Make Your Own Travel Journal

Art Journaling is so fun and such a personal project.  You can use your imagination to make a journal that is something that you love to look at and is filled with the type of paper YOU prefer without caring if anyone else likes it or not.  I made this one for IMAGINE Crafts using my favorite product, what else,  StazOn Studio Glaze.

Featuring a Zettiology stamp by Teesha Moore

Here is the link to the IC/T blog if you'd like to see the step by step directions.  I am also entering this in the July Craft Stamper Challenge called Take a Stamp, here is the link to their blog if you want to participate in that challenge.  I hope you're all having a fabulous summer!  Take care, Renee

White Stamping Craft Stamper Challenge

I can't believe it is December already!  We have a new challenge at the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It site with wonderful prizes to be won.  For December the challenge is to stamp in white on your project.  I decided gift tags are something useful and the white looks great against the kraft colored paper.  You can cut your own tags with a die or buy tags that are pre-cut.  Whatever you have on hand.  

For the first tag I stamped with Stampers Anonymous Butterfly stamp on kraft paper using Adirondack Snow Cap ink and then I used Detail White embossing powder.  After heating it with my heat gun and allowing it to cool, I did some random stamping with an IndigoBlu crackle stamp and StazOn black ink.  I also colored in the butterfly wings a little with Memento markers in yellow and red.  I tore the edges of the paper, glued it on to a black shipping tag and doodled around the edges with a Uniball White gel pen.  Even with a ribbon on the top I think this tag has a very masculine feel to it.  You can write your message on the back using the white pen.  Here are a couple more tags using the same technique.

These are both done on Ranger #8 Kraft tags using the same stamping technique.

I'll have more samples next Friday with the same technique.  I hope this inspires you to try your hand at the CS TIMI Challenge!  Take care, stay warm ~ Hugs, Renee

A Gratitude Mandala for Craft Stamper November Challenge

This is the half way point for the Take It, Make It Challenge.  You still have plenty of time to enter your artistic creations for a chance to win prizes and be published in the Craft Stamper magazine.  This week I made a gratitude mandala using a few winter and spring stamps in a different way than their original purpose.  I have a snowflake stamp around the edges, an acorn stamp, a butterfly stamp and my wonderful feather stamp.  I am still surrounded by the colors of Fall since we are having a very mild season and the leaves haven't completely fallen yet.  Great for Leaf Peeking tourists.  So my color choices have reflected that.

For the mandala circle I can use pre-cut circles out of card stock or in this case I cut my own out of water color paper using a compass.  I drew a circle around each of the areas I wanted to stamp on with a pencil that could be erased later.

After I have achieved a look that I'm happy with using my stamps then I start to color in the images.  On this mandala I used Inktense pencils and Dylusions in a water pen.

When I was finished with the coloring I used a Micron pencil to write on the side of each leaf the different qualities I want to show in my life such as love, joy, peace, gratitude, etc.  Then using the same pen I wrote my feelings about the things I am grateful for each day.

Next I used a Delicata Golden Glitz ink pad and re-stamped the snowflake images and the acorn images again to highlight them.  I have a bottle of Liquid Pearls in the Bisque color that I brought in at the end to highlight the butterflies and add some sparkly interest.

We have so much to be grateful for each day.  Just the sun and the air we breathe are things we can be thankful for every day.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I always appreciate your visits and the comments left here.  I noticed several new followers and I want to say thank you to them for taking time out of their busy lives to follow along on my artful journey!  Big hugs to all of you, I am grateful for you!  Sincerely ~ Renee

Craft Stamper Challenge::Tissue Paper Stamping halfway point

We're at the half way point of the CS Challenge of stamping on tissue paper.  I thought I would do some work in my art journal using the stamped tissue paper.  For the challenge I did a two page spread in my art journal with a tissue paper skirt on one of my ladies.

I began by applying a thin layer of gesso through a stencil and allowing it to dry.  When it was completely dry I painted some DWM acrylic paint in Turquoise and Lime onto the pages.  I wiped off some of the paint with a baby wipe exposing the white gesso in spots.

Next I tore off a piece of tissue paper from an old sewing pattern, this would be the skirt for one of my girls.

I stamped on the paper with Jet Black StazOn ink and then folded the paper into pleats.

Using Creative Gel Medium I shaped the folded paper and attached it to the page.  I added some map wings to the area surrounding her stamped torso.

I added more color with DWM Ruby and white paint applied through a Julie Fei-Fan Balzer called Blazonry.  First red and then white were applied.

I outlined the stenciled painted areas when dry with a Fude Ball permanent marker very loosely.  I started stamping phrases from the new Dina Wakley stamp collection.  The heads are from Dyan Reaveley, stamped on tags and then colored with markers and trimmed out.

I wanted to pull both pages together so I painted black chalkboard paint across the middle of both pages.  When this is dry it is easy to write on with a white Gelly Roll pen.  I wrote the lyrics of the song "Do You Believe in Magic".  The Bahama Blue drippings are from Imagine Crafts "irRESISTible" texture spray, applied with a paint brush and allowed to run down the page.

