Creating...continuing along with Inspiration Wednesday

Sharing another Art Journal page today.

As the craft room is still completely packed I'm finding that my journal 

is the easiest most portable way to keep on creating.

This is another page inspired by Donna Downey's

Inspiration Wednesday series.

I am up to week 3 now and slowly catching up.

The page has layers of Golden Acrylic paint,

Lindy's Stamp Gang mist and stamping with Gesso.

The black scribbles are created with black Gesso & a toothpick 

(making do with what I could find lol)

I wrote 

"Creating is what inspires me"

along the lines of when there are days where I am stuck or in a rut just pulling out paper and paints

and creating for no reason the juices start flowing and I find 

myself inspired to continue on.

I try to do a bit each day.

It's my fuel.

There is some drywall tape added as well just for a bit of texture.

I love the little squares it creates and buy large rolls of it from

my local Lowes.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Take a chance...another Inspiration Wednesday inspired page

Continuing on my quest to catch up with all the 

Inspiration Wednesday videos,

I have created this page using the second video of the series.

With everything packed it is proving to be a challenge but one I am happy to accept.

At least while I hunt for where the next layer is coming from the current layer has a chance to dry...right?

The focal point on here, while it is small,

is a fortune from a long ago visit to a Chinese restaurant.

I found it while packing things up and kept it out knowing I wanted to use it almost immediately on something.

Closeups of the quote:

Some of the texture on the page using layers of 

paper, gesso and modeling paste.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge 19…FOR ALL YOU DO, THANK YOU! and blog hop with the My Artistic Adventures team

It's a new month and time for another challenge at 

Craft Hoarders Anonymous.

                                             Challenge #19 For all that You do, Thank You! 
        Create a "thank you" gift for this challenge. It can be a Thanksgiving hostess gift or a simple thank you card. It can be a "thanks for helping me out of a jam" present, or a "thanks for being you" scrapbook layout. As long as your project says, "THANKS," enter the challenge!
                    We want to see you de-hoard some of your stash and say thanks to someone!
                                         (Your project does not have to be Thanksgiving-themed!)

Special this month we are also doing a blog hop with the team at

My Artistic Adventures.

Heather Hudson provided us all with some dynamic collage images to work with this month.

The design teams from both blogs are hooking up and hopping together.

Make sure to check out everyone's links at the bottom.

I created a thank you tag that can be attached to a hostess gift.

After I photographed this it went onto a bottle of wine for my neighbor.

(she hosts the most fabulous parties!)

The stars on the background all come from a Christmas sheet 

found in Heather's store.

I used chipboard from Dusty Attic colored with Maya Road mist.

A little piece of leftover scrapbook paper to create a small banner for my sentiment.

You can see more of the stars here.

The background was torn book text covered with Gesso and Golden acrylic paints.

Some random circle stamping, then the stars were added.

I outlined all of them with a Black Soot Distress Marker and smudged with my finger.

I colored some Modeling Paste with more acrylic paint and used it with a Crafter's Workshop stencil to give a bit of dimension.

Some colored seam binding used to make a large bow.

Supplies:

Golden Acrylic Paints; Gesso; Dusty Attic chipboard; Modeling Paste; Crafter's Workshop Stencil; Heather Hudson collage images; Distress marker; Maya Road mist

This month's prize sponsor is 

Heather Hudson and My Artistic Adventures

Blog: http://heatherahudson.blogspot.com/ Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/heatherahudson/videos Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MyArtisticAdventures

Stop by Heather's site and see all the cool images she has to work with.

Check out what the Craft Hoarders Design team has created

Amber Milone
Christy Butters
Debbie Seyer
Donna Idlet
Ginny Nemchak (on vacation)

                                                                     Glenda Brooks
                                                                     Gloria Stengel 
                                                                 Jan Marie Ennenga
                                                                   Karen Zueger

                                                                  Kathy Clement

Pam Bray
Wendi Robinson

Then make sure to visit the Artistic Adventures team

                             My Artistic Adventures Challenge Blog

                                       Helene

                                       Shawn

                                       Carol

                                       Lisette

                                       Sandi

                                       Candy

                                             Heather

Once you have done all the hopping head back to Craft Hoarders Anonymous and link up your project.

                                                               You have 2 weeks!

                                        Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Mojo Monday at Flying Unicorn

Every Monday on the 

Flying Unicorn forum a new sketch is revealed.

The Mojo Monday sketches are without a doubt gorgeous on their own.

You have a week to create a layout and enter in for a random prize drawing.

