Vintage Paris Canvas

So I hopped out of my box again yesterday and created another canvas.  Actually, it's an "un-canvas" - an "artist's panel" that claims to be "better than canvas."  Whatever.... its un-canvas properties actually made it very easy to adhere paper to, so I went with it, LOL!

This project was inspired by two challenges...... at The Shabby Tea Room this week, there is this gorgeous photo and the word "reflections" to inspire us.  Oh, how I loooooove the look of this mantel arrangement.  I want it in my house this very second.  Inspiration abounds.....

And, a fairly new challenge at a blog called More Paper Than Shoes.  Why, oh why, didn't I think of that blog name first??? It describes my life in four easy words.  Anyway, this challenge gives a little list of rules - actually, items and techniques that must be incorporated into the challenge. So for this month, the theme/items/techniques are:

Vintage Paris

Metal

Acrylic Paint

Fabric

Crackle

Any surface

The design team over at MPTS is amazing - all of them.  But before I show you my close-ups and tell you all the yada yada, I have to show you the DT project that made my jaw drop... here is the pic - and if you love it, run, don't walk, over to DT member Megan Bean's blog to see the rest of this amazing little album of hers on THIS post. Oh, but DO come back, will you????

Okay, so for my little project, I started with Bon Voyage Paris paper from Gartner Studios.  Next came paint around the edges of the canvas, which was Distress Crackle in Antique Linen, distressed with Walnut Stain.  I added a few pieces of vintage text from an old French school primer after that.  The beautiful little lady is a stamp from The Fairest Flower plate from Oxford Impressions, stamped in Ancient Page ink and distressed with Antique Linen.  Surrounding her is a Tattered Angels frame with silver Vintage Art Glass Glitter.  Oh my, I love that stuff!  I splurged, I hoarded for a long time, but now that I've used it I can see the difference - the sparkle IRL is amazing, and I can't wait for the patina to gently tarnish.  This is the "reflections" part for the Shabby Tea Room challenge, too.

For the metal, I used some of T!m's flowers, which I bent a little with jewelry pliers to give them a little more depth.

For the fabric, I stamped images from The Fairest Flower, Paris Exposition (Artistic Outpost), and Stampin' Up! onto some muslin, frayed the edges, and adhered it to the not-so-pretty sides of my un-canvas.

One last little photo to show you how well I'm coming along with my hoarding problem.. this is a vintage crochet covered button, which I have only one of... and I put it on this un-canvas.  (Eeeeeee, I'm breaking into a cold sweat just typing it... okay, deep breaths.... fine.)  See?  Pretty good, eh? LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're all having a happy week.  Tomorrow I'll have a little card for the next Gingersnap Creations challenge... see ya then. :)

Play Date Cafe - Postcards from Italy

The Play Date Cafe Challenge has another destination theme this week, and this time it's Italy.  Here is the gorgeous inspiration photo, with the challenge colors of rust, ochre, and white.  At first I thought I only had one stamp with Italian imagery, but as I looked through my stash, I actually came up with a bunch of stamps, along with some vintage Italian text!  Does that happen to anyone else...... you buy things, you store things, you forget about things... LOL!?!?  Shameful, really.  But hey, I got them out, dusted them off, and used them for this card.  The main images are from Stampingon, and I also added an Italian poem script stamp in the background and a tiny Italian postmark.  I adhered it all to a cardbase of white watercolor paper - just loved the texture it lent to the whole thing, plus I was particularly inspired by DT member Sarah's card HERE, where she left a lot of white space surrounding her images. 

This was a fun, quick little card to make - I'm thinking I'll be using the watercolor paper more often.  The student-grade paper pad is relatively inexpensive, and I can get two large cards per sheet.  Maybe for those snowy Christmas cards......  But for now, it's in the high 90s and humid here.... ugh.  Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

A Tag Tuesday Template

This week at Kard Krazy's Tag Tuesday challenge, we are treated to a tempting template by guest hostess, Sarah, from Vintage Figments.  A lovely little dressmaker's mannequin template, along with some gorgeous samples, and there was no way I could resist playing along!

For this little blue tag, I simply used a bunch of bits and pieces - nothing difficult or fancy, just pulled out a bunch of my favorite blue stamps, blue inks (Distress Ink in Chipped Sapphire - love it!) and blue-ish embellies from here, there, and everywhere, LOL!  If you have a specific question about anything you see, please email me and I will try to track down a source.  Hope you have time to play!

Compendium Of Curiosities Challenge #8 - Ink Some Grunge

Got to get out the inks and stain my fingers yesterday, playing along at Linda's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge, which this week is to ink some grungepaper or grungeboard.  Perfect excuse to stop hoarding the stuff! (Why do I do that?  If I were to die tomorrow, my family would just chuck all of my beautiful stash in the garbage bin..... carpe grungeboard!)

Anyway, I decided to get out Tim's "Seasonal" grungeboard set that came out ages ago.  I inked up several components of the set in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord, and Black Soot Distress Inks.  Then I went in with some Distress Stickles in Rock Candy, along with a bit of Black Diamond and Gunmetal for a bit of spooky sparkle.  Since I don't have any of Tim's Halloween stamps (you do feel sorry for me, don't you LOL?), I had to draw in the jack-o-lantern face, and I used an Oxford Impressions spider web stamp.  Also added some tea-dyed cheesecloth for a spidery-webby effect, and some bling for the cat's and owl's eyes for that eerie glowing effect.

 The "Haunted" letters are suspended from an acetate diecut that I made using Tim's "Elegant Flourishes" die - I left the swirls that come out the side, cuz my daughter said it looked like ghost trails, LOL!  I'm working with it.  I do have to figure out a better hangy thingy, though... right now it's just gold floral wire.

Thanks for popping in, hope you have time to play along!

Famous Painters and Paintings at Gingersnap Creations

It's Wednesday, so it's time for another great challenge at Gingersnap Creations.  This time, the inspiration is famous painters or famous paintings.  This was a great excuse for me to continue to play with Oxford Impressions' Soul of the Rose plate, this time using the Flaming June image by Frederic Leighton.  I colored her with Copics (which is so easy with these images... they are so detailed that you barely need any shading at all - I only used two oranges, two browns, and two flesh tones for the lovely lady).  I used some alcohol inks on glossy paper, then ran the panel through the Cuttlebug with Tim's swirly texture fade (lovin' that!).  I added a little coordinating patterned paper, some rust-colored silk ribbon (which I got at Ellen Hutson's store), and a straight pin (which had only a clear crystal top.... I added a few blue beads of my own, too).  Nothing too complicated.

I hope you can play along with us at Gingersnap Creations... check out what the design team and our lovely guest artists have come up with - you are sure to be inspired.  This challenge runs through August 29th, so you've got tons of time to play. :)