Birthday Challenge Winner and Pinworthies

Hi everyone and welcome to our winner's post this month featuring a previous winner as guest designer and, of course, the winner and pinworthies from our March / Birthday challenge.

First we welcome the lovely Autumn of Sew, Paper, Paint who won our Vintage Travel and Luggage challenge in January with her wonderful altered board game.   If you've never visited her blog, do hop on over - you're in for a real treat.  But, without further ado, let's see what Autumn has created for this month's Spring is in the Air theme, and here she is to tell us about it.

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I am married to an amazing man, and my biggest supporter.  We have four children, yes four!  I live in the US and work full time as a church secretary.  I have been stamping for over 15 years.  Creativity is my outlet, passion and purpose.  I define my style as grunge meets elegance.  Though I love to distress everything, I like to balance my work with a touch of pretty and neat.  In addition to stamping, I love to draw and paint and have found that mixed media allows me to blend these skills and create rich artwork, filled with depth and texture.  I'm thrilled to be joining the AVJ team today in creating for spring!

Springtime is filled with weddings and flowers.  My vintage collage features a young couple, their whole lives ahead, surrounded by such beautiful things on a happy day.  Ahhh spring!

On a Prima chipboard tag I layered my background with vintage music, distress ink, and Distress Embossing Powder over stencil paste and a Tim Holtz mini layering stencil.

 I used handmade flowers and metal embellishments and a little Glimmer Mist to add some shine.

 A Tim Holtz butterfly and frame surround this sweet young couple.

The topper is dyed torn fabric strips and some jute twine.  Thank you AVJ for having me join in this challenge!

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Thank you so much for joining us as a Guest this month, Autumn.  What a gorgeous piece of Springtime inspiration!  Don't forget, you can check out lots more details of this beautiful tag over at Sew, Paper, Paint.

Now for our winner from March. We asked you to use the contents of our Destination Inspiration Travel Bag and had some amazing creations, thank you. There was a wonderful prize up for grabs courtesy of the amazing Andy Skinner who kindly sponsored this challenge.  And here's the winner, as selected by Mr Random Generator:

That's Craftyfield of Crafty Endeavours with this terrific hanging panel.

Congratulations!  We'll be in touch very soon to arrange delivery of your prize, and we hope you'll join us as a Guest Designer here at A Vintage Journey in the months to come.

Now onto our selected Pinworthies chosen by the Creative Guides. This is always difficult with so many wonderful creations but these three are the ones we felt really captured the challenge with their submissions.

#1 - Shilpa Nagaonkar

#10 - Mo Stokes

#16 - Ann Chuang

Congratulations to our winner and pinworthies. We will be in contact shortly with your badges and invitation to be a guest designer here at A Vintage Journey.

Our latest challenge - Spring is in the Air is up and running, do pay a visit if you missed it. We hope you will be able to join in.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Alison, Nikki and the Creative Guides

xxx

Destination Inspiration - All Aboard For April Terminal One

Hello, Deb here to welcome you to the start of our Destination Inspiration journey for the month of April.  We have our bags packed with four new items and I can't wait to see what my fellow Creative Guides will create with them this month, it's always an exciting ride!  Here are the contents of our carry-ons for April:

Product - Gesso

Technique - Crackle

Colour - Spring Green

Substrate - Kraft Card

A bag full of inspiration, don't you think?  I was inspired by these wonderful ingredients to create a mini travel journal for my niece using Eileen Hull's Passport die.

I started out by cutting the journal covers from kraft cardstock and did a stencil monoprint on both of them with Tim Holtz's Argyle stencil using Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio and Mowed Lawn Distress inks (all rather 'springy' greens I think!).

I then turned the stencil, lined it up with the monoprinted pattern and applied some heavy bodied gesso through the stencil.  I dried the gesso with a heat gun so it would bubble up for lots of wonderful texture.

Spray inks and stains came next; I used Peeled Paint Distress spray stain, Lime Wedge Color Bloom spray mist and Chartreuse Color Shine spray.  After the sprays had dried, I splattered on some more white gesso thinned down with a little water.

