Artist Trading Block Birdhouse

Hello all and thanks for coming by the blog today. The weather here in Colorado has been so nice lately and I've been watching the birds outside the window dancing around and playing. I just love birds and It gave me the thought to try and create a bird house out of Eileen Hull's Artist Trading Block Die 

I'm going to enter this one into the Eileen Hull - Art With Heart Challenge

This months challenge is "May Flowers" and I added some loose flowers to my birdhouse that I had leftover from another project. 

I started out by creating my background with Wendy Vecchi Crackle Texture Paste and a Crafter's Workshop Brick Stencil. I set that aside to dry for awhile and once dry I used Tim Holtz Distress Paint to color my brick

The two colors I used were Vintage Photo (painted first) and Aged Mahogany, I love the way the crackle paste makes the brick look aged

I cut a circle in the middle of my front piece from the Artist Trading Block to act as my entrance for my birdhouse

 I used a beautiful piece of Kiesercraft card stock and cut out my bird from the print and since I needed my bird to be sturdy I pasted it onto a piece of black card stock and then cut it out (my butterflies are from Graphic45 paper)

Once assembled I used a piece of burlap and cut it into pieces to create my nest inside the ATB

I used various flowers that were leftover from other projects and pieces of torn paper around each side of my block and for the roof, I used some cardboard which I also painted with Distress Paint

You know what is really funny? With this project I didn't use a single stamp! I think this is a first for me!!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed my birdhouse project using the Altered Trading Block Die

If you feel so inclined make sure to check out Eileen's

Art With Heart Challenge, you could win a wonderful Sizzix Prize pack!!  

Pink, Turquoise and Polka Dots

Good day to you all, thanks for coming by the blog once again

Life has been very busy for me lately and I've been trying to juggle everything. I hoping that summer will bring rest and relaxation.

There is a new challenge up at Stampotique's Design Team Challenge Blog

Samantha Read

is our wonderful hostess and she has challenged us to do some Pink, Turquoise and Polka Dots

What a fun challenge, I love everything about it! My post is also on the Stampotique Designer's Blog

I hope you will stop by and check out my creation for this challenge.. here is a sneak peak

I used the Stampotique Stamp - Two Sticks by artists Jill Penney and Daniel Torrente for this piece, I hope you will come by the Designer's Blog and check out the entire piece.

Cheers! 

New Blog Button and Give A Way

Hello all and Happy Sunday to you. I wanted to remind you to check out my post HERE 

I am asking you to display my blog button and amonst those that do there will be two winners for these two prize packages

The drawing will be on June 1st so hurry on over to the post HERE and check out the details.

Compendium Of Curiosities 3 Challenge 2

Talk about getting in under the wire. I just finished my second project for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge over at Linda Ledbetter's Site Studio L3

I have been waiting for these challenges but it's been a super busy week so I'm right under the wire getting this one in. Hopefully I will be more on top of things next time.

Here is my project for the "Distress Glitter" Challenge that is on page 56 of Tim Holtz 3rd book, which you can order a signed copy direct from Tim HERE

I began my project by grabbing some distress paints and I used a paintbrush to mix and apply color to a piece of manilla card stock

I let that dry and then used a Tim Holtz stencil along with Archival ink for some cool effect to my background

I used Tim's technique to apply the distress glitter to my postcard, flowers and brads (make sure to check out his book for a full tutorial)

I colored my ribbon with faded jean distress stain and added everything to my card

I stamped the butterflies with archival ink and added glossy accents over the top and then sprinkled some rock candy glitter to them and let them dry, they have a touch of sparkle

Thanks again for coming by, I hope you like the postcard for today. If you get a chance Linda will be starting the newest challenge soon, check it out.

If you get a chance come by my post HERE and learn about my new blog button and enter the giveaway :)

My Own Blog Button

My friend Amy Bowerman over at Plucking Daisies has been helping me figure out some things with blogs and photos and I have finally created my own blog button!! How cool is that? Thank you so much Amy for all your help!!

This photo comes from the postcard I made a few weeks back while taking Kate Crane's Journal Class online.

If you feel inclined to grab my button there is a link on right the side of my blog at the top of this page.

Just copy the code underneath the photo and if your using Blogger/Blogspot here are the steps to add the button to your blog
1. When you are looking at your Blogger's front page, in the upper right corner click on "Design"... this will bring you to your dashboard
2. From here on the left side of your page there is a "Layout" tab, click on that
3. From here, click on Add a Gadget (highlighted in blue).. A little box will pop open
4. Scroll down to where it says HTML/JavaScript and click on that
5. Paste the URL here that you had copied from my Button
6. Click "SAVE"
7. Boom your done!! 

