May Journal Page - 12 Tags of 2013

I'm finally getting around to completing my May page for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013 challenge. It's not really a challenge, just a fun thing to do every month. Be sure to hop over to Tim's blog to see his awesome tag that inspired me to make my journal page this month. Every month you learn something new and it a great way to get your creative juices flowing. Tim's creating his signature #8 tags and I have challenged myself to create journal pages that will be bound at the end of the year.

If you'd like to review, here are my pages I've done so far this year. January, February, March and April.

And here's a little secret. I actually knew what Tim was going to do for his May tag before the blogosphere did because he taught us this technique at Ranger University and then told us it was going to be May's tag. He calls this technique Distress Stain Remnant Rub Resist.


Okay, here's my page this month...

Now, this one really looks like an art journal page. I'm starting to loosen up a bit, thanks to the inspiring Dyan Reaveley.

My pages are done on Bristol, vellum surface, 100 lb. by Strathmore. Like Tim, I began with the Remnant Rubs elements and started scraping them off randomly onto the page.

I opted for yellows, oranges and reds for my background, so I used the following Distress Stains: Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey and Barn Door. Just squeeze out some blobs onto your non-stick craft sheet and then swipe your paper into them until you have good coverage. I spritzed water on mine to help the colors spread. After it was dry, I did the good old spritz and flick technique with water and sopped up the spots with a paper towel. Click on the photo for a close-up.

I stamped these BIG numbers from Tim's Numeric CMS161 set and stamped them randomly with Black Archival ink. 

Tim explains in his post how you can reveal more of the rub-ons after you've stamped over them. Or you can opt for a layered look instead. Here I rubbed away some of the archival black ink while it was pretty wet to reveal more of this flourish rub-on. You have to be careful with this step and only wipe away in the stamped area, not beyond it. Otherwise, you're going to get some black streaks and that's just not pretty.

My photo sort of skips past a step here, but before I did this ticket strip I stamped images from the Papillon stamp set with archival black ink. I let all of this images alone as a top layer. No wiping.

Back to the ticket strip. I cut a piece of red Kraft Core cardstock from Tim's Mini Filmstrip and Tickets die (Sizzix Alterations) and sanded away the some of the surface to reveal the kraft core, then stamped the ticket image with Archival Black ink, and then inked the edges with Walnut Stain. 

I chose the tickets rather than the clear filmstrip tape that Tim used because my page is already filled with so much black the filmstrip got lost. Plus remember, the size of my page is larger than a tag, so proportion is a factor when designing. These tickets were a great alternative.

And speaking of proportion, I opted for a clear oval fragment over the new enamel tags (even though I love those guys) and simply added a backing to it so it wasn't transparent. I used Latte alcohol ink on my fragment, then used Glossy Accents to adhere it to the cream cardstock. After it dried well, I trimmed and sanded any imperfections from the cardstock.

And, of course, rub-ons worked splendidly on the plastic fragment. To finish this piece, I dabbed some Walnut Stain Distress Paint on the edges for an aged effect.

I like how you can see the shadow of the rub-ons. Gives some added dimension. I adhered this to the ticket strip with some Glossy Accents and a copper brad.

To help my Word Band stand out a little better, I rubbed some Picket Fence Distress Paint over the whole thing, waited just a few seconds, then with a clean cloth wiped away the paint from the raised area. Now the white paint is highlighting just the words.

I just love all the layers and dimension this technique creates. I hope you give it a try yourself and see how much fun and easy it is.

Thanks for stopping in today. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

EP Blog Post - Secret Garden Friendship Card

First off, thanks for the well wishes from my surgery last week. I am doing FANtastic! Recovery has been smooth-going and although it's hard for me to take it easy, I promise I'm taking all of your advice and not pushing it too quickly too soon. Thank you.

I'm over at the eclectic Paperie blog today with a big, beautiful card made with Graphic 45's Secret Garden papers in combination with some Alterations dies from Tim Holtz. Be sure to hop over there and check out all the details. And, of course, you can find all of the great products I used in the eP store. Thanks in advance for looking. Have a fabulous Monday!

e-Team Picks Challenge - Gel Medium

Hey, I'm back after a short break. Had a little hiccup in my usual schedule due to some girly surgery junk I had done this past Monday. All is well and I'm recovering nicely here at home with a shiny clean uterus and one less ovary and set of fallopian tubes. (I know, TMI, right?)  I've been "trying" to take it easy, but after reading so many creative blogs and watching lots of YouTube videos, I got so antsy I had to get up and do SOMETHING creative.

