Mixed Media Train Canvas

This is only of those projects I’ve been meaning to post for a while.  I made it as an Easter gift for my father back in 2015.   I’m using it as a sample for a challenge I’m hosting over at Artsy Inkers.  Today is the start of Winter Fest on the message board.   If you’ve never checked out Artsy Inkers, now is a great time to do so.

Ok, so on to the project.  I started by tinting some light weight spackle with paint and added a little water to make it easier to spread and I covered the canvas with it.  I believe it is a 6x6 canvas.

The color was a little off, so inked it with Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade and Tea Dye, I think.  It might have been vintage photo. 

Then I stamped a bunch of images from Stampendous’ clear stamp set Railway on tissue paper with Stazon brown.  I then used mod podge to attach the images to the canvas.  I got this idea from Anna Karin.  It is a great way to get clean images onto a canvas, because the tissue paper disappears.  Mostly.  You can see in the picture some white spots. I didn’t use enough mod podge.  So a couple of tips: trim as much of the excess tissue paper off, use plenty of mod podge, and make sure the tissue paper isn’t coated (I’ve got another project that I have to redo because I used the wrong tissue paper and it didn’t disappear).  It isn't as noticeable in real life as it is in the photos.

The oval is part of the Stampendous train postcard stamp. There’s more to the image than the oval and there is actually holly on the corner of the oval because it’s a Christmas stamp.  I think I stamped it on tissue paper, originally planning to mod podged it onto the canvas.  But I realized it wouldn’t work and mod podged it onto a piece of comic book board and cut out the oval part.  I added some liquid pearls around the edge of the oval.

I made the ticket to cover the holly on the train image.  I inked the paper with Distress Ink in Mustard Seed and Tea Dye.  The image is from the same Railway set.

The embellishment is a flattened bottle cap.  To cover the logo, I die cut a piece of metallic paper that I had inked with alcohol inks.  I stamped the lantern image from the Railway set on it but you can’t really see it all that well.  The same image is on the canvas just below it. 

Here's a closer look at the finished canvas.

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.

Snarky Birthday (Projects 49 and 50)

Woo Hoo!!!! I've finally met my goal of 50 projects posted, so I can lift my shopping moratorium.  I do have a bit of a confession.  Since I knew I was getting close to my goal and I had to order some reinker for my Copics (a purchase allowed under the moratorium) and Dick Blick was having a sale with free shipping, I picked up a set of Brushos last month.  But they have been sitting in a drawer untouched since they arrived.  Which has been making me a little twitchy. But now I can play with them.  I can't wait.

These two cards have been waiting a while to be posted, since I made them for my aunt's birthday in March and my sister's in April. They started with the sentiment stamps from Riley & Co.'s Funny Bones collection.  I picked them up because I thought they were really funny and perfect for my aunt and sister.

This first card I made for my aunt for her birthday. She collects, among other things, Wizard the Oz stuff. So I figured this sentiment would be great for a card for her. The image is by Kraftin Kimmie and I picked it up to go with the sentiment. I colored her with Copic markers and I will admit to googling the stamp to find some ideas for coloring her.  I have such a hard time figuring out where to put the highlights and shadows, especially on clothes.  I know you are supposed to decide where the light is coming from but that method just doesn't work for me.  I have a easier time using an example.  There is a reason why I stamp instead of draw.  I kept the card fairly simple.

The second card was for my sister’s birthday. She is a runner. She has run several marathons and half-marathons. And I think she's crazy. So when I saw this sentiment stamp, I had to get it. Again, I picked up this Kraftin Kimmie stamp to go with the sentiment.  

I created the background for one of the alcohol ink challenges over at Artsy Inkers back in March/ April. I used mod podge to attach tin foil to a piece of comic book board. Then I embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Then I inked it with Meadow, Juniper, and Clover. The alcohol inks did not adhere very well to the tin foil.

