A Walk On The Dark Side

This weeks Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, is A Walk On The Dark Side. I was absolutely ecstatic and knew exactly what I wanted top do! So out came every piece of Nightmare Before Christmas stuff I could find. However, the first thing I did was pull out my thin metal sheets and my tools and spent the day trying to create the iconic Jack and Sally silhouette on the hill side. Overall it didn't come out as well as I had hoped, and I had to use some paint to offset the characters because the lines didn't seem defined enough to me. But it was way better than I figured I could do when I started, so I was pretty happy. I got that stuck down, and with a fair amount of irritation and effort I finally got the inside edge to stop getting bent every time I opened and closed my art journal lol. Then I used black gesso on the page next to it, layered up a laser cut Nightmare Before Christmas sign on some white card stock and stuck that down. Then I ran the strip of ribbon across the bottom. Then I took two plastic cutouts, one of Zero and one of Jack and put them down. Then I pulled out my 20th anniversary edition of the Nightmare Before Christmas book, and found the portion I wanted to use and wrote that out in white gel pen, and it was going to well until I messed up on that one word, so just kind of try and ignore the crossed out blob of white near the bottom lol. Even though it did not come out perfectly I am very happy with how it did turn out, and I know it will always be a layout that is near and dear to me. Enjoy!

Simplicity

This spread I did this week will also be posted to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. I didn't originally make it with that intent but it worked out great. This spread was very simple and fun. I put distress oxides down all over both pages. Then I spritzed and sprayed and dried and added until I liked the outcome. Including just stamping the square ink pad right onto the pages at times. Then I used a large Dylusions stencil that has a great flowery print around the outside with fun random dots on the inside. I used extra heavy gel medium and went over the whole stencil in one direction on the left page, the I flipped it end for end and did it again to the right page. A day later when it was finally dry I spent several minutes just in awe of how it came out and the texture it provided. Then I sprayed the whole thing with silvery glimmer mists, it very hard to see if the picture, but in person it has a great sheen to it. Then I put normal white embossing paste through several word stencils, then I covered it in embossing powder, and I melted the embossing powder before letting the paste dry. Which gives it a fun squishy foamy feeling. I tore them all out, went around the edges with my orange wink a stella pen, stuck them down with foam mounting tape, and voila! It was so easy and so much fun, and is just bursting with texture, I love it!!

Braver, Stronger, Smarter, Loved

This weeks Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is Shimmer and Shine. I decided to incorporate that theme into a present for my mother-in-law whose birthday is tomorrow. I started with a 5x7 chalkboard in frame. Used Dylusions yellow paint to cover the inner surface, let it dry, applied weathered wood, let it dry, then added pink Dylusions paint over that, and as it dried it brought on the beautiful crackle. I then ran a line of glue around the entire inside corner and covered it with a purple glitter (which I am still finding on random surfaces lol). Then I stamped the quote and cut it out, glued it onto purple card stock and cut it out, again. I used foam mounting tape to add it to the painted background. Then I painted the piece of filigree in the corner and the flowers and butterflies. I added little gemstones to the butterflies, and to the center of the smaller flower. Then I layered it all up and stuck it down. Then, to make the frame pop just a little I added some dots of stickles glitter paint.

Pet the Dog

This is a spread I did in one of my smaller art journals. It was fun and simple, but is very indicative of how I like my life. I first used Dylusions paint and just spread it over both pages, not worrying about whether it was perfect or not. Then I used black Archival ink through one of the Dylusions stencils on the top left and bottom right corners. Then I stamped the paw prints across the page. I added the laser cut Keep Calm and Pet the Dog sign I got at a stamp and scrap expo the weekend before. Then using a white gel pen I added the white circles around the stenciled spot, and the words. It was a fun and therapeutic spread that always makes me smile. Especially when I have a dog snuggled with me lol.

Card Exchange

While out in Iowa over Memorial Day weekend my mom was showing me some fun things you could do with stamps and infusions. Needless to say the Penny Black flower came out awesomely, and she made a couple of them since you can do it a few times before the infusions are all used up. I asked if I could take one home, and it was decided that we would each take one and make a card for the other person with it. I ended up not getting mine done until after my birthday in June, so I took the opportunity to try and use a variety of things that I had gotten for my birthday from my mom. So, the bottom layer is just ordinary card stock. The next layer I used the new harlequin stencil I got with the orange wink a stella pen that I got. The next layer I started with one of the pieces of paper that the stencil was wrapped in, and used some of the infusions that I got for my birthday with clear shimmer paint brush strokes. Then I added the flower that I was supposed to be using, added some more of the harlequin pattern, this time with paste through the stencil. Then I used one of the Tim Holtz metal embellishments, and used one of his distress crayons to lightly color over it, to fill in the words with white so it was more readable (these were the only other things I used that weren't part of my birthday package). I really enjoyed doing this card and was happy with how it turned out.

