Only One In Color

Just as creating is healing for me, so is music.

"Music is what Feelings Sound Like"

I have been smashing, (Smash Book), and this is the title of one of my pages:

I found a song yesterday that I just fell for...

Trapt - "Only One In Color"

You can view the lyrics here.

This is what it inspired:

It is so easy to get caught up in this great big world...

remember: you matter.

"There is no one like you
and in a world of black and white
you are the only one in color
There is no one like you"

Don't ever lose you. You are beautiful. You matter. You make a difference.

What songs move you? make you happy? bring the tears? encourage you?

What song inspires you?

love, christine 

as the journey starts...

hello. it has been so long since i have been here. i am sad to admit that it has been just as long since i have been in my studio. my life got very not right... and i let it affect me in so many ways. one of the most painful was sacrificing my creativity. it is not a healthy place to be... i have a rocky road ahead of me, but this past week i was able to go into my studio and actually create and not crumble in pain. This is what came to be...

to me it is so more than just a tag... every brush stroke, the colors, the techniques... i used what i feel. the tag is ripped in half... it is so important to hold on to creating through the tough times. it heals. it is a release. when you lose it, it's like losing a part of your soul and that is a pain that i do not wish on anyone....

so as i am starting my journey back i hope to continue to share as i create my way back to me....

christine

SO MUCH! technique!

Happy Wednesday! I have a technique packed post for you today! I have had so much fun learning in Creative Chemistry 101. It has all kinds of creative juices flowing through my head! Here is a tag that I did while just playing around!

 To start:

I stamped with Archival Ink Jet Black on to the tag. I wanted to play with Alcohol Ink. Well a tag is porous and will not give me the results that I want... so I covered the tag in a light layer of Glossy Accents. You can see the shine in the picture below:

I then took my Alcohol Ink and created the background.

OK, here is where the new part comes in for me... My new toy is the Ranger Melting Pot. I had been wanting one for quite awhile, and a friend surprised be with one as a happy! So below you can see where I have played with it a little! It is so awesome! I have tried the Shrink Plastic technique that Tim Holtz features in the 12 Tags of Christmas 2011. My favorite technique so far is stamping in to the melted UTEE. It is just so cool! Here I stamped the Dream stamp into the melted UTEE. Once it cooled down I dusted it with various Perfect Pearls.

I have used zipper on my tag. This is one of my new favorite embellishments. Cut it, dye it, twist it, oh so much you can do with it. The flowers are from fake flower stems that I got and a little shop that buys out estates sales.

Happy Creating!

Inked Up Love!

Happy Friday! TGIF! I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a weekend full of beautiful weather and fun times! I wanted to share with you a card I made recently:

It is so simple and easy to make. What is so great about this idea is that and of the Tim Holtz Texture Fades with wording can be used... so Christmas, Fall & Thanksgiving, etc..

I started by running my white piece of paper through my Texture Boutique to emboss it. The next step is to lightly ink up the raised portions using light colors: Milled Lavender & Spun Sugar. I then brought out Festive Berries to ink over and highlight the word "Love".

I love ribbon! I have tons of it... but I am finding myself using more and more white ribbon! I keep several different sizes right at my desk for easy access. I then use various mediums to color the ribbon to match my project exactly! For instance, I used my Distress Inks to color this ribbon for my project! You can use Copics, paints, Distress Stains, Glimmer Mist, etc...!

Have a Creative Day!

Creative Chemistry: Distress Inks!

Happy Day! ...and I can say it too! a really happy day! Look at my new car! A car that will get me from Point A to Point B without breaking down! Whoohooo! Isn't she pretty!? A Honda Civic!  Oh I am so happy! We looked at the Coupe, (2 Door Civic) but it was so small... and all my scrap supplies wouldn't fit when I go to crop!!!

Now on to some more exciting stuff! I am taking Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 101... and learning so much! Here are the tags that I made from the first lesson on inks! This class has been so inspirational and has taught me so much! Out of respect for Tim Holtz and Online Card Classes I cannot go in to details about the techniques and tips & tricks, but I will share what I can...

The first day was a review of all types of inks. The second day we went into detail of Distress Inks. Some of my all time favorite inks!

