'Take the challenge' October 2013

This month the challenge over at Faber Castell's blog was to create something that represents your cherished secret dream. Of course I have some dreams. Some of them I want to keep to myself but I have one dream that I can share. I really like to sing and would I like to sing more! I want to sing not only for my pets! I want to start in a choir. I'd like to take singing lessions and I'd really like to sing the opera! I want to be admired. But I'm to shy. I always sing in the shower and in the car listening to the radio. I have no idea if I can sing or not but once when I sang my cat bit me in the thigh! Oh, well! ; )

When I started thinking about the challenge and what I wanted to do I saw 'The Scream', the painting of Edvard Munch in front of me. I exchanged his anguished figure with my singing diva but tried to keep the background somewhat true to the original, but with brighter colors. I wanted to make it a bit happier but still that one can see the resemblance. Did you know that Munch made four different versions of this painting? I think this only one will do for me! ; )

 

The eyelashes are painted with Stickles
and the mouth with glitter glue



The earring in shrink plastic with a secret message!
 



The first layer of the painting with gelatos.
 



MATERIAL:
STAMPS:

Basic Grey: wild flowers/division b2 sta-1341

ARTEMIO: rèf 10001188

heidi grace: Day Dream Believer
OTHER:
Watercolor paper

Gelatos

Stamper's Big Brush

Gesso (transparent)

Black pen
StazOn: Jet Black

Shrink plastic

Quickutz pendant die

Glitter glue, pink

Glitter flakes from Panduro

Stickles: Black Diamond

12 tags of 2013 - September

As usual there were things I didn't have this month. This time it was Tim's stencils and the embossing paste. Luckily I already had some stencils and instead of embossing paste I used spackling paste, as always. It's a cheap alternative. It seems like the spackling paste absorbed the Distress Stain more than the embossing paste that Tim used. I just realized I used the picket fence Distress Stain instead of the picket fence Distress Paint and that explains why I didn't get the pretty resist that Tim got. Darn. When will I learn to read instructions?!
I am kind of happy with the result anyway. It's fun to play with stencils!
I didn't have the Chit Chat Stickers either so I typed the sentiment on canvas. I believe the sentiment "An artist cannot fail, it is a success to be one" suited on the canvas!

The filler, the picket fence Stain...*sigh*... and the mask.



My take on the September tag



I also got two cards with my friends favourite sentiment
'Be the change you want to see in the word'.
Perfect for her 50th birthday coming up in the beginning of October!

 

 

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Stampers Anonymous: Flights of Fancy
INKS:
Distress Stains: picket fence, picked raspberry, peacock feathers, wild honey
Distress Ink Pad: picked raspberry, pumice stone, black soot, walnut stain
Distress Markers: pumice stone

Inka-Gold: Platin
StazOn: Jet Black

STENCILS:
TCW325s Mini Swirly Garden

TCW361 Tiny Circles

Pink Paisley: PP00894 Mask Flowers

OTHER:

Spackling paste

My old typewriter

Canvas

Ribbon from flea market

Metallic leaves from Panduro



12 tags of 2013 - August

 

 

I'm late as always. And Tim's right as always! Frayed burlap and pumice stone really went well together and I really liked the vintage feel to it. He also writes on his blog that stamps are by far one of the most versatile creative tools and with this masking technique I sure have to agree! I haven't masked a lot before because I have been too lazy. But it sure makes the trick!

 

 

As Always, Tim used stuff I don't have, for example the mask sheet from idea-ology. I used a scrap piece of paper to stamp on and then a temporary repositional adhesive. And since his metal embellishments are rather expensive in Sweden I made my own metal tags by stamping into UTEE. I love this color, platinum, since it looks like metal. I have been using this UTEE a lot before, but I think I'll use it even more now when I know I can make fake metal tags with it! ; )

 

 

This wasn't the last time I used frayed burlap and pumice stone together!

The masks positioned on the tag and the inked background stamp

My take on the August tag

And as usual, I made a few!
The one at the bottom is my new bookmark.  



MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Stampers Anonymous: Boundless Flight, French Market
My Mind's Eye: Lost & Found: Item #LF1067
INKS:
Distress Stains: frayed burlap, pumice stone
Distress Ink Pad: walnut stain
Distress Markers: barn door, mustard seed, faded jeans
StazOn: Jet Black
Embossing ink
OTHER:
Crafter's companion: Stick & Spray
Epiphany Craft Tool
Suze Weinberg's UTEE: platinum

Reach for the stars!

As always, I get a lot of leftovers when I'm creating. I liked the sentiment I used for the July tag challenge and wanted to use it for something different.

