ART FROM THE ROAD

I made a thank-you card recently that I would like to share. It is for a friend who seems always to have my back whether I am in town or out of town! I enclosed a gift card for a restaurant we often visit together!

I chose a scrap of designer paper, cut it to size, then matted it with a solid color and adhered it to my card blank. I then used my Side Kick to die cut a single flower from a Tim Holtz Thinlits Collection. I used another die to cut a stitched border for my sentiment. I stamped that on white cardstock, edged with with a coordinating ink, adhered it to my card, and done! A very simple and quick card yet one, I think, with a lot of interest.

And a bit of detail:

Thanks for stopping by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are important to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (08-12-18)

This week's challenge at the Sunday Postcard Art site is hosted by Hazel who asks us to be thinking of NURSERY RHYMES as we create our postcards. One of my favorites was "Little Miss Muffet!" Since I love vintage anything and I still had crackle paint on my craft table, I was drawn to this artwork by The Whimsical Peacock when I saw it while conducting a search for nursery rhymes. I give her full credit for the artwork as all I did was give it a crackle finish to further age it.

Little Miss Muffet

BY MOTHER GOOSE

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey;

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Thank you for visiting today and for taking a few moments to leave a comment. Both serve as inspiration!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (08-05-18)

The challenge this week at Sunday Postcard Art had me dusting off more art supplies! The owner of this site, Mandy Chilvers, is also hosting and has asked us to use some form of "crackling" in our artwork.

The result of crackling always makes me think of things vintage so I decided to use something from my Tim Holtz' paper doll collection. I found a scrap of designer paper in shades of brown and I trimmed it to the size of a standard postcard (4" x 6"). I adhered the designer paper to an index card to give it some stability and then added some color around the edges using a blending tool and Ranger's Distress Ink in "Gathered Twigs."

Next, I applied a medium coat of "Rock Candy," the clear Distress Crackle Paint from Ranger. After drying several hours (allowing the paint on the surface to "crackle"), I added more "Gathered Twigs" ink over the top to try to get some color between the cracks. I adhered some washi tape across the bottom to ground my two vintage friends, then stickers from my Tim Holtz' "Chitchat" collection.

A couple of close-ups to better show the crackle finish:

What a fun challenge! Please take some time this week to be creative. It's great therapy! If you would like to participate in the Sunday Postcard Art challenge, you will find the details here.

Thank you for visiting today and for taking a few moments to leave a comment. Both are appreciated!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Getting reacquainted with alcohol inks!

I recently was pointed toward a video on YouTube and, well, you know what happened. I was there for hours! By chance, I came upon one of Tim Holtz's early videos introducing alcohol inks and their versatility. I remember becoming immediately enamored of these inks that came in bottles and, of course, bought many, many shades of the liquid jewels. When I found them yesterday, the bottles were dusty! Not daunted by a bit of dust, I set them out on my craft table and went in search of the wooden applicator (blending tool) and those little felt pads (remember?).

My task for the day was to create a card for someone who is getting buried with family stuff. She needed a bit of uplifting and these alcohol inks were about to do just that!

Without consulting my color wheel, I chose three inks that I thought might look good together--Pool, Stonewashed (blues) and Purple Twilight. I loaded up the blending tool and started pouncing color on a piece of Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper. I wish I had taken pictures of this process (was not thinking about blogging at the time) because I had forgotten just how BRIGHT these colors are. I remembered that I used to use a blending solution to tone down or even remove color. Found it! I was able to soften the colors a bit to the point where I liked them much better.

Without admitting that I am still buying art supplies, I will share that I recently "acquired" a set of 7 die cuts of weeds. Yes, weeds! I chose some green paper, got out my Big Kick and cut away. I also recently "acquired" a box of photo frame cards and decided to use one of those for this card. With a bit of adhesive, I nestled the stems under the "frame" at the bottom and extended some of the tops of the weeds over the sides. I intentionally did not adhere all of the blooms to the card and bent them forward a bit (not easily visible here). Here's the result:

I adhered other images that I cut onto the inside of the card on the left. That's a nice touch that I will remember in the future.

Thanks for visiting today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both inspired me!

Cheers!