November 2~Week 8 APCC~Altered Playing Card Challenge

Hello!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Today I have my latest pair of altered playing cards for week 8 of Claudine's super fun play along! It is a 26 week long challenge to alter an entire deck of regular playing cards. These are so fun and they are very close to an ATC size. There is a very fabulous and active Facebook group playing along, created just for this challenge as well. You can join up anytime, lots of people have. To get all the details you can click HERE. Come play with us!

For this play I used two cards that I had prepped awhile ago with some drywall tape and masking tape covered with some white gesso.

I used Distress Paints on my cards. Straight from the bottle I just swiped 3 colors on each card. Then sprayed with water. As it started to react I tipped is to get some drips and blending.

I wanted to make a pair but not matched, so I used the same stamps, they are Inkadinkado. The top more earthy colors card is smoother so I stamped directly on the card with Archival Ink. The colorful one below has more of my favorite dots and is bumpy. So, I stamped the hearts and butterfly then cut them out.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate your time and enthusiasm! Your comments make my day!

~hugs~

~kim

October 22~ 31 Days of Halloween Wicked Blogger Challenge Day 22~Mixed Media Mojo DT

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome to Day 22 of 31 Days of Halloween, Smeared and Smudged's wicked 31 day challenge! To find your way on the 31 Days Hop, you can follow the list there on the right sidebar under Mr. Neon Skele. Also make sure you visit Terra's blog for the rules and daily Scavenger Hunt clue and prize list.

This is also my DT post for Media Media Mojo, I invite everyone to play along with us in this challenge. The theme is fun, Fall/Halloween and the twist, use fabric. Many, many pieces of everyone's art could be entered, come see when you have a chance!

For today I made a fabric hanging. I wanted something I could hang up in the window or on my door. This is the play I made.

I have really loved seeing Sandy's banner pieces this month, that has been part of my inspiration to play with stamping on fabric. You can find her blog HERE to see what I mean.

I chose to use some white crinoline fabric I had on hand. I love the edge it has so I made it the bottom border.

I stamped all the black images with Archival black. The orange-yellow is Distress Paint. The brown fence,(I love this stamp!), is Distress Ink.

Once the stamping was done, I filled in the sky using Distress Ink and a water brush. Sponges show too much of an edge so I used a brush on the fabric, it is not as forgiving as paper.

One hint of caution, the Distress Ink is water based, so when it gets wet it runs. I believe Archival is permanent, at least as I went over it with the blue, it did not lift like the brown did.

The witch, ghosts, and bats stamps are Unity. The sentiment is Inkadinkado. The crow is Recollections-Michaels $1 bin:)  The fence and bottom border is Hampton Arts. Inks are Ranger.

I really like how the inking brings up the texture of the fabric. This is a play I would like to do more with.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful comments and visits! It means so much and makes my day!
~hugs~

~kim

October 19~ 31 Days of Halloween Wicked Blogger Challenge Day 19

Hi Happy Sunday!



Welcome to Day 19 of 31 Days of Halloween! The Smeared and Smudged 31 Days of Halloween Challenge is to create a daily project using a stamp, rubber or digi, and run from there. Remember to pop over HERE to Terra's blog to see the daily Scavenger Hunt prizes donated by our awesome sponsors and find the daily clue. You can also see all the rules there, too. For your reference I have the Wicked Blogger Hop list on the ride sidebar:)

Wow time is flying, doesn't it seem like we just started this journey? Where have the days gone??

Today is a bit different well maybe not I dunno. I chose to incorporate my love of photography with the stamping into a collage. I really want to work at meshing the shiny photo with the textures around it.

Please let me know what you think, I really do appreciate all your feedback!  I have my piece, "Watchers" for you today.

As always, click to see better, bigger:)

Okay, the substrate is my texture of choice right now, I love cardboard:)  The right side is deli paper, the kind they wrap sandwiches in, that I painted with Distress Paints, then crumpled, then inked with Distress Inks. Then stamped on it with Ranger Archival. 

The left side under the photo is another piece of paper printed and distress in pretty much the same manner.