The red stars from yesterday were painted over with Distress Paints to make them more yellow. I added some micro beads to the stars to make them really shiny and to make them pop out.  I arranged the stamps on the acrylic block and inked them up with three different shades of yellow, used the second impression after misting the stamp with some water. Typed the sentiment on my old typewriter and cut out the words and glued them to the card. Voilà! A batch of cards suitable for many occations!

Seven cards made in less than 1 hour!

 

Close-up!

 

MATERIAL:

INK:

Distress Stains - mustard seed, (barn door, fired brick)

Distress Paints - mustard seed, wild honey

Distress Ink Pad - walnut stain, mustard seed, squeezed lemonade, scattered straw

STAMPS:
Autumn Leaves - flourishes v:1

DIES:

Sizzix - 38-0241 Star

OTHER:

Cardboard

Crackle Accents

DecoArt - Weathered Wood - Crackling Medium (used it as a top coat)

Micro beads

My old typewriter!

 

12 tags of 2013 - July

 

I'm super late for this challenge. July hasn't been a creative month for me.
I decided to use the same colors as Tim Holtz. I have never thought of using red and blue together since that combination is very American, and I'm not! But actually, I liked the color combo this time and decided to have a go at it. Tim acknowledged the fallen Prescott firefighters with his tag and I guess the colors also covers the 4th of July. This is my hommage to USA!
I also made a Swedish tag, just for the fun of it! And some small ones, as usual! Which comes in handy since I have a lot of birthday presents and thank you gifts to prepare at the moment.

I have finally bought some Distress Paints, this time I lacked the Distress Rock Candy Crackle Paint! Tim Holtz will ruin me! I tried to use an old crackle paint I found in my stash but it didn't work so I used Ranger's Crackle Accents. I don't think I got exactly the same effekt as Tim, it looks so icy and nice, but it was the best I could get for now. I skipped the metal charms and the tissue tape but added some lace and confetti.



My finished tag!

The not so very icy star!



My tag in Swedish colors!

My small tags!

MATERIAL:

INK:

Distress Stains - faded jeans, chipped sapphire, barn door, fired brick, mustard seed

Distress Ink Pad - walnut stain

StazOn - Black

STAMPS:
Stampers Anonymous - City Central

Kaisercraft - CS838 Numbers

DIES:

Marianne Design - COL1325

Sizzix - 38-0241 Star

OTHER:

Cardboard

Canvas

Crackle Accents

DecoArt - Weathered Wood - Crackling Medium (didn't work, used it to get more shine on the star)

Lace and ribbon from flea market

Staplers



I won the 'Take the challenge' June 2013!!

Yep! I sure did! And I'm so happy! Look what the nice people at Faber Castell sent me!

The parcel!

The content!

'Take the challenge' June 2013

I came across another challenge when I browsed the net the other day. Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft has a blog where they share tips and techniques on their products, amongst others Stamper's Big Brush Pens and Gelatos! Which I like a lot!

The challenge is here:
"It's the end of the school year. 2013 is almost half way through for all of us. In this time, we have all learned one thing or another. What one important lesson have you learnt this year so far or what one theme has stood out for you?"

I decided to finish the art journal I started on some time ago. I haven't bought a proper art journal yet so my art journalling is on watercolor paper. What I've been trying to focus on these first six months of 2013 is not to get dragged down. There are some changes in my life and I'm not very happy about them. It's so easy to let those dark thoughts take control and make your life miserable. I'm trying to "fly above it" in order to get some distance and that is my attempt at trying to stay sane. I think it works! Even though it feels like I'm on the edge somedays I've created someting in bright, happy colors! Here's my take on the challenge:

The background is made with gelatos. I used masks and carpentry filler (instead of embossing creme) and then a layer of gesso. I painted the bird with Stamper's Big Brush Pens and then I used some ink sprays and destroyed the bird! So I cut out a bird from a patterned paper instead but then I accidentally glued on the wrong side! Decided that it was the grungy look I wanted for my poor, damaged bird, painted another thick layer of gesso over it and heated it with my heat gun in order to get the bird even more grungy. Used Stamper's Big Brush Pens again and some rub ons and finally some black ink to distress the bird even more. It took a while to make this since all my mistakes, but in the end got the result I wanted and I'm pleased with the outcome.

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Heindesign P-07191211
INKS:
Dylusion Ink Spray: Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime, White Linen
Adirondack Color Wash - Stream
Acrylic color
OTHER:
Stamper's Big Brush Pens
Gelatos
Donna Downey Studio -  Artist Stencil #922436, Poppies and Peonies #922122
TCW - 3818 Mini Quatrefoil, 361 Tiny Circles
Carpentry filler (instead of embossing creme)
Posca - Black
StazOn - Black
Fiskars - Rain dots - self adhesive accents
Pencil