Mica Moth

Hello all!  I know I haven't been around here much lately, but the Glimmer and Sparkle theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge was the perfect fit for my Mica Moth.  I succumbed to the new Mica Stains released by Ranger for Tim Holtz, and this was my first spritzing play with them, over a die-cut of the magnificent Perspective Moth... so it's definitely a Mica Moth.

I'm still not sure whether they work best with the moth complete or with the wings separated.

And I'm also undecided about whether they're entirely finished, but I do love them just as they are, so they'll be staying that way unless creative lightning strikes.

I had smooshed a couple of tags in some leftover Salvaged Patina ink and oxide on the craft mat, and the pair of them were sitting there when the Mica Stains arrived.  You can see the underlying turquoise tones of the Salvaged Patina best on the moth's body.

My original thought was to create a shimmering Moth die-cut, but I didn't want to waste the ink I was spritzing, so I laid the die-cut over the two tags to do my spraying.  And then it turned out I liked the background better than the moth itself!  I love that there are places where the moth's wings are really clear, and others where it's much more ghostly.

The Mica Stains in use are Hocus Pocus (the purple one), Bubbling Cauldron (the green one) and Empty Tomb (the dark greyish one), and I also spritzed some Stormy Sky Oxide into the mix.  (There may have been something else, but I don't know what... I was just having fun.)

Both text stamps are from Tim's Dapper stamp set.  The large Merchant Tailor advert is done in Archival Night Sky - lovely colour.

And the smaller text is stamped in Old Paper Oxide and then embossed with Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze.  Oh, and there are some torn scraps of script washi tape in the layers too.

I expect they'll get some twine through the top, and maybe a Quote Chip across the lower halves some day, but for now I'm really happy with my Mica Moth as he is...

... if I could only decide which way round to place the pair!

I hope you like them as much as I do.  The shimmer of the Mica Stains really can't be shared in still photographs so I'm hoping this ten second video will work to show you the fabulous glimmer and sparkle they give you.

You can see why they were perfect for the Glimmer and Sparkle theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

I hope you're all doing okay, and maybe enjoying some late summer sunshine (we can live in hope, right?).  Stay safe and I'll see you again soon.  There's lots of stuff to share here - I just have to find time to sit down and write some blogposts!  Happy crafting all.

Between our birth and death we may touch understanding, As a moth brushes a window with its wing.
Christopher Fry

... he was trying to create the spell that is ethereal and delicate as the dust on a moth's wing ...
from Jacob's Ladder by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'd like to share these at the the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for the Glimmer and Sparkle theme

Three times three times three

Hello all!  I'm delighted to be here today to share a project created for a Guest Designer spot at the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog.  I was honoured that my journalling page for the wonderful Time challenge was chosen as their winner, and I'm honoured to be guest designing for them today.  The current theme is one that made my heart sing when I heard about it... Triple the Heat - not for the heat, but for the tripling!  I love working in threes and trios and triptyches, so here's what I came up with...

The host, Suzz, is using the number three as the inspiration (you can read all about it over at the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog), and I've got lots and lots of threes going on here, not just the three ATCs themselves.

There are three different insects, courtesy of the Tim Holtz Collage Paper glued on to the ATC backgrounds (and lightly gessoed over to soften the look).

There are three different mediums involved in making these... texture crackle paste, paint and ink.  Soft washes of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish chalk paints in soft purple (Wisteria, Forget-me-not and Lavender) and vibrant green (Lawn) bring colour.

There are splatters of the paint colours as well as washes.  The Ranger Opaque Crackle Texture Paste obviously brings the texture.

And DecoArt Quinacridone Gold mixed with Payne's Grey to create one of Andy Skinner's "dirty washes" soak down into the crackles, followed by a quick burnishing with Sepia Archival ink for an extra rusty look.

The most obvious of the "three of a kind" elements are the lavender stems, one to each ATC.  I picked them from the garden, but since they were already going over, I used the same Fresco paints to give them a fresher look.

And each lavender stem is accompanied by two inky/painty green stems, cut with one of Tim Holtz's Wildflower Thinlits dies, so that makes a total of three stems per ATC.

There are also three additional decorative elements on each ATC... a strip of Design Tape, a strip of lace, and a postmark label, stamped in Leaf Green Archival (from the TH Field Notes stamp set) and cut out.

Finally, and for me just as important as all the rest, we have the words.

The phrases are each three words long (but of course!), chosen from the Tiny Text stamp set.

They're stamped again in Leaf Green Archival to coordinate with everything else going on.

So, that's about that.  Many, many threesomes all built in to a trio of ATCs.  I like each of them individually, but best of all for me is how they work as a set, with the composition shifting slightly as the eye moves from tiny artwork to tiny artwork.

I hope that gives you some additional inspiration for the Triple the Heat challenge theme.  The design team have, of course, offered up glorious projects for you too, and you can see them all, read the challenge details and join in over at the Funkie Junkie Boutique Challenge Blog.

Thanks so much to the team for inviting me to guest design with them this time around, and thanks to all of you for stopping by today.  I hope you're having a relaxing and enjoyable August.  Stay safe, and happy crafting all!

Three things cannot long be hidden - the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Confucius

Baubles and Bling at PaperArtsy

Hello all.  It's been a while, but I'm delighted to be sharing a project over at the PaperArtsy blog today.  You wouldn't have expected to see me playing along during the Baubles and Bling theme, would you?  Well, neither would I... it was all a bit of an accident!

Just a sneak peek here, so I hope you'll have time to hop over to PaperArtsy to see what I managed to cook up outside my comfort zone.  As often happens when faced with that kind of challenge, I ended up somewhere that made me really happy.

I hope you're all doing well and I'll see you soon.

I think art is not an ornament or refinement at the fringes of human intelligence, I think it's at the centre. It's at the core.
Robert Pinsky

If you don't mind hopping to see the whole project, I'd like to share this at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where they are going Wild With Washi - it's washi looping around the baubles to hold them together as well as provide a frame for the words, so it's pretty important!

Again, if you don't mind hopping to see the whole project, I'd also like to join in with the Feathered Friends at Try It On Tuesday - not only is there a bird taking centre stage in one of the baubles, but the woman in the second bauble is also a "feathered friend"!