Grungy Monday & Squirrely Challenge - Free Standing Pop Up Card & Winner announced

Here's my submission for Nancy's Squirrely Challenge; yes, i finally re-joined the group!

Papers, Stamps & Fibers are from the Club Scrap kit called Castaway, except the beads which are from Into The Wild-which is no longer available :( . You can't really see it, but i put a drop of liquid pearls in pearl for the oyster shell's pearl. Followed tutorial on Splitcoast stampers for the paper engineering and Studio L3's Grungy Monday 08 technique shown here by T!m Holtz.

I may also use this for my GM submission as well. Undecided since it breaks from my norm of 8x8 page w/song inspiration. just rambing here...pay no attention.**UPDATE** I have decided to also make this my GM submission since time is running short and I'll be gone all day taking a class in Dayton from Jennifer Mcguire and Shari Carroll and I'm going to use this as my THANK YOU to one of them!! Omigosh, you can imagine my excitement!

Lastly, I wanted to announce the winner of my contest for the Club Scrap Die Cutters Blog Hop. The correct number of Butterflies used was 93, so Myska wins with this comment:

myska said...

I think all 94 of those purple butterflies are gorgeous! Enjoy your class!

May 22, 2011 10:30 AM

Myska, please contact me with your mailing address and I'll send you a Club Scrap paper pack!

Grungy Monday 7 - We Didn't Start The Fire

It has been an extremely crazy week with many demands of my time, so I’m thankful that Miss Linda offered us an easy technique by T!m to follow for our Grungy Monday 07 submission. My 8x8 technique journal page features photos I took last year while these amazing murals were plastered all over Cincinnati. These are works of art by Shepard Fairey (use google images….I’m sure you’ll see something very familiar). For whatever reason, I think of the Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Start The Fire” when I look at his work. It’s what I like to call “in your face” art and it appeals to me J. Materials used: Club Scrap: white from Comics kit, red from County Fair kit. American Crafts: metal photo corners Fiskars punch: small tulips Distress Inks: Barn Door, Black Soot, Pumice “We Didn’t Start The Fire” Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye" Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye CHORUS We didn't start the fire It was always burning Since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No we didn't light it But we tried to fight it Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez CHORUS Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac Sputnik, Zhou Enlai, Bridge On The River Kwai Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California Baseball, Starkweather homicide, Children of Thalidomide Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo CHORUS Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land, Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say CHORUS Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

Grungy Monday 6 - Vincent

My crafting mojo was non-existent this week, but I still wanted to accept Linda's challenge to follow Tim’s paint dabber resist technique like he did here. My inspiration song is Vincent (Starry Starry Night) by Don McLean which has such amazingly beautiful imagery in its lyrics

Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey Look out on a summer's day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and the daffodils Catch the breeze and the winter chills, in colors on the snowy linen land Now I understand what you tried to say to me How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free They would not listen they did not know how, perhaps they'll listen now Starry starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain Weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

For they could not love you, but still your love was true And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry starry night You took your life as lovers often do, But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you Starry, starry night, portraits hung in empty halls Frameless heads on nameless walls with eyes that watch the world and can't forget. Like the stranger that you've met, the ragged man in ragged clothes The silver thorn of bloody rose, lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow Now I think I know what you tried to say to me How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free They would not listen they're not listening still perhaps they never will.

I’m almost sorry I went with this beautiful song as I really don’t feel I did it justice. I’ve loosely followed his work of art with my own spin. I’ve been wanting to add this daffodil flower idea I found here, so I figured I wouldn’t find another song that mentioned them, so I’ll go with it. That led me to start thinking that maybe I’ll use this as my Bloomin’ Diary (another project I’ll esplain some other time. I actually made a “real” artist trading card!! I just created this little guy in Photoshop and printed it onto a Club Scrap white. Very happy with that one element…the rest, not so much.

