Destination Inspiration - November - Terminal #4

Hello and welcome to the final stop on our Destination Inspiration journey for November.  It's Deb here with you today and I have one more project to share as we wrap up our November sojourn.  If you remember, our travel bag was filled with:

1.  Product - Idea-ology Ribbon or Jute

2.  Technique - Smudge Stamping - Compendium of Curiosities Vol III, page 42

3.  Colour - Rusty Hinge

4.  Substrate - Card

As this is the last stop on this month's journey, here is a review of the inspiring projects already created by my fellow Creative Guides utilizing the contents of our travel bags.

Terminal One - Julia

Terminal Two - Sandy

Terminal Three - Annie

As the holidays will be here before we know it, I decided to create a Christmas card with the contents of my travel bag.

I made my card base from a piece of kraft coloured cardstock and then smudge stamped Tim Holtz's Tree Line stamp onto some specialty stamping paper using Rusty Hinge distress ink.

I did a second and third generation stamping of the trees, smudging as I went, to give a sense of depth to the scene.   As you can see in the photo above I did some practice runs as this was my first attempt at smudge stamping but it will not be my last, love the effect!

After drying the stamped images with my heat tool I cut it out, leaving a narrow white border around the stamped trees.

I then edged the cut out image with some more Rusty Hinge DI and set it aside while I created the background panel for the trees.

I cut a piece of manila cardstock 1/8" narrower on all sides than my kraft card blank and coloured it with Rusty Hinge and a small amount of Mustard Seed DI using the wrinkle free distress technique and some spritz and flick with water.

I am totally enamoured of Tim's foil edging technique that he used on his November 12 Tags of 2015, so I added some gold foil to the edges of my panel and then spattered the background with white acrylic paint to simulate snow.  I also later decided to add a clear embossed snowflake to the right upper corner using the Snowflake layering stencil, Distress embossing ink and some clear embossing powder.  I adhered the background panel to my kraft card blank and then got to work on my embellishments.

I cut a length of Idea-ology crinkle ribbon and smooshed it through some Rusty Hinge DI activated with water to colour it.

After scrunching the ribbon tight and drying it with my heat tool to get it nicely crinkled, I tied it into a full multi-looped bow and started to alter a Typed Token to attach to it.

I chose the 'peace' token from Tim's Christmas Typed Tokens and first coloured the engraved writing with some white acrylic paint.

When the paint was nearly dry, I gently wiped it off the token so that the paint was just left in the recesses of the engraved word and then edged the token with some Rust alcohol ink.  I attached the token to a small rusty safety pin from my stash with a jump ring and then pinned it to my crinkle ribbon bow.

And for my final embellishment, I coloured three mirrored stars with Rust alcohol ink.

Next, it was on to the sentiment for the card and I die cut 'Merry Christmas' twice from white cardstock using the Stacked Words: Christmas decorative strip die.

I painted one of the die cut sentiments with metallic gold acrylic paint and then added a coating of gold Stickles glitter glue over top.  Once it was dried, I layered the gold sentiment over top of the second die cut, bumping it slightly so that some of the white was visible to act as a highlight.

And then it was simply a matter of assembling all of the components.  I added some foam tape behind the smudge stamped trees to elevate them slightly off of the background panel and also added small pieces of foam tape to the bottom of the die cut sentiment so it was at the same height.

The crinkle ribbon bow and the mirrored stars were adhered with Glossy Accents and you can see the embossed snowflake I added to the background panel in the upper right corner.  I also decided to watercolour stamp a couple of the Tree Line trees inside the card, using Rusty Hinge DI, to continue the design.

While Rusty Hinge might not be a traditional Christmas colour, I really do love it combined with the kraft card and gold and white accents.

Thanks so much for joining us on our November Destination Inspiration journey and hope that you will jump back on board when we pack our bags for December's expedition.  Don't forget to check back on Friday when the Creative Guides will be sharing their creations for December's monthly challenge and you also still have time to enter our current challenge 'Baby You're A Firework'.  Hope to see you again very soon and thanks for stopping by!

