Leaving the Nest

A coworker asked me to create a card for her friend whose last child was "leaving the nest". I        thought about making a card but you know how it goes, art just evolves! A card seemed way to small for what I wanted to do and just as much work (or fun, depending on how you look at it!), it ended up on an 8x8 canvas. 

When my youngest left our "nest", it was a rite of passage for me, as well as for him.  There was certainly an adjustment period. The house seemed empty, his room WAS empty, I miss both my kids. So I kept busy by painting his room. And little by little all of my craft supplies crept into his old room. It took me all of two weeks to fill that room up with my toys!! The next time he came home, he laughed and said, "wow, Mom, you didn't waste any time filling up my room!" I left room for a large air mattress!

Make ART Challenge

I love anything "Wendy Vecchi" and when I noticed the Make ART challenge blog, it gave me an idea.

I started with brown Kraft  paper for my card base. After searching through my Wendy stash I came up with Art Parts hearts which I basecoated with white gesso, then a coat of antique linen distress paint, stenciling one with a Wendy stencil and stamping the other using cornflower blue archival ink. I bordered the hearts with Tim's distress glitter.

You probably can't see it, but tried the faux plaster technique on the background and then used background stamp from Wendy set called Art Fit For A Queen. I stamped another solid background stamp (the moonrose art stamp.com) with cornflower blue archival, again, cut out and popped up on top of stripped background.

The cute little ink bottle is a Prima wood embellishment. I smooshed  it into versa mark and embossed with cornflower blue (what else!) embossing powder. The pen nib, arrow, lace and elegant flourishes are from my Tim stash, as were the letters (thinlets), which I also embossed with 

cornflower blue.

I had wanted to use a scallopped Art Part for the letters but it would have been way too bulky, so I
settled on a strip of kraft paper, decorating one edge with a border punch and stamping with a pin dot 

stamp from Wendy's Resident Artist stamp set. I attached the letters to the strip.

I am going to use this as an engagement card for a special couple!

Thank you to The Funkie Junkie Boutique for hosting this challenge!

Challenge 5 / Compendium of Curiosities Book #3

Happy 4th of July to all! After raining most of the day, I am looking at a most beautiful sunset. And cooler weather.

CC3Challenge #5 Watercolor Distress Marker .. a special thanks to Inspiration Emporium for hosting Challenge #5 and to Linda Ledbetter for hosting the challenge on her blog.

 

My project for this round is a card. For the background I used a technique I learned from Wendy Vecchi's blog. I began with specialty stamping paper cut to 4X5” On a craft sheet, I put a drop of dandelion reinker and a drop of geranium archival reinker,  pouring a small puddle of rubbing alcohol next. I mixed each color separately with the rubbing alcohol. Then I took the cut piece of specialty stamping paper and dredged it though the reinker mix. Dry with heat tool.

 

While I had the two reinker colors are out, I put a few dots of each on the craft sheet, some more alcohol and took approximately 12 inches of crinkle ribbon and dredged it through the liquid on the craft mat, scrunch it into a ball and let dry.

 

I prepared my background by layering stencils using archival ink and stamps.

 

I stamped a rose using tree branch archival ink and leaf green archival ink. After these inks are dry, it is safe to paint on them with the distress markers and water mixture. Then using several shades of distress markers, I swiped each on a craft sheet and spritzed with water mister. Using a paintbrush, I colored the rose with shades of antique linen, spiced marmalade, and then the stem with leaf green. After the rose is dry, fussy cut. Lift up the rose by using foam tape.

 

If ribbon is dry, cut a 5 inch piece and place across front of card, make a bow with the remainder of the ribbon.

 

Stamp a sentiment on the front of the card.

 

I cut red cardstock to 4-1/4x5-1/2 inches, scored and folded. I used red-lined tape to adhere the finished piece of specialty stamping paper to the front of the red card.

 

Hope you enjoy!

Tim Holtz and Mario Rossi at Scrappers Playground

On June 7th, our LSS had 2 VIP visitors. It was Scrappers Playground's 7th anniversary and everyone had been anticipating this for visit for a very long time!  And they did not disappoint.

We made a beautiful distressed folio and we got very inky! If fun could be measured by the amount of ink on our hands! Tim is a GREAT teacher.

Carol B's Compendium of Curiosities Volume 3, Challenge #4 Entry

For the Compendium of Curiosities Volume 3, Challenge #4, I chose a patriotic theme. I want to thank the funky junkie boutique (www.funkiejunkieboutique.com) and our hostess, Linda Ledbetter.

I began with a 6X6 canvas. I love making cards and tags, but a canvas is more sturdy for display purposes. Using several of Tim's stencils, I applied embossing paste, letting it dry over night.

The next day I inked using Distress Inks, drying with heat gun. Then stamping with various patriotic text stamps, using watering can archival ink.

Meanwhile, using Tim's steel alterations dies, I cut out a flag and stars and painted with distress paints. The 'stars' on the flag were spritzed on with a picket fence distress marker.

 

I stamped Lady Liberty and them embossed her with cement embossing powder. I wanted to add a small tinge of green to my lady, and after trying several methods I used an evergreen bough distress pen swiped on my craft mat, diluted with a little spritz of water and brushed on. For her face, I used distress inks again, mixed on craft sheet with water and brushed on. For her torch, I alcohol-inked a crown and turned it upside down. I cut out 'flames' from mirror paper that I inked again with alcohol ink. I found red, white and blue ribbon in my stash, which I inked with antique linen to tone down the white and tied it through a ring I added to the 'torch'.

 

I hand cut the tag for the title and cut the corners with a corner chomper. Then inked and distressed the tag and the edges. After drying, I glued tim's letters on to spell 'liberty'. I used a spritzer with a distress marker to add a little more accent to the label.

 

For assembly, I used foam tape, glossy accents, a glue stick and double-sided red-lined tape. Whew! Done!

 

The hardest part was posting this! The first time I accidently deleted everything! My learning curve!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Carol Becker CC3C #3

My Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #3 entry, dedicated to Tim and Mario coming to Long Island!  We have been waiting for this visit for a very long time!

This is my first entry in the challenge, a little late to the party with challenge number three, but better late than never! Thanks to Inspiration Emporium for sponsoring this challenge.

This is the birthday of my new blog. I have no idea of what I am doing, but I am determined to learn! Wish me luck!

                                           I am getting ready for Easter! EB cut from 5/4" pine and painted and distressed with Distress Inks, decorated with grunge paper flowers sprayed with Dylusions sprays.  Fun!