Number Six

Six Years? Where did they go? Seems like only yesterday when I started following (and participating) in the Monday challenge blog at Simon Says Stamp.

This week is their sixth birthday and I'm linking a tag made to commemorate this very auspicious occasion. Uh Uh Uhmm...

The background is one of those vintage portrait photo covers and includes an emblem of the photography studio that's embossed on the front of it. The foliage was hand-cut from some Graphic 45 paper called Botanicabella. That number six tag is from a Tim Holtz paper stash and the bee is a Remnant Rub.

I'm always inspired by the MCB design team and appreciate how hard they must work to create such interesting projects week after week. I'm sending my very best birthday wishes and look forward to seeing what the next year will bring.

Hold On

At the bottom center of this photo are the words "Bird's Nest" (click to enlarge) and it was pure coincidence. The star, cut from the index pages of a very, very old cookbook was made before I even thought of using a bird (Thrift-shop Ephemera) to carry it and even then, I didn't make the connection until it was pasted down.

The stamped background was made using Tim's Dots & Floral stamp set with red and grey archival ink then tinted with colored pencils after applying a light white wash. A bit of machine stitching, gelly roll dots, Chit-Chat stickers and washi were used to complete it.

I'm linking to this week's Monday blog challenge at Simon where, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, the prompt is Use Some Lucky Stars.

Oliver

Recycle/upcycle is this week's Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp. So, I used a paper bag Valentine's Day luminary that was marked down after the holiday for the background of this tag.

(You can click on the photos for a larger, lightbox view.)

This was a chance to use my very first mini-Distress inks--I purchased Group #13 and think it is a great color combo. The darker brown at the bottom was made by combining the two complimentary colors, Abandoned Coral and Cracked Pistachio.

The flowers are from the Wallflower paper stash and the sun face was cut from an image of a Tarot Card.

You might notice in the pre-paste photo above that there are white strips attached to various flower parts. These are intentionally cut to hold the delicate parts of the flower together and I remove them immediately after I paste it down (before the glue fully dries).

The best glue to use when pasting something this intricate is an aerosol spray adhesive and I never, ever, ever use it indoors!

The portrait is of my grandfather who passed away several years before I was born.

Eclipse

An eclipse cannot exist without a ray of sunshine.

Click to Enlarge

Sorry, Simon. While inspired to make this tag from the Monday blog challenge prompt which is ray of sunshine, I didn't use a single stamp in the process.

Instead I drew a diagram I stumbled upon at the British Library Flicker photostream (a favorite place to look for inspiration) and tried out a technique using oil pastels that's been on my to-do list for awhile.

Here's a link to the tutorial, the artist's name is Loretta Grayson.

Oil pastels are fun but messy which is the main reason I don't use them too often. That, and the fact that they resist water-based paints so are less desirable in mixed-media projects. Still, their resist quality can be useful and Loretta's tutorial helps to illustrate that fact.

They have two qualities I really like--they are smooth as butter and the pigments are strong. Here in the US, you can purchase a student-grade box for a reasonable price (I used Cray-Pas). If you've never tried them and like to experiment, then perhaps I've tickled your interest.

Choose Joy

I made this card for a teacher who inspired me with a quote recently read in class (just the right words for the way I was feeling that day) and I'm linking it to Jennifer McGuire's Share Handmade Kindness challenge post.

Made with Wallflower vellum, stamped fabric using a hand-carved butterfly and a background stamp by Inkadinkado, it was embellished with machine stitching and Ranger's Liquid Pearls. The text is a Remnant Rub mounted onto a painted Grungeboard scrap.

On the inside, I typed the following quote:

"Choose joy. Then cherish and savor it.

Joy is not a fleeting emotion based on outward circumstances, a transitory feeling of the moment, a reaction to the scenery around you. It comes from within your heart like the waterfall that rushes out the side of a mountain. Joy is a runoff from the wellspring within you. And sometimes it is a delightful, surprising contrast to the scenery around you.

Embrace joy. Relish it. Even if those around you don't have it right now, you can feel your joy. You don't have to be disrespectful of their feelings, nor do you have to let their lack of joy diminish yours.

You have done your work. You have chosen to open your heart. Now you have your reward.

Cherish joy. It's your treasure. You've found it. You've earned it. It's yours."

-Melody Beattie

I'm also linking this to Simon's Monday blog challenge this week. The theme is Create Something Beginning with the Letter N (I used a needle) and it turns out that stitching is an excellent way to anchor vellum to cardstock. My thanks to the inspiration provided by Andrea Ockey Parr which gave me the idea to use fabric on my card.

Birds

When I was a kid, there weren't many horror movies compared to today and they were pretty harmless by comparison. But I'll never forget one that really scared me and gave my sister nightmares--it was The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock.

So I made this tag for Simon's Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is Monster Mash. I used Distress inks and two stamps by Tim Holtz (the large bird and filmstrip) and one by Penny Black (Winter Ledge). The house was an image transfer of the school building from the movie and I hand-lettered the text.

No. 526714

Tickets is this week's theme at the SSS Monday blog challenge. So I made another entry because I wanted to try an image transfer on a Journal Ticket.

Click to Enlarge

The background paper is from the Correspondence Paper Stash and I used my current, most favorite craft stash--Remnant Rubs.

The local big box only carries one kind and they're always out of them so I will order more online which is my reward (which I think I deserve) for cleaning up the craft room. Yeah!

Gingham

I'm not always open to whatever comes next except, maybe, when it comes to crafting. I'm the type that likes to make lists and always have a plan. But since surprises and happy (?) accidents are part of making art, I am learning to embrace them.

The photo I used is a Found Relative and since Fido seems to be anticipating something, Tim's Small Talk sticker seemed appropriate here.

