Astrid's Artistic Efforts: June 2017

Friday, 30 June 2017

Choose to Shine, - Tag Friday at a Vintage Journey.

Hello friends and visitors. It's the last Friday of the month and the 5th Friday and that means it's Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey. It's the time when team members that want to join, create a tag which we share just for the fun of it. Here is mine:

To make it, I used two tags cut from Kraftcard. For the top layer cut the hanging flower with a Sizzix Sizzlits die by Tim Holtz. I then stamped a text stamp with gesso to act as a resist and then coloured with Distress Oxide Inks.

For the base layer I first coloured the general area I knew would show with Distress Oxides, using a mix of green tones. I then used a matching layering stencil that matches the Sizzlits die, matched it up and deepened the colours with Distress Crayons.

Next I glued the two together and then all I had to do was embellish my tag.

I stamped a butterfly on Kraft Card, coloured with the Oxides and then glued one of the Paper Dolls over it to create a kind of Summer fairy. I also did a bit more stencilling using Distress Crayon.

I added a Tim Holtz Quote Chip, cut in two to fit the space, a few strips of Washi tape and a bit of gold foiling, and that was it.

If you like creating tags, - do hop over to A Vintage Journey, to see the awesome tags my teamies have created. Plenty of inspiration there to see you through the month!

Meanwhile, thanks for dropping by here and have a wonderful month of July with hopefully plenty of sunshine!

xxxxx

Monday, 19 June 2017

Today is Full of Possibilities for Shimmerz

Hello everyone and welcome to this sadly neglected blog.....
I am sorry I have not posted for ages and ages, but life is taking me in different directions right now and blogging has taken a backseat. However, today I have a post going life on the Shimmerz blog, so I am sharing a little preview here.

Should you wish to see more, all you need to do is CLICK HERE.
Have a good week, and hopefully the sun shines for you!

xxxxx

Friday, 2 June 2017

Discovering - Use a Cavas for A Vintage Journey

Hello friends, today is the start of a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey and the lovely and talented Nikki has chosen the theme "Use A Canvas". Here is the canvas that I put together for the challenge:

Our sponsor this month is Shimmerz

One randomly chosen winner will receive a voucher for $25 to spend in their store!

I used a 5 x 7 canvas board, I love these as they can also be used as special cards for friends. I called it Discovering, because of the word from my quote and while using a canvas is hardly a new discovery for me, I discovered several things along the way. Below is the recipe and just a few step out photos:

1: Add some strips of vintage book paper to your canvas.

2: Cover it with a thin layer of watered down gesso.

3. Add some acrylic paint, I used two Paper Artsy Frescos, Vanilla and Buff and painted mostly around the outside of my board, making sure the paper kept showing.

4. Add colour with Distress Oxides, using a blending tool, I used Vintage Photo, Broken China and Cracked Pistachio and several Shimmerz sprays that match these colours to perfection:I Vibez\ Green Acres and Jeni B Bleu.

5. Add the tiniest bit of Infusions, I used "A Bit Jaded", plus a couple of sprays of Distress Spray in Ground Espresso.

6. Add some stenciling using a Distress Crayon, Vintage photo used here and Cracked Pistachio with some Tim Layering stencils.Follow with some background background stamping. Stamps used here are by Seth Apter and Wendy Vecchi.

7. Select some embellishments, mine came either from my scrapbox or were stamped, using Tim Holtz stamps. The gent is one of his paper dolls.

8. Arrange them until you are happy with the result and add some shadow around you focal image, - done :o). As you can see a couple of Ideaology pieces also found their way onto the canvas for a finishing touch. Below a few close ups still:

I added colour to the wander charm using a Distress crayon, - this works much better for me than using paint the way Tim shows, I always mess that up...

The sentiment was stamped on a piece of coffee stained paper left over from a previous project.

And that was pretty much it. Make sure you check out the wonderful canvasses my teamies have created over on A Vintage Journey, - and hopefully you will decide to play along, you can read all the details over on the blog there, and trust me, working on a canvas is great fun!

Thanks for your visit like always and have a wonderful month!!

xxxxx

Thursday, 1 June 2017

Mailart for Mixed Media Monthly June challenge # 37

Hello friends and Happy June, - hope the sun shines for you!!
It's the first of the month and that means a new challenge at Mixed Media Monthly!!

I created a piece of mail art, but that is not really our theme! It's our 3rd anniversary and like usual in June our theme is pick any theme from the previous year. Here is our badge for this month, listing all the themes:

I picked # 36, but put a twist to it, and added a real stamp as well as some rubber stamping.

The background was created with 3 different colours of Oxide Inks, Broken China, Faded Jeans and Vintage Photo.

I decoupaged a piece of the top layer of a paper napkin on one side.

The special delivery sign is a Tim Holtz stamp from his Correspondence set, stamped in Plum Archival and then fussy cut.

I hand lettered the address label, which by the way is just made up, I think most people would not enjoy having their address publicly displayed like this. It will be easy enough to cover it with the address of the real recipient :o)

And finally the back of the envelope. I adhered a part of another mail themed paper napkin and some additional stamping with a Crafty Individual stamp I received from Donna Bowman our DT leader last month.

Now before I sign off, our sponsor this month is :

Donna is offering a $50 voucher for one lucky winner!!!

Well, that's it for now, make sure to head over to the MMM Blog to see all the awesome projects the other team members have created and remember if you decide to play, do add our badge to qualify as a winner. Hope to see you there and have a brilliant creative month!

xxxxx