Halloween Mini Album Featuring Altered Pages and Sin City Stamps

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the second half of our monthly partnership with Sin City Stamps.  For the remainder of the month, both design teams will be creating Halloween themed projects using products from both Sin City Stamps and Altered Pages.  So if you love Halloween, like I do, you won't want to miss all the inspiration from both design teams.

For my project today, I went a little crazy.  I decided to make a mini album out of this cool chipboard shrine from Sin City Stamps.

Here are a few pictures of my finished book, front and back.

I took a gazillion photos and because it is a book, there were lots of directions.  So I decided to, hopefully, make it easier for you to read by using Snapguide.  I hope you enjoy my tutorial and pictures of each page.

Check out How to Halloween Mini Album: Do Not Enter by Barbara Rankin on Snapguide.

Supplies Used:

Altered Pages:  AP-288 Happy Halloween collage sheet;  AP-2084 Screaming Skulls; AP-1080 Antique Halloween; AP-1820 Quoth the Raven, Nevermore; AP-562 The Other Side of Halloween;  G45 Steampunk Spells paper; Scor-Tape; Aleene's Tacky Glue; 1" Raven Black Flowers; Stickles glitter glue; Gilder's Paste (Foundry Bronze); Memento Black ink pad; Skull ribbons

Sin City Stamps:  Shrine Chipboard Frame 2; Urban Grunge stamp set; Halloween Bingo stamp set; Halloween Takes Flight stamp set;

Other:  Tyvek scraps; black acrylic paint; Black Soot distress glitter; clear distress crackle paint; grunge board; Black Soot, Peeled Paint, Seedless Preserves, Dried Marigold distress inks; 3D Crystal Lacquer; spider web craft punch; Sizzix Tim Holtz Hardware Finidngs die, Sizzix Tim Holtz bubbles embossing folder, Xyron 850, Xyron 3" sticker maker

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to visit Sin City Stamps and Altered Pages for your crafting needs!

Have a wonderful, creative week!

Barbara

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog Challenge #14 - Button It Up!

Hello all!  So glad you stopped by today.  Altered Pages is not only a sponsor of the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog this month, but we are teaming up with their design team for a fabulous and fun blog hop. 

Crafters of every stripe are button hoarders! Buttons are pretty, inexpensive, and extremely versatile. If you are a card maker, quilter, layout artist, or anything in between, you probably have a button hoard!  Buttons come in many sizes, styles, shapes, and colors, plus they are easy to store...usually in cute containers! Pull out those bins of buttons and use some of them for your challenge project!  You can participate in the Craft Hoarders Challenge and win a prize from the blog sponsor... Altered Pages!

So, for their Blog Challenge #14 - Button It Up,  I want to share a card I made.  I found this collection of very regal looking metal buttons, and I love this collage image from the AP-952 Medieval Cards collage sheet, so I knew just how I wanted to put this card together.  

I first used Spellbinders die to cut various layers of card stock, using the teal cardstock as my base.  The next layer is a piece of gold metallic cardstock, then a die cut piece of royal purple suede paper.  I thought this would be so appropriate for royalty.  My next layer was a die cut frame piece of gold metallic card stock which I layered over my collage image.  I actually used colored pencils to color in parts of my collage image to bring out some of the colors to match my papers.  Both were then adhered to the purple suede layer.  

I used white Assorted Flowers and sprayed them first with water, then Tattered Angels Jazz Blue ink spray, and topped off with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist.  When dry, I layered them, as shown, to the front of my card.  

It is my humble opinion that leaves should always be part of a flower spray, and I didn't have any large enough for these flowers, so I simply used one of the larger flowers, spritzed it with water first, then Lime Dylusions spray, and topped with a spray of Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist.  My flower was laying on a previously sprayed paper towel, and the tips of the flowers picked up some of the color from that.  I didn't mind, but if you want your color to stay pristine, use a clean paper towel for misting. 

Once dry, I simply cut the petals apart and Viola!, five leaves to add to my flower spray.  I then glued my regal buttons to the flower centers for a finishing touch.  I think they make beautiful flower centers, don't you?

Supplies Used:

Altered Pages:  AP-952 Medieval Cards collage sheet; German Scrap; Assorted Flowers; Dylusions Inks; Scor Tape; 

Other:  Purple suede paper, teal card stock, gold metallic card stock, Spellbinders Noble Rectangles die, Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold mist, buttons, Tattered Angel Jazz Blue ink spray

Below is a list of the blog links for your viewing pleasure.

