In My Winter Garden

 Thank you for responses here and on FaceBook about my previous two tags, it's lovely to know people are still around on the blogs and stop here for a visit.

Having made those two tags with the new Scorched Timber (ST) distress colour I next wanted to try out my new ST watercolour pencil. 

I got my first pencils as a Christmas gift and have had a little time to play with them but this was the result today, which I am quite pleased with - I think I need more practice with colouring and pulling out the ink, but otherwise I'm happy with it.

 

I used Tim's 'Flower Garden' stamps and the echinacea one reminded me of how brown the heads are in the garden at the moment so I used just the Scorched Timber which seemed the most appropriate colour for me to use. I also used hickory smoke oxide for the watery background and for stamping the handwritten text from the 'Entomology' set. To pull it all together I added some Scorched Timber wash, dried it and knocked it all back by sponging some gesso over it. It created the perfect effect allowing the flower heads to take centre stage.

 

By inking the edge of the panel with the ST distress ink I could see how much darker it is than than the oxide which I had used for the flowers, so with a fine brush and water I added some of it to give more contrast to the light and dark areas in the petals. 

To finish off, a brown panel of coredinations paper acts as the ground and die-cuts from the Festive Gatherings and Funky Florals #2 sets of dies provide the winter garden peeking from the heart panel.

 

The hearts, from Tim's 'Watercolor' set were stamped with ST distress ink on a quick dip and dry wash of distress oxide and splatters with water droplets dropped on and dried.

 

The saying is from the Small Talk stickers and completed the card.

Thanks for stopping by.

xxx 

Using Scorched Timber Oxide on my background - Tag 2

If you've seen tag one on my last post, which was yesterday, this is the follow up. 

I added lots more splatters and drips to the original background and found that by mixing both the Scorched Timber and Broken China it gave me a gorgeous patina colour so I literally smooched both colours in the oxides on my mat and with a blending tool mixed them together to create the edge colour. 

I added some stamping, stencilling and splatters of white acrylic paint before creating the collage. 

When it was dry I roughened those edges and went round giving a careful deep dark fine edge with the Scorched Timber distress ink pad.

Thanks for stopping by.

xxx

Using Scorched Timber Oxide on my background - Tag 1

The amazing Tim Holtz has just released his final new colour for the distress range. Having received the new Scorched Timber distress ink, distress oxide, distress spray stain, distress oxide spray and watercolour pencil from Susan at Country View Crafts I had to have a play and first checked it's colour tones against some other browns in the range.

 I took a piece of A4 card, cut it down so I could die-cut two tags from it and created a background using both Scorched Timber and Broken China distress oxides.

I smooshed, dipped, dripped and dried several layers and added splatters etc as well. Once I'd cut the tags I chose two mini TH stencils and added some stamping to add more detail. This time I used the distress inks rather than the oxides and blended carefully.

I picked out two photobooth photos and chose these two lovely ladies for this tag.

And finished the collages.

I think the new and yes the last colour in the distress range Scorched Timber is going to be my most favourite brown from the whole set.

Stay tuned for tag 2 which should be along tomorrow.

If you have visited today thanks for stopping by.

xxx

ORIGINAL

 A tag collage in my Mixed Media Collage art book.

The background was created with a dip, drip and dry process using Walnut Stain distress ink. The Salvaged Patina through a stencil.

The collage was built with layers of torn book papers, printed and stamped elements, hessian, thread, word sticker and washi tape.

The tag is one of 4 that were laid side by side and stamped together with a range of Tim Holtz stamps.

xxx

Do you have a way with words?

This project is for the first FaceBook Country View Crafts challenge of 2024, led by Jane she asked that people use words, verses or sentiments on their make. I love using text of all kinds on my projects and used a variety of Tim Holtz stamps (Papillon, Perspective and Classics #4). I was lucky to be gifted the Tim Holtz Distress Watercolour Pencils for Christmas so I loved taking the opportunity to play with these as well and used them to colour in the large butterfly - I wouldn't normally give a butterfly a rainbow effect but I just loved the experimentation of using them to see what they can do.

Materials

Archival Ink  Jet Black, Coffee

Distress Oxides  Vintage Photo, Hickory Smoke, Walnut Stain, Tattered Rose

Distress Watercolour Pencils  Candied Apple, Peacock Feathers, Tattered Rose, Picked Raspberry, Hickory Smoke, Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron, Rustic Wilderness, Picket Fence

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Paper Dolls, ephemera, Stamps Classic#4

xxx

Last workshop of 2023

 A Starry Christmas Eve

I made this frame project for my last workshop at Country View Crafts on the 12th December.

