This is a unique challenge blog where we are inspired by and focus on the Vintage; shabby; mixed-media; art journaling; industrial, timeworn and steampunk genres and encompass the talent, flair, expertise and ideas of many artists that we are inspired by. We welcome all types of projects - cards, journaling, assemblage, layouts, albums, atcs, altered art in fact whatever you want to share (as long as it is in good taste).

Thursday 31 December 2020

A Final Double Pinworthy Feast and Farewell

Hello all, we are here to say farewell and thank you, as well as to celebrate the fabulous creativity of all our participants over the years with a double helping of Pinworthy projects.  So let's start right there... 

First of all, here are the Pinworthy projects from November's Pairs, Trios and Sets challenge.  It was a really wonderful collection of entries, making it very hard to select just three for our Pinworthy board (which will stay active so that you can continue to be inspired), but in the end these are the three projects we decided to feature...


#3 Makena MB a.k.a. @avant_card


#8 Cassie a.k.a. @mk_knits


#11 Monika a.k.a. @mixmedart



And here are the choices from December's Merry Little Christmas and Farewell ATCs challenge.  Again there were some lovely projects, though not everyone spotted we were really looking for ATCs... so here are the projects we ended up deciding to honour... 

#16 Sara Emily a.k.a. sarascloset


#17 Christine a.k.a. Craftyfield


#22 Lyla a.k.a. A Chief's Wife

I hope you'll agree that's a fabulous finale of creations - and thank you to all those who participated.  As always, the Creative Guides had a great time visiting your projects.

Sadly, it can't be put off any longer... it's time for the farewells.  We'd like to thank you all for your support and participation, and especially for the lovely messages we've received since announcing we'd be ending the journey at the end of this strangest and most extraordinary of years.  All the Creative Guides send their love and thanks.  Let's hear from some of them (along with their "vintage" photos from simpler times!)


Julia of Create With Me

I have so enjoyed my 5 years as a Creative Guide at AVJ.  Learning SO MUCH, not only from the team, but also from all of you who joined us each month in sharing your artistic talents and creative ideas!  Julia xx


Jennie of Live the Dream and @atkinsonjennie

How can I sum up my time with A Vintage Journey? Seven (almost!) wonderful years of creativity, learning new skills and techniques, gaining confidence in my work and teaching abilities but above all else the friendships made both here in the UK and wider afield, many of whom I have met and spent time crafting with. AVJ will be a huge miss but I have wonderful memories of an amazing time.  Jennie x


Alison of Words and Pictures and @w0rdsandp1ctures

I've been here from the beginning so this is a definitely a wrench, but I'm sure it's the right decision as we all find ways to cope with this strange new world.  It was so exciting to be invited by Brenda to be a part of this wonderful Vintage Journey, and I've forged firm and lasting friendships en route.  Of course, it's sad that this stage of the journey is over, but I've no doubt we will all continue to meet one another somewhere along the road. 

Love and thanks to all the Creative Guides I've enjoyed working alongside and learning from, and to all the amazing participants over the years.  It's been a wonderful ride.


Astrid of Astrid's Artistic Efforts and @astridchristinemaclean

Nearly 7 years and what an amazing journey it has been! There have been many Highs, and perhaps a few Lows too, but overall it has been a time of so much creativity, joy and friendship. I have learnt so much during these years, both from my fellow creative guides, both past and present but also from our fabulous visitors and challenge participants.

So as this strange year draws to a close and our blog journey here comes to an end, - the overriding sentiment I feel is one of Gratitude! So Thank You all so very much and may the new year bring you all health, happiness, creativity and peace! Astrid xx


Jo of Let's Art Journal and @letsartjournal

I have plenty of happy AVJ memories to smile about; from taking part in the challenges to becoming a Creative Guide which was always a dream of mine. I have made some wonderful friendships along the way and I would like to thank the other Creative Guides for being so welcoming and supportive, as well as everyone who has participated in our challenges – you are such an inspiration!