The die cut piece was cut from a piece of comic book board covered with a "dirty" paper towel. I've mentioned before that I save the paper towels I use to wipe distress inks off my craft sheet because they usually come out looking cool. In fact, I tend to use one paper towel for blues, greens and purples and another to reds, yellows and oranges to ensure I have pretty paper towels. I attached the paper towel with mod podge and while it was wet, I added some perfect pearls. 

I added the sequins because I accidentally tapped the image with the grey marker.

Sorry but I'm not sure what I did with the list of the Copic markers I used for coloring the images.

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.


 

Winterfest Part 2 (Projects 11-14)

Here is the next of the new techniques I picked up during Winterfest - faux patina.  To make things simple, I copied the directions posted by Heidi.  You should check out her blog.
Here's what you do:
1) Emboss your piece of cardstock with any embossing folder you wish.
2) Sponge on at least 2 different ink colors, starting from light and going to dark.  At this point, you will probably want to set the piece aside to dry completely, or dry with a heat gun.
3) Lightly press the Versamark ink pad on the panel, mostly focusing on the embossed (raised) portions.  Add your metallic embossing powder.  You may want to brush away embossing powder if you want there to be less metallic portions. 
4) Heat emboss the panel. 

Here is the first project I made.  I used DI in Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire. The embossing folder is by Darice. When I added the silver embossing powdered, the whole piece was covered and I had to go back and brush it off or I would have had a solid silver piece.

 
 I combined this piece with another challenge to create a birthday card for my dad.  For the second challenge, you were supposed to create a piece that was your impression of a photo posted by the challenge host.  The photo was of a train crossing a tranquil lake on an arch bridge with snow covered trees in the background.

When I saw the picture, I knew I wanted to use this train stamp by Stampendous. It is actually a Christmas postcard stamp. But I knew it would be perfect because the train is in an oval, and the arch of the bridge in the picture with it's reflection created an oval. So I wanted to use an oval on the card. I used the bottle cap embellishment to cover the bit of holly from the stamp that overlapped the oval. The stamped sentiment actually has a flower at the center but since this is going to be a birthday card for my dad, I covered it with a button. I covered the sentiment with glossy accents and used that to attach the button. I colored the twine with silver ink.

For the second piece, I used DI in Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord. The embossing folder is by Darice and I used a metallic green embossing powder, which you can't really tell from this photo. This was the third Darice folder I used, and I used my brayer to added the Versamark because,  the Darice folders don't emboss very deeply and swiping the pad on the piece got too much ink on the piece.

You can see the green embossing powder better in this picture. The butterfly is by Inkadinakdo and the sentiment is by Stampendous.

For the third piece, I used Distress Ink in Barn Door, Spiced Marmalde, and Mustard Seed. The embossing folder is by Cuttlebug. I used a bronze embossing powder. 

The stamps are by Stampendous. I colored the shoe with metallic watercolor paints. I added copper embossing powder to the edge of the circle.  I originally fussy cut the shoe and was going to add it like that but it kinda blended into the background.  So I stamped the square with the little gears to help it stand out.

 

I created two more backgrounds with this technique, but I haven't turned them into cards yet.


For the first one, I colored the base with Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean. The embossing folder is by Darice. I used a metallic blue embossing powder.

I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with it.  I may just add a sentiment and leave it mostly as is.

For the last one, I used Distress Inks in Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans and Tumbled Glass for the base. The embossing folder is by Darice. This is another one that I had to clean off some of the powder before heating. I used a silver embossing powder.

This one is eventually going to be a Christmas card.

I'm going to share one more technique I picked up during Winterfest.  For this technique, you take a background created using alcohol inks, embossing it with an embossing folder and the brayer white paint over the piece.

I created the base with alcohol inks in Purple Twilight, Eggplant, and Cool Peri, and I added some Silver Mixative. I embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I had a bit of a problem when I added the white paint. I got too much on it and so I wiped off all the paint and did it again. But when I did that, I removed the glossy finish on the cardstock.

