New Year Inspiration

I'm hosting a tag swap over at Paper Traders this month and the theme is to use an inspirational quote for the new year.  After reading my latest issue of Somerset Studio, I loved the technique used by Cat Kerr on her mini canvas necklace (page 52) so I decided to try applying this method to my paper tags.

I started with a plain manila tag to which I added a light coat of gesso.  Then I used gel medium to adhere different textured items to my tags - some tulle, a piece of woven straw ribbon, some extra chunky mulberry paper, and a few paper flower cutouts.  I covered everything with a layer of green acrylic paint and let it dry.  At this point I was thinking the green was way too ugly and I didn't know if the textures were pronounced enough, but I added a coat of Mod Podge and braved on with the next step...

I adhered my chipboard quotes and then, following Cat's instructions in the magazine, I watered down some dark acrylic paint (I used navy blue) and spread it over the top of everything.  I crossed my fingers, waited a few minutes, and started wiping the dark paint off again.  Cat recommended using a baby wipe but I found this took too much of the paint off (probably because I was working on paper with very thin textures) so I just rubbed with my fingers, cleaning them often so I could pick up more paint as I went.

Once everything was dry again, I used some colored buffing wax to highlight the textured areas.  Cat recommends Rub 'n Buff but I used my Metallic Rub-Ons by Craf-T in brass.  I added some random bright blue accents using my oil pastels and then spattered everything with some off-white acrylic paint.  Lastly, I added white accents with my Sharpie paint pen.

As a final touch, I added the brass butterflies and some glitter accents on my drawn flowers.  Finally, I used a little extra colored buffing wax (in golden white) to lighten the edges of my tags for more dimension.  I sprayed everything with a coat of fixative when I was done.  I also mounted printed cardstock to the back of my tags to reinforce them.

About half-way through this project, I thought I was going to have to scrap the whole thing because it looked u-g-l-y ("you ain't got no alibi!")... but I am so grateful I followed all the steps all the way through because I think the end results are phenomenal - there's so much color and texture and I really learned a lot about how to combine different mediums for a beautiful finale.

Take Flight

Well, it's time for another blog challenge over at Paper Traders and this one is featuring hot air balloons.  I had a lot of fun making this collage.  I printed the large balloon image onto vintage text and layered it with scrapbooking paper for the background then added gesso and crackle paint for texture, using water and alcohol inks to make it look more distressed.  After layering my other collage pieces on, I added some scribbles with my Pitt pen then a little more gesso and some charcoal pencil for shading.  The title was done with a brown Sharpie marker and white touches with my fabulous Sharpie paint pen.  It turned out much more distressed than I had originally imagined but I'm happy with the end result.

This was such a fun challenge!  Join in the fun by heading on over the Paper Traders blog and you just might win recognition as this month's Trader Treasure!

Springtime Glory

I made another piece for the Hello Spring! blog challenge over at Paper Traders.  This little ATC is going to be my entry in the March winner-take-all ATC lottery.  The beautiful background was created by Suzi Blu - it was a scrap of paper I picked up at her garage sale last year... isn't it pretty?  I layered a floral image over the top and painted each petal with Gleams to give it some shimmer, then I touched the centers with some coppery glitter glue.  I also used my Pan Pastels to add shadows behind the flowers for some extra dimension.  Lastly, I sketched some lines around the edge of the card with my superfine Pitt pen.

Help me embrace the springtime spirit by joining in the fun of this month's blog challenge.  Head on over to Paper Traders for some inspiration!

Old West Coasters

Jeri is hosting a swap over at Paper Traders using those paperboard drink coasters you get at restaurants.  I snagged a big stack of them from the manager at our local Islands to make these.  The theme for this swap is Old West and I used images from vintage postcards.  The backgrounds were done using the decayed paper technique with an extra top coat of clear crackle and Distress Ink rubbed into the cracks.  The coasters from all the participating artists will go into little books for each person.

Blog Challenge: Hello Spring

I watch these online videos of mixed media artists just throwing stuff onto their paper and coming up with these fabulous creations.  Come on... who really does that?  It's certainly not me as I am way too much of a control freak to just toss things about willy-nilly.  Then, recently, after watching one of those annoying yet wonderfully amazing videos and feeling completely lost as to what to make for the upcoming blog challenge over at Paper Traders, I decided to give it a go.  What could it hurt?  It wasn't in a precious journal that I was afraid to ruin or for a specific swap that I would have to send to another artist to judge.  No, it was just for me and if I truly hated it, I could toss it in the trash and try something different.

