My take on Art Nouveau

Recently, Cathy hosted an Art Nouveau ATC swap at Paper Traders.  I made these cards using some classic Art Nouveau images and a pretty frame I cut using my Silhouette Cameo.  I added some art glitter and pretty brads (they're gold, not black, but the scanner can't pick that up).  These are simple but pretty and I love the color combinations.

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  =)

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.