The image is by Inkadinkado. I stamped it with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. Then I rubbed some silver Gelato over it. I fussy cut the bird. But I didn't like how it looked, so I mounted it on silver cardstock. I used a Fiskar corner punch on the corners.

 The flowers were created with air dry clay and colored with Distress Ink in Dusty Concord and Shaded Lilac. I added some Wink of Stella to add some sparkle.

 

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.

 

Autumn Greetings (Project 6)

I’m definitely on a fall kick.  In fact, I’ve got a bunch of fall cards finished that I will be posting over the next couple of weeks.  This card is inspired by a card I saw over on the Hero Arts website.  I love Hero Arts and their blog and gallery of cards is an endless source of inspiration.  Here’s a link to the inspiration card. 

 

 

The sentiment is by Inkadinkado and stamped with Hero Arts shadow ink in Just Right.  I embossed some kraft cardstock with an embossing folder by cuttlebug.  For the leaves, I inked a snippet of glossy cardstock with a variety of alcohol inks.  Then I stamped the leaves using StazOn in Black.  The leaf stamp is by Inky Antics.  Then I fussy cut the leaves.  The leaves are just attached at their tops, under the ribbon and lace.  

Here's a close up of the leaves and ribbon:

 

The lace is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and I dyed it using Distress Ink in Mustard Seed and because it was too yellow, I added some DI in Tea Dye.  The snippets of orange ribbon under the lace is actually some ribbon I snipped out of a dress.  You know those ribbon loops they put in women’s clothing to use to keep the item on a hanger?  But of course they don’t work very well for keeping the item on the hanger and when you wear the item, they end up hanging out.  I use no-slip hangers and cut the stupid ribbon out.  But I noticed that some of the ribbon is kinda nice. So instead of going in the trash, they go into my craft stash.     
 

The alcohol inks I used are:

Lemonade
Sandal
Butterscotch
Sunshine Yellow
Sunset Orange
Red Pepper
Cranberry

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Really Reasonable Ribbon, Challenge # 102 Autumn Colors

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 141

Mixed Media Card Challenge!


Thanks for stopping by and please come again.



Vellum Circles (Projects 2 and 3)

I'm back with my next 2 projects. And clearly the shopping moratorium is working with regard to posting.  This makes 2 posts less than a week apart.  A first for me.  Course part of me wished I waited until after the Labor Day Sales to impose the moratorium. Oh well.

 

This first piece I created for a challenge on the new message board I'm hanging out on. The challenge was to use vellum on a card. One of the big challenges with using vellum is how to attach it without the adhesive showing. The sample the challenge host posted had a die cut vellum circle layered on a piece of colored cardstock cut with the same die (check out Stampwilly's awesome blog: Stampwilly Designs). That got me thinking of my Spellbinders lacey circle die. You can lace ribbon though the cut outs for a really cool effect. And thus was born the idea for this card.

I started with a piece of glossy cardstock that I had colored with alcohol inks like I did for Acornia (for list of colors see the bottom of this post). I die cut the circle out of the middle. Then I die cut a piece of vellum with the same die. I stamped leaves in Stazon black on the colored piece. The stamps are by Scrappy Cat and Inkadinkado. I forgot to take a picture before assembling. You can kinda see the leaves in this close-up and how the ribbon is threaded.

 

 

I stamped the sentiment by Inkadinkado with Versamark and embossed with gold embossing powder. It seemed fitting given the sentiment. I layered the vellum on top of the colored piece and then threaded the ribbon through the dies, leaving enough for make a bow at the end. It needed one more thing, so I used my silhouette to cut a leaf charm from shrinky dink material. I colored it with colored pencils. I had a little trouble with the stem when I shrunk it. I used some brown twine to attach it to the bow. Finally, I used foam squares to attach the circle to a plain green base.

Since I cut the glossy cardstock a bit bigger that absolutely necessary for the die, I was left with a square piece with a scalloped circle cut out of it. So I figured I would use that to frame an image and create another card.