When we were discussing what the theme for the March blog challenge should be, I was leaning toward "luck" since St Patty's Day falls right in the middle of the mix; but the other moderators were really itching for Spring to get here and so the theme this month is "Hello Spring!"  I decided to take my "lucky" idea and incorporate it into the Spring theme with some purple flowering clover - fresh greens and pretty lavenders and a touch of shiny gold.  I started by layering torn vintage text over my cardboard canvas and then I smeared the paints around... ... ...Did you know that purple and green when mixed together make a kind of ugly brown?  Well, they do and it was icky and I already hated it and ALMOST threw it in the trash secure now in my knowledge that all this creative slinging was a bunch of hooey!  But I grabbed my paper towel and blotted and wiped most of the brown gunk away, then slowly and CAREFULLY placed more greens and purples on my page, gently sponging them on instead of smearing them around.  Ooh, now this was kind of pretty... maybe a little more of this, a little more of that, some white paint touches, some black stamped text... yes, yes, I can see this might not be a totally wasted effort.

Once it was all dry, i almost chopped it up into ATC backgrounds.  But, in digging through my stash, I found a few coordinating treasures and the following canvas was born:

(One of my favorite little secrets about this canvas is that the green lined journaling paper with the distress inking on it came from Suzi Blu's garage sale - actual paper that one of my favorite artists inked and chopped herself.  I feel somehow connected to her by using this little treasured scrap in my work  =)

Now, my next adventure in messiness will be a test to see if this was just a fluke... or maybe a whole new creative approach for me!  Stay tuned...

...oh, and don't forget to join in the blog challenge at Paper Traders.  It's easy, lots of fun, and you might win recognition for being the month's Trader Treasure!

Does this dress make me look like a cow?

Cathy is hosting a Moo Card swap over at Paper Traders.  The theme is Vintage Fashion.  I was lucky enough to have a whole page of fashions through the ages that I snagged from a thrift store book.  The backgrounds were made by layering actual sewing pattern tissue over cardstock.  Once everything was assembled, I topped it off with a shiny coat of Glossy Accents.

Love Notes

Cathy recently hosted a vintage Love Notes Envelope swap in our Paper Traders group.  I still need to make my covers to bind together the pages that I received...  I'll try to remember to post another photo once I've got that assembled.  These are the envelopes I made using vintage sheet music overlayed with pretty napkins, doilies, and vellum flourishes.  I added rub-ons for some pretty touches.  The notes inside said:

Love
is just a word
until someone comes along
and gives it
meaning.

c

Updated:  Here's my finished book!

Mardi Gras Masquerade

I recently hosted a Mardi Gras themed ATC swap in our Paper Traders group.  I made my backgrounds by using blue and purple alcohol inks on aluminum foil, then overlaying that with a piece of iridescent punchinella. They're really much more colorful and shiny than the scan shows.

Cameo: Chinese New Year Revisited

I am so excited (and spoiled!) because I received a new Silhouette Cameo as a gift this past week!  I've barely had a chance to use it but I think it's amazing.  This is my first electronic cutter and now I can see why it seems everyone is obsessed with these things.  I have only cut out a few test items - a gift bag with scrolling heart handles and a Peter Rabbit print-and-cut... both of which I neglected to photograph before giving them away.  And the third thing I cut were these amazing chinese dragons!  These ATCs are for another swap on our Paper Traders group.  Look at the intricate details in the cutting!  I love it.

The backgrounds on these cards were inspired by Dina Wakely's "warm ups" which she talked about in Nathalie's Creative JumpStart Summit this month.  I dipped vintage asian text into black & red alcohol inks and then spread on some gold acrylic paint using a palette knife.  So simple and I love the look.

As an added bonus, these cards fit the theme of the current Paper Traders Blog Challenge as well.  Anyone can join the blog challenge and you might be recognized as the "Trader Treasure" of the month!

Bleached Background Papers

Unfortunately, these did not scan very well but they're really quite pretty.  I made these background papers for another swap in our Paper Traders group.  We stamped images onto black cardstock using bleach, then added color back in using various inks, and touching it all off with some metallic stamping - a really easy and fun technique!  You'll have to test your paper before you get started as not all cardstocks will yield good results.  I tried several (some of which didn't bleach out at all) and finally bought a few pages of Bazzill paper, which worked well.

Decayed Paper Technique

We had an ATC background swap in our Paper Traders group and my background was made based on Jill Geraghty-Groves’ “Decaying Background” technique as described in the March/April 2011 issue of Somerset Studio magazine.

SUPPLIES:
canvas or chipboard base
gesso
vintage text & images
sponge brushes
gel medium (I prefer matte)
baby wipes
scissors
sanding block
acrylic paint
crackle paint
alcohol inks
spray bottle filled with water

1) Use something sturdy such as canvas or chipboard for your base.  This is a very wet technique so regular paper or cardstock will not hold up to the process (I've done this with success on watercolor paper; this time I used a piece of tablet backing).  Prime with gesso.

2) Tear vintage text and images to desired shapes & sizes.  Apply with gel medium.

3) Once dry, I trim off the excess paper with scissors and then carefully smooth the edges with my sanding block.

4) Mix some gel medium with acrylic paint of your choice.  I usually use a neutral buff color.  You can use baby wipes to wipe the paint off of images that you want to show through.

