Traveling Art Journal Crafted with Canvas Corp

I am participating this year in a traveling art journal group with designers from Canvas Corp.  Our group is from all around the world.  Many of the participants made their own art journal - I was about to start some traveling so I found one in the correct size.  I am in Group Two.

If you wish to see the journals from Group One check out the post at this link.

Group Two will post their journals on the 15th of each month.  You can find them on the Canvas Corp Blog The Creative Studio.  

Here is a picture of the two page spread.  I learned many things doing this page.
Be careful when you use sprays.  They can bleed through your page even though I had put clear gesso on the pages.  All paints and sprays are from Tattered Angels which is owned by Canvas Corp.

Here is a close up of some of the corners of each page.  The brushes are from a sheet of patterened paper from Canvas Corp.

This pot of paint was also on the same page as the brushes.  You can see some of the embossing paste I used and some of the stamping I did on the background.

This is a Hero Arts stamp.  I thought it was a good quote to use on the first pages of my traveling journal because I would have so many new friends when it returns to me.  I stamped it with Versafine Black Ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.

Here you can see a paint tube and another paint brush.

This is the first page of my journal.  I love this little bird and his sentiment "why hello there".

Canvas Corp Products Used.  You can shop at this link.

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Patina
Tattered Angels Baseboard Paint:  Blue Bird and Iris
Tattered Angels High Impact Paint: Lime Green, Yellow, Orange
Canvas Corp Heirloom Collection: Brushes on Ivory

Please visit Canvas Corp to see all the other journals in Group One and Two.

Creative Journal, Canvas Corp August Challenge

It is August and time for a new challenge on the Canvas Corp Bloghttp://blog.canvascorpbrands.com/august-challenge-do-the-planning-enter-to-win/.  This month it is all about some wonderful colors and planners, calendars or notebooks.

Here is your inspiration photo.

I decided to alter the cover of a notebook that I found at a big box store.  I did make two of them since I am getting together in September with several friends for a crafting workshop.  I am so very excited and I hope they do not read my blog and know they will be receiving this little gift.

I use Tattered Angels High Impact paint to color the Canvas Corp Black and Ivory French Script Paper.  The larger flowers were cut with die out of buckram - an old fabric staple which frays up so beautifully when you color and crumple it.  The other small flowers were purchased but I did color them with the Tattered Angels High Impact Paint.  I tied a couple small black thread bows which were tucked in among the flowers to add a little more black to the front of the cover.

I die cut the scalloped trim with my Silhouette.  I wanted to finish the edge of the notebook.

Here are close ups of some of the different parts of the cover.  I love that little stamp I bought for a dollar.  I also did some stenciling with a navy ink and also used the navy ink around the edge of the front cover.  The orange dots have glossy accents on them.  They added the perfect finishing touch to the cover.

Aren't those pink flowers fun?  I love making my own flowers.  The flowers I purchased, I am going to get more of those.  They work really well with on mixed media projects.

Please come join us at Canvas Corp and play along with our fun challenge.

Mixed Media July Challenge

It is July 1 and it is time for a new challenge on the Mixed Media Mojo Blog.  The challenge is Summertime with the twist being Shells.

There are so many things that are fun in the summertime.  I chose a nautical theme.  My card is a birthday card for a friend.  I think he will like it and appreciate all the work that went into it.

All the paper and fabric came from a Recollection collection from Michael's.  The wood anchor was purchased there also.

If you come back to visit the Mixed Media Mojo Blog on July 6, I take you through the steps involved in making this card.

Come play along with us with a mixed media project.

Unconventional Graduation Card

Many of my neighbor grandchildren are graduating this year - two from high school and two from 8th grade.  After I made this card, I thought it would be fun graduation card for Ben who is graduating from high school.  I think everyone is happy to graduate from high school and move onto the next adventure in their life.

This is what I started with.  I had made this background piece awhile ago.  I had used paint and glimmer mist inside an embossing folder and got this unique background.  The crazy bird was already colored and I stamped the sentiment on a piece of gessoed book pages.

Here is a close up of the bird after he was on the card.  I did fussy cut him out and adhered him to the card front with gel medium.  I added blue glitter to parts of the bird to give him some extra shine.  Of course, he needed some googly eyes to complete his look.  I think I do need to go back and make his lips a little more orange.  I decided I wanted to staple the sentiment onto the card front and after that I decided to add a few more staples else where on the card front.

