Trees Tip-In pages

I am participating in the Tip-In Journal project over at Paper Traders.  This month, my assignment was to do a spread for Heather's "Trees" journal.  My first attempt was nice but just not quite 'artsy' enough for me:

This is one of my favorite quotes and the page is much prettier in person - metallic gold background with lots of texture and color variation, multi-hued glitter on the tree, etc.  Still, I felt that Heather deserved something better (as she is a very accomplished artist) so I went back to the table and created this:

It's very simple in style but I think the overall effect is gorgeous.  The background was made by reconstructing paper from little torn bits using Aleene's matte decoupage medium.  The colors are so rich - I love it!  I hope Heather will too.  But I'm sending her both sets of pages, just in case she wants the first set also.

Follow Your Heart

In our Paper Traders group, we are doing a word prompt journal challenge this year.

For January, the prompt was "Live Simply" and had to include some kind of rubber stamping... here's my page:

This month, the prompt is "Follow Your Heart" and the challenge is to include some hearts on your page... so here's what I came up with:

The lavender is actually a printed napkin layered over the torn text... one of my favorite techniques!

White-on-White

I know my blog posts lately have been sporadic at best.  I really have been working on several things recently so I will try to get them updated here soon to show you.

This past week, I finished my spread for Cathy's tip-in journal in our Paper Traders group.  Her theme is White-on-White so this is what I came up with... let me just say that it was somewhat challenging to place that tulle on the page using gel medium!

Imagination Takes Flight

Even though I did not participate in this year's round robin project, I had the honor of being able to do a spread in Lucy's awesome steampunk-themed journal.  I really struggled to come up with an idea for this spread but I think it finally all came together nicely...  I hope she likes it!

Graven Angels

Over at Paper Traders, I am managing the current round robin journal project but was disappointed that I couldn't commit to actually participating this year.  Working 50-60 hours per week at my two jobs has left precious little time for making actual art.  What time I do have is spent doing more management type work for the group, although I have been trying to host the occasional ATC swap.

Even though I did not participate in this year's round robin, I did make a spread in my mom's journal which has the theme of Graven Angels.  Everyone's work so far has been lovely but they tend to be dark and somber - no surprise, really, given that it's all about cemetery statues!  Yet, death has never felt like a dark spectre to me so I wanted to make a page that was lighter and more introspective...

...in fond memory of George, Grandma Betty, Jennifer, Grandpa Holso, Alyssa, Uncle Ronny, Danny, and Aunt Joyce.  I love and miss you all and I'll see you someday soon!

Imaginary Garden

This is the last spread for the current round in the Paper Traders Round Robin Journal swap.  We'll be starting a new round after the first of the year.  This last book that I worked in belongs to Heather and she chose a beautiful theme: Imaginary Garden.

For this page, I used the watercolored paper she had included in her book, sponged ink around the edges, and glued a printed floral napkin over the top.  I then added dimensional aspects with silk flower petals and punched paper flowers.  Finally, I used my fingertips to spread glitter glue to highlight certain flowers.  The butterflies and birds were actually rub-ons.  Since hummingbirds are a rare thing for her to see up in Canada, I think she thought it was a real treat to have them in her book.

Round Four: Angels (aka Pretty in Pink)

This month, I was honored to work in Kim Smith's book in our round robin journal project for Paper Traders.  Her theme was Angels and she specifically asked that we use renaissance-style angels in our work.  These pages turned out much pinker than I had envisioned but, I must say, they do look better in person than in the scan.

I used scrapbook paper with an old handwritten music ledger on it and then dabbed pink ink over the top using heart-shaped punchinella (sequin scrap).  The doilies and trims were originally gold but I rubbed pink acrylic paint on them using my finger.  The images were cut out of some lovely Christmas-themed scrapbook paper by Graphic45.  I trimmed the words with my gold leafing pen and added glitter to the angel wings using Distress Stickles.  As a final touch, I added the metal word plaque "Adore" and the key & keyhole charms at the top (another special request from Kim).  The poem on this says:

Away, away! To my love away.

Tel her I send her my love and devotion,

Wide as the world is,

and deep as the Ocean.

