Scops Owl

Back to my roots...

Been in a crafting rut for over a month... definitely producing, but nothing I'm loving... so I really focused on my personal aesthetic-- this is close!  Has an element of nature and a bold mixed-media background, using all vintage parts... boom!

Supplies and notes:

• Catalog card, seam binding, and owl clipping all old. As. Heck.
• Tim's StampAnon quilty set.  I punched out some stamps that hadn't been used... always fun!  The seam binding was stamped with Ranger Archival in Jet Black; quilt squares stamped using Spiced Marmalade, Peacock Feathers, and Black Soot DI, sprayed with water for a more blended watercolor effect.
• Transparent Ranger glossy modeling paste spread over parts through Tim's Honeycomb stencil 
• Once the texture paste was dry, I inked the card up with Wild Honey DI.
• The owl is from an old pocket guide, I believe-- he was already cut out and in a bag of snippets.

I used the color inspiration from The Color Throwdown:

I would also like to share this at the STAMPlorations Mixed Media/ Stencil Sunday challenge for February:

If anyone is in a crafty rut, I encourage you to really go back to the basics of what you love!  This was immensely satisfying.  I feel totally reinvigorated. I know: all because of a little owl!

Mermaid love...

I was looking at cool alcohol ink panels on my desktop and thought, "These are mermaid-y..." so... I doodled some mermaids on the reverse of the panels-- et voila!:

Supplies and notes:

• Ranger alcohol ink paper and old photo paper
• Adirondack alcohol inks and mixatives
• Stickles glitter glues
• Elmer's spray adhesive
• Sentiments written with Faber-Castell Pitt pens
• Pearl on the one card by Want 2 Scrap

Cool, huh?  CAS mermaid cards that were very fun to make!  Satisfied my crafty needs... I got to use alcohol inks (always fun), cut, and trace carfully with Stickles.  And let's not discount how fun it is to use spray adhesive!  (Well, spray anything, really...)  

These will go to the local bookshop.  I live in a lake-town... the lake-girls will love them.

I will share these cuties at Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: Cute.

Inkspirational... polka dots!

Polka, polka, polka... polka-dots!  (Sorry, from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... my daughter used to watch it and that was a song that stuck with me!  In case you want to sing it, too, sing it in Goofy's voice!)

I am behind on cards... here are a few fun ones:

Supplies and notes:

• Vintage Bingo cards coated roughly with white Liquitex gesso 
• Stampendous flowers inked with Ranger Archival in Jet Black, then heat-embossed with clear EP by Custer's Last Stamp
• I used Distress Crayons for the flowers and leaves.  The first card is colored with Festive Berries and Rusty Hinge then blended with a paintbrush; leaves are Peeled Paint.  The second card is colored with  Picked Rasperries and Dried Marigold; leaves are Cracked Pistachio.  
• The polka dots were created using a Heidi Swapp stencil and black Liquitex gesso on some blending foam.
• The first card was edged with Wild Honey, the second with Broken China Distress Ink.
• The first card's sentiment dipped into Black Soot Distress Ink, the second Picked Raspberry.
• Core'dinations black paper as the base.  

I'd like to share this (these) at Inkspiration's current challenge:

You rock!

Or, "You crystal!"

What can I say.  Crystals are so hot right now.  They are all over trendy stores, all over trendy stationary, all over Etsy.

All crystals, e'rywhere.

I started my mineral-voyage when I was playing today (an artist's break amidst rare productivity), and  I pulled out a rocks and minerals library catalog card.  Hmm.  Can't use that for something less than awesome.  So I started with these:

Then I thought, "I should probably make some to give to the book store...":

Supplies and notes:

• Crystals (and sediments... wait, sentiments... sorry... I went back to geology 101 with Susan Marshall at HSU...) drawn with a Zig Emboss Writer and heat embossed with either Ranger Princess Gold or Custer's Last Stamp in Silver.
• Crystals watercolored using Dylusions sprays in a mini-palette
• I mounted the panels onto DCWV's watercolor stack or Tim's Core-dinations metallic kraft-core

I will share these at Make My Monday.  I've never played there before!

