I Can See Clearly Now!

"Through The Looking Glass" is the current challenge at AVJ and Julia wants to see a Tim inspired project that incorporates glass, acetate, mirrors, metal sheet, a window, clock face, a hand held mirror or glass bottle. You get the idea! Now for a chance to win a prize and now that our challenges run an entire month, the prize $$ has gone up. Big thanks to our sponsors at Country View Crafts. Make sure to visit AVJ and check out all the DT fabulousness! I have to give a great big shout out to JOY at Inspiration Emporium, who has so generously gifted me the $50 gift certificate for my Blog Candy! Thank you, Joy and IE! Wow!

The image was stamped in Black Archival, clear embossed, and segmented areas were water colored using markers. Once dried, masked and inked over in Antique Linen and Vintage photo. Next I flicked on some water, Black Embossing Paste was applied through Tim's eye chart stencil. When that was good and dry, I stamped a couple of Tim's minis using Black Archival and using Walnut Stain stamped the crackled background.

Oh and before I forget, the winner of my $50 blog candy gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium is the one and only Trash to Treasures,  LYNN! Congratulations and enjoy your shopping spree.

This is kind of my reminder to go those eyes checked! Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to AVJ and how much fun we have in store for you and with prizes! Brenda and Chris work so hard keeping A Vintage Journey the amazing challenge blog that it is and you could not ask for a better and more supportive DT group and I am honored to be a part of and so excited to start year #2! To start off our second year with our new monthly challenge, we are looking for ANYTHING TIM and to make it easier on us, please let us know what your Tim influence might be. Now my fabulous and totally talented DT Sisters also have some incredible art to share and you will find all the details of our challenge and information on all the prizes, along with our sponsor Country View Crafts. So you know a prize package was sent to AVJ from Tim and Mario! Aren't they just so sweet and generous?? And not only is AVJ celebrating an anniversary, but this is my 5th year of blogging as well as something very special. So here we go with what my little deal is!
 

Happy Anniversary to my hubby of 32 years and as it would be, today when the post goes live in Europe, it is our anniversary! To celebrate three special occasions, I would like to offer a little BLOG CANDY to one of my followers as well and that includes my lovely AVJ DT Sisters, who many have been with me from my first days of blogging! Details to follow. "Gear It Up" is the challenge at SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog, so we are taking our celebration over there to share.

Oh I love that man and I wanted to make him something a little different than the usual card or tag and so Tim's Pocket Watch came to the rescue along with many other Tim elements and products.

Tim's Pocket Watch die was cut from three layers 2 grungeboard and 1 chipboard in the center for stability. Applied a coat of gesso and then using a gel medium, I added texture using various bits and trims, modeling paste through a couple of stencils and then this was all covered up with gesso, before I applied crackle over the entire piece. Once that dried I added all of my metal pieces, mostly Idea-ology and a few I just had to add and again covered these with gesso.

Color Wash sprays used, Espresso, Denim, Stream, Butterscotch and Meadow, which are all colors my DH enjoys. These were sprayed on and dried a little using a heat gun and then with a paper towel I blotted off the excess color. Once I was happy with the colors, I did give a quick spray with sealer.

Next step is adding touches of gesso (and or Treasure Gold) lightly brushed on. Using a black marker, I added a few shadows. This was a little on the dark side to begin with, so I was careful to not add to many shadows. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is looking for a "Just A Hint Of Clover" and with a green heart (and other hints of green), we are good to go.

The grunge wings was just my thinking about how time flies and boy does it ever!

The magic of the gesso really makes everything pop! You can see some of the extra little watch gears and bits I added if you look closely. 

I did flick on some more Color Wash just for a little more interest using a toothbrush and let me tell you about stained fingers and fingernails. Oh so lovely! Truly I have so much fun when I work with mixed medias like this. I think this is about my 4th piece going this style and I love the end result.