Deb xo

Celebrating Wendy Vecchi as an artist and a Give-Away

Hi everyone, as it's the fourth Friday of the month we usually have an invited guest Creative Guide, but today we thought we would mix things up a bit and share with you some projects and links back to the amazing Wendy Vecchi's blog.

Some of us on the team here at AVJ were lucky enough to attend Wendy's UK workshop back in August and had an awesome day with Wendy who is not only a very talented artist but a great teacher. So it is with great pleasure that we share her talents with you today.

Wendy had super projects for us to make and here she is with all the boxes that we had made in the morning.

In the afternoon she taught us techniques ......  

...... and we made some fabulous tags. These are Wendy's samples.

Wendy is always looking for new ways to use products and in one of her newer blog posts - which she has called 'still looking ..... beyond the obvious' she has used Tim's acrylic icicles .....

.... in a completely different way, transforming it into grass.

I'm sure you will have seen Wendy's signature products, stamps, stencils, inks, embossing powders, texture and embossing pastes and also her art parts ranges and more. On her blog she shares with us how to use them creating tutorials with beautiful projects in her own inimitable style, whether that be as art journal pages -

- cards with stamps-

- cards using die-cuts -

- 3D projects -

- plaques -

- a journal (on the England tour) -

-or just using scraps.

Wendy is also a source of never ending new techniques both on her own blog and as a designer for Ranger, such as -

faux graniteware

glittered embossing powder -

using archival ink and rubbing alcohol (surgical spirit in the UK) .....

At the end of her Ranger tutorials Wendy likes to add some hints and tips - check this one out. This sweet card uses her newsprint paper.

So today not only have you got all this wonderful inspiration from Wendy but she has very kindly sent us a give-away too. On the 12th December I will run random org number generator and one lucky person who has left a comment on this post will win all these fabulous goodies.

Stamp it - stencil-it ROSE

Stamp it - Stencil-it HOLIDAY ICONS

Stencils for art - diamonds are a girls best friend

Stencils for art - funky words

Stencils for art - polka dotty

Stencils for art - happy holidays

Wendy Vecchi designer series archival ink - violet

Wendy Vecchi designer series archival ink - pink peony

Thank you Wendy for your generosity and it is a pleasure to share your amazing talent and projects with our readers.

Just before we go I thought I would share an AVJ family photo - those of us who attended Wendy's workshop -

Nicky, Julie, Annie, Anne, Jenny, Tracy, Brenda

Thank you for joining us today and don't forget to leave your comment below and to be on the safe side it's best to have done it by the end of the 11th December London time.

Don't forget you have one more week to enter our November challenge. Although it is called 'Baby you're a Firework' it does not have to have fireworks in the subject of your entry - you only need to have included glitter, bold colours or ink and paint splats so that it is inspired by the flashes of colour and sparkle of fireworks.

See you again on Monday with the last of our DI posts for the month and a round-up of the Creative Guides projects that were included in November's travel bag. Have a great weekend.

hugs Brenda and the Creative Guide team. xxxx

Destination Inspiration - November - Terminal #3

Welcome to Terminal 3 for our  latest Destination Inspiration Post here at A Vintage Journey..........Annie here to share some inspiration on the following items contained in November's Travel Bag.

Product:Idea-Ology Ribbon or Jute

Technique:Smudge Stamping ( Compendium of Curiosities Book, volume 3, page 42)

Featured Colour:Rusty Hinge

Substrate:Card

Having so many birthdays in November I decided to make an 8 by 8 card, using three of Tim Holtz Stamp Sets from Stampers Anonymous, some Frantage, embossing ink, a tag, dyed crinkle ribbon, stencils, Idea-ology and lots of inks/paints.................very messy....but fun!!!!

Here's my Step by Step

Taking a manila tag, size 8, I tore a piece off the bottom, then I stamped and smudged the gorgeous bird on the branch from the SA Urban Tapestry stamp set. Out of respect for Tim I am unable to share his Smudge Stamping technique with you but you can find it within your CC Volume 3, page 42.

Next step was to take some embossing ink, applying it to another of the Urban Tapestry stamps, sprinkle on some Frantage, remove excess powder, then heat emboss it with my heat gun.

