"The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit,
the greater your capacity to create."
~Dieter F. Uchtdorf
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!
Utilizing some of my recent swap meet finds, I completed these Valentine Steampunk assemblages for Cathy's swap on Paper Traders. These were a ton of fun to make!
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!
All I can say about this one is... Whoa! That's a lot of pink! LOL!
This is the second spread I did for the private journal swap I'm in. I think this best represents what it wrong with most of my art... I'm too precise and too hung up on making everything COORDINATE! Don't get me wrong, I think this page is very cute and sweet... but maybe just a little too much. My favorite thing is the glittery swirls I added with my glue pad, a rubber stamp, and some micro-prism glitter.
This is a spread I made for a private journal swap I'm in. The metallic pieces didn't scan well and they look black but, in reality, the
large bird is a pink mirror from Heidi Swapp and the "Love Birds" words and small hearts at the bottom are reflective silver. I used a cute
K&Company paper for my background, adding the effect of a
Tim Holtz mask with
Tea Dye Distress Ink, then pouncing metallic pearl white paint through some heart-shaped sequin scrap on the corners. In addition to the silver hearts at the bottom, if you look closely, you'll see there are also some pink iridescent hearts there as well.
I have five more pages to make for this project and I think they're all going to be unique (although I do have the option of making them the same or similar). Our inspiration for this project comes from the
Somerset in Love magazine that was released earlier this year.
I made this valentine awhile back for a dear friend of mine... I didn't want to post it until after she had received it and then I got busy and forgot. I mounted it on firm cardstock with an easel on the back so it could be displayed. For the background, I used printed scrapbook paper with a light coat of gesso over the top, then distressed it. The pre-printed chipboard pieces were lightly sanded and inked before being applied... the pink banner piece has rub-on for the floret and words.
I made this little altered tin for another swap on Paper Traders. Gluing down all those micro beads was a pain - LOL! The tin won't close because the nest is too big but I think it looks cute and it should be displayed open anyway... don't you agree?
This valentine has a secret! I made it for a friend but I'm not telling who!
I had hoped this blog would be as much about art as it is about the goings-on in my life. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to craft lately but I have been trying to reorganize and rearrange my craft room to make it a little more user-friendly and create more space for my muse to play.
Yesterday, I worked on these "Love Tokens" for an upcoming Paper Traders swap. They're kind of simple but cute... I think my favorite is the mother & daughter with the green floral tag. It was my prototype - I just loved that tag... so pretty!
Update: I felt like these were missing something so, before mailing them off, I tied little gold ribbon pulls onto the ends of each of the layered tags... much better!
