Secret Project Coming... and a Tag!

Happy Friday! Happy Creating!

Here is a tag I created this week. I am working on a secret project... for the All Things Altered Blog Hop that is coming up! Hosted by Scrapbook Flair. It will be March 23 & 24 and there are some FABULOUS talent lined up... so mark your calendars...

OK... back to the tag... while working on this secret project I had quite a bit of ink left on my craft mat after a particular step... so I pulled out a couple tags and ran them through it... I even did a sheet of paper. This is a great way to get awesome backgrounds and to use up the ink and not just wipe it all away.

I added some Tissue Paper from Tim Holtz, a little embossing, and some stickers. My Silhouette Cameo helped me out with the "be". I made the charm using an Epiphany Punch.

Hope you have a happy Friday and a weekend full of creative possibilities!

Decorate Your Home Blog Hop

Happy Day! welcome to the Decorate your home blog hop!

If you just hopped over from Gina’s blog than you are in the right place… if you want to start at the beginning… click here! And it will take you to Nicolette, who is our hostess with the mostess for this hop!
My Project I have to share is a project I did for my dear friend and her nursery. I had a blast decorating the letters. Here it is:

I bought the wood letters from Hobby Lobby. I then painted them using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line paints. After the paint dried I then used the Multi-Medium in Matte to adhere my paper. The last step is the most fun… decorate! I used various embellishments, flowers, bling, paper, ribbon, etc… to decorate each letter.

Now hop on over to Jamie and see what fun she has in stored for you!

Have a fabulous & creative Friday!

Christine

Call of Duty... Call to Create!

Happy Happy Friday!

Today I am going to share with you a layout that I did this week…

With the help of google and an awesome Canon copy machine at my local scrapbook store, I was able to find the image of the solider and print it onto Archival 11X17 paper. I ended up cutting it down quite a bit, but that’s the beauty of creating… watching as it evolves! I sprayed a little Adirondack Color Wash spray, in espresso, on the top and side corners.

SILHOUETTE STUFF:

One of the coolest things is the title! Once again, Google! I found a picture of the title and imported into my Silhouette Studio Program and was able to turn it into a cut-able image. So my title matches that of the game!!! I love the Silhouette!

I also cut the tags out with my Silhouette.

The last detail is the chain! From Tim Holtz Idea-ology.

Have a creative day!

Christine

P.S. Come back this weekend! I am part of a Decorate Your Home Blog Hop and I will share a cute way to personalize a nursery or any room… ;)

12 Tags of 2012... and Gesso!

Happy Thursday!

Today I have my February Tag to share. Earlier this week Tim Holtz announced that he will no longer be doing the 12 Tags of Christmas… (yes... it was me you probably heard crying…)

but instead The 12 Tags of 2012.

(yes… that was me you heard squealing with delight!)

Here you can read more about it and see Tim Holtz’s tag…

...and without further ado this is my tag:

I had so much fun creating this tag…

To start I pulled out a blank canvas... (my tag!) and some black Gesso from Claudine Hellmuth Studio line… and my Basic Grey rub-on tool. (I use the wide end to smear on the gesso… works great!)

I then smeared black gesso on my tag.

Once the gesso dried I ran the tag through the texture Boutique Using the Valentine Background & Borders texture fade.

Now, here is where it gets interesting… I couldn’t use distress ink because the gesso would resist it… so I took my Silver Adirondack Acrylic Paint dabber and dabbed the paint on my craft mat… I then used an ink blending tool and picked the paint up and rubbed it onto my tag… this allowed me to get paint primarily on the raised surfaces. I repeated the same steps again, but this time using some Scotch Quick Dry liquid glue. I sparingly dabbed at my tag and then sprinkled glitter!

To finish the background I inked up the edges with Distress Ink…

The heart was created using the Heart Wings Die by Sizzex, designed by Tim Holtz. I wanted to really give my tag texture, so I used burlap, glitter, glassine, tissue paper, and grunge board to create the heart.

I encourage you to play along… it’s a fantastic way to learn new techniques. He has step by step directions and great pictures of the steps on his blog... 

Until next time… Happy Creating!

Christine

Creating to Inspire...

Happy Sunday… today I want to share something that I did quite a while ago… I posted it on my blog here. I have it in my studio, but it kind of just got overshadowed. You know how that goes? It was there and I would see it… but didn’t take the time to “see it”. I remember making this… it was a tough time in my life. I had just been laid off and things just got turned upside down. Well the other day I “saw it”… and I really needed this… Once again I am going through a rough patch and normally I can stay positive, but I have struggled these last few months. This canvas, along with several “attitude adjustments” that I have given myself has really helped… I also have been reminded that creating and paper crafting is not only something that I absolutely love, but it is also a hobby that can help heal.

