SewPaperPaint

Jan 21, 2016

Vintage Mixed Media Altered Mini Journal

Hello sweet friends! This month there were so many challenge in blog land that inspired me and made me want to create more than ever! What a fabulous way to spend a cool winter day. But since I was super sick last week I felt like I would never accomplish all of my goals, so I sat and watched creative YouTube videos for hours on end and thought up wild ideas of projects I would do...

I was very inspired by the videos on mixed media by Lindy's Stamp Gang, Prima and 13arts. What seemed like the most unproductive week of my life, actually was a very great learning experience and I feel more confident than ever playing with some new techniques. I decided to give this canvas journal I picked up at Old Navy a few years ago a makeover.

I have been so fond of Prima products for many years, but have always found it difficult to find them. Good news, Linda from the Funkie Junkie Boutique has just stocked her shelves with preorders of tons and tons of Prima's best new goods! Way to go Linda!!! Do check it out and fill up your cart!

I had just ordered some fabulous new Prima goods, including this coolest doily stamp, this lovely antique lady and gentlemen stamp, and several Finnabair background stamps (these dots and script are some of them).

So I just played, and played and played. This was so much fun and although it scared me to death, in the end I really liked my journal makeover.

I love the mica powders, the beads, and the overall inky washes. So fun!

My eldest daughter says this is definitely not her favorite thing I've done and it's strange to pile all these goods together this way, but for now I'm loving it and wanting to explore it more. What do you think?

This Victorian stamp just wows me and I love it as the focal point. I think it is the prettiest Valentine image. And I'm always happy to use antique lace in any project, so to me it's a win win.

I'm sharing with:

Prima Product Picks: January Moodboard

13arts: #38 - Shine

Anything But Cute: Ring Out the Old, Bring in the New

Jan 20, 2016

Altered Board Game Mini Album Tutorial

I'm back to share a neat tutorial for you today on converting old board games to altered book projects. I was running out of things to alter this weekend. I wanted to switch things up from making cards and tags. I rummaged through my drawer of "alterables" and found two and a half Scrabble board games. I decided they would make the perfect substrate for my collection of projects for A Vintage Journey challenges, since they are basically heavy chipboard. Maybe by the end of the year I will have an entire collection that will form a pretty neat altered book.

Simple board games come with a board that is scored in the center and connected on top with the printed game and on bottom with cloth book binding tape. To turn them into book pages simply break the "spine" by folding the halves backward. You may have to do this twice, but the halves simply break in two. Next divide the length of each panel in two to determine where to cut. Then cut with your regular paper cutter using an old blade. Always save an old blade - I write on mine OLD with a Sharpie. Cut once at the desired length using the ruler on your cutter, then flip and cut again on the other side to complete the cut. Easy peasy cutting - no fancy cutter required.

For my pages I left the ragged cloth tape as is because I was fond of the tattered look. I am going to line all of these up as the "spine" of my book. As I work each page, I will lightly sand the cut edges so they won't feel sharp or rough.

For these pages I layered my collages over the printed game board side and inked the Scrabble pattern with Walnut Stain so it would blend in with my designs. Of course, you could paint or gesso the pages if you like. But, Scrabble is actually my favorite board game and I wanted the board itself and the "Scrabble burgundy" to show. The only reason I could bare to upcycle these game boards is that I have a deluxe spinning board with groves to hold the tiles in place. I know, I'm so cool! ;0

For my girlfriends collage I cut and layered parts of the Wallflower stash by Tim Holtz. I tattered the edges and dipped each piece in puddles of ink to further grunge them up.

I used one of my DIY paper flowers (tutorial HERE) as an embellishment. The clock face is a Tim Holtz Rub-on. This page reminds me that my best friend and I were two pretty little girls, but loved our grand adventures. Bikes played such an important part in our childhood. I know that's not the case nowadays, but I am thankful that it was for us. Oh the fun we had. How time flies...

For my vintage travel page I followed pretty much the same process. This stamp is an unmounted stamp and I don't have the maker, but I have always loved it.

My friend Bonnie loaned me this cool Tim Holtz torn paper edge die, love it!

I was pretty happy with using a rub-on over the burlap panel. It only looks whitish when you zoom in. I really wanted to incorporate the feeling of passing time.

So there you have it, my combination of two very amazing challenge themes and a pretty cool mini album concept. I will probably bind it with rings, but am going to get more pages completed before making that decision.

