March AJ Page-FLY

Hello friends!  Officially Spring has sprung, but I’m seeing some possible snow still in the forecast!  BLAH!  I sure how as we finish up this month, that April will be a little kinder to us over here.  With all of this weird weather in all different directions, I do hope that you’re staying safe and enjoying some craft time!

Speaking of craft time- If you’re not familiar, I post an AJ page each month along with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), as we get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles!  We use a prompt each month and post them.  I know she will have wonderful inspiration to share, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too! Here’s my AJ page for this month with the “SMASH OUR STASH” March prompt of “Find something/anything GREEN to use on your page” :

Thinking that I was REALLY in the mood to start seeing some green, I started digging through my stash and found SO MANY green things!  I didn’t realize that all you really need is a color to have so many different items to pull from!  I’m happy with all of the green items I found as I used several of them for my layout here.  I’ve got green paint, texture paste, metallic spray, flowers, lace, button, butterfly ephemera and green glitter Stickles!  I’m thinking I don’t use green enough, so I went with a monochromatic page.

For the background:  I started with some printed vellum attached with collage medium and went over top with a soft green layer.  I used an old stencil and went over the two corners with green paste. I then sprayed some green metallic over those two colors and moved it around with water until dry.  I splattered some white ink over top and set to dry.

Vicki-AJpageMar-Flybottom

I added green lace on the right bottom along with my scallop chipboard square that I painted white and added some papers behind it.  I used those same papers to die cut a tag at the top and glued the fairy along with butterfly wings behind her over it.  I added the sentiment sticker that was lined out with a black marker and button over it and attached a string to the hole.  This was popped up with foam tape as well as the “FLY” die cut letters inside the white frame.  The ripped sentiment was computer generated and sponged with grey ink and tucked behind the white frame.  I added some green Stickles glitter to each scallop and tucked some green flowers with gold enamel dots in the center.  I also tucked more of those behind the fairy too.

Vicki-AJpageMar-Flytop

I covered the butterfly wings with a glitter brush pen and then splattered some grey ink over top of the wings before attaching them to the page with glue and foam tape… and before attaching the butterflies to the page, I covered up the fairy with a piece of scrap paper and used some gold paint to splatter over the page…and I called it done!

I enjoyed making this page with all of those GREEN things from my stash!  I hope you’ve enjoyed it too!  Thanks so much for dropping in and have a great weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Anything Goes Art Journal
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  3. Challenge Up Your Life – Monochrome
  4. Beyond the Blue – Green
  5. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  6. A Place to Start – Anything Goes
  7. Through the Purple Haze – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles25 Comments

February AJ Page-Relaxation

Hello friends!  It seems like this month went by really fast!  Hope you’re having a great and productive month!  It’s now time for this month’s Art Journal page…really fun one today!

If you’re not familiar, I post an AJ page each month along with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), as we get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles!  We use a prompt each month and post them.  I know she will have some great inspiration, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too!🥰  Here’s my AJ page for this month with the “SMASH OUR STASH” February prompt of “Wooden Pieces/Chipboard” :

Do you have tons of chipboard pieces laying around?  I have several stacks of them that have been around for quite a while and I thought that I would just pull them out to start using some up here with this month’s prompt.  These are old Stampin’ Up! chipboard pieces that they used to sell and I was taught that you don’t throw any of them away…well I think they meant that you should use them, though!😆

For the background:  I started with my usual 6″x9″ watercolor paper with the holes pre-punched at the top.  I used some torn pieces of scraps and vellum that I had laying around and randomly covered the blank page using collage medium. I took the chipboard pieces and glued them in random areas too.  I then covered it over with some white gesso paint that was slightly watered down so that some of the background elements still showed through.

The next step was to add some colors with some Finnebair Impasto paint in Mediterranean and Lemon Peel. When these two colors mix together, they make a beautiful green.  They are actually really bright colors, so I toned it down a bit with more white paint until I got the look I wanted.  I finished it with black paint splattering.

Here’s a closer view of the top of the page with the collage and chipboard texture.  After painting up the background, I also took a few pieces of chipboard along with a wooden butterfly and painted those elements in red.  I thought it would be fun to give the page a pop of bright red to contrast the muted background.  The red painted elements were added after the background was finished.

