Pumpkin Jack Goes Steampunk

Today I am sharing a wall hanging depicting Pumpkin Jack dressed in his Halloween costume. It seems that Jack is a great fan of steampunkery and chose his costume accordingly. I'll bet that he and his friends will have fun at all of the parties coming up.
I decided that I wanted to make a dimensional project. To create this piece, I started with one of the burlap panels. I then sprayed Dylusions over the panel in Halloween colors. The face was cut from Graphic 45 design paper, edged in spiced marmalade distress ink, and adhered to a matching piece of grungeboard for strength. The hat was a wooden embellishment that I had picked up at a craft store. I painted it with black soot distress paint. To make the eyes and monacle, nose and moustache, and goggles, I die cut the gears and moustache and followed the effect powders technique (p. 52 of Tim Holtz's book) from the current Compendium of Curiosities Challenge. I love how it adds texture to the items. The raven and owl and die cut using some of Tim's dies and colored using distress paints. The mouth is part of a Cheery Lynn Designs die cut.
I really enjoyed working on this project for the Compendium of Curiosities 3 challenge. This month the challenge is being sponsored by the generous Inspiration Emporium. There is also a great prize package from Tim and Mario. (See, even Jack has a big smile.)
This wall hanging works well with several other challenges: Take a word -- steampunkery; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge -- anything goes; Frilly & Funkie -- haunting Halloween; Great Impressions -- get your spook on; SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenges -- steampunk stories.

Cold Days and Warm Memories

My card today shows that you can follow Tim Holtz techniques and use Tim Holtz products, stamps, and dies without going the grunge route. Now don't get me wrong; I am a big, big fan of grunge. This card just went along a slightly different direction.
This week the Compendium of Curiosities 3 challenge is stamps and framelits from page 63 of Tim's book Compendium of Curiosities 3. To get all of Tim's ideas you need to check out his wonderful book. This week the challenge is sponsored by the generous Inspiration Emporium.
In the background are three trees from the tree blueprint framelit set. The first and third trees are dimensional. The center is a simple stamp and die cut. Mr. Snowman is from the Snowman Blueprint framelit set and uses all of the individual pieces. Added to this adorable fella are three black buttons to add to his outfit. The ground snow is torn white paper. The sentiment is from Great Impressions. The falling snow and the snow on the trees is Stickles.
Today's Bloggers Challenge worked perfectly with this card. The theme is buttons. No snowman is complete without his buttons. The Sunday challenge at Ink on my Fingers is depth and 3D. Both the trees and the snowman are dimensional thanks to layers and pop dots.
I am also entering my card into the anything goes challenges at  the Tuesday Throwdown challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Birthday Rose

One always has need of birthday cards. This particular card was made with someone special in mind. Hopefully, she won't see it before I give it to her, but it's prettier in real life, so it will be ok. This week the challenge at Bloggers Challenge is birthday cards.
My background is an example of Tim Holtz's Faded Layers technique. I can't describe the process, but you can find Tim's directions in his Compendium of Curiosities book on page 58. This is the current challenge at Compendium of Curiosities 3 which, by the way is being sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique.
The birthday banner is a Cheery Lynn die cut as is the border band. The rose is a Sizzix die. The bee and the letters are Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies. The stencils used are from Ranger (Dina Wakley and Tim Holtz).  The stamped rosebuds are from SweetStamps.
I am also entering my card into these challenges: Cheery Lynn Designs -- fun with letters; City Crafter -- roses; SweetStamps -- in the garden; Sweet n Sassy -- summery with die cut; Marks Finest Papers Colors challenge -- yellow, green, blue.

Discover

Today I have a card that was a lot of fun to make. The background is done using Tim Holtz's Painted Industrial technique from p. 46 of his book Compendium of Curiosities III. I won't go into detail since the info is available in Tim's book, but I will say that I love the Steampunk type effect that it gives. I used my favorite science man stamp from Tim's collection as well as his shadowpress sentiment and woodgrain stamp. There is some tissue tape along the background. The bottles are die cut from shrink plastic, colored using alcohol inks, and then shrunk. (Shelly Hickox used shrink plastic with these bottles in one of her projects a while back which gave me the idea.). Who knows what our scientist will invent today.

My card is being entered into these challenges: Compendium of Curiosities 3 (sponsored this challenge by the wonderful Inspiration Emporium) --painted industrial technique, p. 46; and SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge -- Inventors & Inventions.

Life

The current Compendium of Curiosities challenge was more than just an art challenge for me this time. I had to actually go into my stash of treasured Tim Holtz products and use product that I have been "saving for the perfect occasion". The current challenge is to create an altered burlap panel (p. 37 of Tim's book) Of course, I had to get the burlap panels when they came out, but I never had the nerve to use them or it was never the right time. As I went along, I was also inspired to use other precious product.
Although I won't go into detail on the actual technique of altering the panel, that's what Tim's book is for.  There are a few embellishments on my panel I'll talk about. My butterfly girl comes from an Artchix image. Her wings were die cut from Tim's Fanciful Flight die. The upper part of the wings was cut from grunge paper and painted with black soot distress paint. The colorful under wing was cut from Shimmer Sheetz.
The flower was made from scratch. I used Tim's Jumbo Tattered Florals die to cut all but the center (Cheery Lynn die). I have wanted to make a large flower for a long time, so this was a perfect time. I wanted a full flower, so I cut seven of the large layers. The first layer was cut from Suze Weinberg's Wonder Rubber and embossed with UTEE. (I can't begin to remember when I bought the wonder rubber, but this was the first time I used it. I had forgotten I had it.) The next layer is burlap. There are two layers of fabric from Tim's line (another previously uncut product) and one of his tissue paper. I wanted to make the flower quite full, but fabric and tissue paper don't stand up very well. I got the idea to use Wendy Vecchi's Clearly for Art moldable plastic. I cut out the flower twice and heated the petals so I could form them into dimensional petals. A little alcohol ink added color to these layers.These clear layers helped to lift the fabric layers. The flower center was also made from the Clearly Art.
To make the background, I added some stencil paste for dimension and distress paints for color. The center band was cut using a Cheery Lynn die. The sentiment is a Dyan Reaveley stamp from Ranger. The final touch was to add some bling stars and dots.
I am also entering this panel into these challenges: Vintage Journey -- dies and distress; Take a Word -- butterflies; Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge -- start from scratch; Classy Cards 'n Such -- pick a posy (use a handmade flower) [CCnC products include distress paints; Cheery Lynn dies, bling]; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge -- let's be clear (used Clearly Art for the flower layers).
A special recognition goes out to the Funkie Junkie for sponsoring the CC3 challenge.

