Art Journal Journey Inspiration-Letting Go…

Hello friends! Hope that your week has been off to a good start. We are closing up February, but there are still a couple of days left if you’d like to enter the Art Journal Journey Challenge that I’m hosting this month with the theme of “LIGHT“. It has certainly been a journey as I’ve never created that many pages within a month’s time! I did have fun on this journey as it also helped to push me to try a few different things that I can take me with as I continue to art journal. Thank you to everyone over there for having me as host for this month and to those that have played along, as I have really enjoyed all of the fabulous inspiration!

For my last page, I challenged myself to try something I don’t feel comfortable with:

Sometimes as hard as it can be, you just have to let it go. I let go the fear of hand lettering and drawing for this page.

For the Background: I’ve got a piece of canvas paper 5.5″x8.5″ that was pre-punched on the right side with my Zutter machine. (I like this canvas paper because it takes paint really well and the texture does not interfere with making the writing wonky.) I took my favorite colors turquoise and lavender paints that were extremely watered down to cover the page with. I was going for very light colors with a flow that blended together. Once dried, I took some light blue ink and stenciled in certain places.

For that cute little girl that I found on my computer from Tiddlywinks, I printed her out rather large to fit on my page and colored her with Copic markers. I printed an additional image over a piece of vellum and cut out the dandelion seeds and hearts and attached that portion to the girl image I colored. I did this so that you could still see the background. Once I’ve attached her to the page, I cut a piece of cotton ball and glued it to the dandelion weed and the one in her hair. (Cotton is pretty light!)

Lastly, I took a deep breath and used a pen to write the title above her head as well as all of the dandelion seeds floating around with the words. I used a white paint pen to make an underline around the words as if they’re flying through the air. I filled in the lettering with a blue gel pen.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my page today and found some inspiration with it. I also hope you’ve enjoyed my journey this month with art journaling too! Thanks for stopping in!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT
My Time to Craft – Create Your Own Background (paints, stenciling, drawing)
We Love to Create – Anything Goes Mixed Media

Art Journal Inspiration-Fireflies and Gallery full of card classes!

Hello friends! I hope that your week has been going great! I had planned on posting earlier in the week, but I got so focused on completing my classes that I ran out of time! (Check out the gallery below…LOTS of cards!) I thought while I’m working on laundry today, I’d make a post sharing some things I’ve been doing…so grab yourself a beverage and take some time to enjoy! First up is my art journal page:

Remember that I’m a guest host over at Art Journal Journey this month and the theme that I’ve chosen is “LIGHT“. I hope you’ll stop over to see all of the wonderful inspiration that everyone has been creating with this theme and join in the fun!

This so reminds me of Summer! Remember as a child going outside in the dark and seeing tons of those flashing lights going off?! I was always amazed that when I ran over to chase that flashing light, it disappeared on me and I was forever trying to capture those lights!

For the background: I’ve chosen some Bristol Smooth cardstock in 5.5″x8.5″ pre-punched holes at the top cut with my Zutter machine. I have started with stamping the jar and placing it where I thought it needed to be and then stamped those fireflies around it. Starting with the fireflies, I dabbed on some yellow where they emit light and then used some soft blue around them working out with darker shades of blues as I reached the edges. Bristol cardstock works great for ink blending with Distress Oxides. To make sure that the yellow light was showing over the dark ink (without smudging it), I took some yellow paint and the end of my paint brush to make various sized yellow dots for the look of those fireflies in the distance.

I decided to take a leaf branch to generation stamp it along the edge for the illusion of a tree being there. Although it looks black, I die cut a grass border in very dark green cardstock for the bottom portion of the page. I also added another firefly at the bottom that was die cut and popped up with foam tape. I used yellow ink for underneath his light glow. The firefly wings have been covered with a glitter brush pen.