Altered Pages Design Team

Robin Horasanian 

Danie  May

Roni Johnson

Tonya Trantham

Trisha Too

Stephanie Siatta

Barbara Rankin

Debi Tullier

Lyneen Jesse

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Design Team

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

Be sure to leave a comment  to be entered into a random drawing for a fabulous AlteredPages Blog Gift - a Set of Japanese Oil Pastels and a huge Ephemera package.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the hop!

Barbara

Steampunk Soiree Adventure and Blog Hop Announcement

Hello my fellow Steampunkers!  I got back from my Steampunk Soiree adventure a couple of weeks ago, but I had so much fun, it took me all of the first week to recuperate.  While I have a moment, I just wanted to share some of the fun pics from this fabulous time with like-minded arsty crafters!

These were my cohorts for the weekend.  We managed to stay one step ahead of trouble, if you know what I mean.  Although you'd never know it from our attire.  But seriously, everyone seemed to be truly enjoying every moment, and asking when and where the next Soiree will be.  So get yourselves ready for more fun next year, where ever it will be held.  It is sure to be an amazing time once again.

In case you haven't seen the fashion show video, here it is for your viewing pleasure.  It is a trip!



We worked on three projects and they were awesome.  I had to ship mine home, so I stopped way short of finishing so I would not have a lot of embellishments or things that could get broken off in transit.  While others worked through the night and got theirs completed, needless to say, I still have quite a bit to do on mine.  So, some day, I will post my finished pieces right here.  But until then, I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my adventure.

Before I leave you, I just want to let you know that tomorrow begins a new Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog Hop with Altered Pages, who is sponsoring the hop.  And to win this amazing giveaway, all you have to do is leave comment on each blog.  How easy is that?  So I hope you will join in the fun.  It is sure to be a blast for everyone!

Altered Pages Blog Hop Giveaway with
Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge Blog

Have a wonderful Sunday, and enjoy your week!

Barbara

Mausoleum Card Featuring Altered Pages and Sin City Stamps

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the second half of our monthly partnership with Altered Pages.  For the next two weeks, both design teams will be creating Halloween themed projects using products from both Sin City Stamps and Altered Pages.  So if you love Halloween, like I do, you won't want to miss all the inspiration from both design teams.

I am just sharing a peek at my project here.  You can see this project in its entirety over on the Sin City Stamps blog.  I have a complete step-out and much more detail for you there.

Supplies used:

Sin City Stamps:  Halloween Takes Flight stamp set; Halloween Bingo stamp set; Art Journaling with Terri Sproul 2 stamp set;

Altered Pages:  AP-562 The Other Side of Halloween collage sheet; Jet Black StazOn ink pad; Niji Oil Pastels; Scor Tape; Glitz Giant Rhinestones (Raven); Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen (Black); Stickles glitter glue

Other:  Eileen Hull/Sizzix Gift Card Holder-House; chipboard; Cuttlebug rose die, Odorless Mineral Spirits; cotton swab; StazOn Orange Zest

So, please pop on over to see much more of my project, and check out the rest of both of the design team's Halloween themed inspiration for the rest of this month. 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful, creative weekend!

Barbara

Double-Sided Fairies Tag featuring Altered Pages and Sin City Stamps

Hello everyone!  Today, I am so excited to tell you that Altered Pages and Sin City Stamps are partnering up this month, and both design teams will be sharing their creativity and use of products from both of these fabulous companies.  So be sure to stop by both blogs to see all the inspiration from everyone.

For my first post this month, the theme is "Fairies".  I love making tags, and so I decided I needed to use one of the oversized tags from Altered Pages in order to fit everything I wanted to include in this piece.  And I could not stop at decorating only one side, so I decorated both sides.  I love how these turned out.  

Tag Front

Tag Back

I started with a blank oversized tag that measures 8-1/2" x 4-1/8".

I cut out each of the Alphabet Fairies to spell "F A I R Y", and laid them onto my tag for placement.  I took a picture for reference as I work on my tag.

I removed the collage images and set them aside.  Now to work on the tag background.  Spritz Dylusions Pomegranate Seed, Polished Jade, and water onto craft sheet.  Pick up the colors onto your tag and heat set.

