Shabby Garden

Hello!  Today I am the Featured Artist over at the Anything But Cute Challenge Blog!  Lisa is hosting Challenge #16  and what a beautiful challenge it is!  There is a wonderful Mood Board to inspire you featuring Shabby Garden.

Here is the description provided by Lisa "For this challenge, we are asking you to take a stroll through a romantic shabby garden. Create any mixed media project strongly inspired by the mood board. Think flowers and plants in cracked pots, peeling paint bird feeders, distressed timeworn furniture, crumbling statues, soft pastels and feminine accessories. Don't forget to tell us how the mood board inspired your project and have fun!"

I fell in love with the beautifully distressed wood in the pictures and had to play around with a faux garden fence on a mini book. 

I am not going to share the details as you can pop over and see them here and for all the details on how to play along and the awesome design team's creations go check out the challenge post here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Golden Sea

Hi!  I have had a wonderful week playing with these projects.  I knew I wanted to do a second creation for A Vintage Journey's Monochromatic challenge.  I was thinking about what inspires me and decided on a golden color scheme.

I started pulling out all of my golden mediums (I had quite a few!)  and thought how could I incorporate all those beautiful golden textures and I thought of the Sea-Horse die and how splendiforous he would be in golden colors with golden textures.  He also is perfect for the Anything But Cute - Summertime Fun and the Mixed Media World MMW16# - Under  the Sea

I started creating lots of glittery golden textured sea-horses.  I began with a gold background on a journal page and inking up lace, ribbon and other bits.  I layered this all on the journal page.  As I was doing that I had this clear idea of a card that would be cleaner in design but use the same elements.

I used the vesafine toffee to stamp the beautiful sentiment and the script.   I then die cut the seaweed and sprayed with the gold die.  I sprinkled the Stampendous Gold Luxe Mix over a strip of glue I pooled on the paper. 

Then I continued on with my canvas.

(Click on this to see the details!)

Here is a close up of the sandy bottom.  I glued sand on the bottom and let that dry and then covered it in spray of gold ink. I mixed in some more Stampendous Luxe, golden shells and piles of more sand.

Products: Verses Rubber Stamps - Salt of the Ocean, Stampendous Gold Luxe, Heidi Swapp - Color Shine (Gold Lame), Rangers - Paint Gold, Recollections - Gold Embellishments, Yvonne Blair - Impression Obsession, Versafine - Toffee, Sizzix - Seahorse, Sizzix - Seaweed

I had such fun with this project although I am still sparkling from the glitter!

Have a beautiful day!

Suzz

Bee Happy!

Hi!  I have been busy re-working my craft area. In my constant attempt to keep everything organized I am in a bit of a re-org.  I recently received a few new holders for my inks and paints and that has caused me to re-think everything in the craft space.  I cleaned off my desk finally and had a go at a few challenges.

 I am not sure if I like the face in the metal embellishment but the bee needed something and I thought this was an interesting take. :)

The Anything But Cute Challenge is the Birds and the Bees and when I was cleaning up my scraps I realized I had the layered bee and hadn't used it in awhile.  So out came some scraps and the bee die to try to use up some scraps as well as play with the bee.

I also decided to pair this up with A Vintage Journey which is texture or embossing paste this month as with the embossed background and bee I have loads of texture.

I won't cover all the details but a lot of antique linen, ground espresso, Victorian velvet and gold went into the background and bee.

The challenge photo for Anything But Cute:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Bigz Die with Texture Fade - Layered Bee	Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Metallic Gold	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk
Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear - Super Fine Detail	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy	Copper Keys for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	Copper Keys for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	Prima Marketing Mechanicals: Pocket Watches 2pc. (March Pre-order)

Scraps and Challenges

Hi!  I feel like I haven't had any creative time lately.  I have been busy with life, work and responsibilities and mostly the creative urge wasn't pushing me to create.  

I decided today to jumpstart that with a few leftover scraps and pieces created previously.  I also used the following challenges to get me going:  Mixed Media Place May challenge has a beautiful mood board which had the colors going for me.  Mixed Media World: May Challenge is Glam Grunge which I hope this qualifies as the glam is there and a bit of the grunge. Finally the Anything but Cute Challenge is celebrating your style.  I am a mixed bag of styles  but I do love my butterflies and flourishes.

 I started with this beautiful butterfly which I made awhile ago and set aside.  I also found a lovely scrap stamped with antique linen and it worked with the butterfly.  I then sprinkled the same lovely glimmer mist onto the stamped background.  Created a base to match and stamped more texture in a gold ink.

I heat embossed the black frame on the background using black embossing powder.  I edged the flower with gold ink and placed it in the center. I finished with the word shine to go with the theme on the moodboard.

Thanks for sticking with me during my absence. 

Mixed Media Place Moodboard:

 Anything But Cute:

Suzz

Spring Punk

Happy Saturday!  I am back with a few more Valentine's I am using the Anything But Cute Challenge "Grungy Love" to inspire my first valentine.

This one started with a bunch of splashes of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist on a white background.

After the glimmer mist I splattered white acrylic paint over the surface. It added a subtle texture and when I added the watercolor pencil you could see the resist.  I then traced in the heart with watercolor pencil.  I shaded it with another layer of watercolor pencil and blended with the waterbrush.  I stamped the sentiment and then went looking for the right embellishments to give it edge.