So I decided to start with a challenge. eclectic Paperie’s eTeam Picks Challenge. The eTeam Picks Challenge is held on the third Thursday of each month and each challenge is an opportunity for you to be inspired by one of our eTeam’s creations. This week it’s Julie who is challenging us to use Gel Medium in a project. Be sure to hop over there and check out her gel medium photo transfer technique on her art journal page. She's even got a video to show you how it's done. 

You're invited to share your work too, and to be entered into our challenge prize drawing of $15 in the eP Store! Keep reading below for more details on that.

I also did an art journal page in my Dylusions journal. Here's a look...

I didn't want to push it, so I did a single page this time.

I remembered my first art journal page and how the multi-medium I used turned out a pretty nice resist effect, so I thought "why not use the medium on a stencil and see what happens?" So I grabbed my new Vintage Lace Mask by Christy Tomlinson and dabbed matte medium over it on several areas of my page.

Looks like a mess here, but I used another stencil and started layering paints mixed with the medium.

More layering with just the medium. Not sure where this was going. Just experimenting. That's what it's all about.

Then the fun part of spraying with Dylusions inks. I stuck with yellows, oranges and reds.

I wasn't happy with how muddy the painted areas looked in the upper right and lower left, but I really loved the rest of it. The medium created a nice resist, but not a complete one. Interesting...

I glued down some pieces of a large paper doily to hide those areas I didn't like. 

Then I toned down the bright white doilies by stamping some script using Sepia Archival ink.

Then to tone it down a little more, I rubbed pink Gelato over the doilies and spread it with my finger. Much better.

Then I went a little stamp crazy. The large butterfly has some sheen to it...

because I stamped one buttefuly with Perfect Medium and then dusted it with Copper Perfect Pearls. (another technique from Ranger University) Then after misting with water and letting it dry, I stamped another butterfly offset slightly with a burgundy archival ink.

I added some rub-ons in blacks and whites as an added accent here and there.

I like how you can hardly tell there is a doily here. A messy, but interesting effect.

Lots of layered goodness here. Wendy Vecchi's and Tim Holtz's stamps always work so nicely together.

I was happy I got up for a little while and had some fun. Now it's your turn. Wanna play along?

Here are a few things to keep in mind for this challenge…

• You do not have to use products sold in the eP store…but we do love it when you do!

• Share a direct link to your creation, not just your blog, using the Linky Tools feature at the end of the eP post.  If for any reason the Linky Tools doesn’t cooperate, please add a link in the Comments section of their blog.

• When uploading to any online galleries, please use any of the following keywords; eP, eclectic Paperie or eTeam Pick Challenge.  Link your creations to the eP blog.

• If you’d like to be considered as one of our featured projects and be entered into our prize drawing, please be sure to add your link no later than 6pm EST on May 30th. They’ll announce the winner/featured project that evening. HAVE FUN!

Mother's Day Card with French Country

Mom and I had a great afternoon yesterday, celebrating Mother's Day a little early. We met for lunch in quaint Cocoa Village (Cocoa, Florida) at one of our favorite restaurants Cafe Margaux. A perfect sunny day to eat outdoors, then do a little antique shopping afterwards.

Here we are enjoying lunch...

I made this special card for her along with a mini album I also created in her honor...

Made with Graphic 45's beautiful French Country papers, cardstock stickers, ribbon, and flower cardstock cut-outs.

I adore the entire French Country line. It's right up my alley with all it's vintage fruit and floral images, postage stamps, tags, and trims. You can't go wrong here.

Here I've layered up three of the cardstock cut-out flowers, curled and inked their edges, then added a bow using the printed twill ribbon, a black button and some red waxy twine.

This tag is a large sticker from the French Country cardstock sticker sheet. I stamped the sentiment with Archival Black ink and popped a pretty stud over the tag's hole.

This little queen bee is also a sticker. I layered it onto a large black button for added dimension.

The inside of the card should be pretty too, don't you think? So more stickers (borders) and pretty French Country paper. Mom loved the card. She gets only the very best cards!

As for antiquing after lunch...

Can you tell I'm dreaming up altered projects? 

With the exception of the Fire King bowls on the left, which my mom surprised me with. I had been oohing and ahhing over them in the shop when we first arrived and later she snuck off and paid for them and had the shop owner wrap and bag them up for me. Then when I checked out, the lady added my items to the bag. I didn't open my things until I got home, and there they were! (I thought my bags felt a little heavy.) Of course, I called Mom right away and thanked her, but asked her why she did such a nice thing. It was Mother's Day after. Her day. And she said, "Well, you're a mom too, and it's your anniversary, and you are always so thoughtful, so I wanted to do something nice for you too."

