Creative Card Making with Ann

Hi Everyone and Welcome

It's Ann from Ann Chuang Crafts here with you today as we head out on the last leg of September's journey with our regular "Creative Card Making" post. I always make cards for family and friends, so I’m pleased to be sharing an insect card that I made for my son. He is very interested in insects and expects to become an entomologist in the future. I want to encourage him to work hard for his dreams.

It all started with some wrinkle-free distressing... all Distress Oxides, no Inks to start with. There're pumice stone and vintage photo in the mix. 

When the watercolor paper dry enough, I stamped Handwritten correspondence on it by Distress Ink hickory smoke. Then cut an oval from the paper and distressed the edges with Distress Ink walnut stain.

And then, with some wrinkle-free distressing again...all Distress Oxides. There're wilted violet, iced spruce, broken china and faded jeans. This time I use black paper to make a background, I love the effect so much.

 I used tangled twigs die from Tim Holtz. The tangled twigs piece adhered to the background. 

I used Tim Holtz Entomology dies and stamps. I have to say...I love this stamp set, there're lots of creepy, cool and beautiful bugs plus an awesome background script stamp. 

To create these bugs… I stamped them in Intense Black onto white paper. Then lined up the corresponding bug die and taped it down with some washi tape. After they were cut, I colored them with some Copic Markers and used Glossy Accents to dress them up a bit.

Look, here are the beautiful bugs.

I really love this card! If you are interested, you can find a full list of materials that I used to create this card over at my blog here.

Thank you for joining me on the Creative Card Making journey today and don't forget there is still a little time to join in our current challenge which is "Box It Up".

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Ann

Box It Up - Tutorial

Hello crafty friends and welcome to the AVJ monthly tutorial post.  Julia (Create with Me)  here this month as the hostess for the September challenge "Box it Up" sharing a quick tutorial of how I put together my Halloween Haunted House Treat Box.

I often make projects like this to sell at my church at various holidays - so I'm making maybe 10 of them - and while I want them to look vintage, spooky and 'professional' (!?!) -  I also want them to be easy to make!

To that end - I used already distressed-look papers from Tim Holtz Regions Beyond and Materialize Paper Stash pads which saved me the time of distressing them! Instead of using matboard, I cut the house pieces out of black cardstock and again from the patterned paper, then glued them together.  It makes them sturdy but not quite as bulky as when you use matboard.

I cut out the box pieces using Eileen Hull's new House Ornament Die along with some pieces (chimney, window frames, roof trim and door) from her older House Pocket Die (which just happen to be to the same scale!) I cut out various faces from one of the papers in the Regions Beyond and mounted them on foam tape behind the windows so you really feel they are 'inside' the house.

I double layered all the window frames for extra thickness and rubbed them with Bronze Age Metallique Wax from Prima.  I did the same to the Irongate Fence pieces as well as the cat and bat - all older Tim Holtz/Alterations dies.  I put two chimneys on the roof (see 3rd photo below) - as a haunted house would surely have at LEAST two giant fireplaces right?!

Here is my Halloween Treat Box - from all sides!

And the spooky faces in the windows close up!

 There's even a skeleton in the attic!

And finally - the treats found inside when you open the bottom of the box!  River Rock Chocolate Candies!

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I put this together . There is still plenty of time to join in our Box It Up challenge, link up by 10/3.  You will find all the challenge details HERE along with some fabulous Box It Up projects from my fellow Creative Guides.

As always thank you for joining us at AVJ and we hope you all have a creative weekend!

A Cup of Tea for Your Art Pinworthies

Hello everyone, it's Jennie back here again to share the Creative Guide's Pinworthy choices for last month's challenge A Cup of Tea for Your Art. As is always the case there were so many wonderful entries and we had a very difficult job to choose just three! Thank you all so much for taking the time to create and enter the challenge - it is very much appreciated by us all.

So ...... drum roll please .... here we go with our three Pinworthy Mentions.

#10 Lynn (Experiments in Paper)

Lynn created an exquisite thoughtful book from tea stained papers full of little quotes to meditate on whilst drinking a cup of tea. Wonderfully creative!

