This is going to bore you silly . . . but . . .

YIKES!!!! I haven't posted since June 17th . . . Here it is July 19th . . . time sure flies when you're having fun!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!
Here are some of my Art Journal entries . . . one technique . . . a sample of a color chart . . . a sample of color combinations that appeal to me . . .
I've been playing with color and background techniques continuing to be inspired by Chris Cozen's ALTERED SURFACES and, now, Traci Bautista's COLLAGE UNLEASHED . . . what a playful spirit Traci Bautista encourages . . . I'm anxious to try more of her techniques . . .
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . . . are you still awake?!!?!?!?! I hope I didn't put you to sleep with this basic information . . . I hope you totally HAVE FUN!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Collage-y Art Journal

One of my talented internet stamping buddies, Lori Roberts, encouraged me to experiment with collage images recently . . . these are from Paper Imagery Designs . . . I combined them with Paper Bag Studios rubber stamps to create front and back covers for an art journal I just started . . .

The beautiful printed papers were part of a printed paper swap from one of my groups . . . the front cover was swapped from Kathryn McAllister . . . the paper is beautiful on its own . . . but really set off a nice contrast to the blue outfit of the little boy . . . The back cover was swapped printed paper from Francine Groulx . . . I felt the delicate nature of the collage image deserved a likewise softly printed background . . .

What a cool swap that was!!!! It's TOO MUCH FUN having internet stamping buddies!!!!! LOL!!!!!!

Friends of Sylvia Valle . . . June 3, 2008

This week was the last meeting of my stamping class at the local community center, taught by Sylvia Valle, the former instructional editor of Stampington for 10 years . . . summer vacation is here and all her students including me await to take her classes, again, in the fall . . . I volunteered to make a Thank You card from our class . . . but at the last minute had a BRAINSTORM to make a memory book with photos of each student on a memory book page designed by the student . . . everyone did such a BEAUTIFUL job and were so positive and supportive of my last minute idea . . . here are a few pages that I created for the book . . .
The local newspaper published an article on her classes at the community center . . . what a perfect subject for a memory book layout . . .
Sylvia can have 25 students or more in her Greeting card class . . . and she warmly welcomes new students never saying her classes are FULL . . .
I can't believe how talented this gracious lady is . . . she also teaches (and LOVES) beading, calligraphy, journal writing, bookmaking (bookbinding), and probably other stuff I don't even know about!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She tells us that her teaching is a LABOR OF LOVE!

You just gotta love this special lady!!!!

Experimenting with Acrylic Paints

Last Friday . . . dh#2 was away for most of the day . . . so I was able to invite some of the retired teachers/stamping buddies over to play . . . I served my FAMOUS Costco pizza and Bag 'O Salad (salad that comes in a bag!!! LOL!!!!)!

We played for 6 - 11 hours . . . I decided to experiment with some techniques I found in Chris Cozen's ALTERED SURFACES, her new AWESOME book . . . but as I was telling Lisa Gifford, an internet stamping buddy who owns STEP OUTSIDE YOUR BOX SATURDAYS, an internet mixed media challenge group . . . I was too CHICKEN to use my expensive paints so I used Liquitex BASICS to start off my experiments with . . .

I used modeling paste . . . stencils . . . string gel (also known as tar gel) . . . splattered paint with a silicon basting brush I bought 2 for a dollar at the dollar store . . . scraped paint with an old credit card thingy (Traci Bautista technique) . . .

All images are Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Collection . . .

Do you like it?

Mr. & Mrs. Paper Artsy & Family

Woo!!!!!!!! Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't win first place . . . but I qualified for "highly recommended" for my entry in the Paper Artsy Big Fat Competition contest for May 21, 2008 . . .

My family friend/stamping buddy, Lori Tokita, encouraged me to alter a papier mache box . . . that introduced me to 3-dimensional objects . . . I found this charming wooden bird house at Joann's for only one dollar which became my altered object for the contest . . .

I painted gesso and Liquitex Basic White acrylic paint on the birdhouse . . . the trim was painted with Joann's Magenta Craft Paint . . . inked the School Boy and Strange Little Girls in Kaleidacolor Spectrum . . . spritzed the stamp with denatured alcohol (I hope this doesn't damage my stamps!!!! YIKES!!!!! LOL!!!!) . . . let it drip until I was happy with the result . . . let it dry . . . huffed on it to re-moisten . . . stamped it on white glossy Kromekote cardstock . . . the other images were stamped with the Spectrum Kaleidacolor without spritzing . . .

The stamped cardstock was trimmed to fit and adhered with PVA Glue . . . then sprayed with Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze with plenty of ventilation . . . let dry . . .

The charms were inspired by Sharon Diskin from LuminArte . . . they are shrink plastic stamped with Staz On ink . . . beads and charms were added to embellish . . .

Whew!!! I now have a new respect for 3-dimensional artists!!!!

Mitra's Birdie

I simply couldn't resist this bird stamp at the lss . . . all the black images on this card are from Impression Obsession . . . The card was inspired by the beautiful K & Company Mira Collection printed papers . . . The technique is from Leandra of Paper Artsy fame . . . I used Ranger Ink Adirondack Popsicle Orange dye ink stamp pad to ink up my brayer . . . rolled off the excess ink on a piece of scrap paper . . . LIGHTLY brayered HORIZONTALLY on my glossy white Kromekote cardstock . . . after cleaning my brayer . . . I inked up my brayer with Adirondack Raspberry . . . again, rolled off the excess ink on a piece of scrap paper . . . LIGHTLY brayered VERTICALLY on my cardstock . . . scraped the edges with the Raspberry stamp pad . . . stamped the bird in Raspberry and Orange . . . stamped the flourish from the Michelle Ward Collection from Stampington in Raspberry . . . let dry or heat set . . . used a non-stick static pad on the card . . . embossed the bird, dragonfly, butterfly, and words with Black ColorBox pigment ink and black embossing powder . . .

Cecilia Charm

Lisa Gifford, owner of Step Outside Your Box Saturdays, challenged her group with creating a charm this week . . . Mine is inspired by Sharon Diskin of LuminArte . . . the Cecilia image is by Cherry Pie and the words are by Hero Arts