Happy Birthday America!

Hi friends,

I knew it had been awhile since I posted here, but had no idea that it was so long.  I guess I've been slacking!

Gelli Arts - Gel Printing is giving away a gelli plate to someone who uploads a project to their facebook page.  The rules are stars and/or stripes and the giveaway is Monday, so I thought I'd enter the drawing.  My card also fits the mixability challenge this week - MIX127, which is red, white and blue. 

It all started with a used coffee filter that I tore into strips to use for stripes.  I didn't really want to make some sort of flag, but still wanted the feel of that, so I used a blue background instead of red, and made red flowers instead.

After gluing the strips to my card base, I splattered white acrylic paint on it.  I let it dry, but then decided I needed a few bigger splatters, so I ended up using my heat gun to finish drying the paint.

I stamped the sunflower group (Local King Rubber Stamps) with tuxedo black memento ink and colored them with copic markers.  Then I fussy cut them out.  When I laid the flowers on the background, I could see that there needed to be a bit more contrast, so I cut a partial oval with deckle scissors to place behind the flowers.  I sponged over the oval with vintage photo distress ink.

The sentiment (Hero Arts) was also stamped with memento ink & then sponged over with vintage photo. 

At this point, I thought I was finished, but then I decided to try some stars.  I punched a few and then just laid them on the card.  I took photo with them and without them to compare.  I decided I like it better with them, so I glued them down.  I love the vintage feel of this card, and I love that it hints at being our flag, representing our great country.

I'm proud to be an American!  Happy Independence Day to all my USA friends!

Thanks for taking time from your busy schedules to visit.

more

Hi friends.  I just had to share a couple more sonobe balls.  I'm not really calling these ornaments, because they are just too big for the tree. 

When I first started making these, I was curious as to how well it would work using brown paper bags, not the flimsy flat ones, but the heavy ones from the grocery store. 

I made two different sizes, two with 4" squares and one with 6" squares.  It is definitely easier to put together the larger sizes, but I did find out that because this paper isn't as smooth, that was actually an obstacle when putting the pieces together.  I think it would have been close to impossible to use this paper on a smaller ball. 

The gold one is painted with gold Lumiere paint.  And for the one in the front in this next picture, I stamped each square with a burlap background stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms in coffee archival ink.  After it was all put together, I coated it with matte Mod Podge.  I love how that one turned out. 

And just for comparison, here is the biggest one along side one of the ornaments.  I think I'm going to paint the large one, but I haven't decided on a color yet. 

You can really see the detail of how the pieces are tucked into each other. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

happy little birdies

Hi friends.  Today was the mixability challenge (mixed media) on SCS.  I haven't participated in this challenge very much, so I thought I'd play today.  The challenge was to make finger painted clouds.  The only other requirement is that more than one type of medium is used.  I used acrylic paint for the clouds, and my other medium is ink. 

I started with a piece of periwinkle cardstock and made the clouds.  Then I stamped the birds on the wire (a muse) with black stazon.  I extended the line with a pitt pen and added the extra bird on the left.  The birds are colored with a creamy caramel marker. 

I punched the corners with a ticket corner punch and backed the piece with black, adding a few dots in each corner with a pitt pen. 

I used two strips of pattern paper and added fancy photo corner punches. 

The sentiment is hero arts.  All in all, a pretty quick and easy card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

you are a blessing

Hi friends.  Friday is the day for mixability challenges on SCS -- or mixed media.  I have intentions to do them all, but have not been very faithful.  Today's challenge was no paper.  In other words, your card base could be paper, but all other layers had to be something other than paper. 

I started with a piece of tan canvas, on which I put two coats of gesso.  I didn't want to  completely cover it, just enough to get a lighter background to work with. 

Then I got out one of my handmade stencils and used distress paints to make the flower.  I then sprayed some brown and blue spray paint (which also was DIY). 

