Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - September

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for September. "Vintage Showcase" is the theme this month with the idea to create something that celebrates all things vintage. Normally I would select something vintage and create something from it or repurpose it into something else. But I thought I would do something totally different this time.

I created a purse {above} that was inspired by an old radiator water bag I found at a garage sale. Below is the inspiration piece.

Halloween spirit

Today I Created | A decorated frame in the Halloween spirit.

This project began with an oak frame. I rubbed the oak with steel wool and painted it black using acrylic paint.

I used an orange piece of paper embossed with the Texture Fades, Pumpkin Patch pattern. I sprayed it with brown, red and olive green Glimmer Mist and sprinkled salt on it while it was drying. The salt created the "stars" in the top corner near the moon. After the paper dried I rubbed black ink to make the pumpkins stand out.

I used a Tim Holtz Scaredy Cat die cut that I first applied Picket Fence Crackle Paint and then rubbed black ink to create a rough texture.

The fence is the On the Fence, On the Edge die that I inked and sprayed.

The moon is cut from Glow in the Dark paper using a circle punch.

To assemble the piece, I glued the fence and cat to the front of the picture glass. I glued the moon to the background paper and applied foam spacers along the edge of the paper to add some dimension behind the glass.

The last thing I did was to add the blood splatter. I used my glue gun with the intention of making it look like a spider's web in the corner but the glue fell as droplets. This gave me the idea to color them red with alcohol inks and turn them into blood droplets instead. A happy accident.

Painted Collage Page

Today I Created | A painted page for my binder.

I used acrylic paint on corregated board. Before the paint was completely dry, I applied a page from an old atlas. I let the paint soak into the paper a bit and then lifted it off. The paper stuck in some areas and created a nice collage feel. I did a light color wash over the paper once it was adhered.

I plan to journal on this page. I haven't decided what I want to do on the back side of this corregated board page.

Painted Photo Binder Page

Today I Created | A painted photo page for my Binder

I discovered Dina Wakley's blog today. It was very inspiring. I used to paint in college but avoided painting in my scrapbook. After reading her blog I decided to try painting on a photograph.

I like the way it has a feel of being a painted portrait and yet retains the realism of photography. I painted just the background to add some interest to an otherwise boring background. I also overlayed an acetate sheet to create the black details.

I will experiment further with this technique.

Binder page

Today I Created | A binder page using corregated board.

I was going to throw away a piece of corregated board that came as an insert in some packaging. It was a clean piece of board that seemed too nice to throw out.

I painted it with acrylic paint and distressed the edges with a bit of ink to match the Basic Grey cover of my small binder. I also tore away a bit of the top layer to expose the corregation beneath.

I added a rub-on and used watermark ink to stamp the lines for journaling.