Road Trip AO Style!

It is time for a Road Trip and another Product Focus at Artistic Outpost from the Masculine collection of stamps and 20% off through Saturday, June 6th. Be sure to visit the rest of the team! Tracy, Gerrie, Kate, Shari, Lisa.

I decided to ink up Route 66 and started with the background, which was inked over with Vintage Photo, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo and shaded with Walnut Stain and a little Black Soot. Next I masked off the Road Trip to spread over the tag in Black Archival and then clear embossed. The MOTEL was also stamped in Black Archival and colored with Squeezed Lemonade and Mowed Lawn and again clear embossed. The map was stamped randomly in sections with Watering Can Archival. Well I was really liking my background and did not want to cover it all up, so the Shrink Plastic was brought out. I do not stamp shrink plastic with Archival as it does not dry and even with spraying it with sealer, you can have issues. I used Stazon inks in Black and red and colored on the reverse side with markers. I will also use a little foam applicator and Blending Solution to soften colors, even after the baking process.

The little "EAT" scene was backed in glossy card stock and the Route 66 and Gas Pump were painted on the backside to avoid them just getting lost on the background. Had not played with Shrink Plastic in awhile and it was quite fun.

Thank you for joining us for this month's Product Focus and being the start of June the "Show Us Your AO Art" has also begun, so come on and ink up your AO stamps and join in!

Cupid at Work!

Happy Friday to all or whatever day of the week it may be when you read this!  I just love Friday's, because it means my hubby will be off for the weekend and no getting up at 4:30 AM!  Although, our Molly Dalmatian makes sure we are up before 6:00 AM, but that is OK!  With less than a month before Valentine's Day, I still need to work on a few "Sweet" things and here is the one I will give to the "love of my life."  Being this is for a man, I felt the need to take this to a more masculine state!

So where to begin!!  First I cut some arrows using a masking sheet from Tim's Love Struck die, placed them on the edges and inked with Distress and then did the Spritz and Flick technique.  Pulled off arrows and then stamped the "L" word all around the tag, after masking off the "Potion #9.  All stamps in this tag are from Artistic Outpost the "Apothecary" collection.  I love this set for Valentine's Day and have used in the past!  I crunched up some newsprint paper, highlighted the creases, flattened it, stamped the "Prescription" using Black Archival.  The bottle was stamped using Stazon Black on Shrink Plastic and the Love with Stazon Red, cut and baked.  After this was done, I used a silver Sharpie Pen on the backside and color where the liquid "Love" would be.  The cork was also inked on the reverse side using a tan marker.  Tim's wings were inked with Black Alcohol Ink as was the heart charms.  I placed the heart charms on double sided tape and filled the inside with Stickles.  After it dried, I place removed the tape backing and place it on my wings.  The labels were stamped and I used Chit Chat words.

I die cut a couple of hearts and clear embossed the smaller, heat set and then inked in red.  The next thing I did was to run a bead of Glossy Accents around the edge and sprinkled Black/Glass glitter, let it dry and then over the top, another layer of Glossy Accents.  I do this to keep the glitter in place and not all over.  Speaking of all over!!!!  When attempting to re-jar the glitter, Miss Klutzy over here, not only knocked the funnel over, but most of the container and right onto the carpeting!  I now need more Black/Glass Glitter!  Darn!  The movers and shapers Cupid is Tim's and he was inked with black soot and then embossed with Distress Black Soot Powder.   I was looking for a more rustic kind of cupid!

Did you have a look at the Artistic Outpost's Blog Hop for "Spreading a Little the Love," if not, just click the link and you can check out what the entire DT created.  It was such great fun and I was thrilled to be a part!
Don't forget to pull out those AO stamps and play along in the January Referral Program for a chance at a prize.  This is my tag from last year using the Apothecary stamps!

Many thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Stamps:  Artistic Outpost, Apothecary
Distress Inks:  Black Soot, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick
Stazon:  Black, Red
VersaMark embossing ink
Clear EP
Distress EP, Black Soot
Alcohol Ink:  Black
Glossy Accents
Black Glitter

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The big day is almost here and I hope you are all ready!  I finally finished the last of my shopping yesterday and today I will wrap it all up!  The dinner is made - LASAGNA and ready for the oven!  If all goes well, there will be some extra time for COOKIE making!  Onto my card and the final Christmas card of the year and the last lesson from the "Compendium of Curiosities."  Linda saved the "Glazed Mosaics" on page 60 for the last CC2C and that makes 34 techniques!  A big "thank you" to that loved lady at Studio L-3 for giving so much of her time and inspiration!  You really do rock!

I so love Tim's "Toy Soldier" and knew this guy would be used on a card for my wonderful husband.  Almost any time I use a die that requires an "EYE," that hubby of mine will tell me that I should have used one of the googly/wiggly eyes, so baby, this one is so for you!   The TS was cut from grunge board.  The face, gloves and pants were painted with white acrylic paint, shaded with Walnut Stain.  I added a little color to the face using Tattered Rose.  The hat and jacket were painted using red acrylic and gold touches on hat, jacket, shirt, boots and belt with Tarnished Brass Metallic stain - love those stains!  The background stamp is from Stampendous, inked with Peeled Paint and Festive Berries and I embossed that using Ranger's Black Sparkle, which has a great sparkle effect - trust me!  You might be able to see a little bit!  For the "Glazed Mosaics" which I can tell you about the Tim's technique, I will tell you that I adjusted slightly.  I used a movers and shapers and glittered my foil!  OK, enough said! 

