WOYWW August 14 2013

*****If you are here and wondering what happened to my woyww post for August 21, it is further, sorry for the misdirection.*******

Another Wednesday, another picture of the creative process of my mind.  Lots more interesting pictures and neat blogs to discover along the way too.  I enjoy this concept of show and tell every Wednesday I find it to be enticing me to make sure I am creating something, anything because I have to have something to show on Wednesdays!  But what I really enjoy is seeing what others are up to and how they set up their spaces. Thanks to Julia over at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.ca.

Here is my production site:

I added the foggy vignette to make it look romantic!  Lol.

In the forefront is my breakfast in a glass and to its left is a converted Scrabble board game box lid converted into a tray (a DIY project that a pre schooler could pull off). Going counter clock wise now, a book on North American Birds to serve as a guide so I get the colours close to real on my project, my basket of ever so precious golden acrylic and fluid paints, a sketch book that I clean my paint brushes on, a stamped bird on newsprint, the project I am working on for next week's Mixed Media Monday at the All That Stickles blog, a crop-a-dile and hammer, a DIY fabric thread bin catcher, scissors and scraps of raw canvas.

In the background (upper right corner) is another project drying waiting to be photographed and uploaded to my blog for the weekend's blog hop, again with All That Stickles.  It is sitting on my drawing table that is laying flat at the moment.  That table is surrounded by lots of drawing and colouring supplies.  Beside that is a dresser from my younger years full of various supplies and with more supplies on top, next to a rolling drawer tower that holds my steel dies.  Finally, that table just beyond my hammer is my die cutting station where I have another cardboard lid thing working as a holding tray for another group of projects.

I apologize for not taking the time to edit my writing this morning, but I have quite a lot to get back to.

I hope to find some time later to go visit the other WOYWW's.

I hope you enjoyed.  Thanks for stopping by.

ps. I have given up on trying to fix the comment box situation, I have been frustratingly defeated in my battle with; Blogger, google, and Facebook,  So do your best to leave me a comment below or in an email.

Mixed Media Monday: Beauty is truth... canvas

 Over at the All that Stickles blog I have posted my project for this week's link party: Anything Goes.
I made this 7x7" canvas by trying different and new to me techniques.  I had a blast.  I hope you like it.

Here is my long list of what it took to make this (just in case you are wondering):

1 7"x7" ugly canvas from a liquidation sale at a discount store that was closing

1 very big box of used acrylic paints bought at a Church rummage sale

1 stack of card stock(Staples)  bought for the purpose of stamping on but the paper turned out to be unsuitable for the inks but fine for the paint

1 gel (aka Gelli) plate made from scratch (8 boxes of gelatine, some water, alcohol and glycerin)

1 brayer

2 Flower border die cutters from Ek Success

Stickles by Ranger in colours; Copper, and Diamond

Distress ink by Ranger in Vintage Photo

Goosebumps by Tsukineko

Dry wall tape

Masking tape

1 plastic berry basket from the recyling bin

1 piece of plastic mesh from the recyling bin

Heavy Gel Medium by Liquitex

Mat Gel Medium by Golden

Gesso from Omer deSerres

Aleene's Tacky glue

Tombow glue

Lepage Super Gel glue

3 feathers bought at Dollarama

1 cocktail pin stick from Dollarama

1wooden snowflake die cut (Michaels)

2 vintage bingo chips from my stash of ephemera

1 brass label holder (Dollar Tree)

Natural air drying clay (Crayola)

1 Dymo label maker and black tape (Village des Valeurs)

vintage beads and jewelry bits from various thrift stores

a variety of paints were used in the making of this project:  Golden, Americana, Deco Art, Plaid, Lumin'arte

acrylic glazes: Silks (Dreaming Colours)

Gold Leaf Rub'nBuff

Java Walnut Ink (Tsukineko).

Thanks for viewing.

Get Inky! Halloween Spooktacular Blog Hop

Hellooooo!  Welcome to the Get Inky! blog hop and NEW Halloween 2013 stamp reveal  and SALE! You should be arriving from  La-Vie' s site.  If not please start at the Blue Moon Creation Blog where you will find the complete line up.

During this weekend only (August 9-11 midnight PST) we will be taking 20% off of your entire order at our Etsy Shop.  No minimum purchase required, just use coupon code 2013SPOOKTACULAR20 upon checking out.

