Saturday, February 27, 2016

Rusted Reality

Hello, friends!  I have a card to share with you today. I was playing around with my embossing powders and paints and just generally trying this and that. Even though Valentine's Day has come and gone, I couldn't resist using those romantic colors once again.


I started with a cardboard base--the backing of a discarded steno pad.  Did anyone else take stenography in school? I guess I'm dating myself by asking that, but I still use these paper notebooks to write everything down.  I have one for every aspect of my life; I guess they would be an un-glorified diary. I digress...

I found a sheet of brown cardstock which I had embossed with a Recollections damask stamp and Antique Linen Distress powder. It didn't emboss well, but I thought I might have a use for it some day. Today was that day.  I tore it into strips which I layered on the board. I gave it a coat of gesso using a credit card and then scraped over it with the card before it completely dried. This gives a nice worn texture, and the gritty embossed areas show through. Next I layered with some strips of vintage book pages randomly and gave them a wash of watery gesso.


I dabbed some distress paints in Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet and teensy bit of Chipped Sapphire in different areas of my craft mat, spritzed with water, and dragged my card through the puddles, spritzing with water to allow it to drip and blend, then drying and repeating until I came up with what appealed to me.  I love it when the paint is reduced to just dots of color.  I turned my card face down into those drops to get these lovely droplets on the background.  When completely dried, I distressed the edges and blended with Ground Expresso. Finally I stamped randomly with a Kaisercraft butterfly in Potting Soil Archival ink.


The larger tag is hand cut and covered first with gesso and dragged through puddles of Distress paints, spritzed to blend and dried.  I repeated until I was happy with the outcome. I stamped with a Tim Holtz flourish in Picket Fence Distress paint. I dried, blended with Ground Expresso ink, and spritz and flicked . Lastly, I splattered with diluted Picket Fence paint. The quote is Tim Holtz stamped in Potting Soil Archival ink.


The two smaller tags are Tim Holtz tiny Tags and Tabs, cut from more paper I colored with Distress inks and paints.  Again I stamped two Kaisercraft butterflies on a separate piece of paper and fussy cut. I adhered one on the tag, and another to peek out from bhind the large tag. The eyelet trim is a gift from my talented and super hilarious friend Niki of Pawsatively Creative Crafts.  Be sure to pop by her blog and see what amazing creative things she has put together--you will be so happy you did and leave with a great big grin on your face!  I stained the trim with some sort of spice tea, and I have to say my Closet smelled wonderful while it was drying.



The rusted chicken wire is Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlit embossed with my own mix of  powders and Embossing Puffs. I used the same rusting technique on the jump ring and staples which fasten my hand colored (Distress piant in Twisted Citron, Shaded Lilac, Picket Fence, and Wilted Violet) Linen Ribbon trim on the tags, as well as on the Ideaology pen nib. The pen nib was colored first with Mushroom and Pitch Black alcohol inks.


The die cut butterfly is Tim Holtz Butterfly Duo. Before embossing with the enclosed folder, I dabbed the folder with Twisted Citron Distress paint and spritzed with water. Once embossed, I dabbed the raised areas with Shaded Lilac paint and wiped while it was still wet.  With Wilted Violet paint on a damp baby wipe, I applied it to the body and wiped it out toward the wings. Finally, I edged with Ground Expresso ink.



I hope you enjoy my card as much as I did creating it!  I would like to enter it into the following inspiring challenges:
-Mixed Media Place Creative Gym # 17 Coffee I used tea to die the trim, and perhaps a little Ground Expresso counts too! :)
-Vintage Stamping Challenges # 41 Splatters and Drips See bold text for splatters and drips. My stamps include those by Tim Holtz and Kaisercraft.
Mixed Media World MMW # 11 Love is in the Air I was inspired by Georgie's make--although there's no mention of love in either project, we both used colors associated with romance and love. And I do love butterflies and rust!

