Baby H

Happy Wednesday to all of you and hope you are having a great week! I totally forgot to post this, which was finished before we went to Wisconsin in the middle of June! This was done in the same manner as the "B" and "C" with gesso and various textures from embellishment to crackle, etc. I neglected to take a photo of the background before coloring, but if you have seen previous Mixed Media posts, you know all about it and can click the link above to see how it all begins.

Opps, I just found the photo which somehow was in the wrong folder!

After all the textures and embellishments were added and gessoed, I used a mixed of sprays from Dylusions, Color Wash and Tattered Angels. In some areas I would pat off color before completely drying. 

Some items I purchased and some I kept from previous baby showers or just items I thought would come in handy one day for something! The little solo spoon is from store sample!

Of course I had to add that little wooden "H" and as Hailey was born in March, I try to add some items in clusters of 3. 

To finish I applied some satin varnish and added a twisted ribbon tie for hanging, which I forgot to take a picture of, but it was only a ribbon! 

Thank you for stopping by and have a great finish to the week! 

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!

April Showers!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I have wanted to play along with The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge for awhile and today, I decided I was going to play along with "April Showers" using Mr. Umbrella Guy, Alpha Letters and Speckles texture for that rain effect bringing on those May Flowers!  They have a wonderful DecoArt  prize package for 3 winners and that is very tempting! Most of the products I used are actually from the DecoArt Media line or Americana also DecoArt. Frilly and Funkie's current challenge is "Spring Time Die Cuts" and I have used Mr. Umbrella Guy and Butterflies!

It all began with a 6" x 6" canvas, which was gesseod and then painted with a mix of Phthalo Green-Blue, Ultramarine Blue and Opaque White and blended with a baby white. I also added a little Quinacridone Gold. The brickwork first had a path painted using a mix of Quinacridone, Raw Umber and Carbon Black lightly dry brushed in. The texture bricks was a combination of Quinacridone Gold, Raw Umber and Raisin Alcohol Ink mixed with Modeling Paste. I wanted a rough texture and when dried, Carbon Black was used to highlight. The sun was a bit bright and some of the background colors just did not show up well, so sorry.

The pot was a plastic cap that I saved from our refrigeration water filter and cut it in half, spray primed and then applied black gesso, One Step Crackle and then a mix of QG and Naphtnol Red. The pot was filled some long stem roses, moss and a trellis made with the help of oval dies and thin strips of black card stock. The Butterfly Frenzy were leftovers cut and inked from tissue wrap.

The Umbrella Guy was cut from black chipboard, painted with Black Chalkboard Paint and the umbrella handle was colored with silver metallic paint. I cut and trimmed a second umbrella piece from grunge paper and that was painted with QC.

Thank you very much for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

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.

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.

The Funny Farm!

I hope you all are doing well and doing something wonderful this weekend! We are off to the local fair today and I am pretty excited. Each year there is a booth that offers tacos and oh how I love those! Can't wait! With all the excitement of the fair in town, I was inspired to to use "Home" and "Hayride" from Artistic Outpost to create a mixed media hanging. There is still plenty of time to join in AO's August Challenge, "Show us your AO Art," so go get inky! I will also be linking this with the lovely Inspiration Journal's "Anything Goes" challenge.

At first the plan was to make a 6" x 6" card using some designer paper from ODBD's "Blooming Garden" for a nice background beginning. I just love that beehive and the darling kids from "Hayride" make such great beekeepers!

All images were stamped in Archival Sepia, the kids fussy cut, the edges around the barn scene from "Home" torn and I cut apart the sentiment. How many remember that song, "There coming to take me away to the Funny Farm?" My Mom and me would just sing that and be so silly! Anywho, I used a little foam applicator to add a little color to the images and of course did some distressing coloring.

I used Wendy Vecchi's "Honeycomb" stencil, of course, to add a little texture and then decided to carry it over onto the red paper backing and corrugated cardboard. I also added another panel of chipboard to the cardboard as I don't like it when things get that warpy look. The texture paste was colored by adding a little Vintage Photo stain and then after it dried, using an applicator added Vintage photo DI. The corrugated cardboard was painted with a mix of buttermilk, red, brown paint and used the red to highlight. I used Barn Red stain to color the cheesecloth, then added a few embellishments.

Thank you for stopping by today. And if you missed my Bluebird tag card from last week, it was shared yesterday at AO, so stop on over.

Stamps: Artistic Outpost: Hayride, Home
Inks: Archival Sepia, Distress Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen, Barn Red, Tattered Rose
Stains: Barn Door, Vintage Photo
Paints: Americana Light Buttermilk, Fresco Finish  London Bus and Chocolate Pudding