Words and Music Pinworthy Picks

Hello all!  Alison here to share our Pinworthy choices with you from last month's Words and Music challenge.  Thank you so much to everybody who joined in.   As always, it was fantastic to see what you were inspired to create.  

There were so many lovely entries, but the chosen Pinworthies also have a really strong musical connection to the songs they were inspired by.  So, without further ado, let me show you what caught the eye of the Creative Guides this time around.  In no particular order...

#3 froebelsternchen

Look at the lovely delicate layers in this page spread Susi created, inspired by the song Lavender's Blue.  The manuscript music, stitching detail and real flowers all add to the magic.


#16 Craftyfield

Christine found the perfect image to illustrate her chosen song, Reflections.  Doesn't she look as though she's gazing into a mirror?  And surrounded by music as she gazes.


#17 PaperWishes

Amanda's wonderful model boat captures the romance and perfect dreamy ocean blues of Enya's Caribbean Blue... Sail away, sail away indeed!

Congratulations to all three of you.   Your Pinworthy badges will be on their way to you shortly.

Thank you again to all our fabulous participants in May.  We hope you'll come along and join in with our Stencil It! challenge this month too.  Thanks for stopping by today, and we hope to see you again on this Vintage Journey somewhere down the road.

Alison and the Creative Guides xx

A Mini Marvel Guest ........

Welcome Everyone, it's the fourth Friday in the month and I'm really ........ extremely ...............

and positively HAPPY to introduce our Guest for November .........

a fabulous journaller and designer, Kate Crane.

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Hi everyone, Kate Crane here, and I'm very happy to be here! Not only do I have a passion for all things mixed media, I also have a passion for creating anything small and tiny so when I was asked to be a guest designer for this challenge I was delighted as I knew it would be right up my street.

I have been creating mixed media art and art journaling for about nine years now, and regularly teach classes both in person and on-line. You can find details of all of my projects as well as my classes on my blog, where you will also find links to other social media platforms.

Small is beautiful, and although it can be tricky working on such a small scale it is so worth it for the cute results! I created a journal using small greyboard shapes, and then stitched tiny signatures in-between.

I began with eight small greyboard pieces from a Tando Creative grab-bag measuring just 3.5 x 5 cm each. I  coated each piece in black gesso on all sides, allowed it to dry, and then added a coat of white gesso on one side only. I scribbled into mine a bit while it was wet which is an optional step.

I also used a small heart and a washer and added a coat of white gesso to those too.

Once the gesso dried on my small boards I added some scraps of patterned paper using matte medium.

For colour I used DecoArt Fluid Acrylics in Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Green Gold, Carbon Black, along with some Decoart Tinting Base. I painted random patches of colour (making sure the colours did not overlap) on just seven of the pieces, and then used my fingers to add light amounts of Tinting Base where the colours joined. The patterned papers can be painted over or you can allow them to show.

Using coordinating colours of Archival ink as well as some black, I stamped all over the backgrounds using a selection of stamps by Andy Skinner, The Artistic Stamper, and Paper Artsy.

To finish these off I added some doodling with a white gel pen, and some touches of DecoArt Fluid Acrylic in Metallic Gold with the edges of an old credit card, and also painted all of the edges in gold.

Now, on to the cover. I used Tinting Base along with two shades of blue to paint random patches of colour.

I also used Quinacridone Red to paint the heart and then added stamping using an Andy Skinner stamp.

To complete the base of the cover I added a layer of DecoArt one-step crackle, and then added DecoArt Antiquing Cream to really highlight the cracks. The Antiquing cream is added to the whole page and then wiped off with a dry cloth allowing the colour to settle in the cracks.

Once dry I added the heart, and then painted the washer in Metallic Gold and added that too.

I cut several pages for the inserts in cartridge paper measuring 6 x 4.5 cm, and then aged them a little using Distress ink in Walnut Stain.

Nearly there! A length of ribbon or tape is all it takes to hold this little book together. I laid all of my pieces along the tape and then marked the tape where I wanted the signatures to go. The folded signatures will fit just in-between the greyboard pieces. This enabled me to stitch the signatures in the right place along the length of ribbon before gluing all of the other pieces into place.

I love using acrylic paints as you can get such vibrant colour. They are also a very forgiving medium ... if things don't go according to plan you can just paint over it!

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Wow, how's that for a magnificent mini marvel of a project? Thank you Kate, it's beautiful, such a delightful little journal and fabulous process steps for us to see exactly how you put it together. It may well have been a bit tricky but the care and attention to detail was worth all the concentration you put in, just to see it in the photographs it looks perfect, but I can imagine it's even better in real life and holding it in your hands. We really appreciate you making this for our challenge this month and for being our wonderful guest.

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We have some fabulous creations linked to the Mini Marvels challenge and we hope we will see some more of you there with your small creations, remember anything up to 4 x 4 inches. ATCs and similar are perfect, so are small canvases, small journal pages and even toppers that you have designed and made for your cards. Lets see what you are creating at the moment. You have till next thursday to get it linked and don't forget there is a fabulous prize from Southern Ridge Trading Company and you might be chosen as one of our Pinworthy Guests too.