I am entering this card in several challenges.

Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Media Challenge - where the challenge is Shine.  I used silver embossing paste on the card.  The background has a little glimmer to it and I added glitter to the bird.

Try It On Tuesday - where the challenge is spots, dots and splashes.  I have splashes of black paint and dots and spots of blue and green embossing paste.

Tuesday Throwdown - where the challenge is embossing.  I did use an embossing folder to make the background.  The sentiment and crazy bird were heat embossed with black Versafine ink and clear embossing powder.  I also added elements of embossing paste in three different colors:  blue, green and silver.

I love to do mixed media cards.  There is something very liberating about it.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day.

Hello Mixed Media Card

The monthly Mixed Media Challenge on Happy Little Stampers is Stencil.

The Monday Simon Says Stamp blog challenge is also Stencil so I am entering my card there also.

I do have a nice selection of stencils but I seem to use the same ones over and over again.  The background stencil on this card is one I like to use with distress inks also.  My background was done with Tattered Angels:  Blue - Baseboard (Wave); Green - Baseboard (Leaf); Yellow - Chalkboard (Canary) and Glimmer Mist (Dazzling Diamonds).

I first sprayed the yellow; then the green and finally the blue.  I wanted the blue to be the main color.  After all the color was added, I sprayed with the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist to give all the patches of color some sparkle and shine.  The bias tape was tinted with the Blue Baseboard.

The floral image from Penny Black was stamped in VersaFine Black Ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The sentiment from Hero Arts was done in the lower right corner.  The circles of green embossing paste were then added to the card.  After they dried the bias tape was tied around the bottom of the card.

The card front was matted with black and layered onto a white card base.  The bow was then added to the front of the card.

Mixed Media Happy Retirement Card

I will be attending a retirement party for a person I worked on campus with for many years.  I wanted to make her a special card to cheer her on her way.  She won't have to make that long drive of hers this winter.  Smart girl to retire at the end of December.

The image was stamped on book pages that had a layer of gesso.  It was stamped with Versafine Ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  The bird and flower were colored with InkIntense pencils.  The background of the stamped area was done with gelatos.  I did not have any paper that matched the pink of the flowers so colored another panel to I had an accent piece.  Some embossing paste was added through a stencil around the card image.  I sprayed grey paint in the air and it floated over the front of the card.  You never know what you will get when you do this but it does add another layer of depth to the card.  The sentiment was stamped on vellum.

I am entering the card in the monthly challenge at Mixed Media Card Challenge where the challenge is Celebration with the added element to use vellum.  I think I nailed both of them.

I am also entering it into the Stamplorations Stencil Hop.  You just need to use a stencil on your project.  I added the embossing paste dots to my project with a stencil.  They have a great blog hop going on - you should pop over there and take a look at the great creations.

Potluck today to start out the festivities.  Next will be the retirement party and then head into my daughters for the evening.  Have a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday Annie

Recently, when I attended Bella Crafts Connection in the Twin Cities, Cindy Shepard inspired us to try and draw a bird.  Well she did inspire me, I was so surprised that I could kinda draw and I just keep drawing birds.  I look on Pinterest for inspiration and then go from there.  This particular bird started with a curved arrow.

I decided to make the bird into a birthday card for my friend Annie.  Annie I became online friends many years ago and luckily we are close enough that we can be friends in real life and create, shop and inspire each other.  If you look closely there is a little Zentangle on the bird and then just some doodling.

I added some embossing paste dots to the background and decided to make them stand out more, I outlined them with a fine black pen.  The sentiment seemed perfect for a bird.

Be brave, try to draw.  Can you find the original arrow that starts the bird?

Thanks for stopping by.

Drawing Birds

A couple week ends ago I was at Bella Connections and a class I took from Cindy Shepard - she had us drawing birds.  Well I really enjoyed that and just keep drawing birds.  I have to have an idea and then I see if I can do my version.

Yesterday I decided to draw an owl.  I had so much fun drawing the owl and coloring it.

The October Challenge with Mou on the Faber Castell Blog is to use black chalkboard paint and an owl.  A double whammy.  Thanks for stretching my limited drawing skills and making me try to draw an owl.  I really like how it turned out.

