Cheryl's Paper Artz: May 2015

Is this happening?? Yep. September 25 - October 1, 2016 you can join the Sisterhood of the Traveling Paints for a creative week of exploration and experience in beautiful Costa Rica!

Join Craftours with special guest educators, ANNETTE GREEN, CANDY COLWELL, CHERYL GRIGSBY, HELS SHERIDAN, LINDA LEDBETTER, MARJIE KEMPER and YVONNE BLAIR for an extraordinary event in one of the most beautiful countries in Central America.

The package includes first class hotel accommodations, airport transfers, daily breakfast, lunch and special dinners, workshops with all the educators and for a limited time airfare is FREE! Visit Craftours.com to book your space today!

Jim West has established Crafttours as the premier experience for crafters who want to combine their passion for art with the inspiration of the sounds and colors of exotic locations. And what better location than Costa Rica for mixed media artists?

The lush greenery in Costa Rica is the perfect backdrop to the brilliant colors you will see all over the place, from the handcrafted art you'll see on your tour to the village of Sarchi and to the incredible and unique natural environment.

This trip includes seven different projects and workshops, mixed media exhibits by all the instructors, painting, photography, lectures, sightseeing tour of the Doka Coffee plantation including the butterfly sanctuary and the craft village of Sarchi, special dinners and a lot more! This tour and workshops getaway is personally escorted and organized by Craftours founder, Jim West.

Visit these blogs often to be informed as more class details become available. Also visit the Craftours website for information about this amazing opportunity!!

Is this happening???? It sure is!!

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Eroded Metallic Altered Box

Hey CC3C artists! I have been WAITING for this challenge. I absolutely love this technique and I know you will, too. There is real artistry here, a technique you can just play and play with, figuring out your timing for the steps, the amounts and methods for applying your medium, and where you are placing your effects. So much fun!!

Turn to page 44 of Compendium of Curiosities Volume III to learn the Eroded Metallic technique. You probably already have what you need to do it right in your studio!

As per the guidelines for our challenges, I won't give you any of the details of the technique here, but I will give you tips that helped me as I prepared the project for this challenge. Tip #1: There is a learning curve. Determine to have fun with this and just play! I knew I'd be creating an altered box, but I got myself a stack of manila tags and practiced the technique till I was comfortable with it. I've got a bunch of tags ready to go for a future project, as well.

Am I the only one who has trouble throwing away the FABULOUS boxes that iPhones come in? I went through my "Ready to Alter" stash and grabbed this for my project.

I cut black card stock to fit my box top. The box measurements were kind of weird (6 15/16 long????) so I had to play with it a bit to cut a template that fit.

Ta da! Eroded Metal. I used Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Faded Jeans, and Tarnished Brass Distress Paints. Tip #2: After working the technique, I rubbed some of the "undercooked" areas with a paper towel and got just a bit more erosion. That may or may not help, depending on the result you have after you have done the technique yourself.

Score tape around the edges of my iPhone box, ready to apply my Eroded Metallic cut out template.

I prepared some copper tape with Distress Paints and a little Pitch Black alcohol ink and Blending Solution. for the corners and unfinished edges of the Eroded Metallic template.

I think I went slightly crazy using Distress Paints and alcohol ink together. Love it on these metal surfaces (copper tape and the metal corners). Very interesting colors and texture combinations.

Here I'm working with the layout of the embellishments for the top of the box. I've used some vintage ephemera I bought from my sweet friend, Lisa Pace. Love her beautiful art!! The collection she sent me included these vintage doilies and this gorgeous miniature silver spoon from Italy. I don't know how she could bear to part with it. Its laid on my desk for the longest time, waiting to be included in a mixed media piece. It was a joy to add it to this one, giving it meaning.

The little Heirloom Roses are so pretty. Here's a video from CHA 2015 with Tim showing a lot of the new Ideology releases and a demo coloring these little resin roses.

So there it is. All you need to know to enter and win CC3C challenges is here on Linda Ledbetter's blog. Be sure to:

work from your very own copy Tim's book
leave some love on each of the Curiosity Crew blogs
link back to the sponsor for the current challenge.

Speaking of our sponsor, this time its our good friends at Inspiration Emporium. They've got a truly generous $50 gift certificate for a random winner! Our Curiosity Crew choice wins a super special prize from Tim Holtz himself, and his Logistics Director, Mario Rossi.

You've got two full weeks to create and enter and the Crew will be watching eagerly for all your creative entries!!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Alcohol Ink Ombre

Who loves technique challenges? I do! I do!

This is one of those that you are sure to be able to participate in because you are sure to already have what you need. Do you have a bottle of alcohol ink? Do you have a piece of felt and an applicator tool? Some glossy card stock? You're all set.

My niece's birthday was April 30 and I wanted a card that would be sassy enough for a 20 year old. Thank you, Dina Wakley LOVE her silouhette stamps and this one had the particular attitude I was going for. I used the whole ombre piece for my background. I added a bit of stenciling with Tim's Typography stencil. I used some Indigo Alcohol Ink at first but it wasn't quite rich enough for me. So I repositioned the stencil and stenciled the letters again with "Night", from Dina's Media paint.

I differed from Tim's technique in Compendium of Curiosities III by using different colors, but other than that the technique is the same. I chose Willow, Meadow and Stream.

I gave my girlie some interesting wings using Stamper's Anonymous Classic #17 stamp set. Love that mariposa collage. I cut out the butterfly wings and colored them with Broken China and Mustard Seed Distress Inks, blending the color with a blending tool.

Tiny butterflies from the same stamp supply two points at the bottom right of my card.

This challenge is sponsored by the lovely Linda Couglin at Funkie Junkie. A random winner will receive a $25 dollar gift certificate to her website for a shopping spree! Our Curiosity Crew choice will go to their mailbox and find a cache of Tim Holtz treasure, donated by Tim Holtz and Mario Rossi. SO very cool!! Find the few simple rules and guidelines on Linda Ledbetter's blog here. Don't forget to leave some love on the Curiosity Crew blogs:

Anita Houston

Annette Green

Candy Colwell

Cheryl Grigsby (that's me, do it below!!)

Grab you copy of Compendium of Curiosities and create!!