5) Goop on crackle paint around the edges and let dry.  I used Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in “Picket Fence” and “Antique Linen”.  (Because I am using this piece to make into ATCs, I marked off the sizes for each card and put the crackle paint around those areas so that each ATC would have a crackled edge.)

6) Let your paint dry thoroughly.  It will crack as it dries.  The thicker the paint, the bigger the cracks.

7) After your paint has cracked, you can drip alcohol inks along the edge then spritz with water and it will run down the paper and into all the cracks.  I like to tip my background up on its edge with a paper towel underneath; then I run the bottle of ink along the top edge, spraying with lots of water, and tipping the piece to help the inks run and blend.  For this project, I used Adirondack’s “Eggplant” first, followed by “Latte”.  This step takes quite a bit of water and is very wet and messy.  Let your background dry thoroughly.

8) Now you can use your background as you want.

Red, White, and Blue Bird

It's time for another art challenge on the Paper Traders blog!  The theme this time is "Red, White, and Blue Bird" and I decided to go with a decidedly patriotic theme in honor of Flag Day this week.  I actually made the background a long time ago when I was practicing some new techniques.  This one was done by using clear embossing powder to stamp the framed words onto blank card stock to create a resist for the watercolor.  After painting, I then reheated the embossing until it soaked into the paper to create a batik effect.  The eagle image was trimmed from an old birdwatching book I found at the thrift store  =)

These challenges are so much fun!  And they're open to all art bloggers so check them out and come play along: http://papertraders-art.blogspot.com/search/label/Challenges

By the Seaside

For May, I hosted an ATC swap on our Paper Traders group with a "By the Seaside" theme.  I left it pretty open and there was a wide variety of creative art from our participants.

For my card, I used a version of Tim Holtz' "rusted enamel" background technique, as described in his book A Compendium of Curiosities.  It's hard to tell from the photo but the entire background is heat embossed.

A couple more ATCs

Every month, our Paper Traders group hosts a "Winner Take All" ATC lottery.  It's a lot of fun - everyone puts in one ATC and at the end of the month, we draw a winner who gets all of the entries... and then it starts over again for the next month.  Entering just one ATC is not a big risk but when you win it's like a party in your mailbox! 

These are the two ATCs I made for March and February.  The latter is pretty simple but the first one took a couple of days to layer up the background.  This was a variation of Jill Geraghty-Groves' "decaying background" technique as shown in the Mar/Apr 2011 issue of Somerset Studio.  I didn't have the distress crackle paints she recommended so I used an all over clear crackle instead but I still think it turned out pretty nice.

Fashionistas

Recently I hosted a "Fabulous Fashionistas" canvas swap on our Paper Traders group.  For these, I used a pre-printed texture paper background and then I glued printed napkins over the top using PPA (Perfect Paper Adhesive).  When everything was dry, I used some rubons for added details.  The ladies' clothing is a combination of papers and fabrics and lots of glue  =)

Renaissance Women

On Paper Traders, Connie is hosting a Gothic Arch swap - the pages will be added to the deco books we made last year.  The theme this time is "Renaissance Women" and I wanted to use works that were a little lesser known.  I chose women who where all painted by Il Bronzino - in most cases, these women were background characters in his works.  For example, these women...

...can be found in this fresco:

 

And these two women...

...are found in this painting:

The backgrounds on these arches have more texture than really shows in the scans.  I glued down torn vintage (gothic) texts and then covered with napkins or tissue paper.  I used my gold leafing pen to finish the edges of each page.  On each of them, I added accents with metallic & pearlescent paints and more touches with my gold pen!

Here are the rest of the pages I made...

Secret Valentine Birdie

I'm just barely finishing up all the Christmas candies and treats and now the stores are full of tempting valentine sweetness! Makes it very hard to stick to my healthy eating goals...

In our Paper Traders group, we are having a secret valentine swap and this is the front of the card I made:
I made the background by tearing pieces of vintage text and music and layering them with some Perfect Paper Adhesive (love this stuff!). Then I covered it all with a layer of flower-printed tissue paper and added some rub-ons from EK Success. The little birdie was a pre-made embellishment from Prima but I made the lacy heart myself.

This background technique is my favorite - I've used it on several projects - it's super easy and always turns out so pretty!

Anniversary Shrine

Every year around this time, our Paper Traders group makes a special project to swap. This year we are constructing mini matchbox shrines. Because this is our fourth anniversary, the theme was to use the number 4 in some way - mine, obviously, is Four Seasons. The "leaves" on the trees are made using FlowerSoft - such a cool product! The text paper I used for the background came from an old book I got at a local thrift store that was printed in 1796. I love how they used an "f" instead of an "s" like we do now.

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.

Going Places

On Paper Traders, I'm hosting a "Fun with Maps" ATC swap. These are the cards I made. I tried to cut the dresses out so that the maps added accents, like a different colored bodice or a ruffled skirt. I started with some travel-themed scrapbook paper for the backgrounds, then used Tim Holtz' mini mask and distress ink in the corners, stamped on an old building image and the word "journey", then added a text background stamp on one side.