Birds & Words

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Colored Crackle

A new technique challenge!!  Don't you love those?  Include this fabulous technique on whatever your creative heart desires.  It's found on page 53 of Compendium of Curiosities III.  Click here to get your own copy signed by T!m Holtz himself or pick one up at your local craft shop.

Sometimes when "the sky's the limit" it makes creating easier, sometimes not.  This project began for me in one place and ended up in quite another.  But that's very cool that I can be okay with my scattered self and follow my imagination wherever it leads me.  This time it led me someplace quite familiar....  Flying Things.  I'm a bird lover.  I think I'm more enamored with the idea of birds rather than those little things flying around outside.  I spend much more time with pictures and symbols than I do the actual creatures.  I'll be changing that, I think.

When I started out I knew I wanted to do a few things for sure.  I would use the Colored Crackle technique on die cut Grungeboard, use an exposed Ring Binder, and include a found turquoise charm.  My initial idea for the Ring Binder didn't work out, so I used a structure learned from Wendy Vecchi (from her Inspiration Station she taught at our store a couple of years ago).
I am having a BLAST with the new Distress Spray Stains.  I can't wait till all colors are available.  I was working from my home studio and didn't have the right color Distress ink pad, so I just sprayed stain onto my blending tool and used it with Tim's Harlequin stencil.  Worked beautifully.  I picked up some overspray on my craft sheet with a dry brush to color my bird (stamped on a scrap of white denim and cut out) on the cover of my piece.  This is powerful stuff, my friends.
On the back side of the cover piece of Grungeboard I used the Paint Marbling technique from our very first CC3Challenge!  I carefully applied the paint so that it looked like a map of the United States and Europe.  NOT!!  Crazy the pictures you can see in this marbled effect!!

Some of the inside pages:
 The butterfly is cut from Tim's tissue wrap.  I cut and tore a lot of stuff from tissue and stamped tissue.  The body of the butterfly is a vintage rusty nail.

 Same page with the Memory Glass charm pushed aside.
All inside pages are cut from various materials using the Ornamental Bigz die.  This one is cut from Sticky Back Canvas adhered to cardstock.  This is a work in progress.  I'll probably add some more flying things to this art journal.  The stamps reminded me of airmail, the birds, butterflies and bugs are more obvious flying things.  What else is a flying thing?  Our imagination? Can our hearts take flight? Does music make our hearts soar?

I really hope you'll jump right in for this challenge!!  Funkie Junkie is our sponsor for this challenge with a generous $25 gift certificate going to a random winner.  Tim and Mario are sponsors for every challenge with a generous prize package going to the Curiosity Crew pick.  YOU can win!!  We can't wait to see what you do with this one!

Find all the details you need to know for entering and winning on Linda Ledbetter's blog.  Be sure make your comments on all the Curiosity Crew blogs, work from your own copy of Compendium of Curiosity, no sharing of the technique on your write up, and include links for the current sponsor (Funkie Junkie this week) and to CC3C.

A note on how we choose our winners:  Our goals for these challenges are 
  • for you to be challenged to create your best art
  • for everyone to feel encouraged and supported
  • for people who are newer to entering challenges to feel that they have a chance to be recognized and to win challenges
  • to reward outstanding creativity
  • to reward those who do their very best no matter what level they may be on in their artistic journey
  • to celebrate Tim Holtz's techniques, signature products and books, AND
  • to enjoy each other's artistic company.  
Please know that we have so many wonderful entrants, sometimes its almost impossible to choose.  Keep creating!  Keep entering the challenges!  We are SO proud of all of you.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Worn Cover CC3C #13

Another fortnight, another challenge.  (I'm infatuated by all things British.)  I want to begin this one by a heartfelt thank you for all the kind things you guys say on my blog.  You humble me and encourage me.  I feel so honored to be on this creative journey with all of you.  YOUR talent amazes and inspires me.  Wish we could have CC3C party!!

Well, let's just have our CC3C party here online!  This challenge is a set-your-Tim-Holtz-self-free project!  Use Tim's Worn Cover binder and go crazy.  Embellishment it, alter it, paint it, ink it, spray it, just go for it!  Page 35 of Compendium of Curiosities III will give you some starting pointers, and I'll share things I've learned doing my project, too.  Remember to get your own copy of Tim's book to work from.  I think he should have called it World Crafting Encyclopedia.  Fabulous source to go back to over & over.
I loved the idea of a place to collect all those tags we make.  In keeping with that idea, I altered the cover of my "Worn Cover".  I started by spraying the whole thing over with Tim's new Distress Spray Stain in Antique Linen.  LOVE  LOVE  LOVE!!!!  Yip yip yippee!!  I was THRILLED when I first learned about these and ordered them about 10 seconds (maybe 8?) after I knew they existed.  Only 24 colors so far, but experience and my optimistic personality tell me the others will soon follow.  (I NEED Stormy Sky.  Need, truly need.)

I stamped and sprayed a piece of Sticky Back Canvas with Distress Spray Stain in Antique Linen.  I wanted to use Hitch Fasteners to affix the inner binder rings.  This is not my idea, but I don't know where I saw it, so I'm sorry I can't give credit.  The stem on the Hitch Fastener is not very long so I had to remove the eyelets that are prepared on the spine of the Worn Cover.  Then I was able to screw the things together.
 The cover features a frame cut from Grungeboard and then sprayed with Distress Spray Stain in Broken China.  I added some stamping and then popped it out with strips cut from Grungeboard scraps.  The front is embellished with a Layered Bee cut from Sticky Back Canvas and embossed.  The embossing on this was a little tricky because those bee legs don't want to stay where they're supposed to in the embossing folder.  Just tape them down.
The bee is sprayed with Iced Spruce Distress Spray Stain and then I sprayed just the wings with Perfect Pearls Mist.

The tag slides in and out of the frame.  I love Dina Wakley's new stamp set and this stamp especially. I decided I stamp this on everything I work on now because that little stamp kept prompting me to carry on.  Stay brave, girl!!


A few charms, a little embossing paste and its done.  I hope you guys have as much fun with this as I did.  I am a notebook hoarder.  I've got several I've made with nothing in them!!  I just like them.  I'll add this to my collection, but will fill it with tags for sure.  Be sure and visit the CC3C website on Linda Ledbetter's blog so you fill all the Ts and Cs for this challenge.  (Anyone know what Ts & Cs are??)  :-)  Inspiration Emporium is our generous sponsor for the challenge for a lucky random winner and Tim and Mario's crazy donation will be awarded for the Curiosity Crew Choice.  Be sure to leave your comment on all host blogs.  Doncha wanna win?  I know you do.   Remember, just....