I stamped the sentiment (alias smith & rowe) and the butterfly (hero arts) with jet black archival ink.  There were a couple of spots that didn't stamp well on the canvas, so I just used a pigma marker to fill in any missed lines.  Then I used a copic marker to color the butterfly.  I was really careful with that, because it was picking up some of the black ink, and I didn't want it to be all muddy.

I inked the edges with vintage photo distress ink. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

hope you can cling to days 26 and 27

Hi friends.  Here are two more cards for the breast cancer awareness challenges on SCS.

Challenge twenty-nine - mixing it up - mixed media.  Create a card using mixed media. 

I started with a piece of toilet paper tube covered with a used coffee filter and coated with gesso.  Then I die cut a bird (forest bird - memory box) in a piece of cardboard from a tissue box.  Using the negative piece as a stencil, I sponged two colors of blue paint through the stencil.  Once that was dry, I outlined the bird with a Pitt pen and sponged vintage photo distress ink around the edges.  I layered the piece on black and ballet blue card stock.  

The background was made using leaf & floral background stamp (hero arts).  I colored it with blue distress stains, spritzed it with water and stamped on white card stock.  I also edged this with vintage photo ink.  I punched some circles from black and ballet blue, cut them in half and attached them with silver brads.  Then I layered this on black and a ballet blue card base.  

I stamped the sentiment in black on white card stock, punched it out and sponged the edge, before tucking it underneath the main image.  

Challenge thirty - Honor Your Elders.  Make a card to honor your elders.  

I stamped the windmill (B&J art stamps) in jet black stazon ink on white card stock and layered it on black.  Then I created a background text on my computer and printed it.  I popped up the image on foam tape.

Thank you so much for visiting today.  

autumn

Hi friends.  I've seen a lot of faces all around blogland lately.  I've wanted to learn how to make them, or more precisely, paint them.  So I've been watching videos and have joined some groups, hoping to learn.  Drawing a face isn't really the issue.  My problem is putting a brush in my hand and figuring out how to blend paint to get the right shadows and highlights.  So far, the main medium I've used is watercolor crayons and pencils.  I really want to learn how to use acrylic paints for this. 

So I've begun... made a face... but then got stuck on the background.  So, I made another face... and got stuck on the background.  So, I made another, and another... (you get the picture).  Robyn (OWSE Yahoo group) has been pushing me to get one finished.  So I finally did!  Yay!  This one is done on 11"x15" watercolor paper. 

Of course, if you know me at all, you know that I rarely take the typical/normal route.  I guess I'm one of those who takes the road less traveled. 

Robyn has a challenge this week in the OWSE facebook group to make something for fall.  So I made my background from die cut leaves and pattern papers.  I stamped on some of them and edged them all with vintage photo distress ink.  I trimmed some so they look like they are actually behind her, and left some in front. 

I also put a few in her hair with a button embellishment. 

I hope you like her as much as I do.

word play - F

Hi friends.  Another spread in my word play journal.  I told my daughter that this was my 'F' word, and she just snickered.  But no bad language here.  My word for the letter F is friends.  You can find all the completed pages here. 

I wanted to make something for the weekly challenge on the OWSE facebook page, I decided to to make another spread for this journal.  There were some choices for colors, and I chose green and yellow.  This is really not one of my favorite color combinations, but I guess I need to step out of my box once in awhile.

Although the background of the pages was done previously, I added more color with both paint and ink.  Then I did a bunch of stamping and added some texture with modeling paste and a butterfly stencil (Red Lead).  In a couple of places, the ink underneath bled through the modeling paste, so I went over that with white acrylic paint.  It didn't completely cover, but I thought it wasn't too noticeable, since the background is pretty busy anyway, and I was going to cover up a lot of it with the dolls and the words. 

I used two of my new Prima mixed media dolls by Julie Nutting.  I have a hard time remembering the names.  I first glued a page from an old encyclopedia onto a piece of this card stock and then stamped the dolls on that and cut them out.  I paper pieced the clothes and the hair on one. 

Behind the dolls are die cuts of a French pastry doily die (Cheery Lynn Designs) and a Sizzix scalloped circle. 

