Featured Friday - Jenny Martin!!!!!

It's that magical time of the month again where I get to show off a stamper who's been a huge inspiration to me. If you're new to my blog (HELLO!) this segment bears the name Featured Friday and happens every 2nd Friday of the month. I'll do a little questionnaire, and then we'll each CASE one of the FF's cards. 

So, without further ado, let me introduce:

Jenny Martin of My Paper Epiphany!!

I first "met" Jenny when I saw her work in some gallery or another and gasped - and then, naturally, I had to click through to her site and say hello and stalk her...erm... I mean... pay her compliments? for awhile. 

Jenny's work is truly masterful! She started blogging back in 2011, and honestly one of the things I love most about her work is wondering how she takes such good photos - (maybe she'll share her secrets). If I had to describe Jenny's aesthetic, I'd say it's a tailored sort of mixed media with a hint of shabby chicness. She's a whiz with Distress Inks and Markers and creates some of the most vibrant colorful work on the web. I've got a little bit of a girl crush on her! Shhhhhh!

Check out these colorful designs:

 

But why gush and spew about her when she can give you all the good gossip herself?!

Here's 7 things you should know about Jenny:

1. What type of cards do you most like to create?

Watercolour - I love the variety of ways I can achieve this effect! Distress ink/markers, watercolour paints, Gelatos, Brushos, dye inks and many more. My favourite watercolour paper is Fabriano. I’ve been experimenting with my new supplies Kuretake Gansai and Peerless Watercolours.

The Peerless watercolours are really unique and I got them because they are the perfect supply to take on holiday with me. Check them out on this youtube video.

2. What's your favorite thing in your crafting space?

Well I recently bought an old table to use as a desk and bought lots of lovely vintage things to make my work space more inspiring. I found a cute glass front cabinet and I’ve arranged all my favourite wood mount stamps in it! I also found a very old stamp holder which I love because it is a symbol of my 2 obsessions - stamping & vintage love!

Here is a pic:

3. Why did you start blogging about your creations?

I started for the same reason as a lot of people - I discovered the world of challenges and wanted to join in.

This is a quote from my 1st blog post "I entered my 1st challenge at Hero Arts last Week, and then my 2nd at Simon Says Stamps, which incredibly I won! I then entered the same card from the SSS challenge in the Sweet Pea Stamps challenge and got a prize from them too! Then yeserday I received a free 3 months subscription from Scrapbook Creations! So I am feeling very lucky! Yay!!!”

Ha! I haven’t won a SSS challenge since then.

4. Be honest... how much crafty stuff in your stash has yet to be opened?

Too much ! In fact I’ve recently started an Etsy shop to sell my cards and I’ve decided I’m going to make some die cuts using my stash of beautiful paper and sell them too. In fact I’m going to have a huge de-stash! I’ve come to the realisation that I prefer to just use media on my cards and usually not many layers, except for a few die cuts.

Too much of my time is taken up arranging and re-arranging my stash - so a lot of it has to go!

5. What is the one craft supply you couldn't do without and why?

One! Hmmm… Well I would say stamps, but you can’t do much with stamps if you don’t have ink! So I think I’m going to say my Distress Markers because they are so versatile.

6. Do you like pina coladas on a midsummer night? (Just kidding <- that's not a real question but I thought it'd make you laugh.)

You just made me picture myself on a tropical island, watching the sunset, palm trees swaying in the gentle breeze, walking on the beach with my Pina Colada and a gorgeous ……...

The real number 6. What is your favorite technique? Have an example?

I like to mix it up. But I think my favourite is like the featured card, applying ink to the stamp with distress markers, spritzing and then stamping!

The results always make me happy and feel a little bit like an artist!

7. What's the best piece of advice you could give to new bloggers?

Look at lots of other blogs and leave comments. I love that I have got to know so many people through entering challenges and commenting. It always makes me happy to receive encouraging comments, so I like to reciprocate. I am always honest and heartfelt in my comments and try to be encouraging

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And now, for the part you've alllllllll been waiting for (at least that's what I'm choosing to believe).... The CASE! 

THE ORIGINAL

I chose this STUNNING watercolor-looking bird that's been placed oh-so-carefully onto vellum and prettied up with all sorts of lovely, frilly accents. 

JENNY'S CASE

Jenny opted for a very non-literal interpretation of the original. She kept elements of the original with the layout and the twine and the watercolored butterflies on bits of vellum. Here design sings with loveliness!

