In The Pink

In the world of collaborative art journals we're sometimes called upon to work with colors or themes that we don't necessarily love.  I really don't mind stepping outside my comfort zone, but a challenge it is.

Enter Jen's Artistic Evolution journal......gorgeous to be sure, but an explosion of pinks and purples.  I don't have a bit of either color in my home and almost none in my wardrobe.  I can admire those hues on others but am rarely attracted to them.

BTW, this is a fascinating journal, with pages of varying sizes so that the previous artist's work peeks out from behind your own.  Click here to learn more about it.

In this journal, our pages are to evolve from those that came before.  Elena's pages had to do with transformation and there were a few butterflies, so I ran with that.  Here are my two pages, side by side, followed by individual shots.

The backgrounds consist of a whole lot of spraying.....glimmer mist, homemade mist, perfect pearls mist, colorwash.....if it even resembled pink, I used it.  There was also a lot of masking, some stamping, rub-ons, gesso dabbed through sequin waste, and every butterfly die I owned worked overtime.

I'm not sure if it shows up, but the lavendar flower that Elena used and that I can see behind my left hand page inspired me to add lavendar to my pink pages.  I think of this concept like the art version of the old telephone game.  Who knows what the last pages will look like?  Maybe there won't be any pink left at all!

What will peek through to the other side, and what the next artist will have to work with, is the edge on the right hand page.  I cut it with Tim's on the edge scallop die and tied yarn and ribbon through the holes.



More Chunky Goodness

Well, got myself involved in yet another chunky ATC swap.  Can't resist those little darlins.  This time it was my friend Lori who twisted my arm, conked me over the head, and otherwise forced my participation.  (funny, right?  all she did was post the swap on the EWV group and there I was, signing up.  in fact, truth be told, Lori put out a call for swap suggestions, and me and my big mouth came up with this idea).  This, after I swore no more signing up for stuff until after the cruise.  Too much to do, too little time.  Yada, yada, yada.  When do I ever listen to myself anyway?
I've done these before.  Click here or here to see other examples. 
And here they are in all their chunky goodness, Wendy-style: 

I completely covered the wood with Tim's tissue tape, then sprayed it with some glimmer mist.  Turned out WAAAAY too pink, so toned them down with some white paint.  Yes, folks, this is the toned down pink, LOL.

Attached the cool knobs (also from Tim) to the tops with adhesive, though it looks like the wire is holding them down.  The wire is really doing nothing, I just like the way it looks, plus the nails it's wound around came in handy for hanging the little tags with Wendy sayings on them.

The flowers.....came from a bunch I made for the CCC challenge (see this post for a better look at them), and the butterfly is also a Wendy stamp.
These are such fun to make....so, my advice is to get yourself a two by four, cut it down, and bring some chunky goodness into your lives.

Flowers Everywhere

I was reading Suze Weinberg's blog post about seeing flowers everywhere, and it's the truth.  In fashion, in jewelry, in home decor, in scrapbooking supplies....flowers and the stuff with which to make them are everywhere lately.  I even got an email from West Elm today regarding an installation of the work of designer David Stark....flowers and flower-related items, all made from the pages of old books.

Last night I met with friends to share some techniques and make some art, and without pre-planning, we all brought flower projects.  Heidi showed us how to make some floral embellishments (I'm thinking they'll make great pins) made from twisting and rolling strips of fabric....just like the old fashioned rag rugs.  Instead of sewing, though, we used a glue gun.  Check these out (the first two are mine, the rest are pieces Heidi made for me as a gift

The great thing about this project, is you can use up some ugly fabric, because after all the rolling and gluing, we sprayed the flowers with Glimmer Mist, which totally transformed them.  Then we embellished them with leaves, feathers, and assorted other bling.

I was watching this week's Taco Tuesday video on making metal flowers and was inspired to bring this project:

It couldn't be easier.  Strips of Ten Seconds Studio metal are loosely folded, accordian style, and manipulated to form a flower shape.  A bottle cap is glued to the center.  Using a 1" circle punch, cut some paper for the inside and then cover it with a layer of Glossy Accents.  Add a pin back  for a brooch, or a magnet to dress up the refrigerator, or use it to decorate a special gift package.

