Welcome Elly as a Guest Designer

If you are someone who knows Elly’s work then you know we are in for a treat, if you don’t then please pop over to ‘Mixed Media and More’ for a treat. You might like to take a cuppa with you whilst you rattle along getting more and more engrossed in the posts and projects.

My name is Elly and I joined the crafting world via YouTube with my first creations of mini books in 2010. I started as a paper crafter and discovered the the world of mixed media as I found Michael DeMeng and Andy Skinner. After my first online workshop with Andy Skinner, I was infected creating art with acrylic paints and all the unlimited possibilities with upcycling and altered art. I love to create art any style with whatever I can get my hands on.

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Well, the first time I stumbled across Master Tim happened nearly 4 years ago, as I was trying to create a wedding album for a friend. Searching the world wide web for ideas, I ended up on YouTube and never left it since. At the beginning I wasn't focused on Master Tim's techniques, just because it wasn't that easy to buy his stuff and the first paperline I've bought was lying around for weeks because I wouldn't waste it. Now, looking at my first project again, where I used the Lost and Found paperline but also acrylic paint and a gloss medium, I guess I already started on a mixed media path.

According to my first steps in blogland I've created a little mini album from corrugated cardboard. The best part of *all things Tim* is....that it doesn't matter what you're using, you can never fail to create something with a vintage - grunge look. Everything mixes and matches somehow. You only have to start 

The pages are roughly distressed and sprayed with my favorite colours of inks in blue and brown.

As a lover of acrylic paint, I'm an old fashioned user of the acrylic paint dabbers and I used gold, pitch black and aqua. The butterflies from acetate had a treatment with alcohol inks in pool and caramel. The grungeboard flourish is coloured with the dabbers and Distress Crackle Paint clear rock candy. I love the new Sizzix Alterations *French Flights* which fits my favorite stamp sets Stampers Anonymous *Papillion* and *Paris to London*

As I mentioned before, everything mixes and matches. Burlap, Sizzix Alterations *Frameworks* and some cool Idea - ology *Alpha Parts - framed* If you're interested, you'll find more details and a step by step of *the tag on the cover* on my blog: www.ellypirally.blogspot.de

 

Wow Elly how lovely that you have re-visited your first steps in blogland and made this amazing little album, complete with flourishes. It’s full of wonderful vintage distressed images, fabulous layers and lots of techniques and grungy goodness. This is one of those inspirational projects that people love to look at and we are so pleased you have shared it with us today. I am also fascinated with the first project you made with Tim’s papers, the box is perfect for keeping that fabulous album in. They both look so tactile and interesting.

 

Thanks everyone for popping in today on this leg of our journey with Elly. If you haven’t see our latest challenge you can find it here and it will be great to see you there with your own project if you haven’t already jumped aboard.

 

Enjoy the week and hopefully some creative time.

 

hugs Brenda and the team xxx

Welcome Mo to AVJ and it’s winners’ time for the ATC challenge.

Welcome to our fortnightly Friday winners’ post and without further ado let’s launch straight in to meet Mo and see the fabulous project she has made for us all.

Hi Everyone, It is a huge honour to be asked back by the team at 'A Vintage Journey' to guest design for their latest fabulous challenge 'With a flourish', but first let me tell you a little bit about me.

I live in the North West of England with my husband Alan who is my rock and is quite used to seeing the regular paper trail that leads from my craft room right around the rest of the house. I have always enjoyed making things since I was a little girl, my brother and sister were the academic ones, I was the creative one in the family. I have always admired the work of Tim Holtz and I have been very honoured to have attended two of his amazing classes in recent years. I love learning new techniques and adding many different dimension and textures to my projects. My style tends to be Vintage/Shabby Chic and as I love all things botanical, animals, birds and the seaside these themes show up a lot in my work. I don't really plan my projects in advance, I just like to go with the flow and see where my imagination takes me.

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When I found out the theme that Jennie had chosen 'With a Flourish' I was so excited. I do not have any trouble at all finding ways of using flourishes on projects as they are so adaptable to so many styles. I like using stamped flourishes on backgrounds and die-cuts in the foreground as a feature and so that was the starting point of my project, and I also decided to make a card which is unusual for me, as I don't make many but fancied a change. Here is my project.