For the bottom lettering: I printed it off my computer and then cut out each word, added some color with inks over them and then doodled around each word with a pen. These words and this AJ page was totally inspired from a song called “Fireflies” by Owl City. If you’re interested in listening to the song, check out the video below:

I learned that this song artist has insomnia and came up with this song during one of those times he had trouble sleeping. I can relate and so it inspired my light page.

Next, I would like to share with you a card class event that I took part in called “Celebrations Delivered” provided by Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine. It was a one day event with virtual live learning class videos and each instructor provided at least 3 different projects. I have listed below each photo who the class instructor was.

If you are on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge it and see the details about each one underneath the photo. I have made 15 total cards from this:

Really had fun making these and using the products provided to us. This also reminds me that I have more classes coming soon that I’ll be doing and that I’ve also forgotten to share some things that I had done last year, but hadn’t posted! If anything else, you can hopefully enjoy or be inspired in some way as I post! But more will come soon if my arms don’t fall off!😉

Thank you so much for stopping in today and I’m happy you’re here! I will be dropping around to see what everyone is up to and I will be back on Saturday for our “Smash Your Stash” AJ inspiration! Have a wonderful day!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT
Simon Says Stamp Monday – NOT a card (art journal page at top)
Try It On Tuesday – Spotlight It! (Fireflies are spotlighted with yellow dots) Hopefully this works for the challenge!

Bugging Out With Sketches

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a good week so far and staying safe wherever you are in the world. Sending hugs to all experiencing a troubled time. I hope that my post can bring a smile to you today.

I needed to create some get well type of cards and so I thought I’d try to incorporate some challenges while working on them which helps me to concentrate more in what I’m doing and maybe think outside the box a bit.

My first card is made with the Beccy’s Place Challenge freebie this month and she also challenged us with a sketch which I’ve decided to use for my card. (see sketch below) I was really happy to use up some more pattern papers with it and I also decided to add a tiny dragonfly at the top to enter another challenge and to adhere to my “bug” theme today!

I printed the image in black and white and colored with Copics. The dragonfly and the center pink strip were stamps that I cut out and added to the design. The rest is pattern paper from my stash except the scalloped kraft border in the center that I cut out with a die. I stamped the sentiment and cut it out to go with my twine around it. *You will notice in ALL of these cards that I’ve used some sparkly gems. I wasn’t aware until posting them! I must be on a kick of wanting to use them!*

Challenges for 1st card:

Beccy’s Place – August challenge + sketch
Paper Dragonfly Creative – Anything Flies (Goes) or Party
Kreativ-Tanten – Anything Goes
The Crafty Addicts – Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
Dragonfly Dreams – Dragonflies

And for this next card, I’ve played with a large bug:

Around my area this time of year, you can hear the sound of these cicada bugs with their distinct noise throughout the trees. My husband likes the sound when a bird catches one! EEW! This bug is a cute one from Inky Stamper called Cicada and I’ve colored it up with pencils this time. Hard to see, but I’ve also added some shimmer with a glitter pen on his wings.

I’ve used the Picket Fence Tree Bark stencil over kraft on the background and then splattered it with brown and white paint. The leaves under the bug and the accent came from the Lisa Horton Variegated Leaf EF+die that I cut over light green cardstock. I used some metallic green wax to go over the details in them. I also used some gel pens to make some doodles around the strip, the circle and under the sentiment along with following a sketch. (details below) You will also notice more sparkly gems! I’m also entering this in the Inky Stamper FB challenge this month which is using an IS bug image.

Challenges for card #2

Sketch Saturday – #732 sketch + twist: add a doodle
Creative Knockouts – #501 Anything Goes
We Love Stamping – Masculine
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
A Place to Start – Anything Goes optional: leaves/trees
The Corrosive – Anything Goes

For my last card I decided to keep this one simple’ish’:

So, I know these aren’t real bugs because I’m not squealing, but these guys are too cute! They’re popping up out of the dirt for a special greeting! I mixed in both a new and older stamp set from Lawn Fawn on this one. I’ve used another sketch for this one and decided to keep it very simple. The hardest part of this was the coloring which honestly wasn’t all that difficult either because they’re small images. I’ve also added some shimmer with a glitter pen on the wings and of course, there’s those sparkly gems again!