I am not good at drawing arms and hands so my lady on the right received two sets of die cut map paper wings instead of arms.  Her dress was a left over piece of stenciled paper retrieved from my recycle box.

You have plenty of time to create a stamped tissue paper project and join in the fun at the Take It Make It Challenge.  There are plenty of inspirational samples on the site, go take a look when you have time!  Thanks for stopping by today, I do appreciate your visit.  Hugs ~ Renee xx

CS Challenge for September::Stamping on Tissue Paper

This month's challenge from the Crafter Stamper magazine is Stamping on Tissue paper.  My project involves both tracing an image on the tissue paper and then stamping on it later.  I wanted to try the technique in my pursuit of drawing faces so I traced a photograph that I have of my daughter.  The portrait became an art journal for her.  If you'd like to see how this evolved you can read the tutorial below.

This did start out as an experiment.  I wanted to do a portrait based on a traced image from a photo.  Here is the photo I used.

I placed a piece of tissue paper on top of the photo and lightly traced it with an Aquaellable Stabilo pencil.

After the image was traced I used Pan Pastels to color it in.  Keep in mind these will be blended later.

After the colors were blended to my satisfaction I cut out the image and glued it onto a piece of what I call "junk paper".  I do most of my work on a sheet of 140# water color paper.  These papers sit in a pile when they are covered with paint, ink and stamping.  They don't look like much until I unify the colors with a stencil and some white gesso.  In this case I did additional stamping of some Dina Wakley grungy hearts and then glued the image onto the paper with Mod Podge.  I purposely scrunched the tissue paper so it wouldn't look perfectly smooth.

I sewed some additional texture onto the page with my sewing machine and let some of the threads dangle.  I also made some lines with a credit card and some black gesso.

When this was dry I folded it in half and simply sewed it together with some pages in the middle for my daughter, Holland, to draw on.  There are 6 pages inside with gesso on them, primed and ready to go.

Now I added the stamping on top of the tissue paper.

The outside of the art journal

More stamping on top of the tissue paper with StazOn Jet Black permanent ink and stamps from Dina Wakley and Stampers Anonymous.  Now the journal is finished, it just needs some artwork inside.

The back of the journal

I hope you will rise to the challenge this month at the Craft Stamper website.  It is easy to upload your projects and there are some really nice prizes to win!  I'll post another stamped tissue paper project next week in case you can stop by.  As always, thanks for the visit.  Please leave a comment if you have time I'd love to hear from you.  Hugs~ Renee xx

Craft Stamper Challenge~Potato Stamps

We're at the half way point for the Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge.  The challenge this month, in case you forgot, was to make your own stamp out of a potato.    This time I thought I'd keep it simple and just carve a primitive looking star.  Here is my finished card.  If you keep reading I'm going to show you step by step how I made this.

I used a simple kitchen tool, a paring knife, to carve a small portion of a potato into a star stamp.

I stamped my Zettiology image with Jet Black StazOn ink.  Then I stamped my potato star randomly all over the card.  It was inked up with Wink Of Stella Gold ink.  It has a nice sparkle to it that isn't really reflected in the photo.  I colored in the image using Smooch Accent Ink in Green Apple and Lettuce colors.

Using my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die I cut flowers out of old book text and then distressed them with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

The centers were stamped with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and Delicata Golden Glitz ink.  I glued the flowers on the left side, stamped a phrase and trimmed it out.  It is also edged with the Wink of Stella Gold pen and popped up with some pop dots.  The words are from Dina Wakley's new stamp line.  The card was finished with the edges distressed with Vintage Photo Ink.  I showed a second option of the card if you added a little more detail with a black permanent ink pen and few more strips of  book text.

Option A

Option B

I hope you will take on the challenge, carve your own stamp and share it with us at the Craft Stamper site.  There are some great prizes to win and a chance to be published in their magazine!

Thanks for stopping by.  If you have a chance to leave a comment please do, I love to read what you think.  In the meantime, take care, talk to you soon ~ Renee

April's Take It, Make It Challenge

You still have time to enter the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge.  A quick reminder of the theme..."Bottle Art".  For some additional inspiration I decided to make a card with a bottle on it to share with you.  I began by loosely drawing a bottle on some watercolor paper.  I cut it out, colored it, stamped it and glued on some butterflies and extra wings.

For even more inspiration from the other team members be sure and visit the Craft Stamper Blog.  You'll be glad you did!  Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you will take the challenge, it is open until the midnight April 23rd.  Thanks for stopping by, take care. ~ Renee

Take It, Make It Challenge for April~ Bottles!

The theme this month from the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge is Bottle Art.  The technique is to use a bottle somewhere in your project.  This could be an altered bottle, using small bottles/vials in your project, or using a stamped image of a bottle.   I must admit that for me this was a real challenge as I have never altered any bottle other than the obvious alteration....taking it from full to empty.