The sentiment at the top was computer generated and sponged over with some Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink and layered over a piece of black cardstock and then attached to the page.

Then here’s a closer view of the bottom of the page.  The “Reserved” is from a Tim Holtz sticker book.  

Behind the red chipboard ‘R’, I added some black string.  You will also notice that I’ve used some Finnebair Aged Gold metallic wax to go around the edges of the raised up edges to give them a bit of dimension.  I finished it up with a few red enamel dots.

I had fun with this one and I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well!  Thanks for dropping in today!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Seeing Red 
  2. Country View – Sentiment/Inspiring Words
  3. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  4. Try it On Tuesday – Let’s Get Messy (painting)
  5. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

Jan 2023 Art Journal Page-TIME

Hello there friends!  Hope that you’ve been having a great month so far to start off your year! I’m so relieved that I’ve gotten my sound up and running on the computer now!  Also…today I’m very happy to be continuing on with making my monthly art journal pages (plus using my stash!) and to be continuing the partnership with my sweet crafty friend, Carol!  I always love to see how each of us interprets the monthly stash themes.

If you’re not familiar, I post an AJ page each month along with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), as we get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles!  We use a prompt each month and post them.  I know she will have some great inspiration, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too!🥰  Here’s my first Art Journal inspiration for 2023 with the “SMASH OUR STASH” January prompt of “Sprays/Stains/Paints” :

So this one is a bit different for me, but I wanted to try out a “minimalistic” style and very soft with the colors that’s almost pale.  Not sure I achieved what I was thinking, but fun to try anyway.

Background:  With the prompt in mind, I had no problem pulling out a few Distress Spray Stains that I have so many of but hardly use.  So I started the background with a stencil and added some texture paste to the two opposite corners over a gesso painted 6″x9″ 140# cold press paper pre-punched with holes for book.  I then took the spray stains and went over the two opposite corners with them.

I found a cool photo online of the eye with the clock.  The outside of the eye has repetitive “tick tock” wording over it.  Before attaching this photo and the wording elements, I stamped a very large pocket watch image (Whimsy Stamps retired) with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink.  Since the sprays and ink are water based media, I covered the page with Distress Micro Glaze to make it permanent before adding some collage medium to attach the other elements. I also used a Big Brush marker to go around the edges for shadows. The pocket watch detail is a laser cut chipboard that was sprayed with black distress spray.

I took some more paint to add to the colored sprayed edges along with some black and white paints to randomly splatter over the entire page. Lastly I took some silver metallic rub to go over the raised areas and make them stand out a bit. The page has a sheen to it because I went over it with a coat of collage medium.

I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration today and thank you for stopping in!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Use a photo (eyeball)
  2. More Than Words – It’s About Time
  3. Country View – Time
  4. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  5. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
  6. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles21 Comments

End of the Year-Dec AJ Page-SNOW+Book

It is here!  The end of 2022 has arrived weather you are ready for it or not!  I know as I’ve gotten older the time seems to pass more and more quickly.  Each year I usually go through all of the things that I didn’t have time to do.  This year I’m going to look at all of things that I DID do instead!  I look forward to a wonderful year ahead and I hope you are as well!

  • For this entire year, I’ve had such a wonderful time creating my AJ pages at the end of each month with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)!  Thanks SO MUCH to her for the wonderful inspiration and joining in the venture with me!  I know she’ll have something wonderful, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too!🥰  We’ve gotten creative by using up our never-ending stash piles! (I look forward to doing this for another year each month in 2023 and I’ll hope you’ll be here too!)  Here’s my final Art Journal inspiration for 2022 with the “SMASH OUR STASH” December prompt of “Oldest Stash” :

It’s a bit challenging for me to FIND my “oldest stash” as I’ve been a bit of a collector over the years.  So I’ve pulled out a very old, but favorite stamp set of mine from Stampin’ Up! called “Lovely as a Tree” from 2001.  The container broke when I opened it up to take a stamp out! LOL  I’ve also pulled out my Pearl Ex powders and some gilding flakes from my older media stash.  It’s a good thing that powders don’t go bad otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to use them!🙄

