JOY! on special paper

Greetings!

Today I have a 6"x6" canvas to share with you 

that I made for my sister-in-law Carole for Christmas.

(Click photos to enlarge and enhance)

Look closely at the background paper.
All 4 of my husband's sisters as well as his mother, grandmother, and aunts on both sides of his family are or were teachers. In cleaning out his Aunt Sandy's home we found a couple of grade keeping journals dated 1958-1960 from when she taught in Frenchtown New Jersey. I just knew my sister in law would appreciate a piece made using this special family treasure.

I tore strips from the journal pages about 3/4" wide and inked the edges. See all the little numbers that look like leaves on trees? 
Well, that's what they look like to me anyway :)

The word JOY is made with the Grunged Alphabet Stencil by my friend Tami. You can find her stencils for sale in her etsy shop here and see her amazing artwork at her blog here. I used Studio 490 White Embossing Paste through the stencil. The little wooden bird is by Maya Road and is colored with Faber Castell India Ink. Here is a nice shot of the dimension the embossing paste gives through the stencil:

The sides 

The back 

If you'd like to see more of my work, scroll on through my blog, or check out the pieces that I have for sale by clicking the "Mixed Media Art for Sale" tab at the top of the page.

Thanks so much for looking!

I truly appreciate your comments!

Christmas gift tags

Greetings!

Wow, no posts since September. Unfortunately no creating either :( 
Suffice it to say other things have taken priority. Thank you to any of you who have stopped by and to Dana D for wondering about me. Be sure to look in the right column for updated pics of my sweeties and the new addition to our family. 
Today I wanted to share the Christmas gift tags I made. When I saw this very colorful gift wrap at Kohl's I knew it would be perfect for my family this year. Jacob and Quinn are super in to what every one's favorite color is and this paper contains them all! Last night Quinn punched snowflakes while I used the Coluzzle to make the tags. A little inking, stamping, glueing, and matching baker's twine and my tags are ready to go. 

It has just started snowing - how appropriate! I'm off to do some wrapping!

Thank you for stopping by my blog, 

please leave a little love - it would really help me a lot!

eclectic Paperie Birthday Blog Hop

Well, Hello there!

Welcome to eclectic Paperie's 

Belated Birthday Bash!

Today we're celebrating the (belated) one year anniversary of the store's new ownership! It's been an amazing year, full of inspiring projects, wonderful classes, and many, many new products!!  eclectic Paperie wouldn't be where it is today without the ongoing support of our customers and as a BIG thank you you'll have an opportunity to lots of great prizes!  eclectic Paperie will be giving away the following prizes!  You have until midnight tomorrow (9/20) to comment. 

A full set of Tim's NEW Distress Paints

6x6 Paper Pad Bundle

Dylusions Stencil Bundle

A set of NEW Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks

Crafter's Workshop Stencil Bundle 

To be entered into the prize drawing, please be sure to comment on the eclectic Paperie blog and on each of the eTeam blogs.  Check out all of the thumbnail links below to view the rest of the eTeam projects!  Enjoy the hop!

I've created this sweet 8"x10" canvas to share with you today
(click on pictures to enlarge and enhance)

Here are some step-outs and product links for you:

I started with an aeronautical chart for my base. (you can get a similar one here) 

Applied Tim Holtz Distress Paints in "peeled paint", "seedless preserves", and "spiced marmalade". Spritzed the paint with water and moved it around some then dried it.

 

Added Tim Holtz Ideology tissue wrap in "Melange" over the whole piece, colored in the butterflies with Faber Castell India Ink Markers. Used Wendy Vecchi Stencils for Art "Dots and Stripes Borders" and Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste in Metallic Gold for the dots and in black for the stripes.

The white rub-ons used are by Basic Gray and the black rub-ons are Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs "words".

My darling girl is made with the Prima Julie Nutting "Riley" Mixed Media Stamp. Stamped once on book paper for the girl and once on a scrapbooking paper by K and Co for her dress with Ranger Archival Ink in "Coffee". I painted her skin lightly with Golden Acrylic Paint in "Titan Buff" and added pink highlights with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paint in "Painterly Pink". Her hair is colored with Faber Castell India Ink Markers and highlighted with Silks Acrylic Glaze in "Ginger Peach".

Stamping was done with Wendy Vecchi's awesome new stamp "Vintage Mesh" and awesome new Archival Ink "Watering Can".  White paint dots are a stamp by Hero Arts with Liquitex acrylic paint. The crocheted butterfly is by Martha Stewart.
Here are the finished edges and back: 

Schweew - that's a lot of product and a lot of layers! 

