Sunday in The Park

 Happy Middle of the week!  Today starts a new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique hosted by Lyla and she calls the challenge "Sunday in The Park".   Here is how she describes it: 

"Weather-wise, you might not be spending time outside in the park, but we've all got memories of playing in one! Get out your stamps, dies, mixed media, or embellishments that remind you of what you might see on a beautiful sunny day in the park. Make a Tag, Panel, or even a 3D project, & bring the outdoors into your craft space!"

I started thinking about spending the day in the park right now and it made me think of all the birds we have.  They are building their nests and chirping away enjoying the shift from winter to spring. 

I decided to make a beautiful batch of birds using the Sizzix dies.  I cut 36 birds from cardstock. To make a banner of birds.

They make me happy... I had them hung up in my craft room and my daughter walked by and was drawn in to see them up close.

After I cut the birds out, I spent some time pulling together the Distress Oxide Inks I wanted to use to sponge the edges of the birds.  They needed to be a light enough and bright enough color palette.

After I sponged all the birds I pulled out my stamps to add some visual interest on the birds.  I had fun sorting through different stamps and decided where to place the stamping.  

I then pulled out the rub-ons and tiny text and gave each bird a little word personality. I have to say this was very fun to put together. 

Now I have a beautiful banner of birds and just need to decide where to display them! 

Come join the challenge and share your Sunday in the Park.  The overall winner will be offered the chance to be a Guest Designer at a future date at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog, and everyone who enters and follows the rules will go into the drawing for the chance to win a $25.00 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. There are also Top 3 Badges for three additional outstanding entries, chosen by the Design Team.

Thanks for flying by! 

Suzz

Products:  (Links to the Funkie Junk Boutique) 

• Sizzix
• Distress Oxide Inks
• Crackling Campfire
• Peacock Feather
  
• Festive Berries
• Mustard Seed
• Lucky Clover
• Picked Raspberry
• Wilted Violet
• Stampers Anonymous - Faded Type
• Stampers Anonymous - Field Notes
• Stampers Anonymous - Tiny Text
• Flowers (Idea-Ology Tim Holtz the store is out of them but here is a nice alternative)
• Idea-Ology Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs Eccentric
  

the silent night

I'm back with another White Space inspired project from PaperArtsy Challenge Topic #8 - White Space. 

The PaperArtsy DT has been choosing different concepts/topics for the challenges and they show a variety of art using the concept and they are very inspiring. I highly recommend looking through the posts and the challenges to see some inspiring art.  I kept playing with the white space / negative space concept this morning and I finished on of my projects and I had to hurry up and include it because the challenge is closing today.  I was inspired by several of the projects on the challenge post where they drew your eye to the focal point by the lack of anything on the project except one striking focal point.

 I hope I have achieved that with my card today.  I wanted to drip color down the right side of my project and then mix in complementary images with the sprays.

I started with the lovely patina sprayed along the right side and used a water bottle to spray water to encourage the dripping. I then poured the glimmer mist onto the craft mat and  used a paint brush to push the mist out of the brush and causing it to drip down.  After the patina had dried I then followed up with a yellow glimmer mist which blended into a green. I also splattered white paint over the top to lighten the blues.

I let that dry and then stamped the beautiful branch and sentiment using brown ink. I had to come back in with a micron pen to get the depth of color. I stamped the branches along the bottom. Again I touched it up with the pen.

I added one more subtle effect with the music in the top stamped with a gray ink to blend in and not be visible unless you looked closely. 

Products:  Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mists - Dragonfly, Summer Glow,  PaperArtsy -  Hot Pick 1000EZ, Eclectica - ESN18, Micron Pen - Brown, White Acrylic Paint, Mixed Media Paper, Ranger Archival Potting Soil, Memento - London Fog

I am really pleased with the end result and I almost made it to half the card being white space! :)  I had several other projects going which are really promising and pleased with my fun time this morning!  Have a blessed Sunday!

Suzz

Love is in the Air

Zoe is hosting the  Frilly and Funkie challenge this week. "LOVE IS IN THE AIR" is the challenge theme. Zoe described the challenge as "Create a vintage or shabby chic project with love as the central theme. Think hearts, cupid, love and romance in whatever color palette your heart desires."

With the idea of Love is in the Air I thought Valentine postcards would be perfect for the challenge.

I have come to realize one of my favorite things is the one layer stamped projects.  This was a fun project for me.

