Grungy Monday 13 Alcohol Inks

I first encountered Alcohol Inks here – Tim Holtz 12 tags 2009 day 10.  Really didn’t think it was much for me.  DH loved it right off the bat though.  So for a while it was mostly “Honey, could you make this look rusty for me?”  But now, I have to say, I probably use it on just about every piece.  Hasn’t ever been the focal point, but always invited to the party.  I buy clear bling and white pearls and ink them to match.  I buy metal chains, charms and attachers from the clearance section and overlook the too shiny, brassy or strange color finish, knowing that I can fix that with AI. 

So….last Sunday we’re at Michaels, coupons in hand.  I say “How about more AI?”  The reply is “Nah – we have enough”.  But I’m thinking that we need a green (lettuce) and the butterscotch looks pretty good.  So, a new pack of AI comes home with us.  I wanted to try them out right away, so I took out a cheap (Oriental Trading) piece of “copper”, texture fade it and splotch all over with every color that we have.  The “copper” comes off the bit of metal, but all the better.

Next day, we check Linda’s blog for Grungy Monday challenge no. 13 and DH accuses me of having insider info! 

SO….this will be my first time using AI for something other than a bit player.  I envisioned something with the new TH Queen of Hearts texture trade and recycled packaging (from said texture trade).  Numerous attempts come out VERY SCARY looking.  HHHMMMM – what to do?  I’ve always held the opinion that if you run something embossed through the vagabond with a die you will totally smash the embossing.  At this point,  what the heck.  So I take the piece of inked foil from paragraph 2 and cut the bird and cage.  Embossing survived very nicely!   I should have laid the foil ink side down on the die but  live and learn.  (craft and learn?)  The flower and crown started out life as shiny silver.  All of the bling was clear crystal.  That’s a TH facet, inked on the back. 

Very fun challenge!  Thanks again Linda!

Letters to My Love GM 12

LOOOOVE Tim’s tag for this!  Linda over at Studio L3 took us back to 2008 where Tim was showing us a resist technique used with decorative papers. 

The first fun step of any of these challenges is to brainstorm what I have on hand to create my piece.  The guest artists do a fabulous job of demonstrating that it’s meant to be inspiration not emulation.

My biggest product limitation is the paint daubers that I have.  I was pretty sure that it would have to be either black or red.  What I saw in my head was something made from my 7 Gypsies Lille stash.  I love this paper and thought it would be great.  BUT, another big product void was a large area stamp.  Got nothing’there.   Without that, I didn’t think I could do the paper justice.  {My 12 yo loves all phobia words and is on a mission to learn as many as possible….what do you call the fear of breaking out the good paper?}.  So, playing it safe, I used the stamp from last week’s challenge because that worked really well for masking and a piece of K&Company Life’s journey (old correspondence in sepia/cream).  I used the same paper for the tags, pocket, “ribbon” and tab. 

A lot of the red dauber came away but I liked the script showing through.  I used the same background stamp with barn door on the pocket, stamped over it in aged mahagony using a stamp from Tim’s mini classic collect.  It’s attached  with 7 Gypsies Lille tape.  I also used the mini classic collection on the little tag.  I stamped “Love letters” on another strip of paper and strung it through a brad from my stash.  The brad was an awful color so most of the paint was removed with steel wool and I colored it with Cranberry and Rust alcohol inks.  The tab has “To my Dearly beloved” stamped on it with Sepia Archival.  I think this stamp is Hampton Arts.  I used flourishes from the same set on the top of the mini-tag. 

The charms come from the clearance section at Joann’s, Michaels or AC Moore.  The pins used to attach come with the tags on my favorite clothes bought at Kohl’s.

GM 11 Faux Batik

If you didn’t get here from Studio L3 – take a look.  The lovely Linda entices us each week with a new challenge using techniques from Tim Holtz.  This is how I’m learning how to paper craft!  Trying out something from Tim and being totally blown away by what everyone else submits.  Every week, I take a look at what the guest artist have created and try to figure out what the technique is before hopping over to the Tim Holtz demo.  Yep, most of the time I have no clue, but it’s awesome to see how each person interprets the challenge and makes it their own.

I’ve embossed using DI before.  As a matter of fact, I like the security of seeing where the stamp is, compared to using regular clear embossing ink.  But this week, I just couldn’t get the clear embossing powder to listen to me.  It just wasn’t sticking to the ink.  I dunno, lazy powder or too dry DI pad.  Anyway, no go.  A couple of botched backgrounds later, I decided to try something else.  So I didn’t exactly do it right, but I was happy with what I got.  I started out by inking my tag with scattered straw, then used distress embossing ink and clear embossing powder with an ornate background stamp.  I inked over the whole thing with mustard seed, spiced marmalade, fired brick and walnut stain.  Then, I ironed as per directions using an old travel that could truly be at least 30 years old.  Imagine my surprise when it all worked!   The stamping and ribbon are chipped sapphire.  The frame is “tarnished” using Shelly Hickox’ technique.  (Truly, check out her genius on her blog).  Add the usual bit and bobs and there she is.  Please leave me a comment, even if just to say hi!  I’d love to hear from you.

GM 10 Distress Ink---Tag pull up card thingy

Distress Ink – Ink ink ink ink ink…… 

Fabulous challenge for GM 10.  Using Tim Holtz Distress Ink.  Check out the videos on his website!

Mostly dusty concord and some aged mahogany.  Started out with a lot more colors.  Used the TH stamp from new visual artistry collection that matches the texture fade that I used.  I inked in a variety of colors and stamped over silver dauber then I embossed using dusty concord on the folder.  Not much of any of this shows on the cover, but it was fun none the less. 

The cage is embossed grunge board .  Dusty Concord DI was applied first using ink on the mat with spritz and then inked somemore with foam applicator.  I added some tiny splatters of dusty concord distress stain.(By the way, the grunge board in the embossing folder went through the vagabond like butter and turned out geogeous).  Added glossy accents over all.

The ATC underneath was done the same Dusty Concord recipe with the addition of some stickles. It was cut down a smidge and slipped into another ATC that I had daubered with silver and punched the edges.  The bird was cut from a left over bit from the pull tag.  There’s dusty concord DI on the mat around the ATC and on the tissue tape.

The back of the pull tag and the gears were done in the same way with Dusty Concord DI ink with a tiny splatter of Distress Stain.  The embossing folder was DI'd with Aged Mahogany.

The front of the tag is silver dauber with Dusty Concord DI on the embossing folder.  The stamps are also other new Tim Holtz  Visual Artisty stamps in Black Archival ink with Dusty Concord DI blended on. 

I used The Tim bird cage, big tag, gears and ATC card dies (did I have fun or what?).  The hole reinforcer is cut from the metal bit that came off a wine bottle – it was that color already.  The ribbon was white organza, but I inked it with, you guessed it, Dusty Concord Distress Ink.  I started out wanting to use a bunch of DI colors, but then, I was just loving how the color of one ink changed depending on the application.  Also, loved doing some of the stuff I had learned from previous GM challenges.  Distress ink, ink, ink, ink, ink.  Must go shower.

Grungy Monday 09

Grungy Monday 9 – Shabby Chic

What a mess!  This is definitely Grungy and Shabby, but I have to say. I’m kind of fond of it.  It’s the process not the product. 

This is for Linda’s Grungy Monday challenge over at Studio L3.  She has a wonderful thing going on, and if you didn’t get here from there, you should definitely check it out.   This week she picked a technique demonstrated by Tim Holtz here.  I’m pretty new to all of this, so everything she’s picks I’m trying for the first time.  It’s a blast!.

I painted my cardstock with black dauber as per TH.  Then I cut a stamp out of fun foam using my brand new TH cage die.  Also got this idea from TH.  It’s a great two-fer – you can find all kinds of great tips like this on his website.  I used this new stamp and the TH flourish stamp to do the clear embossing.  I am very limited in daubers and didn’t really want to use any of the colors that I had so I used another green acrylic paint that I had with some snowcap and silver dauber.  This is where the trouble started…..I couldn’t get the paint to wipe off.  Probably the other brand acrylic isn’t suited and I don’t think the silver dauber is suited very well either.  Plus the foam I used for the cage stamp was way too thin to have the stamp turn our nicely.  I read over on All Things Tim that if you don’t have the thick fun foam, glue two layers together.  Definitely a good tip.  I'll have to do that next time.  So…I had to pretty much scrape the paint off the embossing and took some paper with it.  The flourish turned out okay but definitely shabby.  The cage, due to thin stamp, turned out badly, but when it popped in my head that it looked like someone had drawn it on a wall with charcoals, I decided I liked it anyway.  So, I pressed on.  Next, I tried the tarnished silver and enamel technique that Shelly Hickox demos on her website.  If you haven’t check this out, you’ll want to.  She’s a genius with the techniques.  She just made this amazing telescoping steam punk card!  Check it out! 

Anyway, the number plaque thing is supposed to look like white enamel.  Well, seems my perfect medium had all kinds of STUFF stuck to it and the pad had actually turned to this mushy mess.   I applied it before the numbers had dried and also managed to pick up some green color, probably from my craft sheet.  Bottom line, added more mess to the mess, but I still don’t hate it.  You can’t see it very well in the photo, but the wing turned out okay, it has a pretty green flourish on it.  It did however crack.  I still don’t hate it.  I added some bling , a sentiment from the computer inked with DI peeled paint and a kiss of silver dauber, somemore bling, a silver daubered mat, oh and some stickles too. 

Like I said – it’s the process.

Grungy Monday 08

Here’s my latest for the Grungy Monday challenge over at Studio L3 (aka “really takes the sting out of it being a Monday”).  This week it’s a water color technique taught by Tim Holtz here.  So, I got out a piece of white card stock and what seemed like the most suitable stamp for this technique from my collection.  You’ll recognize this as coming from Tim’s Spring Sprung set.  The only inks I have other than archival black and sepia are distress inks.  So, I pulled out victorian velvet, worn lipstick, milled lavender,aged mahogany, dusty concord and fired brick; as well as peeled paint and forest moss.  I figured I would use some combination thereof.  My mini misters were all filled with a home brewed perfect pearls mist.  Figured, what the heck, so I inked misted and stamped.  And, it come out too runny.  Now although I’m a rank rookie at all of this, I should have know better.  Because, before I knew of Studio L3 and ATT, I had watched all the videos at www.timholtz.com a good two, three times and it should have dawned on me to spritz a lot less then Tim did in his demo.  Undaunted, I re-inked with the other 3 non green inks that I didn’t use on the first attempt and stamped over the first image, but shifted to the left to stamp in the between spots.  Actually, I didn’t hate how that looked.  So now, I needed something to add to all the void on this white card and the butterfly from the same collection seemed like the logical, suitable choice.  BUT, I decided to go check out my new guides at ATT  (aka Big Bunch of Enablers J).  Minutes later I was flying out the door, coupons waving in the wind.  Not only had the peeps there informed with the what and where, but also the how with links to the coupons.  When I got home and surveyed my new loot, I couldn’t resist stamping my new airplane from the Tim Holtz Visual Artistry collection right above my “weeds”.  I added the sentiment from the same collection  It is as much about this new craft journey as it is about anything else.  So, newly inspired, I redid it all and created this remembrance.  Big thanks to Linda and Gloria and all of you out there whose blogs and posts help me to create this and  inspire me on this journey!

Grungy Monday 07

I loved this week’s challenge at L3.  The Tim Holtz technique was  simple, fool proof and turned out looking better than I imagined it could.  I made a lot of embellishments for this tag but used only a fraction of them.  I didn’t want to cover up all of the luscious TH DI.  The colors reminded me of Tuscany, so I used it to mount one of my favorite pictures from our trip.