The words were printed on my computer and cut out.  The edges on everything are sponged with vintage photo distress ink.  The letter F is done with zentangles or zendoodles, whichever you want to call it.

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

save the last dance

Hi friends.  Tonight, Robyn posted a challenge on our facebook group page to post a completed project.  I had been coloring a couple of the Prima mixed media dolls with derwent inktense pencils, so I put together a quick journal page. 

I started with a layer of gesso, then used some distress paints by putting them on my craft sheet, spritzing with water and dragging the page through them.  After drying them, I added some dylusions spray inks using a stencil made from a sizzix die and a butterfly stencil from red lead. 

I used a couple of old SU music sets to stamp randomly with jet black archival ink. 

The girl is made using two mixed media dolls (swing dress & doll with strapless dress).  I cut the skirt portion from one and added it to the other, so her dress was longer.  I cut around the bottom of the bow and tucked the longer skirt underneath.  I needed to trim the sides of the original skirt, so that it didn't extend beyond the edges of the new skirt. 

The sentiment was typed up on my computer and printed. 

Thanks so much for visiting today. 

my first canvas ever

Hello friends.  This week I've been busy creating cards for my class on Thursday.  Once I finished, I decided to play a little bit.  There's a challenge to make something with the technique (masking on collage) that was presented last week at our OWSE Art Techniques Club meeting, so I made a canvas, my first ever.  It's 14"x11", much larger than anything I normally create.  Nothing like stepping out of my little box.  I'm glad I did it though.  It wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be, and was rather fun to work on a much larger space. 

I started by forming a collage with a bunch of different pattern papers.  Then I used a Sizzix butterfly die to make two masks from some recycled chipboard boxes. 

Then came paint, removing some of the paint to allow some of the papers to show through, spray inks and stencils, modeling paste with a stencil, and some stamping. 

Then I removed the masks.  I stamped some buttons from a SU set called button, button.  I punched them out, pierced the holes and used a Pitt pen to draw on thread.  I used the buttons for the butterfly bodies. 

I printed the sentiment on my computer, cut it apart, and added some ink before gluing the words to the canvas. 

I don't think it's fabulous, but neither do I dislike it.  I would prefer that the butterflies were a single paper and that they stood out more, but since they were part of the technique, I really couldn't change them for the challenge. 

Creating on a canvas was definitely a learning experience for me, and I know I'll be doing more of these.

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

sending smiles

Hi friends.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  I haven't done much creating lately.  Earlier in the week, I played a little bit with my new gelli plate, which my honey gave me for our anniversary.  What fun, but I didn't get to play very long.  I can see where this would be lots of fun to do with a group.  Anyway, today I took one of the pieces I had made with the gelli plate and added some more to it with stencils and paint.  Then I cut it up into card sized pieces.  I used one on my card. 

I wanted to make a card for a challenge on the Outlaw Women Artists Emporium facebook page, things that make you smile.  Since butterflies make me smile, I pulled out one of my favorite old SU stamp sets, wonderful wings, and stamped the butterfly on the background and a second time on a piece of white card stock.  I colored the second one with ink and a sponge and then cut it out.  I attached the body to the card directly over the first butterfly, and added some dimensional tape under the wings. 

I added a trail with faux stitching, some thin strips of black card stock and some dots with a black Pitt pen, so that it also fit the technique challenge on SCS to do some crazy stitzhing. 

The sentiment is from Hero Arts. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

21 cards - #33

Hello friends.  Well, I'm still working on some of those cards from January's challenge at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art, since I need to fill the extra space in my book. This one is also inspired by a March challenge at OWSE Yahoo group, to make something with flowers on it.  I never have a problem doing that, since I love flowers and have a multitude of floral stamps.  I'm also adding this to the mix-ability challenge #4 on SCS. 

My card base is cereal box chipboard covered with recycled coffee filters and coated with gesso.  I covered the base with blue and purple acrylic paint, just spreading the paint on with my fingers.

I then used a Crafter's Workshop stencil and a cosmetic sponge with white paint to add some contrast.