Happy 4th of July

  

Hoping everyone is having a wonderful 4th of July today! 

this week's Blogger's Challenge is red, white, and blue. My card is a bit non-traditional for a 4th of July card, but it certainly fits in with the red, white, and blue. I started with a red base card and added the blue panel. I stamped the sentiment (Artistic Outpost) along the fold edge of the card. The face (Prima) was stamped on a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper. I then masked her and stamped (Hero Arts) the background. I used the distress watercolor technique from Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities 3 Book, p. 39. This just happens to be the  current CCC3 challenge. (A special thanks to Inspiration Emporium for their generous sponsorship.)
My card is being entered into these challenges: Blogger's Challenge -- red, white, and blue; Classy Cards 'n Such -- red, white, and blue (Tim Holtz's distress markers can be purchased there.); Tuesday Throwdown -- anything goes; Compendium of Curiosities 3 challenge -- distress watercoloring; Mark's Finest Papers Simple Salutations -- patriotic; Art With Heart -- red, white, and beautiful; V's Sweet Ideas -- red, white, and blue.

Live Life

It's always fun creating something for the Compendium of Curiosities III challenge. Tim Holtz's techniques result in so many unique works of art. There is a new challenge every two weeks from his book, A Compendium of Curiosities III. The current challenge is Layering stencil: texture paste from page 49; and a special thanks goes to Inspiration Emporium for their generous sponsorship. Of course, I can't reveal the technique (but it's laid out clearly in Tim's book), but I will say that I used several stencils, a couple of Stampers Anonymous stamps and lots of color (distress stains and distress ink).
I am also entering this card into the following challenges: Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge -- anything goes; Kraft Journal -- shabby chic; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge -- stencil it.

A Gift for You

I needed a gift box, so what did I do...I made one. I used a couple of book pages glued to a piece of cardstock and cut out the shape using the pillow box die from Tim Holtz/Sizzix. I then put a light coat of gesso over the top. I wanted the strength, but still wanted to see some of the writing. If you look really close, you might still see some of the words.  I used the distress paint marbling technique to color the box and then stamped it with a Stamp Zia stamp. I used the lattice die (TH) over the top. Then I made the faux tea roses from Tim Holtz's book Compendium of Curiosities p. 65 with leaves from Garden green die.
I am entering this gift box into these challenges: Compendium of Curiosities III -- Faux tea roses p. 65; Dies R Us -- May Flowers; Ink on My Fingers Sunday Challenge -- change something (book pages to gift box); Take a Word -- books; Marks Finest Papers Friends of Speedy -- use flowers; Fashionable Stamping -- 3D object.
A special thanks to Inspiration Emporium for sponsoring the CCC3 challenge.

Perspective

I started my card off with an experiment. I decided to try distress paint marbling on a piece of kraft cardstock. The result was a very subtle background since the paint tended to soak into the kraft. However, it worked great for what came next. I then took Tim's doily stencil, laid it over my background and sprayed with Dylusions white linen spray. It really showed up well. I also added a little ink over the chevron stencil. Since the current challenge for Compendium of Curiosities III is to try Tim Holtz's glitter technique from p. 56 of his book, I die cut the frame and flowers from grungepaper and used  Tim's distress glitter. Oh yes, I also added a drop of stickles to each of the flowers. The stamped image is from SweetStamps. Distress markers were used to color the image. The sentiment stamp from Tim Holtz was die cut using a Cheery Lynn Die. Also I'd like to give a shout out to The Funkie Junkie for sponsoring the CCC3 challenge this time around.
I am also entering this card into these challenges:  Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge -- botannical; Kraft Journal -- flowers; Sweet Stamps -- anything goes; Marks Finest Papers Speedy Fox and Friends -- no designer paper; and V's Sweet Ideas challenge -- distress.

A Man Among Boys

Today seems to have been a Tim Holtz inspired day. Before I go any further, I'd like to thank Linda Ledbetter for holding the Compendium of Curiosities III challenge. This is Tim's third Compendium and the third round of challenges. Thanks also to Inspiration Emporium for their sponsorship of this challenge.
Challenge #1 is paint marbling (p.43 in Tim's book) The background of my card shows the paint marbling technique. Over the background I stamped several Steampunk images (Hampton Arts and Artistic Outpost). Overlooking these images is Tim's man among boys, Umbrella Man.
The monthly  Inspiration Journal challenge is a few of my favorite things. The background technique is one of my favorite techniques. Steampunk is a favorite theme. And Umbrella Man is one of my favorite dies.
Other challenges fitting my card: Mark's Finest Papers Speedy Fox & Friends -- rain; Fashionable Stamping -- flying things; and SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenge -- favorite technique goes steampunk.