Let's Go Traveling... to Balboa Park

For our Round Robin Journal project on Paper Traders, I'm working in Janne Ryan's book this month.  Her theme is "Let's Go Traveling" and I chose to feature San Diego's own world-famous Balboa Park, which is one of my very favorite places.  I love the beautiful gardens and breathtaking architecture, the wonderful concerts and plays, and all the fascinating things to see and learn about in the multitude of museums.  Located in the heart of San Diego, it is a treasure of the city with many free attractions and free parking, too.  You can learn more about the numerous things to see and do here by checking out their website: http://www.balboapark.org/

Round Two: "Happiness is..."

It's time for Round Two of our round robin journal project in our Paper Traders group.  This month, I was working in Ammi Rostin's journal.  Her theme was "Happiness is..." and one of the things that makes me happy is having some quiet time to curl up with a good book  =)  I went a little crazy with the rub-ons for this page!

Round One

It's been a few years since we did a round robin journal project in our Paper Traders group.  They are a lot of fun but it can be heartbreaking when a book goes missing half way around the world  =(

After much demand, and setting some very specific rules and guidelines, we finally decided to give it another go.  We have two rounds going, each with five artists participating.  My journal theme is "Trees"...

front cover

ideas page (written on leaves inside the envelope)

sign-in page

The following spread was made by creating a background using a method loosely based on Jill Geraghty-Groves' "decaying background" technique as shown in the Mar/Apr 2011 issue of Somerset Studio:

first spread - left side

first spread - right side

I made this second spread completely from scratch...  the background was painted by scraping acrylic paints over the paper with a credit card and then sponging inks and paints over that using various stencils and punchinella (sequin scrap).  The circles were added by dipping my bottle lids in leftover paint and stamping them on the page.  The leaves took me DAYS AND DAYS to cut out!  I used japanese washi paper and cut all the tiny sections of leaves out by hand then layered them onto my tree branches.  Then I dabbed glue around haphazardly and sprinkled with several colors of Martha Stewart's vintage leaf glitter (love this stuff!).  I think it turned out awesome and looks sooooo much better in person than in this scan (you'll just have to trust me on that  =)

second spread - left side

second spread - right side

Water Journal

This is the spread I did for Joanie's "Water" themed round robin journal on Paper Traders. The scan really doesn't show how sparkly this page is... it has received a generous shot of Starburst Stains spray as well as some turquoise art glitter.

Catching Up on Round Robin Journals

Our Paper Traders group is trying to finish up last year's journal round robin... the books have fallen a bit behind and we're all working hard to get them finished soon. This week, I have completed my spreads in three journals...

The first one is for Keron's journal on Freedom. I chose Free Agency as my theme and included the lyrics from the hymn, Know This That Every Soul Is Free. I hand-drew and colored a picture of Eve and the apple using the new Coloursoft pencils I got from my Mom for my birthday - love them! Although the artwork is original, the idea came from another piece I saw awhile back on a religious website... however, there was no credit given to the artist so I don't know who to thank for this concept.

This second spread is for Abby's "American Idol" journal where we were supposed to feature an American that we admired. I chose Gordon B. Hinckley as my idol - he was a great man whom I admired and appreciated immensely.


Lastly, is my spread for Diana's "Doors & Windows" journal. We were supposed to choose a quote and illustrate it in some way. The door on this house opens to reveal another hidden image. Also, all of the flowers are heavily glittered to add dimension to the page.


So, I'm caught up on journals for the moment... although another one should be making it's way to me soon. I'm certainly looking forward to having my "Hands" journal to finally make it home, too.

Making It Up

I am one of the moderators for an online art community and sometimes we find ourselves put in a difficult position. Recently, a new member joined a collaborative project and received art from a couple of other participants but failed to contribute the work in kind that she was committed to do. We tried repeatedly to contact her with no response and were finally forced to make the difficult decision to boot her from the project and the group.

Having had one of my own art journals stolen last year, I felt empathy for the two artists who had made special journal pages for this woman and got nothing in return; I decided to make pages for their journals myself - even though I'm not signed up to participate in this particular project.

Above are the pages I made for a school-themed journal and below are the "Italian Affair" pages I did for the other one.

Is it only Wednesday?

I have had a rough week... or a couple of rough weeks, really. Things have been so busy at the office that I can't keep up and then, to add to the stress, I have clients who insist on making my job even more difficult. I am so ready for the weekend to get here... but it's only Wednesday (sigh)!

