hummingbird Art Journal spread

Greetings!

I am off camping at the amusement park 

with my family this weekend,

(well, they are camping, I'm at the B&B!)

but I set up this spread from my art journal 

to share with you today:

It's amazing to me what some scrapbookers throw away when they're scrappin'. I hostess at Cozy Crop House in Lititz PA which is an awesome weekend getaway for crafters in the heart of beautiful Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. One of my duties is to keep the guests trash bins emptied - and it's my pleasure 'cause I make some great finds that turn up in my art pieces or in my art journal! The discarded items I trash picked for this spread are the hummingbird and the flower. The leaves are made with Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 white Embossing Paste applied through her Lovely Leaves Stencil and colored with Faber Castell India Ink Markers. The background is comprised of layers of scrap paper, book paper, ink, stamps, paint, etc. Just keep piling it on till you are happy with it! You'll find most of the products I used at the fabulous eclectic Paperie online store - hop over and have a shop! If you have the opportunity for a weekend getaway, come visit us at Cozy Crop House - and leave me some scraps, ok?

Thanks for stopping by today!

I appreciate your comments!

Under His Wings

Greetings!

The challenge at eclectic Paperie this time is

"monochromatic"

I've created this 6"x6" canvas

(click on pictures to enlarge and enhance)

I painted the canvas first with Tim Holtz Distress Stain (brushed corduroy, vintage photo, frayed burlap) then added a few layers of torn book paper, tissue paper, and Ideology Tissue Wrap. As you glue the paper with Mod Podge, it activates the stains so the color is over as well as under the papers. 

Next I mixed the same stains with heavy gel medium and applied it to the canvas front and left side through the Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Brick Wall stencil. I colored heavy gel medium with Liquitex acrylic paint in unbleached titanium and a bit of Tim Holtz Distress Paint in vintage photo and applied it through the Crafters Workshop #195 Brocade stencil.

The bird is canvas by Little Yellow Bicycle and I colored it with Faber Castell Big Brush India Ink markers. The markers were also used to highlight the raised areas created by the stencils and fill in any areas where more color was needed. 

The handle is from the hardware store, it was bright shiny silver 'till I put gesso all over it and colored it with Faber Castell Big Brush India Ink markers. 

The charms are by Cousin and Bead Landing. 

Stamping and inking with Staz-On inks and acrylic paint create more depth and the addition of a favorite bible verse finishes off this piece.

I hope you are inspired to make a monochromatic project and enter it at eclectic Paperie. Be sure to hop over and check out all the entries.

Thanks for looking!

I appreciate your comments!

Yellow Bird Art Journal Page

Greetings!

Today I have a page from one of my art journals 

to share with you.

(Click on pictures to enlarge and enhance - and to skip the text to just look at the pictures!)

Often if I have leftover paint on my brush or on the back of a stencil I will just open my art journal and stick it on a blank page rather than waste it. Random testing of a new stamp, ink, or paint color is also done on these same pages. What you wind up with is a  mishmash that may or may not make an interesting background. So began today's page - here is the mishmash:

I added a layer of Ideology Tissue Wrap which is  translucent so my randomness shows through it.

Next came Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste in metallic silver through the Pink Paislee Vintage Lace Doily stencil on the left side.

Maya Road Chipboard was cut in half to make a scalloped border on the right side. The chipboard was first coated with gesso, then silver embossing paste, then black soot Distress Ink. The edges were colored black with a Faber Castell Big Brush Pen.
I added color to the butterfly, the doily, and a stem for my flowers with Faber Castell india ink markers.
 Notice how you can still see all the way down to my original mishmash!

The flowers are a stamp by Close To My Heart colored with Silks Acrylic Glaze in Sky Blue, Jasmine, and Snapdragon. The centers are colored with Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste in metallic gold over yellow india ink. The bird is wood from Michael's colored with india ink markers, the wing is highlighted with metallic silver embossing paste. Some washi tape, a bible verse, and black soot Distress Ink around the edges complete the page.

 The products I've used on my page can be purchased at the eclectic Paperie online store, I've linked them all up for you! 
I'm linking up with Julie at Balzer Designs - come see the lovely art she's posted!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

I appreciate your comments!

Buried Treasure

So many blogs...so little time. With so many wonderful art blogs to follow, it is difficult to always find the time to keep up with every new post -- let alone have the time to visit the posts that were put up before you discovered each blog.

So...four years ago Seth Apter started an annual treasure hunt. Buried Treasure is about digging deep to uncover some hidden gems. The premise is simple. On Wednesday, June 12th all participating bloggers will re-post one (or more) of their favorite posts that ever appeared on their blog.

Click here to be taken to Seth's blog where you will find his list of all of the participating artists! Many thanks to Seth for hosting this annual event!

June blog hop WINNER!

Thanks to all of you who participated in the

Scrapbook Steals June Blog Hop, left me lovely comments,

and joined my blog!

The winner of the prize from my blog is

Patti Senter

Patti, please send your mailing address to me at

tgfenster@gmail.com and I'll get your prize right out to you!

eP altered spoon challenge

Greetings!
(click here for the Scrapbook Steals Blog Hop)

This month's Get Altered Challenge 

at eclectic Paperie is to alter a spoon!

If you pop on over to eP and click on the design team projects you will see lots of gorgeous inspiration. Many of them are quite antique-y and vintage-y mine is very different from those!

