Follow Your Heart

I found this saying, Follow Your Heart, in my Tim Holtz Quote Chips and it inspired me to create this card both as a reminder to myself and to others. After many, many years in the corporate world, I'm now trying to make following my heart and focusing on what matters most to me, my primary direction in life.

I made several backgrounds using Tim Holtz Botanical 3D texture fade, playing around with this layering technique from Jan Hobbins.

I was inspired by the Simon Says Stamp Midsummer Blues challenge to work in blue! The one thing each of these had in common was the Botanical embossing folder AND the use of Blueprint Sketch paint. Each one came out a little different and I will be using them for backgrounds on several cards this week.

First up is the tan and blue background in the bottom left of the picture above. This started out with layers on Tea Dye and Tumbled Glass. I used watercolor paper as the base and taped it down after embossing to help keep it flat. 

On top of this went the Blueprint Sketch paint mixed with a little glaze. It gave it a slight sheen and was easy to spread with my fingers. Then I layered on some distress stains in Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch and Broken China and distress oxide spray in Mermaid Lagoon until I got a dusky blue topping it off with a bit more Vintage Photo mixed with glaze again getting it into the nooks and crannies. 

The heart was hand cut, layered with Picked Raspberry, Aged Mahogany, Candied Apple, Walnut Stain Distress Oxide and stamped with script text embossed in fine black and edged in Black Soot distress crayon.

Finally a few gold embossed ivy sprigs from Garden Greens, a bit of cheesecloth, layered on top of a panel from Tim Holtz Wallflower stack and base card cut from turquoise card stock from my stash!

Some detail photos:

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Midsummer Blues!

thanks for stopping by!

Mitch

Sitka, Alaska

One of my favorite shots from a trip to Alaska. This is just a short hike outside Sitka, Alaska.

Happy Birthday with Flower and Rosette

Another birthday card using Tim Holtz dies and inks. In this one I played around with the Botanical 3D die using multiple layers of Distress Paint -- mostly Cracked Pistachio, Blueprint Sketch, and Tea Dye.

A detail photo of the rosette which was die cut from watercolor paper sprayed with Fossilized Amber and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Spray:

The die cut flower from Wildflower Stems #1 is doused with Antique Linen and Shaded Lilac on the flower and Forest Moss on the stem, lightly spritzed with water. The flower was clear embossed to give it a bit of shine.

The sentiment is from my old stash of stamps.

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Happy Birthday !

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate

Time to experiment with some of my new supplies -- 3D Botanical texture fade embossing folder and rosette dies both from the "Professor" Tim Holtz. There was also liberal use of distress oxide paints, stains and inks. Some card stock from my stash and voila -- I have three birthday cards, the first of which I will show here.

 A few close ups so you can see some of the details better:

For this card I used the following -- all Tim Holtz!

3D Botanical embossing folder
Rosette die
Fall Foliage dies
Alphanumeric dies 3/4 inch 
Blueprint spray stain
Vintage Photo spray stain
Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide spray
Tarnished Brass Spray Stain.

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Happy Birthday!

I have two more cards waiting in the wings that just need a few extra touches before I post them!

Thank you for visiting

Michelle

Relax ... we're all crazy

I hadn't worked with my gelatos for quite some time, so pulled these out to create a background in my art journal and had so much fun with the creamy colors and smooshing them around with a spritz of water and my fingers. Then I pulled out some of my favorite stamps and knew I wanted to work with Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and voila! An art page was born.

Sing

This simple art journal page uses a variety of mediums. I started with adhering two old dictionary pages into my journal with matte gel then colored over them with gelatos and covered that with a thin layer of gesso to tone things down a bit. Some stenciling and stamping completed the background using Dina Wakley and Tim Holtz stamps. The bird was stamped on white paper, colored, fussy cut and adhered with matte gel. The letters for "sing" are stickers from my collection painted black.

Thanks for stopping by! 

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Bright and Cheerful .

BUT FIRST ... COFFEE

This bright and cheerful panel hangs on my computer monitor and greets me each morning as I write my journal pages. I journal now most mornings -- something I started a month or so ago. Nothing really specific, just random thoughts to get them down and out. It helps me clarify things that may be bothering me or things I want to focus more on. Those hazy first moments and words tend to be very raw. It's given me a creative bump and this panel was one result!

I started with distress oxide inks in Fossilized Amber and Light Spruce and , then light molding paste through a stencil. A few random splashes and circles of Vintage Photo paint to mimic spilled morning coffee! Teacup and lettering are also Tim Holtz.

A detail of the cup with a wisp of cheesecloth steam.

Where the panel hangs to greet me. :)

Thanks for stopping by! 

