Craftman

This is Craftman, the super-hero who saves the day by helping artists create and play. And where there's play there's happy and the world could sure use a whole lot more of that right now.

The background was made using an emboss resist technique where I stamped (Tim Holtz Dots & Floral) with clear embossing ink and powder on a piece of light card stock. Then it was covered with black paint and wiped off the embossing before it was completely dry. Here's an old tutorial from the Tim Holtz blog where I learned the technique.

The map is a piece of Tim Holtz ephemera made thinner (almost see-thru) by peeling off the back and using a little water and my finger to rub away the paper bits.

Craftman (Tim Holtz Sideshow) was stamped on light paper with Vintage Photo Distress ink and fussy-cut. The flower pot was cut out of a coloring book.

It was mounted on a piece of light gray card stock and I machine-stitched the border. I'm linking up to Simon's Monday challenge--this week "it's a man thing."

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Nature

A journal page: Distress inks, stencil by Prima (Read My Letter), botanical print (Plant and Floral Woodcuts for Designers & Craftsmen by Theodore Menten), text quote by Karen Madwell.

I'm linking up with Simon's "Make Your Own Background" challenge.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Patience

I made a background by stamping (Tim Holtz Ledger Script) on a manila tag with black Archival ink then used several blue and green Distress inks to give it some color.

I transferred this image over the colored text background using gel medium. Because of the transparent nature of image transfers, the background would have been visible underneath the white areas of the image.  To solve this problem I printed a second copy of the image, fussy-cut just the girl and pasted her over the top of the first image layer. She was tinted with more inks and a text label was made with my typewriter.

I'm linking up with Simon's Monday challenge to Make Your Own Background.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

TWIV

There's such a good challenge at Simon this week called "We're Going Around in Circles."

So I made a hand-carved stamp of a circular symbol known as an Ouroboros. I wish I could say the design was my own but I found it on the net. It was chosen for its simplicity to make it easier to carve.

It was stamped on a vintage book page tinted with Distress inks and the snake's texture came from embossing powders. An Idea-ology sticker was altered with sanding and a vintage sun applied using my image transfer technique.

I printed an image of coronaviruses (Micrograph from Frederick A. Murphy, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas) then cut/paste and tinted it with Distress and emphasized the edges with a black, fine-line marker.

I used my vintage typewriter to make the text quote which I heard on last Friday's This Week in Virology (TWIV) podcast. The border features dots of my new favorite crafting product, Pumice Stone Nuvo Vintage Drops (thanks Simon!) which dry to a matte finish and are so very easy to apply.

It may not be your cup of tea visually but I like it and it was very satisfying to make. My stamp turned out great and I hope to use it again soon. And above all, the symbolism in this tag makes my head spin. ☺

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Honey Bee

This post is all about the bees. Thanks to lots of rain some weeks ago, every plant here is in full bloom including the desert trees now covered with a blanket of tiny yellow flowers and just as many bees! The air is filled with the sound of them.

The Simon prompt on Monday was "We're All A Buzz" and given my namesake, how could I pass this one up?

I made a card using a stamp set by Simon called Delicate Flowers, the background paper is Epiphany by Prima and Nuvo Vintage Drops were used around the border.

I stamped the flowers on tissue paper and redrew some of the lines to sharpen them. I used Distress Inks for color and created a shadow effect around the frame edges with colored pencils.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

It's a Dog's Life

Inspired by this week's Simon Monday challenge, I'm sharing this journal page that features a trio of vintage canines (Tim Holtz Paper Dolls).

The background is the original cover page from a magazine which I hung on to because I thought it had potential.

It's tricky working with magazine papers as they tend to wrinkle and can be fragile so I use a glue called "Yes" because it doesn't buckle paper.

I used a stencil (Clarity Stamps Treescape) with some dark gray metallic paint and the birds were stamped on tissue paper before pasting down.

The paper dolls were peeled from their backing and most of the paper rubbed off to make them nice and thin which is my preference when collaging.