Being part of this team has been very special to me and has pushed me creatively out of my “Art Journaling” comfort zone. This included creating some winter wonderland decorations for the “Mini Marvels” challenge which I still put up every year, tags for Tag Friday leading my to create a Tag Journal of memories, cards as part of our Creative Card Making tutorials and of course my very first ATCs. I have to say that I have loved every moment and I feel very blessed that you were part of my creative journey - thank you so much! Love & hugs, Jo x


Nikki of Addicted to Art and @nikki_act

Well it's time to say goodbye to A Vintage Journey. My first design team post was nearly at the beginning, but not quite - it has been a wonderful 6.5 years of craft and friendship. Thank you to all the amazing people I met along this journey, you are an inspiration. With love to you all.


Barbara of yaya scrap & more and @barbarayaya

I have been a Creative Guide for a short time but it is not quantity that matters in things, what matters is quality! The time I spent with the other Creative Guides was splendid and I can say that the AVJ team is without a doubt a wonderful and supportive group in times of difficulty, full of fantastic artists! For this, I thank all the Creative Guides and all of you who have followed us! I am happy to have been part of it!  Stay strong, hugs, Barbara


Annie of CuriousnCrafty Treasures and @mcmacannie

I really can't find the words to let you know how much being part of this team has meant to me. I have enjoyed every minute and thank all of the Creative Guides, both past and present, for their kindness, support and inspiration throughout this amazing journey.

I would also like to thank our lovely followers for their positive comments and inspiring entries to our challenges. Wherever your next creative journey takes you I wish you all the best. Lots of love & hugs Annie xxxx


Amanda of Ink-a-Pink and @p1nkart

I have loved every minute journeying with my fellow Creative Guides that have become valued friends who I love, respect and admire greatly. You all have a very special place in my heart.  A Vintage Journey has allowed me to grow both creativity and personally and I feel truly blessed and so very grateful to have been an AVJ Creative Guide for 5 years.

Since knowing A Vintage Journey was reaching its final destination my heart has been heavy but it has also been full, full of all the many ‘happy’s’ I now have to treasure. Thank you AVJ it really has been the best journey ever, an amazing ride to remember always. 


Toni of artistic craft dabbler and @toniajao

It has been such an honour to be a Creative Guide on A Vintage Journey. I remember when the blog first launched and it was a joy to see the wonderful projects, in the styles I so loved. I was in awe of the skills and imagination of the Creative Guides and I can honestly say that the AVJ blog was instrumental in spurring me on to develop my own work. I am so happy that I got to share at least some of the journey. Of course, all of this would not have been possible without the fantastic support of our loyal followers. Thank you all for helping to make my dream come true. Toni x


Ann of Ann Chuang Crafts and @annchuangcrafts


I have been a Creative Guide for a short time but it is a wonderful time in my life! The time I spent with the other Creative Guides was splendid and I can say that the AVJ team is a wonderful and supportive group! For this, I thank all the Creative Guides and all of you who have followed us! I am happy to have been part of it!
Stay safe, hugs
Ann

... and last (but the opposite of least!) the founder of A Vintage Journey, Brenda Brown, without whom none of the journey would have taken place at all...

Brenda of Bumblebees and Butterflies

Starting and being a part of A Vintage Journey opened up so many opportunities for me both to learn from so many talented artists and to share my love of all things art and craft. Each new destination allowed me to stop, take stock of what I was doing, to think, research and to experiment with new ideas. I have been able to develop many new skills and combine them with the ones I bought with me and in doing so I have 'met' so many wonderful people from all around the world and made so many new friends.

I would like to thank each one of the Creative Guides and each one of you, our readers and participants, for the fellowship, support and love you've shared over the 6+ years we've been together. My best wishes to you all. Yes it's been just one incredible journey and one amazing expedition.

I think you can tell how much we've enjoyed ourselves here, and A Vintage Journey will still be here for you to enjoy.  You can still drop in if you'd like to browse the nearly seven years of inspiration from the Creative Guides, special Guest Creative Guides, and of course from everyone who has joined us on the journey for one of our challenges.  We know we'll continue to meet you along the way via our blogs and yours, as well as on other social media platforms.