#1 Esther (Shoregirl's Creations)

Esther created a stunningly colourful and textured card stamping postmarks onto tea dyed watercolour paper. We loved how you combined the tea dyed paper with those gorgeous bright colours and textures.

#15 Elle (Empire of the Cat)

Elle created a beautiful tea dyed mixed media background which she made into three cards. We loved your use of Twinings packaging to complete the card.

I will be sending you your Pinworthy badge to display on your blogs shortly and we will be pinning your fabulous entries to the A Vintage Journey Pinworthies board on Pinterest.

There is still plenty of time to enter our current challenge which is BOX IT UP and you can find all the details HERE along with some fabulous inspiration from the Creative Guides.

As always thank you for joining us in our challenge and we look forward to seeing what you create this month!

Jennie x

Box It Up: A Vintage Journey September Challenge

Hello friends!   The summer has fled and as we prepare for fall, it's also time for the A Vintage Journey September Challenge!

Julia here (Create with Me) as the hostess for this months A Vintage Journey Challenge which is:

Box It Up

 Perhaps you will make a trunk or suitcase, some kind of package to hold a gift, or maybe make a card or journal page showing presents.

I  love boxes - perhaps it's because when you are given one, there's that anticipation of discovering what is inside when you open it!

Please create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

Our talented Creative Guides have some wonderful projects to inspire and delight you. Just click on the links to be taken to their individual blog pages for all the details.

Julia

I made a Halloween Treat box out of Eileen Hull's new House Ornament Die - the bottom opens so you can put a surprise inside for the receiver!  I'll be posting a tutorial for my box here at AVJ on Sept 20th but you'll find photos of the four sides of my project on my blog post here - if you dare come to look!!

Alison

My immediate thought on seeing Julia's lovely challenge theme was to go for an Artist Trading Box, and with Tim Holtz's new mushroom stamps demanding my attention it was clear where I was headed.  Come over to Words and Pictures to see how I turned those 2D images into a 3D scene for the top of the box!

Jennie

For Julia's lovely challenge I am sharing a box made for a local competition where the theme was black and white. Do join me over at Live The Dream for more details ...... and to find out if we won!

Nikki

For Julia's challenge I have created a box to fit ATC's which I plan to use as an ideas box - something to reach for when inspiration is lacking! The details on how this came together are available on my blog today.

Jo

 

My art journaling today was inspired by a motivational quote which I thought suited Julia's challenge perfectly, so I included it on my page along with a gift box and ribbon. To see how it all came together, please pop over to my blog Let's Art Journal.

Sara Emily
 

Having a soft spot in my heart for boxes, it was hard to resist Julia's Box It Up challenge. I recently found a neglected storage crate at a thrift store, and it looked to be just the size I was looking for. If you would like to see how I transformed this from a half finished up-cycle to artsy storage for my Tim Holtz stamps, please visit my blog.

S@ndy

What a fun challenge!  I went with a box card and had a little fun with the vintage paper for the basket.  I used some Vintage Photo ink to add a little grunge to the Pumpkin Patch.  This card folds flat for mailing.  To see more details and find out about the dies I used - please join me at my blog here.

Annie

I decided to alter a large matchbox for Julia's fabulous "Box It Up" challenge theme. I love this doll stamp by Paperartsy and used some lace for a skirt, Idea-ology spoons for arms and legs. I have also made a little file folder for inside too as this may be a gift for someone.

For more details please visit my blog by clicking HERE

Barbara

I want to thank Julia for the theme she proposed to us this month, it's fabulous and so versatile! I wanted to challenge myself to realize a Halloween box and I really enjoyed creating a misty background using black cardboard and some of the new colors of Distress Oxide sprays! If you want to see all the parts of this box,  back, inside and outside and the (almost) entire tutorial I'll be waiting for you here on my Blog Yayascrap and more!

Toni

 

Julia's fabulous challenge has given me an opportunity to make this money box, so that I can collect all the loose change that the men in my life leave lying around the house. I think it will be full in no time! If you'd like to see how it came together, feel free to hop over to my blog

Such lovely inspiration to get our creative 'Box It Up' juices flowing!

We look forward to you joining us in this challenge.  The challenge begins today and remains open for entries until the 3rd October. You have lots of time to think inside the box!!

Julia xx

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