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).

Friday 22 February 2019

Creative Card Making with Annie

Hi everyone x It's Annie here again and its so nice to have you hop on board with us today for our monthly Creative Card Making post. 
This card was made with a wedding anniversary in mind but could equally be used for a birthday/thank you card etc.
Below you can see the photograph of the finished  8" by 8" card, followed by details and photos of the steps........so lets start our journey !!
 First of all I chose my papers then cut them in various sizes for matting and layering
 The edges were then distressed using Tim Holtz Distress Tool, however, you could also use scissors
 I wanted to knock back the colour on the floral paper so applied a couple of layers of Paperartsy Snowflake paint
 Tim Holtz Thinlits dies were put through my  Big Shot
 And you can see how the die cut paper looks in the photo below....I love it !!!
 Another two of Tim Holtz thinlits dies were cut  out and the pocket die is really handy for adding a message, placing a gift inside. Doesn't the word "Love" stand out so well when placed on top of the silhouette ?
 Once my little pocket is put together I start to think about the rest of the card
I thought I would use my Lynne Perella stamps set from Paperartsy, applying Sepia Archival Ink.
The stamps were then fussy cut and one of them was trimmed and used as a tag, on which I placed a personal message
 Some third generation stamping, again using Sepia Archival Ink, was applied to the paper
 Now to think of my layout !
One thing I did know was that I wanted to apply Distress Ink around the fussy cut stamps and the pocket as it really adds depth.
 You can see a distressed doilly from my stash, which was halved, then placed behind the pocket. 
A mini clothes pin was placed on the tag, which is inside the pocket. A paper clay butterfly, which I had made some time ago was placed on top of a Tim Holtz 3D Impresslits medallion
 Thank You for sticking with me and I would like to remind you that this month's challenge, 
remains open  until the 28th February at 18:00 hours. It would be lovely to see your entries and if you are looking for inspiration the  amazing projects  posted by the Creative Guides can be viewed by clicking HERE
Our next challenge commences on Friday the 1st March !!! Crikey !!!...that's next week !!! It's also a hugely exciting time for everyone at A Vintage Journey Challenge Blog as we
Celebrate our 5th Birthday................!!!! 
Can you believe it !!! Where has the time gone !!! so do hop on board for more beautiful and inspiring projects as we all travel together on our creative journey xx

Best Wishes & Crafty Hugs
Annie & The Creative Guides xxxx


Friday 15 February 2019

Your Hearts Desire Tutorial

Hi Everyone xx Its Annie here with the Step by Step Tutorial for my project that was created for our "Your Hearts Desire" challenge theme.
You had better grab a cuppa as there are lots of photographs to view and details to read!!
 
 My canvas measure 8" by 8" and the heart is about 3.5" by 3.5" The heart is polystyrene and I cut it in half so it would lie flat.
 Gesso was applied to the canvas and to create lots of texture I took a palette knife, lightly pressing then lifting all over the canvas.
 You can see that I also added some Art Stones while the gesso was still wet.
 Whilst the gesso  on my canvas was drying I applied some to the heart, enabling me to adhere paint to it xx
 Some lace was adhered to the corners and sides of the canvas
 Followed by some hot glue from my glue gun.
 The photograph below shows the glue applied on each side of the canvas.I then applied more gesso to cover all the embellishments.
 Whilst the gesso was drying I applied some book pages to a piece of grunge board, using my brayer to flatten them on after gluing. I did not want to apply sealer to the top at this stage as I wanted to use distress ink directly on to the paper.
 The distress ink  was then sealed with Judikins Microglaze, which I have had in my stash for years and is now called Tim Holtz Distress Ink Micro Glaze
 Taking Tim Holtz Layered Wings die by Sizzix I cut the wings, ensuring that the book writing was the right way up. Decoart Quinacrodone Red was applied to the heart.
 To dry the paint quicker I applied my heat gun and a "Happy Accident" occurred as the polystyrene expanded creating amazing textured detail on the heart. I adored the colour once I had given it two coats of Quinacrodone Gold
 Tim Holtz Distress Stains in Cracked Pistachio, Vintage Photo, Dried Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade and Twisted Citron.
 Decoart Gold metallic paint was then dry brushed over the lace, glue and stones and I loved the way this changed the canvas details/textures.
 Some stamped script was applied in Archival Sepia Permanent Ink. The edges of the canvas were then inked with Black Soot Distress Ink
 A close up of the top right corner. You can really see the gold details on the lace, stones and glue.
 Bottom right corner of the canvas and look at the texture on the polystyrene heart...its amazing, looks like skin of a raspberry!!
 And a final pic of the finished project.
 Thank You for sticking with me and I hope you have been inspired by some of the details/techniques used. The challenge remains open until the 28th February so there is still time to enter. Just click HERE to view the inspiration provided by the Creative Guides.