For the Background – I’ve used some mix of paints and splattered some white paint over it for the snow.  The trees at the bottom were stamped over vellum and then I cut it out and attached that to the bottom of the page so that they were a nice vibrant black as I didn’t think they would stamp over the paint very well.  I did take a snowflake stamp (not too old) and stamped a few randomly over the background in teal ink. (water-proof)

For the Pearl Ex Powders – I mixed some Misty Lavender Pearl Ex with embossing paste and used a snowflake stencil to randomly add this to the background.

For the Gilding Flakes – I die cut some snowflakes with double sided adhesive sheets will make the front sticky.  This made it so I could rub in the gilding flakes over them.  They did turn out very pretty!

The “SNOW” letters were die cut and I found a neat winter clipping from my sentiment stash to add below it after I sponged some teal ink around it.  I also die cut another tiny snowflake in the center of the ‘O’ with glitter cardstock and attached a tiny teal rhinestone in the center of it.  I rubbed some silver wax around the letters and around the edges of the page.  Lastly, I’ve added some star sequins and filled the centers of those and the gilded snowflakes with some silver Stickles.  I covered the bottom of the page under the trees with glue and covered it with sparkly glitter.

So I thought that since I’ve done an AJ page every month this year that not only did I need to close up the year, but I also needed to close the book to all the AJ pages I made from 2022 by finally finishing up a book to put them all in!

I made the covers with some chipboard along with some “old” chipboard pieces from my stash and did some painting with a bit of mixed media gold wax and stenciling.  I wanted to be sure to add the year to the front and a little quote from my sticker book that says:  “happy in her heart where only the imagination can go”

I fit all of the AJ pages completed this year along with a few extras that were created from before with unknown dates, added the front and back covers and used my Zutter Bind-it-All machine to add the spiral wire for a book.  (This was the reason all of my pages had the pre-punched holes in them when I posted each month.)

That finishes up the 2022 year on my blog.  I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts weather it’s for inspiration or just a smile.  Either way, I’m so thankful that you have joined me this past year and your friendships.  I look forward to a productive and crafty year ahead in 2023!

  • Have a safe, happy and healthy New Year!🎊

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Snowy Winter
  2. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  3. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles19 Comments

November AJ Page-Peace Love and Hope

Hello friends!  Hope that you’re having a wonderful weekend and I can’t believe we’re looking at the end of November already as well as almost the end of the year too!  Since I’ve been doing most of my post this month with guesting for Inky Stamper, it’s time to change it up a bit.

At the end of the month, I do an Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for her AJ page 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” November prompt of “washi tape/stickers/border stickers, etc” :

So with the Smash our stash theme, I went through and pulled out so many stickers in my collection…and then realized that I’ve had some of these things for such a long time!  I couldn’t use them all, but I made something work with a fun Christmas theme in mind.

For the background:  I started out with my pre-punched holes at the top of my 140# cold press paper sized 6″x9″ and covered the bottom portion of the page with some Tim Holtz Christmas themed washi tape.  I thought it was a bit too bright and went over it with some white paint and a brayer.  I also took a collage paper of Christmas music sheet paper and stamped a couple of different images over it to further the collaged background.  I also covered this area with a thin layer of mixed media silver paint.

I die cut a pine tree and sponged some inks around the edges and turned that as well as the die cut sparkle snowflakes into stickers using my Xron machine.  I stamped the two deer in black ink and heat embossed over it a clear EP.  I then took a Tim Holtz stencil and used some sparkle texture paste over it for snow. (Before I attached the larger snowflake stickers.)  I also splattered the page with some white paint too…lots of snowfall going on!

For the wording:  I had some black thickers (as they call them, which are thick foam letter stickers) for the “PEACE” and then the other words are stickers from my stash.  The heart is from the thicker sheet too.  I took some silver rubbing paste with my finger and went along the edges of the page as well as the thicker letters to add some interest.  Lastly: I made a “snow ground” for the deer by applying some glue and covering it with some glitter crystals.  I also added some black gem stickers to the center of each snowflake sticker.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today and have been inspired in some way.  Thanks for much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – Collage Fodder and/or Food and Drink (collage fodder here)
  2. Mixed Media Lovers – Letters/text/quote 
  3. Creative Artiste – Anything Mixed Media
  4. Creative Moments – Winter
  5. Arty Divas – Anything Goes
  6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – NOT a card

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles25 Comments

July AJ Page-Leave The Trail

Happy weekend!  Where in the world did July go?!  I can’t believe we are at the end of the month already.  It’s really been a busy Summer this year and I know that Autumn is a favorite season of mine which will be busy as well, but that’s all a good thing.

It’s now that time for a monthly Art Journal page and 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” July prompt of: “decorative papers/collections/kits, etc” :

OK, I don’t really know how much of a “challenge” it is to use decorative papers on anything…but I have such a HUGE stash of papers and I’m always trying to find different ways of using it up instead of always hoarding it!  The papers I’ve used on this page are exactly that…I hoarded it!  It’s just too awesome NOT to use!  I purchased this pack of Stamperia Sir Vagabond 8×8 papers when they came out and haven’t even touched it!  Now is the time!

I used my traditional 6×9 size with the holes pre-punched at the top to fit with the book I’m making.  I ran out of my usual 140# watercolor paper, so I’ve switched to another pad from my stash which is Strathmore Acrylic paper…very thick and made to use with paints. (I like the canvas texture it has.)

For the background:  I started with some old paint from my stash and brush blended the different colors.  I didn’t want them to be too bright which I thought would take away from the paper images.  After it dried, I covered the entire page with some Tim Holtz Postage Tissue Wrap.  I thought it ‘stood out’ too much, so I painted over it again using the same paint colors.

For the Journal Prompt with the papers: I cut out pieces with scissors that had interesting images I wanted to use like the circle map, the “Vintage Travel” strip, the hot air balloon with train, the “mountains” at the bottom, the circled compass, the sentiment and then I ‘ripped; a piece for the top of the page and then re-punched the holes.  The compass circle, hot air balloon/train and ripped newspaper edge was sponged around the edges with Toffee ink.

Before placing the cut paper images, I decided to add a fun textural window image.  I stamped the window with chocolate colored pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Collage Medium was used to attach all of the different paper images except the balloon/train, compass and sentiment.  I used Pitt Big Brush Markers to go around these collaged images for some shadowing.  I then used some white and chocolate paints to create splatters over the page being careful to cover up the window area.

Before attaching the sentiment strip and the compass, I used some Aged Brass Metallic Wax to go around the edges.  I also used this around my entire page and over the shutters on the window.  I attached the sentiment strip and the metal cogs with 3D Matte Gel and then used foam squares to pop up the compass and balloon/train.

 – Really fun AJ page to create and I hope that you’ve enjoyed it too!  Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Challenges:

  1. Country View – Travel
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  4. Arty Divas – Anything Goes
  5. NBUS – Anything Goes + Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (papers!!)
  6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Lawn Fawn Thanks+Painting Divas Class Projects!

Happy weekend!  It’s very hot here today as we are under a heat advisory!  So thought it was best to stay indoors and keep working on my “catch-up” posts!  This one is a bit different than my usual papercrafting posts, but it’s my finished projects from the crafting retreat I had with friends right before the wedding and why I was so busy!  But first, I’d like to share a fun “thank you” card I made for my friend that hosted it all:

And as you know from my last post, I was on a Lawn Fawn fever mode, so this was also made for my friend that hosted the fun “Painting Divas” retreat for us!  This ADORABLE set called Just Add Glitter was a perfect set to use to create a card for the theme as well as those products to accompany it with the Art Supplies dies, Canvas and Easel as well as the Paint Splatter Background Stencil too!

For the background, I created a scene with a brick stencil from my stash that I’ve had for years which was blended on with some grey ink.  The bottom solid grey portion of the scene I used that paint splatter stencil and some Distress Oxide colors and blended in over it.  By using the oxide inks, the colors showed up better over the grey.

