'Til death do us part

Hi Everyone,
I am so excited to be posting my first project as an Emerald Creek Design team member!

It's that time of year when the ghosts and goblins start to take over.  I love creating creepy things for Halloween.  Here is one of the first(of I am sure what will be many) spooky projects for the season.
I didn't do a step by step for this one, just because it is fairly easy for you to replicate.

 These skull charms are killer. For this project I used my wire cutters to snip off the bale.

He still looks pretty happy to be married to the corpse bride.  

Pop over during the month to see what other ghouls and spirits come my way!

Jess

I'm entering this into:

A Vintage Journey CreateWithin A frame

Simon Says Stamp Powder Power

Creepy goods from Emerald Creek:

skull charm
fallen blossom stamps
burnt copper leaves embossing powder
mercury rising embossing powder
embossing ink

Other spooky products:
black gesso
mini cabinet card
found relative card
black flowers
heat tool
small talk

Halloween Cat Throwback

Hi Everyone, I created this card last year for Unruly Paperarts when I was on the design team before they ceased to exist.  You can still find a pretty active Unruly Community on Facebook.  This was one of my favorite projects I created for them!

I started by painting my cabinet card.  

I used distress paint and just painted it on randomly.  

Once it was dry I gave it a coat of black paint and sanded it to expose the color underneath.  On the edges I used some distress ink to give it the color you see in the finished project. 

I added in my background papers.  Now to move onto my focal point. 

This serious dude was fussy cut and then given a slight makeover. 

Now he looks just awesome.  When I stuck this head on here I just cracked up laughing. 

I added him to the cabinet card using foam tape.  The monocle and boutonniere give him that little extra something.  

I finished the card out by randomly adding rub ons.  I like when the rub ons are fragmented.  It adds to the Halloween vibe.  There's more Halloween paper ephemera, an old wooden bingo marker, and some metal bits to finish it out.  

I hope this kitty made you laugh as hard as I did when I finished him!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Jess

Guest posting for Emerald Creek

Hi Everyone,

I'm back guest posting for Emerald Creek Craft Supplies today. The theme up on the challenge blog is superheroes. When I heard this my first reaction was "crap."  Don't get me wrong I love superheroes, but making art with and about them? I really had to put on my thinking cap.  I took this theme and went extreme. I made something to celebrate, someone I consider, an art superhero. Frida Kahlo.

I've always admired Frida's work, but I have been reading more about her as a person. She was a total bad ass! What's more of a superhero personality must than being bad ass?!

She overcame major injuries and incorporated her pain, her joy, her anger, and her love into her art.

She didn't care what society thought about her. She was truly living as her authentic self. I think that is what art is all about, trying to find your authentic self.

Who is your art superhero? 

Jess

Supplies you can find from Emerald Creek:

Hammered Metal Embossing Powder

Vintage Ivy Embossing Powder

Distress Markers

Distress Stains

Distress Ink

Other supplies:

Trophy cup

Styrofoam ball

Memo pin

Chit chat

Cardstock

Seam binding

Tiny tattered floral die

Skull bead

Head Pin

Vial Label

Remnant Rub

Faux German scrap technique

Hey Everyone,
Sorry for being such a terrible blogger.  I have been crafting.  I promise.  I post on Instagram all the time, I just don't make it on here as often as I should!

A few months ago my Mum and I went to an estate sale and scored the mother lode of German Scrap paper. This is just a snippet of the loot.

I have been using it on some of my recent projects, but I wanted to come up with a technique to make my own so I don't use it too quickly. German scrap is expensive and I wanted something that wouldn't break the bank.  Ideas started to swirl and here is what I came up with.

I started by using a Martha Stewart edge punch on a Manila folder.

 I left about a half an inch border one the side to use my embossing folder.  I found these skinny embossing folders at the thrift store and they are perfect for this technique. I cut the folder in half so I can run it all along the edge of the paper.  

Once I punched and embossed the manila it was time to heat emboss.  I used an ink blending tool to get my embossing powder in all the nooks and crannies. It's best to do this in small sections at a time. This way your embossing ink doesn't dry out when you're making your way down the strip and you don't have to use a trough of embossing powder. I used Emerald Creeks Charred Gold and Hammered Metal. These mixes have multiples colors and give the look that the paper is aged. 

