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".