Challenges for card #3

Sunday Stamps – SSC316 in the corner sketch
The Paper Players – CAS using any Bug
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Clean and Simple
Krafty Chicks – CAS (Clean and Simple)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I appreciate your time and thoughts! I’ll be seeing you again on Saturday with another AJ page!

Feeling Tropical at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends! I hope that whatever state you’re finding yourself right now, that you’re able to find a bright spot in your day somewhere. In watching the news, there are so many variable patterns in the weather and my heart goes to those in Hawaii dealing with the wildfire disaster. My card today is not only for the DT challenge, but also a tribute to our tropical friends in Hawaii.

There’s a new challenge today over at the Sparkles Monthly Challenge with the theme of: TROPICAL and/or BEACH

Since I live in the Midwest area, I don’t get a chance to see too many scenes like this, but maybe someday hubby and I will get a chance soon! The inspiration for my card came from my computer background photo and I loved the look of the water with the setting sun. Everything I’ve used on my card today came from Lawn Fawn.

The entire background was done with stenciling using the LF Beach Sunset Stencils and inks. I added that mice couple from a freebie stamp set that came with one of my orders. I colored them pretty dark with cool grey tones so that they blended into the beach and looked like a silhouette. The sentiment at the bottom was white heat embossed from the LF Butterfly Kisses set. I’ve used a glitter brush pen over the sun and purple reflective water. I think I got a little carried away with the white gel pen, but I was trying to make it look like the dark areas were highlighted with some of that setting sun over it and there’s just no removing any lines! (If you’ve done this, then you know what I’m saying!)

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my Tropical themed card today or found some inspiration with it. Thanks so much for dropping in and please check out the challenge details with inspiration from the DT and play along!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Four Seasons – Anything Goes Summer
Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
The Paper Funday – Anything Goes optional: Great Outdoors
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
Get Creative – Summer Nights
My Time to Craft – Stenciling
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes

Patriotic Pandemonium

Hello friends! I had a day of some crafty fun and wanted to share things I’ve made for some challenges. I absolutely love the red, white and blue colors. Most of the time it’s associated with patriotic colors and July 4th Holiday, but I’ve decided to take not just the colors, but the theme using one stamp set and a sheet of paper to create different looks with it.

First up is this really cute mouse waving his flag with a fun patriotic theme…which is what this new stamp set from Inky Stamper (called Americana) was intended for. I printed out some freebie papers and used them on all of my cards here today. I colored Ralph up with Copics and popped him up on a scallop circle silver glitter cardstock and stamped the sentiments and stars with red and blue inks. I also added some sequins from the Stars & Stripes sequins mix at Inky Stamper and added some silver Stickles in the centers of those as well as the stars. I also added one of the flags from the sequins mix next to the sentiment at the top. (I’ve used these on all of these cards too.)

I’ve made this card for SCS Teapotter Tuseday challenge as a Patriotic Congrats card for someone in the military whose been promoted to Colonel, so this worked out really well for sending this one out.

For this card, I wanted to share that a teeny tiny image from a stamp set can be fun to use in a different way as well. I took the “bomb popsicle” image that was stamped and colored and popped them up with foam tape over die cut stars from white glitter cardstock. I’ve used some more of the freebie papers and added a sentiment that was white heat embossed over red cardstock and cut out with a banner die. The tiny red stars came from that sequins mix I mentioned above.

I made this card based on a sketch for a challenge that I wanted to enter before it ended too. (Check it out in the challenges listed below.)

And lastly using this same stamp set, freebie papers, sequins mix and color theme, I made a Christmas card with it. I took the little star image from this stamp set and stamped it several times, colored it in and fussy cut several of them out. It’s not that bad when you’re cutting and watching videos while you do it!

