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!

Eye for Color

I'm hosting an ATC swap in our Paper Traders group.  I've been loving Pinterest  and one of the things that caught my eye were all of these beautiful color palettes that people are pinning.  This lead me to a really cool website Design-Seeds.com  where I found my inspiration for this swap:

It's been fun to see all the different creations everyone is coming up with using this color scheme.  Below are the cards I made.  The blue flowers are glittery and the butterflies' wings are lifted up off the cards:

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!

Steampunk Quickpage Freebie

I am participating in a quickpage contest over at CoolScrapsDigital.  This is my first quickpage ever and it was a lot of fun - especially because I love this genre AND I got to work with an awesome kit by EMS Arts.  Check out the forum at CoolScrapsDigital to see all the wonderful quickpages from this contest.  And you can pick up your own copy of the kit from the designer here:  http://coolscrapsdigital.com/10047-designer-s-list-10047-ems-arts-c-1_81/ems-arts-steampunk-p-2498.

And now, here's my quickpage...  Enjoy!!

click here to download

If the link above doesn't work for you, try this one: https://www.box.com/s/d312610223dbff3ef9a5

Summer Dreaming

Cathy is hosting a Summer Windows swap over at Paper Traders.  I used vintage Coca Cola ads for my window scenes.  These were difficult to scan but I put clear plastic behind the top layer of window frames to simulate the glass.

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