Creative Chemistry 101 - Day 4

Watercoloring wth Re-inkers Technique

Today we're breaking out the watercolor brushes (that I seriously have had for like 7 years and used once). 

This technique was supposed to be about putting re-inkers in a paint palette, but since I only have a few re-inkers I had to improvise. So I took my distress inkpads and rubbed them on the palette edges. The colors weren't as intense as they probably would've been if I'd actually had wells of re-inker, but it worked well enough to try the technique. 

And here's what came out of those little ink droplets:

Distress Ink Colors: Barn Door, Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Pumice Stone for the background.

Layered Misting Technique

Playing mad scientist for this technique. Mixing up a brew of re-inkers and water in some mini-misters to make some custom sprays for this technique.

Re-inker Colors: Tumbled Glass, Wild Honey, Antique Linen. 

Color wash sprays: Butterscotch, Expresso

Custom Stamp Pad Technique

{Imagine a lovely stamped image here. No cut-n-dry Felt, no project. *sad face*}

Creative Chemistry 101 - Day 3

Alcohol Ink Agates Technique

Colors: Alcohol Inks - Sunset Orange, Sunshine Yellow, Citrus, Copper Mixative. Archival inks - Olive, Sepia, Coffee.

Today we're working with alcohol and archival inks. On the first version of this technique I tried using pretty much the entire ROYGBIV spectrum. And while it probably would've worked for a circus themed project, it just really wasn't floating my boat, so I abandoned it to work with 3 colors + a mixative. I have to admit, the "agate" look just isn't my thing, but I do like the mottled effect that you can get by using 2 or 3 colors at a time and occassionally adding in some mixatives to it as well. Personally, I think there are much better uses for alcohol inks like these Vintage Ornaments or the ink splattered technique using compressed air.

Archival Resist Technique

Colors: Archival inks - maganese blue, olive, crimson, jet black. Distress ink - vintage photo.

Okay, so I think this technique has the potential to make for some VERY cool things, but unfortunately my archival ink supply is a bit limited and I didn't have the bright colors needed to really do this justice. In the mean time, just image inks glowing with an almost florescent property against a dark background. See what I mean, cool.

Stamping with Reflections Technique

Colors: Embossed floral area - Distress Barn Door, Fired Brick, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint. Backround - Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, with Walnut Stain on the edges. Archival inks - Sepia, Coffee, Jet Black, Maganese Blue.

Okay, so have you seen those cool background stamps that Tim released at CHA last summer? Did you notice that the type was backwards and wonder why? Well, here's your answer: so that you can stamp them on an embossing folder and do this cool technique with it! I'm mean, wasn't that obvious? (Yeah, I didn't get it either. Heck, I'm not even sure I noticed they were backwards until after I bought them!)

Alright kids, that's it for today. If you're thinking this is sooo cool. Sign up for the class! It's only $35 and you can still jump in without being too far behind.

Creative Chemistry 101

Creative Chemistry 101 - Day 2

Alrighty, today's the day to start gettin' inky with it! I've got my rubber glove on (just one hand, I like to think of myself as the Michael Jackson of the crafting world, ha!) and I'm ready to rock some distress inks Tim Holtz style!

First up, the "Blended Distress/Spritz & Flick Technique"

Colors used: Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Dusty Concord, Broken China, Wild Honey, Barn Door, Fired Brick.

This is a technique that I had leaned before but wasn't having satisfactory success with... until now! The minute I watched Tim demonstrate this technique I had one of those "Aha!" moments where you instantly realize where you've been going wrong the whole time. (And then you secretly wonder why you didn't figure that out sooner!) ...I wasn't opening my palm to let the water roll down my fingers. I was kind of just turning it to let the water roll out as though you were spilling water from a cup. Note to self: Rolling down fingers = good. Spilling like a cup = bad.

Next up, "Brushless Watercolor Techique"

Colors: Background - Pumice Stone; Dress Form - Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade,  Wild Honey, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Dusty Concord; Edged in Frayed Burlap.

I had also learned this technique in an earlier class. Feeling a little more comfortable with it, I thought I'd play around and experiment a bit to see what I could accomplish.

First I tried making soft backgrounds (left and right samples shown above). I applied ink to an Altered Background stamp and spritzed it with water, then stamped the image onto the watercolor paper. Here's were I diverged from the original technique: instead of drying the stamped image as is, I blotted away the excess water with a towel. This gives a nice, even-toned watercolor look. No areas where the distress ink concentrated a little more or less, just all nicely balanced.

Then I tried a couple of different approaches with the dress form image. In the first attempt (left) I added just various colors of distress ink to the stamp, spritzed it with water and stamped it.