I used these same colors of Oxide inks to sponge over the die cut pieces from the Art Supplies dies as well as the “master piece” splatter on the “canvas” and the brick wall splatters.  I’ve used some LF Woodgrain paper to cut out portions of the “wooden” pieces and the rest of the pieces were cut from white cardstock and then just colored with Copic markers. I arranged the scene to make it fit the way I wanted and then attached it down with some of the pieces being popped up with foam tape.  (The sentiment on the rainbow canvas blob was from a freebie stamp the company is famous for adding to your order.)  I had fun making this one and I chuckle at the “I arted” sentiment!😅

Painting Diva Vicki 2022

For the “Painting Divas” Retreat, we had projects with different teachers and of course you probably recall the Mixed Media birdhouse I did from my past blog post.  CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST  The theme was on that cute little sign as we arrived…”Gnomes & Fairies & Unicorns & Glitter”…how fun is that?!!  We were to created a decorated gift bag to bring with us using the theme and enter for a contest…but totally forgot to bring mine back home for a photo to show! LOL  (I am hoping that we get together to share some photos as I wish I had taken more than what I did!)

I took a quick photo with birdhouses everyone finished for my class and it was so fun to see everyone’s interpretation of how they made their own.  I enjoyed seeing what everyone did! (I think two of these are missing in this photo.) 

Now, I am not an avid decorative painter and don’t spend a whole lot of time doing it, but my mom along with a couple of girls at this retreat are, and have been doing it for many years! (even longer than I have been a paper crafter…which is a LONG time! LOL)  So I have had the privilege of learning a bit about it, through them and mainly my mom.  I’m glad to have this time to share something together and doing when we can.  I appreciate it more than I think it is realized and the memories that are made.🥰

Below is my gallery of projects that I did for each class.  I did this in order of when each class was taught.  If you’re directly on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge it and also see the description of what the dimensions and types of surfaces that were used.  All were hand painted by me using acrylic paints.

Taught by my mom over a canvas board measuring 8″ x 10″ with addition of 3 stars, buttons and knob for nose. You could make a face or paint a gnome, so of course I painted a gnome for mine. I went on my own and added twine to the star…not sure I like it.
Taught by Linda over a 6″ x 14″ thin wood board. I love Halloween so this was a fun one. It came prepped base coated with the blue background. Stars were stenciled with dry brushing. I added some glitter paint on some of the candies after I sealed it.
I zoomed in for a closer look at the pumpkin and some of the candy as it’s hard to see from a distance.
Taught by the host of the event painted over a stretch canvas in 10″ x10″ size pre base coated with black paint. The snowflakes were stenciled with dry brushing and glitter paint was added over the green and red areas. Gold Drip Drops were added to elf and Rhinestones to a few of the larger snowflakes. There was also some splattering done over entire piece.
Taught by Kathy was this cute “photo holder tag” from an 8″ x 5″ thin wood board. I painted over white and then washed with some black for a shiplap look. Wrapped around burlap ribbon plus other ribbons/twine. I added my own decoration at the bottom and popped in a photo.

I have one last project to share which is something I recently finished up before this painting retreat, but it had been sitting around the last few years as an un-finished box not being used.

A few years back, I had gone to a paint convention with my mom and purchased this brush box that was hand-made by an older gentleman and vendor at this place.  My mom also purchased one as well.  I started it quite a while back and had been left at my mom’s place.  I brought it home and finished up the top portion of the box doing some ombre painting and added the wooden lettering on the front.  I added some glitter paint to the lettering after it was sealed.

And here’s what the inside of the box looks like with all of my brushes stored in it.  (Well most of them anyway! LOL)  What I like is that there are separate compartments so that I can organize the different types/styles of brushes in each.  The brushes are protected and dust-free.  The dimensions of this brush box are 11″ x 7″ x 4″ deep all made with wood.  The hardware was removed and then replaced after painting and sealing.

Like I mentioned, I don’t always do decorative painting like this, but since it’s already part of my life and I have accumulated things related to it, I will probably do some things here and there.  It’s like a mixed media thing for me as I don’t always do that, but sometimes I enjoy getting things out for something different.  I like many different crafts which makes this all so fun for me.  It’s nice to have a variety of interests to keep enthusiasm going!