The canvas board has 3 layers of black chalkboard paint on it.  The owl was drawn on a book page and colored with Gelatos and Inktense pencils.  A Faber Castell black pen was used for outlining the parts of the owl.  The owl was added to the board with gel medium.  I outlined the image with a pen I had.  I stamped the sentiment twice.  Once on teal colored book pages and once on pink colored book pages and cut them out.  I love this sentiment.  After everything was adhered, I rubbed some pink distress paint along the edge and then did white splats.  I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't be afraid to try to draw.  If I can do it so can you - or maybe I will call it whimsical doodling.

Happy World Card Making Day

I have been lazy and not posted lately.  I have created but was taking a break from blogging.  I have lots of exciting things to talk about so hopefully I will share it all in the next couple weeks.

Today is a day near and dear to all card makers.  Papercrafts created this day to celebrate card making.  There have been so many wonderful things to look at on blogs today.  Simon Says Stamp had a beautiful card on their post today and are asking people to link up what they are working on.  I worked on this card all day since it has many layers and they had to dry.

The base for the image is a book page which has a layer of Gesso on it.  I have started doing some drawing so found a "how to" on Pinterest on how to draw a cupcake.  So Simple and I had so much fun doing it.  I drew the cupcake in pencil.  I colored the cupcake with two shades of purple and two shades of orange.  I then drew around the cupcake with a black pen. After this was dry I colored the background with another Gelato.  If you look closely you can see that I used a beaded/glitter gel through a stencil to add another layer.  The Paper Smooches sentiment was stamped and cut out.  I then went a little crazy adding black splatters.  It is matted in black on a purple card base.

Normally the person receiving this card gets a card with a monkey on it - the monkey will have to be on the inside.  I hope she is not too disappointed.  Maybe when I tell her it is original artwork she will be very excited.

Have a wonderful evening.

Mixed Media Birthday Card

My dear friend Mary will be celebrating a birthday in October.  It will be a surprise to her to actually get a card for her birthday before her birthday.  The shock of that and the mixed media madness in the card may be too much for her to take.

The monthly challenge at Mixed Media Card challenge is Friend with the optional element of ribbon.

The card is just a little under a 6 inch square.  The first layer is brown card stock.  On top of that is a layer of fabric.  The fabric is leftovers from drapes from my Aunt's house.  It has the little flowers on it as you can see in the picture below.  I colored the fabric with a green gelato and wet the color (it was cream originally).  Stamped some brown leaves on it and then added some embossing paste/paint mixture randomly across the fabric.  It was then sewed to the brown card stock.

The focal point on the card is a piece of fabric.  I adhered the fabric to card stock with a lite wonder under product.  A layer of blue and brown card stock are the mats.  I stitched the fabric to the mats.  The bow (ribbon) is fabric.  Different elements were added to the fabric base of the card:  paper doily, couple pieces of brown lace, recycled brown paper bag piece (Panera if you need some) and the green threads in the corner are from tearing the fabric strip for the bow.  The focal point was pop dotted at an angle on the front of the card.  The happy birthday and friend are stickers from SRM Stickers.  They were adhered to a piece of patterned paper.  I added a strip of the paper to the fabric strip at the top.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Everyone have a wonderful Friday and week end.

Apple for the Teacher

I am posting over on the Mixed Media Mojo Blog today but wanted to share the post here on my blog.

 It is not to early to start thinking about gifts for teachers for the upcoming holidays or for just any day.  I don’t think we can say thanks in enough ways to the educators of our youth.

Our challenge this month is back to school with book pages as the added element.  I chose to alter a small recycled jar (the jar could be filled with many different things).  Wash your jar very well and let it dry. 

I covered the jar with strips of book pages which were adhered with gel medium.  After they dried I brushed on a coat of clear gesso.  I was thinking I wanted the words to show through from the page pages.

 I then painted a layer of red paint.  After that dried, I sponged on two different reds to give the color more depth. 

Now to add the finishing touches.  I left the lid the color it was which was a goldy brown.  I colored a piece of wood that looked like a knob dark brown to represent the stem.  I adhered two layers of book pages together; cut out two leaves freehand and colored them with green ink.  A touch of brown ink was added also.  I took a piece of brown twine, doubled it, wet it with gel medium and wrapped it around a pencil so I could get the curl in it.  Once it is dry remove it carefully from the pencil.  I wrapped natural twine under the lid; tied a bow, and added a tag with thanks stamped on it. 

I do have an artistic conflict going on.  Should I leave the jar as it is or should I brush shiny modge podge on it so my apple shines.  What do you think?