I'm playing with:
SSS Monday: Best Friends
A Vintage Journey: Vintage Travel and Luggage
The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge: Time Flies (I used clocks and a general feel of nostalgia towards my childhood)
Creative Artiste Challenge: Chipboard (my book is made from chipboard)
MMMC

Jan 19, 2016

Ombre Stenciling with Distress Inks

A super quick post to share some ombre stenciling and a simple teacher card for my son's teacher. I needed something cute and quirky. I made a mask by tracing the zig zag across the stencil, then used it to cover sections while I while I watercolored each color with Distress Ink. I cut a circle from this panel and made it into a shaker, with punched hearts from inky paper. The little monster reminds me of my cutie pie (it's Paper Makeup). The sentiment is a score Michael's $1 bin stamp. Shaker cards are not my talent, but it was fun to try. Mine never shake well...

SSS: Ombre

Cute Card Thursday: #408

The Challenge: Photo Inspiration (I went for the colors and romance, though quirky)

Fusion Card Challenges: Sketch

Jan 18, 2016

Stamping with Pearl Ex Mixed Media Card

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing some background stamping inspiration with you. I've been trying out some variations with making Distress Ink backgrounds this weekend. I decided to use Glimmer Mist to water down my ink and really love the way it turn out! For this card I first stamped my brand new IndigoBlu stamp in Versamark, then dusted it with Pearl Ex powder - what a cool technique!

I've had these powders for years and years and decided to break them out for the All That Sparkles IndigoBlu challenge - they are definitely sparkly! Ignore the glitter tape, I ended up making this entire card then ripping it apart and starting over... Am I the only one?! Anyway, I then dipped the stamped and Pearl Exed panel into my DI and Glimmer Mist puddle. It did remove some of the Pearl Ex, but it ended up on the card in various puddles, which I loved!

I ended up dropping pools of Concord Grape DI, White Mister Huey ink, and watered down Pearl Ex on the card randomly.

The edges were distressed and curled and then rubbed lightly with Versamark and embossed with ages old Cloisonne embossing powder, which is similar to UTEE or Frantage. I also added some to the ornate paper frame.

I inked the butterfly pretty much the same way and layered it over the frame, a scrap of hymnal page, and a bundle of floss. This was a really fun project and I'm so glad I stuck with it! I picked up several new IndigoBlu stamps and can't wait to play with each of them! They are so artistic and cool!

I'm entering the following challenges:

IndigoBlu: All That Sparkles

Anything But Cute: Ring Out the Old, Bring in the New

Let's Craft and Create: Layer it Up

The Artistic Stamper: Anything Goes

Craft Stamper: Anything Goes, Take a Stamp

Emerald Creek Dares: New, New, New

That Craft Place: Anything Goes

Jan 17, 2016

Mixed Media Stamped Scripture and Stencil Card

Hey folks! Hope you are enjoying this three-day weekend as much as I am! I'm having a creatacation and loving it! VLV, one of my favorite challenges has gone to a two sketch per month schedule, which means we will have more time to play along with the sketches. Julee is also breaking the prize down to two winners - win win!

When I first saw this sketch I was thrown! What on earth could I do with all them circles? ;0

I just happened to clean up all my inky puddles with strips of file folders, the cast-offs from when I cut my tags. I was thinking they were too gorgeous to throw away, but how on earth could I make a card from strips - then the sketch came to memory - duh!

I desperately tried to think of something I could do for the beginnings challenged at MMCC and this verse came to mind. I don't want to just start well, but finish the race. Thankfully I can cling to this promise. Low and behold, the verse was part of a set of Verve stamps that I already had. Happy day! Don't you love it when you can actually see an idea through!

The inky background pieces came from mixing Pearl-Ex powder with watered down Concord Grape Distress Ink. GORGEOUS! The stencil is one that I made myself some time ago from a file folder. I dropped a little pink Frantage over it when it was half dry to add a touch of shimmer. The embossed arrows are done in copper EP from the cast-offs from a Tim Holtz Alterations edge die. I added some cool sticker punchenella paper and a torn piece of tea bag just for fun. The string came from a 1/2 completed cross stitch kit I found while thrifting for a buck - a rainbow of threads included. :) Something I've been experimenting a lot with is embossing the distressed edges of my paper. Here I used copper, same with the scripture. The bow is lightly dyed to match from vintage seam binding. Finally I splashed it down with white Mister Huey by Studio Calico.