Beautiful girls...

More fun using Jane Davenport's faces stamp set...  when I was a little girl, I would have just about died to have these.  Indeed, the night I brought them home, my eight-year-old and I went to town.

These are pretty straight-forward projects. but here are the supplies anyway:

• Jane Davenport faces stamps by American Crafts inked with Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
• Hair and sentiments doodled with a Faber Castell Pitt
• Backgrounds watercolored using Dylusions sprays in a mini-palette and a Loew Cornell filbert
• Colors used include After Midnight, Vibrant Turquoise, London Blue, Lemon Zest, Pure Sunshine, Crushed Grape, Bubblegum Pink, and Funky Fucshia
• Heishi beads from Africa adhered with Glossy Accents

I plan to share these at Simon Says Monday: Young at Heart... these girls look young to me!  The middle one is modeled after my youngest, and the one on the left looks like my oldest.

Wicked Wednesday

Owl always love you!

This is the current theme at Wicked Wednesday!  Long time, no play!  Sure do love making ATCs.  One of these will go to my daughter for Valentine's Day.

Supplies and notes:

• The base of these is from a vintage Bingo card, coated with white Liquitex gesso, then painted through a Heidi Swapp stencil with Distress Paints.
• I drew the owls and doodled the sentiment with Faber Castell Pitt pens.

That's about it!

Cheers:)

SOS: Winter Blues

Hello!

Time for a new Shopping Our Stash challenge-- a chance to use what you have to create a card, project, journal page, jewelry or anything!

This week, our focus is easy as can be: we are fighting off the winter blues by 

using blue to make something 

NOT WINTER RELATED!

Here is the little bit of home decor created showcasing cartoon-versions of my girls:

Supplies

• Heavy craft board (American Crafts) cut and gesso'd many moons ago used for project base. Washed with a few dabs of Distress Stain in Broken China and Chipped Sapphire, both over a year old.
• Base stamped with a Fiskars text stamp in Crystal Royal Blue ink and embossed with ancient Custers Last Stamp clear embossing powder.  (This is my "dirty-clear"... it is so old it is all speckly with other colors, but it's perfect for projects like this.)
• Spots plastered with Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence  (of which I'm down to the bottom of the barrel...)
• Tim's Idea-ology metal stickers added to the edges. I coated the adhesive side with Mod Podge to get rid of the adhesive property then adhered the strips wth Glossy Accents. 
• The main panels of my girls were created on library cards first patterned with discarded bubble wrap dipped in Broken China and Chipped Sapphire Distress Paints then coated roughly with white Liquitex gesso.  
• The girls were made using Jane Davenport's new set by American Crafts inked with Tim's mixed media palette in Black Soot.  I doodled their hair with a Faber-Castell Pitt.  (Talk about Zen-tangled!-- my poor youngest daughter and her curls! LOL!)  I used Distress Inks and a Ranger waterbrush for the girls' hair, eyes, and cheeks.
• The background of my blond daughter was boring, so I masked her off and used Dyan Reaveley's star stamp inked wth the Crystal Royal Blue to add some interest.
• For even more blue-appeal, I dug out some blue library cards and mounted the girls' panels to them with Ranger adhesive foam tape in black. 
• The yarn holding the panels together is from Andrea at Snapping Monsters.   She's the best!

This was a fun stash-shopping project... I definitely used items that don't see much action, and that never gets old!  That Crystal Royal Blue in is years old, but I love the way it looks with the clear EP!  And the Idea-ology sticker pack needed to be used!  I bought it probably two years ago and had only used a few stickers on it... whatttt?

Look forward to the blue projects you guys will come up with!  For more inspiration, be sure to check out my stash-shopping teammies at Shopping Our Stash!  And say "hi" to our Guestie, Ina!