Life at Home

I started some of the elements for this project over the weekend.  I had stopped in one of my local scrapbook stores and they just started stocking Studio 490 Art Parts.  I have been wanting to try these for quite some, so I caved and purchased the Residential kit.  They are really fun to use.

The canvas was covered with several spray inks as well as a color wash.  I sprinkled in some perfect pearls when the ink was still wet.  I love the speckled texture this provides.  This layer was then sealed with a matte spray.  I edged the canvas with tissue tape, providing a finished look to the piece. 

I played with my layout a bit by experimenting with several elements from my new stash of altered art parts.  I used the trick of adding packaging to the window again.  While you probably can't tell in the photos here, it does add a really nice finish to the small butterfly from Tim's Crowded Attic paper stash in the window. You can also see Tim's goodies on the roof top, in the charm and in the kraft paper flowers. 

Other items I used were found objects.  A tiny gear for a door handle and watch pin for a hinge and a few other oddities from the bottom of my craft stash add interest to this little piece of "Life at home."

Since this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show has a theme of "anything goes," this is it folks. 

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Rhea

Faux Ostrich Journal

I am squeaking in at the last minute for Linda's Grungy Monday challenge, as inspired by none other than Tim Holtz.  A few weeks ago I created my first tutorial, making faux leather.  Well, while blogging I had the "aha" moment to try and use my polka dot grungeboard in this application to create a faux ostrich leather. 

I think I was kind of successful.  One thing I did to attempt to get the dots to show more was run the kraft covered grungeboard through my Big Shot after gluing.  Be careful you don't have too much glue though, mine squished out the edges, making a bit of an unexpected mess.  Also, be sure to put a piece of scrap paper between the "kraftboard" and your plates.  One of my covers has the imprints of my die cutting plates...learn from my error.  I just put this on the back. :) 

The color is not what I had intended at all.  I introduced some color wash to the mix and this really darkened it.  I found the key to get the dots to really show, was to apply my ink, dry, sand and then ink again.  I repeated this many times, misting with water at times as well too. 

While I am not totally satisfied with this project, I thought that the idea...and my mistakes my help out another crafter.

Cheers,

Rhea

Gotta Fly!

Time to raise yourself up, time to spread your wings, time to let go and fly.

This is another page created for my growing six by six chunky book, filled with challenge entries.  I am really coming to love this book, as it is filled with steampunky goodness.  The inspiration for this entry is yet another challenge from Simon Says Stamp and Show.  I also am submitting this to Gingersnap Creations as thier inspiration was watch parts, gears and cogs.  I just love how a little trigger like the word embossing along with the challenge of using watch parts starts a chain reaction leading me to something like this:

I began with a piece of chipboard recycled from the back of a stack of paper.  I chose a really pretty paper by Graphic 45 from the Renaissance collection as my backdrop.  I then added my embossed element for the challenge.  I played with Tim Holtz's new Kraft Paper and a bunch of different embossing folders.  It was quite fun. I also experimented with different inks and stains, post embossing.  Sometimes I find it helpful to just play and not be attached to the outcome. 

It is not surprising that I chose the paper embossed with the gears for the next layer of this project, I can't get enough of industrial elements in my art.  I swiped Rangers, Perfect Medium across the paper and then dusted with copper Perfect Pearls.  To add dimension, I then used walnut stain Distress Ink. This image really does not capture the shimmer of the pearls.  If you have used this product before, I am sure you know what I mean. 

A really cool trick I discovered this craft session was using Distress Stains to do your edges.  This application is quick, easy and provides great coverage.  I think darkening edges with ink makes any project element look more finished.  I used this process twice her with vintage photo, my favorite ink ever.

The next step was a simple game of matching.  I picked out a clock face and spinner from Tim Holtz and placed them in a pleasing pattern on my page along with some gears from my stash.  Now, at this point, I considered adding some wings.  I just love the whole "time flies" theme.  My muse hit and  I thought of my Caged Bird die, also from Tim, and another great way to represent flight. I cut my bird from birch bark scavenged from the UP (Upper Peninsula, for you non-Michiganders).  The intention was to use the white frayed side, but the colors and direction I wanted him to be on the page took me down another path.  I embellished the bird with a tiny metal embossed wing to look like armor.  I had to add some alcohol ink to the wing to get the color right.  The eye is a really cool piece of a watch.  

To add a verbal touch to my page, I raided a set of metal letters and luckily found my word.  Last, I wanted something to go off the page, to this end I added another odd watch part. A few more pocket watches were fussy cut from fancy designer paper.  Again, I used my new stains (I am going to need more of these for sure!) to age my watches.  I only have two colors so far, so I used antique linen and a touch of the vintage photo to make the pocket watches take on the same hue as the rest of the page.

When I went to add my newest page, it was a total coincidence that the backing paper from my Steampunk Soul page had birds on it!  I love it when it is just as it is meant to be!  Thanks as always for stopping by.