She Who Stamps & Scraps

Chipboard & Metal, Part 2

This week has flown by as I'm learning technical stuff about website design and how to make and edit videos. What a learning curve!  

Today I am sharing a page I made a  few months ago when I hosted a challenge using chipboard & metal at Frilly and Funkie.  This was meant to be my piece at the time, but at the last moment I decided to splatter some black paint on the page and it just didn't sit well with me.  I wrote myself a little mellow mojo stuff... hey, it's okay, it's just a page, etc... but at the time it didn't fly. I ended up making a neat and clean card for that challenge. Today, having nothing in my back pocket... it's on the blog!

I used glass bead gel colored with Dylusions, mitered and stamped chipboard pieces, lace dyed with Dylusions and some of Tim's Idea-ology.  I used waxed paper to tone down his license plate stickers, and painted some chipboard letters.

Linking to Art Journal Every Day. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Marjie

Art Journaling with Pan Pastels (Stencil Tutorial)

Thanks so much for the incredible response to my guest spot at Sizzix... I really appreciate all of your comments and emails about that!  For today's post, I've used Pan Pastels to color this art journal page.  Kim is going to be stocking Pan Pastels over the weekend at Eclectic Paperie, and I will be teaching an online class using them early in February.

Today I'm linking to Art Journal Every Day, Frilly and Funkie, and the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group. Frilly & Funkie has a Follow Your Muse theme, and the Wendy challenge calls for at least one of Wendy's stamps and stencils. I used her large alpha background stamp all over the page, inking it randomly, then applied Pan Pastels for color.

I used the negative (frame) part of Wendy's heart stencil, and laid another stencil on top to give my heart texture. I forgot to take a picture at this stage, but here's one I took of an earlier attempt, just so you see what I mean about combining stencils:

I found that particular stencil pattern to be too large for the heart, so I saved that page for scrap and did another one using the small houndstooth pattern.  Then I cut a Sizzix Movers & Shapers heart from the scrap page, and rather than use it, I traced around the negative space of it and made a thin hollowed heart frame.  I placed it down on the bottom right and used black gelato to trace around it, and put the original piece between the left and right hearts.

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope you'll follow my blog and sign up for the Eclectic Paperie blog - you can subscribe by email to both to get alerts when there's new blog content.  

Class content and photos for my class will be up within the next few weeks, and I promise you, you will love what you can do with the Pan Pastels, no matter what your personal style may be!

Marjie 

Favorite Projects of 2012

Thanks to all who visit for your comments and support over the past year. I appreciate each of you and wish you all the best in the coming year. It's been a delight getting together with many of you in 'real life' this past year, and I can't wait to see who I'll have the pleasure to meet in 2013!

Here are some of my favorite projects from 2012. First, some art journal pages and canvases:

And some favorite tags:

     

        

     

   

           

       

I wish you a wonderful New Year, filled with much health, happiness, and creativity!

Marjie

Tattered Florals Card and Take Ten Magazine

I made this card using Distress Inks and stencils, the Sizzix Tattered Florals die, and a Studio 490 sentiment stamp. I wanted to use one of Wendy Vecchi's new stencils and I chose the Fresh Flowers stencil. You get six shapes on the single stencil ~ three different flowers and three styles of stem.  Kim has all of Wendy's stencils in stock at Eclectic Paperie, including the new Brick Wall one that's on my wish list. (Santa has received a long wish list!)

The large black flower is dry embossed, the center one is heat embossed, and the small one on top is both dry and heat embossed. After stamping and dry embossing, I pressed the flowers into my Versamark pad and embossed with clear powder. 

I used spare chipboard pieces as spacers between the flowers to raise them up for added dimension. I also used Glass Bead Gel for the stem, which adds some really nice texture.  After the gel had set overnight, I used Dylusions Ink Sprays in a Water Brush to color the stem further.  The color soaked into the bead gel very nicely.

Love the way you can see the Glass Bead Gel but also see through it to the stenciling below. Last step was to dip the edges in Versamark and heat emboss them before mounting the panel to the black card. I'll enter this at Fashionable Stamping Challenges for their 'To Die For' challenge, the Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group challenge, and Creative Every Day. I'd also like to share a card that was published in the Winter 2013 issue of Take Ten:

It has little stamping and plain cardstock, so it hardly feels like my style, but I made it for a Washi Tape challenge they had last spring. You have to submit so far ahead that sometimes it's nearly a year's wait to see if they accepted your submission.

