B. terrestris

Coloring. That's what my husband calls it when I'm working in my craft room. Today his description is very accurate.

I took a vintage image (Graphics Fairy), transferred it to kraft-colored card stock with gel medium (an image transfer) then used colored pencils and distress inks to give it some color.

For me, the biggest challenge when working on kraft-colored paper is making sure I have enough value changes (lights and darks). In this case, the addition of white on some of the long grasses helped.

One Size Fits All

I've altered a vintage "alterations" tag with an image transfer over some ink plus stamping and Remnant Rubs.

I was born and have lived my entire life "land-locked" but felt completely altered when I visited the ocean shores. Standing on the beach, listening to the waves brought immediate calm and serenity.

If only I could spend the summer at the beach! Maybe someday?

For now, I'll just make tags and link them to Simon's Monday blog challenge--this week's theme is Splash It On.

She Meant It

I'm sharing an art journal page with you today, made by transferring an advertisement from a magazine with gel medium then highlighting it with black and white gel pens, a Found Relative, some butterflies (from the Snippets ephemera pack) and text (from Clippings stickers). I also transferred book text to fill in some empty spots.

I was really drawn to the advertisement--a room with wonderful plaster and wood forms, a large framed mirror over such a decorative fireplace and one fabulous chandelier. How clever to furnish it with a modern style sofa and rug.

And so I began this art journal journey celebrating the page and becoming more intimate with all of it's interesting embellishments.

Update: After posting, I went to the ad's website (The Rug Company) and found the original photo so I thought I'd include it for another perspective. BTW, the rug comes in several sizes and prices range from $3,500 to $51,000! It's hand-knotted silk.

Happy Place

Has spring arrived where you live?

It's full-on here in the southwest desert and pity the poor allergy sufferers as our winter rains have brought a profusion of flowers.

The tiny, yellow, desert-kind that flock every tree and bush like snow and eventually fall to the ground covering it in drifts.

The bees are having a heyday and so am I now that I've returned to my happy place and I've made a collage.

I took step-out photos of the project hoping to share my technique but they just didn't turn out (my camera skills are rusty). So if you are interested in how it was made please read on and I'll describe it for you instead.

I covered a piece of heavy-weight drawing paper with random bits (including an alphabet die-cut scrap), then white-washed everything with a light coat of gesso and pasted it onto an old textbook cover.

I enlarged then laser-printed an image which was transferred to the background using gel medium. I sanded the surface here and there to age it's appearance.

I stamped flowers (Tim Holtz Flower Garden) using archival ink then tinted them with acrylic paint.

For the sentiment, I used Tim's new metallic stickers (Quotations) which I distressed a bit with sanding and Distress ink. I used his new design tape (French) just behind it.

The striped lines you see in the tape are the result of scanning my artwork (since I am currently camera-impaired). This is a digital anomaly only--they do not exist on the original tape.

Sweet Love

I used an image transfer on a page from the Memoranda paper stash (Tim Holtz), a torn strip of vintage book paper (that included the margin), polka dot scrapbook paper and some paper trimmings to complete this tag (including text from Idea-ology Clipping Stickers).

To keep the background from showing through the transfer, I used white paint behind it (like I did here). A little Tumbled Glass distress stain along with a charcoal pencil and distress markers added more definition to the image.

I'm linking up with Simon's Monday challenge blog--the theme this week is "Use Your Favorite Tool."

I gave this some real consideration while working on my tag, reflecting about each tool as I used it. There are many gadgets I just couldn't do without (like my tweezers, water brush, or glue stick) but in the end, my favorite is:

(drum roll, please)

the X-acto Knife! My scissors are dusty--I always reach for my knife to make straight cuts and most particularly, for fussy-cutting (a favorite past-time). The flowers on this tag are an example of that.

▬ ♦ ▬ ♦ ▬ ♦ ▬ ♦ ▬ ♦ ▬

My schedule for crafting has been really limited lately and I've haven't posted as often as I usually do. But I want to extend a welcome to the new followers I received by way of Tim's post on the Creativation show this year and also thank those of you who've been with me for awhile.

I'll be back as soon as I can, I've got some new ideas up my sleeve and can't wait to get them down on paper and share them with you!

Brownie

A photo found here was my inspiration for a tag that combines scrapbook paper and image transfers with a Souffle Gelly Roll pen and the new Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clipping Stickers (a salvaged assortment of adhesive backed phrases, words, and numbers).

I was pleased to receive the stickers when asked to complete some show samples (which I'll post soon)--the phrases available are excellent and really kick-start my imagination!

The dark areas in the top of the photo were sanded a bit to lighten before transferring. To learn more about my image transfer technique you can see a demo here.

Not Guilty

Yes, I'm guilty of not posting for a very long time but not guilty of wanting to--just so darn busy with all the stuff that gets in the way of having time in my studio to create.

