[DYSU] Challenge #78 - Blue Skies & Clouds

Good morning, everyone! I can't believe that we already have end of June...where has the time gone? We're completely mid-way in our summer season and it's evident by the many CSA baskets I have been picking up. I still owe you all a bunch of fabulous photos and recipes that I have been whipping up to use up these wonderful fresh ingredients. Just to tease you, I just made a delicious pecan-crusted warm goat cheese & beet salad.

We're here to bring you a great challenge: Blue Skies & Clouds. This week I am playing around with mixed media - something I am dabbling here and there, but still feeling a little new and unsure about this medium.

This week we also have a great sponsor along who provided us the entire June release set to showcase: Gecko Galz. This week I chose to "Tag You're It" collage set.


Stamps: (Tag You're It) Gecko Galz; (Up, Up & Away) Papertrey Ink
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Vintage Cream) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar; Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Vintage Photo) Ranger
Embellishments: (Gesso - White) Gold; (Artists' Color Acrylic Series 1 - Brilliant White, Brilliant Blue, Light Portrait Pink) Utrecht; (Mixed Brads - Karlie; Chipboard Alphabet Ledger - Elsie) The Girl's Paperie; (Writing Pen - Sepia) Martha Stewart; (Corrugated Cardboard) recycled

I started out by cutting a bunch of the tags down the middle shingled the card stock down. Then I added a layers of Gesso. I got a little carried away with the acrylic paint. With last week's "Inspired a Movie" challenge I still had Vanilla Sky in mind when I saw "Blue Skies & Clouds." I'm not sure if you can see that the big tags were used as a background, some of the script and music shows through if you peek hard enough... but I should have eased up on the Gesso layer and the acrylic paint next time.


The flower embellishment is made out of three types of mini tags that I picked and printed those 3 or 4 times out. I wanted to create a flower to embellish the card and go a little bit outside the box to stretch the use of tags. The center is a beautiful brad from The Girl's Paperie collection. The clouds I stamped with dark brown and then used white acrylic pain to lighten them  up to give them that Vanilla Sky ... although now that I look at it, they look a little stormy.



The chipboard letters I thought would work well, because they have both blue and pink accents on the letters. Since it has a little bit of a casual look, I thought I needed to bridge those two styles together with a bit of corrugated card stock that I peeled into the distressed look...



Thanks for peeking. I'm still trying to make up my mind if I like this card or mixed media. It's definitely not my comfort zone. If you haven't seen the other girls's creations, hop on over and remember to leave them some love :)...And don't forget to enter our challenge!


Our sponsors this week:

Crafty Sentiments

* Winner's Choice of 4 Images

The Paper Shelter 

* $20 Gift Certificate

 

Gecko Galz 

* Entire July Collection (The Digital Paper Pack "Great Adventures", 6 different collage sets including Vintage Travels & Wild West dominos, and a digital stamp set "Mermaids Garden" a prize pack worth $30)

[DYSU] Challenge #51 - Stripes

Good morning folks! Sorry for the "silence" in blog land, but it's just that time of the year where everything is racing to get done...! I just finished the last bit of domestic mailing. It will be a big miracle if those greeting cards go out in time. If not, everyone gets an extended Christmas...

You are probably here to enjoy the next challenge. You'll like this one because we're all about Stripes this week! And stripes are super in this year - did you notice the clothing trend?

Stripes actually made me think of candy cane. And I had this Banana Republic tag from my jeans sitting on my craft table for the longest time. I thought it had an interesting dimension, and was totally re-useable. I've also felt inspired and less scared to used Gesso. So in honor of my friend & inspiration Janna, who is a mixed media queen, I whipped out some left-over Gesso and decided to try a few things out of my comfort zone. Here is what the end product looks ;)


Stamps: (Skating Circles) The Prairie Fairy; ('Twas the Night Before Christmas) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Banana Republic Jeans tag) Recycled
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin Ink - No. 11 Brown Sugar; Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Vintage Photo) Ranger
Embellishments: (Peppermint Collection - Border Stickers) Crate Paper; (Artists' Color Acrylic Series - Light Portrait Pink, Cadmium Red Hue) Utrecht

It was really fun to get my fingers dirty. The background is inspired by candy cane and my need to break open the tube of pink acrylic paint that I had bought a few months back. To place the digi onto the tag, I used the trick we learned in our Nathalie Kahlbach workshop - transfer the print onto tissue paper, and brush Elmer's Glue or Glossy Accents onto the tissue paper.



To make the edges of the tissue paper more antiqued, I brushed on some Vintage Photo distress ink for good measure ;) Anyways, head on over to the other DYSU girls and leave them some holiday love. They are getting all stripey for you....

And our sponsors this week:

The Prairie Fairy $15 Gift Certificate

The Craft's Meow Winner's Choice of 1 Stamp Set