Rusty and Crusty April Challenge

Welcome to our April challenge!  Autumn here to hostess our journey this month, where we're traveling down a Rusty and Crusty road!

Many of us love rust and enjoy looking for new ways to get that authentic look of crusty peeling metal.  For this challenge include some rust in your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk project, whether it be the real thing, a faux technique or just a rust colour on your project. 

Now onto our Creative Guides and their inspiring work.  Make sure to click each link for more details.  

Nikki

Well this challenge was 'right up my street'! I have used a variety of mediums including Seth Apter / Emerald Creek Baked Texture Embossing powder on this wooden panel to create my rust effects. I encourage you to visit Addicted to Art for some close ups of the texture!

Astrid

I decided to keep my project for Autumn's wonderful theme clean(ish) and simple(ish) at least for me and created a masculine card with a rusty background and some crusty embellishments. If you want to see more, please come over to my blog.

Brenda

Well I know I got the rusty and crusty in here lol. I have created a very textured piece using different ways to create the rusty effects and would love it if you popped over to see me at Bumblebees and Butterflies to see how this came together. Thanks Autumn for a great theme.

Alison

I didn't expect to be joining in this month, but I'm so happy I found time to play along with Autumn's fantastic Rusty & Crusty theme.  Even with only my travelling stash - augmented by my newly arrived Baked Textures powders - I was able to get some good old rusty decay going on this tag.  If you'd like to see more, do come and visit me at Words and Pictures.

Amanda

I have been in my 'happy place' using texture paste, paints and baked textures to create an 'art panel' that is rich in texture, dimension, colour and rusty tones. There are more details and 'close ups' on my blog if you fancy stopping by.

Deb

Oh how I love rust!  For Autumn's fab Rusty and Crusty challenge theme, I decided to make a mini techniques journal as a quick reference for all of those faux rusting techniques that we love to use.  I've some step outs pictures on my blog on how it came together, hope you can pop by for my how to.

Jennie

What better opportunity than our current challenge to experiment with some new rusty texture pastes! I had no idea how this would turn out and how the pastes and other mediums would work together, but I did enjoy the journey! Do join me over on my blog if you would like to find out more.

Anne

Autumn's challenge theme was very timely as, after taking a couple of classes with Seth recently, I fell in love with his monoprint technique and I used it to create my rusty background.  You can see more over on my blog.

Autumn

I had a wild idea to create a "crack" in a canvas and have flowers emerge from a rusty surrounding, and it came together just as planned - oh happy day!  See the transformation of this canvas at SewPaperPaint.

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We can't wait to see your Rusty and Crusty creations!

Our format has changed a bit, so make sure to read THIS post for more details.  Share your project permalink below and check back next Friday for our March winner's post.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Tag Friday and an invite to link yours up

Welcome everyone to our Tag Friday post. With the changes we've brought in for the new birthday year we thought you might like to join in and share what tags you have been making. There isn't a prize and we're not promising any comments but the Host of this month's challenge (me) will choose one of those submitted as a Pinworthy and it will be pinned on our Pinterest Board and showcased in next month's Winner's post. To enter link one or as many tags as you want that have been made and blogged in this month (ie the 1st to the 31st March). The linky will close midnight on the 6th April which is when the new challenge begins so you have one week to get your entries in but remember they can come from any March 2018 blog date. Have fun.

Here are our tags for your perusal which I'm sure you will enjoy looking at and get some inspiration from. More details can always be found on the blog of each of the Creative Guides taking part.

Brenda

I used this Tag Friday piece as an opportunity to recycle some elements from my bits box (which I think a few of us have done) and get the sewing machine out for a change. More details can be found at Bumblebees and Butterflies.

Sara Emily

Since it's almost Easter, and the birds are starting to nest, I choose to make a pair of spring themed tags using up some of my Wallflower Paper scraps. Please come visit sarascloset if you would like to see the other of the pair.

Astrid

I recently discovered Foamiran for making flowers and though I have never been very good at making flowers, I loved the look you can achieve, so had to give it a go. If you want to find out more about it, please visit my blog

Amanda

I have had a great time using some of my much loved Seth Apter products , both old and new to create my 'Tag Friday'. Please feel free to stop by my blog to find out more .

Jennie

It is always great fun to create for our Tag Friday with what's on the desk and new products which have recently arrived. My tag is made up of some of both! Do please join me over on my blog if you would like to see more details.

Nikki

This was very much a 'start with no plan and see where you end up' creation! Distress Oxides, Gesso, Texture paste and Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylics are all used to create this layered tag. You can see more details and photos at Addicted to Art.

Autumn

My tag resulted from a messy desk - lol!  I pulled together bits of Tim's new Worn Wallpaper with a couple of handmade flowers and made a simple collage style tag.  Get the scoop at SewPaperPaint.

