It's getting there...

It's getting there..., a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

This page is so funny. It TOTALLY looks different in real life!! Maybe if you click on it, you can see the details a little better.

I started out playing with a few Distress Stains: Dusty Concord and Wild Honey. It was OK, until the Concord mixed with the Honey to create something like gray mud.

*sigh*

So I slapped down more Concord, and a few dot stamps, then covered the whole thing with thinned-out white acrylic paint.

Then I got the bright idea to stamp a few circles, which led to lines of circles. Then I dotted the circles and took the Wild Honey back to the page.

Now I'm not sure where to go with it, as I'm still not happy with the way it looks. Maybe some paper.....


***
Today's studio time was filled with Smash Book making. It was really fun and freeing too. I just smashed in whatever I wanted to, putting a little something on each page. The cool thing is, I had no rhyme or reason for any of it! I used what I had on hand with no though to what might go on the page in the future, when I actually record an event or journal. I wonder if this is how the Smash Book artists/creators felt?? =D


~Cynthia

Blue Numbers

Blue Numbers, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I so love this page! It's serene and very calming.

It was easy to make too. Just a layer of gesso (texture lines were made with the non-business end of a paintbrush) and layers of Distress Stain (Broken China and Faded Jeans.) Then I spritzed it to make all the funky spots and splots.

Then I added a few strips of handmade washi tape. I got the inspiration from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. Simply use regular Scotch tape (like the desk supply type or the equivalent), tearing off whatever length you want. Burnish the tape with your thumb over a book page. (Julie says it works better when you use images from an older book, which is what I did here.) Then carefully pull the tape up, pulling off the image and the top layer of the book page. Then adhere with an adhesive--I chose a glue gun.

(If you can't see the image very well, I actually used numbers from a book's index. Cool, eh?)

I meant to add flowers on the side, but I haven't gotten to that yet.

****

Have you seen the new Smash Books from K&Co? I thought it was a cute idea, but because I live in such a podunk town, I probably won't get to see one in person for another 3 years. BUT, I've seen a lot of chatter by art journalists who are making their own! So I decided to transition my Junque Journal into a Smash Book. It's not nearly as cute, but I tend to write more in it, which is the whole purpose, right?? ;-D


Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by!!

~Cynthia

Have a Wavy Birthday!

Have a Wavy Birthday!, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I think I'm going to change the name of this blog to..."My Take On...". Every time I try to CASE someone's creation, it always turns out nothing like what they did or what I imagined mine would look like.

*sigh*

This card is a great example.

See, Susan Raihala (Late Blossom on the Simplicity blog) made this really cool card a few days ago. Her style is totally Clean And Simple.

So I thought I would CASE it, you know, because her style is all clean and SIMPLE.

And this is what I came up with. I like it, right? But it really doesn't resemble her card. Hence the, "My Take On...Susan's Card."

=D

I used: four stamps, two inks and one bling. That's about as simple as I can get. ;-)


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white cardblank)
Stamps: Inkadinkado (Circle Graphs set); Hot Off the Press (Stamped Stitches set); Stampendous (Everything Happy set for sentiment)
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Worn Lipstick); Memento (Tuxedo Black)
ETC: From my stash (clear bling, in center of circle)


Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you have a creative day!

~Cynthia

Squares today with a chance of squares tomorrow

Squares today with a chance of squares tomorrow, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

**I'm totally saying a prayer that this posts!**

This extremely geometric beauty is another page from my mixed media art journal.

I got the idea from Carolyn Nehring (she's on my blog roll now) and as always when I attempt to CASE someone...this looks nothing like what she did! ;-)

I *did* manage to use up bits of leftovers though. YAY! I went with a yellow/green/light blue scheme. I cut up the larger squares and glued everything down, then colored between the squares with green watercolor crayon and a bit of black watercolor crayon.

To tone everything down, I dry brushed the whole page with off-white acrylic paint.

I added a few tickets because I really have this thing for tickets. Heh.

I love that there are spots everywhere to journal on and the smiley faces make me happy!


Have a great weekend!

~Cynthia

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

That's right, my blogging buddies, I have defeated that evil Mr. Blogger! I went the LONG way 'round and am now blogging through Blogger and not Flickr.

I. Win. (She typed with an evil cackle...)


OK, for literally the SIXTH time, I shall now commence my little blog post!

This card RIGHT UP THERE came about because the little beach image was just sitting on my desk, a rejected attempt. I used the second try on a card I posted earlier.

I thought...if I just color it a bit with some watercolor pencils, the image just might be OK for a card.

So I did.

I also added a bit of Distress Ink to the edges and distressed a bit of ribbon with the same ink. Then I layered it on a brown piece of cardstock, corner punched with Tonic's Ticket/Tag Punch. (Love that so much!) I offset the image so that I could add a sentiment later on the right side.

The white layer is glossy cardstock stamped with a background stamp using Archival Ink.

And all that is layered on a kraft cardblank.


Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill (kraft and brown cardstock); The Paper Studio (kraft cardblank); unknown/stash (glossy paper)
Stamps: Stacy Stamps (beach image); Glitz Designs (Distressed set)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Walnut Stain); Archival Ink (Coffee)
ETC: Tonic (Ticket/Tag Punch); The Ribbon Boutique (Ribbon); Glue Glider Pro; Artists' Loft (watercolor pencils)


Now...if I can only get this thing to post, we'll be good to GO!! ;-)

~Cynthia

Well....

Mr. Blogger has done it again. I've tried FIVE times to post a card. It keeps telling me on my Flickr account that my "credentials" are not accepted and that I need to delete my Blogger account on Flickr and try again.

So I did.

Now I can't post anything from Flickr here.

*sigh*

I hate Mr. Blogger.

I will keep trying. He will not defeat me.


~Cynthia


ETA: I just found a sad little thread on Flickr, where others have been having the same problem. And there are a lot of us! So sad, but I hope they get it all fixed. I'm just glad it's not MY FAULT!!!! =D

Spooky stencil pages!

Spooky stencil page!
Originally uploaded by HikerCynthia

Well.

About all I can say is...these are some interesting art journal pages! ;-)

My LSS is finally carrying Crafter's Workshop stencils. WOOT! I bought this one (trees) and my mom bought the swirly/dragonfly one, which I am totally going to borrow! =D

Anywho, I covered the pages with Distress Stains (Walnut Stain and Antique Linen--love these things!!!), then placed the tree branch stencil down on the right side of the layout and sprayed some Adirondack Color Wash.

WAAAAAY too much Adirondack Color Wash.

Way.

Way way way.

Way. Too. Much.

On the left side I used the same stencil, but dabbed (pounced?) ink on it, creating a sort of negative image.

Since I wasn't completely happy with either page, I attacked both sides with some of my brand new 7 Gypsies stamps and the splat stamp from Stampin Up.

I think what I might do is pour some of the Color Wash into a mister bottle for a finer spray. That might help the excessive amount of ink that seems to fly everywhere.

I also think a bit of white or cream paint might be in order to tone down the colors.

Always a work in process. =D


~Cynthia