How about you?  Do you have interests in other things besides paper crafts?

Stay COOL and safe out there today friends…how do you like to keep cool?  

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope you were inspired in some way on your visit!

Challenges:

  1. Crafty Animals – Anything with an animal (card)
  2. Dragonfly Dreams – Indoor Hobbies (card)
  3. Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Dies (card)
  4. Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Stencils (card)
  5. Addicted to Stamps & More – Any Occasion (card)
  6. Cardz 4 Galz – Get Inky (card)
  7. Creative Moments – Anything Goes optional: CUTE (card)
  8. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes (card)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles21 Comments

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.)

7 July 2022

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.

Vicki-MixedMediaBirdhouse-rightside-close

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.

Vicki-MixedMediaBirdhouse-leftside-close

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:

  1. Love to Scrap – #156 Anything Goes
  2. Love to Craft – #69 Anything Goes
  3. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles25 Comments

Smash Our Stash-“Learning to Fly” AJ Page

Hello friends!  My fellow U.S. friends will be celebrating Memorial weekend which means that the end of the month is here already!  Summer is coming very quickly and it seems that time is really flying by!  

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” May prompt of: “ephemera/chipboard/cut-outs, etc.“:

With the AJ prompt this month of “ephemera” my first thought turned to the the H-U-G-E pile of packages that I have of those Tim Holtz Idea-ology ephemera and paper dolls packs.  There are actually SO many different pieces in just one package that I decided to concentrate on just one of those packages from the “Botanical” collection. (I did pull in one more layer from the “Snippets” pack as well.)  I actually love the images which pulled me in to purchase them, but there they sit and never get used…so I’m using some today! Yay!  That “Botanical” pack is my fave with the birds and butterflies in there!

For my page background:  I started with my usual 6″ x 9″ watercolor 140# paper with the pre-cut holes at the top for my book.  I glued some of the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap” ripped pieces over the blank background first.  I then took a baby wipe and several colors of “DecoArt Media Fluid acrylics” and blended them together until I achieved desired look.  Trying to get another color over top, I decided to pull out the “Distress Oxide Spray Salvaged Patina” after the paint had dried up.  To help spread some of it around, I also sprayed with water too.  I was pleased with all of the coloring in the background, but felt it needed a toned down border because of the Vintage looking ephemera, so I blended some “Vintage Photo and Black Soot Oxide Inks” at the edges.

At this point, I started adding images by working on the stamping around the edges with a script text stamp using a hybrid brown ink in random places.  I also used the same ink to stamp a couple of the flying birds in the background.  This is where I thought it would a good idea to add some splattering with white and brown paint.  I finished it with more splatters of some “Liquid Pixie Dust” which gave it some pretty subtle sparkle all over.

So starting at top of my page, I decided to start adding the images to create my scene.  I ended up die cutting a branch from some dark brown cardstock and attached it to the edge of the page and then took one of those ephemera birds and popped it with foam tape over the branch.  I glued the butterfly above the bird and the “daisy” flowers off to the right were glued down while keeping in mind the placement of the large birds at the bottom.

The sentiment came from one of the stickers from the “Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Sticker Book”.  I used a brown Micron pen to sketch around it, but decided it was too light, so I went around it again with a black one too.

For the bottom portion, you can see that I’ve glued down the little tag under the title. (I added a piece of twine around it before I attached it.) I also glued the corner floral spray in the bottom left of the page.  I’ve used foam tape to pop up the large birds as well as the butterfly above the floral spray.

The last thing I did was to grab the dark brown “Big Brush Marker” to add some shading around some of the ephemera pieces.  I didn’t do anything to the pieces that were popped up with foam tape.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Art Journal inspiration today!  Thanks so much for joining me and Carol for our fun collaboration and you can always have fun following along with us every month!

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and please stop to remember and honor those who’ve sacrificed for us.

I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Birds
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media #82
  3. Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Mixed Media
  4. Dragonfly Dreams – Butterflies and/or Flowers
  5. The Corrosive – Anything Goes
  6. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

April AJ Page-Does Anybody Know Time It Is?