S@ndy

With Easter being so close - I wanted to take you on one last trip to the Carrot Patch.  The Easter Bunny is stocking up for his big day.  To see more details on my tag, please visit my blog HERE.

Alison

I didn't think I'd be here - time and mojo have been busy with other things - but then I realised I would be missing Tag Friday for the first time ever if I didn't join in, and I couldn't bear that thought! So I managed to convert one of my Oxide backgrounds from back in February into a cheery springtime tag. Do come and see the details over at Words and Pictures.

Deb

The arrival of Spring is proving to be very elusive here in Western Canada, so I made this Spring Beauty hang tag for Tag Friday in the hopes that it might speed Mother Nature up just a bit! I have some step out pictures on my blog, hope you can pop on by for my how to.

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Wow, don't we have such fabulous tags here with so many designs and styles, I'm sure you'll find something that inspires you.

We are looking forward to seeing your tags so don't forget to go and link them below, we love seeing what you make too.

See you next Friday with the next new challenge.

hugs Brenda and the Creative Guides. xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Inaugural Monthly AVJ Creative Card Making Post

Hello fellow A Vintage Journey enthusiasts!  Julia here today and it is with great fear and trepidation excitement that I am posting the very first monthly AVJ card post!  

We thought this year it might be nice to share vintagey/mixed media card designs.

I'm actually glad that I'm first - so I don't have to compare my card to my fellow, uber talented in mixed media, Creative Guides' creations!  (That, of course will come later as the months progress!!)

I'm the clean and simple girl in the group and so while I buy lots of vintagy, steampunk, mixed media stuff -  I don't use a lot of it on any one project!

So - without further ado -  here is my card.  Light enough and thin enough for mailing!

I've used some new stamps and products on my card and I have a few photos of my creative process to share with you.

First, I inked up some stamps from two new stamp sets designed by our friend Tracy Evans!! (Whoo hoo, Tracy!!)  The flower stamp is from Set #44 and the dragonfly is from Set #45 from AALL and Create.  I inked them with Hero Arts Black and stamped them twice using my Misti on a piece of Worn Wallpaper, new papers from Tim Holtz/Idea-ology.  The paper is thick like wallpaper - and so I stamped it twice to get good coverage.

I colored the stampings with various colors of Translucent Paper Artsy paints mixed with a little water, sometimes going over the color with another color until I liked how it looked!  I wanted to pull the images out of the busy background paper.

Then I got out my brandy-new Baked Texture Vintage Beeswax from Seth Apter-Emerald Creek.  I inked my panel with Versamark and added 3 layers of the Beeswax, letting it cool and reinking with Versamark between layers.

It brightens everything up and adds lots of shine!

To knock down some of the glare (!) I inked the edges of my panel and embossed with Baked Texture Patina Oxide also from Seth Apter/Emerald Creek.  

Note: I bought a new heat tool (Ranger Heat It Craft Tool) to use with these new powders - as the one I had blows really strongly and I found it blew all of the Baked Texture powders away before they could melt. (Yikes, what a mess!!)  The Ranger tool works perfectly!  

Here you can see it melted on the bottom left but not yet melted on the right.  I LOVE the way the little bits of gold melt in the patina!

 

I stamped a sentiment from each stamp set on a die cut strip of kraft card (Flag It dies from Taylored Expressions) and sponged the edges with Ranger Distress Vintage Photo.  I adhered them to the card with ScorTape to be sure they stuck to the Beeswax.

Here's what the Small Talk/Snarky Idea-ology sticker says that I put on sideways on the edge before I embossed with the Beeswax.

 "I was going to do something today, but haven't finished doing nothing from yesterday."

I'm not a snarky kind of person usually - but some of them tickle my funny bone!
It really has nothing to do with the other sentiments but I had put it on before deciding to add the stamped sentiments, so there it was.
Sometimes doing nothing is when we appreciate the little things, like silence and nature, so I guess in that respect they do all go together!

 

I hope I have inspired you today with my card! 
One of the Creative Guides will be posting a card on the 4th Friday of every month, so be sure to check back for our Creative Card Posts!

When there's a 5th Friday in the month - we'll be posting tags as we did last year - the first one will be next Friday 3/30 - since it's the 5th Friday in March!

And just a reminder that you have until April 5th to link up your card for our
current March challenge - Treasure.  We are also celebrating AVJ's 4th Birthday!

Thanks so much for stopping by at A Vintage Journey today!  I look forward to hearing what you think about my card!

Vintage Journal Cover - Tutorial

As promised here is my step by step of the altered book I made to create my vintage visual journal for the rest of this year (and beyond?) using one of my treasured cabinet cards. To see the full challenge brief pop over to the AVJ Challenge Blog where you can read all about the challenge and see the amazing inspiration projects from the Creative Guides. You can also see my introduction post HERE.