I took a circle die and traced a circle with a pencil so that I would have a guide as to where to create my wreath. I stamped a few stars directly on the circle area and then erased the line before I colored them. the other stars that I fussy cut, I glued some on and popped some up with foam squares. I also added an extra star in the center of the silver bow on the wreath.

I added some silver sequins from the same sequins mix mentioned above and then placed some silver Stickles in the centers of them as well as in the center of the stars.

These were so much fun to make with all of the same products and color theme to challenge myself with. I hope you’ve enjoyed them too or been inspired in some way. Thanks for dropping by!

Challenges:

Try Stampin’ On Tuesday – sketch + cold treats (card 2)
Crafting Happiness – Anything Goes (card 1)
Four Seasons – Anything Goes Summer (card 2)
Crafty Animals – Anything Goes with animal (card 1)
Critter Crazy – Anything Goes featuring animal (card 1)
Pearly Sparkles – Christmas in July (card 3)
Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes (card 1)
Challenge Up Your Life – Patterned Paper (all cards use papers)
The Paper Fun Day – Anything Goes optional: red, white & blue (all cards)
Try it On Tuesday – Use 3 colours (red, white and blue)

Some Summer Session Sets

Happy August friends! This Summer has really flown right by me this year, how about you? Before you know it we’ll be getting ready for all things Fall…which is my favorite time of the year!🍂 I haven’t been feeling well for the last several days and haven’t done much crafting, but I do have some sets of cards that I’ve made sometime during these Summer months, but haven’t posted, so I’d like to share them with you today.

Taylored Expression had released an adorable collection of fish themed products this Summer that I thought would be so fun for several different occasions, and not just for those that like to fish, but for anyone for any occasion too!

The first white background card on the left was created with the TE Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo. The stencil is really nice to create different effects in an easy way without lots of coloring. I like that the TE Hook, Line & Sinker Dies cut out some of the mass-produced stenciled fish background too! (I saved one for the other card as well and still had a few more left over for another project.) After I created a couple of the stenciled fish backgrounds, I cut out a panel with a wonky stitched rectangle die and placed it over a Kraft A2 card base. I added some TE Drip Drops for the “bubbles” on the extra fish and you can see that I’ve covered the body of this fish with a glitter brush pen.

The second card on the right was created with the TE Just Keep Swimming Stencil with Toffee Ink color for a watermark look. I splattered some white and black paint over the background. The fishing pool as well as the sentiments for both cards came from the TE Reely Great Stamp & Die Combo. (It includes the fishing pool die cut with it.) You will also notice the tiny little sparkly fish on both of the cards which were cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish die with some blue and turquoise glitter cardstock. The ‘frame’ around the sentiment on the first card as well as the green frame for the second card were extra pieces in my stash previously cut out with the TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate. (I save the extras to use for other projects.)

Of course, I didn’t “invent the wheel” on these as it was simple by following along with the TE “Hugs & Fishes Craft-a-Long Class” which I got for free with my stamp/combo purchase when it came out. I tweaked it slightly, but sometimes it’s nice to just create and follow along without having to think about what to do with it. 😁

This next set of cards was actually pretty fun and easy to put together:

Continuing on with more Taylored Expressions products, I’ve used the TE Create-in-Quads Hexagon Layering Stencil Set. Taylor had recently come with this series sometime last year I believe, and they seem to go over pretty well. (I think I had previously made Christmas cards and some Mother’s Day type of cards earlier this Spring with other “Create-in-Quads” sets.) It seems like a lot, but when you see how easy it is to knock out four cards at once…which I did with Christmas last year…it’s such a time saver with wonderful results!

All of these cards were finished off with the TE Oh No You Didn’t stamp set & dies (love this set)! A couple of the cards use the TE Simple Strips-Snarky stamp set that were white heat embossed and cut out. The other cards have sentiments that were foiled from the TE Simple Strips In Reverse-Everyday Occasions and die cut. And of course, I didn’t want to waste too much of the foiled panels, so I again took my TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate to cut a couple of the frames with it. I also stamped out a couple of extra stars here and there from another TE stamp set, but I can’t remember which one I used. (I think it was from a previous card kit I have that’s no longer available…but any star will do!)