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Bright and Cheerful .

Mitch

Beauty in Simplicity

Hello there! Adding a page from my art journal inspired by the challenge at the Frilly and Funkie Blog challenge “It's Heating Up” featuring yellow, orange or red. I had a bit of a challenge keeping it simple it is just some distress inks with a few stencils and dies. Different from the messy collages I’ve done.

Discover the Sea

I have always loved the sea and learned to sail when I was a teen. With a sigh I now live in the desert, which I love, but hundreds of miles from the sea.

So I made this oversized tag inspired by two trinket charms I received from the Funkie Junkie when I placed an order with them.  I used a variety of Tim Holtz products, starting with distress oxide inks, over stamped with a couple sea shell stamps with clear embossing ink  covered in a light wash of picket fence paint. Then I used a variety of die cuts from gears to greens and the seashell. A mix of embossing crystals, blue and black glitter a la Mr. Tim created the sand topped with a few gold and blue beads from my stash and a wisp of cheesecloth. Finally topped with a triple layer of thinlets for the DISCOVER and glued on sailboat and anchor embellishments, along with a funky bow.

Plus, here's a few close up on the details. The sand, shell and greenery:

And the sailboat embellishment:

I entered this in the Frilly and Funkie challenge -- Embellishments, Trinkets and Trims

Go to the challenge here!l

Time to sail away!

Mitch

Art Journal Page: Explore the World

When I saw the Simon Says Stamp challenge for Vacation, I immediately thought of the Tim Holtz "Adventure" dies. I wanted to do a mixed up collage with them, and after playing with them for a while decided I should also use the globe die from my stash.

This reminded me of a work acquaintance who once asked me: Do you vacation or travel? At first I was a bit insulted at the implication that one is better than the other (she made it clear that traveling was a much more intellectual and therefore higher pursuit than vacationing). At the time, I wasn't sure how to answer as I do some of both and I don't believe they are mutually exclusive. I've taken a few Disneyland/Disney World vacations that have broadened my perspective on things AND I've traveled to Alaska as part of a small ship expedition with National Geographic that was thoroughly entering as well as enlightening.

Either way -- vacationing or traveling -- exploring something new is fun! My art journal page is a nod to exploring new destinations.

I struggled with this one a bit, trying out a different style and it came out more busy than I had originally envisioned. Looking at it now, I'm thinking I should have opted for more white space and left off the stamps in the three corners. Your thoughts?

I'm entering this in the 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Vacation.

I Love It Art Journal Page selected by Frilly and Funkie blog

Very excited that this art journal page was selected as a top three for the Frilly and Funkie I love it challenge . This was the second time – I’m really trying to up my game by studying mixed media artists.

Ordinary Moments

Ordinary days, ordinary moments. I made this tag to remind me life isn't always about "big adventures" -- the day to day moments make up the building blocks of our lives.

I used a variety of TM dies, chitchat stickers and distress inks. The background is a resist technique using picket fence distress paint.

Happy Spring Greetings!

Happy Spring! To celebrate I'm sharing a birthday card for my daughter. Her birthday was in April but I wanted to wait to share until after I sent it to her! I used TH funkie flower dies, distress inks and a collage of old dictionary pages for the background.

I'm entering this in the Frilly and Funkie challenge: Spring is in Full Bloom

http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.com/2019/04/spring-is-in-full-bloom-challenge.html

Celebrate 2019 and New Possibilities

To celebrate the new year I created this oversize tag using Distress Inks, Tim Holtz stamps, stencils and die cut letters.

To get started, I cut a piece of mixed media card stock 5 x 9 1/2 leaving the bottom torn holes in place. Then I used the spritz and smoosh technique to color the panel with Squeezed Lemonade and Carved Pumpkin Distress Oxide.

Next up I added some circles using a stencil I had on hand with Carved Pumpkin.

To give a more celebratory mood, I added stars with texture paste through the stars stencil and sprinkled lightly with white glitter dust while still wet.

For the letters, first I stamped a leftover strip of paper with a script stamp, embossed with fine white embossing powder and inked up the strip with Candied Apple, lightly wiping across the script.

 I die cut the letters twice using Alphanumeric Cutout letters and doubled them up to give a bit of extra depth.

I stamped the sentiment in Candied Apple on white card stock and added it along with the script in black soot randomly to create extra texture. To finish it up, I added some washi tape in various places restamped the clock and smudged the edges all around with Black Soot before finally mounting on black card stock. In retrospect, I think the "2019" would have been better also mounted on white, but its a learning process!

Let me know what you think. Happy days to you all.

I'm submitting this to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge -- Party Time!

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=14747