May inchie - RED

This is my inchie for a personal trade in the month of May.
I painted a strip of grunge board with Studio red.  I cut this into 1" squares.  I then edged around with a fluid chalk red pigment pad.  I covered each inchie with tulle.   Using a black inkpad, I stamped script over white paper flowers.  I folded the flowers in half and then in thirds and secured each one with a scrap of pink grossgrain ribbon.  I attached the flower to the inchie with glue dots.  I made a tiny tag and used a red inkpen to write "RED" on the tag and used the red pigment pad to edge all around.  I punched a hole in the tag and used red thread to tie onto it.  I tied the other end of the tag to one of Tim Holtz's tiny pins and pinned it through the tulle on the inchie. 

I did spritz red Glimmer Mist on the flower and tag of my own inchie, but not on the others, as I like it best without it.

Altered Bingo Card for Pat

This is the Bingo card I altered for Pat, my swap this month in my art group.  Pat specified that she wanted these Jenni Bowlin pink Bingo cards.  I first inked the edges of the Bingo card with a pink inkpad.  Next I used a cotton swab and sepia inkpad to add an aged look around each square.  I had the doll in mind already, but really wanted to leave the Bingo numbers visible.  I really thought about tearing papers and making a background, but that seemed to defeat the whole "Bingo card" idea.  I looked at Fifth Child Studio's blog and viewed some of the cards that Sara has altered.  I was thrilled to see (and read) that she chose to leave most of the Bingo card visible as a Bingo card.  So, after being inspired by some of her works, I continued on my altering journey.  I love the epoxy square and heart in the middle of the card.  I have had it for some time and knew this would be the place to use it.  The doll is put together from some of the rubber stamps from Catherine Moore.  I stamped this dress on several decorated pieces of paper to see which I thought would look best with this color theme.  I added a sticker heart border to the bottom of the dress and then used the peel-away portion of the sticker border at the top of the card.  I thought these red foil wings just really made her a stand-out doll.  ")  And, of course, she needed something to hold in her hands.  My first inclination was that it should be a heart.  But, while rummaging around in my embellishments, I spied these Bingo buttons, also from Jenni Bowlin.  It was just the perfect item.  When I tied the red string on the button, it just seemed natural to hang a heart charm from it.  (I did not have red string, so I cut a piece of string and dipped it into a bottle of Liquitex Naththol Crimson acrylic ink.)  I added two hand cut hearts from a reversable paper diagonally across to the "free" heart space.  (Notice that I used one side on the first heart, and the reverse side on the second heart.)  I chose this beautiful ruby red tatted lace (bought from Croppinsville) to decorate the left side of the card.  I stamped the word "Doll" on the right side of the card.  I then computer generated the quote and printed it out.  I cut around the quote, edged it with pink ink and adhered it to the lower left of the card.  I thought she needed a little hat, so I cut the little chapeau from a piece of ruby red felt and attached it to her head.  Last of all, I randomly added single heart stickers.

Learn to pause........(luggage tag)

This is the back of the tag..............I love the quote!  Sara has added a strip of bird images at the bottom side of the tag.  And, of course, she has handwritten her "thanks" on the card.  Thank you, Sara, for a great learning (and artistic) experience!

Luggage Tag from Sara

I received this luggage tag from Sara yesterday.  I will be adding it to the ribbons on my train case.  I love this diecut birdcage ....from grunge paper, no less.  ")  She has painted it turquoise (!) and then sponged some brown and orange over it for a patina look.  The sweet little bird inside is done in brown and turquoise paper...the wing put on with dimensional tape and it has a little silver bead for the eye.  I love the feathery background that Sara has stamped behind it.  She has used her sewing machine to sew the sides of the cage to the tag.  Thanks, Sara!

Top of train case

I love my train case!  I was so worried that the finished project was not going to look good.  Collage is something with which you have to keep tinkering.  The trick is not to over do it...........or leave it lacking in so many areas.  I think I always fear that I'm adding more than is needed.  But, I must say I am satisfied with this finished project.  ")  Here you can see some of my medallions:  BIRD, the blue bird and the piece of music "At Sunset".  I notice that I have about four faux postals on the top of my case, but they really seem to be the blending pieces.  This was a challenging project (and you know how I love a challenge!) and I am so thrilled that I tackled it.  ")  Sometimes I look at a project and say to myself, "Oh, I could do that."
And. then, when I have jumped in feet first, I get a little nervous that maybe I can't do that.  LOL  But it is always good to stretch your creativity....spread those wings a little farther out...........   Happy Creating, everyone!

Highlights from top of case - left

I instantly fell in love with this image of the little girl's face and knew I wanted to color it in and place this large, round TH fragment over it.  I cut out one of the diamonds from my foundation paper and added it just above the image.  The green butterfly above and the bird below this image really tied my theme together.

Highlights from top of case

I knew I wanted to put this little bird lady from Catherine Moore on my case.  I stamped her twice, once on blue paper and then again on blue/green patterned paper.  I cut the dress from the patterned paper and attached it over the other image.  I stained the Scrabble letters with Tim Holtz's Spiced Marmalade reinker and his alcohol ink, Citrus.  Then I attached the letters to the top of the case.

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". 

Cover Art for RubberStampMadness Summer 2010

How exciting is this?!  I was thrilled to finally get my copy of the Summer 2010 RubberStampMadness with my artwork on the cover.  I can honestly say that I really worked hard on this piece.  In fact, I did it over in a completely different color scheme.  My first try was in oranges, but, then, I realized that this was going to be a summer issue...........and my piece was looking a lot like Halloween!  LOL   So, back to the drawing board I went and here's the final piece.   I started with a sheet of water color paper and spritzed it with Glimmer Mist Sea Glass.  Next I printed a practice sheet of calligraphy that I had scanned from a book I bought at a secondhand bookstore.  I am an aphabet addict!  I had over half a dozen rubberstamps of differing styles of alphabets.  I stamped them in various colors of ink and then laid them out over the printed calligraphy sheet.  I finally decided on the three you see here.  I also have alphabet cards that I had used with my grandchildren and chose to have A & Z.  I used alcohol inks to color these cards.  Next I brought out my very large letters to stamp the A, B, and C.  I have a rubberstamp that has lines similiar to those on practice sheets for elementary students.  I used papers that had graduated colors for these letters, but first did a light stamping of a jacquard pattern behind the letters.  I started layering all these images on my page to see what else the page needed.  Other images I chose were:  the ink pen, the pencil, pen nibs, the hand with the quill, and the ink bottle.  I stamped them all with a black inkpad and cut them out.  After adding these, I thought it needed a spot of color and "X marks the spot" came to mind.  I remembered my decorated alphabet and stamped the "X" in red.  I cut the X out and added it to the page.  I studied my page for several days and kept thinking about being in school and learning the alphabet.  I then had the idea to add the little girl sitting with an open book.  After I stamped her on light blue paper with black ink, I used a black pen to write in the "A" and the "B" on the pages of the book.  I cut her out placed her on the alphabet in the front.  Last of all, I made the decision to add the small a, b and c to accompany the larger letters.  I had also hand lettered the alphabet across the top of the page in a 1/4" border.  Roberta called me when this was being prepared for the final print and asked if I had any objections to loosing that top 1/4" that included the handlettered alphabet.  Well, of course, I had no objections!  ")   I am very pleased with the final copy.