And again, no need to reinvent the wheel as I believe this was another class I received for free from a purchase. You can check out the Create-in-Quads Hexagon Craft-a-Long Class if you’re interested in it. I think I changed up the colors and details a bit for mine, but very similar in style.

**👀 Be on the look-out for another TE project set from me using another Create-in-Quads I recently got and can’t wait to use! I’m also going to have some things to give away too! STAY TUNED!!!

I had also attended a class from Riley and Company sometime this Summer as well:

I have loved that little Riley moose character for years, but Tanya (owner) does several of these on-line class events and she comes out with some really cute class kits. This kit had everything you need to make the projects and this one also included the sentiment die as well as a full 6×6 packet of papers in the coordinating theme.

For my projects, the giraffe was the only pre-cut image to color. All of the other bee images came from the papers that were included with the kit that you were to fussy cut from. Since the sentiment die was also included, I die cut all of those pieces for my card too. I decided to step-up my cards with some glitter cardstock along the edge of the giraffe card and then I die cut the “gold glitter honey drip” on that card from the Riley and Company Corner Goo Die. I also added little details like the “flying trail” of the bee with a marker and using a glitter brush pen on the bee wings.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Summer Session Sets today and have been inspired or brought a smile! Thank you so kindly for your time to stop in and have a look! I really appreciate it!

Challenges:

Pearly Sparkles – Anything Goes
Moving Along With the Times – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps & More – Die Cuts and/or Stencils (I’ve used both!)
Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes With Dies challenge
Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations – Anything Goes

Lawn Fawn Fever!

Hello friends! I have LOTS to catch up on with all of the blogging of projects that I’ve been working on over the last few months, so I will probably share several projects within one post until I can get caught up!

I know that Christmas in July is going on everywhere right now, so I thought I’d share that along with a few other projects I had going on during my “Lawn Fawn Fever” episode! I have loved their cute little critters for so long and hope you enjoy what I’ve made:

It’s been a while since I even played along with a Lawn Fawnatics challenge, so I decided to join this one which is asking to see your Lawn Fawn “Fun with Food” challenge projects. What could be more fun than sharing Christmas cookies?! I’m not sure I’d share any with mice…but these guys are too cute and add some more fun to the scene. They’re a bit older and I know I’ve had the set for several years as it was one of the STAMPtember sets called “Merry Christmouse“.

I used some older Lawn Fawn papers from my stash to create the table and backdrop setting and then cut it out with the Lawn Fawn Outside In Rectangle dies. I used the following sets which include the one mentioned above for my scene: How You Bean?, How You Bean? Christmas Cookie Add On, and Thanks a latte. I Copic colored them and even added a few stamped images over the cookies including some Chunky Glitter.

For the mouse hanging over the hot cocoa cup, I cut around his arms to fit over the cup. I popped up the candy cane as well at the mouse next to the jar for depth on the scene. I added some touches of glitter and then on the mouse Santa hat, I took some liquid applique and heated it up until it was puffy. The sentiment was white heat embossed over the dark chocolate cardstock and then I just used my scissors to cut it out and attach at the top. Really fun scene to create!

I also took part on Friday with the “Hive Five Kit” class they did using the adorable new Hive Five card kit they came out with recently.

For the first card, I made my sentiment too high, so I had to “arrange it” how it worked for me, and I wanted it to be a birthday card instead. The other project was just the hexagon tag. I changed mine into a shaker and then added to a card. I also added the speech bubble on this one.

The products included with the card kit were really fun and I’m glad I got it!