Now for the reverse side, I wanted it to be a little softer and distress inked some of Tim's paper and where the face of the woman writing the love letter was stamped, I gave a little wash of white paint. A little more stenciling and a few fun elements and all is wonderful!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my project as much as I enjoyed it from start to finish. Now for a chance to win my BLOG CANDY in celebration of March and all the anniversaries, a $50 gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium, just leave a comment by April 1st, 2015. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter and good luck and mostly thank you for being a part of my journey.

Tic Tac Toe at AVJ!

I am so glad you have stopped by today and hope your week is going well. Tic Tac Toe is the current and what a fun challenge at AVJ and chosen by the wonderful Annie. For a chance to win a prize from Country View Crafts, please share your Tim inspired projects with us and for more inspiration and a feast for the eyes, you will want to see what the rest of the team has for you! There are going to be some exciting changes with AVJ's challenges, so be sure to check out the main challenge blog for all the details.

For this challenge I went on the diagonal with Idea-ology, Ephemera and Stains. No stamps or ink this time around and that was a challenge for me! Now you can incorporate those items, but I wanted to just stick with the TTT! The tag was cut from Tim's Wallflower paper and edged and splattered with Stains of Barn Door and Walnut Stain. I also carried that onto the Ephemera pieces as well. A Sharpie marker was used to color the Industrious Stickers.

We are flying to see our Holly for her birthday, so this tag has lots of elements in celebration of being together on a special day and over Valentine's Day! "Love Is In The Air" at Inspiration Journal and so we go there for a visit! What a great excuse this challenge of Tic Tac Toe was to use up some of those items just sitting around. I did have fun just layering them up and playing!

Have a lovely weekend and thank you again for taking the time to stop by.

Love Is In The Air

"Love Is In The Air" at A Vintage Journey and the theme has been chosen by that artfully talented, Astrid! Oh but the talent and great art does not stop there, so please stop by and see what the rest of the team has for you. Don't forget to join in the challenge with your Tim inspired projects for a change to win a store voucher from our sponsors at Country View Crafts.

This tags background was a labor of love and took a lot of patience waiting for gesso, paints and crackle to dry! First I cut my corrugated cardboard tag and torn away some of the areas. This is such fun, but a little hard on the hands! Next I applied white gesso and let dry.

Paints were applied as follows, first I brushed on DecoArt Desert Turquoise and then with a dirty brush (lightly wiped off), applied some Peeled Paint, Fresco Finish Haystack and around the edged Vintage Photo. Again we wait for the drying.

I applied two varieties of DecoArt crackle, One Step and Weathered Wood in the center. This took a good two hours to dry and cure, before I applied thinned stains of Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo using a paint brush. Once I liked this, I gave a little splatter of Fired Red paint and also applied this on the edges. After this again dried, I have it a spray with matte sealer.

The hearts and cupid were die cut, covered in gesso and then white paint. Inked over in Brushed Corduroy, shaded with Walnut Stain and a little Black Soot here and there. The "Love" sentiment is an older text stamp of Tim's and this was inked up with Coffee Archival. Had to give cupid a little stenciled heart!

Well there you have it and I hope you have enjoyed your visit which I am very thankful for!  

Wish!

My "Wish" is for all of you to have a fabulous finish to 2014 and a most wonderful 2015! Wow, how time flies and next year, I am going to be ready early for Christmas! Since it is still Christmas here in the US, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Now on to the current challenge at A Vintage Journey is "Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New" as chosen my the talented and most lovely Brenda! Be sure to visit AVJ and treat your eyes to some real gorgeous work from the team! There is always a prize from Country View Crafts, so come on and join in the last challenge of 2014!

I decided I would combine this challenge to "Ring Out" the old craft year by finishing Tim's December Tag with a few improvisations! The tag background was done as directed and for the embossing I used his snowflakes and ice edge little folders. I sanded these slightly and then applied white paint with my finger. After all I am wanting a little snow effect.

Next I stamped the the MidWinter sentiment from Artistic Outpost in blue and clear embossed and then cut apart and shaded the edges. Again I was keeping in step with the Snow!