I love the Cabinet card die and decided that this would be the starting point, I suppose it would have been easier to use a ready made cabinet card but as I did not have any I had to rely on plan 'B' i.e. make one. In fact apart from the found relatives card all of this is made from scratch, a full tutorial can be found on my blog.

I used distress paint to stamp the die-cut card on both sides and then blended distress inks over the top, the distress paint acts as a resist and gives a lovely soft pattern. I inked up the same stamp with a darker distress ink and stamped a few more darker flourishes over the resist for contrast.

The frames were painted and different the texture was achieved by sprinkling embossing powder over the wet paint, heat drying and then coloured texture paste through a stencil all of which give it the look of stone.

The die cut flourishes were done the same way as the frames using 3 different ep colours. I put them back to back on the inside keep everything tidy.

A little addition of a chit chat word attached to the found relative completes the sentiment from the front of the card.

A close up of the faux tea roses and leaves using the tattered pine cone and spring greens dies plus a little touch of linen ribbon bow.

Another tea rose plus a wish bone on a ring pull.

A closer look at the flourishes back ground and die-cut.

The sentiment has been stamped on the back of a adage ticket that was screwed up in a ball inked and stamped.

I hope you have enjoyed my card 'With a Flourish' or two

Mo x

 

Oooh definitely enjoyed looking at this card Mo with those fabulous techniques and great effects, this is such a beautiful card. Thank you so much for sharing this with us and joining us at A Vintage Journey again.

 

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So, onto the winners and this week it is Alison who has chosen them along with some help from the Creative Guides.

 

The outright winner of the £10 voucher to Country View Crafts is ………

No: 21 Tocoart

It was so hard to whittle down a shortlist from a fantastic field of entries - and I was thrilled that so many of you were trying out ATCs for the first time.  It was a joy visiting all the beautiful tiny works of art you all created.  This set by Tocoart emerged as the winner.  The amazing backgrounds here, and such funky stamping and splatter, make this a really exciting set of ATCs.

 

Congratulations Jill on your worthy win and although you missed some of the challenges with your internet problems you certainly wowed us all with these little beauties. Your voucher and badge will be on their way soon and this lovely set of ATCs will be pinned to the Winners board on our Pinterest site.

 

 

The next three people who will have their project pinned to our Pinworthies board are -

2   Gitte

8   Gerda

31 Meresanth

 

A huge congratulations to all three of you, your winners’ badges will also be with you soon and we are delighted to see you spotlighted here. Look out for your fabulous projects being pinned to the Pinworthies Board.

 

Thanks to you all for joining us and sharing in Mo’s fabulous project and our winners announcement. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

hugs Brenda and the team. xx

Destination Inspiration - Faux Rusted Metal Effects

Hi everyone, Jenny from Pushing The Right Buttons reporting for duty as your Creative Guide in charge of today's Destination Inspiration. It's always a challenge for anyone putting a tutorial together to come up with something a bit different so that people learn and grow, especially when you've already seen some incredible tutorials over the past couple of months. After much deliberation I decided to show you a couple of techniques for creating faux metal effects using Distress Paints in combination with other media. We all spend time (hours!) on Pinterest gazing at images and ideas, and it was whilst doing this recently that I came across a couple of photos of rusting metal.

Here's the first...

Love it! But how to replicate this? Start by covering a piece of plain card with Pumice Stone Distress Paint and dry completely.

Smoosh Rusty Hinge and Brushed Pewter Distress Paints onto your craft mat and swipe your card through diagonally. Dry with a heat gun and repeat this process until you've mopped up all the paint. It should get less liquid as you go.

Put a few tiny dots of Potting Soil Archival Ink onto your mat with a little surgical spirit (rubbing alcohol). Roll a brayer through to pick up spots of ink and apply to your card with the brayer.

Finally emboss your card with a Texture Fades embossing folder and rub over the raised areas with an Sepia Archival Ink pad.

Here's the second rusted metal photo...

Gotta love these strong colours and bold patterns. Now to recreate it. Cover a piece of card with Barn Door Distress Paint and dry completely.

Add a little Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain Distress Paints to your craft mat with a little water and push your card into it. Dry and repeat the process over different parts of the card until all the paint is used up.

