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. 

Summer Dragonflies - Tim's Tag Plus

I've been on a real orange and yellow quick lately....so I decided to use those colors to work on Tim's June Tag. He used the dragonfly stamp again!! I was so excited. I am a TOTAL fan of dragonflies: I have a dragonfly dress, dragonfly earrings, dragonfly necklace, well....you get the idea. Plus he brought out the distress markers and we all get to pretend like we know how to watercolor! Actually I am starting to learn more about that, but this is so fun and easy. You should try it.

This is my rendition....

I did have to add some sparkle to the wings, because I think that's one of the coolest things about a dragonfly is their iridescent wings. 

And then I thought I should add a little something to the bottom and it certainly did turn out to be one of life's little moments. 

As I was sprinkling little drops of orange on another project, well, it sprinkled here too. I've decided it gives it character. Yeah, that's the ticket. Character.

I was having such a good time with the markers I mad a couple of other things using the technique including this card for my Uncle.

And because I was really in the "TIM ZONE" and I LOVED last month's technique so much I made a birthday card.

I played around with fragments last month - using the rub-ons, alcohol stains and foil on the back and loved how it came out - I was even one of Tim's May winners - so I thought I would try it again. This time I used his little stickers. With all the black I think it worked out fine. (Pretty sly how I worked that in, huh? LOL).

If you haven't joined the 12 Tags of 2013, give it a go....it is TONS 'O FUN. 

And speaking of fun, thanks for stopping by the Fun Room to see what's up! I appreciate your visit and your comments. 

Play Time with Tim's Tag

I hope Tim Holtz is a happy man because he just keeps doing the most AMAZING things and making so many people happy!! Including ME!

The 12 Tags of 2013 May version is a wonder. I saw it when I was traveling and it combines some of my favorite things. Film strip ribbon, word bars, and rub-ons and of course COLOR.

I am really having a blast with the rub-ons. They remind me of the rub-on letters we used one summer to put together a theatre program, except the ones on the market now are just so cool. Tim's especially!!

Check out his techniques here! Fabulous ideas. Here's my version.

Because my central image, the Eiffel Tower had less mass than than the original I embossed it with clear embossing powder, to give a bit more heft.

One of Tim's elements are the rub-on's on the enameled tags. Small problem. Don't have those yet. First I tried painting over a plaquette with white paint which worked pretty well until I put the alcohol ink on it. The paint reacted differently than the enamel. So I tried to correct that so much I ruined it.

Then I wondered about a Fragment. Love the fragments...and do have a bunch of those. Problem is they're transparent and with everything going on in the background of the tag it got kind of lost. AHA. Metal foil sheets to the rescue. I put some of that on the back and it adds a whole another element to the tag. Forgive me, but I love it. I see many of these in my future!

What a fun, colorful, inky mess I made tonight in the Fun Room. I'm a happy girl! Hope you are too. Thanks for visiting.

2013 - Bring It On!!

It's gonna be a great year. And one of the reasons I know is because I like my January calendar page. What 's a calendar page you ask? Well, the talented and beautiful Kate Crane came up with a lovely little challenge which you can find on her blog, The Kathryn Wheel, three years ago. Each month you make a page with a place to make art, or notations every day, and we all link up here. It's a great way to keep track of things, try new ideas, etc, etc, etc.

I was new at this last year and used little squares all the time, so my goal this year is to play around with daily shapes and layouts and see what I like. Small problem though, can't count, so the middle row/week has eight days. Whoops.

So voila! I have a bonus entry for the new year. Lol. I wanted the page to reflect the blues that are so prevalent in the Alaskan winter skies this time of year. I also want SNOW - badly. Today it was 38 and raining. Bummer.

My background started with gesso, and then a layer of London Blue Dylusions Ink and Tattered Angel blue of some sort with lots of water. I let it sit for a bit and then wiped it off with paper towels. A layer or two of Picket Fence Stain, a bit of an accent here and there with Shaded Lilac Stain and then white acrylic paint through one of Dyan Reavely's fabulous stencils. Actually white acrylic paint through a couple of Dyan's stencils. I thought it needed a border so I just drew a couple of lines with dashes and dots with a gel pen.

The tickets were made pretty much the same way but with some added extra Evergreen Bough Ranger stain applied in many ways, including plobbing it down a few times to get splash marks. I cut the tickets out with a Tim Holtz Sizzix die,  and a nod to Marjie Kemper who really opened my eyes to the possibilities with a ticket. I mean, who knew?

Lastly the snowflakes had to bring some glitz, and some of the purple back in by applying the Shaded Lilac ink pad directly onto grunge paper covered with Picket Fences Crackle Paint. I also took the Dusty Concord Distress marker to the top of the flakes.

This seems more me, than my December. But I still loved HAVING a December...

That's us dancing in the upper right corner....you can tell right?

Here's the rest of my year.

January Calendar Tag

One day at lunch I was cruising through some website and came across Laura Deninson's Follow the Paper Trail and she was hosting a calendar tag project. You make 12 of one month, keep one, send her 11, and then get 11 other months back. That sounded like a good idea in November. By the first week in December I was wondering if I was crazy. Never having made 12 of the same thing, I didn't really understand how long it would take me.

 

But I got them done, mailed them off - one small problem, I forgot to include my name and address in the package...they're signed and I'll send her an email but I might not be cut out for something like this!

I did pretty much like how the tag turned out though.

I started with a print stamp, sprayed London Blue Dylusions Ink and Tumbled Glass Distress Stain on the tag, then three coats of Picket Fence distress stain - drying each layer in-between. Next I took a Tim Holtz snowflake stamp and stamped the tag a few times and then bounced blue perfect pearls on the damp ink. Pouncing is definitely the way to go (she says after much trial error). I used the Dylsuions snowflake stencil and a white gel pen to outline snowflakes some open areas on the tag. Next I used Iced Spruce distress ink and the blue print snowflake stamp --a new favorite--and went over THAT with silver stickler. A couple of coats of white paint, metallic silver, and clear rock candy stickles were applied to the snowflake on the edge die. I used the word play die and the movers and shapers snowflake with some metallic white paper. Some ribbon and a new tag on the back and I was done.....

Looking forward to getting the rest of the tags...

August Calendar

Crafting and Inkeeness have been significantly absent for a while, as we are between abodes and staying at someone else's lake cottage. But things finally settled down long enough on Sunday morning to think about an August calendar page. I am SO glad that Kate Crane started this monthly calendar project lo those many months ago on her blog, the Kathyrn Wheel.

And while I wasn't thrilled with the background I had grabbed on the way out of the old house, I did at least have it! I made the day tags out of manila tags since that was literally all I had with me except scrapbook paper. Out came a few of the stamps I have with me and some Distress Stains and I was in business. It was SO FUN TO PLAY.

As you can see, it's a bit too much on the sparkly side, which is why I didn't use it months ago, but now I'm LOVING it!!  August is about biding our time until the house is done.

I did start on a calendar in June - late - didn't finish, and skipped July all together. I found I really missed it...

So I'm back on the band wagon. Happy August everyone!!

Railroad Stations

I grew up on the east coast of America where trains were everywhere. I didn't start out to remembering those days of course.....but it was kinda fun.

The talented and lovely Hels Sheridan, of Sunday Stampers fame is celebrating her 200th edition of challenging us to make a little something with at least a bit of stamping on it. Fittingly the challenge this week was to include numbers. So I started with that premise and the idea to make a companion piece to a tag I created for the April tag class at Stamp Cache. The steampunk tag was all browns and golds and so I wanted to do a piece in greys and blacks. And along the way I used several Tim Holtz techniques, so I'm doing double duty and entering it in the Simon Says Stamp challenge of do any "Lord Tim" technique. Check.

I did get a jump start on the tag by using the amazing 7 Dots Dreamer paper collection. It is truly awesome paper. I know I'm going to have to buy more. I cut a tag out of the paper, misted it and then used Pumice Stone and Old Paper stains to give a bit more character. I embossed a piece of black paper with the clock embossing folder, sanded it, covered that with Pumice Stone stain and then a bit of Picket Fence stain for good measure. Grunge paper painted with a silver dabber was cut with the On the Edge Steampunk die. I used my finger to smear Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain, and Black Soot on to age it. I rolled the checkerboard stamp from Ultimate Grunge through Pumice Stone Distress Ink and randomly covered the background. I think that's when it started to look like a railroad station to me...lots of brick and blocks in Pennsylvania.

Since the challenge was about number I thought instead of saving the very fun 1/2 I would actually use it. Once again I pulled out the "can't make art without it" favorite color of Jane Davies who teaches a fabulous class on painting and collage I took at last year's Art & Soul Retreat.   I mixed Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold and Black Soot stain and black acrylic paint on my craft sheet and colored 'em up. I then used the stamps I made last month from my dies and dipped them in the same paint/stain concoction. I can't get over the way the fluid acrylic creates it's very own shadow effect.....

To finish up I used even more the paint/stain concoction with some Transparent Red Oxide fluid acrylic to color up the faucet, hung some chain, put a pit more on the top of the tag and I had been transported. After all the light colors I've been using it was fun to get grungy again.

Enjoy.