Crafting Binge: Day Two. Experimenting with canvas and my beloved Daniel Torrente stamps.

Inspired by the beautiful Dina Wakley's OUT OF THE JOURNAL 2012, I did a couple of canvases.  Doesn't that sound classy?  "I did a couple of canvases."

It just doesn't as civilized if you phrase it as:  "I wandered through the aisles of the Dollar Tree, wondering if I could paint or emboss or otherwise de-cheapen their plastic chess pieces, then went home and got drunk and painted and glued stuff to a canvas I found in someone's trash can on the next street over..."  

So, yeah,  "I did a couple canvases, this evening."

Do you follow Miss Dina's blog?  It's as purty and classy as she is- so, you should.  She's doing this thing-  wow, I hate the sound of that, 'doing this thing.'  That sounds demeaning, to me.  "She's currently running this promotion," doesn't sound right-  how can I say this?  Oh well, you get what I mean.  It's "OUT OF THE JOURNAL 2012" time at Ms. Dina's blog of beauty!

But, Kory, what IS it?!

Her royal inkiness describes it as:

The idea is to stretch yourself out of your journal by working on canvas and exercise your creative muscle.

I don't have a journal.  Unless you count the insanely large stack of Post-It-Notes-To-Self that I write to myself every stinking day as a journal.  But it definitely isn't the art journal that I religiously keep in my daydreams.

But I love canvas.  It has a beautiful texture.  Like a brand new blank notebook- one of my number one all time addictions- a blank, brand new canvas feels like pure possibility.  Hell, I think they're beautiful just left white.

And did y'all know that, once, I wanted to be a 'real-life' artist?  I did.  I even had (and sold, believe it or not!) paintings in an art gallery.  The hit of that opening night was a gigantic mixed-media piece entitled, "Hard Copy Makes Me Hard."  It sold.

And:  Just like I mentioned above-  I recently found a brand-new, crisply white canvas in someone's trash- so why not give it a go?!

(Yes, it is true that I cannot drive past a pile of trash without pulling over to dig for buried treasure.)

Not only was I inspired by Ms. Dina's work, and even more so by her class, that I recently took- I used stamps.  Ink, stamps, paint, paper, collage- I had a great time!  Thank you, Dina!

This was done on a nicely sized 16X24 canvas.  Acrylic paints, mostly applied with my fingers and a corner of t-shirt.  Part of an old dictionary page.  A Picket Fence Distress Marker.  Anything within reach seemed to make its way to the canvas.  I worked fast and furious and felt great.  I loved making this...

The stamp is one of my favorites by Daniel Torrente.  I love these little critters.  I like the creepy factor, but what I love most is the sweet innocence the little creatures have-  remember how I said I'm still inspired by Dina's Encaustic Tag Book class?  No, there's not encausticality going on here- but I did stamp the little critter on tissue paper- one of the techniques I learned.  I ModPodge'd him on and the tissue paper just faded away.

This wasn't my first canvas, today, though-

Early in the morning, I spotted a little stack of tiny 4X4 canvases that I picked up at Micheals, on clearance for 25 cents each.  They weren't primed or anything- so I did coat it with some gesso, first.

While I waited for the gesso to dry, I stamped and cut out another of my favorite Torrente critters.  I colored him with Distress Inks.  I touched up his teeth with my Picket Fence Distress Marker and did his shoes with the Tea Dye marker- but the rest of him was colored with regular Distress Inks.

I sprayed the tiny canvas with my other favorite 'discovery' from Ms. Dina's class-  DYLUSIONS Ink Spray.  Really?  How great is this ink spray?!  I used the colors of, 'London Blue' and 'Postbox Red.'  This is also when I learned something:  let the first color of spray dry before spraying the next color, otherwise, it just doesn't look as pretty.  That's why it's so dark up there in a few spots.  Luckily, I liked it- so, nothing to cry about.  I did touch up/blend a few spots with Barn Door and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks.  I picked a word at random from Mr. Holtz's ChitChat stickers, glued on the Torrente critter, and stamped some random letters with a white pigment ink.  The word seemed to kinda float there of its own accord.  It didn't look right.  So I drew a 'cord' to it with a silver metallic marker and drew a circle around it with the Picket Fence Distress Marker.  Not happy with how that turned out- but I do like it more than a random floating word.

So that's it for my inspired pieces for Dina Wakley's OUT OF THE JOURNAL.  Look at me, I sprang right out from a journal that I wasn't even in!  But, art journalling is the number two thing I want to do next.  What's number one?  I'm a gentleman.  I don't name names.