Not having the thinlits, I used the "Wish" movers and shapers and cut this from using ODBD Vintage Label Dies and sanded and then edged in white paint. Cut an oval in white and then did the glue n seal thing and added Rock Candy Glitter. Can't have enough snow and sparkle when you live in the desert!

Now I do not have that gorgeous Prancing Deer (but it is on the list) and I do have Tim's other deer, but I decided I really want to use the little movers and shapers and having them looking up at the "Wish". These were done using the guidelines and I just added a little more white paint and of course they have to have a nose to breathe! Finished off with the wintery greenery that also got a little snow treatment and added a few jingle bells and what a nice sounding tag. That is that!

Thank you so much for stopping by and will see you all in 2015! Well maybe before, but I am thinking I might take a week off and seriously organize my craft room. It is hard to venture out and try new things with such chaos!

Let's Celebrate at AVJ!

Our lovely Nikki has chosen "Let's Celebrate" for the current challenge at A Vintage Journey and remember there is always a prize from Country View Crafts and more ways to win, so come on over and check out all the beautiful artwork from my DT Sisters and join in our Tim inspired celebration!

My ornament is also my Compendium of Curiosities III, challenge #17, Tim's Woodlands and Tinsel Twine as Linda and the CC have instructed us to open our books to page 60. Inspiration Emporium is the generous sponsor for this challenge and as always someone is chosen for a nice prize package from Tim and Mario.

Now I can't share what I did with the technique, but I can tell you everything else. The frame was cut from Tim's Arch and the movers and shapers using four layers of chipboard. These I glued together and painted all exposed edges with Fired Brick paint.

Next I cut two more frames from Tim's seasonal paper and applied to the front and back. This ornament is reversible. Using Tim's stencil, I selected various Christmas words and applied paste through the stencil and once removed and still wet, I sprinkled on Rock Candy Distress Glitter.

The above is our newest addition to the outside Christmas decorations. We both just really liked those gift packages all decked out! Thank you for taking the time to visit today during this very busy time of year!

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.

Heavy Metal for AVJ

Hello and welcome to my edition of "Heavy Metal," the current challenge at A Vintage Journey and chosen by me. AVJ is all about Tim Holtz style and products, so we hope you will join us in this current challenge, which runs two weeks. Country View Crafts is our wonderful sponsor and there is always a prize to be won and a chance to be among the "Pinworthies," so that is pretty nice. My incredibly talented DT Sisters have some wonderful inspiration as well, so do stop by AVJ for all the details and get "Metal" on.

This began as a framed tile my DD gave me years ago with a matching little pitcher. I really tired of the pretty little flowers, but could not part with the gift, so it was SALVAGED as well as the light on top (the hubby replaced it from my car). I am also going to take my Spooky little adventure over to my old stamping ground, Frilly and Funkie's "A Haunting Halloween Challenge."

The first thing I did was to figure out what was going to cover the tile and I decided on the "spider web" paper from the Laboratorie stash! This was inked with Wild Honey and Dried Marigold, added some background stamping using Weathered Wood and various Halloween Tim stamps. Next a flicked on some thinned Tarnished Brass and Antique Bronze Distress paints with a toothbrush. Next all edged were shaded.

Next we had to build out house which was done from foil backed grungpaper inked with Alcohol Inks (Pitch Black, Butterscotch, Sunset Orange) and Mixatives Silver and Gold. Using a Dylusions stencil, I added some leaves and again the Metallic Distress paints were applied after the Black paste dried. The people were painstakingly cut from the same Laboratorie stash and glued to the backside.

No house is complete without a picked fence, right? This was cut and painted blacked and then I dabbed on the two metallic paints.

At this point I had most of my items pulled out and ghouled up and played with the arrangement!  Now time to figure out what to do with the actual frame!

First I covered in white gesso and then two coats of black paint. I used the Shattered stencil and using a stencil brush, dry brushed on the Brass and Bronze paints.

And we finished our frame with bits and pieces, tinted with metallic and all chained up.

I had quite a bit of fun with this altered Halloween Heavy Metal project and now I will probably send this back to by DD in an altered state! Thank you for stopping by today and hope you will join in the challenge!