The Design Team has been busy creating with these new stamps to show you some samples of what you too can do.  We have prizes for some, but first you must hop along to each blog, comment and follow.  Now, I know that Blogger sometimes has issues with the comment box on my blog, please be patient and if even jiggling the mouse doesn't work just come back Directly to my site, not from a link, and then you should be able to comment.  I know it is a hassle but there is nothing else I can do about this.   

So here are two of my projects:

For both cards I used the New GI Halloween 2013 stamps.
I used black card stock from American crafts, and yellow card from Staples. I stamped with Ranger archival Black ink and inked the edges with Ranger Distress Black Soot ink.  For the bat card I painted with Lumin Arte water colour H2O's:  Mango Mamba, Siam White, China Black.  The bat's wings wings and ears were glitered with Martha Stewart glitter and I used Sook Wang Score tape.
For the broom card I also used Stampin' Up! pastels to add some colour and Black Diamond stickles by ranger for a little bling.



We promised Treats not just tricks:
(Providing you follow the rules)
1 winner will receive one 2013 Halloween Spooktacular Stamp Set (value 27.99$, winner is responsible for shipping charges and will be billed via PayPal emailed invoice).
*To be eligible in the drawing for this set, you must complete 2 easy steps...
-Follow ALL blogs along the hop if you aren't doing so already.
-Comment on EVERY blog post along the hop.

We also have 3 $15 gifts to our Etsy shop!!!
*To be eligible for one of these prizes, you must...
-Follow ALL blogs along the hop if you aren't doing so already.
-Comment on ONE blog post.


Your next stop is: Sarah.

 Thanks for stopping by!
  

WOYWW August 7, 2013

So here again for anyone who is interested is a peek at my messy work stations.  I am enjoying these WOYWW's, although I have to remind myself to take pictures on Tuesdays before I clean up for the day so I have something to show for Wednesday.  Good thing I was lazy last night cause my iPad picture did not link up this morning so I had to pull out the camera and reshoot.  I enjoy checking out what others are doing too, but I find it hard to get through the whole list there are a lot of us!  WHooo!
Thank you Stamping Ground!

I am running out of work desk room!  Aghhh!  I have several projects going on and still lots of stuff to organise and put away.  The first picture is of a package I just received this morning it contains some lovely new QuickKutz cutting dies  by Lifestyle Crafts !  The packaging itself is so pretty.  I can not wait to plat/work with these.  Behind that is my piled up stack  of permanent ink markers, a hole bunch of recyclables waiting to be used as organizers and some miscellaneous tools I have been using.
Including my home made gel printing plate.

 This is my heavy duty work shop desk (I ran out of room on my desk)  where my art journal was left to dry after an art fiasco.  Yup, mistakes can lead to other creations.  In this case it has to!  I was playing with my Pan Pastels, and I was happy with my background, until I went just a little bit too far and goofed.  So more gesso to the rescue and the dried flowers and rub ons are to be used later on the same project.  the empty tea box is for another up cycling project I have in mind.

 Finally here is my actual work desk with remnants of yesterday's flower making project.  I used my fancy shmancy punches by EK success that I found for such a good deal at Winners (like Marshalls in the USA)  these punch out frilly borders that can be quilled into flowers.  Awesome.  I decided to use some paper I had made gelli prints on over the weekend, and I really like the effect.  Of course my flowers were not complete with out much inking and Stickles.

Well, I have to get back to writing up some posts for a blog hop this weekend, come back on Friday and see what I m up to.

Thanks for viewing!

Mixed Media Monday

Hello and Happy Monday to everyone! I am so excited to be doing this new feature about Mixed Media, as part of a NEW feature over at the " All That Stickles" blog  The idea is that each week I will present a Mixed Media piece of my own creation with the theme of the Linky Party going on.  Now the Linky parties run for two weeks at a time and our Design Team creates some really beautiful and fun samples to inspire your own creations that you can link up to the blog and have the chance to win some prizes from our ever so nice and generous sponsors for that month.  Remember, keep the theme in mind and most importantly:  STICKLE away!  We love to use those shimmery little bottles of greatness and we hope you do too!

