BOO!!!

Scary isn't she?

I hope you all have a wonderfully spooky Halloween....

for those of you out on the East Coast...

I hope that you are all well and safe!

HAPPY

HALLOWEEN!!!

Last Minute Halloween Cards

Just a few more spooks to get you in the mood for Halloween....

I'll probably be making/sharing more before Monday as I just can't get enough of Halloween.  Gotta make it last as long as I can :)

Enjoy!

All stamps are: Just For Fun Rubber Stamps**

**JFF's Spooktacular Fall Sale is still going on ~

25% off all on-line orders till 10-31

so you better hurry if you've got a wish list going!

Quick & Easy Organizing Tip - Distress Stain

Hi Everyone!!!

Happy Friday!!!!!!

I hope you've had a wonderful week so far and are preparing for a super weekend.  I spent yesterday (my b-day) with DH...we went and explored Grabill - a small amish community not far from Fort Wayne.  We checked out an Antique Mall where I found a goodie I'll share with you next month as well as an antique flower frog and a few vintage postcards which I will again share with you when the time is right :)  We also hit a vintage style general store, a bulk food store and Michaels (woo hoo!). 

Today I wanted to share a quick and easy way to help organize your Distress Stains.  I keep all of my stains in a couple of vintage game boxes that fits on a shelf right above my desk.  I love how accessible they are but it's a pain in the butt trying to find the color I want....  I have to lift each bottle up to see which color is which.  Not convenient at all so I decide to do something about it.

I cut out lots of little circles from some white labels I had laying around.  I used my 1/2" circle punch which fit perfectly on the lids!

I placed a label/circle on each lid; removed the lid from the bottle and inked it up!

And now at a glance I can choose just the right color....

You could put the color initials on each label as well but I go more by color than name so I skipped that step.

Now I don't have to waste anymore time trying to figure out which bottle of ink I need.

I have to tell you I have started using the Distress Stains for watercoloring my images instead of the Distress Ink Pads.  I find that using the stains instead of the pads is so much quicker and easier.  I either dab my Niji Waterbrush on the DS dabber or pounce a small pool out on my non-stick craft mat if I'm needing larger amounts of ink.

It's my new favorite way to color stamped images!

On this day....1967

Cost of Living 1967

Average Cost of new house    $14,250.00
Average Income per year $  7,300.00
Average Monthly Rent   $125.00
Gas per Gallon   33 cents
Average Cost of a new car   $2,750.00
Movie Ticket  $1.25
Polaroid Camera  $50.00
The Federal Minimum Wage is increased to $1.40 an hour 

Popular Culture 1967

• Monterey International Pop Music Festival in California features some of the 60's Icons including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, The Steve Miller Band, Simon & Garfunkel and the Grateful Dead 
•  Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined up in a row. 
• Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas 
• The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of rock's most acclaimed albums.
• The Beatles release "Magical Mystery Tour" LP
• The Beatles release the double A-sided single with Penny Lane on one side and "Strawberry Fields Forever" on the other side.
• Elvis Presley Marries Priscilla
• Premiere of the musical Hair 
• Barbara Streisand performs in Central Park before 135,000
• Otis Reading dies in a plane crash aged 26 
• Carrol Shelby Mustang GT-500 Fastback was released    

Popular Films

• The Dirty Dozen
• You Only Live Twice
• Casino Royale
• A Man for All Seasons
• Thoroughly Modern Millie
• Barefoot in the Park
• To Sir, with Love
• In the Heat of the Night
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Popular in Music

• The Rolling Stones
• The Supremes
• The Beatles
• The Doors
• Bob Dylan
• Aretha Franklin
• The Grateful Dead
• The Monkees
• Elvis Presley
• The Beach Boys
• The Bee Gees
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Cream
• Pink Floyd
• Moody Blues
• David Bowie

Popular TV Programs

• The Prisoner
• The Forsyte Saga
• Coronation Street
• The Beverly Hillbillies
• The Lucy Show
• The Saint
• Z-Cars
• Doctor Who
• General Hospital
• Bewitched
• Crossroads
• Jeopardy!
• Peyton Place
• Top of the Pops
• Hogan's Heroes
• I Dream of Jeannie
• Tom and Jerry
• Star Trek
• The Monkees

People Born on October 27th....