Emboss your dried card with a Texture Fades embossing folder, then apply a little Brushed Pewter and Stormy Sky Distress Paint over the raised areas with a brayer. If you apply too much repeat the process using a little more Barn Door Distress Paint.

Finally swipe your card through Fired Brick Distress Stain and whilst wet sprinkle over Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder. Heat to dry, then rub gently to remove the release crystals.

And here's my finished faux metal effect pieces of card; not far off the originals eh? "Now what?" I hear you cry. You'll get to see the rusted iron piece on my next DT sample, but for the red rusted piece...

... here's a little something I whipped up! I decided to use the whole panel, but you could easily die cut it or chop it into smaller pieces if your design demanded it.

Once dry, the red colour on this panel mimicked Festive Berries Distress Ink, and being completely stumped for the choice of complimentary colours, I took Tim's lead with his Distress Mini's set - Milled Lavender, Shabby Shutters and Tea Dye. These are not colours I'd have chosen but the man really is a genius as they worked a dream! And so to some close ups...

You'll find all of the products used for this tutorial in the online shop of our generous sponsor, Country View Crafts.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and feel inspired to give the two techniques a go. Of course you'll have to wait until the launch of the next challenge to see what I've done with the second background, but in the meantime make sure you get involved with our current theme 'With a Flourish' to be in with a chance to win.

For now it's time for me to wish you a happy week ahead and encourage you to take care of yourselves. Jenny xxx

Challenge 14 - With A Flourish

Hello Everyone! Jennie here from Live The Dream and I am your host for our next challenge.  Thank you all for travelling with us on our ATC Challenge - what fabulously creative miniature pieces you all submitted. I hope you will enjoy our next challenge which is

WITH A FLOURISH

Have you ever noticed that much of Tim's packaging includes that fabulous flourish? It has always been one of my favourite Tim images, so for this challenge let's see what you can do with your flourishes! You might not have the "actual" Tim flourish but I am sure everyone has a flourish die or stamp in their stash which can get the shabby/vintage treatment.

Our challenge runs for two weeks and then a winner will be chosen by the team.  The winner will receive a £10 shopping voucher from our host Country View Crafts on-line shop.  We shall also be choosing three blog badge winners, our "Pinworthies" who will be pinned to our special winners Pinterest Board.

If you are unfamiliar with our rules you can find them HERE in our 'Travelling Instructions'. If your entry does not demonstrate one of the styles we are looking for and a clear, strong influence of Tim Holtz, then I am afraid you won't qualify for the prize.  If you are unsure what we are after, you can find our interpretation HERE.

And so to our talented team of Creative Guides who have each crafted a project to help you on your journey. I am sure you will agree that each has  created a masterpiece with their flourishes!


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Jennie

Can you tell I love my flourishes! I have used three in this card: the Fabulous Flourish stamp, the Elegant Flourishes Bigz Die and a Flourish Texture Fade. There are more details on my blog and a link to a tutorial for the flowers.

Brenda

I started this project by looking up the interpretation and meaning of flourish to see what direction I wanted to go and decided to use flourish shapes on my tag. These have included the background stamps where I have also used a flourished alphabet stamp, flourishes on the strip of paper used in the collage of elements and die cut flourishes adding another layer of shape and dimension as well as interest to the collage. The photo is of my grandmother, I love using personal vintage photos in my projects.

Anne

Jennie's challenge was the perfect opportunity to get out and use my 'Springtime Background & Borders Set' of embossing folders.  I used the largest folder and kept my piece simple so you can see the wonderful flourishes.  If you would like to see more, please pop over to my Blog.


Trace

Still staying with the vintage feel I decided to play with some different colours for me and the new motif paper and these soft colours seemed perfect for this lovely picture from the found relatives pack. For all the details please see my blog. 

Nikki

 I decided to make a birthday card for a colleague and used grunge paper as my base. Lots of stamping and even some sewing - the grunge paper making a fantastic surface for sewing, stamping and distressing. Lots of photos and details on my blog.

Chris

There are a few flourishes here using a Tonic header die and, of course, the famous flourish from Tim. This time I've focused on the grungier side of shabby because I adore the 'rusty' looks we can achieve. You can find more pictures and a step x step here.

