Blues

Hello! Today's tag is a continuation of playing with my scraps the other morning.  

I loved how this torn background looked and wanted to play with my Artistic Outpost stamps so I just started laying in bits and pieces until I got what I wanted.

The tag is covered with half newsprint paper from Wendy Vecchi and the other half the tag. I ripped off the newsprint after I had sprayed and stamped.  I then came back in with more spray on the right side to give the effect.

I stamped the girls on another piece of paper and then cut them out and attached them. Added a touch of shading around them and then added the skyline and sentiment.

Products:  Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz - Alphabet,  Artistic Outpost - PaperBoy, Tattered Angels - Turquoise Glimmer Mist.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Wise Owl

Over on the PaperArtsy blog the challenge is about White Space.     The post is very inspiring showing various ways to use negative space or white space in  your art.  This is one area I really struggle with as I love to fill in the space with more colors, stamping, etc. 

I decided to play around with the concept this morning and this is what I came up with.  I know there isn't a lot of white space but I do love the effect of the splattered mists. 

I have used the following Paper Artsy stamps: HotPick 1011,  Hot Pick Xtra 01 Background, and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists - Patina, Bubble Gum.  I also added a hint of little gold embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Spring Inspired

Hello!  I was playing this weekend with Glimmer Mists and some new stencils and stamps.  I ended up with so many fabulous backgrounds and figured I better finish one of them.

I just purchased these jumbo journalling tags from Ranger and wanted to play with that as my surface.

 I actually started with a stamped background with the fine print painted in white paint to create a resist.  After that dried I stenciled the numbers using crackle embossing paste. (I had to let that dry) 

 Then the fun began with dripping, spraying, and splattering the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist over the surface.  I kept trying various effects until I got the background I wanted. 

 Then this morning I added the sentiment, circles, flowers and dragonfly to finish it off.  

Products: Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist  - It's Brown, Patina, Olive, Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous - Wildflowers,    Tim Holtz - Layering Stencil - Numeric,  Stampers Anonymous - Classics #1,  Stampers Anonymous - Courage ,  Wendy Vecchi - Crackle Embossing Paste, Ranger Archival - Coffee, Stampendous - Brown Embossing Powder, Vellum, Sequins, Mini Pearls, Watercolor Pencils

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:

Anything but Cute - Earth Day Challenge:  (Look at the pretty mood board which had me thinking flowers, earth, nature and of course greens and blues)

 Mixed Media Place April Challenge -Creative Gym #18

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Starfish, Pink Coral and Cherry Red

Edited to add: I had my post ready to go and saw the sad news about Brussels.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the families impacted by today's tragedy.

I am always intrigued with color palettes and the Words and Paintery March Challenge has a beautiful monochromatic color scheme in lovely shades of corals and reds.  The quote from Marilyn Monroe is quite inspirational as well. (I just realized I have a Marilyn Monroe stamp that I have been wanting to use and didn't even think of it when I was creating these!)  I took the pretty colors mixed with the "Vintage" challenge a the Mixed Media World Challenge #12 and created a series of ATC's.

I started with a lovely background created with my Tattered Angels Glimmer mist (The aforementioned Starfish, Pink Coral and Cherry Red).  I spent some time dripping, smearing and playing with them on a sheet of mixed media paper.   After that dried I cut it up into the atc's and started stamping and stenciling and playing with texture on the backgrounds of the ATCs. 

 Darkroom Door has some beautiful photos and I dug through them looking for images to use from them.  My first ATC started with a layer of tissue paper misted and stamped behind the fun image. I then brought in the twine and starts and added the stamped word over the background.  I finished with a splattering of paint and the sentiment.

 My next one started from bits and pieces I pulled out to use on the ATC's and I like how she came together.  I stamped the polka dots in the background using the Darkroom Door Eclectic polka dots stamp and white paint.  The butterfly is from a DRD collage stamp and is stamped on the misted tissue paper.  The sentiment is from the Idea-ology stickers.

 My next one is difficult to see because it is layered with vellum and misted tissue paper flowers.  It is very pretty in real life but doesn't photograph well. :)  

Last but not least is one of my all time favorite stamps from AO.   I went looking for an image to go on this and pulled her out to put in the center of my hand drawn heart.

Products:  Darkroom Door Texture Stamps - Dots, French Script, Darkroom Door - Tick Tock Set, Tim Holtz Layering Stencils (Numbers, Alphabet), Artistic Outpost - A star is born,  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Starfish, Pink Coral and Cherry Red, Idea-ology - stickers, Idea-Ology - Staples, Idea-Ology - Filmstrip, Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste, Darkroom Door - Butterfly Garden, Darkroom Door - Photobooth Hats

That's it for today!

Suzz

Words and Paintery Inspiration Photo:

It's a Banner Day!

Who's ready for a blog hop?  This hop involves some bunny hopping as it is all about spring art!  Canvas Corp Brands and Bella Blvd have partnered together in a creative hop this week.

