Recent Swaps

I recently hosted an "Old Techniques are New Again" swap. We revisited a marbling technique using shaving cream which has been around for years.  Basically the technique uses shaving cream sprayed into a pan and leveled out like frosting. Then drops of a few colors of acrylic ink, paint, alcohol ink, or even food coloring are dropped onto the shaving cream and "combed" through with various tools. A sheet of paper is placed on top and rubbed gently. After removing the paper and scraping off excess shaving cream, it is left to dry and you end up with some amazing background papers!

For this swap we had to make a card using one of our marbled backgrounds.

This was the one I sent off. I used a second marbled piece to die cut the bird.

And I received this one.  I think we were all thinking "spring" as the cards were all bright and colorful.

If you haven't tried this technique before, give it a whirl. It's expensive and fun and the papers smell amazing. I've even seen this on Pinterest used for coloring Easter eggs, which would be fun to do with kiddos!

I am also participating in a "Divided Postcard" swap where we each divide a postcard into thirds and decorated one section. We then send it to two more people and, when completed, gets sent on to a fourth person. This is truly cooperative art!

Here is the postcard I started with. I decorated the address side with stamps and watercolors.

For my section on the reverse side, I used modeling paste through a floral stencil and then added Color Burst powder watercolors. I finished with a stamp and some spritzes of gold paint.

This is the first postcard I've received. The left section was already completed. I used Distress Ink on my background and stamped a Ken Oliver daisy stamp in Archival ink.  I colored with regular colored pencils, white paint for the flower and used gold Stickles for the flower center.

It will be fun to see how these postcards progress and what they look like finished!

Documented Life Planner - Week 28

July Theme - Ephemera

July 11 - Week 28

Art Challenge - Focal Point vs Layers

Journal Prompt - Time keeps on Ticking

I had finished this week's spread early as I was scheduled to go on a retreat with an online group this weekend. The best laid plans... I came down with a sore throat, bad cough and pink eye! Instead of traveling to the retreat on Thursday, I was at the doctor's office!  And this has really set me back - I have felt like doing absolutely nothing except laying on the couch surfing the internet or napping all day! And today is the first time I've made it into my art room since Wednesday!

Anyway, here is the spread for this week. For the layers/ephemera part of the challenge, I collaged a torn book page, a Bingo card, assorted leftover letter paper tiles, an old coupon, a receipt and a reference chart for screw threads on the background. 

Then I applied heavy gesso with a palette knife to obscure the different pieces before using Ken Oliver's Color Burst pigment (violet) all over. (Sorry, I just got into the flow then and forgot to take some process photos!)

Color Burst is a very concentrated powdered pigment which activates with water and acts much like watercolor. The violet is a beautiful color with specks of blue and turquoise as well as violet. I manipulated this over the page and added more gesso until I was satisfied with the look. I challenged myself with this color choice as I am NOT a purple person! It is very hard to work with colors you don't favor.

The journal prompt of "time keeps on ticking" made me think of how time is flying by with our little grandchildren. It's been only three years since the first was born, but oh, so much has happened since then (three additional grand boys!) and they are growing up so fast. I decided to print out tiny photos of them at birth and then a photo of all four of them from last weekend when we were in Albuquerque celebrating #2's third birthday. I changed the photos to black and white because all the colors were not working with the background. 

The focal point is the title stamped with two different-sized alphabets surrounded with a chipboard clock die-cut. I painted the die-cut black and then added Glossy Accents to highlight it. I also used a few clock stamps and a "time" definition stamp on the background along with a few wooden clock pieces.

Before calling it finished, I had to change some of my documenting on the days of the week to reflect that I was not able to attend my retreat. I was very disappointed in that, but there is always next year!