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!

Magical Garden

I made this spread for Linda's tip-in journal on Paper Traders. Her theme was a "Magical Garden" with flowers, fairies, and lots of sparkle!

I started with lavender cardstock and used Michelle Ward's gesso resist technique. I painted over with three shades of green and then sanded back down to expose the textured image underneath. I used my Marvy markers to color in a couple of birds and some vines from the background image. Then I added some stamped images using purplish inks.

The big birds' nest and pink flower are torn from tissue paper and the hydrangea is part of a napkin - both were applied to the page with Perfect Paper Adhesive (love this stuff!) The fay folk are cut out from cards that were given to me for my birthday - they're from the now defunct Green Tiger Press.

I used "punchinella" sequin scrap to sponge on the shaded dots. I added some "fairy dust" to both girls' hair and some teeny tiny holographic stars were glued down here and there to add some sparkle. The dragonfly rub-on is glittery, too! I also added a few touches with my gold foil pen.

Lastly, I found this poem stanza in a vintage student reader I have just for this kind of project. I sprayed everything down with a matte fixative to seal the glitter and paints.

I love how this turned out... I hope Linda does too!

Bottled Fairies

I made this little fairy (she has a twin sister, too) for my mom's Bottled Fairies swap on Paper Traders. I still need to decorate her "home" - a little glass jar.

I cut her out of peach cardstock, painted on a little white shirt and dressed her in silk flower petals. Her hair is a gold tassel and then I created a little flower chain for her to hold.