New Release at Aurora Wings

It’s almost the weekend! How about a little Aurora Wings inspiration? The Aurora Wings Showcase designers have a tremendous amount of inspiration for you today.

Our new release is called “Reverie.” Mitzi has described this image as “a moth emerging from her chrysalis stage.” Isn’t that a beautiful expression? I did a little research on the coloring and detail of moths. What I found is mind boggling. They are kin to butterflies (have been around longer than butterflies) and there are over 160,000 types of moths, some have not even been described yet.

After my research I decided that I wanted Reverie to be the “red moth.” I loved the way the red and black of the wings melded together (lots of black and red Copic flicking) and the body was red. I hope that I did Reverie justice in my mixed-media piece.

Copics used:

Body: R02, 14, 24;

Wings: R01, 14, 24, 46, and

W1, 3, 5, 7, 9;

Roses: R22, 24, 27, 29, 89, and

V20, 22, 25, 28 BV29, and

Y11, 15, 17, 28;

Filler Flowers: R02, Y17, V25;

Vines: Pear Tart Memento Marker;

Background: Blue and Orange Pearlescent, and

Turquoise PanPastels.

 Other supplies:

Mat Board: 8”x10” black from Mattboardplus.com;

Pearls on the actual image: DecoArt Paper Effects;

Fun Stampers Journey Pomegranate Splash cardstock;

Spellbinder's Arched Elegance Pocket die;

Other pearls, flowers, etc.: from my stash.

I don’t want you to miss out on our Aurora Wings 2,250 Member Celebration event. Click here to join in starting today and ending Saturday. I hope we see you there.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Aletha Jane

AJ’s Design Artz

AW Showcase Designer

Tropical Queen and Sweet Pea Stamps

I hope everyone’s having a great week. So far mine is going real good. This week I am trying to get my studio a little better organized, but I would much rather be in there creating. It's going to be a very long process me thinks.

I have an art card for you today from Sweet Pea Stamps (SPS). Of course it is from one of my favorite artists at SPS, ching chou kuik, and is titled “Tropical Queen.” You can find “Tropical Queen” in digi format, which is what I used for my project, or as a rubber stamp on Plate #248.

“Tropical Queen” was first colored with Copics, and I added some glam with Spicas and a Viva Décor pearl pen. I then die cut the image with Spellbinder’s deckled die. I added Gathered Twigs DI and mounted on cardstock. I used a Zutter distressing tool for all my distressed edges. Love that little machine!

Copics used:

Skin: BV0000, E000, 11, and R20

Hair: E41, 43, 47

All others:

R20, 22, 29

B93, 95, 97, 99

BG23

G82, 94, 99

Y32, 35, 38

YR61, 65, 68

This project has a lot of dimension. The die-cut flowers (Spellbinder’s Sizzix Tattered Flower Garland), and the butterfly (Spellbinder’s Les Papillion’s Two), were enhanced with Viva Decor 3-D stamp paint in metallic lime green. I love adding 3-D paint to my handmade embellishments. After attaching these elements on the card, I added flat-back pearls to the center of the flowers.

We, at SPS, have so many places that you can visit for inspiration. Please stop by SPS Design Team blog every day to jump start your creative mojo. After you are finished with your little piece of art with one of SPS’s stamps, come share it with us at our new Sweet Pea Stamp's Facebook group. Also on Facebook, we have our Sweet Pea Stamp's page with all the happenings. Not finished yet...Sweet Pea Stamps also has a monthly challenge at One Sweet Challenge. Lots of fun places to be!

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate asking.

Aletha

AJ’s Design Artz

SPS Design Team

Autumn Harvest at Sweet Pea Stamps

I hope that you all are having a very creative week. This is my first project for the week and I would like to introduce you to one of Ching Chou Kuik’s digis, Autumn Harvest. This beautiful image is also available in rubber. Search for Plate #57.

