Fall Leaves

Hi!  I am thrilled today to share that I am guest designing at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge this month. They have a beautiful inspiration board full of beautiful fall colors for the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #30. 

Which had me thinking of autumn colors, leaves and how quickly the weather changes from warm summer to chilly evenings.

I laid down a layer of crackle embossing paste using the beautiful leaves layering stencil from Tim Holtz.  After it dried I ended up laying into some leftover inky spray on my craft mat. I got some beautiful speckling and color absorbed into the crackle.

I then decided to highlight the leaves and added a bit of shadowing with a watercolor pencil.  This helped make the leaves stand out.

It was beautiful as is but I decided a series of vellum butterflies embossed and splattered with the same colors would be the accent to highlight the tag.

Here is the lovely inspiration photo:

For all the details of the challenge and to join in on the fun pop over to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #30.

Suzz

Wish upon a star

I was in a hurry to finish up a journal page that I started awhile ago for the Words & Paintery June Challenge.   I also mixed in circles and stars because of the Mixed Media Monthly - Reach for the Stars and the Country View Challenge to use Circles. 

I started with using the edge of the acrylic block and running it through acrylic paints.  I dragged them down the mixed media cardstock to create streaks of paint. 

 After that I wanted a focal point so I created a big circle by dipping in paint the bottom of a pail sitting on my desk.  I repeated a couple times to give multiple circles.   I added lots of splattering over the background with the same paints.

 I then pulled out this sentiment from Yvonne Blair/Impression Obsession and stamped it on tissue paper to put over the top of my background with decoupage medium.  I stamped a fine text randomly in the background which includes the definition of dreams.

I used crackle embossing paste to add a smattering of small stars in the corner and waited for them to dry and sprayed them with distress stain spray.  Then it sat for a week while I tried to think what I wanted to use to add layering.  I decided on die cut stars to layer and ink up in coordinating colors.

Products: PaperArtsy Fresco Paints, Memory Box - Stars Stencil, Memory Box - Dreams Stamp, Sizzix Stars, Impression Obsession - Yvonne Blair - Sentiment, Idea-Ology - Chit Chat Stickers


Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Photos:

 

Our House

Happy Tuesday! I was inspired yesterday by the PaperArtsy Challenge #11 which focuses on the idea of houses created in all kinds of mediums.  I happily created little paper houses in a variety of styles.

I have been doing a little and I mean little bit of cleaning in my craft room. (I need a big clean again to keep it under control)  In doing so I went through my background scraps and tried to decrease the scraps pile.  I re-organized my recent scraps and die cuts and pulled them out to try to make an eclectic series of houses.  I tried to keep in the same color schemes for my backgrounds to coordinate the look and feel.

Beyond that the houses all began to take on a life of their own and changed the cohesiveness. As I worked through them I also began to use the inspiration of other challenges.  This particular house is based on the glam grunge challenge at Mixed Media World and the Butterflies and Blossoms Challenge at Mixed Media Monthly.

The next house started from a scrap and incorporated some beautiful gears that were sent to me as part of a purchase from the Funkie Junkie Boutique. There is always a lovely little gift included with each purchase and this time it was the gears.  I decided to let that be part of my focal point and the gent seemed like a perfect image to imbed behind the gears.  The gears and my previous house used a mix of inking up the gears with dye ink and while it was still moist sprinkling on Stampendous Aged Bronze embossing powder giving a nice chunky gold effect.

The next two came from two scraps left over from some project where I had the citron color sprinkled with touches of silver.  I didn't highlight the silver in this house as I used tissue tape instead along with a touch of black embossing paste and powder to create striking black texture and images.

For my final one I had this beautiful Memory Box Arch already cut and thought it would be pretty to do more of a church interpretation on my house.  I added the silver embossing around the edges and bottom of the house. I then embossed the arch in silver.  The rest were bits and pieces of leftover projects pulled together. 

I had fun but I think I am going to try play a little bit more with the houses but create a painted village.  I am loving the Paperartsy challenges as they have me thinking about different types of art mediums and how to use those ideas in papercrafting. 

The MMM Challenge 

Have a wonderful day! 

Suzz

Grateful Heart

Hello!  There is so much inspiration out there and I used the Vintage Journey's Industrial Challenge with the Mixed Media Monthly Glitter challenge to get my creative juices flowing.

I have to admit that I had this background laying around for a long time and it was calling to me to use it.  These were the last bits of the mist so I got a ton of shimmer from the gold left in the bottles and I laid down salt to help get the pooling of the color in a crackle effect.  I looked at how the mists had pooled and saw a heart shape. 

 I decided to use that shape and used a watercolor pencil to hand draw a heart shape to emphasize the pooling of colors.  I blended it with a waterbrush and added a mix of blue and brown watercolor pencils.

 I then  used the Stampendous Luxe Mix which I have to say is one of my favorite products because they have mixed up the mica flakes, and glitter to give a beautiful mix of texture.   I sprinkled it randomly over sections which already have a high concentrate of the glimmer from the mist.

 To add to my industrial feel, I stamped a bit of the definition stamp from Stampendous over the surface and highlighted it with the monocle and a pin to clip it on.

I found a lovely sentiment in the Tim Holtz Idea-Ology stickers and some tissue tape for texture.

