On the Boardwalk - Altered Wooden Cubes

I thought I'd give you a break from the mini houses and show you a mixed media project I recently completed.  I think it qualifies as my first 3D collage (no special viewing glasses required!).

I started with three plain wooden blocks.  The smallest block is just shy of one inch across; the largest block is two inches across.  I gave the blocks a coat of gesso to prime them, then covered them with a variety of patterned papers from Graphic 45's On the Boardwalk collection.  

Then I worked my way from bottom to top, creating a mini collage on each side of each cube.  I used images clipped from the same Graphic 45 papers as well as stamped images and words from Artistic Outpost's new set, Boardwalk.  The images work so well together, it's hard to tell which were stamped and which were not!  I also used some vintage book text and a couple of 1920s postage stamps.

Plenty of distress ink, colored pencil, and charcoal pencil was used to integrate all of the various images.  The feet are small wooden disks painted gold and adhered with heavy gel medium.  The seashells were also adhered with gel medium.  After everything was thoroughly dry, the final step was to seal the entire piece with matte acrylic spray sealant.

I am so pleased with how this project turned out, especially since it was a birthday gift for my friend Barb.  She has made so many wonderful things for me, and she is the one who bought me the Artistic Outpost stamps.  I was concerned about mailing it across the country, so I wrapped it in two layers of bubble wrap and surrounded it with plenty of packing material.  I'm happy to say it arrived safely and in one piece, and I hope she enjoys it for many years to come.

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Three wooden blocks and four wooden disks (Michaels); Graphic 45 patterned papers; rubber stamps from Artistic Outpost; vintage book text; vintage postage stamps; black Stazon ink; very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; Colorbox burnt sienna ink; antique linen and vintage photo distress ink; sand paper; charcoal pencil; seashells, sand dollar and star fish (Michaels); Adirondack gold acrylic paint dabber; Golden heavy gel medium; Krylon matte clear acrylic sealer.

Bathing Beauties

This is the card I made to send with my Down by the Sea ATC as a thank you for the friend who bought the stamps for me.  I had a lot of fun coloring the beach houses.  For the sky I blended about four different distress inks before lightly stamping the Atlantic City seal for added interest.  The beach was created with an embossing folder and more distress inks.

I think I like the images in the Boardwalk set by Artistic Outpost because they remind me of some pictures in my friend Kathy's scrapbook.  The photos were of her mother and father in the early 1920s before they married.  They lived in Wisconsin along Lake Michigan and they spent a lot of fun days at the beach with their friends.  The main difference is that Kathy's mom and her friends also wore knee-high socks to the beach!  Here is one of my favorite snapshots of Kathy's mom and her girlfriends, true bathing beauties in their wool suits, caps, and socks.

It's another rainy, gloomy day here.  No trip to the beach for us today!  Thanks for popping in.

Supplies:
Black and ivory cardstock by Bazzill; very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; stamps from Artistic Outpost; black Stazon ink; Prismacolor Premier pencils; odorless mineral spirits; distress inks: antique linen, old paper, tea dye, vintage photo, pumice stone, tumbled glass, salty ocean, stormy sky; Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls embossing folders; EK Success border punch; pop-dots.

Down by the Sea - Embellished ATC

I'll be honest:  I'm not a big fan of surprises.  I'm a planner; I'm an organizer; I'm a former Girl Scout who likes to be prepared.  So it's usually hard to surprise me.  But a friend of mine recently did just that by conspiring (yes, conspiring!) with one of my favorite stamp companies, Artistic Outpost, to send me their new stamp set for my birthday.  The set is called Boardwalk and features early 20th Century images of Atlantic City's Steel Pier and some of its bathing beauties, including a beefy guy with a big mustache--made just for me, no doubt!

To thank my sneaky friend, I created this ATC using five different images from the set.  With Prismacolor pencils and fine grit sandpaper, I tried to replicate the look of those lovely 1940s-50s vintage color postcards printed on linen paper. Once I had all the paper images done, I adhered the ATC to a piece of illustration board for strength.  A bit of burlap, some tiny seashells, and a ticket to the pier anchors the bottom of the card.

I also painted a mini wooden easel to go with the ATC.  I primed the easel with a coat of white gesso, then rubbed on some blue and brown distress inks and finished by dry-brushing on a little more white gesso.  Now the easel looks like a sun-bleached piece of wood which compliments the ATC.

Thanks for popping in!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Strathmore ATC blank and illustration board; stamps by Artistic Outpost; black Stazon ink; Prismacolor Premier pencils; fine grit sandpaper; dark charcoal pencil; workable fixative spray; old paper, salty ocean, tumbled glass, frayed burlap, and wild honey distress inks; Adirondack black acrylic paint dabber; burlap scrap; small seashells (Michaels); matte gel medium.