That's A Wrap

Merry Christmas everyone, I'm up on the blog today for Art Anthology Design Team to inspire you with some mixed media gift tags.

My Christmas color theme I chose this year is hues of aquas, teals, chocolate and golds, therefore all my packages nestled under the tree are in coordinating colors. 

I first began by using Sizzix tag diecut to create my tags and then began layering wonderful Mud texture paste with gorgeous Art Anthology's Colorations Sprays.  Below is  a Snapguide tutorial for step x step process and a full list of supplies I used. 

The chipboard pieces I used are a combination of Dusty Attic and Blue Fern and they were embossed with assorted Lindys embossing powders in golds, patina's, and champagne colors. Enhanced with a bit of Stickles for a added bit of bling here and there. 

When making these tags this gives you the opportunity to use up those small bits of paper you have for layering effect on your tags. I paid special attention not to make these tags too chunky as these were going to the packages. 

The tags added a little bit of creativity to each package and I have to admit they look so pretty. Give this a try and send off a little piece of art with each gift given this Christmas season. Hope this has inspired you and wishing you nothing but sparkle and magic this Christmas holiday. xoxo Toni

Enjoy the following Snapguide Tutorial for detailed process for the tags. 

This project is entered into the following creative challenge: 

Mixed Media World - Winter Wonderland

Check out How to Get Creative With Christmas Tags by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

It's Beginning to Smell Alot Like Christmas.... Salt Dough Cookie Ornaments

It's my turn today for Art Anthology's Design Team project and I've been baking up some magic in the kitchen. 

It's that time of year when eveything is glistening, Christmas music is playing, and the smel of cookies fills your home. Today I have a fun and easy project that the chidren can particiate in preparation for the holidays. We are going to make salt dough Christmas cookie ornaments and decorate them using Art Anthology's Minx Shimmering Inks and Dimensional paints. 

My Christmas tree in my kitchen is decorated with all things from the kitchen, os I knew these ornaments would be perfect for the tree. Super easy, last for a ife time and you won't gain any extra holiday weight from them... (lol... their not edible). 

Using very simple ingredients that we all have in our kitchen and with help from some glitter and glam and gorgeous products from Art Anthology, these ornaments turn out really cute. 

Hope this has provided some inspiration for a new idea for Christmas ornaments, stop by Art Anthology's blog for more wonderful ideas and ways to use their products. 

Enjoy the short YouTube video displaying more of the cookies and be sure to check out my Snapguide tutorial below for a step x step process.  Warm wishes xoxo Toni

Check out How to Make Salt Dough Christmas Cookie Ornaments. by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

Thankful For You Altered Frame

Happy Thanksgiving y'all. Hope everyone is having a wonderful month. Today I'm here to share a frame I made featuring my sweet baby boy, Bubba. 

 I was able to transform some $1.00 store foliage into a pretty fall frame for my desk. I achieved some pretty texture utilizing seed bead, texture paste, and dimensional paints from Art Anthology. 

I applied clear gesso to prime the acrylic butterflies and then inked them with Art Anthology's Minx Shimmering Inks. 

The leaves in the corner were colored also with the Minx and then embossed 3 times with Ultra Embossing Enamel which provided a glass-like effect... So pretty. From a broken down frame to a new addition for my decor, this project was messy, fun, and effective. Hope you have been inspired. And for your enjoyment, feel free to grab yourself a cup of hot cider sit back and relax while you view my Snapguide tutorial below. For a complete product listing, please visit Art Anthology's Blog HERE . 

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving !

I am entering this project in the following wonderfully creative challenges: 

Frilly and Funky - Bountiful Harvest 

Love To Create- Anything Mixed Media

Check out How to Create Mixed Media Frame by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

A Spook-tacular Altered Bottle

Hello to all my crafty friends. Its almost that day, you know when the ghosts and goblins come out to play. I have for you another project I created to decorate my home with. I purchased this bottle as well as long taper candles at $1.00 store earlier this year and knew I would be doing some altering. So here we go.

Melting the candle over the bottle actually takes me back to my high school days  (yep… in the 70’s) where that technique was really popular. Masking off a portion of the bottle to expose the inside and then dripping my candle over the bottle, I also mixed Art Anthology Mud with some crafting sand for yummy texture and applied randomly to sections of the bottle. Once dry,  I covered it with black gesso. 

The bottle is filled with tiny little bones, and skulls from a necklace (hence …. leftovers). Then it was time to get out my Art Anthology paints . Using Metal Effects in Silver, Velvet Paints  in Limeaid, Mardi Gras & Terracotta I added several coats dry brushing the tops of the wax on the bottle. 

To finish off the bottle, I had these wood tags, stamped “Leftover” in black Stazon and distressed the edges with Distressed Ink in Black Soot. Attached with black hemp cord and some metal keys.

For a complete list of Art Anthology products used, please visit Art Anthology blog  HERE. 

For your viewing I have also included a snapguide tutorial below for a step x step process. Wishing you a Spook-tacular Halloween !!!

I will be entering this piece in the following challenges: 

Frilly and Funky - A Very Vintage Halloween

Mixed Media World - MMW#19 Assemblage/Altered Art

Love To Create - Anything Creative Mixed Media Goes

Rhedds Creative Spirit - Alter It

Check out How to Create a Spook-Tacular Altered Bottle by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

Creating A Creepy Canvas

Happy October everyone, this is the month when the weather turns a bit cooler, it gets darker earlier in the evening and it's time for spooky and eerie projects to be created. Today I'm up on Art Anthology's blog with my design team project and I created a mixed media canvas filled with scary delights.

I started with a 8 x 10 canvas and used the back to utilize the niche  for adding my fun Halloween bottles and embellishments. The frame and outside of the canvas was textured using cheesecloth and dimensional paint from Art Anthology. 

Rock Candy crackle paint was applied to the outside of the bottles and allowed to dry naturally for the beautiful crackes to fill the bottles and jars. For the inside backdrop of the canvas I used Tim Holtz Paper Stash Halloween and splattered some AA Minx Ink for a bloody effect. 

For the sugar in the spoon, Distress Rock Candy glitter was added, and to achieve the spider web look, I allowed hot glue strands to catch on the sides of he canvas. The tubing used is simply some plumbers tubing I got at the $1.00 store. Go grab yourself some old bottles and fix yourself a scary laboratory for part of your Halloween decor. 

I will be entering this piece in the following wonderful challenges: 

Mixed Media World - Things To Alter

Love to Create - Anything Creative - Mixed Media

Frilly and Funky - A Very Vintage Halloween

A Vintage Journey - Make It Spooky

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - October Challenge

For your viewing I have included a snapguide tutorial for more photos and step x step process. 

Check out How to Create a Creepy Canvas by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

Tag Time

Hi to all my crafty friends. It's my turn for inspiration on Art Anthology's blog today. As a new scrapbooker/crafter sometimes your not sure where to start when wanting to create something new… so let’s keep it simple today. Frankly, sometimes when I am going to make a project I have no idea what direction to go in. My creative juices aren’t flowing and I need a way to warm up with my paints. Tags are the perfect outlet for that because they are like little mini canvases. A place to try out new techniques, new products, play around a bit and give you that creative spark that you need to get you going.

Today I’m going to share a simple little tag that I created with luscious colors that remind me of fall. Several different techniques were used on this tag including, embossing, stamping, inking & distressing .

First stamp your image using a waterproof ink such as Archival Ink or Versamark, that way your spray inks won’t cause your stamped image to bleed.

 Here is a photo of my stamped tag, the ink I used and the stamp. 
Next up, take your sprays and make puddles of them on your craft mat and swipe your tag through the colors. It’s amazing the results you get, and every time their different.
Using the edge of your scissors or a distress tool by Ideology, go around the edges of your tag to create some texture.

To add dimension to my tag I stamped another image of the sunflower and cut it out, then colored it with Minx Shimmering Ink, then applied it to the top of the tag with dimensional stickers.
For the final touch I embossed the edges with Ultra Thick Embossing powder in black and added my title. Very simple but a fun way to give my creativity a boost and get me going for my next projects. 

Here are a few more of my tags that I’ve created in the past. I hope this has inspired you to get out some tags and play around with your products. Go wild and get messy with your paints and inks, and grab yourself a cup of tea and enjoy the coolness of fall ! For a complete list of Art Anthology products used, please visit our blog @ http://artanthologyinc.com/blog/?p=13433

Embrace Time

Well summer is now over and we're in the beginning stages of fall and I'm so excited for the cool weather, so for a fond farewell to summer my design team project for Art Anthology features a photo I took at the beach. If you know me as an artist then you know my love of textures, and this layout features many different kinds. From fiber paper, to Art Anthology Stone Effects paint on my chipboard pieces, to lots of yumminess provided by seed beads, seashells, rocks etc.

My background was enhanced with the use of a stencil and Versamark with UTEE for pretty little bubbles. The chipboard pieces had Art Anthology Stone Effects added for sand-like texture. 

The fiber paper was ripped in sections and sprayed with Art Anthology Colorations Spray in Ink Spot. 

Flowers and assorted embellishments finalize this layout... I hope you have enjoyed this and for your viewing I have prepared a Snapguide tutorial below, for a complete list of products used view Art Anthology Blog. Happy Crafting !

Check out How to Provide Pretty Texture to Your Layouts by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

Mixed Media Coasters

Hi everyone... Toni here with a fun project for Art Anthology. These coasters are fun to make for gifts or your home. I purchased these bare coasters from Michaels a while back and decided to alter them to use at home. So here we go....

This set came with 6 coasters so I decided to do 3 different sets with 3 different mixed media techniques. 

The first process was adding Art Anthology's dimensional paints to the base and then collaging tissue paper to the top for texture. Then completing it with some pretty stamped images. 

The second group I used Tim Holtz's tissue wrap for the base and sprayed Art Anthology's Coloration sprays ontop. Them glitter shards were added for a bit of sparkle and texture and finished off the edges wit Distress stain. 

The final group I decided to use the dimensional paints with a crackle technique utilizing old fashion school glue. Then metal embellies and some more stamping was done on the to for interest. All 3 sets were sealed with 2 coats of Glossy Accents. 

For your viewing there is a step x step tutorial below. Hope this has inspired to create something pretty to use in your home as well. Have a wonderful day and happy crafting. For more wonderful inspiration from the other designers please visit Art Anthology's blog and store. 

Check out How to Create Mixed Media Coasters for Your Home by Art Anthology on Snapguide.

Art on the Go

Hi everyone... hope your having a wonderful summertime, and I know many of you are taking beautiful vacations. But, sometimes while your traveling you get that inspiration to get creative and today I have a fun mini art traveling kit that you can make and take with you to get messy with.

Today I'm up on Art Anthology's blog with this recylced mint tin made into a travel art kit. The tin was altered using so many of AA's gorgeous texture paints, seed beads & crackle varnish. 

Shown here is the top and bottom of the can with lots of yummy textures and colors. 

The canvases were created by making an accordian mini album to tuck inside the tin. Each page is prepped with either sticky back canvas, watercolor paper, clear gesso or black gesso all ready for you to get creative on. 

As you can see the album fits nicely inside with room for pen nibs, brushes etc. I hope this has inspired you to alter yourself a tin and get creative with it. Below is a Snapguide tutorial for a step x step process, and for a complete list of products I used please visit Art Anthology's blog. Wishing you safe travels during your vacationing !

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Love to Create - Anything Goes/Mixed Media

Simon Monday Challenge - Try To Contain Yourself 

Mixed Media Monthly - Travel

Rhedds Creative Spirit - Mixed Media Altered

Altered Eclectics - August Anything Goes Altered

Check out How to Create Mixed Media Art Travel Kit by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

Butterfly Kisses

Good morning everyone... hope you are having a beautiful Sunday. Today I have a multiple canvas mixed media piece for Art Anthology.

Using multiple canvases really gives you so many opportunities with your creativity... I was inspired by all the pretty butterflies in my yard recently and thought this would be a fun piece to work on. 

Combined with texture, glitters and gorgeous Art Anthology paints, this canvas came to life. 

I first cut back my top canvas to create an eye. The eyeball was created by using an acrylic piece and painting the under side, then came some stenciling on the canvases using my Mud Texture Paste. Paints and sprays were applied for the base colors. 

The metal pieces were gesso'd and then painted with some pretty Gemstone colors and then lots of seed beads, German glass glitter and sequins were added here and there. 

Get out some canvases and give this technique a shot... so many creative things you can do with them. And while your at it drop by Art Anthology's blog and store for more gorgeous inspiration and products. Below I have provided a Snapguide tutorial for your viewing of my creative process for this project..... Creatively yours, Toni 

                             

Check out How to Create Multiple Canvas Mixed Media Project by Toni Burks-Grijalva on Snapguide.

A Beautiful Day

Hi everyone, it's time to get messy with our Art Anthology paints and art products. It's been extremely hot where I am in Southern California and I needed to work on a project that reminded me of the cool weather, so I chose this photo I took of my daughter in Central Park, New York last winter.

Using AA's gorgeous stencils and applying the Dimensional Velvet paints and adding gold embossing powder really enhances my background paper. Once the stenciled paint was dry I applied Coloration Sprays for shadows and depth. 

I also then embossed my chipboard pieces, portions of the butterflys and matting paper to enhance the layout. 

Layers always add interest to your layouts and you can achieve this simply by adding recycled cardboard to the backs of your photos which provide space underneath to add tags, embellishments, chipboard etc. Distressing the edges of your photos also provides a more vintage worn look. 

Scrapbooking allows you to take a very simple photo and create a wonderful story behind the picture. I hope this has provided some inspiration for your next layout. 

Wishing you a beautiful day and please be sure to drop by Art Anthology's blog with some unbelievable art. Creatively yours, Toni