A Broken Heart!

Obviously this heart is not broken, but it almost happened! Seriously this heart gave me a royal pain in the - you get the picture! Anyway, instead of smashing it to bits and pieces, I walked away from it and just took on a couple of other projects and returned to it and am now pleased! If you don't like it, lie to me, please! There is still one week left to join the current challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges "Alter It" and there is a $20 prize to be won from Flonscrafts. Remember we are a stamping challenge blog, so stamping is obviously required and no digi images. If you want to see some really fabulous altered projects, really go see what my DT Sisters have created!

The images I used are Artistic Outpost and were stamped on tissue paper using Black Archival and clear embossed.  BTW, there is a 15% off  Memorial Day sale that is in effect through June 8th! I then colored them on the reverse side using Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Barn Door. This was then sprayed with matt sealer. I realized that after I finished my altered heart, that these colored tissue images would really absorb right into the color, so I painted them white on the backside! Well I thought that was quite clever for this old bird!

I won't bore you with the first round of mishaps and there were plenty! Let's just say that I spent the better part of an entire day at the background, quit, went back to it the next day, quit, took a can of "white Kilz" sprayed it and then white gesso and started all over! The thing is that I like what I had down and was not going to quit!

After the gesso treatment, the flowers and other embellishments were adhered with Multi Gel Medium, which I love. The heart was sprayed with Espresso and Butterscotch Color Wash, heat set a bit and blotted up any excess. I also added some shading with Vintage Photo distress in with a wet paint brush here and there. Areas were also covered with crackle and I washed in some thinned white paint.

I added some extra color with Vintage Photo to the flowers and all was highlighted with white gesso.

Don't they make the perfect couple? And the words are Tim's Chit Chat stickers that I distressed with Vintage Photo!  The pearls were cut to fit the open areas and inked with alcohol inks, espresso and butterscotch.

Challenges we are entering:

Country View Crafts - How Does Your Garden Grow
Eclectic Paperie - Gel Medium
Rogue Redhead Designs - May Flowers
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Favorite Ink - Vintage Photo
Unruly PaperArts - RAQ 1 - 5 Or More Flowers

Well that is it for now and I thank you so much for visiting! I plan to enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend with some serious BBQ. Oh and working in organzing my craft room! I gave away a very large duel station exercise gym, which was in another room and now I have a second room to spread out into! Now that is awesome! Have a wonderful weekend whatever you do!

Stamps: Artistic Outpost, SteamPunk, Flapper Fashions
Inks: Black Archival, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Barn Door

Oh Dorothy Artistic Outpost DT Blog Hop!

It is a Literature or Children's Book Blog Hop at Artistic Outpost and I am thrilled to share with you a "mini book" that I created and had such a fun time putting together!  You won't want to miss out on all the inspiration the DT has for you so stop by and have a visit and let that inner child come out to play!  Gerrie, Lisa, Sue, Tracy, Linda Alison, Terry (Me), Kate!

For my mini children's book, I use stamps from the Oz Collage collection and I want to give each character equal time!  Now I will not bore you with every little detail, so if there is anything you want to know, just ask and I will answer you!  I already figure this will be photo heavy and I will be somewhat brief with details.  My little book will also be linked to eclectic Paperie's "Altered Books," as I think this is altered!!  First all the pages were cut using grungeboard, covered with Folk Art Crackle Medium, sponge painted using Fresco Finish "Haystack" and DecoArt "Emperor's Gold."   Once dry I punched the holes and shaded with Archival Coffee and Sepia.  All of the focal pieces were cut using Tim's new "Cameo Frame" from manila card stock.  Love that die!!!  I wanted a heavier texture for my book cover, so used a brick stencil from Crafters Workshop and mixed the modeling paste with Fresco Finish Haystack, after the cut piece was inked. 

Dorothy and faithful companion were stamped and colored, masked and shaded, then I used the Embossing Diffuser with Tim's brick texture fade.  I used two Spellbinders dies for the scalloped frame, which was cut from glassine paper.  The house is shrink plastic, which was sanded and inked prior to the oven visit. 

Lots of masking and inking here!  Both the "yellow brick road" and the little village also received a coat of Rock Candy Stickles for extra sparkle.  The walkway was inked and I drew the lines, cut and inserted under the gentle paws of the lion.  Added a flower border with Flower Soft.  The backing under the courage is embossed glassine and both received a few coats of clear embossing powder. 



The Scarecrow background was inked with Peeled Paint, Squeezed Lemonade and Antique Linen and given and stamped in Coffee Archival. 

I "Heart" the Tin Man!  Again there is masking and inking and coloring with sponge applicators.  All the sentiments have been stamped using Archival on Newsprint! 