Paper is from the following Club Scrap Kits: Weekender, Poetic, Autumn Splendor, white (?) but is definitely Club Scrap.
Distress Inks: stormy sky, mustard seed, weathered wood, black soot
Other: pearlescent watercolors, Silver paint dabber, Sparkle stamp from Club Scrap..

Grungy Monday 3 - True Colors

This week, Linda at Studio L3 is having us get our color wash on!! I only own 1 flavor in this yummy lineup (for now?) and it's the sailboat blue. Don't know what to do with these? Have no fear, T!m shows you a few clever ideas here. I'm also submitting this for the Color Throwdown #137 challenge to use teal, summer sun and celery.

I'm making all my submissions 8x8 size so that I can put all of them in an album easily. I've used a variety of mediums on my mini canvases; color wash (teal/sailboat blue), glimmer mist (pearl), claudine hellmuth paint (purple palette) and metal craft paint (celery/bright green). I've sewn them onto a piece of yellow from Club Scrap's Science kit and then mounted that onto the purple from the same kit. The stamps are all from the Raku kit.

Continuing with the song/music theme, I've used True Colors by Cyndi Lauper. I've also chose to feature my wonderful Sister; my best friend in the world! Her birthday is Tuesday and I wanted to celebrate that! Love you so very much sissy.

I see your true colors shining through

I see your true colors, and that's why I love you

So don't be afraid to let them show your true colors

True colors are beautiful, like a rainbow.

Grungy Monday 2 - Hello in there

The technique put forth by Linda at Studio L3 this week for Grungy Monday is a matte medium resist that T!m demonstrates here. I don't own any steel rule dies so I couldn't make my own foam stamp, but I used a stencil instead and it worked beautifully. The base is an actual page from our local phone book business section and the rest of the paper is Club Scrap (of course) from an older kit Autumn Splendor. The phone stamp is also from the Gimme A Ring kit by Club Scrap. The design of the page is from a Club Scrap challenge this month to use this sketch:

My song inspiration is a very sad and touching song by John Prine (a favorite of my family's) called Hello in there. I've used the chorus on the upper right corner of my piece and below:

Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

I don't fancy myself an artist...I simply like to play with paper, but it's interesting what a journey art can take you on if you are open to it. I created this piece with my brother in mind. He passed away 4 years ago tomorrow at the age of 47. Sometimes I still can't believe he's gone and other times I'm amazed he stayed as long as he did. He had a tender heart, but a troubled soul and although he didn't grow old, he definitely grew lonesome. I just wish he could have heard our "hello's". I hope he has found peace; I love you big bro.

A Brand New Challenge

Linda has conceived a new challenge over at Studio L3. We've finished all of the Compendium of Curiosities and have moved on to any and all of T!m's techniques. For the inaugural week, she has chose this lovely creation from 2008 to inspire us:

Along with this challenge, my sister Jennifer and I have decided to challenge ourselves by theming our submissions using Songs as inspiration. She is choosing to limit her choices to the solo and collective works of the Beatles. I'll be placing no such limits on myself, but I will be trying to use songs that mean something to me (altho i may have a random odd choice here and there :) )

My song choice this week is Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind. It's been done by Dolly Parton & Cher, and I'm sure a number of other artists as well. I was fortunate to be raised with a great appreciation of all kinds of music. My mom and dad always seemed to have music playing and they had varied tastes, so I am thankful that I do as well. This is one i remember quite well, but i won't be surprised if you don't!

Across my Dreams with nets of wonder;

I chase the bright, elusive butterfly of love.

I am also submitting this for:

-The Flutter by Wednesday challenge #48 (use a button and a bow)

-Pals Paper Arts PPA#86 challenge (embossing) - correction: I'm 2 late for that one! maybe next time!

paper: graphic 45 and Club Scrap (Poetry & Adobe)

stamps: butterfly/magenta

Sil cuts: inspired by Tim's gears

distress inks: broken china

other: copper shimmer memories mist,

club scrap copper foil embossing powder,

pearlescent watercolors

netting (bath puff!)