Autumn Harvest was colored with Copics and trimmed with Spellbinder’s A2 Curved Matting Basics B. For more depth I added Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap, Spiced Marmalade, and Seedless Preserves, to the border.

Copics used:

Skin: E000, E11, E13, R20

Hair: E50, E53, E43, E57, E49

Other:

BV20, BV23, BV25

G21, G24, G29

Y08, Y19

YR00, YR02, YR12, YR15, YR18

W0, W00, W1, W2

Colorless Blender

I added the butterfly as an afterthought.  Now that I am looking at it photographed, I think that I needed to add something darker to the edges. The butterfly was cut with Cheery Lynn’s Exotic Butterfly Small #2. I colored it with DI in Spiced Marmalade and Seedless Preserves.

The backdrop for Autumn Harvest is Spellbinder’s Locking Loops, designed by Cindy Echtinaw. I love the Oriental feel of this die. The bling and flowers are from my stash.

Sweet Pea Stamps has some new Ching Chou Kuik’s digis. Don’t you need to go shopping? I know that I do. For artistic inspiration every day, check out Sweet Peas Design Team Blog.

Thanks for stopping by.  If you have any questions, please contact me.

Aletha Jane

AJ’s Design Artz

SPS Design Team

MAWTT and RSD and Mariposa, Oh My!

I guess that is some title, huh? I thought maybe it would catch your attention. ;o)

This week I have the pleasure of being a guest designer on the Moving Along with the Times (MAWTT) challenge blog. 

Another plus to this is that one of my favorite artists (I’m on his design team too) is the sponsor… Rick St. Dennis MFA (RSD). His prize to the lucky winner at MAWTT is three digis of the winner’s choice from his Etsy shop. Please hop over and see the amazing little pieces of art MAWTT’s design team has created with Rick's images.

As most of you know I love to color with my Copics. Rick’s images are perfect for this type of work. Rick’s images are the most expressive and eclectic.  I have yet to find one that I do not want in my collection. Now the question is…will I ever color them all? The answer…nope, but I have them “just in case.”

Over at MAWTT the theme is “Fairies and Fantasy.” I wanted something unique and I found the perfect one, “Mariposa.” I did a Google search for “mariposa” and it is a synonym for “butterfly” (Portugal) and “moth” (Brazil). I am going to say she is the Goddess of Butterlies. I love her!

I chose some bright colors trying to depict spring and summer (really tired of winter). Mariposa was colored with Copics and then accented with Spicas and Wink of Stella glitter pens. I then did a fussy cut around her and mounted her on two pieces of SU cardstock cut with the Labels Six die. These were distressed with Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap.

My card base was created using cardstock and designer paper. The corner dies were done with the corners from the Lace Doily Accents die. Those intricate butterflies were created with the Les Papillions Two die. I doubled up on the butterflies to make them more dimensional. The roses are from my stash. The roses and butterflies were painted with Inspiration Paint in Pumpkin.

I would like to enter Mariposa in the following challenges:

For Your Inspiration – Photo

Divas by Design – Butterflies or Birds
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes

That’s it for today. If you have any questions, you can contact me. Come join the “Fairies or Fantasy” fun at MAWTT.

Aletha Jane

RSD Elite Design Team

AJ's Design Artz

Summer is on Its Way!

At least we do hope we have a summer. We are still waiting on spring in Oklahoma, but this week, spring may be here at the latter part of the week. First of this week our lows were in the 20s and 30s. Thursday we are suppose to have 77° weather. Happy dance!

I would like to introduce you to one of Rick St. Dennis MFA new images, Été. Été is the French word for summer and I do hope that she looks summery.  I love roses, but unfortunately my green thumb does not include roses. I do try every year to grow them.

 

This little piece of art was simple to make. I colored Été with Copics (my E11 did mess up) and added Spicas for a little glitter. Stampin’Up! card stock was used for my base and die cuts. The background designer paper is from my stash. I have no idea who the designer is, but I did purchase it at Hobby Lobby. Next came the dies cuts. I cut with Spellbinder’s Les PappillionsTwo and Grateful Lattice. These two dies were introduced at the past CHA 2013 show. Rose and leaves are from my stash and accented with Crystal Stickles. Pretty easy, huh? (I will have her posted today in my Zibbet shop.)

