Six Tags of Wendy...

Five distress ink pads...
Four blending tools...
Three mini misters...
Two perfect pearls..
And a Vagabond in a pear tree....


Hee...


We're doing a quick five for five tag swap on the Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo! Group, so I finally got them off in the mail yesterday to the hostess with the mostest, Wanda, so thought I could safely post them now, lol.  Check out Wanda's blog, by the way, she does beautiful work!
Here we go!

Left - embossed layer resist background using red pepper paint dabber over top, Right - resist with snow cap pigment ink and plaid stamp, embossed tree stamp with white ep.

Both of these are paint dabber resist techniques for the backgrounds, with white ep stamped images over top.

Ok, the left one is my favorite! Background is the snow cap pigment resist technique. The right one is the embossed layer resist again, but I used distress inks over it instead of paint dabber.

Of course, the idea is to use Wendy's stamps. Which I did. She has one Christmas set of stamps, which, oddly enough, I don't have.  So the challenge was to come up with ideas for Christmas tags using her other stamps. I concentrated on using them in the backgrounds, and just embellished with Tim's Seasonal Salvage Stickers in some cases, or other embellishments.
The red flowers on the bottom one are Maya Road velvet flowers, nice and fuzzy!
And yes, I realize there are six tags, I usually make an extra for the hostess to keep. For those of you stuck on the numbers, rofl..
So, there you go, some tag ideas for you! Go Be Creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show Me - A Tag!

Woohoo!  Another challenge right up my alley!  I decided to go "Wendy" this week. I'm also trying a technique using Ranger Color Washes, that Wendy posted HERE.

Ok, I have to admit, I have the older color washes. However, when they run out, I'm definitely buying the new ones. For now, I have poured some of the old ones into Mini Misters for better handling and spray. But if you don't have the color washes, Simon Says Stamp has the new improved version. Very intense colors. And in all the wonderful earth tone colors that I love...deeply....lol...  Brace yourselves, because this tag is a little different than what I normally do, but we all need to step outside our comfort zone once and a while.

Here's the background technique prior to embellishing:

The colors of color wash I used were Stream and Butterscotch. I misted lightly with water after spraying and drying the color wash, to get that bleed effect. Dried again, then blasted the tag with a shot of Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls mixed with water in a Mini Mister.  Overstamped the entire tag with Wendy's number background (I use this one a LOT) in Coffee Archival.

The face, eyeballs, and sentiment stamp are all from Wendy's set - An Eye For Art (perfect name, lol).

I used very little distress inks on this one. Yep, you heard me. I decided to use my very underused and under appreciated Adirondack Dye Inks.  Espresso was used to blend over the eyeballs and face, which I had stamped on a manila folder with Black Archival.  I used Stream to color her eyeballs, and Cranberry for the lips. By the way, I think this would make a great lipstick color, as would the Raisin and Currant color.  I'm not a huge wearer of lipstick, but I'm just sayin'...

Sakura Black Glaze pen came into play around the eyes and sentiment. And, since it's cold out today, I thought she needed a little scarf.

Oh, I used the Berry Tree stamp from the Mail Art set to stamp behind the face in Black Archival.

And a little piece of Tim's On the Edge Die, wrought iron fence, for the bottom, with some brads.

Yep, and she also needed a little hair, so I had some loopy yarn that I stuffed in the tag hole at the top, pretty funky, eh? lol.

Here's a list of the other design team member's blogs, go take a peek on how they made their awesome projects!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Katie

Terry

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

Now it's your turn to...Go Be Creative!

Doubly Distressing!

Yessirreee, the theme over at the C.C.C. hosted by L.L. is Double Distress, and you can read all 'bout it, HERE.

I decided to make a card, I needed one this week! lol! I also stuck with the red, black and white color scheme, it's really hard to screw that combo up.

The flower is grungepaper covered with 7 Gypsies Paddington paper, cut with the Tattered Florals die. Some of the layers are just plain grungepaper covered with black or white crackle paint.  The technique is on the piece of grungeboard, and I used Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany and Black Soot distress ink.  More layering with plain black and white cardstock and Paddington paper. The sentiment is a Daisy D stamp, I believe. I like the sentiment. I stamped it with Black pigment ink and embossed it with black embossing powder.

I like this technique, the results are pretty dramatic.

I also received some great mail yesterday! Yes, again! lol! I'm participating in an altered tin swap on the Everything Wendy Vecchi group, and as it so happens, the person that was to send to me was my friend, Eileen. Check this out:

Is that awesome art or what? I LOVE it! Thanks, Eileen!

On Sunday, I was fortunate enough to attend a class taught by Linda Cain. We altered an unfinished wood desk organizer using Graphic 45 Le Romantique paper....LOVE it!  Linda is an awesome teacher (not to mention her lovely personality!), if you get a chance, you should definitely take one of her classes!