From all of us to all of you... thank you, stay safe, stay creative and good luck wherever your future journeys take you.  Happy New Year and happy onward travels, everyone!

With love from all of us at A Vintage Journey xx






Friday 4 December 2020

Merry Little Christmas and Important News

 Welcome to our December Challenge.

 This time of year always brings us festive cheer and a focus on seasonal projects to inspire and motivate us leading into the winter and up to Christmas.  We continue with this focus but with a twist as we have some important news.  Sadly this is the very last challenge theme on A Vintage Journey.

(Image from The Graphics Fairy)

2020 has brought us all many different kinds of opportunities and challenges and while many people are hunkered down enjoying their hobbies and pastimes others of us have taken the opportunity to completely change and explore new paths.  There's no doubt about it, wherever you are in the world and due to the Covid-19 virus, life as we knew it has become different and as individuals we've had to make changes - both big and small - to our everyday lives.

What has become particularly noticeable to us is how we, as a creative community, seem to have changed our habits using the internet and over past months a wider use of differing social media platforms has allowed us to reach into each other's studios and meet together to learn and share our creations in a fascinating variety of distanced ways.  Internet relationships for many seem not to have suffered but blossomed allowing us to diversify and explore hobbies and interests we might never have had before.

A Vintage Journey has always been a place to motivate, inspire and share our creations within a likeminded community, a place to teach and learn, to excite and stretch the boundaries of our imaginations. But within this new world we live in and the changes to how we interact, blogging seems to be less popular than it was. It can be a very time consuming way to 'show and tell' whilst elsewhere 'like' buttons that are quicker and easier to express our feelings enable us to move around the community in much faster ways.

It is, therefore, with great sadness that we see fewer visits, entries and communications on our very successful blog and feel it is time to close it down and give ourselves time to see out the pandemic and watch with interest how the community relates to the changes it has brought to how we will all operate in the future.

We have come together for our last challenge to bring small ATC creations that focus on that Christmas cheer we look forward to and some nostalgic reflection in saying goodbye.


Merry Little Christmas

Celebrate the season by making one or a set of ATCs depicting Christmas scenes or colours. 


Brenda

A mixed media background and some festive embellishments with my favourite reds and green for that wintry Christmassy feel. Once I had finished them I decided I needed to use them for decorations at home. Do pop over to Bumblebees and Butterflies to see how I achieved that.


Jennie


I have returned to some old and loved Christmas dies, stamps and inks to create these two ATCs celebrating the Christmas Season. Do join me over on my blog if you would like to see how they came together.

 Creating ATCs is a first for me, who'd have thought that I'd have so much fun creating these mini artworks and of course I seem to have been singing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" all month too (grin!). I used some old playing cards as my base, layering my Christmassy design over the top using Tim Holtz collage paper, Distress Ink, embossing powder, die cuts and stickers - Merry Christmas everyone! For more details please pop over to my blog Let's Art Journal

 Astrid

With this Christmas ATC I would like to wish everyone a blessed and joyful Christmas time. May Peace replace anxiety, fear and all the upheavals this year has brought so many. A Merry Little Christmas to you all!


 Nikki


I am mixing it all up for my Christmas ATC's with paint, ink, Tim Holtz and PaperArtsy stamps. Be lovely to see you at Addicted to Art for a few details.

S@ndy


As the last make for Vintage Journey I have made two of my favorite things to share with you.  The flower of the season is one of beauties of the year.  Who wouldn't love a Candy Cane Heart to say, not goodbye, see you again soon.


 Alison

I've been playing with Rustic Wilderness Distress Inks and Oxides to create the winter greenery in the background of these festive ATCs, and then there's lots of lovely Tim Holtz ephemera collaged over the top.  Come and see more over at Words and Pictures.