I wish you all a most Merry Christmas and all the best in "2013."  Thank you for being a part of my little world.  I so appreciate each of you!

To Die For at FSC!

The newest challenge at FSC is "To Die For" and DT Sister, Joanna, chose this theme.  How fun is this challenge in which you can use die cuts, cut your own dies or even punches!  Just remember to include stamping along with your choice of "Dies."  There is always a prize and a Top 3 selection, so come on and join in!  All of us at FSC, love to see you and your fabulous creations!

The embossed background on mine was actually a leftover from a previous "CC2 Challenge," so that was my canvas!  I wanted to have a good portion of the background visible, so opted to go with shrinking my "Die Cuts."  This is what I did with the little ornaments and deer!  The ornaments were cut from white shrink plastic, stamped using Tim's stamps and Perfect Medium.  I then colored them with Perfect Pearls and baked.  Once heat set, I went over them with alcohol inks and blending solution.  The deer was cut from frosted shrink plastic, blended on Distress Ink, stamped the other side with Metallic Distress Stains using a snowflake stamp of Tim's.  I did add a little color to his nose and an eye.  All of these were coated with clear embossing ink and powder and heat set as well.  These were all baked in my toaster oven.  Added some red/white bakers twine for a more festive touch!



See the little baby snowflakes!

Hope you will join in with all the fun!  Have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for stopping by!

Configurations!

The CC2 Challenges 11 and 12 is all about work "Configurations,"  as Linda instructed us to open Tim's book to pages 33 and 34!  For this "special edition," Mario has sent a lovely package of Tim Holtz goodies for some lucky winner!  WooHoo and I do hope it is me!!!  As always, you must have the CC2 book to play along and we can't tell you about the technique.  Many of the little "treasures" were previous makes that I did not use, but thought they would fit right in for this!  I actually had much more fun than I thought I would and this is my first configurations box!  Thank you Linda for that much needed push!  I am also entering this in Simon Says Stamp and Show "Layered" as there are paper layers, inks, lace, metals and other embellishments.  I think that qualifies as layers!

For the top row, I added some shrink plastic pieces, filmstrip over a couple of the numbers, the little glass flower is what was in the center of a candle my my DD, added a little nesting grass and a couple of feathers gifted to me by my Fred!

The brass bear in the center row was a gift from my DS, when he was a child! 

The last row contains a lock from my DH and he has had that since he was at least a teenager!  There was not a key, so I added one from my stash!  Isn't that lock gorgeous!  It is quite heavy and even has a combination, but I won't share it!  Of course, now it is kind of glued down!  Anyway, he said I could have it as if it would not have been taken! 

A couple of closeup pictures.

Thank you for stopping by!  I can't wait to go see what all of you have been up to!  My DH took some extra days off over the 4th, so my blogging time was limited and of course there was more flooring to be completed!  Hopefully by the end of this year, we will be done!  Have a great week and I will see you in blogland!

Far East at FSC!

We are traveling to the Orient for this challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and we would love you to join us with your stamped creations!  My DT Sisters have some amazing projects on the FSC blog, so really stop over and give your eyes a feast!   As always there is a prize from Cottage Crafts for some lucky stamper! 

Well my selection of stamps was minimal to say the least, but I did come across a couple of background stamps that I thought would work out just fine!  I inked up my tag with Distress Inks and then stamped the leaf background with Black Archival.  All edges were inked with clear embossing ink and then I applied gold embossing powder

Regular and Shrinky

As luck would have it, I have a large Sizzix Fan Die and of course had some fun with shrink plastic and alcohol inks!  For the larger fan that was cut from black cardstock, I used daubers to brush on Opalite colors and then heat set.  I used one of my background stamps and stamped with clear embossing ink and covered with gold embossing powder.  Then I covered the entire fan with clear embossing ink and powder!  My plan was to use this on the tag, but decided against it.  The fun part was the shrink plastic fans!  Two were inked on one side with alcohol inks and gold mixative (frosted SP) and stamped with Archival Black.  The black fan was cut from black SP and stamped with Archival Gold Brilliance.  The words were computer generated.

Well I hope you are enjoying this weekend and doing something fun!  Thank you for visiting and as always, I do enjoy and appreciate your comments!

Alcohol Inks:  Cloudy Blue, Stream, Red Pepper, Gold Mixative
Distress Inks:  Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Squeezed Lemonade, Festive Berries 
Opalite:  Golden Mist, Nordic Ice, Crystal Blush
Archival, Black, Gold Brilliance

CC2C #5

Shattered Stains on page 48 in Tim's book is where our lovely instructor Linda has asked us to turn our pages to for CC2C #5!  This is one of my favorite techniques and I have used it on and in so many ways, even using paint brushes to add color just where and how you want it!  Now I can't really tell you how I did this, but if you have or buy Tim's book, you will be quite pleased!  My little Distressed Stained number will also be linked to Simon Says Stamp and Show "Anything Goes," who also is offering a nice $25 GC to some lucky inker! 

