Tic-Tac-Toe for AVJ

What is tic-tac-toe?

Wikipediea says -

Tic-tac-toe, or Noughts and crosses, is a paper-and-pencil game for two players, X and O, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid. The player who succeeds in placing three respective marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row wins the game. So this is how this challenge title came about.

Annie is our lovely hostess this week at A Vintage Journey and she has described your challenge thus-

With so many Tim Holtz/Ranger and any other similar products we would like you to choose at least three items from the grid below and incorporate them in your projects. You can choose items horizontally/vertically or diagonally, it's your decision. Please, please include the name of the items you are using within your post, not just in the link to the challenge.

Idea-ology or any metal embellishment	Sprays	Ribbon/twine
Paint	Ephemera	Die cuts
Foil tape	Texture fades	Stains

For my Creative Guide sample I have taken the diagonal line from top right to bottom left. My Idea-Ology component is the ‘Found Relative’ photo, to embellish the collage I used Tim's Expedition ephemera pack and I used distress stains on the background (see below process steps).

Get yourself a cuppa and have a wander through the post, be warned there are quite a few photos.

Process steps – I dipped into Tim’s background technique as demonstrated on his July tag of 2014

To bring the piece together and add details -

 Alter the bookplate, this simply has some antique linen distress paint dabbed on it. Simple but lovely effects.

Ink the edges of chosen ephemera pieces ....

... and know exactly where you are putting them on the collage.

 Add some sewing and die-cuts......

..... and make charmed embellishments.

As this is such a large collage I built the lower with the large layers first and put it to flatten under a heavy box. When it was dry and flatter I added the next level of smaller elements and flattened it again. 

Finally I adhered the bulky elements to finish it off.

The altered clip board was made quite quickly -

I covered it completely with tissue wrap - this paper is so forgiving

I again used distress paints to alter the look of the clip (which was bright silver to start with).

Finally I glued the collage to the board - I couldn't resist taking a picture of the other bulldog clips all round it.

 The little charm was added to the clip.

Finished.

I've just noticed I haven't shown you how to get the exra mile out of your Found Relatives cards. Can you see the gorgeous patterned piece that looks like a playing card. Well carefully peel the back off your relative card and you too can have an additional element to add to your projects.

I am really happy with the way this turned out and have bought several more clipboards so that I can experiment with other designs.

I hope you will pop over to the AVJ blog to see all the amazing creations from the Creative guides and hopefully find some time to join in the challenge.

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend, I am off to London tomorrow to see 'Memphis' at the Shaftesbury Theatre and we are going to stay overnight, this is our Christmas present from our gorgeous kids Ben, Bev and Maddie.

hugs Brenda xxx

A Visual Journey #6

Today sees us start a new link up for February and I have got my Visual Journey #6 pages to show you.

 The pages were started last weekend when I visited my sister, I got part of the background done using her gesso, acrylic paints and stencils. When I got back to finishing it I didn't like the brightness of the pages so I dulled them down by spraying white linen dylusions ink over them. (see process steps below)

It's the first time I have inked up these Dina Wakeley butterflies ....

... they are a beautiful shape.

So here's a quick rundown of the steps if you are interested. I like to record them for my own benefit 

Scrape gesso over the pages to seal most of the surfaces.

Scrape acrylic paints on the pages.

Whilst damp use a stencil and rub away some of the acrylic paints. Dry.

Using a sponge dab a different colour acrylic paint through stencil. Dry

Knock it back with Dylusions white linen spray.

When dry seal with a spray varnish. (mine was a shiny one). This allows you to work over the top of it without rubbing any more colour away.

Stamp Dina Wakeley butterflies with black archival, paint with acrylics.

The quote is downloaded from the internet.

I am adding a new Linky for February. Thank you to everyone who shared their pages in January, it was such a pleasure to pop round to your blogs and see what you have been doing, I hope you are enjoying it too. I am now looking forward to February and seeing how your pages are developing and finding out more about how you are putting them together and what is inspiring you. Butterflies are always an inspiration for me as my Mum always used to tell me that she would return as a butterfly in her next life on earth. So I see her so often around me.

Enjoy the rest of the week and thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda

here is the Linky code for you to use.


get the InLinkz code

An InLinkz Link-up

Drips and Drops at CVC and step x step

It's the 1st February (Really? Already?) and it's time for a new challenge at Country View Crafts. The theme today has been chosen by the lovely Sue at Scrumplescrunch and she's called it 'Drips and Drops'. Mulling this over in my head I knew I just had to go with my most loved techniques using distress inks and started off on a background but as the ideas were developing I ended up with a Spring or Easter card with the egg image coming from that gorgeous wallflower stack from Tim Holtz.

The acrylic block DI technique using glimmer mists is a technique I love to turn to when I'm in one of those 'don't know what to do' frame of minds.

Dabbing distress inks on the block, misting them until you get those gorgeous 'drops' of colour and then pressing it into the card to get great blended distress effects.

