One Word: Frameworks!!

I LOVED this challenge.  Frameworks.  One word, that's all, just use a Frameworks die any way you like!!  I needed a simple challenge this time due to all the stuff going on in my life (can I get an amen???).  Besides this one just gave me joy.  I like joy.

This is sort of a personal message for me as I'm going through some changes personally and professionally that are exciting and a tiny bit scary.  I'm really jazzed about the future "and so the adventure begins...."

I cut a couple of sections of Tim's Trellis Frameworks die out of Grungeboard.  I glued that down the lateral border of a #10 tag.  I like #10 tags.  I used some sewing pattern tissue and tore sections of it and glued them down over the Frameworks.  I took a stiff paint brush (Dina Wakley's brushes work nicely) and used them like a stencil brush, working the tissue down into and around the Frameworks shape.  This idea came from a tech Candy Colwell uses brushing gesso over dimensional shapes and then painting or spraying.  I can't remember where I got the idea of adding the layers of tissue.  If I remember, I'll edit this post.  My poor brain.....

 I thought it was kind of cool that the word "vogue" was just where I was was tearing tissue, so that HAD to go down on my tag.

 I painted over all the tag with Dina Wakley's Turquoise paint.  Then I painted over all that with Gesso and then painted over with Turquoise paint again.  I don't know why I painted with the first coat of Turquoise.  #dontjudgeme  I just did.

Then I spritzed over the Frameworks area with Antiqued Bronze Distress Spray Stain.  I used a little rubbing alcohol (surgical spirits) on a cotton cloth and rubbed over the high areas where the Frameworks die is raised.

These are the things I used to create just the background of the tag.  I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the edges of the tag and over the Frameworks, rubbing the high areas with rubbing alcohol again.

After the love affair with Remnant Rubs last challenge, I simply had to add a few here.  This was really fun.  I used them on the Frameworks which meant that only some of the Rubs would connect, giving me kind of a partial application.  LOVE.  Really, in love with that.

 I pressed and pushed the Remnant Rubs in the recessed areas to make them conform to the shape.

I used the "untransferred" Rubs onto a spare tag, giving me a head start on a future project.

I used a B Line Designs "Annabelle" stamp for my focal point.  Love this lady, so elegant.  My little signature bird (another B Line stamp) sits on her shoulder.  Tim's sentiment is PERFECT for me now.  The belt, which binds, is now loosened and my lady is ready to fly.

• Visit Linda's awesome blog (it really is awesome, have you bookmarked it???) to get the lowdown on all the CC3C guidelines
• Go to your stash and grab that Frameworks die (or order one from Inspiration Emporium)
• Check your copy of Compendium of Curiosities III (or order it here from The Duke of Distress Hizzelf)  You gotta have your own copy.  You WANT your own copy!!
• CREATE
• Link your project on Linda's still awesome blog
• COMMENT on the Curiosity Crew blogs, and be eligible to win fabulous prizes!!!

SOOPER loot from Professor Holtz and his Teaching Assistant, Mario Rossi, for the Curiosity Crew choice
AND
A generous gift certificate from Inspiration Emporium for our random winner!

Scrumtrulescent.

CC3C #24 - Remnant Rub Resist

Hey there CC3Cer's!!  I just have to start by saying congratulations to all of you who entered the Collection Folio challenge.  The Curiosity Crew was just bowled over by how cool everyone's projects were.  Even if you didn't enter, I really encourage you to work with one of these.  I can't wait to get some time in a few weeks to work on my next one.  What an inspiring way to create!

And we're off on a new challenge.  Remnant Rub Resist is an easy technique with dramatic results.  I own a scrapbooking and paper arts store and I can tell you all rub ons are not created equal.  I didn't know that and maybe that was one of those things that everybody but me knew.  But I didn't know.  I've bought rub ons because I liked the images but when I tried to use them, they sort of fell apart and didn't transfer well.  Tim's Remnant Rubs are like buttah.  Awesome.  You can position them and just sort of press with your finger and they stay put.  The transfer is complete.  I used his new Remnant Rub Tool and, more buttah.  You must have one of these if you care for Remnant Rubs at all.  Which you will, if you ever try them.  Which you will.

I've had this quote from Hans Christian Anderson in my design notes for a while.  I knew it would shortly make its way into some art and this challenge really lent itself to use it.  You'll want to check Tim's book, Compendium of Curiosities III, to get the low down on the tech, but I've included some details from the other parts of my design for this tag that I hope will be fun to check out.

 I wanted to use the best stamping paper ever, Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper, for the focal point.  I also wanted to use a Wendy Vecchi tech for coloring the butterfly, but I needed to "precolor" as the alcohol would blur the black ink.  I came up with a way to stamp a mask of the butterfly and lay on the SSP.  I used a pin and punched tiny holes to create a general shape.