It now sits proudly on my desk in the studio, although I'm thinking I should bring it in the house so I can actually see it. lol.

Whew! Lots of territory covered today! Now it's your turn to ....

Go Be Creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show Me - Your Distress Inks!

I was going to be smart and just post a picture of all my distress ink pads, but I didn't think Linda or Simon Says Stamp would appreciate that, lol, so...

I decided to keep in the fall theme, yes, we're still in fall mode, it ain't December YET!  To visit the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge Blog, click HERE!

View looking down on the top:

I used Timinator's Tattered Leaves die and cut a SCAD of leaves from old manila folders.  I then smooshed distress inks on my craft sheet, sprayed with water, and went to town dying those babies.  Now, usually I'm a purist when it comes to this technique, in other words, I don't wear gloves. But this time I did, as I had a million to do. Ok, maybe not a million, but a SCAD. (word of the day).

Some of the colors I used were:

Fired Brick, Forest Moss, Mustard Seed, Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge and Spiced Marmalade. I say some, because I might have thrown some others in there, too.  They look almost real, don't they?  Love it.

I then stamped over some with a leaf stamp from Tim's Falling Leaves set, it didn't match the die perfectly, but it gave some veining on the leaves. Thanks to my friend Eileen for that little tip. hee.

I also used Tim's Pumpkin Texture Fade, inked it with distress ink, cut out, and glued to the birdhouse.

I used the Caged Bird die to cut the birdie from chipboard, inked and stamped him, too. 

I also used some of the leaves for a base under the bird house.

The house itself is a dollar birdhouse from Joann's, that I crackled.

I really love the way distress inks react with water, good stuff!

Here's a list of the other talented members of the design team:

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Katie

Terry

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

Now, be sure to make an entry in order to have a chance to win a great prize!
Go Be Creative!

Tag Tuesday! and other random stuff

The theme this week is BACKGROUNDS, as directed by the guest hostess, Pam of Scrappypam.com! You can check out the details of the challenge, HERE.
I was so in love with the Perfect Distress technique we had used for last weeks CCC, that I decided to do another tag using that technique. Same background stamp, too, which is Wendy's.

I performed the ever popular wrinkle free distress technique first, using Crushed Olive, Tea Dye, and Vintage Photo distress inks, dried thoroughly, then stamped the background stamp and used the new Espresso Perfect Pearls.  The flower (you really didn't think I would do a tag without one, did you? lol) is grungepaper, the bottom two layers being cut using Timinator's Tattered Florals die, and the flower center is a Wendy stamp.  I used the same distress inks to color the flower as I used on the background, then just stamped them and edged them with copper paint dabber. 

I added some dew drops where the stamped "berries" were, and some lace and twill ribbon. Oh, and the leafy ribbon stuff, which I believe is from May Arts, is the stem of "la fleur" (is that right, Vicky? lol)
Speaking of Vicky, she took the plunge and started her own blog, "A Little Inkling". Please do check her out (I mean her blog!) if you have a moment, very funny and talented lady who I have become friends with and hope to meet in person some day!
I have also received some wonderful "mail" art, ATC's and goodies from my blog friend, Lorraine at Creative Daily.  I met her through the blog event, One World, One Heart earlier this year, and I do admire her talent. Very much. Extremely talented artist, and one of the mediums she works with frequently is textiles, check out the ATC's. I was seriously afraid to open the envie, as it was a work of art in and of itself, but I guess I didn't do any more damage than the postal service did with their humungo ugly label, lol.   Thank you so much, Lorraine, I love everything!

Since I'm on the subject of mail received, I had won a prize on the Warrior Women Blog Hop from my new blog buddy Ellen.  Her blog is 10:36 Art, she does AMAZING work as well, AND she is going to England shortly to visit my other friend HELS. That's the word on the street, anyways...lol...

Check out that necklace she made using UTEE, foil and Lord knows what else, gorgeous, isn't it? And how 'bout that stash? All stuff I can and WILL use....yipppeeee!!!  Thanks so much Ellen!

Whew, I need to lie down and take a power nap, all these words and links are making me tired! lol

Have a good one and .... go be creative!

Sunday Stampers - Santa Claus!

I really thought that movie with Tim Allen was hysterical. I loved it. And I love Santa images, especially ones by THE Timinator. The vintage Santa's. I also love the old Coca-Cola Santa. Classic.

Check out Hel's blog to see her masterpiece, along with other wonderful entries, HERE.

This one is my favorite, although I now see I should have used the Picasa "I'm feeling lucky" button

What can I say..shrug..actually the one on the left looks like I printed it out and didn't have enough ink in my printer, lol

I went with one of my fave techniques using alcohol inks, PLAID backgrounds. Now, it's been a while since I had done one of these, so some of my lines are kinda wonky, but I was hoping the stamping would cover it up. lol. Still, not a bad Christmas card.