I can't wait to use it on a project!

Jess

Creative Chemistry 103

I've slowly been making my way through Creative Chemistry 103. I've been jumping around, but here are some of my favorites. 

Layered Distress Crayon technique from day four. 

Distress Crayon watercolor resist from day four. 

Alcohol ink flowers on yupo from day five. This technique is sooo much fun. They work up really quickly and you can just keep playing and adding layers. I use my alcohol inks to tint, but I've never really liked them as a background on the glossy cardstock. Yupo is a game changer for sure. 

Here is one more technique using Yupo 

This is from day five too. 

 Spritzed watercolor technique made me love my markers all over again. This is from day two. 

Distress Rub Resist from day two. 

This has to be one of my favorite techniques from the whole course. Distress off-set stamping is so lovely. It looks perfectly imperfect. 

I have a bunch more in the works and in various stages of completion. As I work my way through I will post them. If you haven't taken these classes they are worth the money! 

What have you made in class? 

Jess

Guest posting for Emerald Creek Designs

I am so excited to be guest posting for Emerald Creek Designs today.  Emerald Creek is an online store that specializes in embossing powders, stamps, and carries a ton of Ranger product. 

The current challenge they have running is Blast from the Past-Anything Goes. 

 I decided to take a piece I still love, but remake it using Emerald Creek Supplies and see what I could come up with.

Here is the original.  It's very soft and feminine.  I still have it hanging in my craft room.  

I wanted to have the remake be a little bit darker, kind of like her bad big sister. My more recent work has a much looser look.  I am loving splatters and drips.  I have been using my fingers to spread on inks, stains, and paints.  It doesn't look pretty when I have to go out, but it sure is fun.  

Her wings are so cool.  I used the Charred Gold embossing powder and this stuff rocks.  It's super chunky and you can layer it on really thick.  It moves around so you can create drips and waves. 

The flowers have some sprinkled in the centers too.  Some of the petals were dipped in the Soft Fallen Snow Embossing powder for an added layer.  The leaves were embossed with Vintage Ivy. The bottom corner has some Hammered Metal to mimic the metal corner I used in the original piece.  

Here's one more close up.  I hope you liked my redo.  

What have you been crafting? 

Jess

Emerald Creek Supplies I used:
Hammered Metal Embossing Powder
Charred Gold Embossing Powder
Soft Fallen Snow Embossing Powder
Vintage Ivy Embossing Powder
Sea Chest Stamp

Other products available on Emerald Creek:

Mowed Lawn Distress Stain
Broken China Distress Stain
Salty Ocean Distress Stain
Crushed Olive Distress Stain
Mowed Lawn Distress Ink
Broken China Distress Ink
Salty Ocean Distress Ink
Crushed Olive Distress Ink
Peacock Feathers Distress Crayon
Mermaid Lagoon Distress Crayon
Twisted Citron Distress Crayon
Black Soot Distress Crayon
Tim Holtz Craftcore Cardstock
Distress Markers

Other Products:

Sizzix Layered Wing Die
Sizzix Tattered Pinecone Die
Sizzix Tiny Tattered Floral Die
Cabinet Card
Found Relative Card
Archival Ink
Tissue Wrap
Acrylic Paint
Fude Ball Pen
Canvas Panel
EZ Steam II
Paper flowers
Foam Tape
Double Stick Tape
Hot glue

Altered Matchbook

Over the weekend I posted a sneak peek of this before I had my blog post ready to go.
Wow! I got a crazy response to this little matchbook when I posted it on Facebook and Instagram. Please excuse the wiggly camera.  I was shooting it myself and I also had terribly chippy nails I was trying to keep out of the shot.  

I followed this amazingly simple tutorial to make mine.  

Here are some better photos of my little matchbook!

I used manila to make my base and covered it with Distress Inks. Black acrylic ink was pounced through my stencil to complete the back.  The little book is just a light weight cardstock folded according to the tutorial instructions.  

All of the ladies are from Art Chix Studios.  

I hope you enjoy seeing some closer looks!

Jess

Creative Carte Blanche Blossoms and Book Pages

More Mixed Media Challenge Anything Goes