I Can See Clearly Now!

"Through The Looking Glass" is the current challenge at AVJ and Julia wants to see a Tim inspired project that incorporates glass, acetate, mirrors, metal sheet, a window, clock face, a hand held mirror or glass bottle. You get the idea! Now for a chance to win a prize and now that our challenges run an entire month, the prize $$ has gone up. Big thanks to our sponsors at Country View Crafts. Make sure to visit AVJ and check out all the DT fabulousness! I have to give a great big shout out to JOY at Inspiration Emporium, who has so generously gifted me the $50 gift certificate for my Blog Candy! Thank you, Joy and IE! Wow!

The image was stamped in Black Archival, clear embossed, and segmented areas were water colored using markers. Once dried, masked and inked over in Antique Linen and Vintage photo. Next I flicked on some water, Black Embossing Paste was applied through Tim's eye chart stencil. When that was good and dry, I stamped a couple of Tim's minis using Black Archival and using Walnut Stain stamped the crackled background.

Oh and before I forget, the winner of my $50 blog candy gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium is the one and only Trash to Treasures,  LYNN! Congratulations and enjoy your shopping spree.

This is kind of my reminder to go those eyes checked! Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to AVJ and how much fun we have in store for you and with prizes! Brenda and Chris work so hard keeping A Vintage Journey the amazing challenge blog that it is and you could not ask for a better and more supportive DT group and I am honored to be a part of and so excited to start year #2! To start off our second year with our new monthly challenge, we are looking for ANYTHING TIM and to make it easier on us, please let us know what your Tim influence might be. Now my fabulous and totally talented DT Sisters also have some incredible art to share and you will find all the details of our challenge and information on all the prizes, along with our sponsor Country View Crafts. So you know a prize package was sent to AVJ from Tim and Mario! Aren't they just so sweet and generous?? And not only is AVJ celebrating an anniversary, but this is my 5th year of blogging as well as something very special. So here we go with what my little deal is!
 

Happy Anniversary to my hubby of 32 years and as it would be, today when the post goes live in Europe, it is our anniversary! To celebrate three special occasions, I would like to offer a little BLOG CANDY to one of my followers as well and that includes my lovely AVJ DT Sisters, who many have been with me from my first days of blogging! Details to follow. "Gear It Up" is the challenge at SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog, so we are taking our celebration over there to share.

Oh I love that man and I wanted to make him something a little different than the usual card or tag and so Tim's Pocket Watch came to the rescue along with many other Tim elements and products.

Tim's Pocket Watch die was cut from three layers 2 grungeboard and 1 chipboard in the center for stability. Applied a coat of gesso and then using a gel medium, I added texture using various bits and trims, modeling paste through a couple of stencils and then this was all covered up with gesso, before I applied crackle over the entire piece. Once that dried I added all of my metal pieces, mostly Idea-ology and a few I just had to add and again covered these with gesso.

Color Wash sprays used, Espresso, Denim, Stream, Butterscotch and Meadow, which are all colors my DH enjoys. These were sprayed on and dried a little using a heat gun and then with a paper towel I blotted off the excess color. Once I was happy with the colors, I did give a quick spray with sealer.

Next step is adding touches of gesso (and or Treasure Gold) lightly brushed on. Using a black marker, I added a few shadows. This was a little on the dark side to begin with, so I was careful to not add to many shadows. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is looking for a "Just A Hint Of Clover" and with a green heart (and other hints of green), we are good to go.

The grunge wings was just my thinking about how time flies and boy does it ever!

The magic of the gesso really makes everything pop! You can see some of the extra little watch gears and bits I added if you look closely. 

I did flick on some more Color Wash just for a little more interest using a toothbrush and let me tell you about stained fingers and fingernails. Oh so lovely! Truly I have so much fun when I work with mixed medias like this. I think this is about my 4th piece going this style and I love the end result.

Now for the reverse side, I wanted it to be a little softer and distress inked some of Tim's paper and where the face of the woman writing the love letter was stamped, I gave a little wash of white paint. A little more stenciling and a few fun elements and all is wonderful!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my project as much as I enjoyed it from start to finish. Now for a chance to win my BLOG CANDY in celebration of March and all the anniversaries, a $50 gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium, just leave a comment by April 1st, 2015. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter and good luck and mostly thank you for being a part of my journey.

Travel Tag!