 I used Cornflower Blue and Chrome Yellow Archival reinkers.  Put 3 or 4 drops of reinker on your craft sheet or in a cup and then add about a 1/2 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol.  I mixed that and then picked up with a pipette and dropped color on my templated butterfly shape.   I did yellow first, then blue, then went back and dropped a little more yellow on the line between the two colors.  I used very little color and dried it, building up layers.

 After I was satisfied with the colors, I stamped the butterfly from Tim's Perspective set with Jet Black Archival ink.  Magic.  This is the reason I wanted to use this paper.  Nothing takes ink like it.

 I cut out the butterfly and then stamped the same imagine on the back.  It just helps with images with any "lift" to have something on the back to make them look finished.

Edges of the butterfly inked with Vintage Photo, as everything everywhere should be.

 A couple of other details.  I used Tim's new Flourish Layered Stencil with Wendy Vecchi Crackle Embossing Paste.  Once dry, I blended some Distress Inks over the whole tag (Broken China, Tattered Rose, Tea Dye) and then I mixed a little Tea Dye Distress Stain with water and used a pipette to add color right on the crackle embossing paste.  I liked how it filled in the cracks and added a grungy shadow on the flourish.

One must have a little flower!  In a Tim Holtz glass vial, filled with microbeads and tied with a little organza ribbon.  One must have all these things.  Oh!!  Good news, you can add Remnant Rubs on tope of Remnant Rubs.  The little touch of harlequin on the dictionary text helped balance out this piece.

What say you?  Perfect challenge to just add this one technique to anything that is inspiring you these days.  It is going to be a BLAST to see what you come up with!!  Be sure and check out Linda Ledbetter's blog for the guidelines, and give all my Curiosity Crew sisters some love.  We are prepared to be blown away by your talent.  We're getting used to your awesomeness!!

Our challenge is sponsored by the lovely Linda Coughlin at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  A random draw will win you a $25 gift certificate to go crazy there!  The Curiosity Crew Choice will win a groovy prize package donated by Hizzoner Tim Holtz and his Logistics Director Mario Rossi.  Very generous, and how cool to win a prize directly from Tim!!!  Would you like that?  Would you?  That's what I thought.  

Go for it, why shouldn't you be the next winner??!!

Collection Folio - CC3C#23

Hey, there Artist Friends!  What a week!  I truly hope you all enjoy this challenge as much as I have.  This time we're going to alter Tim's awesome Collection Folio.  You'll find this one on page 34 of Compendium of Curiosities III, which you really must own.  No, really.  You've got to own it.

Just to be sure you include everything you need to be be eligible to win, please visit Linda Ledbetter's blog for your guidelines.  Be sure and visit all the Curiosity Crew blogs and leave a little love!!  We sure appreciate it and appreciate you participating in these challenges with us!!

Our generous sponsors for this challenge are Inspiration Emporium and Tim Holtz.    IE has a $50 gift certificate for a lucky randomly chosen winner and the Curiosity Crew Choice will receive a fabulous collection of Tim Holtz signature products donated by Tim & Mario for these challenges.   Everyone has a chance to win!!

All that being said....   Wanna play?  Let's go!!

I sit before you exhausted, but happy.  I don't know if I've ever worked so hard on an art project.  The possibilities know no bounds when it comes to Collection Folio.  I had a plan in my head for this challenge.  But everything, EVERY thing changed when I heard about a new book from the beloved Harper Lee.  To Kill a Mockingbird has long been a literary treasure for me and for many people.  When I heard the news of a new publication (its not really a "new" book, but rather a manuscript that predated the writing of Mockingbird), I knew instantly my love for To Kill a Mockingbird had to be the focus of this challenge for me.  My passion took over!

This blog will have more pictures and text than most of my posts, so please forgive my self indulgence and join me in celebrating this great book!

My passion for this theme made this project both easier and harder.  Easier because there are so many iconic images, ideas and symbols associated with this book that I had an abundance of material to work with.  Harder because this book and this author are so important to me that everything had to be just right.  I worked and reworked tags, elements, messaging, over and over.  Truthfully, I wish I had another week (MONTH) to work on this, and I may continue to work on it after the challenge is posted.  But it is truly satisfying to work very hard at your art and this one brought me great joy.

The cover includes many essential symbols from the book, and even includes a "miniature" of the book itself, which I describe below.  This project is absolutely full of symbols.  If you've read this book, and most of us who attended school in the U.S. have, you'll recognize many of these symbols.  I encourage you to click on photos in this blog and see some closer pics and so see some of the subtler messages from TKAM, interpreted through mixed media.