And now for a sneak peek of the upcoming Technique Tuesday for the PID blog.  No directions yet.  You'll have to visit that blog this week for that.  But all these flowers are made from circles cut from a variety of papers.  

Like I said, flowers are everywhere.

Cards and Jewelry and.....

Oops!  Has it really been 5 days since I've posted anything?  I've been trying to reorganize and destash, and that just sucks up all of my time.  Well, maybe not all of it; I have managed to create a thing or two.

On Friday I had my usual wonderful time at the monthly shoebox swap at my friend Heidi's place.  This time there were four of us, and we each brought two projects for everyone else to make.  These are mine:

This little 4x4 wall hanging was totally inspired by one of my new Wendy Vecchi stamp sets.  Just love that little blouse!  It's hanging on a tiny wire hanger (apologies to Joan Crawford, LOL), which is looped over measuring tape which is actually a stamp.  The sentiments are Wendy's, and the pen nibs on the bottom are from a new Tim Holtz set.  The background paper is a Jenni Bowlin mini.

Graphic 45 paper was the impetus behind this greeting card.  Plus, I just had to use one of my new Tim Holtz On The Edge dies for that scallop touch on the side.  

Heidi's two projects involved birds.  OK by me; I love bird images.

We layered two different patterned papers, added a pop of sparkly ribbon, then placed a doily (previously sprayed with glimmer mist) in the corner.  The flower was also sprayed (it started out white), and the bird is a punch, also done with two different papers.

This one was inspired by a steal Heidi found on a recent trip to Pennsylvania.  The bird is from a Martha Stewart set, which she found for UNDER ONE DOLLAR!  In fact, she gifted each of us with a set.  It was stamped on patterned paper and then glitzed up a bit with stickles. The gorgeous frame is a transparency.

Rocker Jen had two awesome cards for us to do as well.

The tiny trees are part of a Stampin' Up set, and we formed the hills with a large oval punch.  Brilliant idea! I love the colors on this one.

Jen's second card started with cardstock that was embossed with dots.  The flowers were punched from patterned paper, grunged up a bit with ink and layered, held together with brads. The stems were just cut free hand, the leafy branches are from a die, and the larger leaves by the bow are actually bird wings,that I think look like leaves.

Pat's projects are gorgeous, though I managed to screw up the first, and not take a great photo of the second. Trust me, both were mega fabulous in person,

This one was shimmery, yummy looking loveliness, but I put the flowers on the wrong side of the folded paper.  The scallop edge was supposed to pop out from the edge.  Oh, who cares?  It's still a delicious looking card.

I really hope you can see the detail on the right side of this black and white beauty.  The black cardstock was embossed, then sprayed with glimmer mist.  Then a sanding block went over top, and removed the layer of mist from the embossed areas.  It feels like flocking!  Another brilliant idea from Pat, and I'm just sorry you can't see it and touch it.

And now for something completely different.  Over at the ArtHaven group, we have a monthly lottery, and the theme this month is water....think ocean, beach, lake, whatever.  When I think of water I think of blues and greens, my favorite colors.  I did a necklace using those colors, and just to reinforce the theme a bit, added a few shell and fish charms.  At the end of April, someone will win it, along with all the other lottery submissions.

Back to my organizing project.  Sigh.......

Cards & Lots of Other Things

This is really a catch up post.  I've been busy getting ready for my cruise, making lots of things, teaching classes, making art; just not blogging!

Saturday was World Card Making Day, and to celebrate a "holiday" so close to our hearts, Heidi and I co-taught a WOW! card class.  We had a nice group come to create, including Yvonne, a visitor from Germany!  Here are the two cards I offered:

The fence (I used real wood!) and leaves are cut from Sizzix dies, and the pumpkins are made from SU! oval punches.

