Robins!

Happy Fall to all of you! We certainly are not enjoying the cooler days and temperatures, but hopefully soon!

This is a little altered cheap birdhouse that I decided to make all pretty and used those fabulous "Birds of a Feather" stamps from Artistic Outpost! Will be joining the challenge at Simon Says Wednesday Stamp Challenge "No Designer Paper."

For all the details on how this was born, please pop on over to AO right HERE and have a look.

Sorry I am still lagging in blog visits, but I am trying to catch up as quickly as I can! Oh and for fun Verizon decided to breakdown again, so I had no home phone or Internet for two days, how fun! Have a beautiful weekend and thank you visiting today!

Letters to Friends!

I almost forgot to post these two letters I altered using lots of mixed media for a couple of fabulous friends! Sure hope Brenda and Chris like their letters as much as I enjoyed making them and trying to add elements and colors to suit them. This did take quite some time between figuring out what to add and of course various drying times. It is hard to take photos during the various stages as you can get really caught up in the moment or just need a break. Be forewarned this will be very photo heavy! I have done several of these Mixed Media projects, but this has been the largest! The Sun was quite bright the day of photos, so these are a little less in your face than it appears!

Both wood letters were purchased at a local craft store and are close to a foot tall, gessoed and then I added various layers from texture paste, crackle, fabric, metal and so on! Once all the elements were glued down using gel medium, again all was gessoed. I just wanted you to see this before the white gesso layer.

Next step was to add sprays and this is what I used. For the "B," Color Wash in Denim, Espresso, Meadow and Dylusions in Melted Chocolate, London Bus and Pure Sunshine. For the "C," Dylusions Crushed Grape, London Bus and a few colors of Tattered Angels in pinks. I then used a heat tool to dry most of the color on and then blotted off the excess with a paper towel. I also will use a soft paintbrush to move color where I wish or where I think one color is too overly saturated. Once this was all dried and I was happy with the colors, I gave a spray of matte sealer to set colors.

From this point layers of white gesso and white acrylic paint is used to highlight the areas and you can go as light or heavy as you like. I don't think the highlighting is quite as heavy as the photos may show. If you click on the photos, you can also see more detail.

The "B" in halves!

Now the bits and pieces!

The "C" in halves!

 

And the bits and pieces! I am thankful for the friends I have found in this lovely blogging world of ours, so I am linking this up to Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, "Thank You," Frilly and Funkie's "Happy, Happy, Happy," because these two projects and playing with so many different mediums and elements so does make me happy and Inspiration Journal's, "Pasted."

Thank you for stopping by today on this long photo journey! Next I have an "H" to work on for my Great-granddaughter! Have a lovely day!

A Gardening We Will Go!

The first Monday of the month Artistic Outpost will be having a Product Focus and for March it is Flowers and Gardening, which stamps in that category will be on sale at 20% off through March 7th, so check the AO blog for all the details! This is also the start of the new March challenge, so "Show Us Your AO Art" for a chance to win $15 in a store voucher! For additional DT inspiration please visit Gerrie, Tracy (who will 3-6), and Lisa.

I thought it would be nice to alter an old hand held bulb planter, which was a total rust bucket. Washed, sanded, primed, gessoed and then painted on a light buttermilk color.

Next step was to apply DecoArt one step crackle quite think and I let that dry and did a wash of brown paint and then wiped off the excess. Once sealed the magic of the Flower Market began.

All images were stamped on tissue paper using Black Archival and then heat set. On the reverse side, I colored the images using Sharpie markers.

I then applied gel medium to the bulb planter and carefully laid down the cut images and gently patted these down with my fingers. After the Flower Marker images were dry, I again applied gel medium over the tops to seal down.

With the exception of cutting delicate tissue paper, this was really an easy and fun project. The difficult part will be finding a place in the yard to place it!

Thank you for taking the time to visit today and I hope you have a wonderful start to March.

A Halloween To Die For!