I do really love this Tim Santa stamp, even though my nephews say Santa is picking his nose...rofl.  Apparently they missed the part of Santa where he touches his nose to go up the chimney.  Or is it to summon the reindeer? To summon the elves to replenish his hot cocoa? Whatever. I still like it.

The "wish" is Maya Road chipboard minis, I mixed up the fonts on a couple of them. The green ones are painted with Lettuce paint dabber, and they all have distress stickles on them. In retrospect, I think covering the word with vintage glass glitter would have been a little better, 'spose I still could if I was very careful...

At least I have a couple of cards done!

Thanks for stopping by, now..

Go Be Creative!

CCC #22 - I Made a Boo-boo...

Ah, yes, that time of the week again, for another challenge put forth by our Compendium of Curiosities Challenge host, Linda. You can check out the details and other entries, HERE. The theme this week is Alcohol Ink Splatter.

Well, you would think this technique would be simple enough for even me to tackle, but let me tell you, it ain't. lol. The part in the book where Tim says, "know when to say when", yeah, pay attention to that. My first  attempt turned out similar to what I would call "alcohol ink mud". Ewww. Anywho, after that, I was a little more careful, so....

Not bad, but I should have stamped the sentiment over a lighter area, I think. Thought this would be nice for a "guy" card. Or a teenager, maybe. I added a little sea glass wrapped in wire and beads in the corner for an embellishment, otherwise this technique doesn't need much else, in my opinion.

I finally figured out why my Black Archival stamping wasn't turning out the greatest... yeah, it's called "reinking" the ink pad, you dork. Oooo, lookee there, now we have a nice crisp image... lol.

Now it's your turn....GO BE CREATIVE!

Simons Says Stamp and Show Me - Something That Makes You Happy!

Using up stash makes me happy... no, wait... ecstatic would be the correct term.  And getting to play with new stash is even better!  So, I combined some new Art Parts, Clearly Art, Conservatory paper and Wendy's stamps to make this:

I used the base rectangle, square frame, scallop trim, small flower and curved stem Art Parts.

The rectangle piece is covered with the text side paper from the 7 Gypsies Conservatory 6 x 6 pack, ( I love this stuff almost as much as G45, yep, that's how much I love it). Inked with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, splotched with water, stamped over with Wendy's "fly poop" background stamp in Coffee Archival ink, (hey, even she calls it that!). Then I stamped the little Queen Anne's lace flower stamp with Black Archival. Oh, and can't forget the little spider stamp! (upper right corner)

The square frame piece is covered with Butterscotch pigment ink (Adirondack by Ranger), stamped with Coffee Archival using Wendy's number background, then stamped with various Wendy stamps using Black Archival. I positioned the frame on some of the Conservatory paper, so the butterflies would be on one side, then cut a piece of black chip and strategically placed that on the paper containing the little bird. 

The flower Art Part is covered with Denim pigment ink, and stamped with one of my fave Wendy backgrounds, Plaid. The flower stem Art Part is covered with more Conservatory paper, as are the grungeboard leaves, which were then cut using the Tattered Leaves die. All inked with Peeled Paint, and stamped with yet another Wendy background, dotted lines.

The grungepaper flower is inked with Broken China, and stamped with another Wendy stamp.

Then I got out the NEW Clearly Art, cut out the flower shape, inked with alcohol ink, stamped with Plaid stamp in Black, and heated and shaped it. Very cool stuff. The center is one of Timinator's buttons. 
Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments, it's much appreciated!
To visit the other design member's awesome work, just click the links below:

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Katie

Terry

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

Tag Tuesday - BINGO!.... Was His Name-O

Yep, the theme this week is BINGO!.  You can check out other wonderful entries and Louise's blog, HERE.

Of course, I had to use some Tim stuff, so I got out ye ole Lost and Found paper stack and got to work.  Even a little sewing this time, lol.  Here we go:

Close up of the phrase at the top:

Ok, I was one of those skeptics that thought the tiny attacher was not necessary.  I've changed my mind. Since purchasing it, I've used it more than I ever thought I would. lol.  I felt the same way about the distressing tool, you know the little round thing that distresses the edge of the paper when you run it along the edge. I digress...
Used a little denim fabric behind the photo, dyed the fabric with numbers that you see at the top of the tag, 'cause it was bright red. And just used some leftover fabric strips for behind the Bingo card.
And you did catch that the dog's name is... Bingo..right? rofl.  The other products I think you can figure out, if you have questions, just ask...
Have a great weekend, and....
Go Be Creative!

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!

That's the theme this week over at Sunday Stampers.  Today here in Illinois, it's still in the 60's, so it's kind of hard to think about snow, but they say the high tomorrow will only be in the low 50's so......who knows, maybe snow by Monday...lol...