-kory

a present for a friend

My friend and co-worker, Bev, keeps me sane.  She listens (or reads the emails) when I'm stressed out to the point of exploding.  And she's obsessed with the band Foster The People.  So I made her a little charm to hang on something or wear on something, or whatever she comes up with:

I stamped the band's initials on a blank Vintaj blank.  They were half-price at Jo-Ann last week, so I bought a few packages.  I love metal stamping, lately.  It's fast and makes cute things.  After stamping the letters, I decided it still looked a little too plain.  So I smacked it a few times with my Tim Holtz Texture Hammer- you know- the crazily cute little hammer with the changeable texture tips?  One of my favorite buys EVER.  Well, after that- it just looked too beat up.  Oh! Wire!  So I wrapped it a few times with some wire.  Done!

Well.  Now, I hafta make a card, right?  Right.

I looked up, and my newest Daniel Torrente stamp was staring at me.  Staring at me with many eyes.

 

I colored one of the little critter's faces with a Tumbled Glass Distress Marker and stamped the asterix and 'hello' in the corner.  

But now, what do I put the charm in- the envelope?  It looks stupid just stuck in there...

Oh!  I'll make a little tiny card to go in the card, that the charm's chain can be wrapped around!

Have any of you ever seen or do you have the Tonic Studio Duo Corner Ticket/Tag Punch?  It's so cool.  You can make any old square or rectangular piece of cardstock into a tag or ticket.  I first saw it and used it at a card making class at My Heart's Fancy and had to buy one for myself.  

After punching the corners to make the card into a ticket, I stamped it with a woodgrain background stamp using Antique Linen Distress Ink.  The 'Best of the Best' sentiment is from one of the new BasicGrey 'Clippings' stamp sets from Hero Arts.  

I wrapped the charm around the ticket.  Now it looks more proper when stuck into the envelope, right?

While I was making this, I was thinking how great it is to have what is looking more and more like an entire Hobby Lobby store INSIDE my house.  If the need appears to make a little gift for someone, all I need to do is sit down and do it!

And now I'm done.  I can rest.  Watch True Blood.  And enjoy a benadryl... something is bothering my allergies and I need to sleep all night.  

Have a good start to the week, everyone!

-kory

Sunday: A card!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

You know what Sunday is-  MATINEE DAY.  

As I went out with the sound designer for much needed drinks after last night's show, I didn't just spring out of bed this morning, ready to do the show.  I did somehow manage to drag myself downtown in time- and guess what?  Somebody up above must have decided to do me a favor and give me a break- we had the smoothest running performance EVER.  It was such a nice break from all the issues and problems that have been attacking us every night!  Finally, the drama was onstage, where it belongs!

I'm here, today, to share a card that I made with one of my favorite stamps from Stampotique/Daniel Torrente.  I love his stamps!!!  They're so fun!

Isn't that cutest little creepy guy?

I used some kraft cardstock, the ever-trusty Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Hobby Lobby's knockoff Tim Holtz style gears.  Hobby Lobby's gears are VERY thin and cheap feeling-  I'm kind of conflicted, they look kinda cool, but they feel so cheap.  But they are very thin and lightweight, so they work well on cards.

I grabbed a few random bits out of my scrap-pile.  A piece of Kraft Funday border, a strip of cardstock I'd embossed using the new Stencil embossing folder from Mr. Holtz, a bit of stamped chevron graphic-  everything just jumped out of at me and ended up on the card.

Wanna see it?  Here it go!

I love that little guy!  And these stamps are addictive.  I want them ALL.

I colored him with a few Distress Markers.  Do you have any yet?  They are fantastic!

Alright.  I'm out- it's Sunday evening in a few minutes and I need to rest and relax and clear what's left of my foggy mind!  Have the best Monday possible, tomorrow!

-kory

Is this my beautiful life?

If you were to guess what I hate most about Spring, you'd probably guess it's TORNADO SEASON.  But that's not the worst thing about Spring.  The worst part of Spring is:  ALLERGIES!

My head feels like it's gonna explode.  By explode, I mean EXPLODE.  BOOM!

Seriously, it hurts.  I have more sinus pain than MTV has shows about stupid pregnant tweens.

