Welcome April!

Hey everyone! Welcome April! You know what the first of the month means ... a new challenge on the Mixed Media Monthly Blog. This month our challenge is Dimension.

This is always one of my favorite themes. I created a tag this month using products from our AWESOME guest designer, Wendy Vecchi. I used one of her stamp sets to create the focal point of my tag. Here's what I created 

I added dimension to my project in several ways. I used Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium "Crazing" to achieve the crackle effect. I scraped the collage medium through a stencil and then let it air dry. Once dry I colored areas of the tag with Distress Crayons and blended them with a with a wet wipe. I stamped the flower image with archival ink onto watercolor cardstock. I then water colored it with distress markers.

The flower center adds great dimension as well - I colored a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Gumdrop with alcohol ink. I colored crinkle ribbon with distress markers. I used the Picket Fence Distress Crayon to color in the metal typed token.

Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Stampers Anonymous.

Stampers Anonymous is offering prizes for a few lucky challange participants - check out the blog for more details.

Thanks so much for stopping by and we look forward to seeing your projects!! 

Happy April!!! 

12 Days of Holiday Inspiration - Day 11

Welcome to Day 11 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Blog Event brought to you by the "Inspiration Crew".

We're just a group of online crafty blog friends who love being creative. This time we're doing a 12-day event to provide you with tons of Holiday Inspiration.

We're making crafty projects using products we like and some of us are even offering prizes. Check each blog and the information there for what prizes are being offered and when the winners will be announced on that blog.

 Today I'm sharing my third canvas from a Holiday Canvas Ornaments class I recently taught at Right at Home Scrapbooking this past weekend. These 4x4 canvas ornaments are so cute and easy to create. I die-cut three ornaments using Spellbinders Nestabilities Heirloom Ornaments die. I applied a thick coat of Ranger's Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy to each ornament and let them dry naturally. The result is a subtle but amazing crackle effect ...

 

 Here's a close-up ...

 

The "Believe" is stenciled onto the canvas using Tim Holtz Layering Stencil "Christmas" and then inked with Wendy Vecchi's Archival Ink. A small eye hook is added to the top of the canvas so it's ready to hang on your Holiday tree!! I had so much fun making these little ornaments and I plan to do more next year!! Have a great day and I will return tomorrow for the final project for the Blog Event! Stop by the blogs below and leave these crafty ladies some love!!

 

Donna Bowman

Rachel Kleinman

Ceal Prichett

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Jennifer Cuthbertson

Lynn Kopas  <<<that's me>>>

Misty Buck  

12 Days of Holiday Inspiration - Day 7

Welcome to Day 7 of the 12 Days of Holiday Inspiration Blog Event brought to you by the "Inspiration Crew".

We're just a group of online crafty blog friends who love being creative. This time we're doing a 12-day event to provide you with tons of Holiday Inspiration.

We're making crafty projects using products we like and some of us are even offering prizes. Check each blog and the information there for what prizes are being offered and when the winners will be announced on that blog.
Today I wanted to share a canvas I created for a class I taught at Right at Home Scrapbooking yesterday. We created three canvas ornaments using Authentique's "Believe" collection. I altered this canvas a bit from yesterday's class by giving the deer lovely gold antlers ...

This sweet deer has a wreath made from a red pipe cleaner. The sentiment is stenciled on using Tim Holtz "Christmas " Layering Stencil and then colored with Wendy Vecchi's Archival Ink in "Potting Soil".

 

Thanks for stopping by and please visit the blogs below for more Holiday Inspiration. See you tomorrow!!!

  

 

Donna Bowman

Rachel Kleinman

Ceal Prichett

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Jennifer Cuthbertson

Lynn Kopas  <<<that's me>>>

Misty Buck 



Celebrating a New Arrival!

Hello Bloggers! Hope you are all doing well and getting ready to enjoy the weekend.

I wanted to share a project I recently created for one of our Design Team members at Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog. The very talented Lalo Ik recently had a baby boy so the design team decided to create projects to help celebrate the family's new arrival. We are continuing with our challenge theme this month which is using stamps on your project. I decided to FINALLY decorate a 7Gypsies shadow box I have had in my stash for years! I grabbed a My Mind's Eye Lost and Found "Sunshine" 6x6 paper pad, also from my stash, and used some burnt orange and soft blue papers to decorate the shadow box. Here's the finished project ...

 

I stamped the corrugated alpha letters with a script stamp and Wendy Vecchi's "Orange Blossom" Archival ink. I inked all paper edges and the sentiment with the same ink.

 

I wanted to use lots of balloons and did NOT want to hand cut them so I went to Michael's and grabbed a Martha Stewart Balloon punch which saved the day. Punches are expensive but I don't mind the investment if I will use it often.