MY CASE: 

I, on the other hand was MUCH less creative and did an almost picture for picture CASE of Jenny's copy. I switched the ribbon colors up a little bit and added a funky vintage earring to gussy it up, but I think it definitely pays homage to Jenny's beautiful original card.

I am going to send my card over to the following challenges:
In the Pink - use lots of Pink 
Fab N' Funky - Things with Wings
Little Red Wagon - Vellum 
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes

Thank you all for sticking around. 

Would you PLEASE help me to make Jenny's day by going to her blog and saying a hello? She's currently got 72 bloggy followers but I'm SURE she would LOVE some new friends!

Mixed Media Christmas Card Using Distress Spray Stains + WINNERS!!

Oh, hello.

I realize it's been awhile (well 4 days, but who's counting?) For all of you who have asked and left supportive comments on my blog or facebook page - THANK YOU! I know many of you asked how my first craft fair went and, for now, I'll just say I think it went very well.

I sold a canvas piece and several of my cards. I plan to do a whole blog post called "A Beginner's Guide to Surviving Your First Craft Fair" with some of the things I learned along the way, display tips, and packaging ideas but that may have to wait until next week!

But that's next week and this is today! And today I have a  very special card to share with you, in honor of my girl Kimberly Wiener of wienerhoneymooners. If you want to see some talent, head over to her blog and I PROMISE you'll be ooohing and aaaahing. Kimberly is a member of Muse: ChristmasVisions design team and this week, the challenge over there is to CASE her bright, fun Christmas card.

I am THE WORST at starting Christmas cards about a week before I need to send 79 of them off in the mail. So I truly appreciate all the good Christmas card challenges out there. Muse is the new kid on the block and they would REALLY love some new participants!

I stared at this card 7 ways sideways and tried to think of what to do. Nothing. My brain had died a slow painful death. I sprayed and stamped and sketched and stacked and everything I tried I chucked in the bin. Don't believe me?

THIS was my original idea: 

You will note that these made it nowhere near my final card. 

After awhile of trying this and that, I just decided to get out my Distress Spray Stains and have a go. 

I realized I didn't have any orange stains (which will be remedied in about 3 days when I get my emergency order from Frilly and Funkie), so I used an extra blue shade. I let them muddle all around together and drip. If you squint, you can see how I was inspired by Kimberly.

One of the things that I liked about Kimberly's card is that it had white embossing. To get a similar effect, I added texture paste through a Tim Holtz stencil (and then I followed it up with holographic embossing powder - because who doesn't like glitter?)

Kimberly's card is a great example of tailored mixed media - something I'm not so good at doing...that tailoring. :) I triiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeed to keep it simpler but then this happened:

Spray stains through a STAMPlorations stencil. Woops. I added a little strip of a sentiment and voila!

I hope you like it, Kimberly! 

I'm also going to send this merry fella over to the following challenges:

Sparkle N Sprinkle - Loose glitter, embossing powder or flocking

Pile it On - Summer or Winter

Mixed Media Mojo - Anything Goes

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - No designer papers

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The FINAL WINNERS!!! wooo!!!

I'm sad to see my birthday blog bash winding down, but I don't wanna keep you in suspense any longer. 

The winner of the STAMPlorations Celebrate set is:

 Number 20 - Jerrie of Coloring Outside the Linez

And the winner of the $10 STAMPlorations gift certificate is:

Number 7 - Annie of The Journey is the Start!

 

Please email me to let me know your info! bexcruger at gmail dot com

 

I wish I could have given all 52 of you awesome people who linked up a prize, but, alas, my wallet is not that thick. :)

 

Just know that I TRULY appreciated you all celebrating my birthday month with me. I have the BEST bloggy followers in the world! 

Watercolored bird card - STAMPlorations August Challenge + WINNERS!

 

It's Friday!!! The sun is shining, the weekend is coming, the birds are.... sitting in watercolor on card stock?

At least in my card that is! 

That's because the new challenge is up and running at STAMPlorations. This month, we're making a few changes to how the STAMPlorations challenges are happening. We're giving you OPTIONS! You can EITHER use our sketch, use our theme OR both! 

The theme this month is Stamps and Watercoloring and here's what the sketch looks like:

I chose to just use the theme this time and save the sketch for later in the month. Honestly, I've never really set out to watercolor an image. Sure, I've done the watercolor wash backgrounds but photorealism has not been attempted.

So, thought I, why the heck not? 

Intimidation probably. 