The flower (Local King Rubber Stamps) is stamped with jet black stazon on white card stock and colored with distress markers with a little water to blend the colors.  I then cut it out and glued it to the card.

The Hero Arts butterfly is stamped with tuxedo black memento ink and colored with Copic markers, cut out and attached.  The wings are raised with dimensional foam tape.

I printed the sentiment, cut the words apart and attached them. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

20 hearts - #1

Hi my friends.  More snow!  I was going to go to the grocery store this afternoon.  I clicked on weather.com and found out that the snow which had just started was going to accumulate 2-4 inches.  So I decided the time to go to the store was immediately.  I'm glad I did.  The radio station I had on in the car said 4-7 inches expected.  I don't mind the snow.  I don't even mind shoveling, but I do not like driving in it.

The February monthly challenge at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art is 20 4"x4" cards that each have a heart, all different.  I finally got started and have my first one finished.

I started with a piece of junk mail cut to size, coated with gesso and some old paint that is rather lumpy (great texture).  Then I added a piece of pattern paper and stenciled over it all with peacock feathers 6"x6" stencil from The Crafter's Workshop and two colors of paint.

I stamped a script stamp all over with jet black archival ink.

For my heart, I cut a heart free hand from corrugated cardboard (part of the protective packaging on a sofa we purchased a few months back - I just had to save what was in good condition).  For some color on the heart, I added some paint, gesso and ink.  I also cut a tiny heart out with a craft knife.  Behind the opening, I put a piece of card stock coated with paint and wrote the word 'love'.

For the fringe behind the heart, I used a pair of scissors that has five blades for cutting fringe (or herbs in the kitchen) to cut some narrow strips of brown paper bag.  I added vintage photo ink and scrunched up the ends and stapled the pieces to my base.

I thought it needed some faux stitching, so that was added with a white gel pen and a black Pitt pen, which is kind of washed out in the photo.

The words were printed from my computer, sponged with tea dye and vintage photo distress inks and glued on.

Because I thought the card was too flimsy, I glued it onto a piece of cereal box chipboard. 

21 cards - #31 and a new challenge

Happy Saturday, friends.  Yesterday was the first day for the NEW Mix-Ability challenge on Splitcoaststampers, all about mixed media.  Yay!  I know I'm going to love it. 

The first challenge is Yin Yang.  So I used this challenge to create another card for January's monthly challenge at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art.  There is a new challenge for February, but I haven't started on that one yet.  It's all hearts - need to think on that for a bit. 

This post shows how I made the base for my cards with cereal box chipboard and coffee filters.

I started by painting my base with celery green acrylic paint.  Then I used a butterfly stencil, the solid part sponged with gesso, and the detailed part sponged with pearl turquoise and pearl blue lumiere paints for a bit of shimmer.  I also outlined the butterfly with a Pitt pen.  Since the body of the butterfly was white, I cut a new one from black card stock and glued that on. 

Nothing like going backwards, but then I decided to add some stamping to the background, so I carefully added some texture type images from Donna Salazar and Tim Holtz in jet black archival ink.  

While playing around with some additions, but not sure what to add, I decided to leave it overnight and look at it again this morning.  I knew right away that I wanted to change up the background some more, so I applied some buttermilk acrylic paint with my finger, so it just brings out the texture of the coffee filter without covering up the stamping. 

Then I added bits of torn card stock and pattern paper. 

The sentiment is from Nostalgics Attic Collection (Image Tree), punched out with a 1/2" circle punch and raised on dimensionals. 

Then I attached a piece of burlap, some raffia, a hand crocheted flower and a button. 

I love it!  How can I not?  It has lots of texture and lots of BLUE!  LOL

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today.  Enjoy your weekend.

21 cards - #13

Hello friends.  I'm still working on the monthly challenge at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art.

Please refer to this post to see how I made the base for my cards.