Click to Enlarge

Mostly, this was an experiment with my Simon Says Stamp stencil called Gingham which I used in several layers to create a background with Distress inks.

After altering and pasting on the photo, I created a border with the stencil and texture paste that I tinted with black gesso.

The butterfly (left over from another project) has a layer of clear crackle and provides a touch of sparkle.

I'm linking to the Monday blog challenge at SSS where this week's theme features Simon brand products.

Winter's Past

I haven't seen (or felt) snow for almost 15 years. But I do remember those bright, cold mornings when everything was quiet and peaceful in a frosty blanket of white.

Prompted by Simon's Monday blog challenge which is winter stamping, I've created this tag from watercolor paper, images stamped with archival inks and tinted with Distress stains and ink.

Click to Enlarge

I used a gel pen to frost the tree tops and a bit of white acrylic paint to blend out the snow drifts in the foreground.

Arches is a well-known brand of watercolor paper and full-size sheets are embossed with the lettering you see in the lower right-hand corner.

Stamp credits: LaBlanche (house), Inkadinkado (trees), Tim Holtz (car)

Together

"Make New Friends and Keep the Old" is the Monday blog challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp. It's also the name of a song I learned in Girl Scouts which was sung "in-the-round" (like Row Row Row Your Boat). I hadn't given it a thought since I was a Brownie xxx years ago ☺ and now I'm having major flashbacks. For you youngsters out there, here's what our uniforms looked like back in the day:

Imagine girls (of any age) wearing gloves today and why did the Brownies wear a manly bright orange neck tie? Strange, yes, but I liked them. Mom, not so much as they were a pain to iron.

The challenge prompted using something old or new so I grabbed the very first stamp I ever purchased, a vintage sunflower from Inkadinkado. It is based on this original engraving:

Click to Enlarge

I applied an image transfer of the girls to a blank tag and before rubbing off the paper, I stamped the background. This way the transfer acts like a mask and saves a step or two. I used distress inks and colored pencils to tint and washi tape for embellishment.

The "new" feature on this tag is the Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs text which I recently acquired and used for the very first time.

If you'd like to know more about the image transfer technique, you can find my tutorial here.

Good Old Days

Oh, how I wish for the good old days! If I'd been born 150 years ago--
I just may have been happier. I'd be a pioneer woman with lots of kids, have a rifle for hunting and a garden. I'd bake the best bread and pies, go to church every Sunday and sleep soundly at night. I would most certainly appreciate all the little things that make life sweet.

Click to Enlarge

So to commemorate my blissful thinking, I've linked this tag to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

It was made with a variety of pasted papers including a Tim Holtz "found relative."  Washes of acrylic paint and swipes of distress ink provide the color.

I used stamps to fill in some blank spaces and the flowers were cut from Tim's Wallflower paper stash.

Cultivate

I've made a lot of nature-inspired tags lately so why stop now? Prompted by this week's SSS Monday blog challenge "family" theme, I found this excellent photo from my great aunt's collection.

I don't know their names but my relatives lived on a farm in Nebraska and I think it's fun that all the boys are barefoot and wearing bib overalls. In the original photo they were standing on a front porch.

With stalks of corn and advice taken from a gardening manual, this tag was made by creating a background with distress inks, cutting and pasting a copy of the photo, drawing and painting the plants, and hand-lettering the text.

Soap Box Queen

Today, I'm sharing the result of a tag made for the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp where this week's theme is paint.

It all began by dripping transparent acrylic paints from one end to the other with the help of a water mister.

Then I wandered through images on the net until I found one that spoke to me and transferred it using polymer medium (see tutorial here).

I drew the platform and crown with fine tip markers and used acrylic paint on her dress and the shadow.

The bubbles (also paint) were made with the Falling Snow stencil by SSS and emphasized by outlining with a marker.

Monopoly

I couldn't let the letter M challenge at SSS go by without one more entry since I've had more time to play this week and found this theme easy to work with.

For Christmas, I received a collection of miniature stamps by Tim Holtz and they remind me of the place markers from a Monopoly game.

So I found a great image of the patent application submitted by Charles Darrow in 1935 and added a few new place markers to his design.

I give much credit to Stampers Anonymous for these tiny stamps as they have an incredible amount of detail. So, how about this for a title?

Modified Miniature Monopoly Markers by an M Maniac

(I think I better take a break...)

Got Rubber?

I can't explain exactly what the attraction is. Sure, rubber stamps are easy to use, the variety is mind-boggling, and they come in handy for all kinds of things. I think they have magical powers because they put a little voice inside my head that whispers, "you know you love me, buy me."

The Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp is "We Love Stamps," so to show my love I've used a total of 15 stamps to create this tag. They are all store-bought except the cat and the box he's sitting on.

The "got rubber" stamp came in a bundle I bought on E-Bay. I've had it maybe three or four years now and this is the first time I've officially used it. It's not too versatile (for obvious reasons) but given this week's challenge theme, I think it's most appropriate.

The Little Cowboy

This is a photo of my Dad (who is now 83). He must have been quite proud of his cowboy outfit but this may have been one of only a few happy moments in his otherwise, bleak childhood.

He joined the navy at 17 and got a lot of tattoos and when I was a kid, I remember how we would ask about them, where he got them and what they meant.

So this was my inspiration for creating a collage, using a background of torn book pages, an image transfer of his photo and a heart tattoo, a scrap of sewing pattern tissue paper and text cut from a ticket. Colored pencils and acrylic paint were used for color.

I've linked it to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp, where the theme is "this is where the cowboy rides away." It doesn't qualify for the random drawing because it is not a new work but it is the first time I've ever shared it with anyone.