Dream, Hope, Laugh

Hi everyone... o.k. I'm doing the happy dance because I am now part of the Creative Embellishment design team. So excited to be creating with this amazing group of ladies and super excited about utilizing their products in my artwork. This months photo inspiration is .......with a twist, add paint somewhere on your project.

I was so inspired by this photo, first off I loved the bold colors, and the texture of the wall and surroundings really grabbed me. So here is my interpretation of it: 

I started by using modeling paste through a my brick stencil for texture and then used Lindys Stamp Gang sprays in Witches Potion Purple & Curiorseur Chartreuse. The Ivy Spray Chipboard  pieces were sprayed with Bells of Ireland Green and edged with Chipped Sapphire DI. Small rosettes were sprayed with assorted purple shades and added to the ivy sprays. 

For my title I used word sets from Creative Embellishments and painted then with Crushed Grape Dylusion paint.  

I hope you decide to create with us this month. Be sure you use our photo as inspiration and add some paint on there somewhere, then link up your project for a possibility of winning some beautiful product from Creative Embellishments.  Be sure to drop by our Creative Embellishment website for some amazing inspiration from the rest of the team...xoxo Toni

The following CE items were used on this layouts

Ivy Spray Flourish

Happy Word Set

Dream Word Set

I am entering this piece in the following challenges:
That Craft Place Challenge Blog - Mixed Media Anything Goes

"It's Bittersweet"

This month at Anything But a Card our theme is "Celebration".  It's our 50th challenge and our last!!!

For my design team contribution I created my celebration tag... "A Bittersweet Chocolate Celebration" 

My little girl is dreaming of chocolate, kind of like what I do often... I have a really bad sweet tooth. The stamped images are from the Fairy Sweets collection from Oxford Impressions. 

The tag was distressed with Spun Sugar and Aged Mahogony DI, edges were distressed with Walnut Di. Glossy Accents was applied to the frosting area on cupcake and seed beads and Diamond Dust was added for sprinkles of course... 

I hope you will come and "CELEBRATE"  our last challenge at Anything But A Card. This has been such a fun experience. And as my tag reflects... it's bittersweet...The friends I have met mean so much to me. Let me thank Susan personally for all your hard work and being the curator for Anything But A Card. I have loved every minute ! xoxo Toni  

Here are some of my favorite projects made for past challenges. Hope you enjoy:

"Celestial"

"Friendship"

"Fools Gold" 

"Out and About" - Garden 

Inspiration Using Chipboard

 Hi everyone...This month at Unruly Paper Arts our theme is "Chip off the old block". Yes... we are focused on Chipboard,  specialty papers such as corrugated cardboard and different ways to utilize them in your art. Chipboard has always been something I have loved to incorporate in my scrapbooking. And now it's more popular than ever to use it in your altered art pieces and mixed media. It provides you with a 3D effect, as well as the chunky texture to your pieces.

What exactly is it. Well it's usually recycled paper it's pressed fiber thick paper. Used on the back of notebooks and is sturdy enough to handle sanding, painting, inking, cover with paper, modeling paste.

In scrapbooking you will for the most part get packages of chipboard pieces that are letters, numbers, shapes etc. and sometimes you end up with an assortment of odds and ends and you don't know what to do with them... DON'T THROW THEM AWAY !!!

I have boxes and boxes of leftover pieces. I seperate them by letters, shapes, numbers etc. These pieces I can collage together for other projects, covering them in gesso and then painting or glittering will give them a new look. 

The letters above obviously were from different sets but can be used all together to create something fun and whimsical. The next few photos I will take each letter and apply a different technique to give ideas of different products to use on them to breath new life into those old chippies. 

Apply modeling paste with stencil to provide texture. Once dry, apply paints, inks or mists to give you a new wanted color. 

The next one I wanted to have a glossy sheen to it. Using 3 coats of UTEE provides that pretty look. 

No project is complete without a little glitter and that is just want this chipboard piece needed for a facelift. 

This piece was sprayed with Lindys and then a nice thick coat of Distress Crackle Paint was given to add that old vintage look. The last two letters I applied chalkboard paint and chalk to decorate, the next one I added sand modeling paste for texture, and the last letter I simply embossed a stamp on the top of my letter. 

Time to go dust off those old chipboard pieces and find a new home for them on a beautiful masterpiece created by you. I hope this has inspired you. For more wonderful ideas and techniques be sure to check out Unruly's blog ALL month long for designer to inspire you with their chipboard makeovers. Happy August !!! xoxo Toni

Boys Will Be Boys

Hi there everyone... Happy August and we are on to a new thene for our RAQ (Readers Art Quest) this month at Unruly Paper Arts... it is "Manly". Yes, it's time to create something for the boys. 

My design team contribution is called "Boys will be boys" and I chose to use the backside of a canvas for my project. 

First up is the outside of the canvas. I added dictionary papers and tissue paper and applied it to the canvas. Then using a stencil I used Art Basics Graphite Texture Paste and allowed to completely dry. 

The graphite texture paste has a beautiful color with bits of shimmer in it. 

 Once everything was dry I then started spraying with my Lindys  Moonshadow sprays... using Bucaneer Bay Blue, Crows Nest Copper and Tawny Turquoise. I love these moonshadow sprays because they provide such a beautiful vintage color to your projects. Here is a photo of the completed backside of the canvas... Very simple but effective. 

On to the inside of the canvas... so much fun looking for object to be placed in the inside. The outside frame was stamped with my Andy Skinner Industrial Set Stamps.. one of my most favorite and versatile stamps.  I used the peeled paint stamp and applied it with black Archival Ink. 

Once the canvas was stamped all over I applied a nice coat of DecoArt Quinacridone Gold and Transparent Red Iron Oxide randomly over the canvas. This gave it an aged to perfection look. Lots of warm texture and color. The Chipboard piece was covered with Texture Paste White Sand and once dried I applied Art Basics Mica in Copper and Gold. 

Now it's time to add my fun embellies. I found the shaving brush at a Dollar Store and covered it with SnowTex. Filled the vial jars with seed beads and applied a coat of gel medium and then Rock Candy Crackle paint to give it a broken glass look. All the other embellishments were glued down using E6000 glue and my boys... well they are T!m Holtz Ideology Found Relatives... I distressed the edges and ran Black Soot DI around it and applied it to the back of the canvas. 

For the final touch I took little metal feet and glued them in place on the bottom of the canvas and  it's done... I hope you were inspired and hope you will come and create with us this month at Unruly. Have a spectacular month.   TAA TAA for now... xoxo Toni

This piece is being entered into the following wonderful challenges: 

That Craft Place Challenge  - Anything Goes

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes

Crafting By Design - Anything Goes