TECHNIQUE ONE: Spritz & Flick

Distress Inks Used: Rusty Hinge, Fired Brick, Chipped Sapphire, Mustard Seed

 TECHNIQUE TWO: Brushless Watercolor

Distress Inks Used: Tea Dye, Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves, Evergreen Bough, Mustard Seed

 TECHNIQUE THREE: Wrinkle Free Distress, (My Favorite!)

Distress Inks Used: Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Seedless Preserves, Stormy Sky

I am a bit behind in the class, but will post more tags as I do them. I am keeping them simple because I plan on turning them into a mini-album of tips & tricks in the end.

Have a creative day!

Christine

All Things Altered Blog Hop

Happy Friday!

And welcome to the All Things Altered Blog Hop! This is a unique hop filled with fabulous designers! Hosted by PammeJo over at Scrapbook Flair. To start at the beginning click HERE. If you have been hopping along then you have just come from Debbie's Blog.

...and you have landed here!

 I have had a Tim Holtz Configurations Box laying around for well over a year and decided to finally do something with it... I just started painting and inking away.... and here is what the magic created:

I had so much fun creating this little inspirational box for my studio! Most everything on here started out white... then they met my Adirondack Color Wash Sprays!

Here are some details:

Do you guys remember sand art? Using glitter and the 7Gypsies glass jars I created a scrapper's version of sand art! It was so fun and brought me back to my childhood days! I used several different types of Tim Holtz's idea-ology metals throughout my box. 

These were little jars that I filled with water and then dropped a little drop of Color Wash in to... The box is covered in Tim Holtz Tissue Paper that has been sprayed with a mixture of water and Color Wash. The jacks are my favorite! I bought them from a little local shop that buys out estate sales... they were a treasure!!!

Here is another shot showing off one of my absolutely new favorite products: Stampendous

Mica Fragments in Tarnished. The skeleton key is another vintage find... a yard sale at a home that is on the National Historic Registry!

Here is a close up of the flower grouping. The big flowers are Joliee's and were white! The little ones are from Prima and they didn't start off the color they ended up!

This is the side of one of the little boxes in my configuration box. I had painted everything black to start with but with this little box I went back and laid a stencil on it and dabbed Glossy Accents on it... I then sprinkled with glitter and got this cool effect!

The side of the box is wrapped in metal duct tape that I ran through the Texture Boutique. HERE is an older post I did with the same technique and a little bit of instructions...

I hope you have enjoyed my little box of creative goodness. It sits in my studio and inspires me to imagine and to take the journey down whatever creative path I might cross! Now, back to your journey! The next stop is Jess at That's Uneek! Make sure you become a follower of all the blogs and leave a comment on each blog as well! We have some great sponsors and fabulous prizes up for grabs!

Hope you have a very creative weekend!

Swirly Doos....

Happy Wednesday! I am glad that I have made it to the middle of the week. Monday was awful and terrible, Dental Work, Dr. Appt., and my car broke down! Yesterday was better, I found out though, that my car was not going to be able to be brought back to life... it would cost too much! more than the care is worth. I am kind of happy about this because it was about time that it went to the place cars go to when it's their time.... lol! OK, back to creating.... Today I have a card I made using all kinds of fun techniques:



I started by inking up my stamp with several different Distress Inks. After I stamped my image on to my paper I heat set it to get ready for the next step.... I then took my VersaMark pad and dabbed it all over the image and sprinkled Clear Embossing Powder over it. (You can't really see the effect this gives the card from the picture, but it is a neat enamel effect.)

With all the different colorants out on the market today there are so many different ways to customize your embellishments for your projects! My ribbon was white and my bling was clear! I inked the ribbon using Distress Ink and I colored my bling with my Copics! I then added a Prima Flower for a final touch.

Hope you have a crafty day! The next two weeks will be filled with wonder for me... I am taking the Tim Holtz class online, "Creative Chemistry"! I look forward to sharing the upcoming projects here with you!

PageMaps Sketch Challenge

Hello!

Pagemaps is having a sketch challenge and I thought it would be fun to play along.. It was to create a layout based on the following sketch:

 Using papers from the new Authentique Line, "Celebrate", I created the following layout.

Visit the PageMaps Blog for more details....

Have a creative day!

Christine