I began by preparing a couple of old books by painting the outside covers with gesso and adding some texture using the gesso with a palette knife when it was dry.

Having chosen the larger book and this cabinet card to use .....

..... I decided that as it was quite plain I would alter it and I found a piece of old Graphic 45 paper and cut an oval shape from it.

I had ensured there was plenty of space around the oval to fully cover the card.

I aged the centre cut by rubbing round with an emery board and blending over ground espresso DI. Then I adhered it onto the cabinet card and used a sanding block to sand away the excess patterned paper. This had then distressed the edges as well and again I blended in ground espresso DI.

I started to gather bits and snippets to make some decisions on the embellishing first. Every piece has been painted, inked and/or distressed in some way. I sealed all the card embellishments with satin varnish before they were added to the cover.

This cabinet card covers quite a bit of the front cover so I felt I needed to create a layered background with textures and neutral covers. I began with a text stencil and texture paste mixed with gesso that I heat dried and then, dribbled, dipped and spritzed my gorgeous decoart media acrylics.

 Using quinacridone magenta, titan buff and yellow oxide I dribbled and spritzed the colours to create a light mottled background.

I stamped with the same colours using a text stamp from the Andy Skinner shabby chic set.

I darkened the background by dribbling and spritzing some raw umber with titan buff and dabbled over some watery titanium white (all the time I am heat drying between each layer).

At this point I decided to seal it and used the DecoArt satin varnish. I wanted it to be very sturdy and ready to take the punishment of it being used regularly and creating and making the new journal pages. I began adding the collage elements in layers ....... getting the base parts adhered and flattened under a heavy box.

Now to add in the collage elements. I used the new clear modeling paste from DecoArt and oh boy does it have a strong bond for the card, fabric and metal pieces.

Looking at the book I felt there was something missing - contrast in the background - so I took a fine brush some quinacridone gold, paynes grey and raw umber ........ and with some dabbling of the colours around the collage elements the shading, shadowing, aging and framing has brought it together more.

I have already created my first pages in the book so keep an eye on my blog - Bumblebees and Butterflies - in May when the project will go live.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope you are enjoying the new schedule and don't forget next Friday will be the start of our Creative Cardmaking series. I know the lovely Julia will be kicking us off with a fabulous make, so make it a date to be back here in a weeks time. See you then.

hugs Brenda xxx

February Melt It Challenge - Winner and Pinworthies!

Hello everyone! Julia here today to announce our lucky randomly chosen winner and three Pinworthies for our February Melt It challenge.  What wonderful and creative projects you all shared with us showing all the fun ways to 'Melt It'!  The Creative Guides had quite the chore to narrow down their choices!

First of all, we are pleased to announce our randomly chosen winner for the gift certificate generously provided by Country View Crafts.

That's #8 Two Mad Dahlias, who created these phenomenally cool Mason jars, complete with captured fairies! Do hop over and visit her blog to see all the meltingly brilliant details.

Congratulations! We'll be in touch soon with a winner's badge for your blog and details of how to claim your prize voucher from Country View Crafts.

And now on to our three Pinworthy choices (in no particular order).

Mona Pendleton

What a beautiful canvas created with die cut trees, stampings and background coloring - all covered with thick embossing powder and white splatter!

Jackie Neal

A wonderful Asian theme design using crackle glaze, stenciling and the beautiful Deep Sea Embossing powder - gorgeous melted edges as well!

Ann Barnes

Such a sweet Love triptych using beautiful floral papers and rolled roses - with a lovely embossed edge heart front and center!

Amazing creations one and all, we will be in touch shortly to present you with your Pinworthy badges and to invite you to join us as guest Creative Guides for one of our future challenges.

Thanks again to everyone who entered our February challenge and we hope that you will enter our current Birthday Treasure challenge, you have until April 5th to link up your projects, can't wait to see what you create!

To give you a bit more inspiration for our Birthday Treasure challenge, we'd like to share some projects with you that were created by our December Pinworthy Mentions; Christine of Crafty Endeavours, Nicola of Paper Profusion and Toni of Artistic Craft Dabbler.  Enjoy!

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Christine

Hi my name is Christine but I’m known as Craftyfield in the crafting world and I live in the south of England. I started making my own cards some 15 years ago and very soon fell in love with all sorts of crafts, from card making and Scrapbooking to jewellery and home decor. Now a confirmed stamp-a-holic, I love trying new techniques to use my stamp collection in different ways. Style wise… I love and try everything from CAS to grungy, and have been making more Mixed media projects recently as I love using paint to up-cycle household items.

I am delighted to be featured on this fantastic blog as a Pinworthy guest and I hope you will be inspired by my treasure....