Today I am sharing another tag I created using the stencil I made with Tim's ink well and feather movers and shapers. The Creative Guides at A Vintage Journey have plenty of "Tim" inspiration for you while we fill in for this Friday's "Winners Post."



If you want the details on the making of the stencil, click HERE.   After the 1st step stencil magic was completed, I inked with Broken China, Peeled Paint and Rusty Hinge, shading with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.  I felt the ink wells and feathers blended in too much in the background, so I outlined those using broken lines of black and with an applicator shaded slightly around the outer shapes.

Next step was to pull out Tim's stencil and randomly inked in Black Soot.. Yes, I hand cut the hands from tissue tape! Should I have used the rubs - Oh yes!

My traveling friends and ticket were stamped in Black Archival, inked with Antique Linen and fussy cut. Finished off with a few chit chats and some metal pieces. Lots of distressing of various types, so we are entering this in "D is for Distress" at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Thank you for taking the time to visit and remember that next week I will draw the Blog Candy winner of a signed copy of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities III. If you have not entered there is still time.



Paper Chase!

Happy Anniversary to Country View Challenges! I was thrilled and honored to have been among the Top 3 for their January challenge and asked to be a guest designer for March! Well March is also my personal anniversary, so I am in good company! The challenge theme is "Paper Chase" and Country View Crafts is offering two prizes, so have a look and join in! Here is my take!

I decided to use the Crafty Individuals stamps that Chris had gifted to me as it seemed so appropriate for the anniversary celebration at CVC and the fact these stamps have quite the paper trail! Chris and I both love birds and have had many of these beauties for pets. My little birds were stamped in Sepia and clear embossed and then a subtle splash of color, Tattered Rose for the bodies. I used a marker to add yellow to the beaks and then shaded with Antique Linen around the sweeties.

Computer generated the "Happy Anniversary" in hopes of blending in with the chit chat stickers. I used Tim's background stamp and applied paint to colored paper. All edges have been distressed and I finished off with inking some pre-made flowers, highlighting with Treasure Gold,some distressed die-cut trim and a movers and shapers bird. My birds are taking flight to Inspiration Journal's "Splash of Color" and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "D is for Distress."

And talking about Anniversaries, I am offering my own blog candy right HERE. Thank you for visiting today and I hope you are having a great March!

The Journey Begins and Blog Candy!

It is finally here and challenge #1 is all about Tim at "A Vintage Journey! Our first "Anything Tim" challenge has been chosen by the fabulous Brenda! You will so want to stop by and see what all my lovely DT Sisters have created for your viewing pleasure and will be so inspired to join in! There is also a prize from our sponsor Country View Crafts  and other fun events! Warning in advance that this will be a long post and photo heavy, something I don't like to do to you, so forgive me and bear with me as there is so much to share. A vintage journey could only be about "Tim" and all the inspiration he shares all over the world and some really amazing products.

When I was invited to join in the launch and be a member of the "Creative Guides," I could hardly contain my excitement! I just love everything Tim and he is the reason I ever continued stamping after seeing him in action in 2008. Now I have grown from my first workshop and continue to learn when I can and how I can, so don't ever think you can't do something! I had an idea what I was going to do, but like so many of you, it evolved into a mixed media altered project. This will be linked to Frilly and Funkie's "Stencils and Texture."

My idea was to make my own stencil, using some of Tim's movers and shapers and that was the start. When I finished my tag, I loved it so much that I could not cover it up and so the journey began!

I remembered those pictures and decided to use them and have a little shadow box covered with the glass, but this was the start and I will share the details a little later. It was finished off by backing it with some Kraft resist and torn text from the same paper, some gears and distressed trim.

The Traveler was stamped in Sepia Archival and using an applicator, I color him with Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy and Tattered Rose, fussy cut and popped up a little.

And my Traveler needed to know where he was going, so I made him a compass cut from foil backed paper, painted and sanded off in areas. The compass was stamped on clear packaging and the entire compass backed in white. At certain angles you can see the reflection and if you look closely, the subtle crackle can be seen on the board.

The background of the print was covered in white gesso. After this dried I applied a washy coat of Antique Linen and Crackle Medium, then added some stenciling when that dried. Again when dried, I gave a spray of Butterscotch Color Wash and blotted most off, highlighted with Treasure Gold, and then a heavy coat of Espresso Color Wash, then misted with water to blend and left to dry. Once dried (gosh all the layers take so much time with drying), I flicked on some large water drops, flicked on Vintage Photo Paint with a toothbrush, bits of stamping and then sealed with Matte Spray.

