Right side of case

I think immediately you see that I added the gold foil bird instead of another butterfly.  I like for my work to have an unexpected element along the way.  ")   (not unexpected because it is a FOIL bird, but because it's not another butterfly around the edge)  The images I had chosen for this side had lots of browns.  I looked back through my papers and found this "Do not remove" label that Sara had added to my folder.  I loved it!   I used it to tie the side to the back of my case.   I later found the brown train ticket with some others I had at home and used it on the lower left.  I used a coral ink to blend this side together and a touch of brown on the upper right.  I really like the way this side looks.  ")

Back of train case

I love the look of this!  The Terra Cotta ink I used to blend my areas together is like a ray of sunshine!  I added this reclining lady to the center of my collage on the back to give the impression of being in an enclosed garden.  (notice the garden plan on the paper behind her)  Once again my diamond paper is peaking through ....lower left... and was my foundation paper.  I loved using the train ticket on the lower right........one of those "aha!" moments.  ")  You can see the butterflies continuing around the top edge of the case.

Left side of train case

Well, of course, I just had to use the birdcage on my case.... after all, the theme is  Birds!  ")  Notice the butterflies around the top edge of the case.  I made this the pattern for my case all the way around.  You can really see my ribbons in the indentions here.  I love the green in this bird and found it also in the butterfly that I collaged in this area.  The berries and faux postage really compliment each other and I used a coordinating ink to blend these areas together.  Here you can see part of the diamond paper that I tore and used as the foundation of my collage work.  Just had to put that nest below the cage.  ")

Collaged Train Case - front

I took a "Train Case" class at Croppinsville in Collinsville a few weekends ago.  The class was taught by Sara Hanlon of Fifth Child Studio.  Each participant had their own case to collage.  My theme was birds and butterflies.  I think most of the participants put fibers on their handles when they finished, but I had this material that I had dyed for a project.  I tore it into strips and added various types of ribbon.  I attached the nest with the eggs to the netted ribbon.  I made several medallions using images and words with Tim Holtz's fragments.  I tied a medallion to each end of a piece of heavy string and then tied these strings in with the ribbons. 

I started my case by painting the bottom with Studio's Landscape Green.  I chose images of birds that had greens and blues.  I then added browns and oranges.  I had three indented areas around my case at the opening.  I chose a blue ribbon with green and brown circles for the larger middle indention.  For the two smaller ones, I cut cardstock with thin stripes of greens, blues, browns and oranges.  I added butterflies, faux postage and words to my collaged images.  I sponged inks into areas to tie the images together.

Sara is a great teacher and is so patient!  She offers so many images and a folder full of choices.  One thing she said over and over was that she was "all about choices".