Since it's been working so well, I used my Inspiration Jar again.  My words this time: hexagons, birds, and fabric.  All things I love, so I didn't think I have too much trouble with this one.  I started by grabbing the first fabric I saw.  I glued some to a piece of cereal box chipboard with matte Mod Podge and let it dry.  Then I die cut a couple of hexagons with a Sizzix die.  I cut two different sizes and decided the smaller one would be better.  I also punched out a circle from the chipboard, glued on the fabric and then trimmed around the circle.  My punch won't punch through the fabric, but it was the size I wanted.  The tail feathers and beak are cut from some extra pieces of the fabric covered chipboard.  The legs and feet are black card stock.

So now that I had all the pieces of the bird, I needed a background.  And... I was stuck!  What to do?  I finally decided to use some acrylic paint.  I painted part of the background an olive green, but wasn't happy with that, so I added some blue - still not happy.  I went through a transition with yellow, peach and red, with some of the earlier colors showing through.  I liked how the red brightened up the background, but it was really too bright for the bird to stand out.  So... I grabbed my jar of watered down Gesso and brushed it over the entire background.  It was better immediately.  I like how the coating of Gesso brought out the texture from the coffee filter. 

So I let that dry, attached the bird (since I didn't want to lose any of the pieces), and guess what?  I was stuck... again!

Since I was teaching a couple of classes today, I had to let it sit and get all set up for those.  By the time I finished, I was ready for bed, so I didn't get to work on this again until late in the afternoon after my classes were all finished.  Eventually, I decided to stamp some Tim Holtz stamps from Nature's Moments in jet black archival ink.  I realized that I really should have done the stamping before I attached the bird, but it was too late, so this was just going to have to work.  Do you like my attitude?

I went searching my files for a saying to put on.  When I came across this one, I knew it was what I wanted to use, so I printed it, cut it apart and glued it on.  Done!  I like it.

Thank you so much for spending time with me today. 

21 cards - #4

Hello my friends.  I'm here with another card for the challenge on Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art.  This is number 4. 

Please refer to this post to see how I made the base for my cards. 

I recently came across an idea that I changed up some to make it work for me.  It's called an inspiration jar.  I still need to finish decorating my peanut butter jar or maybe find a pretty jar instead.  The idea is to have slips of paper or something that has words to jump start your creativity.  I put my words on little chipboard circles.  To use it, you just randomly pull out one or more from the jar to inspire you.  I think three is a good number, so that's what I plan to use.  Today, for card #4, I pulled out three circles -- two, torn paper, and door.  Those were my words to inspire what I did on my card. 

I used the same technique (found here) for the background that I used on card #3.  But today I used two colors of acrylic paint, cream and burnt umber (my first inspiration word -- two), which offered a lot more contrast than yesterday's card.  I love the way it looks. 

To resemble grass and sky, I tore some pattern paper (my second inspiration word -- torn paper). 

For the third inspiration word (door), I cut an arched shape from a piece of cereal box chipboard and covered it with Basic Grey paper.  I used a Donna Salazar word stamp on it.  The butterfly is Hero Arts, colored with Copic markers and cut out.  I wanted it to stand out from the door, so I punched an oval from the same aqua paper that I used for the sky.  The hinges and door handle were cut freehand, sponged and some dots added for nails or screws. 

I printed out the sentiment by hand, although I don't like my handwriting.  Many years ago, I had neat handwriting, but college note-taking takes a toll on neatness. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today. 

21 cards - #3

Hi my friends.  Wow - two posts in one day.  It's been awhile since I've done that.  I'm having so much fun with this challenge from Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art, that I want to keep playing.  I think one reason I like this challenge is that the 4"x6" card is a nice size to work with.  I mostly make cards, so this is a similar size and not too intimidating. 

Please refer to this post to see how I started the cards. 

For this one, the background was made by placing a line of cream acrylic paint along the top edge and dragging the paint down the page with an old gift card.  I repeated the process with a mint green going the other direction.  While the green was still a bit wet, I sprinkled on some water and then pressed a paper towel into it.  Where the paint was wet from the water, the color lifted off.  It's a little hard to see the result, because there isn't much contrast between the two colors, but it was a fun technique that I found on a video here.  I'm sure I'll use it again.  You can see some of the texture from the coffee filter. 