So I busted out my gelatos and used them on a clear block like watercolors. I chose the cardinal from the Birds and Blooms set as my first test subject.

Here's how he turned out!

It turns out that watercoloring is a TON of fun and I really look forward to exploring this medium further! I didn't want to do too much to detract from his beauty, so I used some gold filigree vellum for the background and embossed a golden happy birthday from the VIGNETTE: Chevron and Arrows set. 

My cardinal is going to fly over to the following challenges:
Seize the Birthday - ATG Birthday with Embossing option
613 Ave Create - ATG with optional birthday theme 
Addicted to Stamps & More - ATG
Crafty Gals Corner - Let's Celebrate

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Now - I'd been hoping to blog every single day this week and announce my 7 winners that way, but as you all know that hasn't happened. Woops! This weekend I'm going to be doing my first craft fair (cross your fingers for me!) AND I'm going to be RUNNING that craft fair (keep your legs, arms, eyes, and everything else crossed for me, too!) Needless to say, life has gotten in the way of my master plan.

So I am going to announce TWO winners today! 

The winner of the VIGNETTE: Chevron and Arrows set is:

 Number 46 - Lizzy Hill!!!

And the winner of the SKETCHED: Cupcake set is:

Number 24 - Jenny Martin

Kindly email me your addresses ladies! I still have two prizes left to draw for, which will probably be posted this weekend! 

Thanks for popping by!

Gesso Vs. Matte Gel Medium - What the heck do they do? A tutorial. + A WINNER

Earlier today on my Facebook page, the oh-so-snarky, oh-so-talented Chris D. of Chrispy's Creations asked me this question: "What's the difference between gesso and gel medium?" Well, Miss Chris, thanks for the inspiration! You made me get artsy and create another mixed media canvas. And this time I have a tutorial!


Gesso Vs. Matte Gel Medium:
Now, please bear in mind that I am a fledgling mixed media artist and learning and exploring. So I'm probably doing everything wrong. hehe. But I'll tell you what I use these things for.

What Is Gesso?

Gesso is a medium that most artists use to prime a canvas. It allows your paint/gelatos/next layer to spread easier and not just soak straight into the canvas so you don't spend umpteen million dollars on paint. They sell gesso in a variety of colors, but most commonly in black and white. 

Gesso can also be used to:
>Prime objects that you want to change color with another medium (like paint, gelatos, etc)
>Use through a stencil to create a pattern
>Stamp with

What Is Gel Medium?

Gel Medium is a substance that can be used for a variety of different things including:
>Sealing a layer on a canvas/art journal
>Gluing objects on a piece - much like mod podge
>Using through a stencil to do a resist technique

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The canvas that I'm working on is a Tim Holtz Ranger 6x8 burlap canvas. I applied one layer of gesso because I wanted the texture to still come through the finished project. If you want a smoother surface, you can add more layers of gesso. 

After the gesso was dry, I rubbed on some gelatos and blended them with my finger. Then, using a palette knife, I added a layer of matte gel medium (you can get glossy too). 

Why did I add this layer of gel medium? I knew that I wanted to add white texture paste over the gelatos and since they are reactive to water/liquid, if you don't add the gel medium between layers your texture paste will soak up the color from the gelatos and blend into it. 

So I wanted to break up the color of the background and decided to do that by adding some old music notes that a very special bloggy friend sent me (THANKS BETTY!!!)

Remember when I said you could use gel medium like glue? Here's an example. I painted the back of the music stuck it to the canvas, and then painted over the front of the music, which sealed it to the canvas., Then I added a layer of embossing paste through the ARTplorations Tribal Triangles stencil. See? It stayed white! Thanks to the gel medium. 

I added another layer with the ARTplorations Confetti Circles stencil and then sprinkled it with blue embossing powder while it was still wet then I set it with heat. It turned out beautifully!!! All puffy and grungy and cracked. 

I had these chippies, but I didn't want them to stay the color they were. So I added a layer of gesso to prime them and then used bright orange gelatos to recolor. 

Voila! A finished canvas! And one I'm very pleased with. Thanks Chris!


I'm going to enter this into the following challenges:
Mixed Media World - Stencils
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
STAMPlorations Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes Mixed Media

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Speaking of things I'm pleased with - I still have another 5 names to draw in my birthday bash giveway.

Today's lucky winner is going to receive The Bee's Knees PartyGirl stamp set. 

 

Entry number 36 is Gail from The Crafty Nomad! Congrats, Gail! Please email me with you address and I will pop your prize in the mail for you. :) 

Mixed Media Canvas, CAS Card + A WINNER!