I cut six inner pages for the journal from white copy paper (the Passport die cuts out the covers, the spine and the inner pages) and tea stained all of the pages.  I then did some second generation stamping on each page using a variety of stamps from my stash with the same three colours of Distress inks I had used for the stencil monoprinting.

To incorporate the crackle technique included in my travel bag, I did three different crackle treatments on cardstock and die cut the flowers using Tim Holtz's Wildflower die.  I used Weathered Wood crackle with acrylic paint on the left, Distress Rock Candy crackle paint and Distress ink for the center flowers and Distress Crazing Collage medium and Distress crayons for the flowers on the right.

And then it was time to assemble the passport journal.  I die cut the spine from kraft coloured corrugated cardstock and made three signatures from my tea stained inner pages and some envelopes that I made.

Black heavy button thread was used to sew the signatures in place and I added some buttons to the spine for a bit of decoration.

A map brad from Tim Holtz's Custom Fasteners and some Distress ink stained Crinkle ribbon was used as a closure for the passport journal and I glued some of the crackled die cut flowers to the front and back covers.

The word journey was die cut using Tim Holtz's Adventure Words:Block die and I backed the negative of the die cut with some green coloured textured card.

The inside of the covers were covered with some scrapbook paper from Tim Holtz's Wallflower paper stash and I die cut an envelope from kraft cardstock for the inside of the front cover (using Tim Holtz's Pocket Envelope die).  A butterfly was punched from the Weathered Wood crackled cardstock using an EK Success Butterfly Layering punch.

Page tabs were die cut from kraft cardstock using Tim Holtz's Tiny Tabs and Tags die and I added some Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs (Words and Elements) and Label Letters to them.

A couple of circular paper clips were coloured with alcohol ink and I tied on some bits of twine and ribbon.  The picture below shows one of the envelopes that I made to add to the center of each signature, this envelope was made using a digital file courtesy of Vectoria Designs.

Tuck spots were randomly added to some pages with scrapbook paper scraps and I made hang tags for them that I stained with Distress ink and hand stamped.  The pocket on the back cover was made with a Sizzix Jillibean Pocket w/ Scallop Edge die from kraft cardstock and to it I added one of the crackled die cut flowers, the word 'discover' die cut with Tim Holtz's Journey Handwritten Words die and a mop up tag made while doing the stencil monoprint on the covers.

Thank you so much for joining me at our first stop on this month's Destination Inspiration journey, I hope you will come back each Monday this month to see what my fellow Creative Guides will create with the contents of their travel bags.  I also hope that you will join us for our April challenge here at A Vintage Journey, Spring Is In The Air.  Click here to see all of the amazing projects that the Creative Guides made to inspire you and hope that you will link up your own Spring project!  Have a wonderful week everyone and happy creating!

Deb xo

#40 Spring Is In The Air

Hi fellow travelers and welcome, it's S@ndy here to guide you into a new challenge where we are celebrating the arrival of Spring.  That's right, Spring Is In The Air, we would love to see how you interpret this phrase.  The challenge to you is:

Leave those winter blues behind. Make anything that says SPRING using pastel colours. It is your choice, a card, canvas, 3D or a tag, etc. but remember it should be in one of the vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journaling; industrial or steampunk styles that we favour.

We are sponsored this month by the lovely folks at Country View Crafts and the winner will receive a £20 Voucher to spend in their shop.

The Creative Guides have certainly risen to this challenge in their usual fabulous way.  I think you will agree that this is some splendid "Spring" art.  So let's get started.

S@ndy

 

For this challenge I have gone with the long forgotten watering can that has rusted out and is now the home of a bird who is welcoming Spring.  Stop by my blog for more details at

 My "Crafty"  Life on the Internet.

Brenda

 

I have used my DecoArt supplies for this challenge creating another of my wall hangings. It's always the signs of the new leaves and spring flowers bursting from the cold depths of winter that excite me about this time of year so I have gone for lots of green with a touch of yellow and orange to echo the colours in my garden.