The majority of this card came from a fun little kit that my sweet blog friend Shirley gifted me included with a SWAP that I was in with her. (Details of that are below.) Really love that she included the backdrop for the sky which worked out perfectly! I actually already purchased this awesome Lawn Fawn Platform Pop-Up die along with the Platform Pop-Up Add-on and the Upon a Star stamp set and dies, but she was so very kind to have all of these pieces already stamped and cut out for me! I just colored in the critters and the stars, added a few more here and there along with some glitter, white heat embossed the sentiment over the navy cardstock and put it together.

I hadn’t even broken out my Platform die at the time, so this was my first time putting one together! It looks a little more intimidating than what it really is, so I had lots of fun with it! Thanks so much for sharing the fun with me my friend! I can’t wait to attempt another one soon! (Thanks for helping me with my addiction! 😁)

And as I had mentioned above, I was asked if I’d be interested in joining this “Summer Sampler SWAP” with my wonderful blog friends Patti, Shirley and Donna along with a few other ladies to take part with! When it was described to me, I quickly realized that I had seen these 12″ x 12″ sized papercraft stamped samplers all over Pinterest. Of course, I had thought to myself that would be fun to create and never did.

Each square is 3-1/4″ and we each were to use the same color for the back layer so it was all similar for the finished project to coordinate well. So 9 of us created 9 squares, kept one for ourselves and then mailed out the others to each person in the swap. Really fun to see everyone’s idea here with the theme of “SUMMER” too! I love them all and thought how fun that each one is so different from the others!

This is my finished 12″ x 12″ shadow box framed piece with everyone’s squares that I’ve attached to a wood panel background paper. I have it hanging on the wall. I think this would be so fun for each season or even gifts! Hope we can do another one!😉

And here’s the square that I did for the swap. I zoomed in to take the photo and it’s behind the glass, so it’s not a real great look at it, but as you see, I’ve used Lawn Fawn again! LOL

I had some fun 4th of July papers and thought it would be neat to make somewhat of a shaker element with confetti stars. I’ve used the Lawn Fawn Dandy Day Flip Flop set along with a mouse from the Bubbles of Joy set for the front of my square. I was trying to give the impression that the mouse had a sparkler, and the sparks were flying while the other mouse was enjoying the show. I used glitter and die cut a star from silver glitter cardstock for the center of the dandelion. I added a red bow at the top. I thought with using a shadow box frame that the dimension wouldn’t be an issue and it wasn’t.

There’s always something fun to keep me hopping, so I know you’ll see more soon including the wedding & painting class projects! I promise I’ll get there! Thanks for dropping by!!

Challenges:

Lawn Fawnatics – Fun with Food (first card)
Crafty Gals Corner – Christmas in July (first card)
Krafty Chicks – Christmas (first card)
CRAFT – Christmas (first card)
Jingle Belles – BLING on the Holidays! (first card)
Double Trouble – Christmas in July Thing 1, Thing 2 & Thing 3 (I’ve used old stamp sets, papers and added some fun bling on my cookies -plus added to the partner challenge in first card!)
Alphabet – ‘H’ is for Holidays (first card)
My Time to Craft – Christmas in July (first card)
Papercraft – Christmas in July

Creative Artiste July Guest Designer with Mixed Media Birdhouse

Hello friends! I hope that you’ve had a wonderful week so far and looking forward to the up-coming July 4th weekend for those of us celebrating in the U.S.! Just came back a few days ago from my son’s wedding which was really beautiful and a remarkable time celebrating with all the family! (I will share on that in the future here.)

Today I’m very excited to share my mixed media project as the July guest designer over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog! So if you enjoy creating with mixed media, please check out the blog and have some fun playing along with us this month!

I wasn’t required to create anything specific for this challenge as it’s always an “Anything Goes Mixed Media” theme. So I thought this would be a great time to share the project that I made and taught recently for a crafty friends retreat. (I will share more on my completed projects in the future here too!)😉

Vicki-MixedMediaBirdhouse

I have made a mixed media birdhouse with a “stand” that is approximately 14″ tall with a width of about 6″ across the birdhouse roof edges.