I always want to play but time seems to get away from me and before I know it the week has come and gone.

Not this time!

This is the sketch that was provided...

and this is what I created.

I used paper, flowers and several die cuts from a 

Flying Unicorn mixed media kit.

Can you say versatile?

The paper is from FabScraps.

Some dry brushed Gesso and stamping with a BoBunny stamp.

A piece of Glitz Design paper is layered with a doily, gauze,

Prima wood pieces, 7Dots Studio Die Cuts and some very old Melissa Frances stickers.

The flowers are from Prima.

My flourishes were created with Perfect Pearls on a transparency, trimmed and adhered with Glossy Accents.

This frame…Melissa Frances from 2007.

Love using up old product with new.

Make sure you check out the Flying Unicorn forum and see all the other takes on the sketch.

Even better, why don't you try your hand at it as well.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Background Tutorial: Stamp with Gesso

Hey everyone;

I thought I'd share another mixed media tutorial

with y'all today.

Today we are stamping with Gesso and then adding various coloring mediums

to create backgrounds for cards, tags, ATCS, Journal pages and more.

Now I am using tags in my samples but you can use any size piece of card stock.

Supplies:

Manila Tags

Gesso

Background stamps

Piece of foam (I use a cosmetic sponge)

Coloring Mediums (ie Distress Inks, Stains, Mists etc)

Spray bottle with water

Heatgun (can air dry just takes longer)

Take some Gesso onto your foam piece

Cover the stamp with the gesso by dabbing it on.

You could use a paintbrush or dip the stamp in the paint but in my opinion using the foam gives better / even coverage and uses less paint.

Stamp onto the tag. 

Add more Gesso and stamp as needed until the tag is covered with images.

Air dry or use your heat gun.

Take some Distress inks and rub onto a non stick sheet.

Mist with water.

Drag your tag through repeatedly until you are happy with the color coverage.

Dry.

Here is one tag, after the first 2 colors I went back and added some Fired Brick as well.

Another sample with different inks.

I pulled out some REALLY REALLY old ink pads from

Nick Bantock.

These ink pads are so dry that I rubbed directly onto the paper, barely got any color, and blended with a baby wipe.

The wipe reactivated the ink enough that I was able to get

so fantastic color coverage.

This one is done by misting with Dylusions and spreading the color with a wet paintbrush.

This one is done using Distress Stains.

The three Distress Inks for this tag.

Here are a bunch of these tags ready to be used.

These are ready to be embellished and further stamped on (use Solvent or Archival ink) to become finished pieces.

I can't wait to see what you do with this.

If you try PLEASE send me a link so I can see what you create :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge 5--Put a stamp on it.

It's time for another challenge at

Craft Hoarders Anonymous!

                        Challenge #5 Pick a Stamp, Any Stamp!

You don't have to be a card maker to hoard stamps! With the popularity of pocket-style scrapbooking and the explosion of journaling stamps on the market, many scrapbookers have also become stamp hoarders. Plus, digital stamps are more popular than ever. I am sure that most of us have at least one stamp in our stash! You may "collect" wood mounted stamps, clear stamps, cling rubber, or even digital! Get one out, dust it off, and make it the STAR of your project! We want to see a stamp (sentiment, word art, image, etc.) as the focal point of your project! Feel free to use more than one stamp, but you must have AT LEAST ONE stamped item on your project.

This challenge is sponsored by

Hampton Art, 

founded in 1980 in picturesque Long Island, NY, it has been inspiring stampers, crafters and papercraft enthusiasts for over 20 years. One of the earliest “art stamp” companies, Hampton has transformed over the years to become a complete provider of creative products such as stamps, inks, papers, kids crafts, stationery, scrapbooking supplies, and card making accessories for crafters of every age and skill level. We focus on working together with other companies through strong, personal relationships and licensing partnerships to consistently bring fun, inspiring products to market. We have a portfolio of brands including Hampton Art™, Studio G™, Diffusion, Ditto™, and our latest addition, Ki Memories®, acquired in 2012. Our products can be found via most national craft retailers at over 5000 stores across the US and Canada. We also ship to 20 different countries across the globe. Hampton was acquired by National Spinning Co, Inc. of Washington, NC, our current home, in 2008. For more information, visit our Website.

Here is the stamp set I used.

It's one of my favorites by Hampton Art for

7Gypsies.

Here is the piece I created.

It's a page in my art journal.

Spring finally seems to be making an appearance after

a long miserable winter 

and I wanted to celebrate it.