 

 

The image is by Technique Tuesday. It is one of those sets that has the tree and different leaves for the branches and other stuff to go with the tree, including the ground. I have another set like this, but this was the first time I've used this set.

Before I stamped the tree, I lined up the alcohol ink colored piece and lightly traced the scallop circle onto the cream cardstock.  That way I could be sure the tree was mostly centered in the circle and nothing would be cut off when I attached the alcohol ink colored piece.  

I stamped it with Stazon in brown (I think) but it might have been Memento Rich Coco. Either way the pad needs some reinker. I then water colored the ground and leaves with Distress Inks (for list of colors see the bottom of this post). I also inked the edge where it would show through the circle because it was just too much cream cardstock showing.

Here's a close-up of the tree:

 

 





 

Since the alcohol ink colored piece was too short to just be the whole front of the card, I pulled out an EK Success punch and punched some scrap pieces of paper and inked them with Distress Ink Wild Honey.  Here's another close-up:

 

 

 



 

Alcohol inks: Butterscotch

                         Sunset Orange

                         Currant

                         Peach Bellini

                         Red Pepper

                         Sunshine Yellow

Distress Inks:

       Tree leaves: Dried Marigold

                              Mustard Seed w/ Peeled Paint on top

                              Spiced Marmalade

                              Barn Door

                              Fired Brick

 

       Grass:           Peeled Paint

                              Forest Moss

Thanks for looking and please come back again.

 

 



Acornia

I wanted to participate in Challenge #238 on the Kraftin Kimmie Blog.  The challenge is a sketch this week.  And since I've started on fall and Halloween cards for Operation Write Home, I have fall on the brain.  So I decided to pull out one of my favorite Kraftin Kimmie stamps - Acornia.

I  used a Spellbinder nestie to cut the circle.  I stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored her with Copic markers.  For the base, I pulled out my alcohol inks and started to play.  I applied a base coat and then squeezed drops of various colors. Then I went back over with blending solution to smooth out the edges.  I did the same thing for the green square.

The acorns and leaf were cut with my silhouette cameo from shrinky dink material.  I colored them with Copics.  Then I pulled out my heat gun and watched the magic.

For the flower, I colored the smaller flower, which was white, with Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade.  I layered in on the larger flower and added a jell acorn sticker to the center.

Here are the Copics I used:
Hair - E00, E08, E09
Dress - YG95, YG97, YG99
Cape - YR12, YR15, YR16, YR18
Acorns - E43, E79
Leaves - YG97, YR18, YR15 and R56 (I think)

And the Alcohol inks:

Orange Piece:

Lemonade
Sandal
Butterscotch
Sunshine Yellow
Sunset Orange
Red Pepper
Cranberry

Green Piece:
Willow
Juniper
Lettuce
Lake Mist

So as I mentioned at the beginning, I've entered this in Kraftin Kimmie Challenge #238

Thanks for stopping by. 

Farewell Two Peas

Wow, I can't believe it has been almost two months since I last posted.  Life definitely got away from me.  I just haven't had much crafting time lately.  Hopefully, I'll find more time to get inky. 

On a sad note, today was supposed to be the last day that two peas in a bucket, the online paper crafting store and message board, was to be open.  They have extended their final days to July 24.  I will definitely miss the wonderful stamping message board that two peas hosted.  Fortunately, I was able to participate in the last stamping fest on the two peas stamping message board last month.  And I'm going to share one of the projects I made for WSW14 (World Stamping Week). 

As part of the fest, the message board members post challenges.  This card combines four challenges.  And this card was definitely a problem child. 