Take care and have a great week.

hugs Brenda, Kate and the Creative Guides xxx

We have a returning guest today ..........................

It's always so wonderful when incredible artists return to be a guest again for us and today we have the amazing ...........

Marjie Kemper with us.

Marjie has been creating and blogging for quite a few years and as a blogger myself it's been fabulous watching her art and designs change and see her become so active and create a business for herself in this challenging world we live in. She teaches across America and has an online workshop too, she has been published in many publications and has become very well known in the industry.
Over to Marjie to introduce herself and share her project for today.

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Hi, everyone. Marjie Kemper, here. It's a pleasure to be your guest today at A Vintage Journey!  I adore mixed media art and am honored to be with you.  My passions are art making, teaching classes, and running my own small business, and I'm currently working on new online courses that will address all of these topics. You can find me on my website and any of the social platforms.

When I heard Jennie's theme was "Crazy for Autumn Colors," I knew I'd be reaching immediately for my Distress Oxide inks. Our fall is coming late this year in New York, so I've created my own burst of fall color with this project.

I've used a combination of materials on this one. The base is one of Tim Holtz's shadow boxes.

After inking up all the tags with a variety of Distress Oxide inks, I added interest with stencils and an ink blending tool.

Once all the tags were dry, I cut up some of the them, diecut others, and stamped on a few as well. 

I used the same inking and stenciling on a larger piece of manila card for the base, and I tried to keep this in a light/bright color pattern.

I used several pieces of cardboard to support my tag, so it appears to be 3-D in the box.

The top and bottom accents on this tag are from a Pediments Sizzix die. I've used metal accents and chit chat stickers to jazz it up.

I've created a Distress Ink Blending Checklist that I'd love to share with you. As you know, Distress Oxides are unique in that they are a combination of dye and pigment inks. This checklist is a basic guideline on color blending, which I do the same way with both Distress Oxides and regular Distress Inks. Pop on over to my blog for a copy if you'd find that useful.

Have a wonderful day!

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Oh Yes it's a wonderful day spending some time looking at these gorgeous tags Marjie and how you have cut them and designed this beautiful box. The autumnal hues fit the challenge brief perfectly and what a glorious mix of rich and golden tones you have produced. Thank you so much for making the time to share your incredible talent with us here at A Vintage Journey and making such a superb project.

I hope you, our lovely readers, will take a moment to pop over to Marjie's blog and see both this and all her other work, I shall also be looking for the Blending Checklist, I find little aide memoirs and checklist tools such great things to keep to look at time and again when I'm working with those particular products.

The 'Crazy for Autumn Colours' is still running for another week and it's such a pleasure to see and get to visit so many brilliant entries already linked up, I hope you can join in if you haven't already.

Enjoy these autumn days while we have them here in the northern hemisphere, it seems the season has started a little late but the colours are now looking stunning.

Enjoy the weekend and any creative time you have planned.

hugs Brenda and the Creative Guides. xxx

Introducing a very (very) special guest - Seth Apter

Hi everyone, Nikki here with our monthly invited Guest Designer post. It is my great pleasure to welcome and introduce

  Seth Apter

 I am sure he doesn't need much introduction as his style of mixed media art has captured so many of us over the last few years. I have had the pleasure to meet Seth a couple of times and attend his workshops in the UK and not only is he an amazing tutor but fun, charming and genuine.

Seth is a designer for PaperArtsy (stamps and paint), Spellbinders (dies), Stencil Girl (stencils) and Impression Obsession (stamps). His artwork is frequently displayed in exhibitions and he also published author.

Seth is a master of layers, texture and paint. His mixed media style often incorporates found objects - so who better to provide a masterclass on Altered Art - our current challenge theme at A Vintage Journey.

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Hi everybody. Seth Apter here. I am thrilled to be a Guest Creative Guide at A Vintage Journey. I have always loved the work shown here and am now happy to be a part of the family.

I am a mixed media artist from New York City with a passion for found object art. I love giving new life to old things. In addition to making art, I spend my time teaching mixed media workshops and designing art and craft products with a number of different companies. My work has been seen in multiple exhibitions, books and magazines. You can learn more about me at my website or my blog.

One of my main activities is searching for supplies to use in my mixed media art. Although anything goes, I tend to favor older, distressed objects. I feel that they already have a history, which automatically becomes part of my artwork. So many people (myself included) work to create a vintage look on new items but there is truly nothing like the look and feel of actual vintage.

COLORS FOR CHINA

This piece, Colors for China, began like most of my work - with an object. Or in this case three objects. I have been hoarding holding on to a grouping of very old test tubes filled with paint made for china. 

These became the focal point that I built the entire piece around. I knew I wanted to add an actual frame around the tubes as a way to highlight these beauties and symbolically turn these vintage objects into art. I added one copper and one wooden frame, both vintage. 