 Julia

For our final AVJ Challenge - Merry Little Christmas ATCs,  I created a snowy woods using a Dox Spray for the background and Distress Ink and Embossing Paste through stencils.  The sparkle I added to the snowflakes is not showing in this photo but I have one on my blog that hopefully does!  Please come see how I created my Merry Christmas Winter Woods on my blog post here.


Annie


Hi everyone x Apologies for my less than clear photographs x  I really wish you could view the extraordinary sparkle that is coming from both these ATC's. It really is spectacular and will look even nicer in the evening light. I plan to adhere my ATC's to Christmas cards as they are so pretty. For more details please visit my blog HERE
 

 Barbara


For the final challenge of AVJ, I have prepared like my mates two Atcs about Christmas!  I think they reflect my mood a bit melancholy in thinking that we will no longer have this appointment! At the same time, I want to wish everyone from the bottom of my heart a wonderful Christmas certainly different from the previous ones and  I hope that the events of the last year we will make us understand what its sense really is! 




Since discovering the joy of 'shakers', in my last AVJ project, I'm afraid I just can't stop! I've coupled this with another new found pleasure to create these ATCs. If you'd like to see more, please hop over to my blog with this link and all will be revealed.




I don't often create ATC's so I had fun creating my little festive piece of art for this challenge using some of my much loved Tim Holtz dies and PaperArtsy paints and crackle glaze. 
There's more to see and read over on my blog, ink-a-pink so please feel free to pop by.


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Goodbye AVJ 

Reflect on what AVJ has brought to you in the time you have known us and share another one or set of ATCs to reflect those thoughts or memories.



“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)

So many happy memories of working with all the Creative Guides, present and past; so many friendships that have been forged and the wonderful journey of developing myself more as an artist. These have been an amazing 6+ years and I wouldn't have changed them for the world.
I will hold it all so close to my heart forever.

 Jennie

My ATC celebrates my seven wonderful years creating for A Vintage Journey. It has certainly been a journey of discovery with a wonderful team of supportive and creative friends from around the world. Each member of the team (both present and past) has been an inspirational star and this has been reflected in the wonderful entries we see each month from you all. Hopefully this is not goodbye .... but au revoir x


 Jo


This quote puts things into perspective for me - "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" (Dr. Seuss).  I certainly have plenty to smile about; from joining in the AVJ challenges to becoming a Creative Guide something that I always wished for. I have made some wonderful friends along the way, thank you for all your inspiration and being part of my creative journey - it's been a blast! x


 Astrid

As one of of the original Creative Guides, creating this farewell ATC was a very special moment on my crafting journey, and what a special journey it has been. This team has always had a special place in my heart, and I know that my fellow teamies will remain my friends as our creative journey continues, albeit on different platforms perhaps. I would like to use this moment to thank everyone, team mates and participants of our challenges, thank you for all your inspiration!


Ann

 It's time to say goodbye to A Vintage Journey! I'm very happy and honored to be a part of this amazing team, thank you for your kindness and support. I'll miss you. 


 Nikki


Well it's time to say goodbye to A Vintage Journey! My first design team post was nearly at the beginning, but not quite - but it has been a wonderful 6.5 years of craft and friendship. This quote seemed appropriate for today. With love to you all.

 S@ndy


It has been Awesome seeing the talent of our followers and sharing creations here at A Vintage Journey.  As they say  "all good things must come to an end" but that does not mean that we won't be dropping by for a visit now and then.  It has been my great pleasure to be part of this great adventure.  I will not be sad that it has ended but happy that it happened.


 Julia


My ATC is celebrating all of the wonderful, talented and creative friends I have made being on the AVJ Creative Guides team for the past 5 years.  My sentiment speaks to a lot of my feelings felt both living through this past year and in the ending of this team and challenge blog - Gratitude, People, Peace, You, Freedom, Love, Beauty, Change, Compassion, Serenity and Friendship!  It may be the end of the blog - but certainly not the end of the friendships!  See how I made this on my blog post here.