 

Été will be entered in the following challenges:

Through the Craftroom Doors – Anything Goes

One Stitch at a Time – Anything Goes

That’s it for this beautiful Tuesday. I hope to see you again soon.

Aletha Jane
AJ’s Design Artz

Purr-fection Always!

Happy Friday! Are you ready for Challenge #20 at DeliciousDoodles? We have a spectacular one and perfect for this winter season. Our theme for this week’s challenge is “All You Need is LOVE,” just in time for Valentine’s Day too.

We want to see any kind of project, but it must have the theme of LOVE. We would LOVE to see you use some of Teri’s beautiful images, but it is not necessary. If you do use a Delicious Doodles image, you can enter twice and you will be spotlighted next week.

For my Delicious Doodles inspiration I colored on of my favorite DD images, “Just Purr-fect.” I am a cat lover and this beautiful image spoke to me.

My art card is very clean and simple, or very clean and simple for me. “Just Purr-fect” was colored with Copics and then layered on red and white cardstock. The designer paper is from my stash, as is my one flower and ribbon. My one die cut is a butterfly from Spellbinder’s Les Papillion’s, another favorite die.  I used a little Stickles on the flower and butterfly. See, I told you…”clean and simple.”

I would like to enter “Just Purr-fect” in the following challenges:

Crafter's Digital Art Center - Anything Goes
Whimsical Designs – All about Love

The Paper Shelter – Anything Goes

Digi Stamps 4 Joy – Anything Goes

Craft Us Crazy – Love or Are You Seeing the Color Red

 

I also wanted to take a moment to let you know that Teri has created some wonderful new Gothic papers, frame, and corners. This is a sample of the Gothic Papers, just gorgeous, if I say so myself.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you join us at Delicious Doodles for Challenge #20. After you enter, head on over to our Facebook group and our CDAC group, and show us your little piece of art.

Aletha Jane
ajsdesignartz.com

 

Butterfly Bliss with StampingScrapping

Good afternoon everyone! This will be my first post as a new Design Team Member over at StampingScrapping Techniques & Tutorials, a paid-access site. Each designer has the responsibility to post one tutorial per month. For my first tutorial, that you can see ONLY on StampingScrapping Techniques & Tutorials, is one of my favorite techniques, Paper Batiking. If you like to make your own background papers, this is the one for you. It’s very simple and easy!

Visit StampingScrapping® Techniques and Tutorials

My sample below shows the paper batiking technique in the background.

Let’s talk about my central image. My central image is rubber stamping and die cutting. First I used some 90# watercolor paper and spread Distress Stain in Spiced Marmalade all over my paper, and then dried the stain with my heat gun. If you want a lighter color of stain, sprits some water over the stain. If you like a more pronounced color, use the stain as is. I decided that I wanted mine as is. The color reminded me of Monarch butterflies. They have just started migrating South and I am seeing more of them each day.

After the paper was dry, I stamped Cindy Echtinaw’s circle border from her stamp set Fancy Numbers with a waterproof dye ink. I then proceeded with all my die cuts. The circle border was cut with Spellbinder’s Standard Circles. Now I am ready for the butterfly die cut. The butterfly die cut are two dies from Spellbinder’s Grand Wonderful Wings collection. The bottom one is solid and was cut on black cardstock. The die cut with all the holes was cut on more watercolor paper stained with the Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain.

That’s it for today. I hope that you join our paid-access site, StampingScrapping Techniques & Tutorials. You will not be sorry. With your membership, you get special discounts to StampingScrapping, tutorials and videos, a live tutorial every Sunday, and so much more. Membership is well worth your investment in time and money!

Visit StampingScrapping® Techniques and Tutorials

Thanks for stopping by! Contact me if you have any questions.
Aletha