 

Congratulation Lalo and family and Welcome Little One!! Have a great weekend and I'll be back soon with more craftiness!!

October ... Already?!?!

Welcome October! If I say this a few times, I might actually believe it. Sadly, the summer is over for now and it was fun - sunshine, pool days, long nights, crafty get togethers, easier commutes, cookouts and the list goes on. Now it's time to change things up. One of the benefits of the upcoming seasons for me is more studio time. I won't feel guilty being indoors and missing out on gorgeous weather. Fall is a GREAT time for photography - so I must get out there with my DLR and capture the season!

A new month brings on a new Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!!  This month's challenge is to use ribbon, twine or fiber on your project! Now, who wouldn't love this challenge!!

 

 

Our lovely DT member Lalo generously supplied the team with some cool ribbons, twine and raffia from May Arts Ribbon, who is also our sponsor this month (more details below). The colors screamed Halloween so I decided to create a Halloween Tag! I used some older Marah Johnson Halloween papers and came up with this spooky tag ...

 

 

The twine at the top and the ribbons on the bottom coordinate so well with the Halloween theme. Here's a close-up of the bottom of the tag ...

 

 

For the spider web effect I used Tim Holtz "Shatter" Layering Stencil and applied

Art Extravagance Clear Crackle Texture Paste by Finnabair for Prima. This gave a very subtle but effective spider web look for my tag. Once the texture paste was dry, I used an ink blending tool and Wendy Vecchi's Designer Series Archival Ink for Ranger in "Orange Blossom" and rubbed the ink over the crackles. This added more color and depth to the web ...

 

 Our generous sponsor for this month's challenge is May Arts Ribbon!!

They are offering THREE FULL SPOOLS of Fall inspired Ribbon!!!! So, grab some ribbon, twine and/or fibers and let's see what you can create!! Please link up to the Mixed Media Challenge Blog for a chance to win this AWESOME prize and to see what the talented Design Team created!!!
 Thanks for stopping by. I'd love your feedback so feel free to leave me a comment!!

Oh Ya, I have a blog ...

WOW! I should be arrested for blog neglect! My excuse is ... S U M M E R !!! I want to be outside, especially after a challenging work day. So my crafty life, including blogging, has taken a back seat. I believe I'm about a month behind on PL - but I have been taking pics and journaling events in a notebook to later translate into PL pages sometime soon. I also have a project due for an upcoming Christmas in July Blog Hop - details coming next week!

Sometimes it's good to back away and then refocus. I have some classes coming up that I'm very excited about - both Mixed Media related! I also finished up a canvas recently that I want to share. This was created for Right at Home Scrapbooking and can be a class if anyone is interested! Just let myself or Right at Home know if you are interested!! 

I wanted to continue with the girl art canvases that I've been creating but change it up a bit. The canvas is 10 x 10 deep edged and will sit nicely on a desk, shelf or bureau. I wanted to use a girl figure from the shoulders up only and focus on adding a mouth, cheeks and lots of hair. I started by sketching out a figure to achieve scale ... she will have hair, don't worry!!

 

 

I then collaged some papers from My Mind's Eye "Now and Then Dorothy" Collection. The background on this canvas is simple, unlike my previous canvases, so your eye will be drawn to the girl. I used text paper to cut out the girl and gave her a sleeveless tank top. I started shading the skin, cheeks and mouth with Faber Castell Design Memory Crafts Pitt pens and Gelatos. The subtle white on the background is a light coat of gesso I scrapped on with a palette knife ...

 

 

 For her hair I used the gorgeous Dash of Red acrylic paint from Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paints. These paints are fluid acrylics and are easy to use. They are not heavy body paints so the brush strokes are not as easy to achieve but there are ways to add texture once you've applied the paints. Here's the finished canvas ...

 

 

I love how vibrant her hair is! To add some texture to her hair I dragged the handle end of the paint brush through her hair and added some "gesso highlights". I carried the ripped strips of paper to the sides of the canvas for more interest ...

 

 

On the right side of the canvas is a cool textural feature that is hard to see in the photo but is awesome in real life. I used Wendy Vecchi's Translucent Embossing Paste and Tim Holtz Hearts Layering Stencil to create a subtle area of  hearts down the side on the canvas. I added clear glitter to the hearts when they were still wet to add some shimmer to the canvas.

 

 

I added a headband and some beads for a necklace and she was done! Well, I hope you enjoyed some of the process with this canvas! I'm happy with it for my first girl of this size! I learned a lot and made some mistakes along the way - all part of the process!

Enjoy your weekend and I'd love to hear from you. I will TRY to keep up with my blog a bit better, but if the sun's out it's gonna be tough!!! Thanks for stopping by!!!