  Rusty Hinge Distress Ink was applied through Tim Holtz Bubble Stencil then the edges of the tag  were inked with Black Soot Distress Ink.

  A piece of card, 7.5 by 7.5 was my base for more Smudge Stamping, using the numbers stamp from the SA Purveyor Stamp Set. I really love the effect of the Smudge Stamping for backgrounds as it creates more interest.

Lots of layers of Rusty Hinge Distress Ink were applied to the card then spritzing and flicking with water. Excess water/ink was mopped up with paper towel then dried with my heat gun. 

Some Rusty Hinge Distress Paint was  also spritzed with water, picked up with a fine paint brush and flicked on to the cardstock. 

 A closer look x

 I also applied the same technique using Black Soot Distress paint  and love the combination of colours as displayed below. The edges of this piece of card were then distressed  with my Tonic Distressing Tool and Black Soot Distress Ink applied. I find that edging with a dark colour of ink really gives definition, making the central colours pop! 

 

I did not have any Idea-Ology Ribbon or Jute but I did have American Seam Binding, which takes Distress Ink beautifully so I applied Rusty Hinge Distress Ink to my heat mat then sprayed the ink with water.  The seam binding was smooshed in the mixture then dried with my heat gun. I completed this technique three times until I was satisfied with the depth of colour.

Taking two of Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge stamps from SA I applied them in various areas of my background. Some of the stamping was second generation as I did not want that solid inked appearance in the central area of the card.   The Seam Binding was applied to the tag along with an Idea-Ology Philosophy tag, which you can see in the final photograph.

 

The background was then matted on to a piece of black card stock before adhering to the card with Inkessentials Redline Tape, which is really strong. 

I am pleased to say that the recipient loved this card and I hope you do too.

Well it's been my pleasure to have you on board, however, we have came to the end of the journey here at Terminal 3. There is no need to worry as we have weekly journey's and our fabulous Creative Guide Debs will be here with you next week. 

We also have our current challenge "Baby You're a Firework" running until the 3rd December, and it would be lovely to have you join in. To check out the challenge details and view some amazing projects by the Creative Guides click HERE

Farewell for now and I will catch up with you soon xx

Hugs Annie xx

Pinworthy Inspiration Day

Once a month we welcome back our selected top three - our Pinworthies - from a previous challenge, to share some inspiration with us all. Our current theme is Baby You're a Firework and our guests are invited to create a project based on this. So let's see their fabulous creations:

Ann Chuang

Welcome everyone! I'm thrilled to be a guest designer here at A Vintage Journey today. It' s an honour to be invited here..

My name is Ann Chuang. I come from Taiwan. I have been creating for many years now, always in learn and search for new techniques. I have always liked creating, inspiration comes from random places and have no set style. I'm looking forward to sharing my creations with all of you!

I was really pleased when I learned that the theme to work towards was ‘Baby you’re a firework’. I decided to make Christmas decor project.

I cover the whole canvas adding some black glitter glue and glitter and using sand embossing paste dabbed the edges. It's time for texture paste! My favorite way to add texture. The paste was used with the Tim Holtz Chevron stencil.

Spray the paper rattan and watercolor paper using Color Wash and Dylusions ink spray. Die cut the leaves.

My finishing touch was to use double sided adhesive tape to make glittery sentiments and little firework.

I hope you like my little inspiration for this month theme. For a few more details you can stop by my blog. 

Happy crafting!

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Suzanne Czosek

Hi!  Suzz here.  I am pleased to be guest designing again for the Vintage Journey.  The design team and their art is a constant inspiration.   I live in the U.S. in the midwest with my family.  I have been creating with inks and paper for quite a few years now.  I love trying new techniques and playing with my inks and stamps.

I was searching for inspiration and looked for images with fireworks and the cutest little firecrackers popped up made with toilet paper rolls and a cute little pointy top.

I was  inspired to create tree fairy houses using the shapes of the firecrackers.  It started with a paper towel roll which I cut at varying lengths.  I added a nice thick coat of crackle embossing paste.