I used a paperback copy of the book and tore pages and quotes to use strategically.  I made a small "book" by gluing bits of the pages to Wendy Vecchi's Clearly for Art Blackout.  I stamped an open book stamp from B Line Designs, cut out three of these images, and then heated them.

I thought I had a better picture, but you can see above in the top right a little form I created.  I used two paint brushes and taped down a scrap of card stock over them to form an open book shape.  After heating Clearly for Art, I laid the soft modeling film on my form and held it till it cooled.  I did this with all three layers, glued them together with Glue n Seal and then clipped them till they dried.

My project is essentially a story board of the story.  I used sticky notes to prepare my layout and the images I would need to find.  Even though I freely borrowed pictures from the movie, my project is really focused on the book and my appreciation for this wonderful work of literature.

This whole project proved really difficult to photograph.  I've tried to give you a shot of the open flaps and layers and then a close up of each page as its revealed.  Thanks to my sweet huz, Rick, for a couple of extra hands holding things open while I photograph.  

Below is a close up of a woodgrain tag with some of the trinkets Boo Radley left for Scout and Jem in the tree in front of the Radley house.

Jem, Dill and Scout.  When the book begins, Scout is 6 years old.

One of many inspiring passages.

The next page introduces the relationship between Scout and her father, Atticus, and to Harper Lee herself.   The book was published in 1960 and is set in fictional Macomb, Alabama.  This shot was taken near that date.  Harper Lee's first name is Nelle, which is what her family and close friends still call her.  And she still lives in Monroe, Alabama, where she grew and which inspired the setting for her book.

I wanted to include mockingbird symbols, birds, feathers, etc., on characters that I think represent that in the book.  Tom Robinson is one.  Oh, by the way.  All birds in this Collection Folio are mockingbirds.  Even the ones that don't look like it.  Artistic license.  ;-)

Incredibly, the opposite side of the flash cards for "brave father" say "little glory".  This image of Atticus leaving the court room defeated but honored, incorporated that sentiment well.

This is one of the most moving passages in the whole book for me.

 My book closes with a modern day picture of Nelle.

And my blog closes the way I think might please our author, with her words.  These are the closing sentences of To Kill a Mockingbird.  I'll let them speak.

Dimensional Cutting Pad

Leave it to Professor Holtz to come up with a different way for die cutting.  You run your die and your paper through the machine and it cuts, right?  The Dimensional Cutting Pad does this, but with a twist....  And therein lies our CC3C #22!  Check out page 62 of Compendium of Curiosities Volume III (click here to get YOUR own copy) for all you need to know for this challenge.

I was inspired by several things for my card for this challenge.  I knew I wanted to use Movers & Shapers Mini Butterflies, Tim's new Flourish stencil, and the lovely sentiment from Wendy Vecchi's Art and You set.  

 I spread a layer of Ranger Matte Medium on a scrap of Wallflower paper, laid a wide piece of lace over it, and the spread Matte Medium over the lace, and set it off to dry.

Once dry, I die cut the butterflies and then painted them with gesso.  I spritzed it with water to thin it a little, and then set these off to dry.  

 

I wanted the butterfly wings to stay a little open, so I snipped some little paper scraps to glue under the wings to keep them separated.  You could do the same with a bit of chipboard or grungeboard.

You can see here under the butterfly wings, they stay spread a little.

 

 Using my Wendy Vecchi Archival ink pad in Dandelion, I deposited some color on my craft sheet and mixed it with a dollop of WV Embossing Paste.  Creamy sweet buttercream embossing paste.  I didn't eat it.  Yay me!!

    

 Do you ever think "what in the world did I do before I had Embossing Paste or Distress Paint??"  I think that all the time!!

I need to balance the left side of the card and Tim's Spring Greenery strip die is just the thing.

My gesso butterflies get Vintage Photo edges, of course.  Also couldn't get by without this, but since I've lived in TimHoltz Land, I've never had to.

Ready to try it?  Grab your copy of Compendium of Curiosities III, turn to page 62  and get crafting!  This challenge is hosted by Funkie Junkie Boutique with a generous $25 gift certificate and a whopping oh-my-gosh-I-gotta-have-that prize package donated by Tim Holtz, who apparently has access to an enormous amount of his own signature products.  Enormous.  Amount.  Enter, you want to win this!!  Visit Linda Ledbetter's wonderful blog to get all the guidelines.  Not a lot of rules, just a few for fairness, easy to be eligible.  Visit all the Curiosity Crew blogs and leave a little love.  They'll all love you right back.

Happy Valentine's Day!!