So here goes, my creation this week: 

A two page spread in one of my Art Journals, "Options".  As you may already know Art journals are about anything you want them to be.  Mine are especially random and eclectic.  This journal is the one I keep around in my studio and take with me to classes and crops.  I use it to clean my paint brushes and other tools.  Really.  It is a way for me to create backgrounds in advance.  Then later when ever I have the need to make something, express some sort of feeling or just try out a new technique I can pull out this journal and already have a page or two that are not blank.  Artists and crafters are often scared of that blank page or canvas, so having some mark already made can be the catalyst to something unexpected and creative.  

The journal is a Canson XL Series Mix Media, 98 LB, 7x10".  The pages had a splattering of mossy green and smokey blue acrylics(probably a combination of Liquitex basics and Dollar store)  to begin.  the pages had stuck together in some places and when opened the pages tore a bit which gave it that texture that is hard to see in this photograph.  I used white gesso (Omer deSerres)  and some homemade stencils for more texture and to brighten up the pages.  The figure was made from the outline of a Prima Doll stamp and Black India ink (Pemco)  that I brushed on.  I used fine and extra fine tip black pens and markers (Staedler, Staples, Bic, Copic), some white chalk pastel (Galleria), charcoal coloured conte, rub ons (Dollarama and Staples), recycled tags, oil pastels, water soluble oil pastels (Binney & Smith), shimmery mica and ink sprays, extra heavy duty clear gel (Liquitex) to adhere the sparkly bead trims (recycled from old upholstery), Aleene's tacky glue, Distress inks by Ranger and STICKLES! (Blueberry Ice stickles, Rock Candy Distress stickles, and Gunmetal stickles).

In my work I use tools that range from high end expensive to downright cheap and cheerful.  Very good tools are worth investing in and cheaper tools that will get easily ruined should be cheap as long as they do the job, that's just my opinion.

Don't forget to head on over to the Linky Party and challenge yourself, right now the theme is "Anything Goes".  Have fun.  I hope you enjoyed this and thanks for viewing. :)

By the way I love viewer comments and would be delighted if you chose to follow my blog!

Anything goes with Stickles

Hello, here is the card I made for the Linky Party: Anything Goes at  the All That Stickles blog.  Go check it out and enter.

To make this Step card I used the digital stamp "Girlz - Get Your Craft on" from Bugaboo.  I used Distress inks: Squeezed Lemon, and Peacock blue.  I coloured with copics: E11, E13, E15, E00, E000, RV23, RV09, Y21, YG03, YG0000,Y08,Y11, C1, C3, BV00.  The papers and trim are from my stash.  Finally the Stickles: Pink, Yellow, Firefly.

  Come back on Monday I will have something new to share with you and the All That Stickles fans!
Thanks for stoping by.

August Sponsors for All that Stickles:

Fake it Fridays #5:Make Your Own Custom Washi Like Tape.

Hi everyone.  Welcome to another Fake It Friday!.  Today I am going to show you how to make your own custom washi tape (sort of).  Ok, this is made with regular masking tape, it tears easily so it is pretty close to the real thing.  To make your own decorative a.k.a washi tape you will need:
Masking or painter's tape (any width will do)  some rubber stamps(optional) and ink.  I like to use a black dye ink such as Memento. You will also need a waxy type paper base to temporarily hold the tape in place.  I save the sheets of sticker backing just for this purpose.  Also, something to colour with, copics and Sharpies work great.

Stick a piece, as long as you want, onto the non sticky waxy paper.  (I like to cut a 12" +, in case I want to use it on a scrapbook layout).

Ink up some stamps and stamp away on the tape.  Let it dry completely.  Test with your finger to make sure the stamped image is completely dry.  Colour in the design if you wish.

note: in the sample above I used the new Holidays 2013 stamp with the string of lights from Get Inky! stamps for Blue Moon Creation. 

You can also forego the stamping part and just doodle on the tape with inks.

To store your tapes you can keep them on the sheet and store in a file or plastic page protector.  I also have stored my homemade tapes onto empty rolls of tape (plastic) and empty spools for thread, I like to recycle.

note: I used random stamps from my kids toy box here

I hope you enjoyed this and are inspired to go and make something of your own.  Thanks for viewing.

By the way I love comments from my viewers (the comment linky can be finicky if you came here from another site, blogger has issues, sorry)  and if you want to keep up with my latest projects just let me know in one of the boxes in the side bar.