Thank you for stopping by today, and for all your amazing comments!  I read and appreciate each one of them!
Hugs and Blessings!
Sara Emily

38 comments:

  1. Beautiful composition, wonderful colours and I just adore the gorgeous butterflies and your own mix of powders for the rust is just superb too, I really thought the chicken wire was real! Hugs, Anne xx

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  2. Sara Emily, this is unbelievably inspiring!!! I am thrilled beyond measure over this entire project. The rust is my favorite detail ever! Looks so good on this die. The sentiment and butterfly are fantastic. Love the colors and entire design! Wow!!! Hugs, Autumn

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  3. Awwww! Thanks dearie! So glad you liked and used the lace! Hehe! This is a gorfeous, absolutely gorgeous design! I have to agree with Anne, I thought the chicken wire was real and rusty! I adore it and the rusty pen nib! Oh be still my rusty heart! I kinda want to smell your beautiful card! Hehe! I bet the tea smells amazzzing! Love the way you have recycled the base and the brown cardstock piece. Your scraps are so useful and integrated smashingly well together! That there's talent and just plain smart. I'll use that tip! Seriously love this Sara doll! Hugz to you muffin! ~Punkin

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  4. Oh my gosh, it's absolutely stunning!! I love the texture and the colors!! The rust details are amazing!! Wow!! I adore this!! It's so fabulous!! Have a great weekend!! Big hugs :)

    Lisa
    A Mermaid's Crafts

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  5. Such wonderful textures and color on this tagged tag. Thank you so much for joining our 220th challenge at Word Art Wednesday. Your creation is inspiring and very beautiful. Blessings, Carole

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  6. Ooooh, this is amazing! Sara, YOU are amazing! The textures are spectacular, the sentiment is truly inspiring, and the rust is ridiculously creative. You have so many ideas and you bring them to life so beautifully! You are a fountain of inspiration, dear friend. Have a lovely weekend. :o)

    Hugs and blessings,
    Karen

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  7. Absolutely stunning, Sara, with that perfectly achieved rust effect and such amazingly beautiful grungy look! Wonderful design and awesome layering! It's definitely my new favourite of yours, my dear! I am always so inspired by your fantastic art work! You are amazing! Lots of love to you! Branka xxx

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  8. Wow, just gorgeous Sara Emily. There are so many wonderful layers of textures here, I've been scrolling up and down for a coon's age trying to take it all in! Love the contrast of the soft lilac hues and lace against the distressed and eroded textures! The flourish design is subtle but works so well, and I think I need that Kaisercraft butterfly because it's gorgeous! Such a yummy card filled with so many amazing techniques! Wondrous and breathtaking my friend. hugs :)

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  9. Fabulous make Sara! Love the colours too and that Wilted Violet, on my radar for a while, is now on my wish list... Thanks for joining us at Vintage Stamping Challenges with your perfectly dripped & splatted piece.
    Also (sheepish face), thank you for making my job so much easier with the bold font and close-up pics!

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  10. Oh Sara Emily - what magic you have in store for us. I loved it in the beginning with just the torn strips of paper. I really do believe you are in possession of some wonderful magic - both white and black. Your designs are incredible. I go through those steno pads like crazy. Now why did I not think of using the card board backs. Your overall design here is incredible - really beautiful!
    Sandy xx

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  11. The torn paper layers in the background are wonderful! You are such a clever boots! Gorgeous color palette! I love the contrast between all those shades of purple and the rusted embellies. Just gorgeous work, Sara Emily!!! Thanks for sharing it with us at the Frilly and Funkie "Layer it Up" Challenge.

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  12. this is absolutely brilliant - I love the colours and the layers - love it to pieces. Great rusting too . Clever lady Sara xx

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  13. This is beautiful, Sara. Thanks so much for sharing your talents with us.
    God bless you,
    Karen
    Word Art Wednesday

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  14. What a stunning piece of mixed media art Sara and I love those vibrant shades.
    Thanks for sharing with us at Happy Little Stampers and I hope you will join us again soon.
    Hugs
    Carol x

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  15. Oh my! This is just incredible - yet again the texture and your colour choices are just stunning! I have to do some rusty techniques soon - I hope they end up something like yours! Big hugs, Chrisx

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  16. Wow, Sara Emily - I lost my breath once I opened up your post..... absolutely beautiful!!! I love everything about it, but I must say your brilliant construction of that background is my favorite! Wow, girl - talk about upcycling!! I also adore your layers, and that very special butterfly with the rust treatment - Your talent continues to shine, my dear! Thank you for sharing this lovely piece! xxx Lynn

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  17. A super mixed media piece Sarah and super colours as well.