Finished off with some Idea-ology metal that had paint rubbed into the words and ball chain.

The actual frame was gesso, covered with the paint and crackle mix, stained with Vintage Photo and Picket Fence and then varnished.

So do you love that before or what? And now my BLOG CANDY offer to celebrate my new and exciting venture and just in time for Linda's CC3C a signed copy of Tim's new Compendium of Curiosities III! I made contact with Mario about how I wanted to give a copy of this fabby book, who is just as rocking as Tim and he cooks and was thrilled at the idea. So you must let me know you would like to enter the drawing, be a follower of my blog and if you already are a follower a second toss in the hat and if you want to share my blog candy, I will even add your name again! It would also be wonderful if you follow AVJ! I will announce the winner on March 21st the date of the second challenge at AVJ. The winner will need to contact me by the 23rd, so Mario can get it signed and shipped, so do check back! Good Luck!

Now the steps for my own personal Tim stencil! Arrange movers and shapers where you desire and I actually had some blank stencil material. Next lay over tag, clear emboss the ink well, heat set, next stamp wood grain (or whatever you wish) in Archival, clear emboss.

Now the inking begins of the shapes, clear emboss, heat set and then ink your tag as desired. I then ironed away the embossing.

Thank you so much for stopping by and joining me on my new travel adventure! Sure hope to see you join in the challenges and have a great time! Remember it is all about Tim and our love of his techniques and products! Have a great journey!

Stamps: Tim's
Distress Inks: Clear Emboss, Vintage Photo Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Brushed Corduroy, Tattered Rose
Archival Sepia
Distress Paints: Vintage Photo, Antique Linen
Distress Stains: Vintage Photo, Antique Linen
Clear Embossing Powder
Dies: Tag,  Movers/Shapers, pocket watch, ink & feather, Vintage Lace
Mixed Idea-ology
Kraft Resist
Foil Backed Paper

Candy Winners and CC2#20



Enameled Stamping on Page 44 of the Compendium of Curiosities #2, is the lesson at Linda', Studio L3.  Again out of respect for Tim, we cannot tell you how we did the technique.  This was fun as always and I even had the time to play this round!

What I can tell you is what I did after I inked up my tag, but I will keep it brief, as I think you can figure it out!  I cut a leaf, inked, shaded and stamped the veins, then clear embossed.  The pumpkin was cut, inked, and crackled with Rock Candy!  The crow and cat are black shrinky dinks!   Now that is brief!  Sorry for the blurry picture, it was a little late here and I wanted to get this done!

Again I want to thank all of you who take the time to follow my blog and comment!  Now I would love to announce the two winners of a $25 gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique and here they are!!!!  Congratulations Shelly and Sandra, send me an e-mail and I will give you the code you need to start shopping!  WooHoo!   Just to let you all of you know, Linda has moved her store front and is offering an additional 10% off Grand Opening Sale!  Now that is a sweet deal!

First Year Blog Anniversary Candy ends 3/31/11

I actually started this blog on 01/04/10, but did not start blogging until May of 2010, so I split the difference. Today being my 28th Anniversary with the love of my life, I thought was perfect timing to offer my One Year Blogaversary Candy. The things I have learned in my year of blogging.

1) There are some wonderful people out there and some I may never get to meet, but "WoW," you are amazing! Someone once explained "blogger etiquette," because when I first started blogging and someone would comment, I would comment back on my own blog! Oh the days of stupidity! Yes, I figured most of it out on my own, but both Lynn Stevens and Lisa Somerville sure made it easier. From the beginning these two incredible and busy artists have always taken the time to comment and encouraged me to be more and do more, even before blogging, as a Technique Junkie! So I have a "die" with your name on it. Will you send me a PM and give me a preference or first come, first serve??? Hopefully Lynn and Lisa, you don't already have these! Thank you again for helping me out and being there from day one!