Then, when I did find some time, I spent way to long on a project that never seemed to come together and I should have given up on it but I just wouldn't accept defeat. Thank goodness it finally made it to the trash can.

So it feels really good to get back to basics, take a few images found on the net that had caught my eye and put a tag together. No pressure, no struggles--just plain fun.

I call this one "Not Guilty" because the gent is actually a French criminal and this photo is what you might call a vintage mugshot. Well, he looks like a good guy to me so his crime must not be serious.

The background is a coloring page courtesy of a free download from Alisa Burke and the insect was found on Pinterest.

Abraham

A mixed-media menagerie is what Tim had in mind for this month's tag using a rub resist technique with dimensional coloring and this is what his post inspired me to create.

I lightly tinted a vintage tag (used for tracking sewing alterations) with shades of fall colors and applied Gilded Alpha remnant rubs and a bit of stenciling.

The photo is an image transfer that I framed with tiny dots of black Scribbles (a 3D fabric paint).

I cut and pasted Abraham's initials from a text stamp and the owl stamp was hand-carved by yours truly. The Adornment Arrow was tinted with Butterscotch alcohol ink to match the gold of the remnant rubs and I used some Small Talk stickers that were a perfect match for the photo.

Louella

In the desert, there's no such thing as "a touch of fall in the air" because daytime temps stay in the low 100's until mid-October. So it's not the weather that inspired me to make a tag that looks a bit "Halloween-ish" but it does (I expect it was my color choices).

Perhaps it was just wishful thinking as I've grown tired of the heat and can't wait for winter. Oh how lovely it would be to spend the fall anywhere but here. It's such a lovely time of year.

Natasha Returns

Meet Natasha. She has returned for another appearance on my blog (see previous post here). She's an image transfer laid on top of a background made from the bricks Mixed Media Thinlit by Tim Holtz.

There's also a scrap of his Tissue Wrap and the butterflies are a stamp from Prima. A bit of embossed polka dots (Tim's Dots & Florals stamp) and a stitched border that was painted and embellished with black Gelly Roll lines complete the look.

I've recently entered the world of die-cutting and I'm learning as I go. As if I didn't collect enough collage "scraps" already, I've got a feeling this new technique will add to my collection exponentially!

Here's what I know now: Tissue paper over die-cuts can work and look OK but I don't care for the appearance of the image transfer over them and won't do this again in the future.

Kimono

I get attached to certain photos, especially when I use them in art. Somehow, working with them connects me to the person more intimately and maybe, after I'm through, you will feel connected to them too.

I switched out the old wall phone with an image transfer of a vintage street scene of Tokyo. The tinting comes from Souffle Gelly Roll pens and just a bit of black colored pencil.

I'm linking this to Simon's Monday challenge blog. This week's theme is texture but instead of using physical texture I've used visual texture. If you're unfamiliar with the concept you can read more about it here.

By the Sea

I enjoy painting scenes using vintage photos. But as you can see by the original (below), I didn't stray too far with this one.

After making an image transfer (using this technique), I used a Prima stencil for the stone wall and the birds are from a Tim Holtz stamp. Mostly, I used craft paint, a bit of ink and a Pitt brush pen.

I'm linking to this week's Monday challenge blog at Simon Says Stamp where the theme is Nautical/By The Sea in a mixed media style.

Ten Degrees

Here's a journal page to share with you today. I've been working in a large Dylusions journal creating two-page spreads--it's almost one-third full and getting much too thick to manage.

So I removed the completed pages and made a separate binding for them. Now my journal is nice and flat again and this time, I will work on just one side of the page and see if I like it better.

Today's page was inspired by this photo from a blog I've recently started following. It began with a background made from the corners of envelopes clipped by my great Aunt for her postage stamp collection (when I removed the stamps, I kept the corners to use for collage projects).

I applied the photo via an image transfer and used Postale tissue paper (Tim Holtz) in the foreground. The top of the collage was stenciled with texture paste (Tim's Dot Fade).

To enhance the areas the girls are standing on, I added additional lines with a permanent marker and used a bit of white paint to lighten the squares.

I wanted to retain the vintage colors so very little additional tint was applied except for some minor shadows made with a black colored pencil.

I am really grateful to this unknown photographer who captured such an inspirational image (and to the website for sharing it). Working on this page was really a pleasure. I wish I knew what a fisherman's store is but think it may be a warehouse. Can anyone enlighten me? Then I wonder what in the world these girls were doing there!

Be Still

My cat knows how to be mindful. He can sit for hours, just being present, calmly watching the world go by (in between frequent naps, of course). The sentiment used on this tag is a tribute to his pensive mood.

I began by pasting paper scraps to the background, covered them with a light gesso wash, then applied tint with inks and stains. I laid down a layer of fine crackle medium and used more ink to emphasize the crackling.