When I'd done that I splattered 'drops' of ink over in stormy sky distress stain and water using a small paint brush and heat dried it.

Blend antique linen and stormy sky DIs over the top half where there is less colour and flick water 'drops' on. Absorb the water droplets with kitchen towel and heat dry

Blend same colours over again and ink the edges with walnut stain.

Splatter 'drops' of gathered twigs distress inks and absorb with the paper towel immediately to ensure the 'droplets' are not too deep in colour.

Finally flick some more water 'droplets' on and heat dry.

We have created a speckled look with depth at the lower part of the card and more subtle effects at the top of the card..

Moving on to the next stage I made a frame using the Tim Holtz Thinlits dies – Labels. Ink the edges of the frame inside and out with walnut stain and adhere one of Tim’s eggs from the Wallflower paper pack.

Take a mini tag and repeat the process steps, stamp a special word and staple a small piece of hessian over the tag hole.

QUICK TIP

With hessian, to prevent it fraying too much, apply a thin layer of wet glue (I use my favourite evo stik wood glue) over the back and let it dry. This keeps the fibres together when you cut into it).

 The final stage is layering up all the elements and I love using tissue wrap instead of stamping on backgrounds, you can still see some of the colour through it.

Strips of Tim's papers still from the Wallflower pack and a couple of chit chat words from the seasonal set. But embellishments were difficult - I wanted to add more eggs so I attached one to a small piece of film strip and cut an even smaller one out and glued it on nearby. Fiddly but for me the detail is so important.

So how will use drips and drops on a card or project? I've got to get my thinking cap on now as I have one more sample to make for later in the month.

We are looking forward to seeing what you do for the CVC challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

A Visual Journey #5

Today's pages mean I have created freely each week in January and it is already exciting to see the altered book filling up with my experimentations; it really is a personal and safe place to create whatever comes to mind.

For these pages I decided to look on my shelves and find things that are sitting feeling lonely and unused. Old rub-ons, stickers, bags with left over bits from projects and workshops, old paper packs, boxes of die-cuts ..... you get the picture?

used die-cuts and adhered to the page.

Coated the die-cuts with a layer of gesso and when dry I scraped broken china and bundled sage distress paints, misted and dried

Added some torn paper from the old paper stack.

Blended some mustard seed and picket fence DPs over the page.

Used my finger to blend some gesso in places.

Finally I sprayed some bright Dylusions over.

And found these film strip pieces on my desk, they are leftovers from prepping workshops this week, so I decided to utilise them.

This is the last January Link, there will be another new one next month. Thank you to everyone who has shared their work with me I so appreciate it and love looking at what you are making.

Don't forget your visual diary, journal, sketchbook or whatever you call your creative jottings is your creative place and you can make up your own rules as to what’s included and how it’s presented.

If you would like to join the party please take a look at my original post HERE and then add the script below to your blog post.

   

This is not a challenge it is just for fun but it's a great way to see what others are making in their journals around the world whether it be an art journal, visual diary or sketchbook and whatever medium or style you choose.

Have a great weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Love is in the air at AVJ

A Valentine type theme starts today at A Vintage Journey,  The lovely Astrid is the host and she has chosen the title and describes it thus -

It being nearly the end of January, it's not long until Valentines day.

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine,

And man cannot live without love.

So the saying goes. For this challenge please share what moves your heart with us, be it a Valentine's card for a loved one, a heart themed project, or something else that expresses what true love means to you. Just make sure that Tim's style is evident in what you make.

I have taken the opportunity to make a card for my dear hubby.

A heart with festive berries, barn door and aged mahogany distress paint, dried and covered with rock candy crackle paint. When the cracks appeared and it was dry I painted with brushed pewter distress paint letting it seep into the cracks and wiping off the excess before it dried on. Then covered with walnut stain distress stain and baked on with a heat gun.

A pair of wings were dabbed over with brushed pewter DP, dried, sanded and inked with walnut stain distress stain.

I always collect pieces together that I think will go on my card.

These are the two pieces that formed the background layers. The striped piece is from Tim's Merriment paper stash and the dark red panel is a left over from Christmas where I had used the reverse monoprint technique using the holiday knits stencil. To give me more of the colour I wanted I dipped it into festive berries, barn door and aged mahogany distress paints, smooshing it on my mat and heat drying. Love the effects of the deeper mottled inky background and blended paints on top.

Using a small flourish embossing folder I added texture to the corners of the background piece and gently blended over fired brick and walnut stain distress inks.

I used the trellis framework, cut three pieces from another piece like the red panel, sanded the edges and blended walnut stain over before adhering them to the background

 Finally I added the collected elements to finish my card.

Now I just need to keep this hidden for a few weeks before I give it to Ken.

We are looking forward to seeing what projects you make with a 'love' theme and if you enter the AVJ challenge you could be in with a chance of winning a £10 gift voucher from Country View Crafts, our fabulous sponsor, where the prices are keen and the p&p is free.

Have a wonderful weekend.

hugs Brenda xxx