The Big Apple and The Big E

Yep, got myself signed up for another page swap.  Just can't resist them, and even though they cause me some brief anxiety as deadlines approach, I'm always so happy once the books are assembled.  As I've said before, collaborative pieces are my favorites.

This one was started by Denise at ATT, and I just know it's going to be special.  It's called Journey Around The World, and everyone is doing a page reflective of where they live. (Hence the Big Apple reference in my title).  If I have time, I may add an appropriate charm, but other than that, the pages are finished!

What I did:   the background is a NYC street map, so each page has a different section.  On the bottom I used two stamps to create the skyline; on the left, one from The Stamping Ground and on the right, a Tim Holtz stamp.  The yellow cab (popped up with foam dots)  and the faux postage stamp are also from The Stamping Ground.  I wanted a little Big Apple Attitude, and chose the impatient woman silhouette (high heels and all) from Wendy Vecchi.  Talk about your time consuming fussy cutting!  My craft knife got quite the work out.

Inside the film strip (a Tim Holtz die) are a very reduced in size NYC subway map and a Broadway show playbill....not all the pages have the same one. The tiny attacher adheres the strip to the page.  The very large letters that spell out the abbreviation of my home town were done with my very very favorite alphabet stamp set....vintage Tim from his days with Junkitz. 

Last of all, each page has a bit of an old NY subway car destination in the upper left corner, all from one of the pages in Tim's Lost and Found paper stack.

The back is finished as well, but that will remain a surprise for now.

What about the Big E?????  No, not one of my nicknames (I don't think).  My pal Marita is re-doing her studio and bought these 8" letters to hang on a wall.  I forget what they'll eventually spell out, but she sent one to a few of her art friends to decorate however we wanted.  I of course got an E, and have been staring at it for a few weeks now.  Yesterday, the first day of May, was a gorgeous spring day, and when I got home I was inspired to create this:

Not really my usual thing, but outdoors there was an explosion of daffodils, tulips and other flowers I can't name, so I got out paper flowers, fabric flowers, metal flowers, all sorts of paints and sprays and went at it.

The letter itself was covered with old text, which you can't even see any more, then painted with various soft and sparkly colors of mica watercolor paint.  I wrapped some pastel eyelash yarn randomly around, then started to glue on the flowers.  Then a couple of butterflies decided to join the party.  Here's a close up of one, cut from grungeboard with a Tim Holtz die, then covered with Beadazzles.

                                                                              
The final touch, was to add some black rub-ons (Jenni Bowlin), because I'm a firm believer that when you're working with pastels, a touch of black is important to keep the piece from fading away.

The Big E is packed and should head out to Oregon very soon.  Hope Marita likes it!