The cat is a tiny image transfer, the leaves and birds are Botanical Remnant Rubs. My confidence in using the rubs has greatly improved since I discovered they always stick better when applied to an acrylic-coated surface.

Poemata.

Poemata. That's Latin for poems. This word, along with a British Museum seal (in red), appears in their Flickr photostream where they have scanned and made available to the public over 1 million images. The small ornate frame with the word and number Tomo III also came from the stream.

I can't remember where the butterfly (actually a Luna moth) came from but it's an image transfer (along with the words) and appears brown because the particle board surface of my support is that color.

The wreath (Prima Noble Darling) was stamped onto old book paper and cut out, the lace was "borrowed" from a card a friend of mine gave me and the border was made with Liquid Pearls (Ranger).

The background text (Tim Holtz Ledger Script) was stamped with Ranger archival ink (Potting Soil) and the support is actually one of Tim's 4" x 6" burlap panels sans the burlap. There's also a tiny strip of white mulberry paper on the left-hand side.

I like working small so this was a good size for me and you can pull out more stops on wood than you can a manila tag. Maybe I've found a new calling? We'll see.

Creativity

This is my last week as a guest designer for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and it has been a wonderful experience.

This is such a great blogging community full of inspiration and information--I'm happy to be a part of it and grateful for the feedback I've received!

This week's challenge is to use a metallic element so I made an assemblage that would definitely set-off a metal detector!

I used found bits of really rusty metal (the square frame and large nail), a vintage key and lots of Idea-ology including a Quote Band, Number Brad, Gadget Gear, and Faucet Knob.

A border for the Burlap Panel was made using tacks and copper wire (credit to Paula Cheney at oneluckyday.net for this idea).

The background technique is rather unconventional. After prepping the burlap with paste medium (to fill in and even out the surface), I transferred an image cut from the Destinations Paper Stash using polymer medium. The overage of paste medium around the edges was tinted to match the paper.

I've done image transfers with lots of Paper Stash and I suspect it would work with other brands as well. Here's a link to a recent tutorial which describes my technique in more detail.

I included a doll and roses because of the Quote Band. The Salvaged Doll is the artist, the faucet knob represents effort, the number stands for time, the key unlocks the idea, the gear stands for the process and the result is beauty represented by the three Heirloom Roses.

It's fun and easy to transform the doll from its original, stark-white appearance. I just covered her with off-white paint, used blue for the dress, brown for the hair and mixed-up a flesh tone for the face, arms and legs. Everything was coated with fine crackle medium and after it dried, I dropped in some Tea Dye Distress Stain to emphasize the cracks. A tiny drop of red ink went on her cheeks and a fine-tip black marker helped define the eyes and mouth (my photo doesn't do her justice).

I wanted to match the roses to the other pieces but didn't have rust-colored alcohol ink. Since mixing colors opposite each other on the color wheel makes mud, I thought to drop an assortment of colors I did have on top of the roses until I got the look I was after. Then I took the shine away with some fluid matt medium.

The Quote Band was also given a rusty look. I filled in the letters with white paint, wiped the background with a rust-colored ink (like StazOn) and used black paint to distress the edges. I used an antique gold metal paint on the Faucet Knob and glued on a few brads with Glossy Accents.

Speaking of glues, if you'd like to try making an assemblage but you're not sure how to anchor the elements I have some advice. Use nails, screws or wires when you can (no problem with the Burlap Panel since the backing is made of wood). When you can't, a good urethane-based glue (like Duncan's Liquid Fusion) and some clamping will secure just about anything. You can see my other assemblages here.

There are other details about this piece that I could mention but if you've already read through what just may be the longest post in the history of craft blogging, then I may have said too much already!

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Please join us for this week's challenge and when you upload your creation to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog you'll have a chance to win a $50 voucher at the Simon Says Stamp store!

Here's a list of the products I used for this challenge which can be ordered from Simon:

Tim Holtz Burlap Panels, 6x4 Inches	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Stash DESTINATIONS 12 x 12	Tim Holtz Idea-ology SALVAGED DOLLS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology 2015 HEIRLOOM ROSES Embellishments	Tim Holtz Idea-ology GADGET GEARS
Tim Holtz Idea-ology FAUCET KNOBS	Tim Holtz Idea-ology QUOTE BANDS Findings	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Remnant Rubs 2015 SPECIAL DELIVERY	Tim Holtz Idea-ology ELEMENTS REMNANT RUBS	Ranger Alcohol Inks
Duncan LIQUID FUSION Adhesive Glue	Glossy Accents	Tim Holtz Idea-ology PASSPORT Design Tape	Tea Dye - Distress Stains	Tim Holtz Idea-ology NUMBER BRADS