Ahhhhhh.... I love my mom.

I hope you all have a fantastic Mother's Day out there.

Oh, and by the way, it WAS my anniversary yesterday, May 9th.  21 years and counting with my hubby and best friend Paul.

May Kit of the Month - "For Always"

My kit of the month club pages for May feature Close To My Heart's beautiful "For Always" paper packet. Classic black and white designs with a neutral Whisper gray background and a pop of Ruby red accents, these pages would be great for any occasion from wedding to anniversary and more.

Glitter rimmed buttons, Cricut cuts and silver shimmer trim. (adhesive backed glitter tape)

A few doilies help embellish the pages.

Stamped images in Ruby and Black.

These pretty images are from the stamp set in the "For Always" Workshop on the Go.

The Kit of the Month Club always includes two layouts like you see here, plus cutting directions and detail photos for assembly. Kits are as low as $20 per month for 12 months, but I offer several different price ranges for a shorter commitment. Contact me at AnnetteGreen@me.com for more info.

Have a wonderful day!

My First Art Journal Pages

What an adjustment for me - Art Journaling. Using bright colors, not over-thinking it, not finishing it in one sitting. All foreign ideas to me. But you know what? I really enjoyed it! The part I really REALLY liked was not worrying about finishing it in one sitting. It's a mood thing for me, as I am guessing it is for most art journalers. I started putting some color down and moving fast so I didn't think too much. I tore tissue wrap and slapped it down! I grabbed Dylusions sprays and some stencils! Rub-ons were next! Then stamping! I was on a roll. But then, something told me it was time to stop. Step away. And I did.

Then tonight, a few days later, I was in the right frame of mind again and wanted to add more. Stamping positive phrases and cutting them out was what I had in mind. I wanted this first spread to be motivating. I wanted it to talk to me when I open my journal each time without a plan, or with a slight fear of where to begin, and I wanted it to reassure me.

So here it is...

(please click on the photo for a larger view)

There are several techniques that I learned at Ranger University here. So let me share...

On the journal page I tried out Dyan Reaveley's "Dylusions Ghosting" technique. I misted the page with water, sprayed several Dylusions colors and allowed them to settle and blotted the excess. I took a small plastic cup and dipped the rim in water and pressed it onto the page. I let that activate the inks, then blotted the excess to expose the ghosted circles you see here.

Here the technique is "Building Layers" and follows the same basic idea as above. I first laid down a stencil on this page and sprayed water first then the pinks and oranges. I lifted the stencil (and pressed it down on the other page which you'll see in a sec), blotted the excess, heat set it, then sprayed the yellow. Blotted again. If you know Dyan and her kitchen roll, you know it's an essential tool.

Because the stencil from above was still wet, when I laid it down onto another area it created a watermark effect in the colors on my page.

Here was a happy accident. I had used Studio Multi-Medium (before the pink layer) to adhere the tissue wrap to the page, then I swiped it sloppily over the top of the tissue wrap as a sealer. When I went to spray and pink, the dried multi-medium created a cool resist effect. I would like to think I created this technique, but I'm feeling pretty sure it's been discovered before now.

I love how there is so much depth and layering on the tissue wrap. You see some colors coming through from underneath, and other colors are on top.

When learning about the properties of different types of inks, sprays and stains, we got a better understanding of what type to use in different situations. For example, the hand is stamped with Archival Ink to ensure it didn't react with the water based inks below it and to allow more layering over the top without bleed.

For the word strips on my pages, I used a technique Tim Holtz taught us called "Distress Paint Stamped Resist." I used Tim's "Way With Words" stamp set and rubbed Picket Fence Distress Paint on them and stamped the phrases on several manila tags. I heat set it, then rubbed over the top with several Distress Stains.

I gave it a generous spritzing of water and let the colors flow and run together.

Once the tag was completely dry, I stamped the same phrases slightly offset using Archival Black ink. Then I cut around the phrases and stuck them all around my journal pages.

I inked the edges of each cut-out phrase with Vintage Photo to help them pop. I knew I could use a water based ink like Distress because I was done with my page and am not going to add more water or sprays.

Even now, I look at it and wonder if I'm done. Maybe I am. Maybe not. For now, I am. But who knows?

Many of the fantastic products I used on these pages can be found in the eclectic Paperie store. Just click on those little linkies below and they'll take you there.