I stamped the Hero Arts butterfly with tuxedo black memento ink on some white card stock and colored it with Copic markers and cut it out. 

The flowers (Judith Stamps) were stamped on white card stock with jet black archival ink.  I colored the centers with yellow marker and then cut the flowers out.  The orange and red were added with a sponge dauber. 

For the leaves, I traced around a hand drawn pattern and then cut them out with deckle scissors.  I sponged the edges with artichoke ink and added vein lines with a black marker.  For placement of the flowers, I almost always glue the flowers down before adding the leaves, but only put glue in the centers, so that I can still tuck the leaves underneath.  If the leaves are a little too long to slip underneath, I simply snip off the inner end, since it isn't going to show anyway. 

When I cut out butterflies, I rarely cut around the antennae.  I just cut them off.  Since I wanted antennae on my butterfly, after gluing the it down, I drew the antennae with a black marker.  The faux stitching along the edges of the card was also done with a black marker. 

The sentiment is computer generated. 

Thanks for stopping by.  

altered box

Hello, my friends.  Wow!  Has it really been that long since I posted?  This week I've had a sore throat and head cold and really haven't felt like doing much of anything.  Today, I started to feel a bit better and did some creating. 

One of the challenges this month at OWSE Yahoo group was to alter a box into some type of art.  I actually started this months ago.  I had seen a way to create a canvas from a box when reading a blog post by Julie Balzer, where she linked to Alma Stoller's instructions.  I used a 9"x13"x2" box from frozen dinners.  To help keep its shape, I stuffed the box with some crumpled newspaper.  On the outside, I covered the box with torn old book pages and mod podge, which I then coated with gesso. 

I wanted the front of the box to have a lot of texture, so I decided to use my homemade gesso (see this post), but I really wanted it thicker than it was, so I knew I needed to make some adjustments.  In my search on line for gesso recipes, I had found several, using various ingredients.  One used baking soda as a thickening agent and since I always have that in the house, I thought I'd try it.  I added the baking soda to the solution I'd already made until I was happy with how stiff it was, and used a palette knife to spread it on my box.  It worked perfectly.  {Next time I need to make thick gesso, instead of adding baby powder to my glue, I'm going right for the baking soda.}

I painted on a couple of colors of acrylic paint and then used some stencils with paint for my background.  My first attempt got way out of hand, so I covered it over with gesso and started over.  My second attempt was much more pleasing, but I was really stuck on what to put on top of the background.  I've been looking at it for a week not knowing what to do with it. 

I finally decided to play and see if I could create some flowers from used coffee filters.  I've been saving my filters for awhile now.  I rinse them well and then let them dry.  A number of them have found their way into my art. 

First, I made a solution of glue and water.  Then I saturated a coffee filter in the glue, squeezed it out and twisted it into a roll that was pretty tight.  I used some office clips to hold and weight the ends and keep them from untwisting while they dried.  One coffee filter was used for each leaf and each flower petal.  Once the glue was dried, I painted them with gesso, let that dry, and sprayed the pieces with Adirondack color wash and let dry.  The ends were snipped off before I hot glued each piece to my box canvas.  The longer stem is made with two coffee filters, but unless you look really close, you won't see where they are joined. 

For the flower centers, I die cut scalloped circles with a spellbinders die and added some buttons from my stash. 

I'm really happy with how this turned out and love that most of it is recycled. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be blessed.

balance

Happy Saturday, my friends.  We received a few good drenching rain showers this week, so our lawn is looking a little less brown.  I heard some lawn mowers out this morning, including ours. 

I made another art journal spread for a technique at OWSE Yahoo group.  This one is a paper napkin technique.  We were supposed to start with a colorful printed napkin, but the only one I could find was a dark rust with a creamy pattern on it.  Rather than go out shopping, I decided to use it. 

I stamped the napkin with several background type stamps in black archival ink and then tore the napkin into pieces and glued them to my pages with matte Mod Podge.  The next step was to paint around the pieces with a neutral color paint; I used off white. 