Have you ever been so petrified of screwing something up that you don't ever take the chance to start it, thereby failing by default?

Well this is how I felt about trying mixed media canvas art. You see, I'd purchased 4 canvases about 6 months ago and they've been balefully staring at me from the corner of the my craft room - the stare held one part intimidation and the other part taunting glee. 

I'm preparing for my first craft/vendor fair next week and knew I wanted product that had higher price points. So I picked up the canvas and conquered my fear. 

For my very first ever canvas, I went looking for inspiration and the Mixed Media Place Creative Gym has a "One Important Word" challenge. So I decided to focus on my inner strength and came up with the word "Strong". 

I started with a layer of gesso on the canvas and added some gelatos, blending them with my finger as I went along. 

Next thing, I added a layer of Matte Gel Medium to seal the initial layer. Then I stamped a big background text stamp and used some gesso through a stencil to create some texture. 

Then I used another stencil and distress paint in black to create some black lines, added some die cut wording, and used a Dina Wakely stencil and some neon green texture paste to create a bold woman. 

I put a lot of heart and soul into this first piece and it truly was inspired about how the process made me feel. I am strong. I am bold. I am confident. And my work is unique. I can conquer my fear and try a new art form. :) 

I'm going to send this over to the following challenges:
Mixed Media Place - One Important Word
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Get Texty
Mixed Media World - Stencils

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On a totally different note I also have a CAS card to share with you folks, too

Mynn Kitchen does this totally cool thing, called the Pony CASEpress. It's basically a chain of CASEing and you send your CASEd card off to the next recipient on the list, and then you'll receive a CASE of your own card in the mail. It's a pretty dandy way to do something fun with fellow bloggers. 

This is the card I made for Kathe Deck. 

It's made with Hero Arts Color Layering Butterflies stamps and coordinating dies. It's so bright and happy and a little different from my normal aesthetic, It's fun to step outside my normal box from time-to-time. 

I'm sending this on over fly around in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon - Up, Up and Away
Mod Squad - Anything Goes plus a Die (mine is Hero Arts brand, which One Happy Cut sells)

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And now - for the moment you REALLY came here for. Wink* I drew another name from the awesome people who linked up to my birthday bash - 52 of you! Thanks for making me smile, now it's my turn! 

The winner of the STAMPlorations Party Time set is.... 

 

Link-up #15 - Jessi Fogan of One Crafty Mama!! 

Could you pretty please send me an email with you address? :D

Golden Butterflies - Mixed Media Card Challenge + a WINNER

I am LOVING being a part of the Mixed Media Card Challenge design team. It gives me another reason to get wild and messy in the craft room (as if I needed one). When I'm creating mixed media cards, I feel sooooo much freer. I can try things, I can make a mess, I don't have to worry about getting a random fingerprint in an open white space (every time! when I'm doing CAS). 

This month's challenge over at MMCC is butterflies with the option to use gold. 

For some reason, I've always loved the black and gold color combo. It looks so striking! So I decided to whip out my brand spankin' new jar of gold embossing paste and slathered it through the STAMPlorations foiled stencil. 

When it goes on, it looks tan doesn't it? But when it dries is shiny and golden and lovely! I decided to add a little bit more gold by spraying some Bo Bunny gold mist spray and then added a line of black and white washi tape for a little contrast. 

To create the butterflies, I stamped some grungy butterflies from the STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies set and sprinkled them with some gold glitter before they dried. 

After I had all of my elements in place, I used a gold foiled doily and embossed a big ol' thank you and then I just started placing things about and testing different layouts. 

I finally landed on this one: 

OOooooo shiny!

I'm also going to send my card flying over to the following fun challenges: 

Frilly and Funkie - Things with Wings

Mixed Media World - Stencils

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

House of Cards - Metallics

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Now for some more fun! This week I'll be announcing the winners of my birthday bash giveaway (so make sure you stay tuned!) 

First of all, I wanted to say that I am beyond grateful for all of you who played along. 52 linkups in two weeks?! Wow. Every morning I went to see who'd linked up and had the biggest grin on my face. THANK YOU for helping to make my birthday so special!

The first winner will get to have their very own 

Dee's Artsy Impressions Party Time Stamp set:

  

And the winner is..... Dolly B of Dolly B's Snippets of Life!

Dolly, please email me at bexcruger at gmail dot com with your address and I will get your giftie right out to you!