Have you seen who's on the cover of this issue?  My dear friend, Lynne Moncrieff, who I know many of you hold dear as well.  Lynne does such intricate stamping and just gobsmackingly gorgeous work with lace.  Besides being the cover girl of this issue, Lynne has loads of gorgeous work featured inside as well. Check out her blog if you aren't already following... you'll be in for a real treat.   

Thanks so much for visiting today! 

Marjie 

Eclectic Paperie Design Team - First Post!

I'm posting today as a member of the Eclectic Paperie design team... so honored to join this talented team! My fellow new team members, Alison Bomber and Annette Green, are also posting today so please be sure to check out their creations, too.

It was fun to rifle through the box of goodies Kim sent from EP and come up with a plan. I knew I wanted to work with an inexpensive wood framed mirror I'd picked up recently at Michael's. The new Curiosity Collection from Authentique appeals to me and I realized I could make the mirror a teacher's gift since many of the patterns are school-ish.

I used two pieces of a Maya Road triangular chipboard album to make the frame more interesting, covered them with paper, and added Wendy Vecchi's Blossom Bucket flowers to each one. This is the first time I've used the BB pieces... they're really very intricate and highly textured, yet not too heavy.  I think I want to get another set and save it to use as stamps!

After cutting squares and distressing the edges, I embellished the plain teal squares with a Market Street Stamps alpha stamp and Dyan Reavely's letters background stamp, using black archival ink.

I started thinking of this hanging in a teacher's classroom and how there are frequently motivational signs in classrooms saying things like "You're a Star Student!" so I grabbed some Maya chipboard stars and covered them with more of the patterned paper.

I picture some little cutie Kindergartener smiling at his/herself in this one.  

Please visit Eclectic Paperie and check out Kim's site, store, blog, videos, etc.  On Tuesday, December 4th, EP is participating in Ali Edwards' December Daily Giveaway so you might want to sign up to follow the EP blog... there will be prizes!

Hope you have a great day!

Marjie

Maya Road - Mixed Scallop Triangle Banner Album

Wendy Vecchi - Blossom Bucket - Large Flower Centers

Authentique - Original Collection Kit

Dylusions Cling Stamps - Basic Backgrounds

Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot

Art Journaling with Pastes

Last week I was lucky to win Wendy Vecchi's new Embossing Pastes, and I played with one of them on these pages.  I had started this spread awhile ago, building up color and texture with gel medium and sharpie paint pens through stencils.  I added some background stamping with white Brilliance pigment ink.

With the new paste, I used Wendy's heart stencil (in whole and part) along with a brand new border stencil from Stencil Girl Products, designed by Jessica Sporn.  I went for a rough look but this paste is smooth and you can easily control it.  I like how parts of the blues show through it.

I'll be participating in Jessica's Stencil Test Drive with loads of other artists begining next month. (Click on the link if you'd like to see who and when.)  I'm flattered to be in their company and wish Jessica much success with her new line! 

The Fun Borders stencil is great as is, and you can also use just parts as I did in scattering some stars and swirls across my page:

Simon Says Stamp and Show has hearts as a theme this week, and I'm linking to Fall Fearless and Fly for their cool colors prompt.  

Thanks so much for the visist.

Marjie 

Wendy Vecchi Group Challenge and Masking Tutorial

This week the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group is looking for gesso (one of my favorite things) and Paper Issues wants stamping.  I pulled out a 12X12 piece of Ranger's manila card stock and went to town with it, and then cut it down into 6X6 quarters to use on different projects. I used Wendy's new flower stencil with gesso on the painted/inked panel.

There really is something special about that manila. I've tried using file folders but the paints and inks just don't show the same way. One of my favorite posts from earlier this year was showing as many projects as I could make from one piece of it, which I posted here.

This journal is made up of watercolor papers, and this page is one that's been painted with gesso to cover previous efforts: 

The challenge for myself on this was to bring the journal page up to match the manila paper. Because the paper bases were different it took some time to play with my Golden Paints to make a match. This is one of those ones where if you have time to let things dry, it's a pleasure.

I stamped the open design flowers randomly and then made a mask using sticky-back paper, like post-its:

I covered the flowers with the mask one at a time, then stamped Wendy's script background without a block, intentionally missing some parts. Then I painted over the page several times with different washes of color:

Last, I layered on paints and more stamps. I liked the way the gesso seeped into the paints on the manila piece, maintaining its white but showing traces of the underlying colors. Gave it a pop of magenta paint in the center and outlined everything with black Faber Castell gelatos, smudged with my fingers.