Then I sprayed the pages with ink sprays - blue, turquoise, and purple.  To blot the ink, I rolled paper towel over the pages.  Then I heat set the ink to dry it. 

Once the ink was dry, I lightly brayered white paint on the pages, again leaving the napkin pieces visible.  The ink colored my paint, so it's no longer white, making it a lot darker than I had planned. 

Again using black archival ink, I stamped some images on the pages - wheat (Judikins) and flourish (Inkadinkado).  I wanted more color, so I painted the wheat kernels with gesso and then used a yellow marker to add some color. 

I typed up the sentiment on my computer and printed it, cut it apart and attached it to my pages.  At this point, I still wanted more color, so I stamped some Hero Art butterflies, colored them with a copic marker and cut them out. 

And there you have it.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great weekend. 

I will be glad

Hello, my friends.  I haven't done much creating lately.  Sometimes I just don't feel like getting out my supplies and making something.  But I'm OK with that, as long as I don't have a deadline to meet.  I know it won't be long before I'm back at it. 

Today I finally have my page done for July's Divine Design Bible Verse Challenge on SCS.  For this month I chose Psalm 9:2 as my verse and made a two page spread.  I used a technique presented at last week's art journal meeting at OWSE Yahoo group, called a UTEE technique. 

The base is stamped tissue paper, or in my case, recycled coffee filters glued on my pages.  After I use them, I rinse them well and let them dry.  The coffee stains them like tea would, so they are fun to reuse.  I used stamps from Donna Salazar, Tim Holtz, and Hero Arts with black archival ink.  After stamping several coffee filters, I tore them into strips and glued them on my pages. 

The technique then called for a stencil (mine is from Crafters Workshop), versamark ink, and white UTEE, which I was sure I didn't have, so I substitued white pigment ink and clear UTEE, with a second coat of white ink and regular white embossing powder.  It turned out pretty good, but I think the white UTEE would have been better, and certainly easier.  As it turns out, after I had done this, I went looking for something and found a jar of white UTEE.  I think I've had it quite awhile and never used it, which is why it was forgotten.  I will have to try the technique again and use the white UTEE, but for this one, I just went with what I had done. 

After that, I brayered on some acrylic paint, dripped on some watercolor and flicked some ink on -- all part of the technique instructions.  Oh, and a baby wipe was used to remove ink from the embossed areas. 

For the front of the page, I printed out some digital papers from Computer Scrapbook.  On one sheet, I printed the verse, so I could get a colored background instead of white.  Then I used my new Sizzix hexagon die to cut hexagons from the digi papers.  I sponged the edges with vintage photo distress ink and arranged them in a fun pattern on my pages and then glued them down.  I'm really happy with how these turned out. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. 

So thankful

Hello my friends.  I've been working on another art journal spread for Hands & Heart.  November's challenge was to list things we are thankful for.  I decided to use the technique from last week's art journal meeting at OWSE Yahoo group for my background.  It started with my pages covered with old book pages.  Then some spray inks, paint and more spray inks.  I got a little heavy handed with the paint and covered up more of the book pages than I wanted to.  It also turned out a little darker than I had intended, but I wanted to stay with the technique, so I left it that way.

I decided to make a tree with the leaves representing things for which I'm thankful, and chose to make the leaves all light colors to counteract the dark background. 

I lightly sketched the tree with a white colored pencil and then painted over it with gesso and then brown and black acrylic paint.

I printed words on my computer of things which I'm thankful for.  I cut them apart and sponged ink over the words and then cut them into leaf shapes.  I edged them all with a black marker.  As I was gluing the leaves down, I realized that these things barely even begin to touch all the things for which I am thankful.  God has just blessed me in so many ways.

I wanted to add just a little spark of brightness, so I punched two red birds with a Martha Stewart punch and then trimmed off the wings to give them a different shape.  I also punched some flowers.  The leaves are a single punched flower cut apart.  The stems were cut freehand. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I hope you are feeling blessed, too.