Astrid

 I needed a birthday card for someone with a birthday in Spring and decided to take my Tim Holtz Lady Rose stamp set out for a play. I kept it in a soft and vintage style which I think suits this set of stamps and chose soft Spring colours for my background. More details can of course be found on my blog.

Jennie

It may be Spring here in the north but there is nothing out in the garden except snowdrops and a lovely little Robin! So this small hanging celebrates their presence and of course as it is still cold you need to bring your own sunshine!  There are more details on my blog if you would like to see more.

Nikki

 My Spring shadow box includes a variety of paint techniques, oil pastels and distress stains. There are more details on my blog - be lovely to see you there. (Addicted to Art)

Tracy

 When I think of Spring my mind always turns to my garden; nature, fresh new growth and the birds that visit my garden each year. This is where my inspiration began. Distress Paints in fresh spring colours were key to this piece combined with Tim Holtz Bird Silhouette Die. Corrugated card added the texture I needed to this piece and added that natural/recycled touch I was looking for, combined with fresh uplifting colours. Pop by my blog for step by steps.

Anne

I really needed to make some cards for my birthday box and since most of my

friends don't always appreciate really shabby, mixed media type cards, this challenge is just 

perfect for me to create some softer toned cards that celebrate Spring!  If you would 

like to see more please visit me HERE.

Julia S-W

 I really love Spring with the new growth in the gardens and hedgerows. I'm also totally in love with the lambs and the baby rabbits so I decided to go completely vintage with my ATB. Lots of DecoArt products, printable images, stencilling and crackling! For more details please visit my blog.

Amanda

 With 'Spring in the Air' I have embrace my 'inner calm' and created a mixed media canvas using a more serene colour palette with just subtle accents of darker hues to give it a fresh, crisp appearance while still retaining a little bit of 'grunge'

Jenny

 I love Spring. It's by far my favourite time of year; the days are getting longer and lighter, the birds sing, the buds and blossoms appear and there's a real sense of optimism in the air. I'm celebrating this wonderful time with a floral garland and a couple of fun ideas for using your Distress Crayons. Find out more about it on my blog.

OK, now that you have been awed and inspired - it's time to show us your art.  You have until
Thursday May 5 to enter.

An InLinkz Link-up

Destination Inspiration : Terminal 4

Hello everyone, Jennie here with you today, your AVJ Creative Guide waiting to welcome you at Terminal 4 with this month's travel bag. Let's have a peep in the bag just to refresh ourselves as to what we are using:

Product: Something Metal

Technique: Rust Effects (perhaps using rusting or embossing powders

 or rust coloured paints)

Colour: Lilac or Pale Purple

Substrate: Board (e.g. greyboard, coaster board, cardboard)

I decided to use my travel bag goodies to make a chunky ATC. I love being able to cram a lot of items in a small space and by using thick cardstock this meant I could really go to town with paint and embellishments.

My greyboard ATC was first coated with gesso and then some crackle paste added with a stencil. I used Dusty Concord Distress Spray Stain and LOTS of water to get this faded look.

Next, a little overstamping with a text stamp and Dusty Concord Distress Ink (second generation stamping to get a faded look). It was still needing something else and the new Tim Holtz Metallic Rub Ons are just a perfect size for an ATC and provide a bit of "class"!

Then I started playing around with different embellishments. This greyboard heart was painted in gesso and dabbed with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and then overstepped with a crackle background stamp. I really love this effect.

For my rusting element I decided to again "rust" a piece of paper clay with DecoArt paint and Antiquing Cream. If you missed my tutorial for this at the beginning of the month click HERE to go the post on my blog.

 

This really is a fun technique and no-one would ever know it was paper clay!

Finally I added a little more metal in the form of a picture brad and a pin.

A little project but still using all the travel bag goodies. 

Three of my fellow Creative Guides have already shared their inspirational pieces with you this month as part of the Destination Inspiration journey, but in addition, as the Travel Bag is also this month's theme, you have been treated to a huge array of inspirational projects from the rest of the Creative Guides and our Challenge Winner and Pinworthies.

If you are still inspired but haven't entered you still have a few more days to get those projects in. And I hope my little ATC shows that it doesn't have to be a big project - even small ones can cram in all the goodies !!