Huge hugs  and Happy Crafting
Annie xx


Friday 8 February 2019

Put Your Stamp On It January Pinworthies

Hello everyone, it's Deb back again to share the Creative Guide's Pinworthy choices for our January 'Put Your Stamp On It' challenge ... and as is always the case we had a very difficult decision to make!  So many wonderful entries, we can't thank each and everyone of you enough for taking the time to participate in our challenges ❤

And so without further ado here, in no particular order, are our 3 Pinworthy Mentions.  I will be sending you your Pinworthy badge to display on your blogs shortly and we will be pinning your beautiful creations to the A Vintage Journey Pinworthies board on Pinterest!




We loved Craftyfield's wonderful bright and vibrant colours with all of that lovely stamping in the background and I personally adore her little speckled bird on that scrap of muslin!




Hazel's beautiful calming monotone colour palette combined with all of that lovely stamping caught all of our eyes ♥




IrinaR took our challenge on completely by using nothing but stamps on her beautifully composed journal pages, we love it!


Once again, thanks to each and everyone of you who entered our January challenge and we hope that you will also consider entering our February challenge 'Your Hearts Desire' where Annie would like to see hearts as the main focus of your entry.  Can't wait to see what you create!

Deb and the Creative Guides

Friday 1 February 2019

Your Hearts Desire Challenge

Hi everyone x It's Annie here with our February challenge here at A Vintage Journey, which is "Your Hearts Desire".

Since February is the month of love, we would like you to include hearts as the 'main' focus of your project. Just be sure your design is in keeping with our vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk styles that we prefer.
We can't wait to see what you create with your craft stash and our Linky tool at the bottom of the post will be open until the 28th February, so get creative and join in the fun. In the mean time, check out the projects below that the Creative Guides have made to inspire you, enjoy!

Annie
I have promised to create more mixed media projects this year so I have painted, sprayed and distressed the canvas you can see above. I will be back here in two weeks time to share the step by step details x

Brenda


I think I've met the theme with four different types of hearts on my project today. This is a large wooden board with crackle, embossed textures, dimension, fabrics, a quote, patterned papers and of course those fabulous paper dolls. If you'd like to see details from different angles there are more photos over at Bumblebees and Butterflies if you've time to stop by. xx

Nikki

It's that time of year when we are tempted with lot's of new products! I have used Tim Holtz's new Faceted Heart die along with the new large Funky Florals for this Valentines card. Do pop over to Addicted to Art to see the details.

Deb

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I decided to take inspiration from Annie's February challenge to make a little heart shaped mini album to gift to my sweetheart. I've some step out photos of how I constructed the album along with some close up pictures of the pages inside, hope you can pop by my blog for a little heartfelt inspiration!

Jennie

Inspiration has been a bit thin on the ground here in the craft room since the New Year, so I decided to turn Annie's lovely challenge on it's head and created with all the things that in the past have been MY hearts desire! Please do join me over on my blog for more details.

Astrid

I decided to alter one of Tim Holtz's ETC tags for Annie's fun challenge theme and like usual you can find more details on my blog here

Sara Emily

I made a little steampunk vignette to give to my husband for Valentine's Day. I have a mini tutorial on my blog if you would like to learn how I used the Kaleidoscope Texture Fade to add texture and color to the frame.


Lots of amazing insiration from the Creative Guides and we can't wait to see what you create. As mentioned above the challenge runs from 1st February until 28th February at 18:00 hours and you have a chance to receive one of our Blog Badges if you are chosen as one of our Top 3 Pinworthies.

Lots of Hugs and Happy Crafting
Annie and the Creative Guides xx