I approached this month's theme with excitement and dread in equal measure... using some of my Treasure!!! My precious...(think Lord of the Rings' Golem and you have the idea) but I am glad I have been pushed into using my beautiful resin frame by Prima.

I made this 12x12 canvas taking inspiration from Finnabair dark and dimensional projects. I applied black gesso as a base over stencilled texture paste and die-cuts, then used paints, both matte colours and shimmers all over the canvas.

I then added a bit of stamping, as I said, I am a stamp-a-holic...

For embellishments, apart from my Treasured item I used home made embellishments with bottle caps and Vintage images as well as glitter, sequins and other shiny bits...

I placed a pebble on top of the man image to magnify it. 

I used a transparent red embossing powder and the colour is different depending on what is underneath.

I hope you will like my canvas, do hop over to my blog for a step by step and a list of supplies. 

Thank you so much to A Vintage Journey for inviting me, it's an honour and a pleasure.

Nicola

Hi there. It's wonderful to be a Pinworthy guest for A Vintage Journey once more.

I’m Nicola a.k.a. ‘Paper Profusion’ living in Dublin, Ireland. I’ve loved handicrafts for as long as I can remember, probably inspired by my Mum who excelled at every single crafting technique out there. I’m now medically retired however during my ‘career / good health years’ my main creative hobby was photography especially travel/wildlife related. During a time of serious illness, I became hooked on paper crafting as a hobby to dabble in at my own pace. I’m particularly drawn to the vintage / shabby chic genres, usually adding lots of embellishments and ribbon. My favourite occasion to craft for is Christmas. I've been rather absent from crafting recently so it was a joy to dust off my crafty stash and make today's creation, especially for one of my very favourite blogs.

I was initially flummoxed what to choose for Brenda's 'Treasure' theme (way too much choice in my stash!). In the end I decided to use items I treasure amongst the ingredients, as well as 'Treasure' itself being the subject of my project (or at least something we should treasure more!). A few years ago I held on to some gold foil packaging that came with a perfume. I reckoned that the gold would look well diecut using Sizzix / Tim Holtz mini Globe die, and then a sort of protest scene unfolded whereby lots of Tim Holtz paper dolls are carrying banners with suggestions as to how to help reduce climate change and treasure our planet more. The globe, placards and letters are cut from the hoarded gold foil cardstock. The whole scene is set in an altered chipboard shadow box that I turned into a 'galaxy'. The dolls are decorated with treasures of real Swarovski crystals and pearls that I only ever select for 'good' occasions!

If you would like to see more of how I put this project together, plus details of all the ingredients, please pop over to my blog.

Huge thanks to the truly very talented team at AVJ for inviting me to be one of their Pinworthies today. Wishing Brenda and all the team Congratulations and very Happy Wishes on your 4th birthday! Nicola x

Toni

Hi my name's Toni otherwise know by my blog name, the 'Artistic Craft Dabbler'. I'm delighted and honoured, to be here, in such prestigious company, as a Pin Worthy Guest Designer. I'm a retired teacher and have been loving the last eighteen months of freedom! I've been putting my time to good use though, attending pottery classes, making mixed media art, blogging and more recently attending a creative textiles group. Yes, there are some benefits to getting older ! I was very excited to read the details of Brenda's fabulous 'Treasure' challenge, and was more than happy to take part, as it has provided me, with the ideal opportunity to use a few of my favourite 'found' treasures........

The substrate for my treasure assemblage, is a Tim Holtz Vignette box. I chose the largest box in the set and applied a coat of Deco Art Crackle paste, to the outside, followed by of Cobalt Turquoise and Prussian Blue Media Fluid Acrylic paint to highlight the gorgeous crackles. To add further interest and frame the contents of the box, I painted the edges with black and white stripes.

The 'treasures' assembled here, are the bottom of a rusty tin can, a piece of sea glass, a spiral car spring, and a lovely flying goose brooch I found in a charity shop. I love collecting interesting bits and bobs, so it was a real pleasure to be able to use some of them.

I used a 'double' embossing technique to decorate the background panel. This gave me an opportunity to use another little treasure, in the shape of one of the new Emerald Creek & Seth Apter's Baked Texture, embossing powders. The Chunky Rust was perfect for creating the 'brick wall'. The half cog added to the top of the Vignette box was also given the Chunky Rust treatment. If you'd like to know more about any of the processes I've used, there are further details over on my Artistic Craft Dabbler blog. I hope you'll have chance to hop by. Finally, I'd just like to say a big thank you to the AVJ team for inviting me today. It's been great fun putting this project for such a fabulous challenge! xx
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Amazing projects as always from our Pinworthy Guest Creative Guides, thank you for sharing your wonderful work with us all!
We invite everyone to join us for the March -  4th AVJ Birthday - Treasure Challenge!

Julia and the Creative Guides