I waited for the  embossing paste to partially dry.   I helped it along with the heat gun which added even more fun texture.   Each house then got a lovely series of inky spray using the Ranger distress stain sprays with more heat gun to help with drying.

 The roofs were made using various dies cut and coloured in coordinating colours as well as flowers died with the sprays.

 I added some accents with moss, sand, and glitter.

My last mini house shines in gold and seedless preserves distress stain sprays.  This is for the glitzy fairy.

Products: Ranger Distress Stain Sprays - Tarnished Brass, Seedless Preserves, Fossilized Amber, Pumice Stone, Black Soot, Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo, Forest Moss,  Dreamweaver Cracked Embossing Paste, Stampendous Gold Crushed Glitter, Heidi Swapp Gold Lame, Sizzix Tim Holtz Pinecone, Sizzix Thinlist Autumn Leaves.

For a few more details you can stop by my blog.  Thanks to the Design Team for extending the invite to me to share my art! 

Suzz

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Amanda Pink

Hi Everyone, it's Amanda here ,known in blogland as Ink-A-Pink and I am so thrilled to have been invited back again this month as A Guest designer here at A Vintage Journey. It's so wonderful to be given this opportunity to share my creativity with you all and can't thank all the lovely Creative Guides enough. 

I really love it here at A Vintage Journey, in fact I love it so much that as of next month I will no longer be appearing here as a Guest Designer as I have been chosen as one of new AVJ Creative Guides! I am absolutely thrilled to bits to have been given this amazing opportunity to work alongside such a super talented and friendly design team. I am indeed one very lucky lady! So please feel free to click on 'Meet the Creative Guides' to learn a little bit more about me and see my vintage photo.

So onto Nikki's challenge theme ‘Baby your a Firework' and what a challenge it has been for me as I am a self confessed 'Don't do Glitter' and 'Hardly ever do Sparkle' kind of girl! 

My creative mind was certainly put to task and as always once one idea came, plenty more followed but in the end I settled on creating something that would include a few things I love – wall art, the night sky and silhouette imagery. My finished piece would be mounted in a circular frame so I began by cutting a circle of card to fit the frame. I then added colour to the card using Tim's Wrinkle Free Distress technique and several colours of Distress Inks.

Once dry I used ‘Tims ‘spritz and flick' technique before adding more colour using Distress inks and a blending tool.

I also added some stamping to the background using one of Tim's splatter stamp (this can be seen on later photos). Now for the glitter and sparkle! Eek! The fireworks are stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed using Silver Tinsel embossing powder. I mixed Mica powder with water, picked up the paint with a brush and flicked it randomly onto the card before spritzing with Perfect Pearls. Touches of cosmic shimmer provided the golden touches of sparkle to the night sky.

The silhouette images are created using Ranger Texture Paste, Black Soot Distress paint and an Andy Skinner stencil.

The frame is painted using Black Soot Distress Paint and crackled using Distress Crackle Paint. Once dry I rubbed over the crackle very lightly with Weathered Wood Distress Paint and caught the outer edges with Pewter and Gold Gilding Wax .

I adhered the circle of card and the frame in place and added a few finishing touches - white highlights to the silhouettes, a chit chat sticker quote and a hex nut to embellish the frame. And here is my take on 'Baby your a firework '

I hope you can get a sense of how much this piece of artwork really does glisten and sparkle (It was tricky to capture when taking photos despite trying in various lights and at different times of the day).

I guess now I can no longer say I'm a 'Don't do Glitter' and 'Hardly ever do Sparkle' kind of girl can I? Please feel free to pop my blog should you wish to see and read a little bit more 

Thank you all for stopping by today and my very appreciated thanks goes to all the lovely AVJ ladies for inviting me to share my creativity with you all and for making me feel so welcome, not just today but over the last few months when I have been lucky enough to be a Guest Designer! I have enjoyed every single minute. 

Hope to see you all again soon in my new role as a Creative Guide here at A Vintage Journey! 

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Thank you all for your wonderful projects on this month's theme - Baby You're a Firework. This challenge runs until 3rd December.
Do pop back on Monday to see the next instalment of November's Destination Inspiration.

Nikki and the AVJ team
xxx