CC2C week 34 tag

Here's my project for the final week of the Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2 Challenge using the glazed mosaics technique from page 60 of Tim's book.  Hard to believe we've worked through all the techniques of another book - so much fun! And a big thank you to Linda for being a terrific challenge host through both books.

After making the mosaics, I adhered them to a wrinkle free distress tag background with strips of dictionary paper in a loose grid pattern. Here are a couple close-ups of the mosaics:

Stamp credits: Paper Artsy, Stampers Anonymous, Inka Stamps, Cherry Pie Art Stamps

CC2C week 33 tissue tape flowers

This week is the next to last challenge of the Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2 Challenges (sponsored this time by Simon Says Stamp) using Tim's tissue tape techniques and this is my collage using the tissue tape flowers I created.  They remind me of old Prima collage flowers that I had in my stash quite a few years ago that I always loved.  I created a collage with them using a gelli plate monoprint on mulberry paper and a vintage dictionary page all sewn onto a piece of watercolor paper.  I just had to add some handwriting ;-)

Here's a close-up of the flowers with their sewn on vintage button centers:

You can also see some of the monoprinted background.  This one uses one of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Crafters Workshop stencils: "swirly garden" which gives a great pattern when used as a monoprint with the gelli plate. My favorite version (used here) is the second impression/ghost print after some of the paint has been removed by pressing the stencil to the gelli plate, removing the stencil, and then making the monoprint.

CC2C week 32: Snowflake Children

It's week 32 of the Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2 Challenge and page 63 of Tim's book talks about using the rosette die.  I did a slight variation and used the new snowflake rosette die and added images from some of my favorite photo stamps from Oxford Impressions - the bundled children from the Christmas sets: Winter Snow and Season of Giving. I love using these children in snowy scenes, in fact it would be simple to add a string to the back and hang these snowflake children from a window or even use them as ornaments on your Christmas tree!  They all were stamped with archival ink onto specialty stamping paper and had just a bit of color added to their clothes with Distress markers.

Additional Stamps for the sentiments: Technique Tuesday and Inkadinkado

The Whatevers #6 - partners in crime

I had a lot of fun playing with the November Whatevers photo! (Check the blog posts of Catherine HERE, Nathalie HERE, and Vicki HERE to see their stories and download a copy of the photo to play along.)

My multi-layered background has a bottom vintage book paper and washi tape grid layer, followed by gesso and then pink and peach Neocolor crayons, stamps from Tangie Baxter and Dina Wakley, doodling with a Stabilo marks all pencil aka Dina's "magic" pencil, as well as black and white pens, poodle pink and tattered rose Glimmer Mist splatters, and some finger painted white acrylic paint  that I've seen Roben-Marie Smith add so masterfully to her gorgeous backgrounds.  So much fun to be inspired by all those wonderful artists!!

I loved this background while creating and took a few close-ups before I built the page over it:

This side is the story:

For easier reading, here's the text of the story:

Christina, Dorothy and Maude have been partners in crime since their school days. As their ring leader, Dorothy’s schemes have brought them many adventures, and her charms have kept them from getting into trouble.  They once “borrowed” Old Mrs. Maybridge’s carriage and galloped the horse down Main St. because Dorothy wanted to know how it felt to drive.  Mrs. Maybridge was never the wiser, as the carriage was returned to its proper spot outside the general store before she had finished her shopping trip.  Dorothy’s sense of adventure has brought the trio to the beach today to watch the aeroplane demonstrations with the added goal of meeting a pilot.  Her next great scheme is to be a wing-walker, and Christina and Maude have no doubts she’ll do it...they just hope they get to keep their feet stuck firmly on the ground.

I think I first learned about wing walkers watching a Robert Redford movie "The Great Waldo Pepper". You had to have quite a bit of guts to walk the wing of a biplane or any plane for that matter!  According to Wikipedia, the first wing walker was Ormer Locklear in 1918 and even Charles Lindberg's career began with wing walking. Quite a few women were brave enough to perform the stunt at barnstorming shows throughout the 1920's. I'd definitely side with Dorothy's friends in my story and keep my feet planted firmly on the ground. :-)

CC2C week 31 collage

Week 31 for the Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2 Challenge and we're to follow the directions on page 51 of Tim's book for a distress ink palette.  I used mine to color a favorite heart stamp from Stampington and then combined it with random collage ephemera from French Kissed Postcards and Digital Collage Sheets to create my collage using a 7Gypsies book cover. Quick and simple this week!  ;-)

CC2C week 30 it takes a village...

It takes a village for me to complete my project this week for the Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 2 Challenge!  The technique is called "reflective imagery" and is found on page 55 of Tim's book, and after making my pieces, I couldn't think of a better way to use them except to make them into the windows on little corrugated cardboard houses.

I like how I achieved some texture/wrinkles with the backgrounds - I think it adds to the vintage look of the photos.

Images and ephemera: French Kissed Postcards, Paper Whimsy, Digital Collage Sheets and magazine clippings.

CC2C week 29 collage

It's week 29 at the Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2 Challenge and the techniques are using texture fades and are found on page 64 of Tim's book.  I created a collage of the multiple pieces that I made following the techniques and was further inspired by Tim's class Patchwork Pandemonium that I got to take from him this past Spring.  I embellished my collage with die-cut cardstock letters and tiny stamped phrases (Donna Downey with Unity Stamps) and some stitching around the edge. 

Here are a couple close-ups of my favorite parts:

CC2C week 28 tag

This week at the Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2 Challenge (sponsored this time by Simon Says Stamp) the chosen technique is reflections stamping from page 65 of Tim's book. This is my tag using a wrinkle-free distress background and I did both versions of the technique shown in the close-ups.

I loved how drawing around the outline of my stamped bird with a charcoal pencil and then blending it with a Q-tip really made the bird stand out rather than blend in to the background.

Stamps: foam bird stamp: Donna Downey for Prima, music lines: Stampers Anonymous.

CC2C week 27 collage

This week at Linda's Compendium of Curiosities Vol.2 Challenge we're using directions from page 52 of Tim's book to make a palette using alcohol inks.  I love having my alcohol inks available to use this way!  I created this collage on a 7Gypsies book cover and used my alcohol inks to tint the stamped transparency as well as the metal flowers and brads.

Here's the close up:

Stamp credit: Crafty Individuals

A Saturday spent art journaling...

This past Saturday I took a class from my friend Catherine Scanlon where we made a spiral bound art journal and learned some fun techniques.  This is the journal cover.  It began with a layer of vintage papers and then using a design traced through a stencil, we embellished our covers with washes of acrylic paint and penwork.

In this close-up view you can see how the underlying text comes through the acrylic paint wash - love it!

My favorite page technique is what Catherine calls 'the art of subtraction' where we started with an entire page filled with random watercolor splotches. You then form your design out of the shapes you see and paint out the rest of the page with gesso which takes on a lovely pastel hue from all the watercolor beneath it. I loved the flowers I saw in my piece and it's just amazing watching them develop as you paint in the background surrounding them. I used a favorite Matisse quote to embellish the page further which fit perfectly....although rather crookedly - oops! I still love the page though :-)