CC3C and Art 365

The past couple of months have left little time for blogging, but I just couldn't let the new Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge start without me. Tim Holtz was the man who brought me to the party - the party of creativity, art, and mixed media. No matter which directions my art goes, this portion of the journey was inspired by his creativity.

The Challenge is being sponsored by Inspiration Emporium and the Funkie Junkie Boutique. Plus Tim and Mario have sent a bushful of cool surprises for weekly winners. Be still my heart.

Linda Ledbetter is the hostess again for each of the bi-weekly challenges, based on the techniques included in Tim's new book - Compendium of Curiosities 3. The first challenge was to incorporate marbled paint, explained on page 43.

This is my finished product. I have to say I love how the marbling turned out this time.

We recently returned from a cruise where my sweetie and I spent a lot of time appreciating the sea and sky. When I started this little project, I thought there would be stars, the sea and the sky. But then while using Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold and Tarnished Brass distress paints I got a portion of the tag that cried out to had be the moon. Who am I to disregard serendipity?

I was just as happy with the sky as well....it seemed to be made for the moon, so I scrapped the star idea. I used just Chipped Sapphire, a bit of Salt Ocean and Faded Jeans Distress Paint to create the sky. And because I've not yet gotten over my bling addiction from last Christmas I used a piece of gold paper behind the orb to give it a bit more POP.

And just for Mario - who knows I like word bands, I gave a nod to all the discoveries we made on the trip.

On another front, I have been keeping up with the Art 365 challenge of making an inchie every day - although I admit I did have a few make-ups from the vacation!

Spring has finally sprung in Alaska and we are loving it - hope you are too!

Sometimes I Need to be Reminded

The other day a friend and I were talking about how different siblings can be. She, apparently, is quite a bit different that her sister. In an effort to explain this to her daughter, my friends mother said, "Lauren, not everyone wants to see the world."

Now Lauren and I can't imagine a life like that, but that phrase has been resonating in my mind all week. We have the grown (well mostly) kid at home, and yep, you guessed it, they don't all want to see the world. And it's okay. So I took some time today to make a journal page to remind me....

The entire time I was making this spread I kept thinking of Alison Bomber's work, of which I am a big fan. She works a lot in browns and blues, which is not my usual color scheme but I thought I would give it a try. She is also a QUEEN of layers. I managed to get 10 on my background. 

I started by putting a lot of water down in my Dylusions Journal, followed by Distress Paints in Weathered Wood, Iced Spruce, and Stormy Sky. After that dried I went in with a bit of Wild Honey mixed with Picket Fences and Antique Linen. The Antique Linen is the first color I've had to replace in that palette...it goes with everything!!

Next up was some soft gel through a stencil...I had the soft gel for a while, but haven't used it...perfect for translucent stencils. I applied some Distress Ink on top of the stencils to make the shapes pop a bit, and put on some Washi tape for color and texture.  I used the world stamp from a Tim Holtz collection for some added interest in the background as well.

My eye kept catching a container of white reinforcers on the floor (goodness knows where they came from?!) so I popped them onto the background and applied some more paint over top them in the same background colors. They looked a little plain tho, so out came the embossing powders which worked pretty darn well...I rather like the mixture of them on the spread now. The final background layer was some text stamped in white ink. 

I started with a size 12 tag - might as well have started with a 10 since I had to cut it down, but ah, the things we learn along the way. I'm not very good yet with the individual Hero Arts stamps, so the stamping took me a bit. I auditioned several backgrounds and finally just went back to a manilla tag, coffee archival ink, and some Antique Linen Distress Stain. 

I covered the tag with some scrap paper which I quieted down with some watery Antique Linen Distress Paint to bring them all together. Next I added some Tattered Angels mists and a mixture of Dirty Martini and Black Dylusions spray splattered about. Washi tape helped join the tag to the background. 

Final embellishments included my favorite film strip 2 ways, some Chinese tokens, and a faux rusted compass. Looking back I see it really isn't blue and brown, more blue and yellow-ish orange...but hey, at least I gave it a go. 

Ah, No Thanks...I'll Pass

From the moment I saw this slightly diabolic scientist I knew he and I were met for each other. One minute you look at him and he seems just like a guy who has been in the lab a little too long, and the next time you see him you'd/I'd swear he's cooking up serious trouble. So when I saw that the Simon Says Stamp challenge was "spooky" this week, I thought why not give this some play?

I started with a tag I had used Distress Paints on with Tim Holtz's marbled paint technique. It was an okay tag, but not the greatest. I had some deli paper on my desk I had played with a bit ago, and layered that over the tag and REALLY liked what that did. Next was some buff paint, a bit of sepia acrylic ink and then I was ready to stamp. I used the lab bottles from the same stamp set and embossed both of them. I knew I wanted to add some depth, but that led to a small problem. The Scientist was too flat. 

Well, okay. So I cut him out and made another background for him to pop up on. I liked this approach better. Now there is lots of depth to the tag with the vile, the moon (fragment with alcohol inks and stamps), and his assistant the raven (shrink plastic).

Originally I started with a "happy halloween" sentiment but it didn't seem right. Once I added the trick or treat I felt much better. I mean really, he's offering you potion 112. Why don't you try some?

Have a happy Halloween.......

WOYWW #193

Don't you wonder what Julia has planned for 200? My goodness what amazing persistence and good humor our friend Ms. Dunnit has to host our group every week for our look-see into other's creative spaces...for 193 weeks...that well over three and a half years. Yikes.

So here's my desk as of Tuesday night...and actually Sunday night too since I haven't been in the Fun Room since the weekend.

Lots of fun in my journals with these:

Tim Holtz's new distress paint...oh they really and truly are lushious and they blend so nicely as witnessed by this little experiment on the left.

I started blending Salty Ocean, Broken China, Weathered Wood, for a background and before I knew it I was painting or trying to paint the scene outside my window. Small problem tho - the sky was certainly more grey than blue, so let's just say I took a bit of artistic licesnse. In the end I added Chipped Saphire for the trees and Antique Linen. I used a Dylusions stencil for the snow, and as usual should have stopped a bit before I did, but I rather like the effect. And I LOVE my Sharpie Poster Paint pen which is what I used to make the snowflakes.

This was the other piece on the desk which I was much less happy with. I got a FABULOUS book last weekend, Dina Wakely's Art Journal Freedom. Great ideas, challenges and techniques. Really good book. This was my interpretation of one of the techniques - do not think this is what the art in the book looks like....I had to change the size of the grid squares and ended up with entirely too much white space for my taste. But learned a lot, and came away with some great ideas....I highly recommend the book for folks who are into Art Journalling.

So that's my desk for the week....thanks so much for stopping by the Fun Room....do leave a comment or two...I'll pop by as many desks as I can this week. Enjoy!!