This purse card was inspired by one I received from Sue W. from one of my yahoo groups. The real WOW is when you open it, and the sentiment explodes open:

On Sunday my favorite group...the once a month Paper Crafts group met to share some inspiration.  We all subscribe to Paper Crafts magazine, and once a month get together for a shoe-box style swap.  We take a project from the current issue, make it our own and then bring all the supplies necessary for everyone to make one of their own.  I liked a particular layout in the magazine, and turned it into a bon voyage card:

Heidi's project was an ornament.  We covered porcelain discs with decorative tissue paper, added some bling and a ribbon to hang it.  Here is mine:

Pat had us do fun Halloween treat bags.  Hidden magnets keep the bag closed:

Jenny B's card is simple and elegant and I just love it!  We used the beautiful SU! stamp set Circle Circus, embossed with gold ink and embossing powder, and created some lovely cards.  This is mine:

As I mentioned, I've been busy with cruise-related stuff.  No, not shopping or packing or doing laundry.  Making swaps, a travel journal and some cabin door art.  No picture of the third project yet, but here are my ATCs (all 175 of them), packed and ready to go:

A close up:

Yes, lady liberty is wearing a sombrero (well, we ARE cruising to Mexico),and holding a martini and a pizza carton (well, I AM a New Yorker).  The background is from a reproduction of a vintage NYC street map.

I made my travel journal from a grungeboard book, watercolor paper, and some handmade papers I received as a gift.  All bound up with my favorite new toy, the Bind-It-All.

The inside covers are a collage of papers and some stamping.  The journal has several of the pockets inserted to hold memorabilia.

I sprayed the journal pages with a a few different colors of homemade glimmer mist.  Not so much that I wouldn't be able to see my own writing, but just enough so the pages didn't look too bare.  Any further decoration will take place during and after the cruise.  I'm hoping to use some of the new techniques I learn to finish embellishing it.

If I ever finish my cabin door art I'll post that too.

Last of all, I did finally make one of those grungepaper 3- rose bracelets for myself:

Grungepaper Quilt

I recently participated in two swaps at the All Things Tim (ATT) yahoo group. One was for grungepaper twinchies (2" squares), the other for grungepaper tags, flowers and other dimensional items.

The swaps arrived this week -- wonderful -- but what to do with them? Plus, I had a bunch of extras I'd made.

When grungepaper first came out, Tim showed a beautiful wall hanging done with them; it looked just like a quilt. Why reinvent the wheel? A quilt it would be.

Then, deep in the back of a closet, I found a horrible frame. Ornate, faux gold leafing. Yuck! But it just so happened to be exactly the right size for my quilt. So, I sanded, distressed, crackled, painted, inked that sucker until it was more....grungey.

Then the embellishing began. Rub ons, stamping, hardware, stitching, grungeboard elements, even stickers...I had to force myself to stop.

The photos aren't the greatest, but it is a treat for the eyes in person. And a lasting memory of a very enjoyable swap.

Here are some details:

A Little More Rock & Roll - Let It Be!

Couldn't stop until I did a card with the John Lennon stamp. A few weeks ago I found a book of Lennon/McCartney sheet music in the trash. Unbelievable, what people will throw out! I photocopied a piece of "Let It Be" and used it for the background. Lots of distress inks and glimmer mist, and the words are computer generated.

Use What You Have Challenge!

Here is a challenge I made to the other members of my fabulous SU team: find something you love, something you must have, can't live without, but really can't afford. Hmmm, pretty easy to do that, right? Then, use what you already have and make it yourself!

What inspired me was a visit to a very nice but very expensive scrapbook store. I fell in love with these paper flowers:

I love the irregularity of the edges, and the use of sheet music. They are kind of grungy and edgy, and I really wanted to buy them. But....after tax they would be about $2 per flower, and I just thought that was nuts.

So, I went home, pulled out some scraps of sheet music, some inks, glimmer mist and patterned paper, a few brads, and created these:

What do you think? I'm liking my knock-offs a lot! And I didn't spend a dime.

Grunge Paper Squares

The other grunge paper swap I'm in at ATT is a twinchie swap.....that is, 2" squares. I really went to town on these....they have been dry embossed, heat embossed, sprayed, inked, blended, distressed, stamped. I was even able to add some grunge board shapes and idea-ology hardware. I'm pretty amazed at how much I could do with two square inches