 I am going to enter this in the monthly challenge on the Faber Castell blog.  The challenge is to alter something.  

Enjoy your Wednesday.  

Mixed Media - ATC's and Canvas

If you are anything like me you buy things, or are given things for your hobby.  I have multiple bottles or containers of flowers.  Many are in little bottles.  In fact, I must confess, I have 2 drawers full of flowers.  I was lucky enough to use one small container of flowers and to then start on a jar.

I am part of a group of cardmakers and we do exchanges. My project for this blog entry was to make ATC's with a flower theme.  I really have no idea how I came up with the idea to make a flower tree.

I first cut out of recycled cereal boxes the cardboard bases for my ATC's.  I then added book pages to the front and back.  A layer of gesso was added .  I then went through my tree stamps (I do have lots of tree stamps) and found a good one for my project.  It had the trunk of the tree and the basic circle for my design.  This is what the ATC looked like before I added  the flowers and sentiment.

I very carefully separated my little flowers into color piles and started layering them. (sorry there are no pictures - I was not home while I did this process)  I spend lots of time at my daughter's and always try to take projects along with me.  I sit outside and work while the dogs run around in the yard.  I first used distress paints watered down to create the background for the trees.  I glued the flowers to the ATC with Glossy Accents.  I built layers until I was happy with how the tree looked and the base was all covered.   As you can see from the image above I had a stamping boo boo so I covered the boo boo with a flower and then added a couple more to resemble falling leaves.  A sentiment was stamped, fussy cut and adhered to the ATC's with gel medium.  As a final step I added a glass/bead gel medium brushed lightly on all the flowers to give them a little sparkle.

I had used up the majority of the flowers but had a bunch of burgundy flowers left so I decided to make a little canvas.  I covered the canvas with book pages and gessoed it.  This time I had to free hand a tree.  Luckily this is not too hard.  I painted the gessoed background.  Once again I started adding layers of flowers on top to make the tree shape.  I did my own sentiment and cut it out.  It was an experiment.  I had fun I did add some gesso around the edge of the canvas and the glitter/glass gel medium on top of the flowers.  

Dig out those flowers and go to town.  Make them into something unusual.  

More Mixed Media Fun

Retirement is grand.  You actually get to create when you are not tired.  It makes the process so much more fun.  I also get to play along with challenges so I am a happy retired person.

Today's share is a picture of two cards (same design) but it shows how things can turn out a little bit different on each one when you are working with inks.  I actually kinda CASEd this design from my friend Peggy Biggs - a wonderful card maker.  As always, my cards always go down a different road.

I am entering the card in the monthly challenge - Mixed Media Card Challenge where the challenge is Butterfly and the option is Gold.

I am also entering it in the weekly challenge on the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge where the challenge is to tie it up.  I tied a bow on each card with twine.

I am still making thank you cards for my retirement gifts.

I first started out spraying ink on a piece of acetate and adding water and then squelching it onto my watercolor paper.  I did this a couple times.  You can see how differently that always happens when making a background.  I then added the two pieces of tape on the card front.  I did have a plan in my head for what to do, steps and colors.  I stamped the little flowers randomly on the card front and then colored when with the ink.  I did paint splatters in pink ink and black chalkboard paint.  As you can see on the card on the right, I got some big splats.  Oh well, I was not going to scrap the card front.  Some additional texture was added with embossing paste.  I wish now I had done a different shape rather than dots to mix it up a little.

The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.  I punched it out of white card stock and covered it with VersaMark and gold embossing powder.  The sentiment was also gold embossed on more squelched colored watercolor paper.  (I use the smoother side when I plan to stamp on the paper)  I matted the front on black.  The butterfly and sentiment are pop dotted.

Thanks for stopping by today.  My neighbor girls is coming to spend the day with me, I wonder what kind of trouble we can get into.  She likes to play in my paper.

More Mixed Media Fun

I played yesterday and made a couple cards.  I was able to combine several challenges for this card.  I don't know who will receive this card but I do need to mail it to someone who would appreciate the humor in the card.

The first challenge that inspired me was Shopping Our Stash   The challenge was to make a snarky card.  I had just bought a new set of Dyan Reavely sentiment stamps which are all wonderfully snarky.  The "Stash" part of my card is the woman stamp.  I have had it for years and this is the first time I have used it.  She will get lots more use.

The second challenge is from House of Cards which is to use metallics.  I used some metallic embossing paste I had to add texture to my card.