 James Cook 1728

Nicola Paganini 1782

Theodore Roosevelt (U.S.) 1858

Emily Post 1872

Leif Erickson 1911

Dylan Thomas 1914

Teresa Wright 1918

Nanette Fabray 1920

Ralph Kiner (MLB) 1922

Roy Lichtenstein 1923

Ruby Dee 1924

Floyd Cramer 1933

John Cleese 1939

Lara Parker 1942

Lee (Melvin) Greenwood 1942

Carrie Snodgress 1946

Terry Anderson 1947

Jack Daniels (Highway 101) 1949

Garry Tallent (E Street Band) 1949

Fran Lebowitz 1950

Jayne Kennedy-Overton 1951

Roberto Benigni 1952

Peter Firth 1953

Robert Picardo 1953

Simon LeBon (Duran Duran) 1958

Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) 1967 - Scott Weiland Official Store, Stone Temple Pilots Official Store

ME!!! 1967

Sean Holland 1968

Sheeri Rappaport 1977

Kelly Osbourne 1984

 

Art Journal #5 - Petroleum Resist

Finishing up our set of Petroleum Resist pages today!

If you recall yesterday we left our acrylic paints to dry naturally.....

After the paint has completely dried you will need to wipe off all of the petroleum jelly.  It is important that your paint be fully dried because you could smear the paint over your resist images during this step.

And here is what it looks like once the jelly is removed!

You can see how the images I originally stamped over the paper now shows up.

It's time to add your favorite poem ~ mine is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.  I would also suggest to write a few lines somewhere on your page telling why you chose this poem. 

And there you go!

Another fun technique to add to not only your art journal but to cards, scrapbook lay-outs, mixed media projects and more!

Art Journal #5 - Petroleum Resist

Today I thought I'd share a fun and easy technique that I came up with that was inspired by Claudine Hellmuth's Peeling Paint background technique from her book Collage Discovery Workshop.  I love her technique so much that I included it in my book - Teach Yourself Visually Collage & Altered Arts (with permission of course).  (OMG ~ I just realized my book has 5 stars on Amazon!!! how cool is that - LOL!!)

Well, today we're going to be using the petroleum jelly paired with die-cuts....you can use the positive, negative or both pieces in your work.  I am going to be using both just to show you the difference. 

Before we get to the technique I thought I'd clue you in on the Journal Prompt for this lesson because it may have an impact on which die-cut(s) you choose to use.......

My favorite poem....

Now not only do you need to choose a poem you love but I want you to think about WHY you love it cause I'd like you to add that somewhere on your layout as well.

Let's begin....

Art Journal #5

Petroleum Die-Cut Resist

Supplies:

Petroleum Jelly
Acrylic Paint
Cardstock, Canvas or Watercolor Paper
Water-Proof Inks (various colors if desired)
An assortment of stamps
Water
Clean Dry Cloth

Instructions:

1. Stamp a variety of images on your cardstock.  I went with some simple designs...a leaf, tree (both StampersBest) and a tiny script stamp (Inkadinkado).  I used a variety of Archival Ink colors to help create depth.

2. Place your die-cut somewhere on your stamped background.  Take a dollop of the PJ and spread it across the die-cut working it out over the edges a bit.  Don't be shy about using lots of PJ...the more you use the better your resist will turn out.
***NOTE - anywhere that is covered with PJ will resist the acrylic paint in later steps!!!

If you're working with the die-cut negative you'll apply the PJ along the edges of the die-cut and pull it towards the center.  This prevents the inside edges of the die-cut being bent or torn during this step.

3. Carefully lift the die-cut from your background.

4. Reposition the die-cut and repeat until the entire background has been covered.

You can see in the following photos exactly where the PJ is and isn't so it's not like you're working blind applying the PJ.  Once you begin you'll be able to see where you've been and what areas still need work.

5. Squirt a bit of acrylic paint on your non-stick craft mat or in a bowl.  If necessary give it a few squirts of water and mix.  You want your paint to be fairly thin so it will glide across the paper/PJ.  You don't want the paint so thick that you have to really work to apply the paint. 

CAUTION - If your paint is too thick and you over-work the PJ images it will smear.

6. Load a soft bristle brush with the watered down paint and gently paint the background paper.  You don't have to get violent with it...just let the paint glide across the paper. 

You will notice that the paint will bead up where the PJ is while it soaks in as normal on the areas w/o PJ. 

Continue painting until the entire sheet has been covered.  Move onto page #2.

7. Let your paint dry naturally...

Tomorrow we'll pick it up from here!

Art Journal #5 - Supply List

I wanted to first let everyone know that you don't have to sign up and there is no cost associated with participating in the Art Journal.  If you're here you're more than welcome to join in the fun whenever you have time.  Each set of pages will be indefinitely so it's up to you when you create.

Here is the supply list for Art Lesson #5 -

Petroleum Jelly

Heavy Cardstock or Watercolor Paper

Die-cuts (shapes are your choice)

Assortment of Rubber Stamps

Waterproof Ink (Brand & Colors your choice)

Acrylic Paint

I'll be posting the first part of this technique tomorrow!

Which Witch?

Halloween is approaching quickly so I've got a pair of witches for you today :)

The first is a kitty witch sitting on a pile of spells!

Actually it's just a black kitten with a witch hat that I got from the sentiment. 

 Fits her pretty good though :)

All stamps - Third Coast Rubber Stamps; Inks - Ranger; the red stuff is Rouge Liquid Pearls.

The second witch is green with envy - LOL!!

I was playing with my Twinkling H2O's and thought it would be fun to go with something other than the normal skin tone shades. Gotta love how intense you can make the H2O's... It's also very shimmery in person.  Too bad they can't figure out how to get that to show up in photos!

All stamps - Third Coast Rubber Stamps; Embossing Ink & Embossing Powder - Ranger; Twinkling H2O's; Dresden Trim (in the upper corner) - Alpha Stamps

Only 8 more days till Halloween!!!!

Vintage Penny Postcards (by State)

Mom sent me a link to a site she found cause she knew how much I love vintage postcards. 

It's.... Penny Postcards (by State). 

You can click on the desired state and look up all of the vintage postcards by counties in that particular state!  It is so cool to see all of the nifty old postcards.  I'd love to have a few of those in my collection too.  Actually ~ I thought about taking pics of some of the ones I have that they don't and submit to the site.  No reason I should be the only one admiring these old beauties!

It's pretty fun so if you have a bit of time, check it out. 

You never know....you might just find some cool vintage images from your town!

Spooky Halloween @ 3rd Coast

I wanted to let you know that I have a Halloween card up over on the 3rd Coast DT blog....

Spooky Halloween Greetings. 

Normally when I stamp I go straight for the white cardstock but I thought I'd try something a bit different for this card.  I actually used Kraft colored cardstock.  I was tickled with how spooky it made the Distress Inks look.  Really gave the card and colors a totally different look/feel.

If you have some time, please check it out and tell me what you think. 

I'm thinkin' I might have to use that cardstock a bit more often just to see how it changes the looks of other images.

This and That

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend so far!

I thought I'd post a few updates on things...

First, Mom had a follow-up visit with her surgeon on Friday.  He told her that the bone in her foot is healed up and she can "start" walking on her foot with the boot (one of those big plastic jobs).  She's going slowly and hasn't tackled stairs yet but she's doing pretty good.  She says her ankle hurts but when my oldest son started walking on his after he broke his foot it made everything down there sore.  I'm sure since she's been off of it for basically 3 months it will take some time to get back into the swing of walking on it again. 

Bob (youngest ds) is doing well after his auto accident.  His eye is healed up for the most part...still has a couple stitches but they will fall off eventually (or so they tell us).  The nerve in his leg is getting better...it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it did and his black eyes are finally gone!  No more raccoon eyes ~ yeah!!!  He's still got some broken blood vessels in one of his eyes but that is going away too.  Maybe in another week or so I think. 

I have a couple new pics of my donkey friends....   They are starting to get their winter coats and looking a bit shaggy.  I love petting them when their hair is so long.  It's very soft and warm :)

As you can tell from the pics, fall is in full swing here...

virtually no leaves left on many of the trees and it's been very cold here at night.

I can't believe it's that time of the year already. 

Seems like we were just talking about how hot it was a couple weeks ago. 

Anyway, that's what's going on here...

Hope the rest of your weekend is great!

ATC Swap

O.k...I finally have time to post all of the envies today so everything will be going out in the mail on Monday.  I never dreamed when I originally posted the due date that all these other "events" would take place in between times.  Normally I like to sort, swap, repackage and post my swaps the weekend they are due but there have just been so many IRL things happen that it delayed this swap quite a bit.  For that I am sorry.

I also went back and added names to both of the General themed ATC's.  Several people had asked to see photos and I didn't have much time either day so I figured it was best to just post them and go back and add names as I had time.  I'm sorry if anyone was put-off by names on Halloween and no names on General at the time.  I didn't intend to hurt any one's feelings.

Also, the first photos in the General themed ATC post is Mary P - it has both her Halloween and General themed cards in one photo.  Hers was the first envie I opened and I just took a photo of them together.  The next few envies were all General themed and for a few of those I took group photos.  Later on I started taking Halloween/General separate as well as shots of each design separate.  I should have gone back and taken new shots of those first envies I opened but I didn't.  I'm sorry if that has caused any inconvenience on any ones part.    It took me a couple hours just to open and photograph this swap because there were so many and by the time I reached the end I never thought about going back and re-taking the beginning shots....nor would I have remembered which ones they were.  I'm sure I might have missed some individual cards and if I did, I'm sorry.

A couple people asked if I dreamed there would be so many.... No, I never did but I am so happy there were... the art work is all amazing and I'm sure there will be lots of happy people out there :) 

Several more people asked if I'm going to have another ATC swap again....  Yes, I think so but I'm not planning another swap till after the holidays.  It's such a busy time for everyone and I've found from past swaps that the ones with Nov/Dec due dates seem to have the most delays/MIA's.  I just don't have any during that time of year anymore.

I think that's everything...I hope you all enjoy your swap results and participate again sometime :)

Thanks friends!!

Now, I had a few extra cards that I set back to give away....

If you'd like a chance to win simply post a comment telling me what type of swap you'd like to see in the future. 

You have until 10-29 to post your comment.

Me?  

I can't wait to have another charm swap...

 I LOVE those little buggers!

(I've already got some ideas brewing!!)

Have a wonderful day

and

Good Luck!!

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder....

That statement is SOOOOOOO true!

This a.m. I was flipping through different channels on the tv to try and find something for background noise while I was cleaning.   I came upon a show that I've seen advertised but never watched before ~ Work of Art ~ the next great artist so I decided to leave it on and see what it was about.

WELL, now it might be my being born/raised in the mid-west or it could have something to do with my art teachers in the past or just my own personal taste but I'm telling you 95% of what those people created in my book was NOT art! 

Their inspiration for the challenge was motion ~ it was a modern dance show.  I guess I'm just naive or something but a wooden structure getting an erection is NOT art...it's something I'd expect a 16 yr old male to create in shop class.  Dropping a bucket of guts onto plastic sheeting is not art....it actually looked like one of our cows after she had a calf.  Wrapping colored garden hose around a 5 gallon bucket isn't art or motion.... that's how we store our garden hose for the winter!  WTHeck?!?

Have you seen the show?

What do you think?

Ink Stains ATC Swap - Final Installment!

 

*Note - I didn't have time to go through and list all of the artists when I originally posted them.  The artists are now listed.

Sorry for the delay.

 

Hey all ~ I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at all of the fun ATC cards the participants have created...I know I love them all!

Today I have the final installment of cards...

Enjoy!!!

Helen C.

Sherry  - Creatology

Deb L.

Trish

Paula K

Merrylion

Theresa P

Sue B

Kristy T

Marge

TXMESS

Caroline D

Carolyn

Judy

Pam J

Ink Pattie

Mom (Dixie)

Have a super weekend!!

BHG Pumpkin Carving Pattern Cards

Hey all!

Yesterday I shared a couple links to some nifty free Pumpkin Carving patterns from BH&G.  Today I promised to share some fun cards using these patterns and here they are!

These were the patterns I printed.  Since the originals were intended for pumpkins I printed these at 50% and which made them perfect for my cards.

The first thing you'll need to do is carefully cut the center of the image out with an exacto knife.   I know I know...many people don't like using an exacto knife but I love them.  With a bit of practice you'll be an old pro at it :)  Below are some tips I've learned over the years.

Tips:

*ALWAYS use an extremely sharp blade!  If you're blade isn't sharp it will tear the paper instead of cut.  You simply won't get a nice clean cut line.

* DON'T use too much pressure!  You're cutting through paper, not bone!!!   This is the biggest mistake people make.  If you use too much pressure it will again tear the paper and you'll have to start over!

* I find that if I hold the knife like a pencil it helps me control the knife better.   It will help with the pressure issue above too!

* Cut tiny close cuts first - the more intact the paper/stencil the easier it is to make tiny, tight cuts.  Save the larger straighter cuts for last.  You don't have to follow the outline all at one time... for example in the raven below I made the tiny feather cuts first, then I went back around the rest of the bird for the easier straight cuts.

* Turn and/or Move the paper as needed!!!  You don't have to tie yourself up in knots trying to follow the curves of the image.  Simply remove the knife, turn the paper as needed and continue cutting.

* If possible use a self healing cutting mat to cut on.  IF you don't have a cutting mat, use a piece of thicker chipboard under your image.  This does 2 things...it protects your work surface (and everything under your image) and it also helps the knife glide through the paper better w/o dulling your knife blade.

And here is what my raven stencil look like after I cut it out....

Temporarily adhere the negative part of the stencil to your card foundation.  Stamp various Halloween images in the open area of the Raven as shown below....

Now to add definition, ink the edges with desired color of ink.  I like to use Distress Ink and the Ink Blending Tool (big surprise huh?).

And here is what it looks like so far....

You'll have to wait and see what the finished card looks like till the end - lol....

Next we'll be using the positive image.

Place the positive image (mask) on your card panel.  Pounce a bit of the TOTALLY awesome Picket Fence Distress Stain onto a foam for the IBT.  Pat the cardstock all the way around the image as shown.

Now take the negative stencil and place it over the card panel.  You can now stamp over this stencil...

and here is how they both turned out!!!

Pretty cool aren't they?

And to think they were made using

FREE

Pumpkin Carving Stencils!!!

Sure beats spending 5.00 - 10.00 for plastic stencils huh?

Now, just think of all the other cool images you could use for stencils.

One that pops in my mind first and foremost is coloring pages!!!

Opens up a whole new realm in card making huh?