080115 Archi-Scraps August Challenge

Just when I think the inspiration can't
get any better at Archi-scraps, we get one like this:

And look what I found over at Pixels & Paper!
The lovely domed roof plus the perfect color scheme tied these two
challenges together nicely - definitely a happy creative coincidence.

The P & P ladies are pining for the prospect of sun & warmth during the midst
of winter Down Under, but this took me in the totally opposite direction...
I had this photo of Chloe in her Frozen princess dress & new Elsa hair/hat begging to be scrapped.

I just happened to have purchased some of these Melissa Frances domes recently
& couldn't imagine anything better suited to the "see-through" challenge.

The next piece of inspiration on my desk were these Simple Stories "Enchanted" wood veneers.

Add in a sweet photo of Chloe & it's the perfect match up.

 

 

I painted the Simple Stories wood veneer castle with Ranger's Claudia Hellmuth 

Studio/Blank Canvas paint & then immediately sprinkled on Crystal Fine 

Martha Stewart glitter. I then added some tiny blue gems to the turrets 

of the castle & when the paint was dry I put some Zig Blue Glue on just 

the pennant & added Lapis Lazuli Martha Stewart glitter to help it stand out. 

I sprayed just the top of the dome with Dylusions White Linen Ink Spray,

just a fine mist sprayed high over the dome in my spray booth box. 

It took a few coats before I was happy with the coverage, and I did have to 

use a baby wipe to clean up just a tad on the lower part of the dome. 

After I had glued the dome to the base I put a bead of Glossy Accents around 

the outside edge & used Martha Stewart Sterling Tinsel Glitter to finish it off nicely. 

I'm afraid I've knocked some of it off in all the photo shoot handling! 

The finishing touch was to hang a few snowflakes from the top.

The Archi-scraps clear challenge could have been accomplished in a number of other ways.
There are a lot of transparent overlays out there, ghost alphas, even simply
cutting/punching a shape out of vellum to reveal a clear "window" through to the background!

Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.
Make sure to add your project to the Linky at both/either site,
depending on where the inspirations took you!

Thanks for stopping by!

072415 CKC July Members Blog Hop

Next to our inspiration kit reveal, I think this is my favorite post of the month.

It's the time for YOU to shine at Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog!

Our challenges this month were:

Challenge #1: Use at least four photos on your project.

Challenge #2: Dust off an old tool and get creative.

Challenge #3: Include an altered embellishment  

I settled on Challenge #1 for the hop.

My forged lace paper (on the right) was the base.

I used assorted circle punches to mock up where the photos would go...

We have been videotaping in the woods with a trail cam,
and have enjoyed capturing some of the wild life in photos.

Now hop on to Gabrielle!

CKCB  http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

Jemma  http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

Karen  https://pinkycrafter.wordpress.com

Tina  http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Julene  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au

Susan  http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.com

Laura  http://beadsbuttonsandbirds.blogspot.co.uk

Leslie  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

Gabrielle   http://nomorelittlemonkeys.blogspot.com

Roxanne  http://roxyrolla.blogspot.ca

 Lisa  http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Thanks for stopping by!

072215 A Day Out...

Started the day at Walmart with a loooong list...

the least fun of which was a bathing suit!

Cute, though, huh?

 

 

Wrapping for Addie's baby shower gifts.

 

  

Then a meet-up with Therese from the old ATC group,

with a guest appearance from Norma! Had a wonderful

long visit & will start meeting up again in October.

Lunch at Panera with good friends - the best.

Couldn't believe not one of us remembered to take a selfie.

 Norma generously brought us a delightful assortment of ATCs!

On to the mall for more shopping.

Found some shrugs & a new top & dress, but alas - no raincoat.

Next stop: Barnes & Noble.

Here's the adult coloring book display.

Yes - I said adult coloring books - all the rage.

I bought this one - should be fun.

I'm saving the bag for a future project (wink-wink)

The other side has Huckleberry Finn - love this.

Then out to Davison to pick up this little gem

from uber creative reclaimed metal artist Stacy Rhines.

Our new mascot for the cabin, lol

Such a blessed, blessed day :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

072115 OBW 106 - Layers

Took a few for this one...

Won't you  join in over at 

Thanks for stopping by!

071515 Finnabair class at Scrappy Chic

Had a lovely day out at Scrappy Chic 

taking a class from the incomparable Finnabair!

(I'm under her right armpit, lol)

We started by painting our canvas with heavy black gesso, adding 

vintage travel themed papers in a mosaic arrangement & choosing a photo. 

We also used Prima's Finnabair 3D Gloss Gel & some texture tools

to create a transparent background texture that we will come back to later...

You can see it in the photo below.

Next we got to revel & rummage in the generous packs of 

Prima Finnabair metal embellishments provided to each of us in our kits.

I didn't want a real feminine vibe so I decided on a crown.

This will be called "The Crown Prince" as he IS the first-born.

Next step is to paint over all metal & plastic items with black gesso.

This will give a good base for the spray colors & shimmer.

This was a bit of a leap for me, as I was really loving all the different metals.

Not so sure at this point!

 The Soft Gloss Gel can be mixed with glitter, microbeads, etc. & then applied as you would paint. The gloss is transparent & sticky so anything you add appears as itself but can be adhered easily. 

We mixed in Luminarte Primary Elements pigments in metallic colors 

to dry brush over our textured background. Wow! Did it ever bring THAT to life :-)

The pigments can also be used mixed with plain water as a shimmer mist or water color.

One of the finishing touches that helps marry your photo
to the painterly background is adding "makeup" to it!
If you have any oversprays or boo-boos around the edges you can use
black gesso and carefully feather in a little grungy edge or white gesso on the face.

 

You'll notice she has a teeny tiny brush, and has used the back of her hand for a palette!

She used heavily diluted color for just a hint of blush & eyeshadow.

I didn't think it would improve Lincoln's looks, though.

I'll be adding some gems & some more shading & color at home.

I'm going to do one for each of the grands!

The project really had a wide scope of possibilities.

Some of the variety in the finished product between my table mates...

HAPPY SCRAPPERS!

Thanks, Anna, for helping tame my fear 

of multi-media messy techniques.

Headed home with a lovely Pettit team mixed CD 

playing & the sun roof open... happy day.

Thanks for stopping by!

071315 Date Day... Monday?

Well!

That's what retirement brings :-)

Contrary to the lack of Date Day posts on my blog for awhile,

it's not to say we have been boring shut-ins!

I've just been a bad blogger...

So! Today...

 

Breakfast with Thumper :-)

Oops! Garden has gone berserk...

Shingles & chicken feed...

 (Paid the water bill & got gas - no pics, lol)

Lunch at P.F. Chang's - yummo

Groceries from Horrocks (he bought me chocolates!)

Somehow, this took all day!

 Time definitely takes on less significance post-workforce.

Thanks for stopping by!