You ever get an idea for a project and think that it is a brilliant idea. Then half way through the project, you realize that it wasn't the voice of genius but the voice of crazy behind the idea. This was one of those projects. For some unknown reason, I decided it would be a good idea to combine the Stamp-A-Dwelling and Stamping Triple Time Challenges.  The requirement for Stamp-A-Dwelling was to use at least three stamps to create a dwelling of some kind.  The Stamping Triple Time Challenge involved cutting light colored cardstock into 3 pieces: 2 x 3 ¼, 3 x 4 ¼, and 4 x 5 ¼.  Then you layer the pieces taping them with a temporary adhesive so you can stamp across all three layers.  Then you cut dark cardstock for mats into 3 pieces: 2 ¼ x 3 ½, 3 ¼ x 4 ½, and 5 ½ x 8 ½  square (fold for card base).  To finish, you layer the stamped piece on the mats.  The written directions may be a little confusing but it all make sense if you see an example.  So here is a simpler card I made for the Stamping Triple Time challenge. Although I reversed it, stamping the image on dark cardstock and matting with light cardstock. (The stamp is Hero Arts and I stamped it in white and colored it with colored pencils). 

 

 

 

Getting back to the dwelling, I started by cutting the white paper per the instructions for triple time and used temporary adhesive to stick them together. I first stamped the roof using the boxy boarder stamp. I added the triangle to the eaves. Then I used painters tape to mask the roof, mask off the divide between the first floor and the second floor, and then I masked to create boards before I stamped the wood grain stamp. The top floor had three boards. I remasked and did the same for the bottom floor, creating four boards. I stamped the fleur-de-lis to divide the top and bottom floors. I stamped the flower for the window.  Here's a closer look at the dwelling.

 

Next I stamped the balcony. I started with the corner stamp for the support. Then I used the bird cage stamp and masked directly on the stamp. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up. However, I mucked it up. So I restamped the balcony, fussy cut it out and attached it. I also had to paint the mucked up bit with white paint. I stamped the squirrel separately, fussy cut him and added him to the balcony.

Then I inked around the dwelling with mowed lawn and tumbled glass. I also colored the body of the house with Copic markers and the roof with faber castells.

 

Now it was time to assemble. I cut the mats out of pp that is a photo of grass. Since I wanted the door to open, I cut out the door on each layer before attaching everything.

 

I also cut out the flower window. To create the stain glass effect, I used a scrap piece of acetate on which I had practiced the oh so pretty technique. The oh so pretty technique was  another challenge, and it required that you give a particular   Tim Holtz Technique.  I had planned to make the stain glassed flower window open but I smudged the ink when I went to cut out the piece for the acetate and decided to strap that idea. I put the piece behind the hole and then put white paper behind it. I also punched the little flower in the door and backed it with another piece from the acetate. I added a brad for the door knob. When I was finished assembling, I went back and stamped the flower with Staz-On because the window didn't look quiet right.

I wanted the cottage to appear like it was in the middle of a flower garden. So I stamped the flowers to the side of the house and across the top. I also stamped some flowers coming out of the roof. Then I cut a piece of acetate to frame the house so you could still open the door. I stamped the flowers on the piece of acetate with Staz-On. Since I don't have purple Staz-On, I went over a couple of flowers with Bic marker. I attached the piece of acetate with foam squares to add dimension.

You can kinda see the acetate in this picture of the top.

I used my silhouette to cut out the grass and the flowers. I added stickles to the flowers. I used the grass, the flower, the dragonfly and the butterfly to cover the foam squares.

 

The dragonfly was created for another of the challenges, using a molded tissue technique.  You apply several single layers of toilet paper to a stamp using water and a paint brush.  It comes from Lynda Heines Blog.  After creating the piece, I colored it with Distress Inks.

 

For the butterfly, I used the Tim Holtz technique mentioned above.  I started by cutting it out with my silhouette. Then I inked it with alcohol inks. I then used a swirl stamp and Versafine ink. I figured out that I had to have the ink really wet to get it to work.

 

I'm not sure if this project was a labor of love or just a labor.

Stamps:

Roof & Balcony Support: Fiskar

Balcony: Hampton Art

Divider: Stampabilities

Triangle, Wood & Squirrel: Hero Arts

Flower window: Scrappy Cat

Flowers & swirls: Inkadinkado

Mouse: Penny Black

 

Here's a picture of the stamps used.

 

Thanks for stopping by.