Both sides of the dolls were sealed with acrylic medium before assembly on the page to protect them and give them strength. I used various staining inks to tint them with a small brush.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Blue Skies

Does anyone know what day it is because I am seriously starting to lose track of time.

As one day runs into another during this sequester, I'm grateful for my hobbies which have recently grown to include playing the piano--something I haven't done for a while.

I've spoken about my two great aunts, Esther and Ada, and how I inherited many of their keepsakes. Ada was a college professor with a masters in Music and I have hundreds of pieces of her sheet music including the song "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin.

That was my inspiration for this tag made to link up with Simon's Monday challenge this week because it is not a card.

I modified the image by replacing the wings, punching holes in them and scraping away the printing to lighten spots for tinting. I used a Gelly Roll and various ink pens to modify the umbrella.

The background is an image transfer that came from an old book page, I drew circles and made dots for the border and the text was produced on a vintage typewriter.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Neighbors

Fortunately, during this pandemic and the stay at home orders, the weather here is suitable for walking outdoors and my neighbors are taking advantage of it.

As I gaze out my window, I am seeing many of them for the very first time!

The "neighborly" text sticker (Tim Holtz) seemed right for this tag made with a printed vintage photo that was cut-out and pasted over succulent plants cut from scrapbook paper (Kaisercraft).

I'm linking this up with Simon's Monday challenge blog because many succulent plants start with the name Echeveria and this week's theme is the letter E.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Everything is Possible

Simon's Monday challenge blog features Stamperia this week and the theme is texture.

I have altered a page from Stamperia's Oriental Garden as the background for this tag by darkening the edge around the moon with colored pencils and inks. I used a dark marker to strengthen the color of the branches and other lines. Not much, you understand, but just enough to create more contrast.

The birds were stamped onto thin pink paper then cut-out and pasted to the tag. I like this bird stamp set but it wasn't made properly (trimmed). The rubber edges always print no matter how careful I am so I'm forced to make a cut-out. No big deal.

I created texture by covering the flower blossoms with Glossy Accents and used a Tim Holtz stencil called Dot Fade with white texture paste. I find this stencil so useful for adding random bits and use it very often.

The text was typed onto the back of thin scrap paper with my 1970's-era electric typewriter. While you can't really see it here, the center of the O's are missing. Because age has hardened the machine's rubber platen, when I use thin paper the striker cuts right through it.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Grow

Inspired by a mood board posted at Simon's Monday Challenge blog, I've made a tag using pages/images from the Memoranda paper stash, a photo found on the net and stamped bees. The tinting came from Distress inks and a Gelly Roll pen.

The image is one of my favorites and I used it for this tag.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.
Until next time, take care.

Find Hope

Another tag made today--it will become #253 on manilaguerilla.blogspot.com. Have you been there? As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit. Until next time, take care.

Strength & Calm

I'm grateful to have an at-home hobby due to the confinement imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and I've made a journal page which was a good way to channel my emotions and nervous energy.

The elephant and lotus blossom symbols literally jumped right out at me to use here and they are so right for reminding me of how best to handle this adversity.

I'm linking to Simon's Monday challenge, this week's theme is "Stencil Fun."

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

Life is Good

(in spite of the chaos...)

I'm finally able to share something for the weekly Simon Monday challenge--A Bit O' Green. I've had a lot of false starts the last few weeks but you can't say I haven't tried☺.

This tag is nothing more than a background made with the Distress ink/oxide splat, drip, smoosh technique (Cracked Pistachio, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Frayed Burlap), lots of stamping with archival inks and a Remnant Rub.

I used a Gelly Roll pen for the light/white details and colored pencils to tint the stamping.

You can see in the close-up shot that I used a very fine line black pen to sharpen some of the lines and add a little more contrast.

I can either spend hours fussing with something that just won't come together or start something on a whim that makes itself in minutes--and I have little control over when this happens or why!

My, how art can mimic life (and today's current events). ☺

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.