Mother's Day

Despite this being the card I made for mothers day, as you can see I'm a little behind in blogging it lol. I had a lot of fun with this card. I went digging through random papers of various my mom and I have done throughout the years and came up with one of the melted crayon backgrounds that was rich in warm colors. Over that I used a swirly stencil and put versa mark ink through it, then I brought out the powdered pearls. Funny thing though, the color of powdered pearls I wanted to use hadn't been opened yet. See where this is going. As I was trying to get the seal unstuck so I could use it it slipped out of my hands and landed on the table, which made it go EVERYWHERE, including on the two dogs that were sitting at my feet. Lets just say it was months before some things didn't have a nice silvery/white sheen. Once I got that cleaned up, more or less, that stuff sticks everywhere, I got it on the card here I wanted it and off where I didn't. For the large flower in the middle I colored it with an embossing ink pen and then used embossing powder to give it the colors that I wanted. The grass and flower vines at the bottom were a sticker piece, as was the butterflies. The small gravestone at the bottom is actually a piece of marble chess board that broke many years ago that was then etched wit the phrase "here lies my piece of mind". I had been waiting forever for the perfect time to use it. A flowery Mother's Day card seemed like the perfect place lol.

Quick Birthday

As everyone knows life can get a little crazy at times. When my sons birthday was upon us back in April I realized that I hadn't yet made him a card. I very quickly layered up some fun paper, added some washi tape, stamped the words and added a lizard (which he is a big fan of). All in all I don't think my card in 20 minutes or less came out bad at all lol.

Crazy Times

I am so incredibly far behind on my blog posts, mostly because it is not my favorite thing to do, me and technology do not generally mix. I am today however, trying to get caught up at least some. This is a spread I started way back at the beginning of the year, If you look through the three pictures below you can see the progression of the background. I loved it when I started it, hated it when I was finished, so there it sat for a long time. Eventually, while out visiting the Family in Iowa, and having some fun mother daughter art time, I decided it was time to finish it. After all my mom does have way more cool stuff than I do lol. Once it was all said and done I liked it better than I had but still not one of my pieces that I love. The crazy dogs do help though :)

Old and Interesting

So for this weeks Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: School or Study Related, I was at a bit of a loss. So I decided to interpret it slightly differently. I wish I had remembered to take before pictures. I started with an old German book from 1859. The covers and spine were falling off, it was pretty shambled. I had originally bought it just to use the pages out of it. However the thought of doing an altered book always appealed to me. So I decided that this weeks challenge would be a good time to try that out. It took me a couple days if gluing and pressing to get the spine and covers all together and working again. Then the fun began. I took a handful of fun antique steam punk style washi tape rolls, I then started at the top and did one after another going down the book, starting on the inside of the back cover and wrapping it around. Once I got that all done I took Tim Holtz antique collage medium and worked it over the covers and spine. To not only seal the washi tape, but to try and keep the aged look of the 150+ year old book. Then I took some cloth textured paper and went on the inside cover over the first page, to help reinforce the book, and to make sure the washi tape didn't decide to work it's way up. Then I stamped the quote on the same paper I used on the inside covers. Tore it out and adhered it with the same collage medium that I did the washi tape. I then added the small clock charm. Finally I went hunting for something to do out the spine. At first I looked for a good phrase or title, and finally decided that I would use the old studded spine idea. So I found some small metal embellishments and suited the purpose and measured it out and glued them on. I am overjoyed at how well this turned out. I can't wait to continue arting through the book. I hope that you all enjoy it, and that it fits the theme ok.

Rainbow Sprinkles

I had a blast making this ATC for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. I started with a plain piece of white card stock. I used embossing paste through a diamond stencil, then immediately sprinkled pink, purple, and orange embossing powder on it. Then I heated it until the powder was completely melted and the embossing paste was nice and puffy. As it dried and cooled the embossing paste shrunk back down some, but it leaves it with a cool squishy texture. I then sprinkled Raspberry infusions on the ATC and sprayed it with water, dried and blotted until I liked it. I was actually very shocked at how cool it turned out. Then I layered it up on a piece of orange card stock. Then I went to my dylusions stamps and found the perfect one. I stamped the phrase on a piece of pink spotty paper, cut it out, then stuck it to white card stock and cut it out again. Then I stuck it on the ATC. Simple but very fun ATC!!

Color

Decided to do another ATC for Simon Says Monday challenge. This one is inspired by a technique I learned over the weekend with Tim Holtz Distress Crayons. So I started with Tim Holtz Collage Medium, made a quick layer of that and dried it. Then I used the Distress Crayons and colored in circles, yellow in the middle, then orange and finally pink. Then using my finger i worked from the middle out blending it all together. 