I decided to make a little chipboard piece to put on a card.

Here we go:

The base chip is just 4 x 4 inches, white embossed snowflakes from Tim's Mini Holidays stamp set, then inked with distress ink - Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans. I added some Diamond stickles on the flakes, which you can't see in the picture, but they are nice and sparkly!

The little houses are Maya Road mini's, which are inked and stamped with some of Wendy's stamps.  I added some Liquid Pearls for "snow on the roof". 

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up, and stamped in Chipped Sapphire.

That background stamp on the base piece, well, I'm not sure what brand that is, I'm thinking Northwoods, but don't quote me on that.

Ok, that's about it for today's installment of "how the world turns in Illinois", back later! Thanks for stopping by!

CCC #21 - I Made a Ton!

Ok, I'm exaggerating on the ton thing, but I really did enjoy this technique, so I made three tags.

For further details of the challenge, view Linda's awesome creation, and see other awesome art, go to Linda's blog HERE.

The theme is Perfect Distress, and if I told you anything beyond that, the distress ninjas will show up at the door and I'll be in BIG trouble. And I don't know how to use nun chucks (yeah, that's the American spelling, google it). You'll just have to buy the Compendium of Curiosities book to get the details. 

I'll show the three backgrounds using this technique first:

Different angle, thought it might be a little better!

So, I'm using the Picasa photo edit feature, and I really like the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, it takes all the thought out of the process. I can't believe how much better the color is. Huh, shoulda done this a year ago. rofl.

I used the new Perfect Pearls, Cafe collection, which I had been anxiously awaiting since their release at CHA in January, and could never find them anywhere, until I went to Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA on the cruise. BINGO, in the shopping cart they go, and I have to say, I LOVE THESE COLORS, especially the Espresso. Which you see on the third tag on the right. 

For the base on all these, I used the wrinkle free distress technique. And I was feeling a little flower withdrawal, so I went nuts with those, of course:

The angle is a little goofy, simply because the pearls cause a glare.  Now, I realize these aren't embellished heavily, but I'm good with that today. Some of the flowers were sent to me by my friend from Scotland, Alexandra, thru one of our Everything Wendy Vecchi swaps. I believe they are Graphicus or Paper Artsy (sorry Alexandra, I can never remember), but I've been hoarding them, and I figured it was about time to use them before they dry rot in the drawer!  You'll also recognize some of Wendy's stamps, and some Timinator stamps.  Loving those leaf ribbony things too, makes for great flower stems. (tag on the left in photo above.)  So, now it's your turn, Go Be Creative!

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Your Favorite Tim Stamp!

Seriously, just one?  lol!

Well, I can tell you, I have a lot more than one favorite, but I've narrowed it down to my top few.  The Fabulous Flourish, Harlequin Background and the Artful Flight set.  Decided to alter another canvas frame, it's an 8 x 10 inch frame, so here we go!

The bird was clear embossed on paper from the Vintage Shabby stack, inked and aged with Espresso paint dabber. Don't like a clear facet? Use alcohol ink!

Used the Stylized Label die for the sentiment background, and used tissue tape for a pleated border around it. And actually, that sentiment is from the Fairytale Frenzy stamp set, I love that sentiment.

I adhered the paper to some grungeboard, then stamped, embossed, and cut out the images (bird and cage). You can barely see a hint of the Harlequin background stamp on the frame itself, I embossed it with a mixture of Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Aged Mahogany Distress Embossing Powders.  I also used some texture paint from Viva, it's called Ferro, and is the Gold Iron color, I believe.  There is also a lot of Idea-ology bits on here as well, with the exception of the little key, which is unknown.  The Fab Flourish stamp was used on the paper behind the bird, cage and sentiment.  The bird and cage are from Artful Flight.

Be sure to check out the other wonderful design team members creations, and be sure to create and enter your piece for a chance at the prize!

Lynne

Nancy W

Nancy C

Linda C

Dan

Kim

Katie

Terry

Linda E - the DIRECTOR

CCC #20

Honestly, where does the time go?

It's NOVEMBER, for crying out loud. Unbelievable.

I was finally able to get a piece done for the Compendium challenge this week, to see the details and view other great entries, click HERE.  The theme this week is... INDUSTRIAL GRUNGE.

After viewing several of the entries, I went with a Christmas theme, too.  The reindeer is the "industrial grunge" part.

The glare? From the plastic I used as the top layer, stamping on it with Staz On Black.  The base is a piece of paper from the NEW Seasonal Paper Pack, painted with three different Perfect Pearls and ran thru the NEW Snowflake Texture Fade.  The white snowflakes are cut from Tim's new die, painted white and I added some Crystal Effectz from US Art Quest, then glued them over the embossed snowflakes.  If you click on the pic to make it bigger, you can see the base layer better.  Another simple card, but hey, Christmas time's a comin'....