There are two prizes with a retail value of over $100 each.  To be eligible for the prize please leave a comment on one of the facebook, instagram, or canvas corp brands post and use the #BBCCBTEAMUP in the comment. The prize winners will be randomly chosen from all the comments based on the #BBCCBTEAMUP.  Prize is open to USA and International hoppers.  

I had fun creating a Banner Book using the Bella Blvd Papers, Embellishments, and the Canvas Corp Brands Banners, Tattered Angels Paints and Mists.

Hop along to see all the beautiful inspiration from the teams!

Suzz

Small Things with Great Love

Friday!  Yeah! I have been having a dry spell with my creative juices.  Today I decided that I was going to create something, anything to keep me creating.  I decided to use a new stencil with ferns and glimmer mist to start the art!

I misted the ferns in the background and then added a layer of stamped text.

I did this three times because I tried different effects on the ferns and ended up muddying them up. I persisted and on my third attempt I added the lovely Verses Rubber Stamps sentiment and wanted to have a flower coming across in in a different direction and the PaperArtsy flower was the right length and fit perfectly.

Of course I went to stamp it and it didn't get an even image.  Easy enough to fix with a second stamping on a second piece of cardstock.  Color, cut and pop onto the top of the original image.

Products:  The Crafters Workshop - Fern Stencil, Tattered Angels - Kiwi Glimmer Mist, 7 Gypsies stamp (text),  PaperArtsy Flower - Hot Picks, Ranger Archival - Potting Soil, Verses Rubber Stamps - Great Things, Stampendous Bronze Crushed Glass Glitter

Well I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Suzz

Heartful of Coffee

Howdy!  I have been playing a little in my craft room but mostly had a bad cold which has kept me out of my craft room.  Since I started feeling better  I decided to try my hand at playing with coffee.  I am not a coffee drinker so I had to mix up a little paste with some grounds and warm water to kick this off.

I actually laid out my project two different ways and wanted to share the first layout because you can see the coffee background which started my project.

 I started with making a paste of grounds and water which I used to paint over a stencil on mixed media paper.  I then added a layer of glimmer mist sprayed over the surface and splattered in spots to add a lovely coral color to the background. 

After that I wanted to keep the texture of the grounds on my background before they completely dried and blew away from the paper.  I left the grounds on the paper and used a trick taught to me by Fran at Stampendous by pouring my clear embossing powder over the surface and heating underneath.  This captured the grounds and kept them on the surface of my paper to add a coffee texture.

After that I cut my shape of the heart from the background. I distressed the edges and used Aged gold embossing powder to give a golden tint. 

 I decided to stain a white doily with the coffee and then embossed the frame with the gold embossing powder.  I cut the center and stamped the image of the little girl over the surface.  I heat embossed this with clear embossing powder after splattering some coral color mist on the background. 

I then put the center back into the middle of the gold frame and added a mix of black and gold glitter around the edges.

The flowers were misted and then embossed with the gold embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment on a remnant of my coffee background and embossed the edges in gold.

This project was created with a few different challenges in mind:
Mixed Media Place - Creative Gym #17 - Coffee 

Vintage Journey - Industrial

Anything but Cute - Grungy Love

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Courage

Hi!  Happy Valentine's Day!  No Valentine's projects to share today.

I am back after playing with a very messy waxy mix of stuff.  Leandra at PaperArtsy has been pulling together challenges highlighting different concepts, techniques and ideas which are brilliant and very inspiring. The latest challenge is highlighting "Wax".  I always love when I see art using this medium but fail to achieve what I want in this area. I decided to give it another go after seeing all the team has been doing for the challenge and Leandra's inspirational Challenge post. 

Sometimes when you are creating your art you go through stages on a project where you love it and then  you don't love it.  This is one of those projects for me. :)  I laid it out and I was in love with the effect.  Then I glued it down and didn't love it. Then added wax and moved it around to thin it out and get bunches in certain areas and back to not sure if I liked what I had created. I think art is a journey though and to learn new things and expand your skills, knowledge and even love of art you need to explore and try new things. 

 Anyhow it was very much a learning process for me and when I got done I didn't like it as much as when I started.  When I pulled the photos in the thumbnails I thought it was really cool.

 I used bits and pieces I grabbed in the fall to add to the beautiful stamped image/sentiment from PaperArtsy.

 I used the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists (Gold, Dragonfly, Brown), 7 Gypsies Lace Trim, Canvas Corp Tissuestock, and 7 Gypsies Large Tickets to add texture.

 I embossed using the Doily stencil over the background. 

I stamped the PaperArtsy Sara Naumann 18 - Eclectia Stamp with the PaperArtsy Hot Pick 1011 and on the background there is a little writing from one of the sets as well.

Have a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Suzz

Spring Punk

Happy Saturday!  I am back with a few more Valentine's I am using the Anything But Cute Challenge "Grungy Love" to inspire my first valentine.

This one started with a bunch of splashes of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist on a white background.