Nearly all the materials in this piece, with the exception of the wood panel and a few metal embellishments, are salvaged. Some have been in my studio drawers for years, patiently waiting their turn to be used in the right artwork.

To me, creating found object art is like completing a puzzle. While many wrong answers are tried along the way, you ultimately have to find the right pieces, many of which are not meant to work together, and place them in such a way as to make one seamless creation.

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Amazing! What a fantastic creation full of history, detail and texture. I count seven layers that Seth has taken and salvaged or altered in some way and then worked his magic to generate this perfect composition. 

You can see more of Seth's artwork on his website - The Altered Page

Seth - thank you so much for being our guest this month! 

We are back again on Monday with the next Destination Inspiration stopover. There are a couple of weeks left to join in our Altered Art challenge - with your chance to win a Simon Says Stamp voucher or to be selected as one of our Pinworthies.

Have a great (and hopefully crafty) weekend

Nikki and The AVJ Creative Guides

xxx

Our very special guest is a returning Creative Guide.

Welcome to our monthly special guest spot and we have non other than the amazing Jools Robertson who was a Creative Guide back in the early days of this challenge blog. It's lovely to have her back amongst the fold and creating a very wonderful canvas with fabulous process steps.

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Hello!

I'm so pleased to have been asked to be a guest designer especially as I love watercolours, it has always been my go to medium, so I jumped at the chance!

It also gave me the opportunity to use some of my recent favourite Tim Holtz stamps Flower Garden, Mini Bouquet and Wildflowers.

Here's a little about me, I was always encouraged to be creative from a very young age, both my parents were creative and as a child I would sit quietly for hours drawing, painting and cutting up! 

In fact looks like I was making something with my sock in the picture!!

Nowadays I work full time as a Textile Designer working on commercial Interior projects and developing product collections, so I’m constantly being creative working with textures, design and colour which I love.

In my spare time, I enjoy all types of arts and crafts and working with multimedia and particularly altered art using paint, die cutting, stamps, using lots of colour, texture and experimenting with 

new techniques.

http://joolsrobertson.blogspot.co.uk/

Here's my Wildflower Watercolour Canvas, using the beautiful Tim Holtz stamps with

lots of  lovely layers and  textures.

 I  applied Polyfiller to the back of a 12'' x 12'' canvas and allowed to dry overnight.

Once dry I applied white Gesso to the frame and the canvas.

Applied Crackle paste through a stencil to the frame.

 I cut a piece of watercolour card approx 1/4'' larger than the frame aperture as it will slide under the frame, applied Crackle Paste through the stencils.

 Once dry I stamped the Wild Flowers onto the Watercolour card with Black Stazon.

 Start to apply colour to the Watercolour paper by spraying with Distress Spray Stains Milled Lavender, Peacock Feathers and Iced Spruce.

 Then using a large wash brush to blend.

Applying water colour to add depth at the base of the page.

To colour the frame I used washes of Cobalt Teal Hue.

  and Dioxazine Purple.

 Followed with Carbon Black, if it got to heavy I spritzed with water and blended.

I stamped the  Flower Garden and Mini Bouquet onto watercolour card, cut out and coloured with watercolour paints and Distress Spray Stains Milled Lavender, Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord and Iced Spruce.

 Highlighted the flower heads with tiny brushstrokes of Schmincke Aqua Bronze- Silver.

Arranged the flowers and fixed with Cosmic Shimmer Glue

and highlighted the frame, dry brushing with Metallic Silver.

Stamps

Flower Garden

Mini Bouquet

Wildflowers

Distress Spray Stains 

Milked Lavender

Dusty Concord 

Peacock Feathers

Iced Spruce

Watercolours

Sennelier

Prima

Jane Davenport

Stencils

Tim Holtz Latticework

Imaginations Weatherwash

DecoArt  American Decor Botanical

DecoArt

Media White Gesso

Media Crackle Paste

Media Fluid Acrylics

Cobalt Teal Hue

Dioxadine Purple

Carbon Black

Metallic Silver

Schmincke Aqua Bronze- Silver

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Wow, Jools you've created such a beautiful flower canvas project and a great step out explaining the steps you took to make it. I love the colour palette and the texture you added to the frame and also how you incorporated the watercolours into the design. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today and for sharing your amazing talent with us.

We still have one more week for you to enter the watercolour challenge, Amanda and the team did an amazing job with all their samples and we there are lots of lovely entries but still space for more if you have an idea up your sleeve. We look forward to seeing it.

Thanks for all your wonderful support, we will be back on Monday with the last August Destination Inspiration post and that'll be Summer gone for this year I suppose. Summer you say - what Summer? I know there really hasn't been much of one in the UK this year, just those lovely few hot days we had back in June. Maybe we'll get an Indian one - well we can hope can't we????

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you have planned.

hugs Brenda and the Creative Guides. xxx