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!

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!

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.

Christmas in July

It's time for another art challenge on our Paper Traders blog! This time I made a greeting card for the "Christmas in July" theme using a transparency layered over sheet music and adding a pink flower rub-on:

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

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!

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:

Plugged In

One of my truly awesome friends gave me an i-Pod Touch! I am so excited because I am a really big music person but the expense of an MP3 player just wasn't in my budget. Last night, about 10pm, I downloaded i-Tunes and, as a part of the install, it began to convert all of my WMA files to MP3 format... I let it run overnight and, this morning - about 8 hours later - it is still running and only slightly more than half way done! Needless to say, I had a LOT of music saved on my computer - and that is probably not even half of what I own as transferring from CDs has been a time-consuming effort. Boy, it will be worth it when I'm done, though. SO EXCITED!!!

Gypsy Musicians

This is the spread I did for Susan's gypsy-themed tip-in journal on Paper Traders. This was my first time playing with my new Tim Holtz masks (note the ghosted music stanza in the background)... these are really fun and easy to use - can't wait to get my hands on some of his mini masks soon!

Two years ago, we lost my cousin's young daughter to Cystic Fibrosis... With your support, we can make CF stand for Cure Found!

Here's a montage of Jenn's pics her mother created online at onetruemedia.com.

In 2 months, they will be having 2 teams walking in the Great Strides Walks for Cystic Fibrosis in South Dakota - May 30th in Rapid City and June 6th in Sioux Falls. Please join Jenn's Green Team at one or both of these sites and help raise money and awareness for CF in memory of Jenn. Even if you don't want to fundraise, please come join us! We want to make CF stand for Cure Found!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Taylor Swift's newest fan

Today I had to get some groceries and stuff at Wally World and decided to spend the gift card my brother gave to me for Christmas on a new CD. I've been in love with that "White Horse" song by Taylor Swift that I recently heard on the radio so I decided to buy her new album, "Fearless"... and now I think I am her biggest fan! Did you know this young, feisty gal wrote or co-wrote every song on both of her albums - amazing! Even though I'm about twice her age, I can still relate to the message of her music and I love her strong, independent attitude. Take my advice and buy this album if you don't have it already...

P.S. One cute thing she does in her liner notes is capitalize random letters that spell out a secret message for each song =)

Christmas Spirit

On Monday, I got out all my Christmas CDs and have been singing along in the car every day. I love Christmas music - especially the hymns, they're my favorite... but I like some of the fun and popular ones too. Tonight, I felt so moved by this song that I've heard and sung dozens of times but it just seemed to touch me this time around - Christmas Spirit performed by Diamond Rio:

Angels

These are the pages I did for Letha's tip-in journal on Paper Traders. Her theme was "Angels". I also made some charms for her to attach to the binding of her book. For these pages, I used the same technique as I did on the backgrounds for my zetti cards. I didn't originally plan to use these large columns and arch so I probably should have moved the applied music text farther out toward the edges... I also should have stamped the background images a little darker because you can barely see that they're even there. Still, I like the soft effect.

Cutie Two Shoes

These are the paper shoes I created for Connie's "Cutie Two Shoes" swap on Paper Traders. Don't you think these would make adorable Christmas ornaments?

Gypsy Music

I made these cards a couple weeks ago and they were just too simple... so last week, I pulled them apart and added the ribbons and torn papers under the words - much better!

These APC's (altered playing cards) are for the October monthly challenge on Paper Traders. The project is a "52 Card Dress Up" and each month we decorate a different set of numbers based on the topic set by the guest artist. I am the guest artist for October and I chose "Music" for my challenge.

A Friend is a Gift from God

I made this little door hanger for a dear friend's birthday. She has had some struggles lately and I wanted her to have something special that would make her feel blessed by God's hand. I didn't post it earlier because I wanted it to be a surprise but now that she has it, you can see it too!

I made this from a cork-backed coaster. I sanded down the cover paper, applied gesso, then peach acrylic, followed by a few dabs of green; when it was all dry, I sanded and distressed the painted background.

Next, I layered some gold-printed mulberry paper (pre-purchased). I tore around the edges of the music page and used Tim Holtz' Distress inks on it and layered it over the mulberry paper.

The little dancing girls are victorian scrap that I purchased from our local Michael's store. If you're only shopping in the scrapbook section, you're missing out on lots of great stuff... you can find these in the decoupage papers near the unpainted wood. I chose these girls for two reasons - 1) they look like my friend and I (I'm the brunette & she's the strawberry blonde) and 2) she loves pink and green! The lens was an RAK from an online swapper - I don't know where she got these things but I think they're so cool!

Lastly, I printed out and trimmed the words, then used my gold leafing pen around the edges. After gluing them down, I attached the metal roses which are a dollar store find. I like to check out the jewelry there and take it all apart for the cool beads =) Finally, I stapled a beaded wire to the back to hang it from... voila!

Vote for David Cook

Who didn't LOVE David Cook's performance on American Idol last night? This guy took a sappy slow love song and turned it into an awesome rocker ballad! I am anxiously awaiting for i-Tunes to add last night's performances to their downloads so I can listen to it over and over and over again.

David wasn't originally a favorite of mine but, each week, I have been more and more impressed by his talent. True that he's not your typical pop singer and really more of a rocker but, then.... so am I! Even Simon liked it =)

Sing Sing

Last night, I attended my friend Kelly's bachelorette party. We took a stretch limo up to Sing Sing's in Denver - it's a dueling piano bar - and we had so much fun! The musician's were amazing - not just pianists but each one of the three was very accomplished on keyboards, drums, vocals, etc. Basically, they play requests (for a monetary tip) and the crowd sings along. If you don't like the song, you can tip more than the requester and get your song played instead. It was crazy fun!!