Work was a nightmare.  It lasted forever.  The only bright spot of the day was a trip to Michaels on my lunch hour.  I don't think I would've gone to Michaels if it weren't for Co-Worker Michelle wanting to go, in search of more letter stickers (I don't know how many letter stickers this woman needs, but the same could be asked about my paper collection).  Aaaaaand speaking of paper, I was thinking I could find a nifty pad of paper, since they were 1/2 off today- but only the 19.99 pads- the Tim Holtz paper packs I want (Kraft Resist and Crowded Attic) are 14.99, so they WEREN'T on sale.  So, I settled on two more packages of the Recollections Washi Tape, since it WAS on sale.  I got the brown pack, and one of the blue packs.  Bargain!

  Oh, how I would love for My Heart's Fancy to be within driving distance from the office.  I would be there every day.  Maybe that's a good thing- I'd hate to have to resort to unsavory behavior to support my rubber stamp spending habits.

And SPEAKING of My Heart's Fancy-  while I was there on Saturday, to drop off my Spring Pennants for the swap, I picked up a brand new stamp!  I had to have another stamp by Daniel Torrente.  Wanna see?

 I love these creepy, sad, but hopeful looking little guys.  I can't get enough of them!

I've been wanting to make something with this stamp since Saturday-  but you know, tornado warnings and work get in the way.  Well, they make good excuses.

I've been sitting around since I got home-  wanting to take my Nyquil and call it a day, but knowing that if I took it now, I'd pass out before 7 and be awake around 3am.  I finally talked myself into just getting up and doing something, no matter how simple or 'bad' it might turn out- just make a little card.  Because this TV show about people who catch alligators for a reason isn't that entertaining AND I started thinking: DAMMIT,  soon, I will have even less free time.  I start work on my next show in a few weeks.

Yeahp, I'm back in show business.  I'll be stage managing a new show, rehearsals start sometime around the end of April.  So, I've got to enjoy the time I have, while I have it...  I always, always say, that I'm going to take a long break between shows- but the second one closes, I'll say 'yes' to the next job that pops up.  I think it's because I like making opening night gifts so much.  I should find a picture of the cards I made for the opening night of 'Buried Child.'  I made really cute kraft cards, made my own stamp, and made necklaces for the cast- using the Tim Holtz Muse Tokens.  They turned out very cool and impressive looking-  everyone loved the words they got and I felt like such a superstar.  Oh, wait- what am I talking about?  Oh yeah- my card- wanna see it here it come!

Here's my card:

I colored him with a couple of Distress Markers, first.  I LOVE these markers- I have to say that every time I use them, because I'm amazed at how much I love them.  I've never really liked markers of any kind- but from the first time I used a Distress Marker, I was in love.  They work beautifully.  I also used a couple of colored pencils on the little guy, too- and some regular Distress Ink (Vintage Photo) on his edges.  I loved how the Vintage Photo looks on the top of his head there- it really gave him some dimension.

For the background, I ran my cardstock thru the BigKick with my newest Tim Holtz Texture Fade embossing folder.  As much as I love my BigKick- OHhhhh what I would do for a VAGABOND!  I'm jealous of all that have one- but if you don't- have you ever seen it in use?!  I saw someone using one at a local shop, and I couldn't close my mouth.  Amazing machine.

And HOW cool is this Bubble Wrap embossing folder?!?!   I colored it with a handful of Distress Inks-  some Wild Honey, some Frayed Burlap, Broken China, Victorian Velvet, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo.  Just rubbed them all in and misted with water-

Then, I cut his arm so I couple pull it up- glued him down, then added the word 'Smile' from the new ChitChat word stickers.  

Well, that's it for the day.  I've got to rest.  I'm old.

If you really want to see some beautiful work, you've gotta check out Frank's HAUS OF W and Paul's THE ARTSIDERS.   Seriously, go look, it's beautiful.

-kory

"Sometimes, I feel just like Mary's donkey..."

What a day.  I have had a killer headache all damn day.  The kind that makes you sick to your stomach.  The kind that makes you want to throw your Cricut Expression 2 at anyone who makes a noise.  The kind that makes you leave work at 1 and call it a day...

So that's what I did.  No, not throw my Cricut.  Leave work at 1.  I thought my head was going to explode.  And since we can barely get the cleaning people to vacuum the office, I went home.

But I stopped by Michael's on the way home.  Did you know that my middle name is Michael?

What a good day to stop my Michaels!  Check out what I found in the ONE DOLLAH MAKE YOU HOLLAH aisle:

New stamps!  These are pretty cool.  I love the lion with the crown and the giraffe with the frilly collar and party hat.  Notice my attention to detail with the upside down 'Have Fun' stamp.  These coordinate well with last Spring's vintage circus stamps from the dollar aisle.  And I loved those!