Thanks for the visit!

Marjie 

Fly Tag + Perspective + Far Reaching Blog Posts

I want to express my gratitude for all of the thoughtful comments and emails I have received in the last week since Hurricane Sandy visited the East Coast. The connections I've made through this blog have never been more clear than in this last week.  Thank you so much for your friendship.

The most profound was a long note from Anitta, a blog reader in Beirut, who not only sent prayers but also detailed for me what she goes through on a regular basis over there. It's mind blowing comparing this inconvenience of five nights without power with what has gone on in Anitta's life for years on end. (And I know for many, this is much more than an inconvenience... I realize so many are in dire straits just miles away from me... my heart goes out to you.)  

If you have a moment, read Anitta's comment. It's guaranteed to give you perspective.  I can't link directly to the comment but you can see it on this post if you scroll down to November 3 at 6am.  

Our power was restored on Saturday evening. We are so happy to be home. Every school in our district was closed last week, but today my older son's high school will be open. The middle school is still without power, so I have one at home. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be back at the grind. They are taking away Election Day as a holiday and making it a school day. 

This is a tag I made awhile ago but never blogged. I'm using it as a place holder as I have nothing new to show you right now. It's not a great picture (probably why I never blogged it) but at least there's a visual for the post. Working on my piece for the Frilly & Funkie post on Wednesday.

As always, I thank you so much for the visit.

I clicked on my blog stats after reading Anitta's comment, and was blown away to see I've now had visitors from 100 countries. Anitta is one of 8 people in Lebanon who've stopped by... many of the countries represented have fewer than 10 visitors, and I just wanted to say I appreciate each of you and I welcome you to comment and let me know you were here.  I didn't know about Anitta until she left her comment yesterday. And now I have a picture of a real person in my mind so far, far away.

I am amazed at the power of the internet.

Marjie

 

Frilly & Funkie Challenge: Hide It

 

The current challenge at Frilly and Funkie is Anything but a Card ~ With a Twist... you need to hide something somewhere on your piece.  I'll admit, that gave me pause but I like it when challenges do that. On Monday I saw that Wendy Vecchi is the focus at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week, and her funky crowned lady came right to mind. I double stamped the crown and used a brad to make it a moving part to reveal my hidden word:

The tag is colored with distress stain and distress inks, and has lots of Wendy's background stamps and some stencils on it. I used Tim' Idea-ology word band on the bottom (colored with paint) and a Chitchat sticker for the word on her crown (colored with distress inks.)  

I stamped the face/crown on Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper and colored it with distress inks.  I sprayed Linda's jute mesh with Dylusions Ink Sprays, as well as the seam binding serving as ribbon on top.  The blue flowers are oldies from my stash that now match my tag thanks to dusty concord distress ink.

Please pop on over to Frilly and Funkie and see what the other design team members have been up to and the jump in and join us... there's a random $25 merchandise credit to Linda's Funkie Junkie Boutique for a random winner, and a blog badge for the design team favorite.

Thanks for the visit!

Marjie 

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Bands	Burlap String - 12 Colors	Jute Mesh (Burlap) Ribbon	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat Stickers	Ranger Tim Holtz Spring Seasonal Distress Ink Pads
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Tumbled Glass	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Dusty Concord	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray - London Blue	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray - Crushed Grape

New Challenge: Fall Fearless and Fly

Artists in Blogland has started a new challenge called Fall Fearless and Fly... there are several prompts to choose from and they welcome all types of media (art journaling, stamping, scrapping, etc.)  Carolyn Dube and Jessica Sporn are at the helm and besides their own very impressive art, they have a roster of visiting talent that will make you want to visit regularly over the next several months.

The current challenge has three prompts, and you're free to use any or all of them.  I went with their color prompt (warm ones) on this art journal spread.  I'm also linking to The Artistic Stamper's October challenge and to Art Journal Every Day.

I covered the whole page with masking tape before applying acrylic paints and archival inks. The large heart is leftover patterned paper that I stamped and stenciled on, and it's outlines with gelatos.  That oversized number strip is foam stamp from a long-ago QVC purchase.  The three butterflies are Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 and I gave them some black enamel accents for their feelers. The large one is part of the quote, which reads "When you are through changing, you are through."

Many thanks for the visit.  Have a great weekend!

Marjie