The background is several colors of

Liquitex Acrylic Paints

scraped along the page with an old credit card.

Once dried I used The script stamp from the set and Archival Ink

to stamp randomly across the page.

The giant circles were cut from Hampton Art Paper

(Growing Garden by KI)

and applies across the page.

A thin layer of Gesso was rubbed across each one to tone it

down and blend into the background.

Yet still letting the pattern show through.

Liquitex Acrylic Ink and my pen nib were used to outline each circle several times.

The bird was drawn and the painted in with Gesso.

Portfolio Water Soluble Oil Pastels

were used to color in the bird and limb.

The entire image was outlined with a black Portfolio crayon.

Because these blend so easily I used my finger and the

occasional baby wipe to go around and blend the color until I was happy.

The music note is also from the stamp set.

I colored it with a Faber Castell Pitt Artist Big Brush marker and stamped across the page.

Supplies:

Hampton Art Patterned Paper, Stamps, and Rhinestone

Liquitex Acrylic Paint

Liquitex Acrylic Ink

The Crafter's Workshop Stencils

Faber Castell Pitt Artist Big Brush markers

Portfolio Water Soluble Oil Pastels

Gesso

Make sure to stop by each Design Team member's blog

and see how they used their stamps this week.

                                         Donna Idlet - http://myblogidlet.blogspot.com/

                                         Glenda Brooks - http://glendabrooks.blogspot.com

                                         Gloria Stengel - http://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/

                                         Karen Zueger - http://lostcoastscrapper.blogspot.com

                                         Pam Bray - http://www.pammejoscrapbookflair.com/

                                         Tammi Bennett - http://www.tjsmemoriesblog.blogspot.com/

                                         Amber Milone - http://pinkchicpaperdesign.blogspot.com/

              you are here-----Christy Butters - http://creatingwiththegirls.blogspot.com/

                                         Debbie Seyer - http://www.debbieseyer.com/

                                         Ginny Nemchak - http://pollyspaper.wordpress.com/

                                         Jan Marie Ennenga - http://re-creations4him.blogspot.com/

                                         Kathy Clement - http://www.kathybydesign.com/kathy-by-design-news/

            Link up your project HERE for a chance to win this most awesome prize!

(note:it DOES NOT include the inside supplies these are merely there to show you what it can carry)

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

Sharing a Mixed Media Background Tutorial Today

Ever feel like your "mojo" has left the room?

You want to create but can settle on what to do or how to do it.

Many time when my "mojo" seems to have left,

I find that just by messing around I can help it come back.

Lots of times I wind up creating backgrounds to be used at a later date.

Just by pulling supplies out and creating without rhyme or reason and soon there is no block.

Today I'm sharing a quick background tutorial that you can use for a variety

of projects.

Keep it large and it's a scrapbook page

cut it down and you have a card, Art journal or ATC background.

I start out by covering a 12 x 12 piece of old card stock with torn book text.

Add a thin layer of Gesso to tone it down and provide a unified starting point..

If the Gesso is too thick, spritz with water and wipe some off with a paper towel.

Take some acrylic paint and squirt it onto the page.

(technical isn't it? lol)

Spread the paint with a paint brush or old credit card.

Take a paper towel and lay it flat onto the paint while it's still wet.

Blot the paper and remove the towel lifting some of the paint.

Mist with your choice of spray.

(here I used Concrete Shimmeringz by Shimmerz Paints)

Mist enough that you get drips down the page.

Dry.

Taking a background stamp color with a Faber Castell Big Brush Artist Pen 

(you can use ink instead but I really love these markers for stamping)

Randomly stamp across the paper.

I wound up using 2 colors for added interest.

I then took a NeoColor II crayon and scribbled onto my craft sheet.

Added water and created a paint...

Randomly brushed it across the page.

A Script stamp and Solvent ink.

Randomly stamping.

Some Shimmerz Paint brushed randomly.

Just to add some sparkle and shine to the paper.

Here is the finished background.

Ready to be used in my next project.

SUPPLIES:

Cardstock

Book text

Adhesive (I use Gel Medium)

Gesso

Acrylic Paint

Paper Towel

Mist of your choice

Faber Castel Big Brush ARtist Pens (2 colors)

NeoColor II crayon

Stamps

Solvent Ink

Shimmer/ Metallic paint

I hope this inspires you to try creating something when you can't decide what.

Lots of times doing the random creating without an ultimate goal can give the

kickstart that you need.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!