I then took a Mandala stencil and laid it over the crayon, used a blending tool dampened with water and brushed it back and forth over the surface, taking off the crayon through the stencil. I loved what I was left with.

 Then using Tim Holtz new Stamp Platform I got my words on there right where I wanted them. After that I was in such a flow I forgot to take step by step pictures lol. I used narrow washi tape in my three crayon colors and put it on layer by layer. Then I used a random yellow paper flower, an orange bead and a pink flower brad to make my flower have dimension. Stuck it on, and voila! Bright and fun ATC.

Happy Puppy

 Hello All and welcome to this weeks edition of Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Artist Trading Card. It has been a fun filled but crazy couple of weeks. Got to go to a couple of stamp conventions, and came home with lots of new stuff to play with. So I thought I would break some of it out for the challenge. Hope you all enjoy, cause I had a blast!!

I started with a scrap of gray card stock. I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxides, Broken China, Frayed Burlap, and Iced Spruce. Inked up my craft sheet, sprayed it with water and started working my colors. Once I liked it I dried it thoroughly.

 Then I used an Elizabeth Craft Design peel off dog sticker and put it down over the spot I wanted the dog to be.

 Next I cut out the dog (the most dreaded part of any project I do lol)

 I then cut two pieces of black metallic cardstock 2.5 x 3.5. I then used an Elizabeth Craft design dog paw stencil with some natural sand texture paste.

 After hours of waiting for the paste to dry I was finally able to tear off two edges, making sure to tear in the direction that would lead the white from the middle showing.

Then I was getting ready to assemble it when I realized I wanted to do a little more with the dog so I took my Sharpie pen and just traced inside the sticker line, and colored in his nose and eyes. From there I layered the torn card stock piece with the paw prints onto the plain piece, used foam mounting tape to attach the dog where I wanted, then punched a hole and found a matching blue brad to hang the small metal happy tag.

Coffee

After a couple months of chaos I was finally able to work on some art stuff. Deciding to get back to my weekly challenges with my mom I looked up the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, this weeks theme, food or drink. I briefly panicked cause I knew I didn't really have anything laying around that fit that theme to work with. So I decided to peruse the nearest art store and see if anything spoke to me, and something did, well a few somethings, but I only ended up using one. I decided to use a 5x7 canvas I had laying around, and began the process of the background. Layers of gesso, spray stains, mulberry paper, modeling paste, and glitter glue. I loved it more and more after each layer. Once I was satisfied with how it looked and the way the colors matched to the awesome coffee cup I found I decided to stop before I over did it lol. I added two layers of foam mounting tape and glue and placed the coffee cup where I wanted it. Overall I love how it turned out!!

Elephant

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Masculine

I had absolutely no ideas for this challenge when I started. I started going through paper stack after paper stack, ending up with a stack of about 10 papers or so. Then I started going through my stamps looking for a good quote, didn't find one but I stumbled onto the elephant you see above. Then the ideas started rolling.

I used a piece of Montana map paper, and stamped the elephant on it using sepia. I then glued that onto a standard bar style coaster. I tore off the excess paper from the coaster and then rubbed the edges on my sepia ink pad. Then I used a piece of thin cardboard and cut it to the size I wanted for my base card, covered that with one of the papers in my pile I pulled out. Then I used washi tape along the crease at the top. I took another of my bar coasters that had a cool quote on it already from a restaurant I like (Ted's Montana Grill, in case anyone was wondering), cut off the top and bottom. Then I glued everything together. I am thrilled with how well this came out. Hope you all enjoy.

Little Critters

This weeks Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Little Critters was a lot of fun. I took monkey pictures out of a story in a highlights magazine and glued them down to start. I then used Distress Oxides in green and brown to fill in the background. I stamped all the various types of leaves, and the small caterpillar. Then I used a water pen with delusions spray in it to outline some with orange. I also used colored pencils to add color to the black leaves and to the caterpillar. Then I stamped the phrase. I had a lot of fun with this page and was very happy with how it turned out.

Family = Home

For this weeks Simon Says stamp Challenge: Home Sweet Home, I decided to do a canvas incorporating one of our new family pictures. I used liquid acrylic paint on the canvas, just streaking it on there, and then highlighting some extra orange around the edges. I then stuck the picture down. I used very this wood paper and snapped it off into frame sized pieces and created the wood frame of the house around the picture. I then used some homemade fiberous paper, overlayed on a cardboard triangle for the roof. The word family is black painted cardboard letters glued on. I layer together random paper flowers that fit the color pattern, using a brad to keep them together, also making the middle of the flower look more, well flower like. Then I stuck those down and allowed everything to dry overnight. I love my family!!

