Altered Trading Coins!

Have you heard about a fun new twist on Altered Trading Cards???  Turn them into a 2.5" circle and you have an Altered Trading Coin!!

Recently a friend posted a video she found on YouTube by Craftyhodges sharing her new Altered Trading Coin creations and it's pretty cool! It looked like so much fun I decided to give it a go.

Now I have to admit I keep all sorts of scraps, mistakes, experiments and other bits of paper because they might come in handy someday.  I am so glad I did because I've started putting them to use by making these coins.

These are cut from the DecoArt Acrylic Pouring Medium experiments that I either poured, swiped or dripped onto 110lb cardstock.

These are failed experiments or cards I wasn't satisfied with.

And these are just "clean up" tags or cardstock pieces that I either stamp off my stamps, pick up medium off of my craft mat, or use up extra medium from stencils and other projects. 

They were all cut into 2.5" circles and this is what I made....

My friends....

(Stamps - Lost Coast Designs)

He's a brave soul...the background is an experiment for a faux leather that I layered on a few different stamps, added the steampunk guy and stamped word.

(Stamps - Lost Coast Designs)

This background is a piece of cardstock that I poured using DecoArt Pouring Medium & Acrylic Paints. I added some sparkles with a bit of glitter.  Mona is stamped directly on the coin using VersaFine Clair ink.

(Stamps - Lost Coast Designs)

This background was pounced into a puddle of "run off" from an acrylic pouring session recently. The steampunk biker was stamped directly onto the panel then colored using a bit of alcohol markers and white gel pen.

Aren't these guys darling?  I won them from the Crafty Nomad's recently week long blog celebration. They are from Crafty Individuals and they are just so sweet. I love them and couldn't wait to use them.

(Stamps - Bunny - Crafty Individual; 

"Dream" - Lost Coast Designs)

The Dream ATC was made on a piece of cardstock that I used DecoArt Acrylic Pouring Medium and Paint which was swiped onto cardstock using a baby wipe. The bunny was stamped using VersaFine Clair then water colored using new paints from Kuretake.  Of course I added a bit of sparkle on his little crown. 

(Stamps - Background - Joy Clair; Bunny - Crafty Individuals

"Wisdom" - Lost Coast Designs)

And finally this background was a piece of cardstock I used to stamp off extra ink from a recent project. That's why there are several different images and lots of colors. It was just a mish-mash but it looks pretty good I think.  The bunny was water colored using the new Kuretake paints.

So, what do you think?  

Pretty cool huh? 

I'm thinkin' these little gems are a swap waiting to happen - LOL!!

Tissue Paper Upcycle

Recently I received an art order in the mail and it was wrapped up in a really cute piece of tissue paper.  Well you know me and paper - I couldn't stand the thought of tossing it in the trash so I put it into my stash. 

As it happens I needed a birthday card for my DIL and that tissue paper was just the ticket!

I start by cutting a piece of the tissue paper roughly the size I needed.  To give it a big more character I crumbled it up several times so it was more crinkly.  Next I trimmed a piece of cardstock to 4 x 5.25" and through my Xyron.  I carefully placed the tissue paper over the panel and smoothed it out making sure it was secure.

 Since all of the owls were different I wanted maximum owls, minimum coverage so I stamped the sentiment on a little leaf tag and added some free-hand pen work. The tag was then tied onto the panel using a bit of Prima's navy twine.  The panel was then affixed to a green card blank. 

I am so tickled with how it turned out, those owls are just darling!  I hope she likes it :)

OH, I just got a package with tissue paper that had cute little kitten faces all over it....I see another card in the near future!  

When you get pretty tissue paper do you keep, keep & use or toss???

Little Birdie Hello!

Happy Day Friends!  

I hope you're all having a smashing week!  

Today I wanted to share my little bird card with you....

I created this for the Challenge #53 - Tweet This.  I am just so tickled with how this card turned out...the background was so much fun to make.  To see how I did it, hop on over to the LCD blog....

Tweet Tweet, Hello Little Birdies!

And there is still time to enter the challenge...

Hope you join in on the fun!  

You might just win $'s for your own LCD & CV stamps!!

Marabu Art Crayons

Hello Friends!  Recently I've been seeing lots of fun new mediums from Marabu and one that particularly caught my eye were their new art crayons. Similar to Gelatos and other water soluble color mediums I couldn't help but wonder if they were different.  Well, recently Joggles* had an amazing sale on them so I snagged 4 different sets of colors. 