On the reverse side of the tag, spritz your craft sheet with Dylusions Calypso Teal, Chopped Pesto, and water.  Pick up these colors onto your tag and heat set again.  Aren't these colors awesome?

Stamp crackle background stamp using Rhubarb Stalk randomly over tag.

Turn tag over and stamp thicket background with StazOn black ink along bottom of tag.

Use spatula to apply June Bud Art Anthology Dimensional Paint through Punchinella mask and stencil and allow to dry.  This paint is awesome because it really is dimensional and beautiful, too.

Can you see the dimension with this paint?  

Stamp large flourish with StazOn Blue Hawaii ink along top of tag.

Here's what you should have so far.

Stamp two different mini flowers using StazOn Gothic Purple and Claret randomly over the thicket background stamping.

Stamp sitting fairy onto smooth white cardstock with Memento black ink.  Color with alcohol-based markers and fussy cut image.  Set aside.

Stamp "I Believe in Fairies" onto scrap smooth white cardstock with StazOn Midnight Blue.  Use fancy tags die to cut out around the image. 

Leave paper in die and ink with Peeled Paint distress ink.

Remove die and this is what it now looks like.

Remove from die and ink label with Shabby Shutters distress ink.

Adhere label to top of tag with foam tape and sitting fairy to bottom of tag with foam tape.  Stamp small butterfly onto scrap smooth white card stock with chalk inks, fussy cut, add small piece of wire for antennae, and adhere with glue along the body only, allowing the wings to lift off of the tag.

A tiny butterfly, also from Anime Fairies 2 Art Rubber Stamps was stamped, fussy cut, and adhered to a single flower cut from the Floral Trim.

To finish it all off, add Stickles glitter glue in Champagne to the mini flowers previously stamped onto the thicket stamping, and a light coat of Crystal Stickles to her wings and the butterfly wings.

One last thing, I applied a coat of Gilder's Paste in German Silver to the metal butterfly charm from my stash, and attached it with a Light Bulb safety pin to the Sari Silk Ribbons at the top.

Now back to the tag front.  Ink each of the Alphabet Fairies images with the Delicata Gold ink pad, heat set to dry.

Adhere the images to the tag.  Use the picture taken earlier for reference.

Stamp  "Magic" onto scrap smooth white card stock with Gothic Purple StazOn ink, punch out with scalloped oval punch, add color with Dusty Concord distress ink.  

Adhere "Magic" label to top of tag with foam dots.

Stamp two fairies onto scrap purple card stock with Gothic Purple StazOn ink.

Fussy cut each image, cutting into the center wings and shaping for dimension, then color wings with green Wink of Stella pen.

Adhere stamped images to front of tag with Scor Tape 1/4 inch, as shown.   Place a tiny foam dot beneath the center wings to keep them raised.

Color small mushroom die cut with Memento inks (Pistachio, Peanut Brittle, Rhubarb Stalk), adhere to bottom of tag for fairy to stand upon.

Add a strip of German Edging Gold Braid along bottom of tag and a few fern leaves (from my stash) beneath the mushrooms.

Supplies Used:

Altered Pages:  AP-1729 Alphabet Fairies; Punchinella mask and stencil;  German Edging Gold Braid; Scor Tape 1/4 inch; Stickles glitter glue; Floral Trim; Sari Silk Ribbons; Resin Blossoms; Petaloo Flowers;  Oversized Tags (8-1/2" x 4-1/8"); Dylusions Inks (Calypso Teal, Chopped Pesto, Polished Jade, Pomegranate Seed ); Memento Ink Pads (Rhubarb Stalk); StazOn Jet Black ink pad; Art Anthology Dimensional Paint (June Bud); Delicata Gold ink pad; Wink of Stella pens; Light Bulb safety pins; Gilder's Paste

Sin City Stamps:  Anime Fairies 2 Art Rubber Stamps; Fairies and Blossoms 2; Sin City Wings; Pam Bray's Fall Collection; Art Journaling with Terri Sproul 2; Fairy 2 die cuts

Other supplies:  smooth white card stock, Copic markers, Distress Inks, Spellbinders Fancy Tags die, metal butterfly charm

I hope you enjoyed my double-sided tag today, and that you are inspired to create one, or two, or three of them.  And please be sure to check out both blogs for more inspiration, and both online shops for all of the supplies you need to make one of these fun tags for yourself, or whatever you choose to create.


Have a wonderful week, and happy crafting!

Barbara