Beachy Love

Cathy is hosting a paper mache heart swap over at Paper Traders this month.  Once I got over the initial messy gross-ness of the paper mache process, I found it to be a relaxing task to do while watching movies.  It took me about a week to make these hearts because I had to let it dry in between the many layers.  I learned a few things doing this project which I'll share...

I loosely based my technique on Crafy Cupid's tutorial here: http://www.craftycupid.com/index.php/cc/entry/mache-mixed-media-heart-tutorial/

For working with the messy paste, I employed this Martha Stewart tip using a rubber band to create a scraper which easily removed the excess paste from my paper strips:

http://www.marthastewart.com/272867/paint-can-tip

When they were completely dry, I applied a layer of gesso and then a coat of acrylic paint to each heart.  Both of my hearts were crackled using Ranger's Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  Here's something interesting that I discovered...  The gold heart was painted with a glossy metallic acrylic paint underneath the crackle.  When dry, the crackle still appeared very shiny and crystal clear.  The blue heart, however, was painted with a matte acrylic paint under the crackle.  This one ended up looking much more opaque (sort of like sea glass) as the crackle coat seemed to take on some of the aspects of the underlying paint.  Both results looked terrific but were notably different.  For this project, I topped off the blue heart with an extra coat of glossy glazing medium to bring back that high shine finish I had anticipated.

The "sand" for my beach scene came from a pre-packaged bead mix and I just love the way this looks!  I used Glossy Accents to adhere the beads, shells, and charms.

So here are my finished results... I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them:

I also made an extra heart which I covered with distress doilies and pretty printed napkins layered over a bronze crackle finish:

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!

The Butterfly - image transfer technique

In our Paper Traders group, we're doing one-for-one canvas swaps based on a specific technique.  This month, the technique was to use an image transfer (of any kind).  I made this canvas using the gel medium technique to apply my butterfly over a torn paper background and embellished it with my white Sharpie paint pen.  Then I layered a gold-printed napkin with orange flowers over the top and embellished with doilies and german scrap.  Lastly, I rubbed metallic colored waxes over areas of the canvas and applied some colored mica in select areas to add more texture.  I think it turned out nice and I hope my swap recipient likes it!

Take to the Skies

Time's running out to join this month's blog challenge over on the Paper Traders blog.  I made this quick piece to enter in our winner-take-all ATC lottery using the hot air balloon theme for this month's challenge, killing two birds with one stone.

After layering paper elements, I added a balloon printed napkin over the top then topping it off with a tag and another hot air balloon which I trimmed from a piece of scrapbook paper.

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!

Ornaments

I made these paper ornaments for our 12 Days of Christmas swap on Paper Traders.   It's hard to tell from the scan, but I hand painted a pearlescent top coat to highlight specific elements before layering on the chipboard and paper punched pieces.

I also made some ornaments for friends and family... these were done by gluing vintage sheet music to wooden forms and then layering the bird images from napkins.  I got the idea for these cute button berries from Sassy & Sweet Notes - aren't they cute?

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.

It's a Hoedown!

I've never done a dance card swap before.  These are the cards I made for Nancy's swap on Paper Traders.  I made the pictures by gluing napkin images onto cardstock.  Dance cards are an old tradition from a time when ladies would have a list of available dances and the gentlemen would request to reserve a space on a lady's card... and maybe even in her heart!

Beeswax & Butterflies

So, these are boring.  I was having trouble regulating the temperature of my beeswax and the layers not building and I'm not thrilled with the results.  BUT, I am hoping to learn how to do this technique properly and then maybe I can stop fighting with the medium long enough to let my creative muse out to play... next time.  Moving on...

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  =)