Live Life to the Fullest

I wanted to play with my new bottle of Goosebumps spray some more so I used it to make the background for this pretty little ATC.  Such a simple card with a not-so-simple saying...

If you're like me, there's never enough time to do all the things I need to do much less try to squeeze in more of the things I want to do.  I realize that I'm becoming somewhat of a recluse and am letting life bog me down.  I'm trying to take baby steps to change this - not staying at work so late, cutting down on my Facebook usage, scheduling time to work on my art, etc.

This weekend I took a huge step and am spending most of my holiday weekend at a church Single Adult Conference.  It's been very uplifting and I've even made a few new friends.  Yesterday was a tour of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography followed by an amazing keynote speaker, Robert O'Brien.  Then we had some terrific workshops and I even learned how to play Bunco  =)

Today, I'm looking forward to more spiritual edification with church services and a fireside.

Gives me Goosebumps

I made this project using a few newly acquired art supplies - Goosebumps clear texture spray and Prima resist canvas shapes.  You can read about this technique and my product review on the Paper Traders blog here: http://papertraders-art.blogspot.com/2012/05/product-spotlight-goosebumps-texture.html

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.

Alice's Mad Tea Party

Over at Paper Traders, I'm participating in an ATC swap hosted by Wendy.  She picked a really fun theme: Alice's Mad Tea Party.  I had lined up all my images and planned a layout for my cards only to see that one of my fellow participants had come up with a very similar idea.  So, I scrapped what I was doing and started over.  Here's the result - a quirky take on Alice's wild adventures:

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.

Take Flight

Well, it's time for another blog challenge over at Paper Traders and this one is featuring hot air balloons.  I had a lot of fun making this collage.  I printed the large balloon image onto vintage text and layered it with scrapbooking paper for the background then added gesso and crackle paint for texture, using water and alcohol inks to make it look more distressed.  After layering my other collage pieces on, I added some scribbles with my Pitt pen then a little more gesso and some charcoal pencil for shading.  The title was done with a brown Sharpie marker and white touches with my fabulous Sharpie paint pen.  It turned out much more distressed than I had originally imagined but I'm happy with the end result.

This was such a fun challenge!  Join in the fun by heading on over the Paper Traders blog and you just might win recognition as this month's Trader Treasure!

Springtime Glory

I made another piece for the Hello Spring! blog challenge over at Paper Traders.  This little ATC is going to be my entry in the March winner-take-all ATC lottery.  The beautiful background was created by Suzi Blu - it was a scrap of paper I picked up at her garage sale last year... isn't it pretty?  I layered a floral image over the top and painted each petal with Gleams to give it some shimmer, then I touched the centers with some coppery glitter glue.  I also used my Pan Pastels to add shadows behind the flowers for some extra dimension.  Lastly, I sketched some lines around the edge of the card with my superfine Pitt pen.

Help me embrace the springtime spirit by joining in the fun of this month's blog challenge.  Head on over to Paper Traders for some inspiration!