Halloween - To Die For is the theme chosen by the lovely and talented Anne for the current challenge at A Vintage Journey. As always this will run two weeks and a prize to Country View Crafts store will be awarded to some lucky trick or treater! Hop on over for some spooky and fun inspiration from the Creative Guides!

I have had this shadow box sitting around for awhile and decided it was about time to do something with it. This box will also be linked to Eileen Hull's "Tricks and Treats" challenge at Art with Heart.

Using the Laboratorie paper, I stamped the Skeleton and then stamped and cut a mask. Next the background was inked with Dried Marigold, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord.

Using the Gothic Stencil, I applied modeling paste and after a few seconds removed for a slight ghostly resist.  Next I applied some Peeled Paint through the Speckles stencil and the shaded with Black Soot. Added a tree from some bright berry branch that was alcohol inked in black. The little pot base is a mix of moss, black alcohol ink and glue.

This section of the box was finished off with some rubs, Shrinky die cut movers and shapers bats, and Halloween!

Now onto the little compartments on the left side of the box!

The Spider was cut from foil backed grungeboard, inked in black alcohol and placed over the web stamped in clear embossing ink, colored and then removed with an iron.

Bottles were treated with alcohol inks and paint and more background paper. Stamped a label for one and added some bones for the other!

And finished off with some Halloween Lovers, stamped over stenciled and inked paper with a little Halloween script and then added a little Vintage Lace die at the bottom. The heart is from a Southwest Airlines coffee stir stick.

Topped off with a word band treated with alcohol inks and paint, some skull and crossbones curtain finials.

Also applied some of Wendy Vecchi's black embossing paste through the Speckles stencil in a few areas on the box and then highlighted them with Treasure Gold.

Thank you for stopping by to visit this spooky post! Have a lovely upcoming weekend.

It's All About Him!

Challenge #6 chosen by the amazing and wonderful Anne is "All About Him" at A Vintage Journey and just in time for Father's Day or any celebration of "him." You will want to be sure to visit AVJ for all the wonderful projects my fabulous DT Sisters have for you! There is always a prize from our sponsors at Country View Crafts, so come on and join in with your Tim inspired projects!

I have had this wooden box sitting around for several years and have wanted to turn it into a "TV remote controller box" and with Anne's challenge theme, it was time! This will be a birthday gift for my hubby on June 3rd, so I am joining in the challenge at Inspiration Journal, "Celebrate." The box was lightly sanded and painted with a washy mix of Vintage Photo paint, a little bit of crackle and then rubbed with Black Soot Distress ink.

Using Tim's Clockwork, Dot Fade and Measured stencils, I applied Black Soot Distress ink and then sprayed with a matte sealer. This was then given a very light sanding.

Fired Brick paint was applied to the stamp numbers, sanded a little after drying,  as well as the Alpha part to outline the frame.

 

The Crown was covered in gold paint and then I wiped it off only allowing it to settle in the recessed areas. Added various rub-ons on tickets I cut and inked and here and there for fun! After I added the rub-ons to the box, I also inked around the edges with Vintage Photo to blend into the box. Please excuse the bits of debris in the photos! I live in the desert and it is dry and dusty and goodie for me it was also windy! I kept wiping off dust and debris and it did not matter! SORRY.

For the center focal area, I used some Ephemera pieces and stamped over the clock with Vintage Photo using the new Cracks stamp - LOVE that and shaded the edges.

The gentleman and numbers are from the Merchantile and he was stamped in Black Archival on Vellum and I colored the back using tan Sharpie ink. Added some fun metal bits and filmstrip.

For a little more "Movie" feeling added some characters to the Lattice die and some Mirror pieces, which really collect desert dust!

Next was just to add some papers and Tissue Tape from various packs to decorate the sides and inside of the now Remote Control storage box!

 

Thank you for enduring my photo heavy post and hope you will join in all the fun at AVJ! Have a wonderful day!