I purchased a paper mache birdhouse that came without the square layer underneath it or the “perch”. I added those using my own chipboard and craft stick from my stash. The “tree stand” was constructed from an old stairway post from my house that had been stored in our shed out back. We had no use for it, so I had my husband cut down the length that I wanted for the birdhouse, attached the square chipboard piece to it and glued the birdhouse on top of that. The very bottom was created with my husband’s saw and pieces of left over wood he had which was then screwed to the stairway post. Here’s what the items looked like unassembled…

For the “tree bark” look on my post, I covered the entire post with some crackle paste and let it dry along with all of the glue and white gesso to prime everything. For the “roof” of the birdhouse, I took a couple of pieces of regular cardboard that you would throw away from a box. I cut it to size for the roof, ripped off the layer to expose the corrugated texture underneath and glued it to the roof. This was primed with black gesso.

Here’s a closer view of the roof. To get that “rusty” texture look, I used the Finnebair Rust Affect Pastes. Not only does it give that look, it also gives the texture too. The class seemed to enjoy that part. I’ve also added some more textures with the art stones, wax and moss. You will also notice that I’ve used this same method with the “perch” too.

The other side of the roof also has added texture with art stones as well as a tin mechanical butterfly that was painted up with some Sparks sparkle paints.

For the “tree post” I added some paint(s) mixed with touches of water to make the texture stand out to get that “tree” look to it. It was wrapped with a vine ribbon and flowers that were painted to coordinate with the project and then attached to the vine. The centers of the flowers were made with beads, painted and waxed over them.

And here’s a closer view of not only the post and flowers, but the fence which was also painted with watered down paint as well as painted mushrooms that were actually a bright red color. I wanted to customize it to coordinate with the project. I’ve attached some decorative rock and a little crystal ball at the bottom of the platform along with the green moss which covered up the rest of the areas.

As for the birdhouse areas, I ripped up pieces of printed vellum and randomly attached those pieces as desired. I also took some texture paste and a brick stencil to go over areas of the birdhouse being careful where I wanted to place my different clay molds. I made all of the clay molds shown and enough for everyone in class too. This is where all of the art stones were attached too. At this point is where the clear gesso comes in because of the printed vellum that you don’t want to get covered up with the white. Once attached glue pieces and paint dried, this is where I painted with watered down blue Pasto Paint so that the vellum is still visible through it. I also painted a very light washing of white paint to go over the brick areas for highlights.

And lastly, to create the “runny rust” colors around the clay and textured areas, I used a couple of different paints that were sprayed with water to let them drip down over the areas. This gives shadows to the texture and the illusion of your rusty roof affecting the sides of the birdhouse.

All of the textures were lastly highlighted with silver wax paste and the rest was just adding the green moss and the Spanish moss in the hole of the birdhouse. I have a photo of the class finished pieces that I will share in an up-coming post along with other projects I made for my classes during the retreat.

**Really hope you’ve enjoyed my mixed media birdhouse project and given you some inspiration in some way! Please be sure to stop in at the Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge for more inspiration by the team…hope you can join in the fun with us this month!**

Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Love to Scrap – #156 Anything Goes
Love to Craft – #69 Anything Goes
Arty Divas – Anything Goes

Your Own Sparkle AJ Page

*This is a scheduled post as I’m away for my son’s wedding and don’t have access to Internet at this time*

Hello friends! Here we are towards the end of June already and in full Summer mode now! Time has went by so fast! I do hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and enjoying your time however you’re spending it.

The end of the month also brings the monthly AJ page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too! We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles! So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” June prompt of: “buttons/sequins/gems.“

So who doesn’t have oodles of sequins in their stash? (I probably had enough to cover the entire page, but left it strictly for the fish scales and “bubbles”.😄) I was inspired by the Art Journal Journey challenge prompt this month of “FISH” and with the stash prompt in mind, it had me thinking of a book I had gotten for the kids years ago, perhaps you’re familiar with “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister?