Jools

I love flourish designs, Tim’s ornate acanthus is beautiful such a classical design detail

A great Challenge to use a flourish, see how I have incorporated a variety into my project here.

Astrid

The theme "With a Flourish" seemed very soft and feminine to me, so I decided to make a card, using the lovely Wallflower paper collection, still my all time favourite paper stash. If you want to know how to put this together, - there are more details on my blog

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Fabulous inspiration from all the Team!! 

You have until 18.00 BST on Thursday 18 September  to play along and we are all looking forward to seeing what you create.

We will be back on Monday with another Destination Inspiration and in the meantime

HAVE FUN!

An InLinkz Link-up

Welcome Richele Christensen as Guest Creative Guide

Today it’s a real pleasure to welcome Richele to A Vintage Journey. Those of you who follow Richele will know of her fabulous work and wonderful projects. We are delighted that she has joined us with some amazing ATCs and a step by step for us. Over to you Richele.

Hello! I’m a California girl and I currently live in the Sacramento area with my husband
Del. Our children are both married and live close by with their families! I have
three beautiful grandchildren and 1 more on the way.
Ever since I was a little girl I have had a love for art, sewing, quilting, and
crafting. I’ve been working in the paper crafting industry since 2001 and it has
lead me on an unforgettable journey. I currently have the job of my dreams
working as the Project Manager for Tim Holtz. I LOVE my job!! My designs have
been displayed by Tim Holtz, Ranger Ink, Stampers Anonymous, Advantus,
Coats and Clark, Sizzix and Hero Arts.

I’m so excited to be here at “A Vintage Journey” I love that there is a place to share projects that are inspired by Tim Holtz products and style. Today I’d like to share a few ATC’s using Alcohol Inks on metal.

Supplies:

Idea-ology: Adornments/Arrows, Compass Coins, Ephemera, Mini Corners, Mini Fasteners, Mini Gears, Monocles, Number Brads, Remnant Rubs/Elements, Ring Fasteners

Ranger: Alcohol Inks, Alcohol Ink Bending Solution, Archival Ink, Distress Ink/Vintage Photo, Manila Cardstock, Metal Foil Tape Sheets

Sizzix: Texture Fade Embossing Folders/Blueprint and Gears, Vagabond or Big Shot

Stampers Anonymous: Mercantile Cling Mount set CMS18

Step 1: Adhere Metal Foil Tape Sheet to Manila cardstock, trim to 2 1/2” x 3 1/2” and emboss with Texture Fade Embossing Folder using the Vagabond.

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Step 2: Apply Alcohol Inks with an Ink Applicator Tool using a 2-3 second squeeze of a few colors. Try not to overlap the colors. Ponce on to the embossed metal. Repeat as desired.

Lightly rub the Archival Ink Pad directly on embossed area. Before ink dries wipe off ink with a dry cloth to reveal metal. Tip: There is a chemical reaction that removes the ink and alcohol ink. This technique will work on non-porous surfaces like metal, glass, plastic etc.

Step 4: To attach Arrow open the back of the Fastener/Brad, place over the Arrow and then in to center of Compass Coin.

Step 5: Embellish the ATC with metal Idea-ology like Adornment Arrows, Compass Coin, Mini Gears, Wordband.

Step 6: Stamp Steampunk fella on to Manila cardstock with Jet Black Archival Ink, trim out with scissors and ink with Vintage Photo Distress ink on an Ink Blending Tool. Add to ATC with a few pieces of Ephemera.

Option 2- Using Remnant Rubs is a quick and easy way to add images, words and numbers to a ATC or project. Cut out desired rub, position and rub on to surface.

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope you enjoy the journey.

Richele

Wow, these are just gorgeous little works of art, packed full of technique and images to re-focus on ATCs as we are doing in our challenge this fortnight. The industrial backgrounds look amazing with all the ephemera attached to them and you make it look so easy Richele. Thank you so much for creating these little beauties and for providing us with the inspiration.

So it’s over to you our fabulous Travellers to get creating if you haven’t already and to get your entries liked by this Thursday evening before the challenge closes. Don’t forget we have another new host and challenge on Friday.

Have a creative week.

hugs Brenda and the Team