On a lighter note, I tried to work out my stress with some retail therapy =) This evening, I hit the clearance aisle at Jo-Ann's, swung by the BOGO sale at Payless, and treated myself to dinner at Jack-in-the-Box... I have sure missed eating there! When I lived in San Diego, there was one near my office and I went there often... then I moved to Colorado and they didn't have them here at all until just recently. Now if we could only get an In-N-Out Burger... Mmmmm....

So, obviously I am really looking forward to the weekend, just two more days... I'm planning to go to a church singles activity, excited for Broncos pre-season football, and I'm sure I'll manage to find a few hours to spend in my art studio - I'm hosting a map-themed ATC swap on Paper Traders so I need to get busy on that project, as well as do a little pre-planning for some round robin journals that are heading my way soon.

Now, art is true therapy for me - it allows the detailed, organized, perfectionist in me to loosen up and be more free and easy going... I just wish I had more time to play - weekends should be longer than just two days, don't you agree? =)

Yours Affectionally

This is the spread I did for Jenene's round robin journal on Paper Traders. Her theme was "Yours Affectionally" and was supposed to be a collection of letters and such. I decided to do a birth announcement theme.

Inside the envelope, I put a birth announcement and made up a love letter from the proud papa to his cherished wife.
The interesting twist to this story is that I had intended to make the birth date August 1st, which was the date I was planning to mail the journal on to the next participant. Somehow, I accidentally put August 31st instead. I thought it was weird at the time but then Jenene later told me that her birthday is August 31st! I guess I must have been prompted somehow to do this =)

June Birdsong

These are the pages I made for Barbara's tip-in journal on Paper Traders. She wanted a monthly art quote and I had June so I tried to make a page that fit the season. It's simple but, in my opinion, very pretty and right along the lines of what she had asked for. The color in the scans is a bit off, though. I also made a sign in tag for her, shown below:

Circus Train

This ticket is my sign-in tag for Abby's tip-in journal on Paper Traders. Her theme is trains and I thought it would be fun to do a circus train. I used a copy of a vintage circus poster, trimmed it with my gold foiling pen, and added animals with 3-D pop ups. It's simple but cute... I hope she likes it!

Soul Journal Inchies

Continuing on with Sarah Whitmire's Soul Journaling prompts... Going back to yesterday's page, I trimmed out my soul armor with a gold foiling pen - it's a lot of bling, but I'm worth it =)

The next exercise was to search magazines for specific images... some were generic items, like "a bird" or "a flower" whereas others were more personal, such as "eyes the same color as yours" or "something you want (which is NOT the picture of money - LOL)"
Actually, one of the prompts was "something comfortable" which I couldn't really find any picture for... so I picked the money as "something I need to be comfortable" because, well, don't we all?

First, I made a wash of some dark purple acrylic paint (which turned out pretty light once I watered it down), then I spread it around and blotted with paper towels. When that was dry, I pasted on the inchies and applied another wash of a lighter colored paint (ochre). Lastly, Sarah had us add some words and draw around some of the inchies.

A few personal things here? Well, the "40 September" was my last birthday, the beautiful mountain scene is from right here in Colorado where I live now, the snowy branches are my "something you have" since I really appreciate having winter seasons again after living in California for twenty years. The banana bread is one of my favorites and reminds me of my grandmother; the hand represents my current round robin journal which is still winging it's way around the world; the aspen leaves are another Colorado specialty; and the purple swirl represents my favorite color (hence the purple background, too!)

The Crown Stealer

Peter the Pig has gotten a little carried away with his practical joke this time! I made this spread for Teri's tip-in journal on Paper Traders. Her theme is "Here Kitty Kitty" which is exactly what I imagine Peter is saying!

Pink Gone Wild

All I can say about this one is... Whoa! That's a lot of pink! LOL!


This is the second spread I did for the private journal swap I'm in. I think this best represents what it wrong with most of my art... I'm too precise and too hung up on making everything COORDINATE! Don't get me wrong, I think this page is very cute and sweet... but maybe just a little too much. My favorite thing is the glittery swirls I added with my glue pad, a rubber stamp, and some micro-prism glitter.