    Many thanks for joining us at FlonzCraft Vntage Stamping Challenges.

    B x

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  18. This is gorgeous hun, love the rusted contrasted to the purple xx

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    1. Hey huni, so glad you entered this over at MMP, coming back to thanks for playing along with us - mwah xx

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  19. Completely amazing to me how much that thinlet looks like REAL RUSTED CHICKEN WIRE - just INCREDIBLE Sara. Love that the butterfly's body matches the color too. This is just lovely. If you told me that grungy rust could look so STUNNING with these LUSCIOUS purples and florishes and butterflies and even LACE????...... I would tell you I didn't believe you. Looks like the 'proof is in the pudding' of colors here!!!! This is just LOVELY - nope - not LOVELY... GRUOVELY.... what??? well... it can't be lovely... let's see... GRUNGALUSIOUS... ok - that's better.... no.... not right... FABGRUNGALICIOUS - there - that's better FABGRUNGALICIOUS. XXj

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  20. Beautiful mixed media tag. Love the colours and textures. Thank you for joining us at Creative artiste this month. Hope to see you back here again soon. Judy DT

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  21. Fabulous colours, textures, layers ... love it Sara! Deb xo

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  22. Ah, embossing... You're a master, Sara Emily! From upcycling ( I still fill a lot handwritten paper pads for my work, and I reuse the remaining cardboards in my crafting) to this fabulous creation, what a talent! And the colours are gorgeous!

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  23. Absolutely gorgeous. Love the textured background, all the tags and the pretty colour palette. Thanks for joining us at Frilly and Funkie.
    Hugs!
    Cec

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  24. This is so amazing, Sara, and I love all of the layers, they're gorgeous! The colors are just fabulous and another great tutorial!

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  25. I forgot to comment on the steno pad...I also took stenography! Didn't know they still made steno pads! LOL, just kidding, but it sure brought back a lot of memories! That was a great idea to use that for your project :-)

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  26. Oh how I enjoyed scrolling through this post again to get to the comment section... Seriously, this is my favorite project out there right now! I LOVE IT!!! OK, to the point - GURRRRL! Seriously!!! CONGRATULATIONS {insert happy dance} on your guest design post at Scrappy Land!!!! EEEEEEK! So very happy for you and know they made a wise decision! You're gonna rock it and bring grungy life to their DT samples! OK, enough. But I could go on! So happy for you... Hugs, Autumn

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  27. Beautiful project! And congrats on the GDT at Scrapy Land! I am doing it with you so wanted to come say hello and check out your great blog. I am already a follower.

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  28. What amazing colours, textures and contrasts with your rust. They all work so well together, fabulous results.
    Julie x

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  29. Beautifully done Sara Emily!! Before your color was added the piece looked like weathered bark! Just yummy!
    xx Jackie

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  30. This is stunning ... I love the colours, the layout is fab and your butterfly looks amazing. The rust detail is the perfect finishing touch. Thank you for playing along with the HLS Mixed Media challenge. Linda xx

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  31. Of course this is AWESOME! WOW your rusty pen nib is stupid awesome. Sorry I haven't been around lately. I am terrible blogger... always have been!

    Thanks for your super sweet comments. I hope you do pop over there one day. The artist in me was so moved to see the fresco's and Sistine Chapel.

    Anyway... SHUT THE FRONT DOOR... you have my stamps? Ohhhh which one? I am so excited!!!!

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  32. Hi Sara Emily!
    I've just been pouring over your beautiful project. Your background technique is stunning! Talk about an amazing way to repurpose your scraps! The colors, textures, and layers you've created are stunning! Thanks so much for sharing your art with us at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge!
    Hugs,
    Nancy

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  33. Love the detail and texture. Thanks for playing with Mixed Media Place Creative Gym

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  34. Gorgeous project, beautiful colours and I love the rusty texture too. thanks for joining us at Flonzcraft Vintage Stamping Challenges this time
    Claire xx

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  35. Stunning project! Love the purples with the rusty colours! It looks great! Thank you for sharing it with us at Mixed Media World! Ingrid X

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  36. Lovely tag with a rusty detail and coffee colors...Thank you for joining us in MMP!!

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