I love quotes and inspirational sayings and I have them throughout my home… here are some pictures of my little inspirational cube I made full of my favorite quotes…

What are some projects that you have created to inspire yourself… please link to them, I would love to see!

Happy Creating!

Christine

Inky Love

Oh Sweet Saturday!

Today I want to show off a card that I put my little inky heart into… and boy do I have a post full of techniques today! So grab your cup of coffee and prepare to be inspired! Lol…

I started my card by playing with the Silhouette Cameo. I read online that the Inkssentials embossing pen will fit into the pen holder for the Silhouette… so I had to try it.. and it has opened the door to so many possibilities! I Used a cute swirly heart background design from the Silhouette store. Once the Cameo was finished drawing my design, I took it off the mat and poured embossing powder on it and heated it. I worked kind of fast, but You really do have a lot more time than you would think… the design took several minutes to draw but the powder stuck to the whole thing without a problem.

Next, I brought in a little Distress Ink… but in an unconventional way! Using the Ink Palette and a Distress Ink refill, I set the stage to “paint” with my Distress Ink!

A few drops is all it took… I also added a few drops of water from my water pen to tone it down some…  

Once all the hearts and swirlys were coloered in I inked it up with an Ink blending tool and Barn Door Distress Ink. …and then I ripped it right in half! And adhered to the base.

The base of the design is a 4”x5.25” piece of Manilla cardstock from Ranger. I LOVE this stuff! The bottom of the card is stamped with a Hero arts background stamp, “newspaper background.” The edges are inked with Broken China, Barn Door, & Black soot.

The heart is also embossed… and is also a Hero Arts Stamp, “newspaper Heart”. I used a multi color embossing technique on the heart. After stamping the heart onto the manilla cardstock, I sprinkled the pink powder on the outside and then came in with the red powder for the center of the heart. I then heated it… after melting my powders, I worked very quickly, and while the powder was still hot I sprinkled the Holographic powder on and then heated it… talk about a twist on embossing! I love going back in and adding that sparkle!

The edges of the heart are distressed using the Prima Distress tool and then inked up with my Distress Ink palette. The heart is adhered to the card with pop dots.

Ribbon and bling completed the card… but looking at it, I decided something was missing so the final touch was adding Crystal Stickles to the blue hearts in the background!

I hope you are leaving here inspired! Have a very creative day!

Christine

 

dryer sheets? really?

Happy Friday!

Today I have a very fun technique to try! I read about it in a book I recently got…

“Creative Foundations” by Vicki Boutin

I LOVE this book! It is so full of inspiration it is crazy!

So what technique is it that I am sharing?

Dryer Sheets.

Yes… dryer sheets. Used dryer sheets actually.

Here is a tag I did using this technique…Can you spot the dryer sheets?

The background is one and then the “ribbon” that is ruffled and straight behind the hearts is… yes dryer sheets!

      THE TECHNIQUE:

1. Start with a used dryer sheet.

2. Lightly iron, be careful not to burn.

3. Ink as desired!

 

Happy Creating!

Christine

Ink & Gesso, with a side of Perfect Pearls!

Oh Happy Day! Today I have a very inky layout to share...

You know those days that you wake up way too early... and you just can't get back to sleep? Today was one of those days. I had several things that I wanted to try, so out of the warm bed and into my fluffy socks and to my studio I went!

1. I started with Ranger's Manila Cardstock. I used the 12x12 size.

2. I laid down my mask:

3. ...and then sprayed with various colors of Adirondack Color Wash:

Those are the steps for the foundation of my layout.

I then put some Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line Gesso on to my craft mat and dropped Peeled Paint Distress Ink Re-Inker into it and mixed it up... next I smeared it on to the bottom right of my layout.

Here is a close up of the grouping.. The clock is a rub-on from Studio Calico and the hands are

idea-ology by Tim Holtz. My flowers I cut out of Claudine Hellmuth Sticky Back Canvas... I peeled off the back to expose the sticky and then adhered Perfect Pearls Powder. I love how they turned out... I used three different colors and they look iridescent!

My title I cut out using the Silhouette Cameo. To get the holes in the paper, I used the Cinch.

So... I had a great morning getting all inky!

Happy Creating!

Christine