I would love for you to display my button on your blog so that it's easy for people to find me.

For all those that display my button on your blog I am doing a special drawing. I will be picking TWO lucky winners.

In order to win you will need to 

1. Be a follower yourself of my blog

2. Display my button on your blog

So make sure to let me know you have done these two things and I will enter your name into the drawing. Also, make sure to  check back on Sunday June 1st because I will announce the winners on that day!! 

Here are the two prize packages I will be giving away:

I may even throw in some other items for good measure just because I'm sneaky like that.

Thanks so much for your support 
CHEERS!!!

Steampunk and Stampotique

Hello all and thanks again for coming by the blog, I'm blessed to have so many wonderful followers and I'm so happy you stopped by

This week over at Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog the wonderful Kathi has chosen our theme and she picked

Steampunk!! I love steampunk so hooray, Love this challenge.

I hope you will join in with us and try your hand at the new challenge.

For this challenge I chose to use Stampotique stamp

Moth Fab - By Artists Jill Penney and Daniel Torrente

This is one of those "oldie but goodie" stamps, I love this stamp and she is one of my "go to" Stampotique stamps

For my background I used an oval template (just a piece of paper that I cut into an oval) I knew I wanted the card to be at least as big, if not bigger than my stamp and then I went to work

I used distress ink/tool to color the outside of my card

Then I used a stencil and black distress ink to create my gears

Meanwhile the whole time leaving the center of my card white

I stamped my stamp onto another sheet of paper and colored her and cut her out. 

For the numbers I used one of Tim Holtz dies and black cardstock

This was a fun challenge and I just love using two of my favorite things together, steampunk and Stampotique

Cheers!!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 MAY

Hello everyone, thanks for coming by the blog once again. Today I would like to share with you my creations for this months 12 Tags of 2014 by Mr. Tim Holtz

If you have time make sure to go by his blog here - Tim Holtz and check out the tag for this month. You may even get some inspiration to try out your own tag

If your like me, you cherish all those little trickiest that you buy and sometimes you don't even use them because they are too cute to use LOL... aren't we, as crafters, funny that way?

I know that I have a complete stock of many, many, many trinkets that I just love and Tim has really pressed us to use some of those items with this months tag and I'm so glad he did because that's what they are for, right? To be used on your creations! 

Once again, I am making postcards and I always make two, one for me and one to give away. 

To begin, Tim had asked us to use distress paint, stains or inks to color our background and I decided to use several different colors of distress inks
I did one in the blue tones and one in the orange/brown tones

Here are photos of my backgrounds before I added all the trinkets, I chose to use two different shadow press words for each and misc pieces of Tim's paper

For the first postcard I chose to use the butterfly and Industrious Frame Sticker just like Tim did but I added a word band to the bottom. I then used an arrow created like the butterfly, with paper and cardboard and the new Tim Holtz artful arrows bigs die

Since you couldn't really see the words on the word band, I used picket fence distress paint and painted it white and then wiped it down so the white would "settle" into the words
I also used a new Tim Holtz Idea-ology item called Monocles
 I used a piece of Tim's paper (the bird) and glossy accents to add the photo to the back of the monocle 

For my next postcard I used the honeycomb frameworks die to create my block in the upper middle here, I wanted my framework piece to be the same depth as the rest of my block pieces (each one is paper on top of cardboard) so I used a piece of paper without the cardboard underneath and added grungeboard under the frameworks paper, this way it ended up the same height as everything else. - the small bee is the only thing that I used that is not Tim Holtz's product, it is from Vintaj

Here are the postcards together

I love the way these turned out and I'm so glad that I got to get some of those ideology pieces out and use them

Thanks for coming by and have a wonderful day.

Auction in Support "Bring Back My Girls"

On April 14, nearly 300 girls were abducted from their school in Nigeria simply for pursuing an education. One month later, artists are coming together for these girls. On May 15, artists around the world will post, tweet and create around this issue and the right of girls everywhere to pursue an education without fear. Many artists have donated work to be auctioned off on May 15. All proceeds will go to girlrising.com, a global campaign for girls' education.
The Auctions will start today May 15th at 7am EDT and end May 17th at 3am EDT

I have been following this story and I really wanted to do something to help get these girls back from their captors. I have created two pieces for this auction at 32 Auctions, I hope you will have a look at all the wonderful pieces that all the artists have created and possible give them a bid. You can also donate monies if you don't want to bid on anything.