While I like the brightness of the colors, I wanted the image to "pop" a little more. So then I re-applied the same colors, but this time I also inked the edges of the stamp with a little Frayed Burlap. Spritzed the stamp with water and stamped it again. This created a really cool shadow along the left edge of the bodice and gave it the depth I was looking for.

Lastly, I stamped a second generation image using the "with frayed burlap" version onto a plain white background since this was the actual technique called for in the class.

Last but not least, "Wrinkle-free distress technique"

Colors:

This is not my first dance with this technique either. I "learned" it at a Lynn Warner make-n-take and have also seen it on one of Tim's videos along the way, but for some reason it kept coming out like I had two left feet. Love the look, but just wasn't pulling it together. Aha! Lightbulb moment! I was doing two things wrong:

1.) I was getting the ink on the craft sheet too wet so I was just picking up giant puddles. 

2.) I wasn't drying the inks in between picking up the layers of ink. *duh*

So there you have it. First day of techniques completed... and 8 more to go! I can't wait!

Creative Chemistry 101 - Day 1

So today is the opening day of Tim Holtz's first-ever online class, Creative Chemistry 101. I was lucky enough to take a class from him in-person last summer. Being the technique junky that I am who loves to know all about why things work the way they do, I jumped at this chance to learn the hows and whys behind all of the different products.

Today's lessons are all about learning the properties of different products, so nothing to see! Instead I thought I'd leave you with a fun picture of some distress inks beaded up in water on a non-stick craft mat. Oh look at all of the creative potential just sitting there!



Gearing up for Creative Chemistry 101

If you've ever wondered how to use all of Tim's inky goodies, this is the time to learn! Tim Holtz is teaching his first-ever online class starting next week. If it's anything like his live classes, I'm sure it's going to be phenomenal!
I'm all signed up and just need to get my supplies gathered so I'm ready to hit the ground running. In honor of a creative journey that's about to embark, I thought I'd share a little inky goodness with you made (mostly) from Tim Holtz and Ranger supplies.

 

Check out how the rock candy distress paint makes the pot look like a piece of crazed pottery. How cool is that!?

Plus, you can get a cool mosaic effect by applying fragment tiles over the top of the canvas. Apply a bit of glossy accents to each tile and then wiggle it around to make sure that the glue is evenly coated on the tile.

Today is all we need to nuture

Supplies: Adirondack ink, Rock candy distress paint, distress inks - Tim Holtz/Ranger; Clear plastic fragments - Tim Holtz/Advantus; Paints - Making Memories, Ranger; Black & brown inks - Versafine; Glue - Glossy Accents, Scotch; Leaf die - QuicKutz; Label Die - Spellbiners; Damask Stamp - unknown; Bingo, quote, foliage stamps - Unity; Button - Making Memories; Chipboard - Fancy pants; Yarn embellisment - Jillibean; Canvas - Michaels; Floral wire - JoAnn's Crafts; Paint brush - Home Depot

 If you're interested in signing up for the Creative Chemistry 101 class check it out here.

Authentique Mini for The Scrapbooking Studio

I know it isn't Monday, but this is my last "Design Team Thursdays" post for awhile so I'm sharing a mini book made for The Scrapbooking Studio Design Team. There are lot of pages, so this post will be just pictures. Scroll through and enjoy. Head on down to The Scrapbooking Studio to see it in person -it's soo much cooler in person!

I used a fun multi-layer painting technique to create a strie style effect to the cover and pages. It's sooo much easier to paint these odd shaped pages than than to cover them with papers, plus it holds up much better to handling too.

I am in love with stitching things right now and the Janome Sew Easy works beautifully on paper. It stitches a little slower than bigger machines which makes it easier to stitch straight and it feeds better. Plus, it's portable size doesn't take up too much space on your crafting table.

I layered one of the matching die cuts on a button to give it a little extra dimension.

I cut up a Prima floral spray to make little mini bouquets for the pages.

Stitching the "family" tab on allows you to slip the photo underneath later, plus you don't have to adhere it to the top of the photo either. 

Well, that's it. My last project for The Scrapbooking Studio Design Team. I've really enjoyed designing for them and I hope you've found some inspiration along the way!

Authentique Layout for The Scrapbooking Studio

Still playing with the Authentique "Gathering" line with this layout. This one is much more simple than some of my other pages, but I love the little embellishment cluster at the bottom. 

Supplies: Pattern paper, letter stickers - Authentique; Cardstock - Bazzill; Kraft journaling spots - Kaiser Kraft; Velvet flower and orange trim - Maya Road; Cream flower - Prima; Border punch - Martha Stewart.

For the place at the top I used a little bit of the cutoff strip to add a little "authentique" banner.

Using the little letters to title with and of course some Maya Road embellishment goodness :)