God Bless You Tag

Happy Friday!!

I wanted to share this background technique I did.

I started with a 3 1/2 x 6 piece thin chipboard. I did a thin coat of gesso.

Allow to dry good.

Then using Tim Holtz distress stains I plopped it down in several areas so that it made

a SPLAT!

 then I lightly spritzed some water on it and let it mix around a little

 fold a paper towel in half and gently blot the darkest off. Allow to dry and then splat the bronzed pewter. I tapped the paper towel a little over it.  The pewter left a beautiful shiny finish which I adore!

 Then using a stencil and some cocoa ink and stenciled Hope for a cure.  I LOVE this stencil!!
I am a little biased because a good friend of mine designed the stencil. 

Hope for a cure Stencil #1070 @ Royal Inspirations by Retta

 Then I embellished my tag  with a piece of ripped cardboard (I spritzed with Lindy's Stamp Gang -which we now carry in the store!!)  I colored my cute bear image with Prisma colored pencils.  The little cut designer paper is from Graphic 45. Then I added an eyelet for a ribbon. 

 My finished tag below!

You can find almost all the products used here in Robyn's store:  Outlaw Women Scrapbook
Emporium.

I hope you have a fabulous Friday! Come back tomorrow for another project using Royal Inspirations by Retta!

Karen Conner

Friday Feature - making stencils

Hi, Melody here with the Friday Feature.  I'm a little late posting, but late is better than not at all.  I really love stencils.  I would love to own every one that is available, but since I can't, I decided to try making some of my own.

I started by sketching the design I wanted on a piece of scrap paper, and then cleaning it up until I was satisfied with how it looked.  Then I placed a piece of stencil plastic over the drawing.  (What I use is some type of film that I rescued from the trash.  It's blue, which makes it easy to see.  You could also use any clear plastic packaging.)  I then trace the design onto the plastic with a ultra fine sharpie marker.  Then it is time to cut the stencil design.  I first worked with a craft knife, cutting out the design, but my index finger that was pressing on the knife started to go numb.

I know there is such a thing as a hot stencil burner, but since I don't have one, I decided to try my wood burning tool instead.  I picked the smallest pointed tip.  I worked on a piece of wood with my small craft mat on top, but I wouldn't recommend using the craft mat if you don't want to mess it up.  Apparently the wood burning tool is too hot and it left marks on the craft sheet, making the surface rough.  I'm thinking a glass mat would be better.  Other than that, the wood burning tool worked great for cutting through the plastic without much effort.  It was so much easier than using the craft knife. 

I made some flowers, all pretty much the same, but in different sizes.  I also made a leafy vine.

Another way to cut stencils is to use your die cutting machine.  The Sizzix bigz dies work especially well to cut through plastic.  I made some using those, and then I pulled out a few movers & shapers and my base tray from Tim Holtz, and cut some with those.  I wrapped duct tape around the edges on the stencils I made with the bigz dies, since you don't get a lot of margin on those, because only a 6" piece of plastic will fit through either of my die cutting machines, a cuttlebug and a Sizzix big shot. I learned that tape trick from Julie Balzar. 

Then I made a card using one of the stencils I had made.

First I sprayed a piece of watercolor paper with some adirondack color wash ink sprays in red pepper and sunset orange, as well as mustard seed made using reinker, water, and perfect pearls in a mini mister.

After that was dry, I used one of the flower stencils with modeling paste.  This was my first time using modeling paste.  I really like the texture you get with that.  After cleaning the stencil and letting the paste dry, I put the stencil back over the flower and applied acrylic paint to color the flowers.

I stamped a sentiment from stuff to say (Tim Holtz) in jet black archival ink.

I placed the watercolor paper on a bright blue card base.

To finish off the card, I drew some black around the flower and leaves, and then added some grungy lines along the edges with a black Pitt pen. 

Many of the products I used can be purchased from Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium.

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Friday Feature - bloom with joy

Hello friends.  It's Melody here with another Friday Feature.  I've been working on a monthly challenge at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art.  The challenge is to make 21 (4"x6") cards.  This is actually my 21st card, although I do plan to make more, since I'm having so much fun doing them.  I've been making mine two-sided, so the back side of this one is still blank. 

I recently made an Inspiration Jar for myself.  Although the idea is not original, I tweaked it to make it work for me.  I've been reaching into my inspiration jar for ideas to get started on each card.  For this card, I pulled out the words, black, stencil, and chipboard.  I didn't use the word chipboard other than the card is made from cereal box chipboard covered with recycled coffee filters. 

I started by painting the surface black.  My paint dauber top is all hard and dried out, so I just opened the bottle and used a brush to spread the paint.  Once the paint was dry, I used my mini bricks stencil (Crafter's Workshop) and, since I don't have any texture paste, I spread some light spackling through it.  I've never used this stuff with a stencil before, so I guess I was a bit heavy handed, and some pushed underneath the stencil.  The bricks are quite as defined as they should be, but that's OK.  It dries very fast, so I proceeded to add color with a sponge and a number of different distress inks (tumbled glass, mowed lawn, mustard seed, spiced marmalade, picked raspberry, barn door, and seedless preserves), working gently, since I have no idea if the spackling is going to flake right off the card.  So far, it seems to be holding.  I hope it continues.  I'll just have to handle it gently. 

I stamped a bunch of flowers from Heartfelt Creations on a piece of white card stock with jet black archival ink.  I heavily sponged several with spiced marmalade distress ink, cut them out, and then sponged the edges with picked raspberry distress ink.  On three of the flowers, I removed some of the petals, so that when I placed them over the full flowers, the blossom looks fuller.  Two flowers were sponged with mowed lawn distress ink.  I cut the petals apart to make leaves.  After figuring out an arrangement I liked, I glued the flowers and leaves onto the card.  I then added some white dots in the center of the flowers with a white gel pen. 

The sentiment was handwritten with a white galaxy marker. 

Some of the products used to make this card can be found at Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium. 

I'm really happy with the bright colors over the black background. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.