Hip Hop

This weeks Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Hip Hop! The first thing that popped into my head was frogs, which turned into rapping frogs as the week went on. I started with an old piece of background paper I had made years ago that had a good blue, yellow and green flow to it. Then I stamped the lily pads with my memento ink pad. I used sharpies to color in the lily pads (I LOVE Sharpies!!). I stamped the frog, also with memento ink, and colored it in, also with sharpies....did I mention I love sharpies!?!? Then I cut it out, fine scissor work is not something that I like or that I am particularly good at, but I think I managed to keep it looking like a frog :) I stuck him down and then added the little music note stickers. And that ladies and gentlemen is my hip hoppin rappin frog ATC! Hope you all enjoy him.

Make A Rainbow

Last weeks Simon Says challenge was make a rainbow, however, due to being sick I didn't get it done on time. I decided to do it anyway once I felt better cause I liked the challenge. I started with an ATC sized piece of cardstock and colored it with Tim Holtz crayons, then using my finger and a little water I washed it all together to make the rainbow background. I tore away the edges, added the little star brads and then stamped the quote on. Finally I layered it on a piece of purple burlap paper cut down to ATC size. Simple and bright. Then I sent it to my mother :)

Get Lucky

I did this two page spread for Saint Patrick's Day, just hadn't gotten around to blogging it. Dilussions paints made the background, then I used white distress ink through the texture stencil for the little bit of white variation. Stamped the checkered border around the end and then used black paint around that to give it the fade to black look. I stamped get lucky and then used a thin sharpie to add the dots and lines around the letters. The clovers are made of stamped hearts that have been cut out and put together. Added the lines coming off the clovers, then added the butterfly. I considered adding more but for this one I decided that less was more and I liked it that way.

Birthday Stamps

So, I'm a bit behind on my blogging, as evident by the fact that the card shown above I made for my father for his birthday...which was March 1st lol. The blue and orange background is made from distress oxides rubbed on and then sprayed with water. I stamped the postage stamps around and then added the white dots for a little more pop. Then I layered it up. Fairly simple card, but he liked it so that's all that matters to me. Happy birthday old man!

Nevermore

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Things With Wings

I started with an 8x10 canvas board, using a piece of plastic netting from an onion bag I sprayed some of Tim Holtz spray stain through the netting. Put strips of washi tape across the back. The steam punk paper I layered on a piece of random lettered paper, then I used a piece of string mesh paper with the frayed edges under that. I added the small orange raven staring into the face of the girl, the black raven coming off the page, and the word nevermore was done with Tim Holtz letter tiles, an honor to my love for Edgar Allan Poe. The wooden butterfly added nice depth. I put the brass gears and clock up the side, colored a flower for the bottom gear, and used a metal flower in the second one up. I am not usually a fan of using humans in my art, but I absolutely love how this turned out! Might just have to keep it for myself.

When The Last Petal Falls

Simon Says : Layer It Up. My wonderful partner took me on a date Monday night to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie. In honor of that amazing date and movie I decided that for this weeks art journal spread I was doing Beauty and the Beast. The background started with old dictionary pages (hard to see through the photos, but slightly noticeable in person). I went over them with distress oxide inks, sprayed the page and let it dry. Then I went over it with soft body blue acrylic that had been slightly watered down. I added the random french book pages, went over the whole thing with a muddy gray dirty wash. Then I used the Inky Blue Vivid ink pad and stenciled some random clocks and shapes. Finally I took some watered down white gesso and splattered the page. I layered all the photos onto a rose patterned card stock. I tucked our movie tickets into little windows. Then printed the words "Until the last petal falls" tore them out and used a red permanent marker to highlight the edges in red. I used some red musical tape under the top right picture just for the effect, then I put it all together. I am very happy with how it turned out and am looking forward to having this tangible piece of memory from this amazing movie and date for years to come.

Create

 This week Simon Says: Make Your Own Background. So at the center it started with a piece of mixed media paper torn from a dilusions journal. Dilusions paints were applied with a sponge, then using the same colors again I applied them through stencils. Using black dilusions paint through word stencils added fun to the already bright background. I then layered it on black, orange, black, pink, and black again lol. I took an 8x10 canvas board and painted it black. Then over it I used a random rectangles stencil and put transparent glass bead gel through it. Then I waited, a painstakingly long time, which ended up being overnight, for it to dry. I then used ultra heavy gel medium to attatch the matted piece onto the canvas board. I took a boring wooden framed and painted it black, removed the glass and placed my canvas board inside. I am very impressed with how it turned out, and can't wait to see the face of the friend who is going to recieve it.

Dante's Inferno

 This weeks Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Based On A Book. I was very excited about this challenge and immediately wanted to do Dante's Inferno. I went to our "local" half price books for a cheap copy of the book to use as part of my layout. This may be my favorite art journal page yet!!! Hope you all enjoy.