Anything you give goes directly to Girls Rising to support the world wide struggle to educate girls safely

The two piece I have donated are a 5x7 flat mixed media canvas

created using acrylic paint, Dina Wakley and Tim Holtz stamps, Wendy Vecchi embossing paste and stencils

and also a 17" necklace made completely by me using beads and Tim Holtz ideaology part and alcohol inks

There are also many other artists who have donated items for the auctions -

Kay Wallace  http://kaywallaceartjournaling.blogspot.com

Jessica Sporn http://jessicasporn.blogspot.com

Linda Kittmer http://lindakittmer.blogspot.ca

Ronda Palazzari http://rondapalazzari.typepad.com

Marjie Kemper http://www.marjiekemper.com

Judy Shea http://thekeytomyart.wordpress.com

Glenda Hogland http://pilgrimsthoughts.blogspot.com

Astrid Maclean http://astridsartisticefforts.blogspot.com

Lisa Pace http://lisapace.com

Jackie Neal http://creatingwithoutcrayons-jackiepneal.com

Claudine Criner http://claudinesartcorner.blogspot.com

France Papillon http://www.france-papillon.com

Kristin Van Valkenburgh http://TwinkleTwinkleLikeAStar.blogspot.com

Marcia Beckett http://marciabeckett.blogspot.com

Ruth Levy http://lerusho.wordpress.com/

Sally Lynn MacDonald http://www.SallyLynnMacDonald.com

Renee Zarate http://renee-boltonhouse.blogspot.com

Natasha May http://natashamay.blogspot.com/

Carmen Whitehead http://www.serendipitystudiobycw.blogspot.com/

Seth Apter http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/

Marybeth Shaw http://mbshaw.blogspot.com/

Amy Ingardia-Walker http://creativelyquirkyathome.blogspot.com/

Kelly Warren http://happyshackdesigns.blogspot.com

Julie Bernier http://juliebernierphotography.zenfolio.com/

Adrienne Hoban http://www.allure-decor.com/

Krista van Tol http://craftylittlepigtails.blogspot.com

Cheryl Grigsby http://cherylspaperartz.blogspot.com

Jill Meyer www.jillmeyer.com

Thanks so much for any support you give and make sure to check out the auctions at:

http://www.32auctions.com/bringbackourgirls

Stampotique Challenge - Use a Tag on it SDC147

Happy Wednesday to you!! I hope your having a wonderful week. For our challenge this week over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog our wonderful Kaz has asked us to Add a Tag to our Project!! What fun!

Today is also my day over at The Stampotique Designers Blog and I would love it if you could stop by there and leave me some love :)

For my project this week I have used the stamps

Kitty Squad - By Artist Kira Nichols

Barcode text - By artist France Papillon

This card was done with a fun gelli plate background that I did. If you know me and my creations then you know how much I like to use my gelli plate prints on my creations.

I simply cut this print down to the size I needed

Here is my finished card

Thanks again for stopping by, cheers!! 

Artists On The Block and Altered Pages May Block Hop

Good afternoon all and thanks for coming by the blog. This month all of the inspiration team members from The Artists on The Block and Altered Pages are doing a big collaboration. We are having a "Block Hop" featuring images from Altered Pages Artsociates and Eileen Hull's Artist Trading Blocks! 

Tuesdays you can hop over to Altered Pages and check out their creation and Thursdays you can check out the creations at The Artist On The Block Blog. 

This is my Thursday to do some creating and I'm so excited. I picked a few image sheets from the Collage Sheets at Altered Pages and got to work. 

Their images are so fun to create with and I chose to do a Paris theme for this Artist Trading Block. 

For starters I printed my images and then cut out the ones I wanted to use. I used Tim's distress tool to rough up some of my edges and then went around each one with Vintage Photo distress ink

I also went over my Artist Trading Block with the Vintage Photo distress ink on all sides

I then used my copper distress paint to go around all the edges, I then set that aside to dry

I wanted to give this ATB a vintage sort of look so I chose to use some burlap and a sheet of the coolest maroon paper that my friend sent me

I then sewed everything together, I did this for the front and back of my ATB using two different images

I cut some flowers using the maroon paper and Tim's fabric and added pearls to each center

for the bottom of my ATB I used a thread spool added glue and used some burlap thread to go around it and then added a strip of the maroon paper for decoration and color

I also cut out an Eiffel Tower from cardboard for the top of my ATB, I colored it with distress copper paint and added the word "Paris"

Here are some photos of my finished Artist Trading Block

This is the front of my ATB

Side

Other Side

Back

Front again

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial, this was a fun challenge to take on and I loved it! The images over at Altered Pages are top notch!

Make sure to check out the Art With Heart Challenges over at Eileen Hull's Blog , they started a new challenge this passed Tuesday and it's "May Flowers" and there is a really nice Prize pack from Sizzix!!

Cheers!!