I looked at Pinterest for some inspiration and the only thing that really caught my eye were the dolls made from bottles.  Never having been a doll person I thought this would be a way to channel my inner child and do something whimsical.  When I think whimsy I usually think Marie Antoinette. Other than to buy a pretty pink bottle from Michaels for $3.00, I decided to work with items completely from my stash .  I'll show you my finished project and then follow it up with a short tutorial in the event that you want to see how she was put together.

Washing the bottle before construction makes sure that there is no trace of  residue that might show later.  I worked on the headpiece first.  The head is from a collage sheet and was attached with a strong glue to one of those pins from Idea-ology, it is sharp enough to penetrate the cork.  The bow was tied and glued to the cork piece.

I added Distress Stickles to the flowers in her hair and the pearl around her neck.  The skirt is made from the elastisized ribbon in the Idea-ology ribbon pack.  I measured the ribbon, cut it and sewed it to make a circle.The trim with beads was applied on top of that with red line tape then the unit was put in place.

I used a stamp called "Forget Me Not" for the bodice of her "dress".  It was stamped on 90 lb watercolor paper, colored with pens and cut out.  Instead of arms I used the wings from Pam Carriker called "I Will Soar" and stamped them with Neon Purple, Pink and Orange inks from Tsukineko. It was easy to secure the winged heart image to the bottle with the strong clear double-sided red line tape.  I glued a large red rhinestone heart to the stamped image.

Just one more detail.  I used Tim Holtz's rub-ons,  which by the way work perfect on glass, to put just one word, "Imagination" at the bottom of the bottle.

With that my altered bottle doll is finished!

I hope that you will check out the challenge going on at the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It site.  The beauty of a challenge is that it gets you out of your comfort zone and helps you to experiment with things you never would have even thought of doing.  That's what challenges do for me anyway.  Thanks so much for stopping by, please leave a comment if you have time.  I love to read what you think.  Take care, talk to you soon!
~Renee xx

The Craft Stamper "Take It, Make It Challenge"

Just a quick reminder that you still have time to enter a piece of your art over at the Craft Stamper "Take It, Make It Challenge"!  The theme for this challenge is mono printing using an acrylic block.  Personally I can't stop making sheets of art using this technique, then I cut them up and use the sheets for projects, cards, etc.  Here is a small wall hanging I made today using one of my mono printed sheets.

 

I used the mono printed paper as the background.  I cut a piece that measures 6" by 6" and used that as a background for the stenciled houses.  The house stencil is from artistcellar.com and is called "Whimsy Town".  I stenciled it on the paper using a black micron pen.  Then I added a little bit of Scattered Straw Distress Stickles in the windows to mimic light. The dauber top on Ranger's Distress Paint made perfect Wild Honey colored circles.  The stamping is done with StazOn Jet Black ink using a Dyan Reaveley circle text stamp.  A touch of shiny red paint on the doors and hearts is the only thing needed to complete the scene.  I had some black canvases in my stash measuring 6" by 6" so I glued the paper onto that and put an antique crystal knob on the top with ribbons to finish it off.  This could hang on the wall or sit on a stack of books.  It makes a cute house warming gift!

So please take advantage of the time left to participate in the challenge.  Thanks so much for stopping by today, leave a comment if you have time, you know I love to hear from you.  Take care ~ Renee

Craft Stamper~Take It, Make It Challenge~Halfway Reminder

The tag created for today is for the Craft Stamper blog challenge.  The theme of the challenge is Monoprints created with acrylic blocks.  We are at the halfway point of the challenge so there's a little reminder on the blog.  For more details about the March challenge and to enter one of your amazing creations just pop over to the Craft Stamper blog.

I started this large, Ranger 5 1/8" by 10 1/2" manila tag, by creating the background.  I wanted a steampunk style tag using the colors of aqua green, deep yellow and light magenta.  Artist's Loft acrylic paints were perfect for this and I used a large acrylic block along with a few stencils to get the different patterns with the paints.  I will share a few photos showing the process.

A stencil and some scraps of paper cut to make more patterns are laid on the acrylic block before applying the paint.

Carefully lift off the stencils

Press the tag firmly into the paint on the acrylic block, you can get several pulls off of this large block.

This is the initial first layer of colors

I added more color and texture to the tag using the same acrylic block

After each color of paint was applied I allowed some drying time.  I wanted the colors to maintain their integrity and not blend all together.  It is messy but really fun!  When the paint dries it is time to add the details like outline the figure with a Fude Ball 1.5 black pen, some stamping with StazOn Jet Black ink and Tim Holtz's Remnant Rubs, metal gears and tickets.

For the ribbons at the top of the tag I used Dylusions spray inks to get colors that coordinated with the tag.  A little white gesso pushed through a stencil to tone it all down a notch and pull the colors together.  The edges were distressed with Ranger's Vintage Photo ink as a finishing touch.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope that you feel inspired to try this technique and link your creation for all of us to see at the Craft Stamper's blog.  Have a great day, talk to you soon ~ Renee