As we are  now at Terminal 4 it is time to share with you the four projects made by the Creative Guides with the March Travel Bag - all so very different and yet all based on the essential craft items in the bag.  

Next Monday there will be a new set of crafty items in our Travel Bag so do join us again next week to see what the Creative Guides are working with!

Thank you for joining us today.

Jennie x

Terminal 1 : Brenda

Terminal 2 : Tracy

Terminal 3 : Jenny

Terminal 4 : Jennie

Celebrating Andy Skinner as a Guest Artist.

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 Andy Skinner.

Many of us here on the AVJ team and living in the UK have had opportunities to attend Andy's workshops and here are some of us at Stitches Trade Show in February.

L to R Brenda, (Cathryn), Julia SW, Nikki, Andy, Anne

And last November at Mixology 2015 in Coventry - although we didn't get Andy in the picture there were several of us there.

L to R Brenda, Alison, Jennie, Anne, Julie.

Andy, very kindly, is supporting AVJ this month with his generous prize for the winner of the challenge - the contents of the DI travel bag - details here. He is a very talented artist with his own unique style and has spent a few years travelling the length and breadth of the UK teaching his techniques and enabling his students to create wonderful grungy, textured projects in a mixed media style....

... and often in a shabby vintage style.

Those of you who have known Andy for a while may well have been part of his on-line workshops where he has enabled students far and wide to have an insight into his imagination and creative techniques for all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to add texture, create rust and age worn elements.

Take a look at this casting from his Outcast workshop and this is what he says about it -

"I have been casting and teaching casting methods for over 12 years now, mainly in the keepsake industry with children's hand and foot prints. Over the years I have built up a plethora of techniques for doing this, some of which have been used in this wall hanging".

Andy also has an incredibly funny sense of humour and is straight up front with his comments -

"Now before I get any hate mail accusing me of working for Satan himself because I have used skulls on this project, I want you to know that these techniques can work just as well with flowers, cuddly bears and fairies etc….. lol".

If you are interested in taking any of Andy's on-line workshops check out this LINK to see what is available. This is just one of them.

It was in March 2013 that Andy joined DecoArt as Executive Consultant assisting with product development, supporting DecoArt’s Helping Artist Program, being the person behind the technique video production as well as serving as DecoArt brand ambassador at trade shows and conferences. Oh my what a journey he has had and come such a long way, I know he is soooo proud of the DecoArt media line that he uses and educates about these days. Check out his CHA 2016 workshop make and his blog round up explaining what he did using these products and the fun he had at the show.

Andy loves sharing tips and techniques on his blog and if you haven't visited yet it is well worth a visit, go take a look at some of the tutorial posts he has listed.

Now we can't miss out the Andy Skinner products available, Andy's own stamps, stencils and masks, chipboard kits, image transfer sheets and printable downloads. He collaborates with Tando Creative with his chipboard kits and Stampendous with his stamps. Just google any of these to find nearest stockists. Here are some of the designs.

Andy on TV

I remember last Autumn seeing Andy demo DecoArt products on the Craft Channel, in fact I think still have a couple saved on the planner. Now please don't quote me but I think there maybe more of these coming up soon so keep an eye out.

Wanderlust 2016

For those of you who are on the Wanderlust journey I know Andy is in the process of filming his video for a little later in the year, keep a look out for this too.

To finish off here are some recent projects that you can find on Andy's blog.

ATC's

Andy's current challenge

Bold and Bright

Fossil

Winter Wonderland

Industrial Elements samples

So there we have it, a rich and varied look at the life and works of Andy Skinner.

Thanks for stopping by and many thanks to Andy for allowing us to share his art this week.

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Don't forget you have one more week to enter our March challenge using the contents of this month's travel bag. We already have some amazing projects entered which are so worth exploring, do go take a look at the main challenge post and hopefully you will be inspired to get an entry in before it closes next Thursday. Get the link from our side-bar.

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 the March travel bag. Have a great weekend.

hugs Brenda and the Creative Guide team. xxxx