The photograph. The dark underneath and against a tree trunk with the yellow flowers is my own image I photographed myself.  The orange leaf shadows is also my own image, just cropped down. Using Photoshop Elements, I added some free public domain images, the gorgeous raven and the wicked green cat eyes. I found them at PublicDomainPictures. I did some layering and masking quickly to make the collage since it was late in the day, time really ran away from me!

The stamps are Inkadinkado Nevermore and Hampton Arts. The black around the edges I used a watersoluble graphite pencil, Sketch & Wash by General's, I love it and it is made in the USA. It was $3.49 at Michaels in a 2-pack with a sharpener.

I think I have taken enough of your time! Thanks for reading this far down!

Hop on! and I love all of your comments!

~hugs~

~kim

October 16~ 31 Days of Halloween Wicked Blogger Challenge Day 16

Hihi! Happy Haunted Thursday!

Welcome to Day 16 of the 31 Days of Halloween Challenge by Smeared and Smudged. I am participating as a Wicked Blogger which means, simply put, one new project and post each day of October. This rocks and is so fun! Please visit Terra's blog HERE for all the details AND to get your daily scavenger hunt clue.

Today is some fun tag play. I really had no idea what to make, so I just played. I did pull out a tag that had the background made a bit ago. And just went from there....

Happy Hopping and I hope you enjoy your stay here:)

Remember to click each image to see it bigger. I love playing with  texture, embossing and tissue layers.

The stone skull image is from an Altered Pages collage page that I won from the Scavenger hunt, thanks so much for the freebie:)

I love this steampunky Curious bird from the Graphic 45 set I love....

I wanted to say I am incredibly grateful for all the visits and wonderful comment everyone has left! It makes me all smiles and so happy! And, gives me reason to carry on! Thanks and *hugs*

~kim

hmmm.....I wonder what this is?......

October 15~ 31 Days of Halloween Wicked Blogger Challenge Day 15

Happy Wicked Wednesday!

Day 15 of 31 for the awesome 31 Days of Halloween Challenge by Smeared and Smudged. See the cool shop HERE. If you are wanting to see all the wickedly cool art by all the super talented artists, you can follow the blog hop Blog Roll there under the Neon Skele on the right sidebar.

Make sure to stop in at Terra's blog to get the daily clue for the Scavenger Hunt, you can click HERE.

For your consideration today I have this portrait. This poor lady is always in a state of mourning. Don't feel sorry for her, she knows exactly what she is doing this spooky season.

Click image to see it larger:)

The lady and strawberry are free clip art images from The Old Design Shop. The lady image is dated 1889. The skull is a vintage anatomy free image from The Graphics Fairy.

I layered them and then printed them out on heavy paper. I used Distress Inks to watercolor them lightly.

The floral background I made using the bottom part of a bunch of celery, makes fun rose shapes! I dipped it in acrylic paint and stamped onto tissue paper.

The frame is painted with Distress Paint and layered with tissue stamped bats. The Love Potion stamp is by Graphic 45. The tag is inked with Distress Ink Vintage Photo and sprayed with water to make it blotchy.

If you have any questions, just ask:) I don't mind.

Thank you for spending some time here today! Now Hop on!

~hugs~

~kim

September 24~Mixed Media Mojo Challenge~Fall using Texture Paste~DT Project

Happy Wednesday, First Wednesday of Fall!

The weather is just starting to feel like it is changing, the nights are finally chilly here, yay!

Today I have a post for my Fall DT project at Mixed Media Mojo. There is still plenty of time to play along, too! The September theme is Fall and the twist is add paste, join us and see the fun HERE

I made this canvas starting with a flat 5x7 board. I added my homemade texture paste to add the bumps and ripples. I pressed some pieces of drywall tape into the wet paste to add more texture.

As with many of my projects, I have a theme or prompt to work with but never quite sure what direction I am going to go in! I knew I wanted the Fall colors and the Distress Ink color Wild Honey is tops on my list right now so it is featured brightly.

I like to emboss my stamped images, really helps for coloring! I used Distress Inks and Paints for the colors. The green dots, I used the Tim Holtz Dot Fade stencil also tops of my favorites at this moment. I colored my texture paste with Distress Paint Forest Moss, just to celebrate the last bits of green as colors are changing for Fall.

All of the stamped images are Unity. The pumpkins are from a Unity blog hop random draw contest I won:) Thanks Unity! I love the pumpkins and leaves they have such fun shapes! They are such fun stamps to use! I'm lovin' it!

The sunflower is a digital stamp. I printed it onto cheap dollar store photo paper, then did an image transfer using clear shelf contact paper. I dyed the ribbon using Distress Ink in these colors, Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey and Ripe Persimmon.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you have a few moments to leave a comment. Comments make my day:)

I am also entering this project into a couple of challenges.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Use Stamps and Stencils

Unity Stamps {Be Inspired} Challenge: 

Fall Colors from Inspiration Photo Color 

Basic Sketch Layout & (LOVE) Unity Stamps:)

Altered Playing Card Challenge~APCC~Play Along! Week 3~SSS Monday

Happy Weekend!

Short and sweet post today!

Just finished my two altered playing cards for Claudine's Challenge Week 3. This is so much fun and easy to play along, won't you join us? Find more HERE

I am also linking to Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, the prompt is Techniques! Each week of the playing card challenge works realllllly well :)

Here are my two cards, hope you like them. Please feel free to click to see a bigger photo.

The clock and key were stamped on tissue then I used gel medium to attach it to the alcohol ink background. The card base was covered with gesso as the first step.

Mr. Scarecrow was also stamped on tissue that I had painted with distress paints. The card background was inked with distress ink.

Have a great Saturday, thanks so much for spending some time here!

~Tag Play~Sunday Stamper: Bits & Pieces Hels Sheridan

Hi There!

Hope you are enjoying your August Day! July left too fast...amazing!

Bit of tag play to share today! I have been a follower of Hels Sheridan's blog, HERE, long before I decided to actually get inky crafty. She has great tutorials and brilliantly lovely projects, always a great inspiration. Super funny to read, too. Make sure you pop over to take a look.  Each Sunday she posts a fun prompt to play with. I finally got organized and time managed enough to join up!

Here is my play tag, enjoy :)

I used a tag I made awhile ago with Distress Paints and marbling. I added some Distress Ink with stencils on top. I practiced my stamping and embossing with the Tim Holtz stamps.

 I absolutely LOVE the heart stamp. I bought that set mainly for that particular stamp even though they are all really cool. I made the heart red with some Dylusions Red Spray Ink and a waterbrush.  I needed polkadots, truly really needed them and tragically(!) I have no polkadot stamp. Next best thing a bit of stashed ribbon :)

Another of my favorite things are flowers made from paper. I made these a bit ago as well. They were sprayed with Dylusions Purple Spray Ink and again with water to lighten up the centers. 

Thank you for visiting! I hope you like my project, all comments are greatly appreciated :)

Burlap Panel~Compendium of Curiosities V3 Challenge #6~CC3C

Happy Day Kind Journeyer!

I hope you enjoy your brief rest here, pull up a chair and relax:)

This week brings the next challenge for the Compendium of Curiosities V3 Challenge with our lovely hostess Linda Ledbetter and awesome Curiosity Crew, see all the fabulous works of art created thus far on the Journey, HERE. As with each Challenge, there is a Crew prize generously donated by Tim Holtz and Mario Rossi. You can join the Challenge anytime, pick up your copy of the Compendium from Tim himself, HERE and Tim will sign it for you, too!

This is Challenge number 6, sponsored with an additional gift donated by our fabulous sponsor, The Funkie Junkie Boutique! Thank you!! Please visit the amazing shop, HERE.

This base for this project is a burlap panel, altered, page 37 in the Compendium V3. So much fun and soooooo challenging. Time to let the imagination run wild and the inspiration to strike! This one took many look backs to the Crew's amazing projects, THANK YOU so much for providing them, they are sooooo helpful each time I feel stuck and want to bail out on the whole process! yikes! I am really learning to be patient with my creative process. (slowly)Realizing though I may have an idea what I want to do, well, the Journey takes me elsewhere and it is fun along the way:) smallest things can inspire a new tangent...go with it....

I really enjoy the texture of the burlap. It was a challenge to NOT bury the texture as well as various elements used.

Everyday Memories Inspire

The canvas felt a bit too dark for this bright Summery time here. I wanted to celebrate the bright colors of the sunny day and the wonderful Summer flowers in my garden. I also wanted to maintain the amazing imagery from the tissue, way too gorgeous to hide!

The flower photos are mine from my garden:) Yellow Daisy and Blue Cornflowers. The images were printed on color laser paper. The top one, "Everyday" was  a clear tape transfer. I wanted the ability to see through an image, kinda how things are seen in memory, all overlapped and sometimes changing slightly with time's passage.

 The 'Polaroid" frames are diecut from Strathmore Mixed Medium paper using Spellbinders Shapeabilities, "Snapshot" die set. 

For the frames, I clear embossed the patterns. Then I painted it with Distress Paint, Broken China. Added some Distress Marker ink, Seedless Preserves on top. Both were mixed around with a regular brush and waterbrush. 

I am very happy with the texture and color the frames have, kinda like a very summery tie-dye t-shirt :)

I hope you liked this project! Stop and smell the flowers, let everyday memories inspire! 

This project is linked to the Compendium of Curiosities Vol 3 Challenge, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique with a super fun $25 gift certificate! Thank you so much for your kind support!

Tag~ ChitChat~Shake It!~SimonSaysStamp Wednesday

Hey There,
Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th if you celebrate the day and a fun relaxing weekend never-the-less!

I saw the prompt posted last Wednesday at Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday Challenge to Shake It. It sounded so fun and different for me. A really cool prompt. Well...the idea was in my brain that I wanted to do something and I was patiently mulling it over in my brain and struggling to ignore all the can't dos and must dos that annoying inner voice possesses. Now so impatiently waiting for that A-HA! moment when I could pull it all together...

Fast forward to this morning....yes I seem to create, work, (have more fun) with a deadline looming!.....I came across a blog post about upcycling packaging. This one at ArtistCellar to reuse the plastic bubble that holds an object onto a board backer card. A-HA! finally the thing to hold the shaker stuff and without spending anything new!! Yay!

Thus this tag was born, it is very young, be kind! I have always loved the clear acrylic 'wands' filled with oil and glitter and various treasures to eye-spy! This is my tribute to that mesmerizing toy:)

A simple tag with distress paint, embossing paste, fancy tape, stamped stained tissue, all mounted on a manila tag for extra support for all the shaking!

I used the Tim Holtz ChitChat stickers and edged with Distress Ink for the words and Distress Glitter for the sparkle! The tissue is small bits from the stained tissue I stamped the stamp and time companion sentiment onto.

Thank you for looking! I hope you like it:) Find me playing at 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:Shake It!

~Dream Landscape~CC3 #4~June 19~Mixed Media

HI!

Hope you are having a really cool day this early hot summer, hot here anyways! But regardless, a great day never the less:)

I finally finished my two piece canvas mixed media project!! yay! This is another first among many on this creative journey. So many layers and texture, this was really fun to see how the piece changed along the way from how I had it pictured in my brain.

Initially I crafted this for the Compendium of Curiosities Volume 3 Challenge, round 4,  hosted at Studio L3 and the talented Linda Ledbetter along with the awesome Curiosity Crew! Thanks so much for all your hard work there:) The challenge this round is sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique with a wonderful $25 gift card to a very lucky random winner! Each challenge follows along with a specific technique covered in the Tim Holtz book, Compendium of Curiosites Vol. 3. I won't go into the specific how-to of the technique, grab a copy and be inspired! It can be found on page 49, Layering Stencil and Texture Paste.

Along the way I stumbled upon two other fun play alongs at:
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge:Spray Inks and Mists MMMC #1
and
Mixed Media Mojo Challenge #1 Use Stamps and 2 Mediums

Both of these are new, so pop over and check 'em out.

All the challenges have truly inspired works so show your love with some visits and comments:)

Onwards! Here I go.....
This is "Dream Landscape". Each canvas is 5"x 7". Please click each image for a larger view.

With the dimension, the light catches differently so I added a flat view to see more, hopefully!

The dream sun was inspired by the stunning work by Rachel here and Lynn here. I applied the texture paste onto the canvas after the gesso dried using Tim's Rays stencil, flipped and adjusted a couple of times. I just used my finger to apply the paste, it was gooey fun and left a rougher texture. Once dry, I sprayed the sun with Dylusions spray inks.

The wall was made from texture paste as well, trusty finger applied I like the bumps:) The wall was painted with Distress Paint and a wet brush.

The stamped hot air balloons, clocks, words and more, I stamped onto tissue paper with Archival Ink, Black. I placed more distress paint onto my craft mat and pressed the stamped tissue into it. I sprayed some water to add more soft blending.

The orange chrysanthemum flower is my own photograph applied to the canvas by using the gel medium transfer method.

The background night sky used Distress Paint applied with a  dabber and sprayed with water to blend.

I really love how the stamped tissue blends into the image, I used thinned gel medium to layer the pieces onto the canvas.

Lastly, my workspace and colors used.

Thanks so much for all the inspiration and many kind words along the way! Thank you for looking!!

This is entered into:
Compendium of Curiosities V3 Challenge 4 Stencils Texture Paste, sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique with a $25 gift certificate.

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge 1 Spray Inks and Mists, sponsored by Inspiration Emporium with a $25 gift certificate.

Mixed Media Mojo, Stamps and 2 Mediums

P.S. Last but certainly not least, the last Wednesday of each month, Simon Says Stamp Blog has a special challenge call, "Work It Wednesday", to highlight what you have been working on during the month. This month's does not have a specific SSS product or theme. This canvas pair really meets the challenge. I am very happy with these two pieces, they are truly the highlight of my June:) Pop over and see all the other wonderful projects linked at "Work it Wednesday"!

Stencil Play~June 17

Hello!

Hope Summer is going well for everyone so far! As always seems to go by too fast, hahaha!

Had some time to play with some stencils and paint today. I made this postcard, it is about 4"x5". I made it with the Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday challenge in mind, the theme, STENCIL IT. I used the Crafter's Workshop Mini Gears stencil, Distress Paint and tissue.

Below are a couple of photos, click to see each one a bit bigger:) Thanks for looking! I really am happy you stopped by today!!

This is the complete postcard. I love the texture the tissue stamped and stenciled images add to the project. The base paper was embossed then colored with Dylusions spray to highlight the raised portions.

I stenciled the mini gears onto tissue paper using black archival ink. Once dry, and it dries quick!, I used distress paint on the non-stick craft mat and dipped the stencil and stamped tissue into it.

After everything was dry, I tore apart pieces and started layering! I love how each layer melts into the previous one. The archival ink does not run or smear when wet. The distress paint stays clean and clear too. The Dylusions spray inks do run when re-wetted with the gel medium I used in layering. But that effect I like as well, I just get my fingers inky and pasty and push it all around, the color bleed is really nice so it's all good:)

Thanks again and make sure to check out all the awesome projects at Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday Challenge.

Journal Paint Play~June 15

Yay! Another fast posting!

Banner images courtesy my son, Dylan<3

A simple page in my homemade art journal, playing with paint, stamping and texture.

I prepared the page with a layer of gesso. While it was still wet, I pressed some dry embossed paper strips into the gesso to leave some fun dents. This part was actually done awhile ago, I prepped some pages to be ready when I felt like (more like had time to) playing.

I am still exploring stamping on tissue, then tearing the tissue stamped images apart before layering them onto the pages. To attach the tissue to the page I used water diluted gel medium. I stamped the black images with archival ink. The pink celery roses and blue circle stamps used distress paint.

This corner I used the distress paint marbling technique. I really love the layers of texture this added along with the more opaque quality. I am going to get more painty with this particular process, it is soooo fun:)

More detail of the celery roses and blue circle stamps stamped with distress paint.

This corner is used the stamped tissue that was colored with Dylusions ink sprays. They have a much more transparent quality. 

Thank you for looking! This is also linked to Simon Says Stamp, Monday Challenge: Paint