The focal landscape was made up of 3 media boards and die-cuts from the Tim Holtz Holiday Blocks dies,

The blue sky background was created by stamping and embossing the stars on watercolour paper then spritzing it with water then distress sprays drying and layering the colours to get a distressed look.

The die-cut elements were distressed by dry brushing and I added snowtex, distress glitter  and stickles. 

The workshop was a great success and the participant's versions were magnificent. It was a fabulous fun day with a lovely group of ladies, of whom most have been with me since my very first class at Flitwick. 

Merry Christmas and 'Au Revoir' to A Vintage Journey

 I can't believe that after nearly 7 years we have decided to call an end to the challenges and posts on the A Vintage Journey Challenge Blog. I have been so proud of what we have achieved in terms of the philosophy and talent that it has brought together. It went beyond my wildest dreams but for several reasons I think that now is the right time.

Life for me has now changed in terms of retirement, new goals, different responsibilities and this year particularly the Covid-19 pandemic, I have wandered away from the creative paths I was following and lost the focus I once had. I hope it will return someday but for now I'll just follow the road I am on and enjoy the new journey.

I am however submitting my last project for AVJ which has two themes - To 'Celebrate the Season' by making an ATC or a set of ATCS depicting Christmas scenes or colours plus the ending of the challenges and inspirational projects that the whole team has contributed to over nearly 7 years. 

I started by making some backgrounds during another fabulous crafty Skype session with two of my AVJ friends, Nikki and Alison, who live fairly near to me and I have met in person.

I chose this finished design because of the bright and colourful effects it gave me and then cut it into ATC sized pieces. It was made with Christmas tissue paper. stencils, acrylic paints and stamps.

Close-ups

ATC backgrounds - Stamped holly leaves painted in green and berries painted red to help bring it all together. Die-cut leaves and sentiments.

Finally berries, boxwood twine and shabby muslin bow to finish it off.

These are such sweet little pieces of art I decided to mount them in white frames with a background piece of the original tissue paper used in the mixed media backgrounds - see end of the post.

My third ATC for the second part of the challenge includes a recycled background from an old Tim Holtz tag book, it also incorporates his stamps and inks, one of his frames, his design tapes and his remnant rubs. This was where my love of the Vintage genre started.

It really didn't take long to put this one together but I had to include a heart as I will treasure these AVJ years with the friendships I've made and the people we have touched all around the world. These are indeed such wonderful memories that I will hold in my heart forever.

Thanks to everyone who has travelled with me on this amazing journey. Although this is the first project and post for quite a few months I am hoping I will get back into the swing one day soon.

Take care and huge hugs Brenda xxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Skype Collaboration - Wooden houses

It's been so wonderful to have skype sessions with my two lovely friends Nikki (Addicted to Art) and Alison (Words and Pictures) during lockdown and really it's been the only time I have sat and created anything. I've spent so much time in the garden and, since we have been allowed out more, Ken and I have spent at least two days a week visiting National Trust places and beautiful gardens, so between that and walking on our local Ranges to try and keep fit (a bit!!) there really hasn't been much time left. 

When wondering what we could do for this session I showed the girls some little houses Ken had cut me from wood and we agreed we'd each have a set of three and couldn't wait to see the outcomes.

As I worked on the painty layers and decided to add some small windows and doors I began to get the feel that these belonged in a farm yard, what do you think?

Photo taken outdoors in the garden.

Process steps

*Seal with gesso using a palette knife to spread it over.

*Scrape cobalt blue and grey acrylic paints randomly over the walls and dry.

*Sand the sides.

*Scrape on some resist paste and give a coat of white chalky paint and gently heat to wipe away leaving some of the previous colours showing through.

*Use a blending tool and foam to add some yellow oxide and tita buff , both mixed with a little glazing medium - this ages the paint a bit.

* Rub with some dry kitchen towel, a wet wipe and buff the walls before scraping some white chalky paint randomly down all the sides.

*Paint the roofs black.

*Sand the edges again and rub in some brown distress ink.

*Outline where you want the windows and doors with a pencil then cut away the paint layers with a sharp knife. Darken them by using sharpie pens.

*I knocked in two rusty nails for chimneys.

Photo taken indoors in a light tent. They could almost be in a snowy setting.

Side view straight on.

Photo showing side windows

Nikki's version. I love the gorgeous tissue layers, the beautiful bright colours and the  sequencing of the phrase over the three layers.

Alison's version. These are very much in her beautiful shabby, cottage garden style and the added stamping, painted flowers and rusty elements really bring them to life.

Please click the links to be transported over to see more details of these fabulous wooden house sets.

xxx