Life happens!

 My life has become so crazy lately! We are about to leave on a month-long trip to Italy to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary and I just returned from a week in Mexico to finish up some dental work. We return on the 30th and leave again two days later to babysit the grandboys in Albuquerque while their parents go to Patagonia for two weeks. It seems I won't have any free (art) time until almost Thanksgiving! Needless to say, I won't be updating the blog for a month or two and just wanted to let everyone know.

In the meantime, here are a few of the last weekly Margarete Miller collage challenges I've finished (which is about all I've managed lately!) 

Week 35

Week 36

Week 37

Week 38

Week 39

"See" you in November sometime.

August Junk Journal Page Swap

 The base of my August junk journal page was cut from a master board made of lots of leftover scraps from previous projects. It measures 5" x 7" with a floral focal point cut from a magazine. I also added a portion of a doily, a few labels and a butterfly before adding a vellum pocket. I sewed around the edge and added another butterfly and label to the front of the pocket.

Two tags fit into the pocket. The larger one is made from a paint "chip" layered with a tag, a few labels and stickers and a butterfly. The smaller tag is a manila tag decoupaged with book text and a napkin. A butterfly and label were also added.

This is the front of the page with the tags in the pocket.

The back is covered with a vintage invoice. The corner pocket is made with a piece of sheet music. The corner is folded down with a piece of handmade paper and a cut out butterfly embellishing it. Inside the pocket is a fold-over card decoupaged with multiple paper scraps, floral and butterfly images and a few labels. 

Here is the closed tag inside the pocket. The birds are stamped on a piece of sewing pattern tissue and glued to the top of the card along with a small label.

I'm Back and Catching Up

 My mother had a TIA in early August and I spent a few weeks with her in Vermont to make sure everything was ok. She recovered very quickly and has little or no lasting side effects, thankfully! She turned 94 in June and is remarkable, still living at home and getting around by herself.

Needless to say, I did no art for those several weeks! I'm happy to be home again and have been catching up on swaps I'd joined.

Here are the last three weeks' of collage challenges.

Week 32

Prompts:

1) a contraption (dictionary diagram)

2) a piece of postcard, either side (vintage postcard of a hotel)

3) something that starts with letter F (fern)

4) a barcode (lowered of page)

5) a date or anything from a calendar (dates on labels)

Bonus: something from a magazine (paint color swatches from magazine ad)

Week 33

Prompts:

1) "electronic", whatever that means to you (headphones)

2) a security envelope pattern (brick-like pattern in two places)

3) something with a star or stars (stamped and embossed star pattern, upper right,

and "camera" washi tape)

4) a doodle (upper left corner border)

5) something industrial (machines in factory)

Bonus: text from a book page (upper left)

Week 34

Prompts:

1) "light", whatever that means to you (sunset)

2) any kind of tag ("Salty Cow" tag from delivered food)

3) paper that is stained or has a stain (tea-dyed paper in background)

4) sand or stone (not used)

5) something that starts with the letter P (peony)

Bonus: a sticker (butterfly)

Collage Challenge - Weeks 30 & 31

Week 30

Prompt:

What do you think oof when you imagine a secret code? Is it a string of random numbers? Is it a strange looking alphabet? Is it symbols in a strange order? Create a collage with something that could look like a secret code.

I was at a loss on this one but I had recently done an afternoon session of gelli plate printing, so started by using some of the prints I'd made to collage the background. The diamond die cut was a leftover and I had used it as a mask in the printmaking when I used gold paint. It was so pretty I added it to the collage.

For the "secret code" I decided to use up a sheet of black alpha stickers - the remaining stickers didn't spell a thing so I just placed them randomly down the center of the page.

There's no solution to the code, but I was happy to use up some leftovers!

Week 31

 

Prompts:

1) something with a spine (bear)

2) a path or road (bicycle path)

3) your least favorite color (orange - paint swatch strip)

4) a formula (mathematical formulas from old book - top of page)

5) a crossword or newspaper/magazine puzzle (bottom right)

Bonus: a (dried) leaf or flower (skeleton leaf)

I also added an old rub-on border to finish off the page.

Collage Challenges - Weeks 28 & 29

 Week 28

Prompts:

1) something related to coffee (didn't use this prompt)

2) anything with a bit of pink (lots of pink!)

3) something in the shape of a hexagon (3 punched hexagons)

4) a photo or portion of a photo (photo of tulip I've had forever)

5) ink - whatever that means to you (India ink bottle)

Bonus: a piece of dictionary page (upper left corner)

Week 29

Prompts:

1) something that turns of spins (clock hands)

2) a key or keys (paper in upper right corner; key rub-on)

3) a ticket of any kind (vintage bus/train tickets)

4) a portion or a brochure or advertisement (Texas ad)

5) a building (church)

Bonus: a place (cityscape, left side of page)

July Junk Journal Page Swap

This is my page for the July junk journal swap. 

I covered an old greeting card with scraps for the base and  made an envelope with a 

page from a botanical book. It is glued to the front page on three sides to form another pocket behind. I trimmed the placket with a bit of lace and added some washi tape and a few labels to decorate. 

Inside the envelope is a mini-notebook "matchbook-style" made from a green paint chip and decorated with a botanical sticker and some music paper.

The pocket behind the envelope holds two tags. The larger one is cut out from a master board I had made with scraps and decorated with a torn floral image from the same botanical book and a few labels.

The smaller tag is a clothing tag covered with green paper and a bit of dictionary page. It also has a small floral image torn from the book.

The recipient likes the color green and botanicals, so I hope she enjoys this page.

 

Collage Challenges - Weeks 26 & 27

 Week 26

Prompts

1) something that emits heat (hibachi grill)

2) a pair of something (two quilt mosaics)

3) a face (Japanese chef and face on stamp)

4) something royal (English stamp)

5) a bit of green (washi tape; strawberry leaves; butterfly)

Bonus: text other than English or native language (page background)

Week 27

Prompts

1) something with a bumpy surface (embossed paper)

2) anything that can blow in the wind (balloons, flowers)

3) something in shape of a triangle (tee-pee)

4) lined paper (notepaper, upper left corner)

5) a number or numbers (black stickers)

Bonus: instructions (lower left of page)