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.

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.

WINTER Banner Swap

I'm hosting another banner swap on Paper Traders.  This one is for Winter and is the last in a series of four banners - one for each season.  It has been a lot of fun having these hang in my studio throughout the year... I think they're just so pretty!

Below is a close-up of my banner, showing the detail of one pennant.  (Sorry for the grainy cell phone photos.)  The blue Plasticfoil background paper was a fabulous garage sale find earlier this year - I love how it looks frosty.  I added some extra shine to the chipboard letters by painting over them with some Gleams and then misting them with Starburst Stains.  I added some shiny metallic touches by threading gold cord through the lace and adding some glitter glue embellishments.

I think the end result is gorgeous, if I do say so myself  =)

Blog Challenge: Party Hats

It's time for another blog challenge over at the Paper Traders blog and the theme this time is "Party Hats."  I decided to make an actual hat for this one...

Blog challenges are fun to do.  Hop on over to Paper Traders and take on the challenge!

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue

The new blog challenge over at Paper Traders is to use a ship in your art.  Again, I used my new MyMemories digital scrapbooking software to create a digital collage.  I used elements from the "Brise Marine" kit by Mary89 as well as the "Poetry of the Sea" kit from Marie H Designs - both so pretty!  Once I had my picture created, I printed it out and layered it on some cardstock to create a little greeting card, complete with real seashell embellishments!

This was a really fun challenge.  Hop on over to Paper Traders and play along!

P.S.  There's still time to get $10 off your own copy of the MyMemories Suite v2 Software plus $10 in free products from MyMemories.com.  Just use my Promo Code: STMMMS53179

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.

Blue Christmas & Red Hot Thanksgiving

This week, my parents came to visit for Thanksgiving. I was so excited to have them come here! My mom is by very best friend and usually I only get to see her once or twice a year. My dad is a cool guy too and I love doing things with him. When I go home, we often go fishing together. This weekend, we took a drive up to the Florissant Fossil Beds and took a short hike - although the melting snow made the trail alternately slick and muddy. We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner and did some Black Friday shopping too.

My mom shares my artistic interests and we do a lot of projects together, often participating in online swaps through Paper Traders or other groups. As I posted earlier, our Paper Traders group puts together a CafePress calendar each year. We had to come up with one more spread for December so mom and I watched a few of Teesha Moore's tutorials and then put our heads together for this collaborative creation using magazine ads:


I had so much fun with this! It is unlike anything I've ever done and was very freeing... I think I'll try doing an ATC this afternoon in the same style. Take some time to watch Teesha's how-to videos... she's so easy going with her art - I love it!


UPDATE: Our extra calendar page wasn't needed after all but there are still many lovely pieces of art to display, including my pear mosaic. If you're interested in a calendar, you can order one here: http://www.cafepress.com/PaperTraders.324251835

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.

Adventures in my Kitchen

Tonight, while unloading the dishwasher, I went to stack some glass serving bowls and this one practically EXPLODED as soon as I sent another bowl inside of it - I barely tapped it and it shattered, sending microscopic shards of glass flying all throughout the open cupboard and across my kitchen floor where I was standing barefoot. Uuughhh... Luckily, no cuts and I was able to carefully pick up the bigger pieces and cautiously make my way to retrieve the vacuum. I guess this is what happens to glass dishes as they age - this bowl was over 20 years old.

After cleaning the glass from my kitchen, I decided to throw together a quick stir-fry for dinner... the bottled teriyaki sauce in my fridge was a bit "aged" and I didn't want to push my luck (seeing as how I was not on a good track so far tonight...) so I splashed some soy sauce in the pan and added a few leftover packets of Chick-Fil-A polynesian sauce - yum! Worked great in a pinch =)

Soul Journaling Under Wraps

Today's exercise was to follow the prompt "I forgot to tell you..." and then continue the thought process from there. As you can tell from my first picture here, I had a lot to say! This photo is small and a little blurry to protect the privacy of my personal thoughts (not that there's anything here that I wouldn't tell to a friend one-on-one).
Next, I covered it all up with different kinds of tape. This was a challenge for me because I didn't have much variety in the house.
Lastly, I used acrylic paint (denim blue and then burnt umber) over the tape to give it an aged and distressed look. The red/blue striped tape was a shiny cellophane so it resisted the paint... I kind of like it though.
I'm not sure if this is finished or not. I think it makes a better background than a complete piece of art. Maybe we'll be adding more over it later... or, if not, I can always do my own thing!

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.

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...