I hope you think she's sweet - leave me a comment and let me know!

Here are the linkys for the rest of the eP designers in the hop:

Thanks for stopping by today!

pun'kin tags!

PaperHaus Magazine is celebrating 

their one year anniversary with a blog hop 
and eclectic Paperie is joining in the fun!   

Here is my adorable little pun'kin patch!

 Here are the tags I started with:

After decoupaging the torn up book paper (available here) on to the tags and drying them I randomly scribbled on them with Faber-Castell Pitt Pens then spritzed with water and moved the ink around with a paint brush. 

Dry and repeat 5-6 times to get the depth of color. I put reinforcers by Tim  Holtz on the tag holes but actually wound up covering them with green Pitt Pen so not necessary to do that! 

Next, run them through an embossing folder and cut to height. I used Cuttlebug embossing folders. (I apologize that I don't know the names of them as I threw the packaging away long ago!) 

Trim around the top of the tag to make the "stem", round the corners, and ink all around the edges. Score about a third of the way in from each side, bend them and ink a bit on the score line for dimension. 

The fence is made with a Martha Stewart punch out of plain black cardstock that has been distressed with Ranger Perfect Pearls in Heirloom Gold, Pewter, and Green Patina. The leaves are free form cut from green felt then colored with the Pitt Pens in the same colors as on the pumpkins. 

The tendrils are made from plain hemp that I wet and stained with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Forest Moss. While it was still wet, I wound it around a small tool handle and dried it which made it hold the shape. 

Using left over pieces of the tags I made spacers to adhere the pumpkins together then adhered the leaves and tendrils to the front and the fence to the back. I use Sobo craft glue by Delta.

This was a fun little project and a cute little fall decoration.

(It is about 4" x 4" x 2"deep) 

Be sure to click over to eclectic Paperie to see the other designer's projects and to the 
PaperHaus blog to participate in their hop!
Thanks for stopping by ~ 
I appreciate your comments!

Altered Mail Challenge!

Greetings!

Today is the day for the new 

Get Altered Challenge 

 at eclectic Paperie and I am the hostess~

I am challenging you to alter your mail! 

I received a brochure from a company selling work vans. I don't know what prompted them to send me (they this must have seen me packing for a weekend crop!) but I was happy to alter it! If you don't receive any interesting mail to alter then go ahead and alter the exterior of an envelope or package to mail out - make the mail carriers day by creating something fun!
Here is a look at the brochure as I received it. It is about 5 1/2" x 7" and came in the plastic sleeve you see. (I saved that not knowing whether I'll use it or not.) It has 5 double spread pages and 3 tabs and is made out of Kraft paper.

(click on pictures to enlarge and enhance)

My first step was to put Gesso on all of the pages. I did each one differently and apparently got so in to it I only took pictures of two of the pages (doh)! Here are the two I took pictures of. On the first one I spread the gesso on and then pulled some of it off with an acrylic stamp by CTMH. On the second one I applied the gesso through The Crafters Workshop Quatrefoil stencil.

My next step was to put paint on all of the surfaces. I used Tim Holtz Distress Paints for all of them. Wetting the paint down good by spraying with water then moving it around with the edge of a credit card, bubble wrap, or just my fingers created a different effect on each page.

By now the poor kraft paper and two lonely staples could no longer hold up to all the wetness. This was great because it made me think of creative ways to hold it together! So in addition to lots of Mod Podge I used different mediums down the centers of the pages.
On this page I used Tim Holtz Tissue Tape

On this page I used Washi Tape by My Minds Eye

On this page I used Tim Holtz Tissue Wrap

To add some more layers, I used my favorite stamp (Unity She Script) and my NEW favorite stamp (Wendy Vecchi Vintage Mesh) and punchenella with the new line of Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks on all of the pages and Christy Tomlinson Doodle Flowers rub-ons were used throughout.
Dylusions White Linen spray with The Crafters Workshop Mini Peacock stencil on this one:

Wendy Vecchi Black Embossing Paste with The Crafters Workshop Herringbone stencil:

I left the cover fairly plain at this point because I really don't know what I'll be using this little gem for!

It sure was fun and what a difference from the original brochure that came in my mail!

I hope you'll join in the fun and alter a piece of mail with me! Link your project by Midnight Eastern on September 18th using the linky tool on the eclectic Paperie site and you'll be entered to win a $15 gift certificate to the awesome eclectic Paperie online store.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I appreciate your comments!