Button That Lip!

The Altered Pages Design Team has joined the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog Design Team for Challenge #14 

Button It in a UP Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome!  Today I am honored to be part of a fun blog hop with my Altered Pages Design Team as well as Craft Hoarders Anonymous.  The theme of this hop is BUTTONS!  Most of us crafters and artists have at least a few buttons in our stash...a few hundred in some cases.  So, take a look at what I have made for you and be sure to check out what at all the bloggers have created as well (listed at end of this post).  Leave a comment letting us all know you were here. We all love to hear from you...and your name might just be drawn to win an amazing stash of goodies from Altered Pages, including Japanese Oil Pastels and oodles of ephemera! 

For this project I gathered up my buttons and put my thinking cap on.  After deciding on the general idea I knew I needed a large surface because I wanted to make a big old set of lips out of buttons along with the saying "Button that lip!"  So, the large Dylusions journal would be perfect.  I love playing in my journal anyway. lol! 

    

In the two pictures above you can see how I started my background using the Dylusions inks letting all that drippy goodness do its thing. The next picture shows how I created the lips out of buttons.  I started with a rough sketch for the shape and then I filled it in with buttons in pale pink, fuchsia and reds, all typical lip stick colors.  I then filled it all the empty space with black and added a white outline.  

To give the background more interest I added texture by using a stencil and gel medium.  I love the result of how it gives background colors an extra pop.  I also added some stamped images and gave the entire page a border.  I added a few more buttons along the border. 

Next, I chose a vintage text page and ran it through the printer with the saying "Button that lip!" in a sassy font.  I then added a coating of clear embossing powder.  This was a very thin piece of text page and I didn't want it getting damaged.  I love the effect. 

Finally, I added a bow that I customized using white seam binding that I dyed with my Grape Crush Dylusions ink.  I also included a little scraps of pink lace and a few more buttons along the border. 

Some detail with my white Uniball pen and it was finished. 

I hope you enjoyed my nod to buttons.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Stephanie 

Projects used:

Assorted buttons

Dylusions Journal - Large

Dylusions inks - in Funky Fuchsia, Grape Crush, Vibrant Turquoise and White

Gel Medium

Andy Skinner stencil

Seam Binding Ribbon

Crystal Lacquer

Uniball White Pen

Here are links to take you right to the other Altered Pages Design Team blogs.  You are sure to see many great works.  

Robin Horasanian

Danie May

Roni Johnson

Tonya Trantham

Trisha Too

Barbara Rankin

Debi Tullier

Lyneen Jesse

Make sure to stop by the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Design Team pages. To find the links to their posts visit Craft Hoarders blog http://gloriadesignschallenge.blogspot.com/

Amber Milone 

Christy Butters 

Debbie Seyer 

Donna Idlet 

Ginny Nemchak 

Glenda Brooks 

Gloria Stengel 

Jan Marie Ennenga 

Karen Zueger 

Kathy Clement 

Pam Bray

Tammi Bennett

What's on your work space?

Happy Friday Kids! 
Stephanie here again with your Altered Pages Friday post. It's Friday. It's Friday! Yay! As always, be sure to check out the supply list below along with links to amazing deals at Altered Pages.

Can I just tell you in my art lately I have wanted to give myself the freedom to let things happen, let the art just flow, not worry if it was going to be perfect or not. I have a feeling most of you know what I mean. You too have probably said to yourself at one time or another just go with it. Haven't you? Haaaaaaven't you? Okay, so let's go with it.  

While preparing for what I wanted to do for my post, trying to work in this just go with it/freedom theme, I got the idea to only use what was already out on my work space in my studio. I thought I would just let the pieces talk to me as to where they were going and what colors they wanted to be. 

If you are like me you always have a few little stragglers left out from your last project. Oh, wait, this NEVER happens to you? Okay, me neither. Today, I got lucky and there were a lot of great options lying around, party hat collage sheets, Dylusions journal, tags, Dylusions inks, stamps...

do you get where I am going.

So, I grabbed these cute little tags that I had laying about and thought a moon with wings - LOVE IT! Then, I thought a moon with wings and a party hat - even better! Ideas started flowing, colors started moving to the forefront of my mind and I let it happen. It felt great. To be honest this page just developed as I came across each element - one at a time - a little of this a little of that and I think that is what makes it great.

I did all of this with what was already within arms reach. Obviously, it helps that I have a great source for all of my supplies in Altered Pages. The best part is I just let myself be free & I worked with what was in front of me. I was not worried about this being "the perfect page" and I have to say it works!  

In the end I am rather pleased with my little moonflies fluttering about in their party hats. It's a little, okay a lot, whimsical. I love the looseness of it. I love that I only used what was on my desk and I LOVE that I love it. The plan worked...how awesome is that? 

Here are links to just a few of the amazing things Altered Pages has to offer.
Dylusions Journal - lg.  Collage images Waterbrush  Dylusions inks  Assorted Tags and so much more!

One thing I want to mention when working with Dylusions inks they are water based. This is what I love about them. They have play. They are wet, stay wet for a while and can be reactivated with water. 

