Magazine Collage Canvas

Cathy is hosting a magazine collage canvas swap in our Paper Traders group this month.  The challenge was to use a magazine image in your work.  I had saved this image of a silhouetted girl with an umbrella and applied her to my painted and stamped canvas.  I used flower-shaped die cuts to mask the paint and used a stencil for the green vines.  I added details with my white, green, and gold paint pens.

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.

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.

Emotive Faces

I made these ATC's for Connie's "Emotive Faces" swap on Paper Traders. I used Bernie Berlin's technique for painting over magazine photos, like the French Model card I made earlier this year.

The Singles Conference

This weekend, I attended a church-sponsored Singles Conference up in the Denver area. When I first heard about the event, I wrote out a check for my pre-registration and mailed it in before I could talk myself out of going. I rarely attend the singles activities here because, well, I never meet anyone that I connect with... I'm not just talking about men, but women too. I feel so disconnected from the others - there aren't many people close to me in age and no one that I have found anything in common with (besides being single, of course). The really ironic thing about all this is that, in San Diego, I was the Stake Single Adult Representative for five years and was responsible for organizing the entire program, meetings, activities, newsletter, etc. As such, I understand the challenges with getting the support and attendance necessary to make everything a success.

So, anyway, I drove the hour-long trip up on Friday night to attend the temple with some other singles. Then, afterward, we met up with some other singles for board games and refreshments. On Saturday morning, I had to get up extra early to get ready in time to drive back up to Denver for the day. We had a short opening meeting (for which I was asked to give the invocation - opening prayer - on the spur of the moment), followed by several really good workshops, lunch, and then off to the temple again - this time to do service work on the grounds. Some of us did mulching, weeding, and planting; others, myself included, repainted some of the iron fencing around the perimeter of the grounds. I wasn't dressed for painting and, despite all cautions, managed to get it on both of my blouses AND the only pair of jeans I own that still fit decently. So, if anyone has a good idea for getting paint out of clothing, please let me know! After working at the temple, we were supposed to play lawn games but the rain had other ideas so we moved everything inside for more board games, followed by dinner, and a dance.

All in all, it was a fun yet busy weekend. I had an enjoyable time and met some nice people (but not my eternal companion). Apparently, I didn't drink enough water during the day and, especially after working outdoors, found myself quite tired and dehydrated this morning. I'm feeling better this evening but am not thrilled that the weekend is almost over and I have to go back to work in the morning. There's just never enough time, is there?

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!

Soul Journal Inchies

Continuing on with Sarah Whitmire's Soul Journaling prompts... Going back to yesterday's page, I trimmed out my soul armor with a gold foiling pen - it's a lot of bling, but I'm worth it =)

The next exercise was to search magazines for specific images... some were generic items, like "a bird" or "a flower" whereas others were more personal, such as "eyes the same color as yours" or "something you want (which is NOT the picture of money - LOL)"
Actually, one of the prompts was "something comfortable" which I couldn't really find any picture for... so I picked the money as "something I need to be comfortable" because, well, don't we all?

First, I made a wash of some dark purple acrylic paint (which turned out pretty light once I watered it down), then I spread it around and blotted with paper towels. When that was dry, I pasted on the inchies and applied another wash of a lighter colored paint (ochre). Lastly, Sarah had us add some words and draw around some of the inchies.

A few personal things here? Well, the "40 September" was my last birthday, the beautiful mountain scene is from right here in Colorado where I live now, the snowy branches are my "something you have" since I really appreciate having winter seasons again after living in California for twenty years. The banana bread is one of my favorites and reminds me of my grandmother; the hand represents my current round robin journal which is still winging it's way around the world; the aspen leaves are another Colorado specialty; and the purple swirl represents my favorite color (hence the purple background, too!)

A Number of Zettis

This is the spread I made for Marion's tip-in journal on Paper Traders. Her theme is "A Number of Zettis." I hope this is zetti-ish enough =) It's difficult to tell from the scan but the feathers all have pearlescent accents and the golden egg has been spritzed with MoonGlow. The number 2 also has gold paint brushed around the edges.

I used Bernie Berlin's technique for painting over magazine images to make the lady. I used a sea sponge to create the bushes. I hope Marion likes it!