Products:Heidi Swapp Color Shine, Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Monocle, Pin, Tissue Tape, Small Talk, Stampendous Gold Luxe Mix, Stampendous - Dream Text Stamp

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Time Flies

Hi There!  I feel like I haven't created anything in awhile but I have been creating, but just not sharing yet! :)  I just joined the Creative Crew with Canvas Corp Brands and am loving it!  I have already posted a project on misting on the blog if you would like to check it out it is posted here.   The Canvas Corp Brands is sponsoring the Words and Paintery January Challenge this month which is one of my favorite color challenges so a perfect opportunity for me to use my new CCB products and play along.  You can see what the Creative Crew created for the challenge on the Canvas Corp Brands blog.   I also decided to use the Mixed Media Monthly challenge of "Time Flies" as it works really well with the inspirational phrase on the Words and Paintery Challenge. 

I went with the time flies and used a Verses sentiment which reminds us to focus on the current moments and what you can do today because that is life.  I layered a lot of goodies into this one card. :)  I think I was making up for lost time.

Some basic instructions for those of you who might wonder what I was up to:

1. Spray the glimmer mists onto the craft mat in various places and add water to soften the colors.
2. Drag, place and smear the paper onto the mists. Repeat as desired. (I made about 10 backgrounds from this one series, so you may be seeing these colors again!)
3. Stamp image of girl on scrap backgrounds using brown ink. Heat emboss with brown embossing powder. Cut to fit timepiece.
4. Spray time piece with brown glimmer mist. Let dry.  Using glue pen dab around the edges and sprinkle with gold ultrafine glitter.
5. Cut bee from paper.  Color with brush and glimmer mists sprayed on craft mat. Let dry. Dab glue on wings and sprinkle with gold ultrafine glitter.
6. Cover timepiece and bee with versamark ink. (I used an old inkpad as I knew the glitter was going to get onto my ink pad.  Heat emboss with clear embossing powder. While still warm apply more embossing powder and repeat.
7. Stamp sentiment in brown on background and heat emboss using brown embossing powder.
8. Stencil numbers using light brown ink over background. 

The rest is layering and assembling.

Products:  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists - Atlantic, Cross My Heart, It's Brown, Tattered Angels - Time Piece, 7 Gypsies - Pyramid Antique Silver, 7 Gypsies Tag, Canvas Corp Brands - Watering Can Pattern paper, 7 Gypsies Lace Trim, Stampendous - Bark Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder, Ultrafine Gold Embossing Powder, Idea-Ology - Film Strip,  Stampers Anonymous - Girl Stamp, Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee, Verses Rubber Stamps - Rose Kennedy Quote

The Challenge Images:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Darkness

Good Morning!  I wanted to share an art journal that I recently decorated the cover on and started a new fun project with.

The art journal is from Basically Bare 6" x 9" Artful Journal collection.  

I was lucky enough to be able to pick out this journal from my many choices at the Basically Bare Shop.    The journal has these beautiful pages inside that take the colors and ink beautifully.

To create my cover I started with a few other ideas that went bad in a big way.  I ended up creating my cover with a page from inside the journal and then attaching it over my mistakes on the cover.  The cover is a lovely chipboard which gives you the chance to try lots of fun techniques.

For my cover I started with this color combination if you can believe it. :)

I smeared them in varying amounts on my craft mat and spritzed them with water and then laid my paper on the inky mess.  I heat set it and repeated that process about 10 times.

Next I stenciled mini stars all over the cover using Wendy Vecchi Gold Embossing Paste.  I let those dry.

While they were drying I took the Basically Bare Celestial Shapes Acetate stars and added color using Alcohol Inks - Caramel, Rust, Alcohol Blending solution.  While the ink was still wet on my applicator I dabbed a bunch of clear sequins to coordinate.

I then died my twine by dragging the Tsukineko Delicata Gold Glitz ink over the twine. (I heat set this as well)

I stamped Darkroom Door Eclectic Script over the background and the stars using the same gold ink.

I have been wanting to use this beautiful sentiment from Impression Obsession and I placed that in the center using black ink.

Putting the colors down on the paper had me thinking of other color combos and started me down the path of putting together different combinations.

I ended up making quite a selection of color chips.  I will share those at a later time.

I am entering my art journal in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #18 - Texture.   I love the texture I introduced with the embossed stars and the random swirls of the twine.

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

Skating Along

The  Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #17  is a summer inspired challenge.  I loved the pretty fun colors on the challenge image which inspired my color for my summery gift bag.

We used to skate in summer and winter. The old roller rink was good fun and provided a social outlet for tweens and teens.. 

Lots of pink and blues on my bag as well as strips of stamped papers in the background. 

I painted the bag using pink acrylic paint and sponged the edges with ink after it dried.  I stamped the polka dots and stripes on scraps of cardstock. I tore them up and layered them in the background.  

I stamped the stars and cut them out and randomly scattered them  around the background.  I stamped the skates and colored them with watercolor pencils.  I sponged he edges with pink and brown dye ink. 

Products: Darkroom Door - Texture Dots, Weathered Stripes, Eclectic Stamps - Roller Skates, Wordstrips, Brushed Christmas Volume 1, Ranger Paint Dabber - Pink, Picket Fence

Have a wonderful day! 

Suzz