What happens when you take a plain ole wooden spoon. . .

paint on some gesso and Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Brushed Pewter . . . 
and add some $1 earrings off the Walmart clearance rack? . . .

You get - fish! 

Yep, I went all fun, bright, and whimsical with my altered spoons and made them in to fish!

The background started with Gel Medium applied to a canvas through a stencil by istencils to create a resist.
Layers of Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Salty Ocean, Broken China, Mowed Lawn, and Seedless Preserves sprayed with water and moved around the canvas came next. Then Silks Acrylic Glaze in Sky Blue to add a little shimmer. 

I rubber stamped script on the backs of sea glass chips with Staz-On Ink and used them to make a frame.

Just add fish and you have a cute piece of artwork! My grand daughter's favorite creatures are fish so this piece will hang in her room. 

(click on photo to enlarge and enhance)

 So, plain or fancy, antique or contemporary - find yourself a spoon and do something creative with it! You have until Midnight Eastern June 19th to link up your project to be entered for a $15 gift certificate to the awesome eclectic Paperie online store. I do hope you'll join in the fun!
If you have a moment, click on the link above to see the Mixed Media Art I have for sale, perhaps there is a piece you'd like for your home or for a gift! 

Thanks for stopping by today, 

I'd love to hear your comments!

Scrapbook Steals June Blog Hop!

Welcome to my stop on the  

Scrapbook Steals June Blog Hop!

If you've arrived from Lanette's blog you are in the right place! 

The Steal featured in this blog hop is

DIY Thickers by American Crafts

Here is my project: (click on pictures to enlarge and enhance)

The DIY Thickers I used to spell BEACH are foam and are sticky on both sides. I added sand to the tops after sticking them to pieces of sea glass!

The shadowbox is made by 7Gypsies. I glued a real tile tray from a Scrabble game to the top of it and spelled out "WELCOME" with scrabble tiles which were painted with Tim Holtz Distress Paints and topped with Inkssentials Glossy Accents. I've also entered this project in the Ranger Seasonal Color Palette Challenge for June since I've used their products! The beach chair is by Jolees and the bird is by Bead Landing. Do you see the flip flops at the foot of the chair?

Please become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment, I will put everyone's name in a drawing for this prize from me:

You will also be entered to win a $20 credit to Scrapbook Steals after you comment on each blog in the hop and return to the Scrapbook Steals blog. 

Thanks for hopping along, 

your next stop is Candace - have fun!

Summer Garden Journal Spread

Greetings!

I've finished this journal spread and it is featured over on the
eclectic Paperie blog today!

(Click on photos to enlarge and enhance)

The paints I've used throughout the page are Tim Holtz Distress Paints. The base layer is "wild honey" and "spiced marmalade". (In addition to being really yummy paint, the names Tim has given his colors are so yummy too!) After the paint dried I applied gel medium through a Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 brick wall stencil and let it dry to create a resist.

The next layer of paints is "broken china" and "picked raspberry". I sprayed them with water and where they ran together they made a gorgeous purple. Because the oranges were all ready dry underneath, they didn't mix with them - awesome paint! I blotted and moved the paint around with a piece of bubble wrap until I was happy with how it looked. 

 Once it dried I added some texture with (my favorite) Unity Stamp Company "She Script" stamp and Staz-On ink applied through punchenella. Next I got out a couple of packs of Basic Grey rub-ons that have been in my stash for-e-ver and just piled them on the page from bottom left to top right in the area left blank between the brick resist. I reserved two of the larger rub ons and applied them to book paper and cut them out. I placed those on top of the others to create another layer. 

The bird is cut from a greeting card by Current. I enhanced it with Faber Castell Pitt Pens and colored the edges with black Staz-On. 

At this point the page sat for a few days, I knew it needed something in the top left and bottom right but didn't know what. Sometimes it's best to just let things sit, then when you are going through your stash a light bulb goes off and you find the right product to add to your page. In this case it was Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs - perfect! 

The final unifiying step was to flick a fine layer of "black soot" distress paint across the whole spread with a stippling brush.

I hope you enjoy my spread and are inspired to create something pretty yourself. 

The products used in this spread are linked up to the awesome eclectic Paperie online store 

for your shopping convenience.
Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate your comments!

sneak peek

Greetings!

Next weekend I am one of the designers participating in the

Scrapbook Steals June Blog Hop.

I have a little sneak peek of my project for you. This photo does not contain the product that will be the "steal" - you'll have to stop by on June 7th to see what that is! 

On my project I spelled out "Welcome" with Scrabble tiles and wanted to show you one way the tiles can be altered. Using just my fingers, I rubbed Tim Holtz Distress Paints on the tiles in these three colors: broken china, salty ocean, and peeled paint. Then I put a thick coat of Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents on them. You can purchase both of these products at the awesome eclectic Paperie online store as well as many other great products! 

I am pleased with how well the Glossy Accents came out as I have never done this before and my bottle is quite old and the applicator tip is quite smashed! If I was going to use these for jewelry I would have been much more careful with the application, these came out really nicely for how casually I was applying the product, it really self levels nicely. 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by today!

On Monday (June 3) I'll be sharing how this pretty background that I shared with you last week turned in to a beautiful journal page over at the eclectic Paperie blog so I hope you'll pop over and have a look!
Be sure to come back next weekend for the full reveal of today's "welcome" project and to join in the Scrapbook Steals June blog hop!