Who Girl

Welcome to The Cut Shoppe's Halloween blog hop! You should have arrived here from Madeline's blog. If you just happened here, you can begin at The Cut Shoppe's blog. Be sure to hop to all the blogs because we will each be giving away a different cut file, in addition to the grand prize of $25 to The Cut Shoppe store! Comments will remain open until November 2nd with the winners being announced on The Cut Shoppe's blog on November 6th.

I haven't really done much for Halloween for several years. My kids were just too old, then out of the house. Last year our daughter-in-law and her sister wanted to have a costume party and we were invited so I needed to come up with a costume. I love Doctor Who! Bowties and fezzes were quite popular, so it was only a matter of finding a blazer and a shirt. Our local second hand store provided quite nicely for that. My husband snapped this photo of me to send to my fellow Whovians before we left for the party. Turns out the party was really just a way of gathering the family together so my daughter-in-law's sister could announce her pregnancy...with twins! It was a really special night.

I used Geeked Out, of course. This was one of my first files from the shop and I love it. I decided to use a couple of cuts from Let Them Eat Pie to be explosion bursts, which featured into the story line of the 6th season of the show. I started off with a base of Trippy Triangles cut from black cardstock and placed over a piece of deli paper that I made a Gelli plate print on. I wanted brights set on a black background. I love how it turned out!

I will be giving away this super fun background, so be sure to leave a comment.

Next stop on the hop is Aimee!

Here is the order if you get lost

The Cut Shoppe

Katrina Hunt

Jennifer Haggerty

Madeline Fox

Laura Mooney <<<You are here

Aimee Maddern

Candace Perkins

Missy Whidden

Michelle Wedertz

The Great Apple Harvest

As soon as I saw the the Very Squarey file I knew I had to make a stencil from it! I love the mix of squares and that they aren't perfectly laid out, but a bit wonky. I'm all about the wonky. I think it's interesting.

To start off, I placed my newly cut stencil on a piece of watercolor paper and applied heavy gel medium over the entire area. Let dry (I place mine in my oven on warm, but you could let air dry.) then mist with spray inks (I used one color at a time). Once the color is on the page, mist with a spray bottle filled with water. The gel acts as a resist and the ink will wash off or wash lighter, leaving the pattern to pop out of the color. I then took some markers, of the same colors, and traced around some of the boxes. A little splattering of the darker ink finished off the background.

Since the background is so bright and attention grabbing, I didn't need to add much else. I used the Fall In Line Alpha at the main part of my title, adding small letter stickers for the supporting bit of the title. I only needed a few additional embellishments, some enamel dots and a couple of things from the We Are Family from Simple Stories. I loved the letters from the Fall In Line Alpha! I decided to ink with the same colors as I used on my background, only in reverse order, then added black outlines to help them stand out.

 

These two files really helped me tell a fun little story in super fun way. Pick them up in the shop 

 today! 

Artist's Life

At first I had no idea what I was going to do with this week's CSI case. Not typically the colors I would turn to, but then I saw in the evidence prompts to use tea cups. This reminded me of visiting my friend Renae, having tea and scones, and making art.

I started off by laying down a doily stencil and applying heavy gel medium through. After letting dry completely, I spayed with yellow spray ink, then spritzed with water to "wash" off the gelled doilies. The gel acts as a resist. Last time I was over, Renae gave me some books of music to use in art journaling. One of the pieces was this one, titled Artist's Life. Could anything have been more perfect? This became the base of my layering. Of course a day of tea drink and art making needs doilies and lace, so I grabbed several of these, including those eye catching red ones! I love the red doilies. I cut a doily banner out on my Silhouette, as well as the tea cup. Of course both needed the addition of pearls. Some ink splatters, a few metal bits, and my journaling finished off the piece. I just let the title of the sheet music be my title for my page.

Evidence used: banner, book pages, metal, doilies, tea cup, wet medium.

Testimony is a line from Carry on Tuesday, followed by my thoughts and reads, "A song is but a little thing and yet what a joy it is to sing. I love our crafty teas together. They make my heart sing."

Falling Leaves

Sharing a layout with files from the The Cut Shoppe with you today. Fall is my favourite season of the year! I love the cool, crisp days. Love the return of rain, bringing refreshment to the dry land Summer has left. Love getting cozy with a good book. Most of all, I love the colored leaves. As soon as I saw Leaf It To Me, I knew it would be the perfect cut for some of my Fall foliage photos. Looks Like Autumn, which was a free cut file offered by Scrapbook Nerd, had the perfect additions to add to the piece.

After creating a cool, inky background, I cut the leaves and triangles out of white cardstock, then I took my spray inks and distress inks and colored them. The spatters on some of the leaves was and accident, but I loved the texture it added so I added spatters to other leaves as well. The way the leaves cut makes them perfect for adhering in a non flat way, adding a ton of dimension to the page. They really do look like real leaves. 

I'm sure there is something in the shop that will help you tell your Fall stories!

Air Mail

I LOVED the color palette at CSI this week! Thinking of mail made me think of some cool mail I've had recently. I have been collecting some vintage parts lately, namely watch faces and old skeleton keys. I found both through Etsy in Eastern Europe. I got a batch of watch faces from Ukraine and keys from Romania. Both packages came loaded with cool stamps! Exciting mail for sure.

I started off by wetting a piece of watercolor paper, then added spray ink. This ink sort of separated, giving slightly different hues and I think it looks cool. I used some postmark stamps on the background, from all over the world. Next I cut out a world map from a Silhouette cut file, out of white cardstock. I covered the pieces with two colors of distress ink, then spritzed to give the mottled look. I got this great stamp/die set, from Stampin' Up, for my birthday; feathers. I love them! I inked the stamp with distress ink, gave a quick spritz of water, then stamped. I gives this sort of watery look that is just awesome. I wanted a bird flying with mail, so I cut the teeniest envelope out with my Silhouette. It is so cute! I cut a larger one out to hold my journaling too. I found the perfect washi too. Right colors AND airplanes.

Evidence used: envelopes, string, animals, stamps, feathers, and washi

Testimony is in the envelope. "I've been collecting some vintage metal parts from around the world. So fun getting mail with cool stamps."

The Rock

I'm not sure what is was about this CSI case that made me think retro. Maybe it was the colors, maybe the retro images in the inspiration photo, maybe that typewriter, but I thought of these Alcatraz photos. Could have been I remembered the office, with its cool instruments.

Evidence used: cameras/film strips, typewriters, transportation, arrows, metal

Testimony is in haiku, because who doesn't love a good haiku?

Echoes of the past
Life suspended, lost in time
Alone on The Rock