Tag Time Thursday

Yesterday was May 1 and Tim Holtz posted his May tag.  For those who don't know Tim used to do the 12 days of Christmas Tags.  Dec 1 - 12 every year a new tag, it was such fun.  This year he changed it up a bit and now does the 12 tags of 2013 which is one each month on the first of the month.

I played along in April you can see my post here. So here we are in May and I'm ready to share what I did using his techniques this month.

I used what hardward I had on hand.  The "live" tag is from Tim's Word Sticks and the M charm is from Type Charms.  The rubons I used are from Remant Rubs Numbers and Words.

A picture of supplies (minus type charms):

Well that's my tag for this month!

TOMORROW IS THE BLOG HOP:

Be sure to swing on by tomorrow for our fabulous Art Journal Blog hop!  Prizes to be had along the way!!

That's all for today!

Maria

Card Frenzy Wednesday and Happy Birthday Unity!!!

Card Frenzy Wednesday

It's Wednesday hump day!  I thought I'd get to some card making today!  I'm hoping to try and get on a blog schedule for posting and share fun things!!

Before we get started just a quick shout out to UNITY STAMP CO for celebrating 5 wonderful years today!  Happy Birthday Unity!

Today I played along with the weekly sketch challenge at SCS.  I haven't done that in a while so it was fun stuff.

Here is the sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

I used Unity Stamps and paper by Basic Grey.

My supplies:

Be sure to swing on by for the Art Journal Blog hop this Friday May 3!

That's all for now!  

Till later!

Maria

Tuesday Art Journaling Fun!

Art Journaling FUN on Tuesday!

On Monday nights Tracey Weinzapfel hosts a live web show on mixed media.  I only just recently "discovered" her blog and videos.  Last night I checked into her show to see what it was about and it was fun.  You can check out that video as well as her others on her youtube channel.  Last night she made a page based on what will be her May challenge.  As her background she used gelatos!  That is where my inspiration came from.  I decided to pull out my gelatos and play so I created a colorful background which lead to this spread:

Once I had a colorful background I took a stencil by Delta to add the flowers and butterflies.  I used Archival and Distress Inks.  The sentiment "fly free" is from Unity Stamp Co. The journal I used is an old book I altered to journal in which measures about 5 1/4 x 8.

The supplies I used:

This Friday May 3rd is the blog hop I've been talking about!  We have 9 folks - Mixed Up Media Chix creating and sharing, with prizes along the way!  Be sure to come back and check it out the fun will start here!

That's all for now!

Maria

Creative Dare - Art Journal Challenge

Happy Monday!  So as you all know I've been into art journaling lately and loving it!  I still make cards but this is a refreshing change.  Sometimes you just need to switch it up a bit.

So I came across this fabulous artist sit Tracy Weinzapfel.  She does amazing work, has a live webshow every Monday, fun stuff!

She also hosts a monthly journal challenge and this month it has to do with 5 words that mean something to you right now in your life.  Being the stamper that I am I decided to search for stamps of words that would fit and of course I used Unity Stamp Co Stamps.

I had a 2 page spread in my journal started.  It had blobs of acrylic paints, shiny kind actually.  I wanted to at least still use these pages so I just went at it with inks, distress paints, stencils to finish off a background.

This is how it looked before I even picked out words.

Then I picked out words and since they are some what small words I decided to stamp them repeatedly on paper sort of creating a background effect on paper.  I used Different Dreams, Imagine, Create, Inspire and the Happiness one is from an old Unity kit and I think it may be retired now.

Then I cut circles using my big shot and circle scalloped nestablities from these sheets of words and came up with this:

I cut out each word and adhered it over the circles to make the words pop a little in a different color.  I used Matte Gel by Liquitex to adhere into my journal.

Then I pulled out Stylin Stars and stamped those in some neon and archival inks, cut them out, distressed the edges with inks and adhered those into my journal.

My edge was finished just by drawing scallops using black ink and white dots in the middle of each scallop.

Here is my finished spread:

Close ups of each side:

Stay tuned because this FRIDAY MAY 3 is my ART JOURNAL BLOG HOP!  I coordinated with a few other art journaler's.  I hope you'll swing by and check it out there will be some prizes!

Well that's all for today!


Thanks for stopping by!


Maria

Just Us Girls Challenge

This week is photo inspiration week with Just Us Girls!  Check out those patterns and colors!  I decided to go with the colors and I used a flower.

Here is what I came up with:

I used the Unity kits called Bloom & Simplify and Favorite Sentiments.  

Be sure to swing on by the JUGS DT as well!

Nancy

Vicki

Marisa

Maria

How to play: Please copy and use our graphic on your post. You need to upload your project for this week's challenge to your online blog or to a public photo gallery. Leave a link that goes directly to your project in the Linky Tools form at the bottom of the JUGS post. If you upload to online galleries, please use the keyword or tag, JUGS185. After you post to Linky Tools you may also leave a comment here.

Deadline to be considered for the "Chic of the Week" is 9:00 PM EST on Thursday, April 25th. The  Linky Tools form will close at that time. Our top pick, "Chic of the Week", will be announced on the following Friday morning. Thanks for playing with us this week!

That's all for now!

Till next week!

Maria

FWF / Art Journal Friday!

ART JOURNAL FRIDAY!

It's Friday and time for Friends with Flair!  And oh yes I'm back with another journal layout!  I have been LOVING it and it's become my Friday thing using my Unity stamps!  

Before we get to today's project I have to share something I did last weekend!  I took 2 classes with THE TIM HOLTZ!  It was amazing!  So very cool to meet him and Mario in person.  They are the two nicest, down to earth people!  He is just as assume teaching in person as you see in the videos.

So this week I played along with Tim's April tag.  You know this year he's doing the 12 tags of 2013, one tag each month instead of the 12 tags of Christmas!  Cool idea, although I think I will miss those 12 days in December when he posted a new tag.  I love making tags since they are small like making cards ( I started as a cardmaker)  but then I end up with all these tags and just make a pile of them somewhere.  So this time I made my tag and wanted to do something with it.  

First off here is my tag based on Tim's April Tag:

I wanted to share this view with you to show how the wings pop up.  I used basic acetate for my butterfly embossed with black soot distress embossing powder.  I distressed using distress paints on the metal pieces and the letter M is a plastic piece.  My background is using distress paints. 

So then I decided to take the tag and use it in my journal.  

I think it came out pretty good, I was happy with it.  The lettering on the right is from the lost and found Tim Holtz paper stash and the small letters around in circles is from Tim's new Remant Rubs, which are fabulous!  They rub on so easy it's amazing! 

The butterfly is from the Unity itty bitty called Journey Like No other and the script is called SHE Script.  The background is filled using distress paints and even some Dylusions sprays.  As I was creating the tag and then the journal I took a few pictures of the products and colors I used and put them in a little slide show.  In the beginning you will see I show 2 distressed tags, that's what I started with and picked one to use.

If you have any questions just let me know.  I love all the kind comments I get regarding my journal pages it's so wonderful and encouraging so I thank you!

Next Friday is the day of my Art Journal Blog Hop! We have some fun folks lined up and it's gong to be a blast!  I will still post for FWF but it will be part of a blog hop which I hope you will hop along with. It's going to be awesome with PRIZES to be had!!!

That's all for this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Maria

Ranger April Color Palette Challenge!

This month I'm participating in the Ranger Color Palette challenge.  With it being Earth Day the color palette is Earthy tones.  So I pulled out some greens, yellows, browns and got going on a 6 x 12. canvas.

I took a few pictures of some of my steps to share.

1. I took some paper from Tim Holtz Lost and Found 12 x 12 paper stash and adhered it to the canvas for my background.

2. I used Distress Inks in rusty hinge and peeled paint.  I distressed the edges and the paper a bit using blending foam.  I used a Dylusions stencil - Luscious Leaves for the leaves on the edges.

3. Next I took the stencil I created from the Caged Bird die and did some stenciling using distress inks.   I used some spiced marmalade and mowed lawn.

I created the stencil using stencil sheets I picked up at Michael's made by Plaid.   These are great because it is a heavy plastic like a stencil should be and now I can use it over and over again.

4. I used stamps from the stamp set Boundless Flight in my background with some distress inks.

5. Using paper from the Lost & Found paper stash I used the caged bird die to cut the cage and bird out. .  To them I stained them a bit with Aged Mahogany stain.  Stamped on it with some black soot and stamps.

6.  I used the Sizzlits Decorative Strip die called Stacked Artful Words to cut out the saying "enjoy the journey" again I used Lost & Found paper.  I then distressed the words a bit with inks.

7. Now I pulled out my Tattered Florals die to cut some flowers.  I cut some using the Melange Tissue Wrap and Lost & Found papers.  Once cut I distressed all of them with distress inks.

8. I arranged all the flowers using the cardstock into an arrangement, used a brad to hold together and hot glued them in the corner.

9.  I used the inked tissue paper florals "inside" the birdcage.  I hot glued the birdcage to the canvas and added the bird.

10.  Finally I trimmed the edges using Black Soot distress ink.


Here is my finished product:

Close up of the top part:

Close up of the flowers:

I really enjoyed making this canvas and I'm totally going to hang it up.  Thanks Ranger for a great challenge!!

Till later!

Maria