I bought one of each they had in this set- I don't know if there are any others.  Since my nearest Michaels is famous for not having ALL the stamps in the set/collection, I'll hafta check the more reliable/better stocked location on the South-side.  In my dreams, there's one more stamp in the set, an elephant in a tutu or something.

I laid on the couch, watching Kitchen Nightmares for a bit, before getting up for make a couple of cards.  

First up, a very simple card, using one of my favorite stamps.

 

I used my newest set of Spellbinders!  Labels #5, which I found on clearance at JoAnn for 5.97.  That's a bargain, if you didn't know it...  I love the little guy peekin' out of the window.

For my next card, I used my newest Daniel Torrente stamp.  

I did my favorite technique from Mr. Holtz, 'Wrinkle Free Distress.'  How fun is it to do that?!   Then I stamped the little heartbreaker on top, and colored him with more Distress Inks.  I got the, what's it called?     Text bubble?  Chat bubble?  What's it called?!  Anyways, I got the bubble in a set of them, for a dollar, at Michaels, and stamped the HI with my typewriter letter stamps that I seem to want to use on everything lately.  I stamped a houndstooth background with Tea Dye Distress Ink onto a card made from white cardstock and glued the guy on!  I can't wait to write something inside and send him to someone!

Last night, the sky was pink.  Really!  It was purty as can be, and I wanted to see if I could take a picture of it-  I went into the backyard and here it is-  and I still thought it was so purty that I had to show y'all!

There ya go- stamps, two cards, and a picture of a pink sky!

-kory

Saturday Happ'nins

I had a ton of trouble waking up, today.  I had crazy dreams of wake up and being fully functional before 9AM.

Well, that didn't happen...

I did wake up for a few moments at 8AM, to a phone call from Holly, who told me that she was already up and awake and at ACE Hardware, to get her free quart of paint, to paint a dresser she'd found at Goodwill a few days ago.  I guess it was free quart of paint day. I think I said something like, "Momma.  Get paint for Daddy."  And then I hung up and went back to sleep.

I eventually made it to consciousness.  And showered-ness.  AND THEN IT WAS TIME TO BUY STAMPS.

I don't know what it is- but I can't get enough stamps.  Not only are they fun, but they look good.  Don't stamps look good sitting on a shelf?  Or hell, don't stamps look good jumbled up in a box?

I went to My Hearts Fancy, the home of the coolest stamps in town.  I had my eye on a stamp I saw last week.  And I bought that stamp.  But it's not the stamp I'm showing you, tonight.  I'm saving it for tomorrow.  Tonight, I'm showing you a different stamp.  But it's just as cool.

I don't know what the stamp is called, I'm lazy and a little drunk and not in the mood to even research it- but here it is, people, feast your eyes on this damn beauty: ((Before clicking PUBLISH, I decided to look it up and he's called "SMILE". You can find out more about him HERE.))

Isn't he cute?  He reminds me of myself, as a child.  Yeah, cute.

While the very classy owner of the shop was ringing up a very random selection of items, she told me of something she'd seen done with another one of these stamps-  the head cut in two and positioned so that it looked like it was 'talking' or spitting out words.  Well, this sounded so cool and fun that I ran home and tried it out!

I used Mr. Holtz's 'Gridlock' Texture Fade with my Sizzix BigKick to emboss a 5X5 piece of kraft cardstock from the classy Jo-Ann, and my Magnetic Poetry Word Stamps.  I found them at HALF PRICE BOOKS.  Nearly 100 word stamps for six bucks.  Check your local Half Price Books, or look online- they have several sets, and they are very worth it- I love these!  I  rubbed the embossed card with some Tea Dye and Walnut Stain- and I colored the little guy with one of my BRAND NEW DISTRESS MARKERS and also some regular Scattered Straw Distress Ink, using a Tsukineko Fantastix Coloring Tool Brush Point.  I pushed it on the ink pad, pushed it on a water droplet that I'd sprayed on my Craft Sheet.  You can't tell from the photo, or maybe you can, but some of the words are 'flat' and some I attached with some foam tape.

Alright- I'm off to drink another classy glass of wine fresh from its classy box that it's calling from and then, I'm gonna play with my stamps.  Yes, the nightclubs are calling, too.  I might be back with more fun, but then again- I might end up at a bar.  Who can say?

-kory