I was able to use a standard size for my postcards and then just add a hint of color with smearing ink on the craft mat and spritzing it with a gold shimmer spray.  I then just dragged the fronts and backs of my postcards through the color.  I ended up with two blue backgrounds and three pink backgrounds.

Next I stamped on all of them the post card image and the stamp placement box.  I embossed that on some of the backgrounds.  The gold shimmer leaves a coat and causes the ink to not take in some places as strongly so in those I would emboss the ink to help make it more pronounced.

I used the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil to add some brown splattering with a sponge and brown dye ink. I also sponged the edges to give a faded look.

The rest was looking through my many stamps and deciding which ones I wanted to blend together to make my postcards.

Then the coloring and shading if I had an outline stamp or adding other stencils with sponged backgrounds or traced hearts for additional details.

I even stamped a few of the backs of the postcards for fun.

I hope you enjoyed my Victorian Valentine Postcards!

The Design Team will choose their top four picks with the winner being invited to join us in a Guest DT spot at Frilly and Funkie and the next three will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and follows the rules will have a chance to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

 

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Picked Raspberry	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Salty Ocean	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Splatters	$17.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Bird Feather	$17.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Daydream
$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Correspondence	$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Perspective	$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Flower Garden	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Valentine	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Numbered
Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black Pad #3	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder - Black Soot	Prima Water Brush Pens - 3 Pack 585891 (March Pre-Order)	Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool-With 2 Blending Foams
Crinoline and Rayon Seam Binding Set	Miniature Ivory Sweetheart Blossom Flowers SAA-440		$23.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Nature Walk

Song in your Heart

I have been inspired lately by the colors in the Words & Paintery challenges.  August colors were a bit trickier for me to match up with my different paints, inks, and sprays.  I combined their challenge with the Vintage Journey Things with Wings.

I started with a bunch of backgrounds made with mixing inks on my craft mat and mixing with water. 

 I added a hint of tissue tape in the background with a soft touch of watered down white paint.  I stamped the Paper Artsy flowers over the background and colored them with watercolor pencils. I added the verse in the bottom right corner and finished with a few birds cut out from a scrap ephemera.

The stamps are from Paper Artsy and Verses Rubber stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Christmas Mini Album

All this week the Stampendous Design Team is hopping with the Maya Road Design Team!  There are fun prizes and tons of inspiration.  Head over to the Stampendous Blog or the Maya Road Blog to find out who is hopping every day.  Make sure to leave comments along the way for a chance to win one of the prizes!

I started with a chipboard album.

I started with a coat of white paint and added texture with a woodgrain stencil.  I applied silver embossing paste over the stencil to create a wood grain effect.

I then stamped the stampendous birds using water resistant ink on white cardstock.  I colored the images using watercolor pencils. 

I accented the covers with burlap trim, twine and mini roses.  After I finished I decided to add snowflakes in the background.

Here is the mini album open to show back and front.

Products:  Stampendous Christmas Charms, Maya Road Burlap Trim, Maya Road Twine, Maya Road Organza Rose Ribbon, Maya Road Large Chipboard Coaster Book, STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell Watercolor pencil

Hop over to the Maya Road Design Team Blog for more inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

In the Birdhouse

The challenge this week at  Simon Says Challenge is Stamps you Love but don't use .  I was thrilled to play  with a bunch of stamps that don't get enough use!

I have been hoarding this sweet house waiting to use it for something special.

 I created rooms in my bird house for a variety of bird images that I love. 

The upstairs houses a birdcage with a few pen nibs and a little jar of flowers.  The other room contains the bird on a postcard and a few flowers and moss.  

Downstairs there is a birdhouse with a fence and a view to the outside.  The dining room has portraits hanging and a little sentiment and a heart.

The top of the house lifts off : 

The house was covered in white acrylic paint and sponged with a soft lavender dye ink.  I stamped the birds onto the doily and colored with the dye inks and a waterbrush. The doily was draped over the edge and glued down.

The bottom half:

Products: Ranger Adirondack - Snow Cap , Memento Sweet Plum, Hero Arts Tall Birdhouse, Maya Road House, Vintaj Bezels, Artistic Outpost - Songbirds,  Artistic Outpost - Bluebird Flowersoft, 7 Gypsies Apothecary Jars, TIm Holtz Idea-ology Pen Nibs, Stampendous Postcard Bird, Stampendous Vintage Birdcage, Stampendous Bluebird Branch, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo

I hope you are inspired to pull out some of your much loved but not used stamps and play along with the  DT  for a chance to win a $50.00 gift voucher from  Simon Says Stamp:

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Suzz