The third challenge is from Mixed Media Monthly Challenge.  Their challenge this month is to get texty.  The background of my card is a dictionary page which has been gessoed and colored with gelatos.  The sentiment is also texty.

The image was stamped on a background I had made awhile ago with spray inks.  I also dyed the ribbon with the inks so that it kinda matched.  The image and the sentiment were heat embossed so they stand out.  I also did some paint spattering.  I was really into that yesterday.

I hope you enjoyed my snarky, metallic texty card.  Have a good day.

Mixed Media Mojo August Challenge - Anything Goes

It is the first of the month and time to get your Mojo rev started with the monthly challenge at Mixed Media Mojo.  The challenge for August is anything goes.  I love those challenges because then you can do a project you may need to get done.

I had to make a card for a challenge on a group I belong to.  The challenge was "something sweet" - well cupcakes are pretty sweet. 

The cupcake is a digital image that I traced onto patterned paper and cut out.  The background is patterned paper adhered to mixed media paper for support.  I then coated the paper with a layer of clear gesso.  The design still shows through but when you color on the surface the color has something to bite onto to.  I then added different colors of gelatos on the patterned paper.  The cupcake and sentiment were adhered with gel medium.  I added a coating of glass bead gel over the top of the cupcake.  The bow was colored with gelatos and water.  Embossing paste was colored with gelatos also and using a stencil added some random polka dots around the card.

Please join us for our monthly challenge.  I am excited to see your projects.  

I am entering this into the weekly challenge on the Monday Challenge Blog for Simon Says Stamp which is to not use ordinary paper.  I did use the mixed media paper as my base for the card.  

Mixed Media Thank You Card

Finally got a chance to get a better picture of this card.  Some fellow cardmakers were sent fabric Yo Yo's to create with.  It will be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

Of course, I am boring.  I made a card with a flower with a yo yo center.

I had the blue background already made.  I believe I just dipped the watercolor paper in distress inks.  I don't know which blue I used.  I used some green paint and stencil to add the dots to the background.  I added more texture with embossing paste through a stencil.  The black flower was cut with the Silhouette.  I cut 3 layers and glued them together to add a little dimension to the flower base.  Since I had fabric on the card, I wanted to make a fabric bow also.  This fabric is flannel.  After I laid the card out, I decided I needed to add some black into the background so used a new Prima Stamp.  A sticker sentiment from SRM Stickers finishes off the card.

I am going to enter this card in the currently monthly challenge at Mixed Media Card Challenge.   The challenge is blue.  I think there is enough blue in the background and the bow and flower have a shade of blue in it.

Today at 4:30 I started a new chapter in my life.  I retired.  I am excited that I will have some more time to create and explore some new areas of interest.

The Flowers of Summer

I have been playing with my gelatos, gesso and distress paints,  I saw a card similar to this on Pinterest and unfortunately I do not know who did it originally.  I loved the design so tried my best to come up with a card that was somewhat similar.

Here are a couple close ups of the flowers and the bow.

The flowers are colored with distress markers and made out of gessoed book pages.  I cut wonky circles in different sizes and layered them.  The smaller flowers have two sizes and the larger flower has three sizes of wonky circles.  

The bow was colored with distress ink.

I am going to enter this card in the challenge on Mixed Media Monthly challenge Summer Days.  What is more summer than bright colored flowers.

Thanks for stopping by.

Summertime

What says summer better than the colors of Yellow and Green.  Yellow represents the sunshine and Green represents the grass (that keeps growing and needing to be mowed) and birds - birds who wake up singing at the crack of dawn.  They are so happy.

I combined several challenges for this card.

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Summer

Simon Says Stamp  Monday Challenge - Summer

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - We're Going Dotty  

The background was made with a yellow gelato and Green Grass distress ink.  I scribbled the gelato on my sheet and added water.  I dipped the watercolor paper in it.  The distress ink was done the same way.  You needed to let them dry between dippings.  I believe I came back and redipped the yellow so it was a little brighter.  The cute little birdie was stamped on gessoed book pages and colored with distress paints.  He was cut out and glued to the panel.  Googly eyes were added with glossy accents.  The ribbon was dyed with the distress inks also.  The dots are embossing paste - the dots add just a little contrast to the green/yellow back ground.  Everything was matted with dark grey cardstock.  

I hope you are enjoying your summer.  Thanks for stopping by.