After the glimmer mist I splattered white acrylic paint over the surface. It added a subtle texture and when I added the watercolor pencil you could see the resist.  I then traced in the heart with watercolor pencil.  I shaded it with another layer of watercolor pencil and blended with the waterbrush.  I stamped the sentiment and then went looking for the right embellishments to give it edge.

This reminds me of a previous challenge at AO where we were challenged to do Spring SteamPunk.  I liked that idea of the bright vibrant colors with the touch of metal.  I think this one is going to go off to my son. He will get a kick out of it.

 Next up is a softer Valentine's with some pretty gold and pinks.

 I had another scrap of inky background with all gold mist.  I started tracing hearts in various colors and then blending them out with the waterbrush.

 You can see I had fun layering them in various sizes.  I loved the translucent effect and thought of balloons.  So I added some thread to the balloons along with a bit of the definition stamped in the background and found the perfect sentiment to go along. 

Products: Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Merlot Gold,  Marigold, Coral Reef,  It's Black, Kiwi,  Staedtler Watercolor Pencils, Stampendous - Dream Text, Simon Says Stamp - Valentines, Idea-Ology - Pins, Gears, Clock Hands

Have a happy Saturday!

Suzz

New Beginnings

Hi!  I spent some time creating with some new goodies from Canvas Corp Brands for the Anything But Cute Challenge - Ring out the old and bring in the new and the Mixed Media Place - New Beginnings challenge. 

I recently received some new paints from the Tattered Angels and I wanted to play around with them along with my glimmer mist.  I followed the them of new beginnings with the inspirational words from a series of Stampendous stamp sets.

I started with a background with a stencil and the Tattered Angels glimmer mist.  I then came back in and used stencils and circles to create a series of circles painted and outlined with colored pencil.

I stamped the text using black ink over the background.  I used the remainder of the background to create a series of stars. I cut them out and stamped inspirational sayings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Best Friends

Hello!  Welcome back for another challenge at  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is Best Friends. You can interpret this anyway you would like. 

I decided that I would go with a married couple who are just starting out and hopefully will end up as best friends.  They don't look to comfortable  yet. :)

I used an old embroidery hoop that I had laying around in the drawer for sometime.   I started with tissue paper as the base for my background which I stenciled with the doily stencil and a lovely soft pink dye ink and everything just started to gel from there.

Products:  Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Doily, Ranger Distress Ink - Victorian Velvet, Idea-ology Tim Holtz Found Relatives,  Idea-Ology - Tim Holtz Small Talk ,  Lace,  Pink Mist, Embroidery Hoop, Paper Flowers, Heart Charms, Marriage Vows

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your stamp and punch combination. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Time Flies

Hi There!  I feel like I haven't created anything in awhile but I have been creating, but just not sharing yet! :)  I just joined the Creative Crew with Canvas Corp Brands and am loving it!  I have already posted a project on misting on the blog if you would like to check it out it is posted here.   The Canvas Corp Brands is sponsoring the Words and Paintery January Challenge this month which is one of my favorite color challenges so a perfect opportunity for me to use my new CCB products and play along.  You can see what the Creative Crew created for the challenge on the Canvas Corp Brands blog.   I also decided to use the Mixed Media Monthly challenge of "Time Flies" as it works really well with the inspirational phrase on the Words and Paintery Challenge. 

I went with the time flies and used a Verses sentiment which reminds us to focus on the current moments and what you can do today because that is life.  I layered a lot of goodies into this one card. :)  I think I was making up for lost time.

Some basic instructions for those of you who might wonder what I was up to:

1. Spray the glimmer mists onto the craft mat in various places and add water to soften the colors.
2. Drag, place and smear the paper onto the mists. Repeat as desired. (I made about 10 backgrounds from this one series, so you may be seeing these colors again!)
3. Stamp image of girl on scrap backgrounds using brown ink. Heat emboss with brown embossing powder. Cut to fit timepiece.
4. Spray time piece with brown glimmer mist. Let dry.  Using glue pen dab around the edges and sprinkle with gold ultrafine glitter.
5. Cut bee from paper.  Color with brush and glimmer mists sprayed on craft mat. Let dry. Dab glue on wings and sprinkle with gold ultrafine glitter.
6. Cover timepiece and bee with versamark ink. (I used an old inkpad as I knew the glitter was going to get onto my ink pad.  Heat emboss with clear embossing powder. While still warm apply more embossing powder and repeat.
7. Stamp sentiment in brown on background and heat emboss using brown embossing powder.
8. Stencil numbers using light brown ink over background. 

The rest is layering and assembling.

Products:  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists - Atlantic, Cross My Heart, It's Brown, Tattered Angels - Time Piece, 7 Gypsies - Pyramid Antique Silver, 7 Gypsies Tag, Canvas Corp Brands - Watering Can Pattern paper, 7 Gypsies Lace Trim, Stampendous - Bark Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder, Ultrafine Gold Embossing Powder, Idea-Ology - Film Strip,  Stampers Anonymous - Girl Stamp, Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee, Verses Rubber Stamps - Rose Kennedy Quote

The Challenge Images:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz