Snow....Snow.....and more Snow!

Christmas has come and gone.....the leftovers are dwindling down in the fridge, the snow has fallen and been blown away several times....and I'm trying to reorganize my studio. Lots of stuff for the Girl Scouts!!!!

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I had to play a bit to break up the day. This is Graphic 45 papers, lots of layers of Distress Inks, some stamping, and a Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint over the whole lid of a box. Very Vintage looking!!!!

My son and his wife. Parents of the 2 youngest grandkids. Finally got a good picture of them. Got one last year of my daughter and her husband. You can't have everything all the time.

My oldest Michelle got an BumpIt for Christmas as a gag gift. Erin has one in her hair and is preparing her Aunt Michelle's hair for another one. Fun!!! You should have seen the end results.....Michelle would kill me!!!!!!!

Working on the February Metal class with the wooden box. Should be fun.

Stay warm, and if you have 60 degree weather (Lisa), I envy you...a LOT!!!!!

Metal and Crackle Paint

We spent most of the day in Springfield again, only this time we were watching U10 Traveling Girls Soccer. Go BLAZE!!!

A Beautiful Day!

Then I came home and had an epiphany of using Tim's Deer on Mocha Metal stamped on the back and embossed. I spritzed with Perfect Pearls and rubbed some Champaign Glitz into the debossed areas. Hard to see here.

Gave it a try.....it is on a canvas with 2 shades of Crackle Paint and trees stamped with Adirondack Bottle Green.

Crackled and Glitzed the stars and added a dew drop.

Pretty simple. Simple is good sometimes.

A Simple Card

For some reason, Tim's deer has been calling for my attention lately. It is really beautiful with the flourishes through it. And yes, it's this bright. If you know this Bo Bunny Beautiful Life paper...the colors are very true here. You get this with layers and layers of ink on a light background.

I took manila paper and added Distress Inks to it. Stamped and embossed with Verdigris Antiquities. Then added Distress Rock Candy Crackle. That's why the antlers are so vibrant. The Crackle makes the colors really gorgeous.

I used the manila paper again for the sunset background. Many, many colors and layers. Then Tim's new Fabulous Flourish (my new ultimate accent!) Had to add the Flower and Leaves....it just still needed something.

The Film Strip was a perfect grounding for the deer and I used the little Paper Clips from Idea-ology to attach.

Some punched out stars with Suze's Champagne Glitz Stickles, a ribbon and we're done.

Just a simple card for a fun experience. I am sooooo easily amused!

Projects Are Calling Me

Margaret from Scrapbook Friend'z gave me a scroll coaster book and some new mini pieces from Maya Road and sent me out the door Friday to create a store sample. Houses, snowflakes, and Christmas, oh my!

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Tim Holtz pine trees in the background. And Distress Rock Candy Stickles on the snowflakes. Hard to see here, but great in person. And layers of Distress Inks on all the chipboard.

If you know me and Row Houses....that's what got me started!!! Oh, boy! Here is the cover. Waiting on some papers.....not a good waiter.

I've been working on it in between the GK's here this weekend and painting the windows.

All's going well today with the last stage. So I'm happily crafting away doing ART in the Studio....with the drill and saws going full blast downstairs.

Update later....OH! And the new papers have arrived at Prairie Art Stamps in Springfield, Il. from Graphic 45!!!

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GO GET THEM!

Want to Rock with Tim????

Have not been a good blogger today, but I do have a great place for you to go for a wonderful video!!!

Jump on over to Tim's Place and see the new video on Rock Candy Distress Stickles and Crackle Paint.

You won't be sorry and you will be hooked!!! I've used them both on the 2 flowers I posted here and they are fantastic.

Two totally different looks to them.

Go, what are you waiting for????

Rock Candy Crackle+GrungePaper=Fun

Is this a cool effect or what?????

This is Grungepaper cut with the Cuttlebug Astericks die-cut. I added Distress Ink. Stamped. Then coated with Tim's great new Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

Add a brad and its the cutest little 1 1/2 inch flower you ever saw!

I'm so easily amused. My husband will tell you....sometimes he has no idea why something tickles me. Comes from having been poor as a kid. We had to make our own fun....I guess.

Anyway...had to share this. I think it should go on something for a class somewhere. Maybe an ATC. I think I've said that before.

Have a great weekend...and one other little note...check out the new addition to Tim's Blog roll. OMG! I almost fainted!

Got 3 new sets of Tim's stamps. Maybe tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!

Canvas Collage

I finally got a chance to use some of my new Paper Whimsy images on a canvas I had crackled and distress embossed earlier. Really love these images! They are truly beautiful!!! Grungeboard, buttons, beads,and a key add some dimension. Too much fun.

Maya Road Rage Book

This is the top page of my Maya Road Rage book. Can't see all the rest of the pages, but the top is probably the best.
The bird and lighter colored ribbons are Maya Road. I used Crackle Paint on the bird, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany. The word stamp is Hampton Art and the flourish is Hero Arts. I LOVE the paper by MME-Bohemia. The little chipboard piece on the layer underneath is from Everlasting Keepsakes. And NO distress inks here, can you believe it?!?!?!?

Mini Misters Holder

DH made me a holder for my Mini Misters ! Very simple, according to him and pretty crude, but it works for me. He used the drill press for the holes and I had to add some Crackle Paint and embossed metal to the sides. Getting ready for classes, and tomorrow is Wendy's classes in Bloomington. Will be great fun! Hope to see some of you there....you should not miss these!!!

Have a great day...and create!

Julie van Oosten Owl in 2008!

This little owl arrived from Julie van Oosten in Australia the other day. He or she is from the Collections chipboard and comes in a sheet with punch out pieces to paint or alter however you like. Here I used metal tape and embossed 3 pieces, and Crackle Paint on some of the other sections, Spiced Marmalade, Black Soot and Walnut Stain from Tim Holtz's line. REALLY cool stuff! Add some brads, a few stamps by Great Impressions and Imagine That, some Distress Ink, gel pens, and earrings...I don't know why....she looked like an owl with attitude and needed a little bling...and she's ready to go. An objet d'art!

Another Mini Canvas

Here is what I played with today. Another 3x3 canvas with Spiced Marmalade Crackle Paint.(I will forever remember Tim making Rachel Greig say "marmalade" every time I use that stuff!) Stamps and vintage pictures are from Julie van Oosten's Collections. The wire hanger is just some wire I twisted and stuck in the side of the frame. The crackle has brown acrylic paint rubbed into it as I again had spots fall off my canvas. Don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I ended up really liking the affect of the paint. I think it's the gesso on the stretched canvas giving me the trouble.

So, I primed my board canvas, shown underneath, with black acrylic and then used the ever popular Peeled Paint over that. And it did not come off!!! Love it! Yea!!! Haven't figured out what to put on that canvas, just like looking at the crackle for awhile....sick person that I am.... and so easily amused.

MiniCanvas Collage

Got to play for awhile today. This is what I accomplished for the entire afternoon....along with buying 5 songs with my new iTune card! (Had to call the grandkid twice, but I made it!)
This is a Collections vintage photo. This little 3x3 inch stretched canvas was painted with Crackle paint and stamped with the wings stamp from Stampers Anonymous when dry. Glossy accents adheres the little girl to canvas. I used Adirondack acrylics paint to add dimension and a miniMARKS rub-on at the bottom. Metal accents and ribbons top it off. Fun time!

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Today is my oldest daughter, Michelle's Bday! And we did Christmas, too, since we have people in the service sector that have to work on Christmas Eve. Here I am with the 3 oldest grandkids in my studio CREATING!!! We used Grundgeboard, Crackle Paints, flowers, brads and painted wood boxes, frames and a mini clipboard. Alex LOVED the Crackle paint, especially when he finally got to hit it with the heat tool!

We have our good duds covered with our paint shirts so we don't get in trouble with the mom's. Emma, the 3yr old, has already done her "Aut Prawject" and is back with Dora the Mermaid doll. Erin is the master of dots with paint and Brit has the designing eye for color and simplicity. We had a GREAT time and they were Nana's little angels all day!

Bird on Canvas

Crackle paint on Maya Road bird and branch. I used Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, and Peeled Paint for this project. The stamp is See D's page corners. Distress Embossing powder Vintage Photo is used on the edges. Somewhat simple projects take me more time than the ones with gobs of things on them. Hope you like this...what do you think...is simple much harder to do?

All Crackled out for the day!

Here are just a few of the things I crackled late last night. Still thinking about what to put on canvas, it's way too cool to cover up!!! Will maybe just look at it for awhile first....and enjoy...as no one else could! HA! The colors are not very true, no matter what I did, the Mahogany Crackle Paint looked burnt orange. But those of you who know the true colors will understand. The green star looks gold...not understanding this at all...Rachel where are you?!??! The Faded Jeans crackle REALLY looks faded! Thought I'd take it with some daylight today, but there is nothing but sheets of rain coming down...absolutely no sun today!

Be sure to check out Tim's blog...it's a gift in unto itself!!!!

Tim Holtz Blog!!! Check it out!

OK, we all know Tim is the best, but he's even outdone himself here. His 12 days of Christmas is gonna send the artists out there into cardiac arrest. It is a wonderful gift to his followers, but that's just t!m. Gotta love him.
http://timholtz.typepad.com/

Puzzle Swap

Ok Girls! Got my 4 puzzle pieces done. Hope they meet the requirements for all of you. They were sure fun to work with. I had no idea what to expect. For some reason I thought they would be a lot smaller, but very glad they were not! We used Urban Couture by Basic Grey. Vintage children were the theme. Here, of course, I used Collections vintage pics.The sheet of paper I used had the big beautiful flowers that I used as my background and Gaby had the great idea to paint over them for backgrounds. It worked out well since the puzzle is very thick. I used some of the Crackle Paint from Tim Holtz for the leaves. (I know leaves aren't really blue, but I had to work that into the color scheme.) . Thanks for the invite to this swap, and I'll try to figure out how to mail them next week.....too much food and family shopping right now!
Have a great weekend!!!!

Distress Crackle Paint

Here is my attempt at Tim's new Crackle Paint. It took me a bit to get it on the little letters...no fault of the paint...and you must put it on thick. One other thing...let it dry!!!! Coming from one who does not WAIT well, that's asking a lot, but it's well worth it. Great stuff!!! Hope you can see all the little cracks in the small picture. I used Aged Mahogony and Peeled Paint.