 2 is devoted to working with stencils. One of my favorite things to play with and I have my whole collection with me, so this was going to be a fun day.

First up, Monoprinting. The one on the left uses Distress Stains, Wild Honey, Fired Brick and Peacock Feathers. The 2 on the right are Distress Paints, Seedless Preserves, Peeled Paint, Salty Ocean and Wild Honey. The far one was a bit of an oops because I used my towel to blot the stencil and it ended up smearing. Still pretty though. The stencil is from Club Scrap's 2012 Retreat kit By the Numbers.

Next, I tried the Embossing through a Stencil technique. Another little oops, I didn't read the directions correctly and used Distress Embossing Ink instead a Distress colored ink. I really liked the way it turned out anyway and may go ahead and make this "mistake" again. I used the stencil from Club Scrap's Ornamental collection.

Here, I followed the directions correctly, using the Painted Desert stencil from Club Scrap again. I really liked how this one turned out too. Kind of reminds me of raindrops through a window.

Next, is the Embossing with a Stencil technique. I was so excited when I saw this video. It never even occurred to me that you could run your stencils through the diecut machine. A whole new world opened up for me. This one is the Adobe stencil from Club Scrap and I used Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany distress inks.

Next, is the Stencil Stamping technique, another one I've never tried before and really liked. This one uses stencil and stamps from Club Scrap's Gimme A Ring kit. Mustard Seed Distress ink for the stencil image. Peacock Feathers and Tumbled Glass Distress Stains for the background.

And last, was the Mixed Media Layered Stencils, which I felt I ruined on the last step as I didn't tape the stencil down and my mister bled underneath badly. Hence, the big splotch of purple. Oh well, I did enjoy the technique. I used stencils from Club Scrap again, Fossils, Retro and the dots, I'm not sure of; will have to look that one up.

I've watched the videos for Day 3 and there are even more exciting and fun techniques coming. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a play day!

Handmade Cards

I haven't made cards in awhile and I really liked the card formula that Tricia Morris over at the Club Scrap blog posted this week, so I thought I would give it a try. I decided to try it with 2 different color schemes, fall colors and winter colors.

I really used a mix of kit papers and stamps, but I'll try to identify most of them. Some are quite vintage. The papers are from Just Dandy, Bridges, Weather and Paisley (with I think Safari printed on it) Stamps are from  Bugs Remix, Tiny Treasures, Aurora Borealis, Into the Wild, Body and Soul.

For the winter color scheme I used papers from Haberdashery, Weather, Chocolate Shoppe, and Bridges. Stamps from Gimme a Ring, Science, Bridges, Body and Soul, Tiny Treasures and others.

I really like the card formula, especially because it has room for 2 different sayings or a saying and a little image.

Step Into My Parlor

I joined the local AA (Altered Art) group at Rosie's Art Carnival here in Florence back at the start of summer just as they were gearing up for a big project. The idea was for each participant to create a room in a box. We meet the 2nd and 4th Thursday's of the month and spent a couple of those hashing out ideas, looking at art books and generally thinking out loud about all the ways to create furniture and accessories for a doll house. In August, we went to work, with a deadline of September 26, the 4th Thursday. Hey, that's tomorrow! Good thing I finished my room yesterday. The following is a pictorial of most of the steps along the way. I had some marathon days, where I worked for hours and then it would sit for days while I thought about it. We also brought them in to our meetings for input from the wide variety of artistic talent in the group.

I started with a box found at the Good Will store that used to hold a bottle of whiskey. I completely stripped the box down to bare wood and decided on a vertical presentation that would have 2 floors. The bottom floor was going to be some sort of garden/parlor and the top a library/office of sorts. I covered the walls with paper and for the bottom floor I dug out my Club Scrap Hearth and Home stencil and created a crumbling brick wall with stencil paste.

I inked the bricks with Fired Brick and Walnut Stain distress inks and moved on to creating a circular stair case. I cut 2 circles of charcoal embossed paper and 1 of cardboard (an old cereal box in this case) and cut those into 8 wedges. I sandwiched the cardboard between the papers and glued them all together to create 8 steps. Then punched a hole in the narrow part of the wedge. I painted several bamboo skewers black and cut a couple of them into short 3/4 inch pieces. I slid all of the steps onto one full length skewer and then placed a short skewer at the side of the long skewer and at the upper right corner of the pie piece. I glued these into place one step at a time, holding for several minutes till each one dried. The entire staircase took a few hours to make.

I created a chaise lounge for the garden room out of a dollar store doll house bed cut in half and then a cushion made of fabric scraps, cardboard and brads with a fuzzy purple yarn for trim. 

Here's my girl having a cup of tea while lounging. I also created a hanging lamp from a large bead and scrap of chain and I hung an old key from a sewing hook. The little watering can didn't make it into the final design, but I thought it was cute. 

Here is the finished bottom floor with the staircase in place, a picture of my great grandfather and his friends in the 1920's hanging on the wall, a small flower arrangement courtesy of my mom and a little pair of Barbie shoes with the same fuzzy trim as the lounge chair. 

I created a little secretary desk using matchboxes and toothpicks and decided to display it with the top folded back. There's an inkwell made from a bead and a real feather I found in the yard, a small candlestick from my mom's miniature stash, a lamp made from another bead and a mini rosette, I printed some tiny vintage post cards and stacked some money on the desk too. The chair is also made from a matchbox and cushions made from fabric scraps. I also printed a miniature of one of my favorite Van Gogh's and placed it in a frame found in one of my treasure jars. 

The bookcase along the wall is made from 6 matchboxes, the bottom 2 are cut in half and glued together to form the bottom of the hutch. One of my AA friends, Beverly provided the perfect magazine clipping of books, which I cut out and mounted on cardboard for the books on the shelves. 

 The cat laying on books was from some clipart I found on the internet. I colored it with distress markers and placed it on a little pin woven rug I made from snippets of fibers in my stash. The railings are from a Tim Holtz die on the edge; Old Picket Fence I think. 

Here is an overview of the upper room. 

And here is the finished Room in a Box. Tomorrow, we all put them together and see what our "house" looks like. I'll post pictures of all the other rooms as soon as I can. Hopefully, we will get to display the house for a few weeks at the local library. This was such a fun project and has made me think of tremendous other possibilities for more rooms in a box.