A Winner, A Wall Hanging And A Whoopeee

Just after midnight I closed my OWOH blog post to new comments, and after eliminating a few odd examples of spam, I was left with 215 comments.  I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to visit, and for the nice things you said about my angel pin.  So many of you expressed that you needed some healing either for yourself or for a loved one, and no way could I make that choice.  So, I left it up to my impartial friend, Mr. Random Dot Org.   In a blink he came up with the winning number, I counted down, and what do you know?  The winner is one of my internet buddies, and someone who has big talent and an even bigger heart.  So, congratulations Diann; my angel couldn't be going to a better home.  She'll be winging her way to you shortly.

That concludes the "winner" portion of our program.  Now on to the wall hanging.  Yesterday was Wednesday, and if it's Wednesday that means it's time to be inspired by Wendy.  Well, she inspires me every day, but it's Wednesday when Lori posts the new challenge for us in the EWV yahoo group.  If you have Wendy's first book, the inspiration piece is on page 14.  If not, these are the key words Lori provided:  wall hanging (you knew that), heart, and junk jewelry.  I didn't look at Wendy's project until I'd finished my own, and I'm satisfied that no art was harmed or copied in the making of this piece:

The base is a square of wood covered with some of Tim's retro grunge paper.  Both hearts were cut from Tim's dies out of grungeboard.  The large one has one of Wendy's background stamps in coffee archival ink over a mix of dried marigold, mustard seed and rusty hinge distress inks.  The smaller hearts are layered; the one of top was inked with rusty hinge and embossed with clear powder. The one peeking through was first inked with broken china, embossed with clear, and then stamped with Wendy's German script stamp, using black and embossed with black powder.  In the center, an old clip on earring from my huge stash of costume jewelry.

The scallop border on the top, added primarily so I'd have a way to attach the chain, is one of Wendy's art parts, and it is just inked with rusty hinge and attached with Claudine Hellmuth's matte multi medium.  The sentiment is another Wendy stamp.  I think that's about it.  The lace trim on the bottom was a last minute addition; I thought the scallop needed something on the bottom to balance it.

As for my whoopeee.....you know every week I participate in both the Compendium of Curiosities and Simon Says Stamp and Show challenges.  Yesterday I found out that my embossed gift box was chosen by the Simon Says team as one of their three top projects from the prior week.  Maybe you noticed the blinkie I now have on the top of my sidebar.  Yep, a major whoopeee came out of my mouth when I saw that.  I'm very honored (and happy).



Of Dreams and Art Angels

Another JOD (Journal of Dreams) arrived  recently, and I finished my pages this week.  Jacquie's journal is a bit larger than most (don't remember the exact measurements, but it was about 9x12).  Dreams of flying are common, and it's a theme I've used many times, though differently in each journal.  I generally prefer to work on a smaller page, but the great thing about one this size, is the ability it gives to use really big images.  

I started with applying inks to the watercolor paper.....I swiped the pads directly on the paper, sprayed water on top, then blended with a paper towel.  I kept doing this until I was happy, and added a torn strip of beautiful paper from the Mariposa stack (DCWV).   That paper suddenly looked a little bright to me, so I toned down some of its glitziness with more ink.  (Don't you love how you can alter patterned paper to suit your needs?)

I drew the bird head on cardstock, cut it out, and covered it with bits of old dress pattern paper (thank you Sherry, for sending my necklace wrapped in this wonderful paper!).  More ink (black and  several browns), and then the whole thing coated with some gel medium to seal it and give it a nice glossy finish.

I had some leftover crayon paper made with a used dryer sheet (click here for a tutorial on that), and tore some wisps of that for the birdie's head feathers.  Since most self-respecting birds in my dreams are regal, I gave this one a nice big crown.

Texture is hard to see in photographs, but the bird and cage on the left have it (texture, that is).

I used the negative left over after cutting Tim's caged bird die as a stencil, and applied some modeling paste.  This left a raised image of  the cage and bird, which dries hard and is firmly attached to the paper.   More ink, some random stamping and doodling, and side one is done.

On the back....the same sort of inking and spraying, and another piece of Mariposa paper, also toned down with ink.   The "fly away home" stamp is ATC-sized, and is from Red Lead.  Dangling from it is a (very distorted) little bird cage, cut from Tim's die on black shrink plastic, shrunk down with my heat tool, and embellished with some beads.  I'll go on record here as saying that the distortion was carefully planned and came out exactly as I wanted.  Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

The journaling was done with my much beloved Sakura glaze pens.

I started making art angels a while back, and have shown you some in the past.  This is one of my favorites, and was sent to my friend Sherry to look over her and protect her while she deals with a serious health issue.  Sherry just blogged about this, so click here to get the info from the source.  Love you, Sherry!

Made with LOVE, a key, a crushed bottlecap, some wings, a stamped image, resistors, and did I say, LOVE?