In the book, the fish’s scales were very shimmery, and it made me think to add the sequins to a fish, so I actually found a fun and free “coloring page” fish image to print out and color for my page! I used Copic markers to color that fish and the sequins are a glittery silver sequin that were topped with some silver Stickles as well as the “lines” on his fins. I also added some clear iridescent sequins for the “bubbles” above him.

For my background – Since the goal is to use my stash, I pulled out my set of gelatos that I’ve had for a few years to create my background. I found it fun to blend them and smudge them with my finger. I also used a piece of punchella trim for stenciling with them too. Of course, since they’re water soluble, I needed to cover it with some matte medium using a spatula rather than a brush. Once the matte medium dried, I added some printed vellum pieces ripped up over it and then used some white and silver paint for splatters and stamping an empty roll circle. I also went around the edges a bit with the silver paint for shimmer. For a little bit more texture, I took some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and heated up a few “piles” of the crystals and melted them…I haven’t used that in a long time either! I needed to be VERY careful with my heat gun because of the matte medium…it started to smoke a bit! 😮

For the background fish – I had a few extra cut out fish pieces from a previous project I made using the Taylored Expressions Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo with dies and adding them to the scene. I also added some sparkly fish that was die cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish dies. (I haven’t posted this project yet, but I will later on!) I took a micron pen to add a fishing line coming down from the top with a hook.

Here’s a closer view of the fish as well as some of the details in the background.

For the sentiment – it was printed out along with the fish and then I just ripped around it and then using the same ink colors as the background fish, I blended over this piece. I also used the same UTEE on it as the background. I took a white Big Brush marker to highlight the letters and underline. I also used it for highlights on the fish. I used different colors of the Big Brush markers to add some shading details around the fish.

All of the sequins and silver Stickles were added very last to the page.

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Fish (will have to link later when I get back!)

Challenge Up Your Life-Fun in the Sun

Happy June 1st friends! This month will bring us into the Summer months which means it’s time for all of those fun outdoor activities! I’m also getting ready for lots of things going on this month including my son’s wedding! So I know I’ll be busy! How about you?

This is my last time to be joining the “Challenge Up Your Life” challenge blog as a guest designer. I’ve had a great time with them as a guest for the past three challenges and appreciate being asked! Today their new monthly challenge for June is “Fun in the Sun“. Hope you can share your lovely creations with us this month! (Check out the challenge blog for details and inspiration!) And here’s my take on this theme:

What could be more fun than a cute little fairy sipping a drink floating on a lily pad?! Love those shades too!

There happened to be a good sale on a few digital stamps from LOTV recently and so I snatched a few and this was one of them that I fell in love with. This one is called Water Lily, of course. (The sentiment also came from the same company.) She looked like she was having some “fun in the sun” for sure, so I colored her up with my Copic markers and die cut the panel out with a stitched rectangle die. I’ve also used a scalloped stitched die to cut out a piece of pink cardstock to go with some of the colors in the image.

For the background papers, I’ve found some great *yellow rainbow paper from Lawn Fawn and then I used a *sun die from My Favorite Things and cut out with some yellow glitter cardstock. (*These items have retired) I took a wave die from Lawn Fawn and cut out a strip from vellum and used my blue marker to add some color towards the top of the waves. To attach the strip, I wrapped it around the layers and glued it from behind. I then added the ribbon with the bow and attached these layers to an A2 top folding white card base.

Here’s a closer look at the image with the coloring I’ve done. I’ve used a gold gel pen to color in her head band and then a silver one to color in the little “dots” on the ends of her glasses. I used a glitter brush pen over her sunglass lenses as well as her wings.

I finished the card off with a few colorful sequins.

So does that look like something you’d be having some “Fun in the Sun” with?! I know I sure would!😎

I sure hope to see you playing along with us this month with your creations! I also hope that you’ve enjoyed my inspiration as guest designer for these challenges the last few months. Thanks for your support friends!

Challenges: