Inspired by {Sister Golden}

 This week Denise is sharing the Sister Golden site and Pinterest boards for inspiration. I came across this scene done with flowers and what I loved besides the deer in the scene was the tall skinny trees. I knew when I looked at it that I had dies that would make tall skinny trees and later when I went back into the site I just kept going back to this scene. So I finally just decided its still Christmas in July in my space haha.

 So, I grabbed a stack of Size 5 & size 8 shipping tags and started doing this Unity Stamps Inked intentions background stamp with various Distress Oxide & Versafine Inks. The winner here is some DOX Brushed Corduroy on a Size 5 Manila tag. The sentiments were stamped and die cut some time ago and were fished out of the little milk glass tray on the table. I did ink the edges of them with some DOX iced spruce ink. The tree diecuts were done when ever those dies hit my space. I tend to either cut up scraps with dies when I have a ton of scraps or I cut up new to me things and I save the cuttings for when I want to make something quick. ( these were not marked with the mfg info) the tiny deer are Tim Holtz dies but, I have all of his deer dies so I could not tell you for certain which set they came out of. the tiny stickers on the diecut stamped sentiments are also TH stickers. as an Experiment I did add some glossy accents to the pine sprig at the top of the tag and then sprinkled some of the new ranger "snowflake" mix over that. the bottoms of the tree ground area on the tag on the right got stickles stardream glitter glue, and you can see the snowflake mix with those mica flakes and such in it really sparkles and catches the light a lot more than stickles. ( but, this did go airborne in here and that's a factor if that is an issue for you) The red trim is round and almost feels knitted. I am not sure who makes it. I did use a red & brown fineliner pen on the deer on the tag on the right. That deer on the tag on the left. I am never sure where to put some eyes or a nose on him so, he is just cardstock. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Watercoloring a Salted Abstract Cherry Tree

 This week Suz is sharing this video seen here on YouTube from Emma Jane Lefebvre called Create Cherry Blossom Trees with Watercolor & Salt. So, she says you need to experiment and find a way that works. And my trial notebooks are not the paper I normally paint on ( Arches) So, I grabbed a piece of Arches cold press and Daniel Smith watercolors with table salt.

the first round of paint looked like this (wet with salt on) 

My horizon of trees are a little high up the page but, I am assuming I can still make it work bring the main tree in closer to me. (if the salt works) 
 

At 2 am I could not sleep through the smoke rolling through the windows. ( we have forest fires burning south, west and east of the valley I live in (not close to us we are safe here just the air gets trapped in valleys along the base of mountain ranges frequently) So, I got up closed all the windows peeked at the dried painting above and decided to put a whole second layer of water over that and try it again. 

 At 6:30 am this is what the second layers of paints and salts dried to look like. not much Wow factor going on, figured its cotton paper... wet it again, so I did this is round 3 of paints and salts wet.

We'll see what it looks like when I get home from work today, I have a feeling you could do this 50 times before you start getting a consistency to your water/paint level that allows it to fracture like hers did. I have had success with this in the past with snow paintings ( during the winter when its cooler and we have some humidity so, now I am in wait and see mode.) 
 

So, this is how it dried when I brushed the salt off again after work today and I decided I did not have time to mess with trying different papers or brands of paint and I would just keep using this sheet. the salt fractures are not even remotely as dramatic as what is shown in the video and maybe it was the paint. I have no clue, probably there was also a water quantity amount issues as well. 

 

So I added some water to the ground area and some paint and walked away. I did try to get the horizon line a little darker than the foreground as I am thinking there should be shadows in those areas. We shall see how that translates when its dry. 

 After that layer was dry I did add some branches, a trunk and a few sprigs of grass here and there to the scene. 

 So where I stopped with a few more (taller grass) towards the bottom and a few more branches. The colors did not photograph that well as this is not quite so Pink its more of a coral shade in real life. I guess its not too bad for a first trial but, I just ran out of time to make a bunch of them to get a really dramatic Salted tree here. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

Create Together Collage tag Trio

 The third project in Create Together the class that is Tim Holtz & Heidi is some size 5 shipping tags that get totally collage covered with the ephemera papers. and then layered up over that. So, I did start with picking out a handful of bits of paper to cover 2 of the tags, but as I trimmed the edges of the first one. I walked around the table where I have piles and picked up more bits and a third tag. This turned out to be something I really enjoyed the finished tags of. 

I did try to minimize some of the mess by using a piece of plastic packaging for the collage medium smears for using a glue brush. 

 

A closer look at the base layer of those tags. 

I did use a piece of plastic packaging to lay the tags on the glass mat as I did the seal them with the medium with your fingers step. off to the left out of this shot is a box of baby wipes and now I am not as nervous about getting it on my skin as I was before I started but, they do mention you need to get this off your fingers while its wet or you are wearing it for days. That freaked me out a little and I almost put on rubber gloves. 

Once they were dry shiny cello tape stickers came out to play along with more Paper dolls and shiny foliage bits. and then some stickers that were cut up to look more ransom note type style. the people and foliage are all up on the foam dots from the kit and surprisingly enough they felt a little more sticky adhesive wise than the ones I have been buying so those have now gone on the mental shopping list to get more of when I get low again. I found I do not have a 1/4" hole punch. ( who knew?) so, that went on the wish list as well but, I used a 1/8" hole (4 time haha) which made little funny shapes in the hole of the tag so, then I tucked in some red skinny velvet yarn fiber through the hole. I am pretty tickled with how these turned out and I know I will be making more of them at some point. This class has an hashtag of #SSSHolidayCollage if you are playing along. Thanks for stopping by. 

Create Together Slotted Tag Collage

 The second project in the class is a slotted size 8 shipping tag that ends up with slots to tuck the collage inside and so its interactive ( and can hold a gift card) so, later when I end up out and about I will pick one up. 

 This is Iced Spruce distress ink on the diecut tag that I received in the kit I decided it did not have enough water drops on it when I was looking at it and I did hit it again.

Like so, I could see the "Wintery snow effect" in the ink better on this one.

 

You can see on the Santa's hat one of the Mica flakes is a little big, ( that one eventually fell off as I was putting him in and out of the tag later) 

 I am not really a dried glitter person so, it surprised me how much I like the sparkle of this Snowflake mix in the kit. ( I have also been trying really hard to keep my fingers out of my eyes because, I have 2 fans going up here and the little portable AC tucked in the corner so, I think some of its gone airborne ) 

 I had to laugh when I looked closely at my Santa after I got it on because, at one point in the class Tim Mentions that you have to look at the Mica flakes in case you end up with a pirate patch over an eyeball and I really did. the second largest flake on the brim I wiggled that while it was wet to turn it more over the glitter and not over his eye. This view gives you that scale of how big the mica is compared to the glittery mix parts. 

 These are the pieces I thought I might tuck into my slots, I did end up editing this down as I filled it up pretty quickly.

 So this is where I ended up. I need a gift card to tuck the pointing hand to and so its just ready for that later. I also ended up trimming away some of the background color between the Petals and stems of the Poinsettia sprig so that I could tuck the little piece of "seals" layer between it. I did glue that little circle red Dec 25th to the front of the little snapshot piece, so she does not tuck all the way into her slot because of that bump. Well, I didn't force it anyways just in case the glue is not all the way set. I do think liquid glue has a learning curve but, I am finding its not as steep as I thought it would be. 

 I did decide that after the sparkle paper was layered to the good tidings sticker that I needed one more sparkly spot in the tag so, the flowers received some glossy accents with the snowflake mix as well. This was just shot wet on the table with the cell phone. I am trying to decide if I should put something to the left of the clipped on Believe flash card and so, while it dries I am going to let that thought percolate. That's about where I am at the moment at 1 hour and 43 minutes into the class. There is a hashtag for these projects and its #SSSHolidayCollage if you are playing along. Thanks for stopping by. 

Create Together Tim Holtz & Heidi Holiday Collage Card

 A funny true story. I have a ton of Tim Holtz products, you knew this already right? but, I don't really use much of the papers and chipboard pieces I think I am more of a collector of them more than a collage person. I use a piece here and there so, I was really excited about the live class they were offering from Simon Says Stamp and teaching it as an YouTube video. (you can watch the replay here) I also had assumed that the 11th was going to be a Saturday when I bought it without looking at a calendar so, I heard part of it at work yesterday between payroll and customers and our IT guy coming by so, This morning I started watching the video where I could just sit and watch it. It starts with a collage card. 

 

I opened my box this morning so, no homework done here. I do have packs of some of these packages from last Christmas that are open in a container so, I picked and chose from both the kit box and my Tim Holtz papers stash box.

This is what I was thinking my card might turn out to look like. 

I built my shaker frame piece and I had not used that liquid glue much and I got it too close to the acetate and I thought ok, you're going to have all this shaking sparkle inside anyways it does not matter, but the glue leaked out the front of the frame under where you see this girl sitting. and I thought OK but, as I was moving piece around to do the collage building part I thought, you know you could move her to the other side of the frame the way her back is in the mugshot she'd probably look more natural posed there, so. I did. I also stacked one of the smallest poinsettias tilted on top of the medium one under her feet so, the flowers are a little 3-D here also. 

I think she turned out pretty cute, I shot all of these photos with my cell phone and the colors are a little off to me but, not in a this is terrible kind of a way. (that card base is a very deep green color in real life) I did use the Candied Apple crayon on her hat and the mowed lawn green on her coat for tinting, the cheeks are worn lipstick. I had not ever thought to do this, and I love how that turned out.  

I am excited to see what the next project is. I am also thinking I just may add some stickles or something to the center of that poinsettia for a little more sparkle. I probably could have added a little more to my shaker window but, I do like that you can see the corner bit of the layer under it as well so, there is that. 

The bits and pieces I did not end up putting on the card, some have been inked with the iced spruce ink. I am thinking I may also add some of that cello tape to the top of the green ticked under her feet as well but, I have not gotten that far. I have replenished my cuppa Joe however and this means the creating can continue. I hope you are having a really creative Saturday as well, Thanks for stopping by. 

and I stopped the video too soon, they added tape after I thought they were done with the cards haha.

 So I cut a piece of the tape sticker and used it at the top and bottom and decided the flower stamens just needed that sparkle as well. I am not sure how it works but, this class has a hashtag that is #sssholidaycollage if you are playing along on maybe Facebook?  I know there are some people from Splitcoaststampers who have also bought the kit and will be playing along, so I am just going to try the hashtag there in the gallery as it is keyword driven. That's about it for the moment. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Inspired by {Kuyike}

 This week Kia is sharing the Kuyike store site that has pinterest boards seen here. And right on the home page I seen This top with what looked like flowers painted over woodgrain, and I had an Ah-Ha moment as I have a pack of this Brutus Monroe rustic florals printed paper that is flowers on woodgrain prints...

So, out came the pack of paper and the Hero Arts nested Tee Shirt dies. ( this is the largest die in the set) 

 I had this piece of green printed paper just laying on the table from the watercolor earlier in the week and I needed some contrast so, I ran it through the bigshot in this Penny Black stitches folder. The Sentiment here is from Riley & Company and I had stamped it on this pale green scrap a while back and die cut it. ( I think that is a MFT die but, I don't remember what that shape is called. The base here was finished out at A6 in real life and it's just a simple one but, the idea that there are no pants in the scene made me snicker. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.