Paper Whimsy girls and metal tape

I finished this page the night before I left town (when I was supposed to be packing!) and have scheduled it to post while I am gone.

I love these girls from Paper Whimsy and covered them on the page with square Tim Holtz clear fragments (remember those?). I edged the fragment tiles with gold soldering tape.

Once those were secured, I glued on washers, rings, a chipboard flourish and pieces of drywall tape for texture. The entire page (except the photos) was covered with pieces of silver ducting tape (not duct tape). This is the tape wrapped around heating pipes and can be found on a large roll in home improvement stores. Then I burnished the tape well to reveal all the interesting textures. Here you can see the page at this stage.

Then it was time to paint over the tape with black gesso. I let it dry almost completely and then wiped with a dry paper towel.  I love this technique and have used it before in another altered book and also on a cover.

The strip at the top of the page is a piece of black metal dry embossed with a Ten Seconds Studio border mold.  I've had that laying around for awhile! I liked the added texture it gave to this page.

17th Century Beauty - altered page

I scheduled this to post while I am out of town. I finished this page a few days before I left for Vermont.

The background is texture paste through a circle stencil which was then colored with several colors of chalk pastels (turquoise, coral red and yellow ochre). I added each color separately and covered with clear gesso to seal. After the three colors were added I then sanded and wiped lightly with a black Staz On ink pad.

The image is from an Italian painting in one of my art books. I added the rays by drawing through a ray stencil on scrapbook paper and then cutting them out. I placed them behind her head to bring her to the foreground as she got lost on the background. I also added the bird and butterfly.

Art Journal pages

I am trying to get back to art journaling, in between all our weekend summer trips.

This first page was done in May but I forgot to post. The background was mostly done in stages, with extra paints, stamps and texture paste from other projects. The stamped quote (which isn't very visible in this photo) says "experience is not what happens to you, it' what you do with what happens to you." Because of the very textured background, I stamped it on tissue paper and then adhered it. The tissue paper almost disappears!

This is a very simple page, also done on a background of extra paint and stencils. I had a cute Mary Engelbreit image I'd cut out of a magazine some time ago and added it to the page. The words are also from a magazine. I have a little container to store words and phrases I cut from ads and magazines to keep for art journaling titles and quotes.

I finished this page today.  The tip-in is a paint swatch card - I loved the door and left it as is, only adding the word "explore." Again, the background had already been started. I added some white lines stamped with paint and corrugated cardboard and some script in black ink.

When the card flips open, it reveals a focal point on the page found on the internet. I doodled in white pen. The back of the card is covered in a piece of junk mail that I had used for wiping off paint and stencils. I also tore the same paper into strips and added to the page background. The focal point on the card is bits and pieces of body parts from magazines. The hat is actually a pendant lamp.

I think I'm finally getting back into my groove, but I'm about to leave again on Thursday to visit my mother in Vermont. I'll probably be gone 1-2 weeks. She has super slow internet so I won't be posting during that time.

New Altered Book

It's been a busy week! Last weekend we went to Albuquerque for our grandson's 7th birthday party, returning late Sunday night. On Monday our two grandsons from Austin arrived and stayed with us until today while their mother (a SW flight attendant) worked a trip. We had so much fun with them, taking them to the Perot Natural History and Science Museum in Dallas, swimming, and playing lots of games. Tomorrow we leave for Kansas City to visit my sister and brother-in-law for the weekend so not much time to rest!

I managed to get started on a new altered book. I completed the first spread (three pages actually) before the boys arrived. I've saved these beautiful iconic photos from a National Geographic for years and wanted to use them somehow.  The first is of a gorgeous Afghan refugee taken by a photographer in 1985. She had never had a her photo taken before. Seventeen years later, the photographer searched for her and, miraculously, found her. Although she has aged and her face shows signs of her struggles and hard life, she is still beautiful. (The modern images I used on the other pages hardly compare but I needed to complete the spread!)

Pages 1 and 2

Back of Page 2 and Page 3

This summer has been so hectic, I am glad to finally be getting back to some creative time!

June and July Altered Trading Coins

I somehow forgot to post the projects from the June AT Coin Swap.

My June AT Coins - theme "patriotic"

Patriotic AT Coins received

Thank you Liane

Thank you Barbara

My July AT Coins - theme "summer" (front and back)

As you read this, I will be on my way to Albuquerque. Our second-to-oldest grandson turned 7 on Monday and his birthday party will be on Saturday. It's been awhile since we've seen them so I'm anxious to be there this weekend!

Trying to revive my muse

It's been awhile since I've done much artful creating. What with the remodel and then refinishing lots of furniture, I have not been in my art room except for a few small swap pieces to send off.

Things are settling down now and I'm taking a break from the furniture painting - at least for now as there are more pieces I would like to redo - so I'm trying to find my muse again.  This came in the mail yesterday. I was about to throw it away but since it's basically a big sheet of sticker paper, I thought I would art it up for future stickers.

First I spread a light coat of gesso on it to subdue the colors and writing.

And this is what I ended up with after several layers of scraped paint, stenciling, stamping and splatters. It was fun to just let loose and not care about the outcome! And you can't even tell what it was originally.

Now I have some great background paper to punch or tear to add to future art journal pages or mixed media projects.  Here's an example of a punched 2.5" circle which is perfect for the start of an Altered Trading Coin.

So, the muse is taking baby steps back. Hopefully she will jump right in soon!