Hello friends!  I feel like I’ve been so busy, but it sure doesn’t seem that way on my blog here!  Hopefully, I’ll be able to show more things later…however, I think it’s about time for this month’s Art Journal page…don’t you?!

Today I’m sharing my monthly Art Journal page and collaborating with my blog friend Carol as we both try and get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So please hop over to her blog to see some more Art Journal inspiration with our “SMASH YOUR STASH” April prompt of: “recycled items/thrifted items to upcycle/pieces of magazine, gift wrap, etc.“!  So here’s what I’ve come up with:

I absolutely LOVE The Peanuts Gang characters!  I have a desk calendar that I use every year next to my computer and it has the Peanuts Gang on it.  I was thinking this would be a perfect way for me to recycle it by fussy cutting out some of the characters on it and incorporating them on my AJ page this month!

So I’ve started out by creating my regular 9″x6″ sized page with thick watercolor paper and pre-cutting the holes at the top for my book.  This time I’ve turned it in the landscape direction to work on the design. I took out a musical notes style stencil and added paste for texture to the background, but it turned out to look more like bricks instead..but I let it dry and used it anyway.  I decided to pull out my Brushos that just sit on my shelf and never get used.  I’m always amazed at the results with them just by sprinkling them and adding water. 

I also took some printed vellum and attached ripped pieces over the background with collage medium.  This is where I’ve also added a clock image that I cut from a magazine to recycle as well as the background Peanuts Gang characters (Snoopy & Sally).  I then stamped a few musical notes and scribble stamps in the background using Archival ink.  Lastly, it was also splattered with gold paint and set aside to dry. (Snoopy & Sally were covered for the splattering.)

The next portion was to create the piano going across the bottom for Lucy and Schroder to be on top.  I took some black metallic cardstock that has been in my stash for years and free-handed the slope cut.  The piano keys were simple with a white cardstock strip that I scored every 1/2″ and then I used a Word Window Punch (Also had for years from Stampin’ Up!) and punched out the black keys to add to the white scored piano keys over top.  Attached this strip to the bottom of the page and then used foam tape to attach the black slope over top.  At this point I had to punch the holes again at the top of the page for my AJ page book construction.  This is where I glued and foam taped Schroder and Lucy over the black section of the piano between Snoopy and Sally.

The wording is something else that goes with the theme of my page.  I had actually saw a video on You Tube with the Peanuts Gang singing the song by Chicago “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and that’s where the musical theme came to my mind when cutting out the characters from my desk calendar.  LOL  Thought I’d share it if you’re interested in singing too:

For the wording on my AJ page, I just used my label maker and cut out the words to arrange on my page and then outlined each word with a black waterproof marker.  I also took the same black metallic cardstock and cut out the letters to emphasize the word “TIME…” and glued it over the textured stencil.

But before I glued the black lettering over the brick texture, I took some metallic brass wax and rubbed over it to bring out the textured areas.  I also used it around the edges of the page.

I thought the large black slope of the piano looked a little plain, so I made a flower using a scallop circle punch and cutting each scallop edge with my scissors to make “petals” from a musical sheet paper that I also sponged with black ink and splattered with gold paint.  I also took more of the wax around the edges.  Punched another circle with gold metallic cardstock for the center and topped the center with a black enamel dot.

I think it’s so fun to be able to incorporate just about anything into your art journaling and I’m glad to be able to pull out some of my neglected stash as well as find something to recycle rather than just throw away.  It makes it so fun to be able to incorporate something different to suit your own ideas/thoughts/style too!

I hope you’re also enjoying the AJ pages too!  Maybe you’ve been inspired to see something in your everyday life that you can turn into something creative…or maybe you can sing your own tune while you create!🎹

Thanks so much for stopping in today friends!  So happy to share with you!

Tomorrow is inspiration from a new challenge for the month to try…see you then!

Challenges for today’s AJ page:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – “Play it Again Sam” (based on movie or song)
  2. Try It On Tuesday – “I Can Hear the Music”
  3. River of Creativity – Anything Goes (not cards) optional: Spring
  4. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles22 Comments