2) You really make some great friends and I mean that! I have this list in my head that if I get here or there that I need to stop by and visit a blogger friend! Some of us have been thrown together via a challenge that will be on week #35 over at the wonderful Linda of Studio L3. What a journey it has been! I wonder how many of us have been at it since week #1?? Through blogging, I got on my first Design Team at Scrolls Work Stamps and made some wonderful friends. This last year, I was a Guest Designer and awarded a few Ginger Gems at Gingersnap Creations, a featured artist by Cindy Adkins, a top three at Simon Says Stamp and Show, Guest Designer for Scrap-Mart, caught Red Handed by Rogue Redhead Designs and awarded the very first Bella du Jour at Bella Creations. I have received some lovely "Blog Awards" from some wonderful crafters and blogger friends. I so appreciate your thinking of me and take it as an honor, but I found it impossible to pass on, because there are too many wonderful bloggers to choose from and no way for me to decide. To me you are all beautiful, have attitude with great style!

3) Blogging and creating is the best form of therapy! None of us know what another person is going through and just how important that little comment is! To all of you who have taken the time to comment and become followers "Just Because," I so thank you and wish I could send you all a gift! You never know when I might decide to do something just because I am kind of a Random type person.

Here is what I am offering and the winners will be announced on April 1st, Fool's Day! The winners will have through the weekend to contact me and if I don't hear from you, a new winner/winners will be chosen on April 5th. I have won a few giveaways, as the Luck of the Irish (1/4) would have it, so now I want to give something back! The first drawing is for Tim Holtz type goods and the second is my Bling type goods and it includes that i-Rock gem tool with gems and batteries to get you going! My DH will select the winners from the hat. When you comment, mention if you have a preference #1 or #2. First draw gets first choice. Good luck and again I thank you for taking the time to care enough to be here!

#1



#2



My Blog Candy win from An Art Soul!!!

As luck would find me again, I won Barbara Mason's first year blogaversary candy.  Please stop by and say hi to Barbara and
if you aren't familiar with "An Art Soul," you are in for a real treat.  Right now she has her CCC#29 posted and it is gorgeous!  Thank you so much Barbara and of course your "sweet hubbie" for picking #73!  I love my goodies and the mystery surprise is just awesome and I can't wait to use those!

The surprise inside the gift box!!

If you have not stopped by Bella Creations, which is a new and wonderful group of fun gals, do yourself a favor and visit!  You know it is fun, because I am there! 

Hope you all are having a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by.  Stay tuned, because I am going to be having my own First Year Blogaversary giveaway very soon!  I have been collecting goodies!

AND THE WINNER IS

All the names were typed on a list and then cut up in little pieces and folded so neatly.  Mixed up, placed in the hat, mixed up once more.  The DH then drew the lucky winner. The moment you all have been holding your breath for!!!

Are you ready for some rubber Gail of NY!  Please contact me with your e-mail address and your GC to Scrolls Work Stamps will be on the way to you!

Congratulations Gail!  Thank you all who played and left such sweet comments.  I appreciate all of you!

LAST DAY TO ENTER BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY

If you have not entered and want a chance to win click and comment here and you are entered!  Good luck and tomorrow the lucky winner will be picked.  If the person selected does not contact me within one week, I will select a new winner. 

Design Team Announcement and my first Blog Candy!

Exciting news to share with all of you! This thing with rubber, paper and ink is beyond an addiction, but a way of life. My passion led me to be a new Design Team Member for Scrolls Work Stamps! Thank you Jacque!! I am honored and excited, kind of like "Loud Larry."

I would love to celebrate my new DT endeavor with Scrolls Work Stamps, by offering my first blog candy! My blog candy is a $25 gift certificate to Scrolls Work Stamps. Whoever is the lucky winner of these marvelous stamps will select their own candy stamps! What I love about Scrolls Works Stamps, other than the quality and images, is that you can select individual stamps.

All you need to do to be entered is to leave a comment on this blog post! I won't force you to follow to be entered, but if you would like to follow here or at Scrolls Works Stamps, we sure would welcome you. I always appreciate my fellow bloggers and paper addicts who take the time to visit and comment here or in e-mails. That alone is such inspiration and encouragement! And speaking of inspiration, check out the blogs of the Design Team.
 
Diane
Jan
Julie
Just Jingle
Terry's (That be me)
Tolegranny

Scrolls Work on Facebook

This ends October 15th at 11:59 PM, PST and the BC winner will be announced on Saturday the 16th! All entries will go into a hat and my DH will pick the lucky person! Please check back to see if you are the blog candy winner of these fabulous stamps! Good luck and thanks so much for sharing in my excitement.