For the back cover, I just stamped all the sentiments and added some ruby slippers.  This was tied up with some gorgeous fibers to finish it off.

Thank you so very much for stopping by and joining in this month's AO blog hop!  Remember you can enter any of your creations using AO stamps in the monthly Referral Program, which there is always a prize!



Stamps:  Artistic Outpost, Oz Collage
Ink:  Distress, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Tattered Rose, Festive Berries, Barn Door, Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Weathered Wood
Archival:  Black, Coffee, Sepia
Stazon: Red
Clear Embossing Powder
Fresco Finsh Paint: Haystack
Crackle Medium
Delta Metallic
Sizzix - Tim
Spellbinders

Bits

TGIF!!!!  Playing along with Frilly and Funkie's newest challenge of "Spruce It Up"  and I was not sure if I was going to do another 3-Ring Binder Insert to identify stamps or something totally new.  While looking around, I saw this plastic container that I have been tossing in "Bits" of ribbon, thread, sequins, etc.  You get the idea!  I am also linking this to Eclectic Paperie "Altered Boxes."  So here we go and this is a little picture heavy!  Not some of the white areas are reflections from the Pewter Mica Flakes and a little of the Mod Podge is not completely dried, but it will dry to crystal clear! 

Before, well an empty one!



The first thing I did was to take two way adhesive sheets and apply to the empty, cleaned container.  Next was to place Tim's Tissue wrap on the container and a coat of Rock Candy Crackle and let it dry.  I thinned out some Fresco Finish "Chocolate Pudding" and applied to the crackle until I was satisfied with the color.  Let this dry and then applied a thick coat of Mod Podge and began adding some glitter/bead mixture, left over butterflies, threads, etc.,  and also added thicker areas of Glossy Accents to collect more of my mixture.  Let this dry and another coat of MP.


Back

Side

Side

This is what my empty container will be used for!

The letters were cut Tim's Word Play die from grungepaper, inked randomly with Distress Stains, Vintage Photo and Tarnished Brass and then sprayed with water to run and blend.  Another set was cut from chipboard and then covered with UTEE. 

Hope you have some great fun planned for the weekend!  We are meeting up with friends for a birthday dinner tonight and then again for Superbowl Sunday.  Thank you for taking the time to visit!

Joie de Vivre

How is everyone doing so far this year?  Can't believe we are midway through the month of January!  I started this canvas yesterday and had a couple of ideas, not sure what I think about it.  One part of my brain is telling me to add more stamping and I just may do that, so what do you think and be honest with me.  The mixed media art is somewhat new to me, so I am truly open to suggestions!

Revised with a Little Help From my Friends!

 First I painted up my canvas using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints, which my dear friend Brenda "Bumblebees and Butterflies" gifted me!  Thank you, Brenda!  I blended these, spayed some water and wiped off some color.  Added crackle and then a coat of a little more green and did some dry brushing with DecoArts Emperor Gold.  Did some stenciling with modeling paste using an older square template from the days of painting and Crafters Work Shop.  I did heat seat the paste, as I do love that raised effect!  These areas were highlighted in gold.  The canvas edges were highlighted with gold and the corner's embossed with Stampendous Aged Gold.  The sentiment was computer generated.  The Eiffel Tower is from Invoke and the background stamps from Tim Holtz.  I cut a piece of lace from a flea market find and embossed that in gold and then added touches of Fresco Paint to give a patina look.  

This canvas will be linked to Unruly PaperArts RAQ2, "Joie de Vivre," Eclectic Paperie's "Get Altered - Using Canvas," and Simon Says Stamp and Show "Lace Love."

Really appreciate your stopping by for a visit and have a great day!

Fresco Finish, Inky Pool, Hey Pesto, Chocolate Pudding, Haystack
Distress Ink:  Tumbled Glass
Archival:  Sepia
Stampendous:  Aged Gold EP
Crackle
Gold Paint

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge Week 10

Our wonderful leader, Linda aka Studio L3, has taken us on a ride using Distress Stickles! The Distress Stickles I used are Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint and Rock Candy! Pretty much I added Distress Stickles to everything, but the tag and bling. The "Family" letters are punched and cut from Tim Holtz Lost and Found Paper, the die cut is TH Regal Crest, I fragmented an old 1963 family photo for the "Family Crest." The crest was embossed with of course one of TH folders. The zipper trim is even stickled!! Once I was done and put it all together, I realized I did not use one stamp!!!

Isn't Linda awesome for taking us on a weekly adventure? I am also so excited to have been the lucky winner for week 9. Huge thanks to Linda and Daisy. As soon as I hear from Daisy I will be going on a shopping spree!  Now that is cool!

Wishing you all a wonderful week. Your most kind comments are always appreciated.