If you want certain aspects of you piece to be permanent just use an archival ink pad, a Zig pen or your favorite permanent such as Brilliance Ink Pad in black. 

Another little tip, if you want your pages to be pristine just gesso the back before starting a new page.

The back side of this journal page does show some bleed through.
I usually let that be the background for the next entry.

When I don't, though, I just apply a thin coat of gesso to the page, let dry and then give it a go.   Now, go play with your arts & crafts supplies!   Stop by 

AlteredPages.com for all your supply needs.
Happy crafting! 

Inspiration at CHA

Good day to you all!

As some of you may know The Craft and Hobby Association had their annual Mega Show this past weekend in Anaheim, CA. Hopefully, you saw Gia Lau's post about it yesterday as she had such great information to share. I was also able to attend and in my post today I am going to share with you an important lesson that I learned while there. 

First though, I will tell you that I could not have had more fun at CHA. There was inspiration everywhere; from the artists, designers and instructors that I met, the artwork displayed and all of the new products showcased. I was fortunate to meet so many great folks. I, along with Head Honcho of Altered Pages Jean Moore, made exciting new connections for Altered Pages as well. Make sure to check with Altered Pages here for some of the new products for 2014, that will be arriving soon. I was also very happy to FINALLY get to meet my fellow design team member, the amazing Gia Lau. Such great memories were made!

So, about that lesson learned. I attended a seminar by Joanne Sharpe titled, Art Where You Are: Journaling your Life. I learned that I literally could “make art” wherever I am, yes, WHEREVER I am. All I need are a few small and easy to transport supplies. Joanne called this having a Mary Poppins bag. I just loved that. I hope you give this a try. What you will need is a small journal, a water proof black pen such as Micron, a watercolor palette and a few water brushes (just make sure to fill your brushes as soon as you get them so they will be ready wherever & whenever art happens.) You can find all of these supplies and more at Altered Pages. Please see list below.   

Below is a journal page that I created using supplies from my craft stash as a still life. I started with what was initially a very, VERY quick sketch of my “tools” and then went back over it adding a bit of definition and framed it out. I then added the color using my traveling water colors! This literally took less than 5 minutes to sketch and a few minutes more to colorize. I loved the freedom this gave me. It allowed me to not be perfect - Hooray! 

I often recognize art in my daily life. Now, all I need is 5 minutes to soak that up, 

sketch it out and I add the color and journaling whenever I want. How fun is that? 

Thank you so much to Joanne Sharpe for the enlightening class. 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

Thank you also to Altered Pages for carrying all of the supplies I need.  

 I am happy to say I am now carrying my own Mary Poppins. 

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, I highly recommend picking one up! 

Recommended supply list - 

Dylusions small journal 

Micron pen

Niji pearlescent watercolors

Waterbrushes

Hello, Stephanie here hoping you had a fabulous holiday! 

I know the fun part of the holiday season is over and now it is back to reality. 

Reality can still be exciting, though. 

Like, the great feeling you get when you stick with the 

resolution you have set for yourself. 

Mine is getting healthy and staying that way, as is the case with 

many resolutions made every year. 

The difference for me this time is I am excited to stick to it. 

I hope you feel the same about yours. 

My project for the blog ties into my resolution and how I plan to succeed. 

I know I will not be perfect, so I will not force myself to be. 

However, there are little hidden victories everywhere.  

I will just keep my eyes and probably more importantly my mind open to them. 

My piece is called Hidden Victories. 

All supplies for this project can be found right here at Altered Pages.

I hope you enjoy it. 

I started with my brand new Dylusions Large Journal. 

I have to thank my husband as this was top on my Santa wish list.  

This was the first page in a new art journal. 

Wait, FIRST PAGE! No pressure......yeeaaaah right!!! 

I knew this had to be good and not just good in a "wow, that's really pretty" 

kind of good, but I wanted it to mean something, to me anyway. 

So, that is where the resolution idea first popped into my mind.  

I started the page by distressing it a bit with my  Tiara Gold Paris Trunk ink pad

I then tore and layered antique text and patterned papers from the 

Bazzill 6x6 mini patterned paper prints. 

I adhered the torn paper and then used gesso over the entire page. 

I did this to tone done the print and to make sure no corners would be popping up over time. 

I was going for a background with a hint of pattern and torn texture.  

You can see in this picture below the torn bits all over the page. 

They are much lighter here than first out of the package due to the gesso. 

I started sketching out my veggies, some garlic here, carrots there

and a, as Bob Ross would say, a happy little artichoke there. 

I then went in with my Dylusions inks using them in my 

paint palette just like watercolor. 

I then added a bit more text pages to cover the artichoke just a bit. 

He represents the hidden gems for me to keep a look out for.

I loved the idea of adding the word "Resolution." 

But, wait a minute...right now I am just starting out as

most of us are with our resolutions. So, why complete the word. 

Those of us that made resolutions are just at the beginning. 

We are still working on completing that goal. 

So, here Resolution is open ended and ongoing. 

To finish it off I added a bit of fun to my veggies and lettering with my white chalk pen. 

So, I leave you on this Friday wishing you health, happiness and fun in 2014. 

May you have many little victories along the way. 

~Stephanie