 Annie


Being part of this wonderful challenge blog since the beginning has been the most amazing experience and I am very grateful to Brenda & Chris x Whilst I am sad that our journey is ending I know that I will continue to keep in touch with my DT sister's/friends, many of whom I have personally met.  I also thank our followers for all the inspiration they have provided during our 6 3/4 years.  Our journey has not ended it's just changed course xx Take care xx
 

Alison


I've been here from the beginning so this is a definitely a wrench, but I'm sure it's the right decision.  It was so exciting to be invited by Brenda to be a part of this wonderful Vintage Journey, and I've forged firm and lasting friendships en route.  Of course, it's sad that this stage of the journey is over, but I've no doubt we will all continue to meet one another somewhere along the road, so my ATC has a message of looking forward with excitement and hope, and includes some of my favourite things. You can see it in more detail over at Words and Pictures.  Love and thanks to all the Creative Guides I've enjoyed working alongside and to all the amazing participants over the years.  It's been a wonderful ride.


Barbara

I will really miss the appointment with A Vintage Journey and with all the Creative Guides that have always inspired me! I want to tell all of you who have always followed us that this group was a truly wonderful group, a group where you could always find support and friendship, and yes I say it again I will miss it very much! I know that I will not lose their friendship and that we will all stay in touch as I hope will happen with you who have always followed us. With love. 


It has been one of my greatest, crafting pleasures, to have hopped on board A Vintage Journey, as one of the Creative Guides. It's been a real honour to have shared at least part of the journey, with such a fantastic group of talented women. I would like to thank Brenda and the rest of the team for creating such a special space in blogland x


Amanda

I was thrilled to join AVJ back in November 2015 and have loved every minute being part of such an inspiring, encouraging, supportive, caring and creative team that I consider to be my family of valued friends. It's been an absolute pleasure and honour and an amazing ride AVJ and I thank you wholeheartedly for making my life so much richer both personally and creatively. 



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Thank you to to each and every who has visited, participated, commented and loved what we developed and achieved. We have enjoyed every moment of designing, creating and sharing our ideas and projects hoping to bring our experience, talents and new perspectives with every new creative project.

If you would like to participate in the challenge one last time please add your ATC projects depicting the Festive and/or 'Au Revoir' themes to the Linky below by 6 pm GMT on the 28th December and we will be back to publish the winners as well and say our final farewells on the 31st December.  There won't be any additional posts this month, so we will announce the November Pairs, Trios and Sets Pinworthies in that farewell post on the 31st December too.  We will also add the projects to our Pinterest Pages. Just remember to create your project in one of our preferred styles: vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.

Thank you and Merry Christmas from us all.

hugs Brenda and the Team xxxx

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Friday 27 November 2020

A Vintage Journey's November Card Making Post

Julia here today with a card I made using the Die Cut Relief technique for AVJ's November card making post.

Here's how I put this card together.

I got out some dies that would create a layered scene:  trees, a fence, a wreath and a sentiment.  I also got out some dimensional sticker snowflakes.  I used a background embossing folder (Weathered from Taylored Expressions) to emboss the water color paper panel before layering the die cuts over it.  I cut all the dies out of watercolor paper and adhered them over the embossed panel using a Matte Medium.

Once dry, I brushed over the whole panel with the Matte Medium
Because the stickers were silver I went over the panel once again, this time with Gesso so it would all be white.

When Gesso was dry,  I started adding layers of acrylic paint. First, I dry brushed the panel with Manganese Blue Hue, being sure to get into all the cracks and crevices and removing any pools of paint in corners or depressions.

After this layer dried, I dry brushed with Burnt Sienna, just hitting the high spots and open spaces, not fully covering the blue.

After this layer was dry, I dry brushed the final layer of paint using Titanium White, brushing just across the raised pieces and open spaces, turning the panel and brushing from all sides so all the edges of the die cuts were brushed with white. 
I trimmed the panel and layered it to a white card base.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I put this card together. 

You still have time to join in on our November Challenge -  Toni's fun Pairs Trios and Sets Challenge.  You'll find it here.