Contributing Hands

This is the sign-in page for my "Hands" round robin journal. I put a butterfly on the first hand to emulate the butterfly on the corresponding page. This one also has wings that lift up off the page.

Discovering Hands

This is the first spread in my "Hands" round robin journal for Paper Traders. This one is called "Discovering Hands." I really wanted the hands to be a little more prominent but I just loved these images and just had to use them! The photos of the children came from a recent issue of Better Homes & Gardens. The child's hand with the butterfly is from ArtChix, as well as the butterfly on the vellum - his wings lift up off the page so that he appears as if he could flit away at any moment. The discover stickers are from Colorbok. The vellum lifts up off the page so that you can see the image underneath:

Beau"tea"ful Birthday Surprise!

My birthday is this weekend (well, Monday, actually) and I received a package from one of my dearest friends. She called today to tell me to open my package early. Inside was this gorgeous tea set! My dishes are a matching Blue Willow pattern and this set is such a beautiful edition. I am very excited to have this wonderful surprise - I LOVE IT!!!

A Friend is a Gift from God

I made this little door hanger for a dear friend's birthday. She has had some struggles lately and I wanted her to have something special that would make her feel blessed by God's hand. I didn't post it earlier because I wanted it to be a surprise but now that she has it, you can see it too!

I made this from a cork-backed coaster. I sanded down the cover paper, applied gesso, then peach acrylic, followed by a few dabs of green; when it was all dry, I sanded and distressed the painted background.

Next, I layered some gold-printed mulberry paper (pre-purchased). I tore around the edges of the music page and used Tim Holtz' Distress inks on it and layered it over the mulberry paper.

The little dancing girls are victorian scrap that I purchased from our local Michael's store. If you're only shopping in the scrapbook section, you're missing out on lots of great stuff... you can find these in the decoupage papers near the unpainted wood. I chose these girls for two reasons - 1) they look like my friend and I (I'm the brunette & she's the strawberry blonde) and 2) she loves pink and green! The lens was an RAK from an online swapper - I don't know where she got these things but I think they're so cool!

Lastly, I printed out and trimmed the words, then used my gold leafing pen around the edges. After gluing them down, I attached the metal roses which are a dollar store find. I like to check out the jewelry there and take it all apart for the cool beads =) Finally, I stapled a beaded wire to the back to hang it from... voila!

Childhood Memories

This month, we have some great ATC's up for grabs in Paper Traders monthly Winner-Take-All lottery. I made this entry, which I call "Childhood Memories." The orange and blue flowers are rub-ons... everything else is just layered papers and images with a little ink, a german scrap border, and a decorative paperclip.

The Legend of Pegasus

This is the spread I made for Nadine's Mythical Creatures round robin journal on Paper Traders. You cannot tell from the scan, but I used fun flock on the horse's body and his eye has crystal lacquer over it. I made the wings using black german scrap ones and coating them with gesso and then lightly sanding.

Blue Is... Courage

This is the second page I've made for my "Blue Is..." tip-in journal for Paper Traders. This is pretty simple and scrapbook-ish but I wanted to have lots of police elements so this is what I managed to come up with. The badge in the lower left corner is just a paper image but I used a lacquer finish over it to make it look like shiny metal.

Blog Issues

I am working on reformatting my blog and ran into a little glitch so please be patient with me!

First Snow

This huge thistle plant has been growing next to our office and, even though it's a noxious weed, I thought it was so pretty and I had to take a photo... two days later, the property maintenance tore the plant out. I managed to catch a busy bee harvesting the sweet pollen:

On Friday, we got a very cold storm, bringing some wild thunder and lightning and tons of rain. Last month was the driest July on record so we really needed the moisture. It has been constantly rainy and cloudy since this storm rolled in, but this morning it cleared enough to get a glimpse of the Peak. This is the first snow of the season and means that Autumn is right around the corner - my favorite time of year!

Hands

This is the cover I made for my round robin journal on Paper Traders. My theme is "Hands" - young hands, old hands, working hands, gentle hands, etc.

The book is 6" x 6" and I made the cover by crinkling tissue paper and gluing it down, then layering some french text under a vintage photo (courtesy of jerseybarb85 on Flickr) and inking the edges on both with Tim Holtz' Distress Ink in Antique Linen. The gold vellum sticker border is from PrintWorks Fall Heritage page. The chipboard letters are from Miss Elizabeth (dollar store find!) which I sanded down and then rubbed on some gold pigment ink. I finished off by rubbing some ink around the edges of the cover to give it an more aged look.

Lenna's Row House Swap

I finally completed all of my houses for Lenna's swap and have sent them on their way... I am excited to see what comes back! This was such a fun project and my houses are all very different - except for the asian themed ones, of course! I realize that I forgot to scan one last house but it's already gone so someone might get a surprise from me =)

My House is a Very Fine House

These are the pages I did for Connie's tip-in journal. Her theme is "My House is a Very Fine House." The door on the first page opens to reveal a sweet mother & daughter.

Ancestors

These are the cards I made this weekend for Teri's "Ancestors" swap on Paper Traders... they're not MY family but just vintage-style images I had:

Blue Is...

I am rushing to try to get caught up on several art projects with looming deadlines. This is the cover and my first page for my tip-in journal project for Paper Traders. I am asking each participant to use an adjective to describe "blue" and decorate the page accordingly...