This reminds me of a previous challenge at AO where we were challenged to do Spring SteamPunk.  I liked that idea of the bright vibrant colors with the touch of metal.  I think this one is going to go off to my son. He will get a kick out of it.

 Next up is a softer Valentine's with some pretty gold and pinks.

 I had another scrap of inky background with all gold mist.  I started tracing hearts in various colors and then blending them out with the waterbrush.

 You can see I had fun layering them in various sizes.  I loved the translucent effect and thought of balloons.  So I added some thread to the balloons along with a bit of the definition stamped in the background and found the perfect sentiment to go along. 

Products: Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Merlot Gold,  Marigold, Coral Reef,  It's Black, Kiwi,  Staedtler Watercolor Pencils, Stampendous - Dream Text, Simon Says Stamp - Valentines, Idea-Ology - Pins, Gears, Clock Hands

Have a happy Saturday!

Suzz

New Beginnings

Hi!  I spent some time creating with some new goodies from Canvas Corp Brands for the Anything But Cute Challenge - Ring out the old and bring in the new and the Mixed Media Place - New Beginnings challenge. 

I recently received some new paints from the Tattered Angels and I wanted to play around with them along with my glimmer mist.  I followed the them of new beginnings with the inspirational words from a series of Stampendous stamp sets.

I started with a background with a stencil and the Tattered Angels glimmer mist.  I then came back in and used stencils and circles to create a series of circles painted and outlined with colored pencil.

I stamped the text using black ink over the background.  I used the remainder of the background to create a series of stars. I cut them out and stamped inspirational sayings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Owl be There!

Hi!  I have been in Halloween mode getting my tags and cards ready for my kids who aren't so little anymore. :) 

I am sharing a tag made with the Basically Bare Scalloped Tag set.

The tag is pre-cut in the scallop shape and they come in a variety of mediums.  I picked the cardboard one and decided to paint it and distress it by peeling the surface.

I stamped the Halloween ads over the surface with black ink.  Then I pulled out the Owl stamp from Gray Wolf Graphics.  I cut him out and popped him up over some of the Idea-ology Halloween Ephemera.

I just added a few embellishments to finish off the tag. Now to attach it to a goodie bag and send it off to a special someone!

I am entering this in the following challenges:
Mixed Media Monthly - MMC#17 - Spooky Word Search (Owl)

Anything But Cute - 31 Days of Halloween

Products:  Basically Bare – Scalloped Tag Set,  Idea-Ology – Halloween Ephemera, Stampers Anonymous – Poisonous, White Gesso, Idea-Ology – Remnant Rub-On Halloween, Black Archival Ink, Gray Wolf Graphics - Owl

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

A Golden Garden

Happy Wednesday to you!  Today I am sharing a piece of art really inspired by the magical effect of gold on a dark background.  There were several  challenges that got me thinking about the golden garden with flying creatures and that is the Frilly and Funkie - Touch of Gold ,  A Vintage Journey - Things with Wings and the Anything but Cute - Making Magic Challenge Inspiration Board.  

I started with trying to get a dark black background on one of Tim Holtz's inspired  Sizzix butterfly or dragonfly and then bringing in the metallic effect and then the gold.

 I layered this poor dragonfly with gold, black, gold, black and then a thin layer of a metallic purple paint.  I ended up edging him with some gold.   I used the same process on the houses in the background they started with black gesso, added stenciling with Prima gold texture crackle with a stencil.  After that dried I smeared on the layer of DecoArt American Paint - Metallic purple.

I then die cut the flowers from metallic foil and then painted them with black gesso. While it was wet I sprinkled with gold embossing powder. I heat embossed them which caused the paint underneath to give it a lovely bumpy texture. I then colored a series of pearls with the gold krylon pen and added them for texture in the background.

Products:  Sizzix Bigz Layered Dragonfly, Tim Holtz Layering Stencil, Prima Marketing Finnabair - Gold Texture Paste, Idea-Ology - Stickers, Sizzix Embossing Folder - Typewriter, Gold Krylon Pen, Memory Box - Die Cut (flower), Ranger Queen Gold Embossing Powder, Black Gesso, DecoArt -Purple Metallic Sheen Paint

Suzz

Discover

Do your stamps speak to you?  A good friend of mine and I laugh about this.  Mine do inspire me to put together a certain style or theme.  It is much harder for me to take a cute stamp and go a different path.  Today's card was definitely inspired by the main image.

 I started with this leftover piece of cardstock with alcohol inks splattered and smeared over the background.  I knew I wanted a strong image to place amongst the varied background.

I specifically asked my LSS to order the Brett Weldele images from Stampers Anonymous as they are handsome gents with strong features and lines.  I decided to place him in the midst of the alcohol splatters.

After I stamped him (using StazOn ink as the paper is glossy) I decided to mix in stencils with Wendy Vecchi black Embossing Paste.  I also used a few rub-ons on the background.

I came back and added my metal accents and a touch of tissue tape. I had fun playing with this image.  I am entering this in two different challenges: Mixed Media World - Vintage and Anything But Cute - Make it Masculine. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz