butterfly

Greetings!

It's time for a new e-team picks challenge at eclectic Paperie, the hostess is Julie and she has challenged us to us gel medium. The challenge will run until the end of the month so you have a bit of time to make something and leave a link so that you'll be entered into the prize drawing! Click here to go to the challenge with the rules and linky tool to share your project.
I hope you are inspired by this canvas I created:

(Click on photo to enlarge and clarify - the pictures really do look a lot better when you click on them and then you can skip all my babble too!) 

There are many layers of Tim Holtz Distress Paint to start off with on this 8"x10" canvas. On top of the paint are bits of Melange Tissue Paper, Remanant Rubs, Basic Grey Rub-Ons, stamps, Basics acrylic paint Dylusions White Linen Ink Spray, Staz On Ink, and more Distress Paint. The stencils I've used are Mini Peacock Pattern and Mini Herringbone by The Crafter's Workshop, Dylusions Letter Jumble 5x8, and punchenella. Shading is done with Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush Pen in Cold Gray III.
So where is my Gel Medium? I used Golden Extra Heavy Gel and mixed it with Perfect Pearls Pigments in Sunflower Sparkle to create a beautiful paint which I applied through the Peacock Pattern stencil. Gel medium is clear when dry so the color integrity of any product you add to it is not compromised. The extra heavy gel is nice and thick so it makes applying it through a stencil a pleasure.

Below, you can see where I colored the Gel Medium with Tim Holtz Distress Paint in seedless preserves and applied it through the Herringbone stencil. 

The butterfly was unfinished wood purchased at Michael's. I colored it with Faber Castell Pitt Artists Pens. These pens contain India Ink which beautifully colors the bare wood. The body of the butterfly has a layer of Ranger Crackle Accents and the antennae are colored with Ranger black Enamel Accents. The gold highlighting is done with an American Crafts Metallic Gel Pen.

There is lots of inspiration to be found in the linked projects on this post at eclectic Paperie so have a look then come play with us!
Most of the products I've used are available at the awesome eclectic Paperie online store and I've linked them up for your shopping ease!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, 

I truly appreciate your comments! 

If you have a moment, poke around a bit and be sure to click on the "Mixed Media Art for Sale" tab at the top to see if there is one of my pieces that you would like to have in your home!

Spring Whimsy Canvas

Greetings!

Spring is in full glory here in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The birds in the nest on my front door wreath have hatched and are ready to fly any day now. It's warm and the dandelions didn't even bother to stay yellow for a day but went right to seed - and there are lots of them! Everything is so green, lush and beautiful - it is an awesome, amazing world our God has created for us to enjoy.

"The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;

where morning dawns, where evening fades,

you call forth songs of joy."

Psalm 65:8

I had so much fun coloring the little wooden embellishments by Prima on the altered jar project (seen here) that I wanted to color some more! The cute little box they come in contains lots of pieces and they just seemed so springy and whimsical I was inspired to create this canvas to feature them on:

(click on pictures to enlarge and clarify)

I started with a base of sheet music paper. It is from a child's lesson book and is called "Little Spring Song".
After coloring the paper with Gelato in blues and greens, I decided I wanted more coverage and went over it with Tim Holtz Distress Paint. A bit of texture was added with Staz-On ink applied through punchenella and a little stamping with the Unity Stamp Company "She Script" stamp.

The My Mind's Eye "Remarkable" paper collection was perfect for all of the elements on my project. I free hand cut all the pieces and inked the edges with Staz-On in Stone Gray. Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Fired Brick perfectly matches the papers so I colored a piece of chip from my stash to use for a roof.

I decided the papers that make up the tree were in need of another layer so I put Distress Crackle on the trunk. In playing with Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste, I discovered it can be colored with Gelato without changing the viscosity of the paste - love that! I mixed the embossing paste with two yellow colors of Gelato and applied it through the Crafter's Workshop mini Chicken Wire Reversed stencil on to the tree top.

"Santa's Sleighful" is the name of the font I used to type the verse - this is one of my favorite fonts and is perfect for this project despite it's winter name! 
After adhering all of the paper pieces with Mod Podge I shaded around them with Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in Cold Grey III. Next came coloring the little wooden embellishments by Prima with Faber Castell pens. The India Ink in these markers is perfect for coloring the wood. The last step was to add the sun. I mixed up another batch of embossing paste with Gelato and applied it through the Crafter's Workshop Mini Zinnia stencil.

eclectic Paperie carries the products I've used on my canvas and they are linked for you in this post - so shop away!

I am very pleased with this piece

 - it is springy and whimsical and praises the Lord - 

and that's all good!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, 

if you have a moment I'd love to hear what you think!
If you'd like to purchase this or any of my other pieces, click on the "Mixed Media Art for Sale" tab above.

Altered milk bottle

Greetings!

The "Get Altered" challenge is up at eclectic Paperie 

and the challenge is to alter a glass jar or bottle.

I chose this milk bottle from my stash. 
The embossing on it says "A bottle of milk is a bottle of health" ~I like that!

I mixed Perfect Pearls powder in green patina with Gel Medium and spread it on the lower two thirds of the bottle with my fingers. It gives it a nice sheer sheen. 
After painting and embellishing here is my altered bottle:

(Click on pictures to enlarge and clarify)

The flowers and birds are wood embellishments by Prima Marketing. I colored them with Faber Castell Markers. These markers are India Ink and are my absolute favorite to work with. They are blendable while wet but then dry permanent and the colors are just gorgeous. The centers have a dot of Perfect Pearls in Butterscotch. The stems are American Crafts twine and the leaves are off of a plastic child's bracelet. 

The top is embellished with a cut apart green silk flower. The flourishes are cut from My Mind's Eye paper in the "remarkable" collection with the Tim Holtz Alterations Elegant Flourishes die and the edges are distressed with Distress Ink in forest moss. Some hardware store twine is wound around the neck and the top is finished off with washi tape from the Indie Collection by My Mind's Eye. The birdcage is cut from chipboard with the Tim Holtz Alterations Caged Bird die. I painted it with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in brushed pewter then applied Distress Crackle Paint in clear rock candy.

I am entering my altered bottle in the "May take the challenge with Mou" at Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft where the challenge is to be inspired by a garden.
I hope you are inspired to alter a glass jar or bottle yourself and link it up with us at eclectic Paperie!
There are lots of great products in the shop and ideas on the blog - I've linked them up for you!

Thanks for stopping by today.

I'd surely appreciate it if you have a moment 

to leave me a comment!

Wind Chime makeover

Greetings!

The current challenge at eclectic Paperie is to use flowers on your project!

Easy-peasy everybody - won't you join us?

I picked up this wind chime at the gift shop in my grocery store. While it is very pretty as it is, I felt that it would be greatly enhanced by the addition of some Tim Holtz Distress Paint!

I cleaned off each flower with vinegar and coated each one with Studio Gesso.

The paint colors I chose to use are:
seedless preserves, victorian velvet, mustard seed, wild honey, broken china
It took two coats of paint to get the nice creamy look I was going for.
A little dot of Ranger Liquid Pearls in buttercup is the perfect finishing touch.

One of the flowers was missing, (luckily I didn't notice this until after I brought it home or I might not have purchased it!) this gave me the perfect opportunity to add a little metal butterfly by Blue Moon Beads which I blinged up a bit with colored rhinestones. (click photo to enlarge)

I'm pleased with this make-over - what do you think?
  I hope you'll put together a card, layout, or off the page project using flowers and link it up with us at eclectic Paperie!
If you are interested in purchasing these yummy Tim Holtz Distress Paints, I've linked them up to the awesome eclectic Paperie online store for you.

Upcycled box

Greetings!

Today I have an upcycled box to share with you. 

I was in need of a wood box to house my collection of Tim Holtz Distress Paint. My mom and I went to the thrift store where she lives and found this perfect little beauty - 50 cents!

The base layer of my remake is a newsprint flyer from a local antiques mall. I used the pages with the stories about ceramic figurines, tearing them apart and collaging them on.

First I used the Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Lovely Leaves stencil and The Crafters Workshop harlequin stencil to add some detail with Tim Holtz Distress Paint and Faber Castell Pitt artist pens. After that I added some butterflies cut from napkins. Once  they were applied and had a layer of Mod Podge over them, I shaded them with Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in cold grey III. Next came some stamping with the She Script stamp by Unity with StazOn ink in timber brown and a dot stamp by Hampton Arts in Liquitex acrylic unbleached titanium paint. I discovered that you can color Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste with Faber Castell Gelato and it doesn't change the properties of the embossing paste - SWEET! So I mixed the paste with yellow gelato and applied it to my box through the "chicken wire reversed" The Crafter's Workshop stencil. 

There were no handles for sale at the flea market this week and I searched the basement for some with no luck so I headed off to the hardware store and found these perfect ones. Of course the screws that came with them were an inch long but my sweet husband took care of that and attached them for me.
I lined the inside with cork

and the bottom with a page from the antiques mall flyer.

Now I just need to contact Mr. Holtz and ask him to not make any more than three more colors of Distress Paint as that is all I have room left for!

I've linked up the products I used to the awesome eclectic Paperie online shop for your shopping convenience! The store is loaded with great products and she ships really fast so (s)hop on over!
I am entering my box in the Take the Challenge with Mou for April over at the Faber Castell Design Memory Craft blog and at Ronda Palazarri's blog calling for texture.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I appreciate your comments!

Gift Bag

Greetings!

Today I have a gift bag to share with you.

I purchased a few items from my local garden center to give as a gift and they came in this bag:

 Rather than purchasing a gift bag to give the items in, I decided to decorate this plain bag myself!

I started with a layer of Studio Gesso, randomly stamped the Unity Co. She Script Stamp using Ranger Archival ink in Olive and added Tim Holtz "forest moss" Distress Paint applied with bubble wrap.
Using the Wendy Vecchi Lovely Leaves stencil, I created the flowers with Tim Holtz "seedless preserves" Distress Paint and Tim Holtz Distress Markers in dusty concord, aged mahogany, and forest moss.
The magic happens with the addition of Inkssentials Glossy Accents to the main flower petals - so pretty!

Across the top of the bag I added solid color cardstock from my stash and patterned paper by Fancy Pants Designs from the Lilac House collection punched with a Fiskars scallop border punch. A fussy bow created with BBP Monochromatic ribbons, American Crafts Twine, Twinery Honeydew Twine and raffia from my stash finishes the look! I linked up all the products I used from the awesome eclectic Paperie shop so you can easily click over and add them to your cart! I am entering this gift bag in the "scallops" challenge over at Frosted Designs. It has been a while since I've joined them and it was fun to play along again!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I appreciate your comments!

eP altered clock challenge

Greetings!

What a fun challenge we have for you going on at eclectic Paperie!

Design Team member Erin has challenged us to alter a clock!

When I first decorated my studio I found this clock at WalMart:

back then I decorated it like this:

Right from the start I wasn't super thrilled with this variation and Erin has given me the perfect challenge to remedy that!

Here is my newly altered clock:

So much more "me" and I am very happy with it!
This is how the whole thing came apart:

I started with a base piece of paper from the Authentic "Peaceful" line of paper which had script printed on it. This beautiful paper is very sturdy so I knew it would hold up to some altering. First I applied a light coat of Distress Stain in Picket Fence just to mute the pattern a bit. 
(here's a hint: whenever possible, I treat scraps the same way as my project, that way if I want to try something out that I'm not too sure of, I can try it on the scraps first knowing that they have the same underlying layers as my actual project.)

Next I chose a color palette from my collection of Tim Holtz Distress Inks and some Crafter's Workshop 6x6 stencils to work with. 

I used a fingertip dauber to apply the ink through the harlequin and herringbone stencils, then, using a palette knife applied Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste through the mini chicken wire reversed stencil. If you've not worked with this embossing paste yet, you MUST get some - it is so silky and soft, goes on extremely smooth and easy, then dries flexible - it's fabulous! Using a sponge dauber I lightly ran across the embossed area going only one direction with gathered twigs Distress Ink to create a shadow effect on the chicken wire pattern.

In my stash are some Basic Grey chipboard stickers and that is where the flower and stem came from. I altered the colors a bit by adding Tim Holtz Distress Paint in peeled paint (green) and broken china (blue) as well as some Ranger Perfect Pearls in turquoise. The wooden birdcage came from a big box store but there are similar ones in the eclectic Paperie store here. I colored the birdcage with brushed pewter Distress Stain, the bird with broken china Distress Paint and the perch with walnut stain Distress Marker. The chain is dots of Inkssentials enamel accents in black. A bit of turquoise Perfect Pearls on the birdie makes him extra special! The numbers are Grungeboard, first prepped with Studio gesso then painted with Ranger Liquid Pearls in buttercup. All of the elements are edged in Faber Castell Pitt artist big brush pen in cold grey VI to help them stand out.

Imagine my delight when I put the whole thing back together and the clock still worked! - bonus!
Just for fun I added a row of washi tape by My Minds Eye from the Indie Chic collection around the outside. Now I'm kind of wishing I had added it around the inside edge also - but I'm surely NOT taking this clock apart again any time soon!

It is SO hard to get good pictures of anything with glass on it in my studio because of the (totally awesome) windows - but - you get the idea! 
Cute, huh? If you'd like to see the rest of my studio, click on the "My Studio" tab at the top of the page!

Here is a link to Erin's gorgeous altered clock. At the bottom of her post you will find links to the other amazing design team projects (designated with DT after the name). I hope you are inspired to find a clock that needs some jazzing up - have fun altering it then link it up. We'd love to see your work and get you entered to win a gift certificate to the fabulous eclectic Paperie online shop!
I am also entering my clock in the Seasonal Color Palette challenge over at the Ranger blog and the Altered Item challenge MCM#19 at Scrapbook Steals.

Thanks for stopping by, 

I'd love a little comment if you have a moment, 

have a lovely day!

Damask w/Red - so pretty!

Happy Friday!

I love the combination of black/cream damask with rich red. 

This classy combination turned out beautifully on this 5x7 wall hanging. 

I started with a layer of book paper then added damask tissue paper by Hallmark, adhering and sealing with Mod Podge. The heart is made using the Large Heart Stencil by Wendy Vecchi. First I put down a light coat of gesso then colored it in with Faber Castell Gelatos. I used just a little pink in the center but mostly used red, blending it with my fingers. The shading is done with Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in cold grey III. The metal key comes in a brass finish and I colored it with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in brushed pewter. The words are in the "Traveling Typewriter" font. The edges of the piece and the words are distressed with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in black soot.

I am offering a class on this project at Cozy Crop House in Lititz PA. Check out their website and plan a retreat! The products I used can be purchased at the amazing eclectic Paperie online store, I have linked them up for you!

How do you like it? 

I truly appreciate your comments!