*Note - I am not being compensated for posting a link to Joggles...they just have REALLY great sales and I shouldn't be the only one spending my $'s there - LOL!!  ;)  Always happy to help out spending your art $'s too!

So what's the scoop....  First off I have to say that these are the creamy-est sticks I have ever tried! Far smoother than the rest. There is also LOTS of product in this lipstick style tube making them a great bargain.  I will be doing a side-by-side comparison very soon but I just whipped up this card with some goodies laying on my table...

I just scribbled some color onto kraft colored cardstock.

Swished the medium around with a watercolor brush and then stamped over top with VersaFine Clair inks and Joy Clair stamps.  So easy and the colors are so vibrant even on the kraft. I can see these being loads of fun in the near future!

Supplies:

Marabu Art Crayons
Imagine - VersaFine Clair Inks
Joy Clair - Happy 4th
Waterbrush
Kraft Cardstock

Sparkles!

Hello Friends!!

I was sick this past weekend so I missed out on posting a link to a new card/technique that was posted on Saturday over on the Imagine blog. 

I am so excited to share this card with you...it contains one of my favorite craft supplies...GLITTER!!!  Yes I know, most of you think I'm nuts but I love glitter and this is a non-messy way to incorporate it into your projects.  It was mixed with Creative Medium to hold it fast.

It turned out really sparklie and bright IRL, so pretty and since I used glass glitter it also has a really nice texture to it as well.

You can find complete instructions and a supply list over on the Imagine blog here:

Wishing you a Day that Sparkles!

Have a lovely day friends!!!

DecoArt Pouring Medium - Glass & Paper

Hello Everyone!  I am excited to bring you another installment of Acrylic Pouring using DecoArt's new Pouring Medium & Topcoat!

O.k..before we begin, I have a confession to make...I see art everywhere!  Dh and I were shopping a couple weeks ago at Meijers and we were adding a few cans of Bushs baked beans to the cart.  I happened to see this really cool looking brown "bean pot" type jar of baked beans.  I asked him if he wanted to give them a try all the while knowing I was truly only buying it because I KNEW that jar would be perfect (and so cute) to hold paint brushes - LOL!!  Well we had them this weekend so I washed it up ready to be painted ;)  Terrible I know - it's as bad as buying the altoids just for the tins - LOL!!

Anyway, on with the show...

O.k...so I started off by choosing my colors. Since my main objective was to paint the brown bean pot jar I wanted to use pinks and reds since they go so well with the brown.  In addition to the DecoArt Pouring Medium I used Americana True Red, Bubblegum Pink, Titanium White and Tutti Fruitti Crafters Acrylic (which is a few shades darker than the Bubblegum Pink).

And of course here is my objective...the fun and funky brown bean pot!  I was a bit worried because there are some words around the upper edge as well as a texture along the sides of the jar.  Not sure how it would turn out but as it happens it finished off pretty cool.

At the last moment I decided I need to add a bit of lavender so I used DecoArts Grape Taffy Crafter's Acrylic.  Mixed mostly with the 1:1 ratio - some had a bit more pouring medium by accident.

Layered my colors in the cup...

And started pouring!

I just poured it on until I liked what I saw.  You can see the pool of excess paint around the bottom of the jar...no fears - more on that coming further down.  So anyway, I let the paint drip off the jar and air dry.  Once it had dried I poured the DecoArt Topcoat on and let that dry as well.  Here is how it turned out.....

I am SOOO excited about how it turned out....

far better than I imagined! 

I just love how the colors flowed and blended, it is just so pretty!

Here is a close up of the paint over the texture in the glass... I think it adds an interesting dimension to it that an ordinary jar wouldn't have.  If you can see in some areas the paint was redirected by the little nubs of texture.  Pretty cool huh?   Now the only problem is...dh wasn't all that thrilled with the beans but I would really like several more of these jars to paint - LOL!!

I still had some paint in the cup so I poured over a canvas that didn't work last time.I REALLY like how it turned out....

A close up of the cells.

Not sure what I'll do with it but it is pretty.

After my original post about the DecoArt Pouring Medium several people asked about pouring onto cardstock/paper.  Well I did just that and this is how it turned out.  This is the paint that I scraped out of the mixing cups and pouring cup. I poured it all into puddles then just started tilting this way and that.  The paper did curl a bit while the paint was wet but after it dried it went back to a fairly flat state...nothing that can't be fixed when it is glued down to a project.  

It is just so pretty....and you could use it in scrapbooks, on cards, mixed media projects, collages, journals, etc. I think I'll try making some skins next!

Finally there were also LOTS of questions about waste and left over paints.  As you can see from this photo there was quite a bit of paint that had dripped off the sides of the bean pot...no fear, not going to let it go to waste!

I took 2 pieces of foam core board and pounced them into the paint....the first one has lots of bold color puddles that were made from a couple of spills in the box ;)  I never said I wasn't messy - LOL!!  This is an approx 8.5 x 11 sheet...

The second is more blended (except for that splotch of red) but it's still very pretty.  It ended up making more cells than the first pounce did.  This piece is approx half the size of the previous piece.

Just a few more close ups of the smaller piece...

I just love all of the designs in the paint.

And finally the last piece I dipped into the excess was just plain old white cardstock.  It turned out very pretty as well.  

Supplies:

DecoArt -

Pouring Medium

Top Coat

Americana - True Red, Bubblegum Pink, Titanium White

Crafter's Acrylic - Tutti Fruitti, Grape Taffy

Other -

Glass Jar

Canvas Corps - 4x4 Canvas

Foam Core Board

White Cardstock

Imagine & Precious Remembrance Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the 

Imagine & Precious Remembrance Blog Hop!

Be sure to check out the details at the bottom for a nifty GiveAway!

The complete list of hop participants can be found on the 

Imagine blog as well as Precious Remembrance blog.

 I had so much fun with playing with the Kaleidacolor Ink Pads creating some fun monochromatic backgrounds I thought I'd give it another shot today.  Yesterday it was interesting to see how the monochromatic colors changed the look and feel of each card I wanted to mix it up a bit and use a few of the mixed color palettes from the Kaleidacolor collection.

 My first card was made using the Tahiti Kaleidacolor ink pad...it's amazing how you can take shades of orange, red, green and blue and give them such a hot tropical vibrant feel. This ink pad does just that. You can almost feel the sand between your toes!

Spectrum ink pad contains a wide variety of colors that really do run the spectrum. They are bright and vibrant just like the Tahiti ink pad but these give off that retro 80's feel...at least to this child of the 80's.  

My final example was made using the Denim Kaleidacolor ink pad.  It's got a down-home, comfy, cozy feel...most people would think this is just for guys but hey, us girls like our comfy jeans too.

Imagine & Precious Remembrance Blog Hop
Giveaway Details....

- Hop Along and leave us some comments on each blog. 

- Show us some love!:) Like & Follow both companies on Facebook & Instagram 

- Have fun & Good Luck!

Precious Remembrance Shop: Facebook , Instagram

Imagine Crafts: Facebook , Instagram

1 Winner : School Days & Totally stamp sets (Precious Remembrance Shop)

1 Winner : $30 Gift Certificate from Imagine Crafts

Supplies:

Imagine -
Kaleidacolor Ink Pad - Specturm, Denim, Tahiti
VersaFine Clair - Nocturne
Precious Remembrance - School Days, Totally

Imagine & Precious Remembrance Blog Hop Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of the 

Imagine & Precious Remembrance Blog Hop!

Be sure to check out the details at the bottom for a nifty GiveAway!

The complete list of hop participants can be found on the 

Imagine blog as well as Precious Remembrance blog.

Today I have a set of cards that I made using the "Totally" stamp set paired with Kaleidacolor ink pads to create monochromatic color theme. It's amazing how the color of the inks "totally" change the feel of each card. Check it out....

The first card was made using the Fresh Greens Kaliedacolor ink pad. These greens give off a tranquil and relaxed feeling like you would experience walking through a lush forest or open meadow.

While blues are often associated with calm and serene landscape of the ocean or open sea this Blue Breeze ink pad surely offers up a bit of calm and comfort.

While this example isn't really a monochromatic ink pad, Berry Blaze and it's coordinating color scheme has an arousing, energetic feel about it...like you're ready to take over the world. 

Even though all of these cards were made using the exact same stamps the colors really play on your emotions.

Imagine & Precious Remembrance 

Giveaway Details:

- Hop Along and leave us some comments on each blog. 

- Show us some love!:) Like & Follow both companies on Facebook & Instagram 

- Have fun & Good Luck!

Precious Remembrance Shop: Facebook , Instagram

Imagine Crafts: Facebook , Instagram

1 Winner : School Days & Totally stamp sets (Precious Remembrance Shop)

1 Winner : $30 Gift Certificate from Imagine Crafts

Supplies

Imagine
Kaleidacolor - Blue Breeze, Fresh Greens, Berry Blaze
VersaFine Clair - Nocturne

Precious Remembrance - Totally Stamp Set

Other -
Cardstock
Faux Gemstones
Twine - May Arts