How I Distress

My all time FAVORITE designer....Tim Holtz is having a challenge on his blog. He wants to know how everyone uses his Distress inks. Well, I use his FABU Distress ink so many ways! It was hard to choose just one thing. I finally narrowed it down. I covered a chipboard album with my son's high school colors. I used the foam blending tool to add Mustard Seed Distress Ink and Faded Jeans Distress ink to the edges. I repeated that technique on the photo mats throughout the album. I directly applied the Mustard Seed to the "2010" grungeboard numbers. It wasnt quite bright enough so I covered that using Snow Cap Adirondack Dabber paint. Once that dried, I applied another coat of Mustard Seed ink. I then coated the numbers with Glossy Accents. Oh a tip.....if you touch something that has a thick coat of GA and is waiting to dry....(oops!) simply wet your finger and smooth it over the GA. You know, like you do when you touch your nail polish before its dry. It smoothed out the smudge and was good as new!! woohooo Problem fixed. Ok, back to my album.... I applied Faded Jeans directly to the grungeboard star and frame. I printed "YHS" on my label maker and added that under the frame. I cut the backs off the brads so the little YHS grungeboard frame would lay down smooth. I thought it still needed a little something extra. hhmmm a rose! perfect! I made the rose using Close to My Heart cardstock. I used Faded Jeans to stamp CTMH Adorable Backgrounds all over the petals. I directly applied the ink to the edges of the petals too. I painted Lumiere Pearl Blue paint over the back and edges of each petal. The rose is attached with Glossy Accents. (of course lol) If you havent tried Glossy Accents, you have GOT to go out and get a bottle! That stuff is AMAZING!!! Well friends, its the beginning of a glorious 4 day weekend here. The sun is shining, hubby is home from work, the kiddos have a 1/2 day at school. I am off to finish more paper roses to mail to my Maw Maw and then its family time! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. Go get creative!!

Journal this, journal that

I am finally creating all these fabulous projects from Club Scrap that have been collecting dust. This Quick Jot Journal was a prize during the last PSL session I participated in. (Way to rock PSL Embellishers!!!) The papers used are from Club Scrap's Private Eye kit. My flash made the blue a tad brighter but you get the idea. FABU colors! I inked around all the edges with Tim Holtz Faded Jeans Distress ink. The inside pages are hand stitched together with waxy linen thread. I just love that these projects come with all the supplies needed. (Well almost. I did have to use my bookbinding glue. lol Note to self: order more bookbinging glue.) The inside stitched pages slip into the back cover. They can easily be pulled back out if needed. I had planned to do something fancy on the cover but changed my mind. I like it just the way it is. I hope you are having a fantastic day and get to do something creative!!!

Altered Tins

Ok, I said I would post about the tins I altered. Remember, the ones I bought from Kodomo at the 34th annual Japan Hobby Show last month? Well, here goes. This is my FAV tin!!!! I stamped it with a Kodomo stamp. I colored in the image using Copic YG63, G99, G28, E47, E59, R27, B14, B16. I added Crystal and Picket Fence Stickles to accent the waves. I painted the snow on Fuji-san and the cliff on the left with Lumiere Pearl White paint. For the crane, I stamped it onto white cardstock. I used Copic r27 for the red on his head and Y00 for his beak. I then layed him onto 3 pieces of cardstock and cut him out. I curled up his feathers and beak a bit. I finished him off with a nice coat of Glossy Accents. Thanks to my gals over at Paper Artists Online for sharing this technique!! I used Tim Holtz stamps to decorate the edge of the tin.



The first tin I attempted is this one. I used a Kodomo stamp for the fans & butterflies. I then painted the blue using Lumiere Pearl Blue paint. I stamped the image of the fan onto white cardstock. I colored all images with Copics G07, G28, BV08, RV09, R85, Y17, BG05, B16, V15, BG13, RV06, RV23, YR07, YR68. Check out the difference of the Copic colors on the tin versus on the white cardstock! The butterflies are YR07 and YR68. After coloring in the fan and the butterflies, I cut them out and glued them each to 3 layers of cardstock. While the glue was still wet, I folded them to get the shape I wanted. I then covered the entire image with Glossy Accents. The same technique as the crane but more movement. They are attached to the tin using Glossy Accents.

For my second tin, I started by painted the entire tin with Lumiere Halo Violet Gold paint. I love how the brush strokes are visible. I think it makes it look more like a fabric than a painted tin surface. I them stamped the Kodomo image using Staz On. I colored the image in using Copic R29, R27, R23, Y21, YR15, BV08, R85, G09, YR23, BG05, R59, E33, E55 and E47. I hope you enjoyed these tins. Have a creative, crafty day!!!

2010 Japanese Craft Show

Ok, I'm finally back. lol Lets hope I can post regularly now. I went to the 34th Japan Hobby Show, at Tokyo Big Site, back in early May. Michelle R and I took the train. It was nice to be able to explore the show this year and take our time. Last year, I was there for work and it was nuts! We did 1 make n take. We painted watercolor images. We were told to come back in about an hour. When we did, they gave us our original plus a stationary set that they had printed a copy of our art onto! It was amazing. If we had known that was what our 100 yen was going for, we would have made more!! I was beyond thrilled to see Tim Holtz dies displayed at one booth. The "X" through some of them in the photo are the ones that were sold out. I was not thrilled to see the 2200 to 4500 yen prices! OUCH! Thats about $25 to $55 depending on the exchange rate. I decided to wait and order mine online. I would have LOVED to come home with a few but not at that price! I did snag a few clear Alice in Wonderland themed stamps and Staz On Metallic ink pads though. I picked up a few tins at the Kodomo booth. I have altered 3 of them so far. I will post those later. There were so many fun and interesting things to look at. From a piece of bread about 6 feet long to stuffed animals, wait no it was food with faces. lol They even covered a quad in Swarovski crystals! When I saw it, I thought my friend Troy would have a fit if he was there! lol
This week looks like it will be a very rainy week here in Japan. Its not even rainy season yet!!! I plan to get tons of crating done!!! I hope you all have a crafty and creative day!