What I can tell you is that I did lots of inking for my backgrounds, tag and frame!  All stamps are Tim's. except for the background dress form, which is from Stampin Up.  I also used shrink plastic on the sewing on the edge die and I just love that piece!  Love it!  I used Sharpie Markers to color (even had a silver marker) and added a little thread! 

I am embarrassed that I have not been visiting blogs as much, but have been so busy!   Had company, DH took time off and then Mother's Day!  At the end of the month, we have a graduation out of CA and then I my DD let me know that she booked flights for us to go visit her in mid June!  Not sure how to get everything in, but I promise to come and visit you all!  Thank you so much for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the week!

Frilly and Funkie is Recyclying!

Anita is hosting the "RePurpose To UpCycle" challenge at Frilly and Funkie and there will be two winners, one for a $15 gift certificate to The Funkie Junkie Boutique and a favorite pick from the DT to proudly display a winner's badge.  For this challenge, you are to use at least two recycled/repurposed items to create an upcycled project.  Don't forget to mention which items you used!    This challenge runs through Tuesday, May 1st!

My recycled materials is from a cardboard box and netting from a turkey!  I cut the recycled cardboard from a Tim Holtz die and movers and shapers.  I then applied Rock Candy Crackle in several areas.  Also cut a few branches.  Once that dried, I inked with Distress Stains, Old Paper and Vintage Photo and finished with Picket Fence over the crackled areas for a more rustic feel.  I did let this dry between applications.  The Bird and Branch was cut from Shrink Plastic and I colored with alcohol inks using a small paint brush.  On the backside, I added a little extra color with Sharpies.  The plaque was sprayed with Dylusions and then embossed using the current technique from Tim's April 12 Tags of 2012.  Now for his Bird and Branch, he used grungepaper and embossing powders.  I added a little trim from the Vintage Lace die and ran some thread through the holes.  The tag background paper is from Tim's Lost and Found.

Through the end of April there is a 50% off shipping for all orders over $75.00 and always a 15% off on Friday Focus products.

It is always a pleasure when you stop by and visit and I do love your comments!  Have a great day!

Alcohol Inks:  Salmon, Cloudy Blue, Sailboat Blue, Sunshine Yellow, Latte, Blender Solution
Distress Inks:  Stormy Sky, Frayed Burlap
White Craft Ink
Clear Embossing Powder

Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tag and Bookplates Die	Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Bird Branch BIGZ Die	Mini Baroque Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers Magnetic Die by Tim Holtz	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Damask and Regal Flourishes Set
Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Vintage Lace Die	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Old Paper	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Picket Fence White	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Sain - Vintage Photo
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Frayed Burlap	Ranger Inkssentials Manila Card Stock 8.5x11	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray - Cut Grass	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray - Black Marble
Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray -London Blue	Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat Stickers	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black
Jute Mesh (Burlap) Ribbon	Ranger Inkssentials Shrink Plastic	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Sail Boat Blue	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Espresso

Grandson Turning the Big #21

Today is Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie and guess who's turn it was to pick a product to showcase?  It is my first time doing any type of tutorial, so please let me know what you think??  Really, I would like to know.  My product of choice is shrink plastic and this along with a few other goodies that Linda so generously decided to discount is 15%  off.  All the details can be found at Frilly and Funkie for the FRIDAY FOCUS on how I did the shrink plastic in the embossing folder below.  There are also a few other items that made it to the magical world of Shrink Plastic, so go have a look!    

For the tag background, I did the faux batik technique from Mr. Tim, lots of distress inking and spritz and flick.  I also made a mini version of the tag to place my shrinky folder on!  This was so much fun and I sure hope my G-son will be thrilled with his 21st B-day tag.  Every time I play with shrink plastic, I am reminded of my blogging friend, Lucy.  This talented blogger is the person responsible for my obsession!  I am also linking this up to Simon Says Stamp and Show for Anything Goes.

Currently there is a 50% off shipping special for all orders over $75.00 and with prices already below MSRP and a 15% off discount on Friday Focus products, so do check out The Funkie Junkie Boutique! 

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to visit!  Have a most wonderful weekend!

Ranger Inkssentials Shrink Plastic	Tim Holtz Sixxiz Texture Fades - Bingo & Patchwork Set	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Bird Branch BIGZ Die	Mini Hearts Sizzix Movers & Shapers Magnetic Die - Mini Hearts by Tim Holtz
Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Archival Ink - Sepia	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Frayed Burlap	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink -Old Paper	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Rusty Hinge	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Broken China	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Base Tray
Ranger Inkssentials Manila Card Stock 8.5x11	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator, Stamp Handle and Felt	Ranger Adirondack Metallic Mixatives - Gold & Silver	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Espresso
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Stream	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Meadow	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Sail Boat Blue	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Watermelon
Movers and Shapers Die - Mini Butterflies	Burlap String - 10 Colors