I Am on a Journey - Art Journal Pages

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I wanted to make something soft and pretty with lots of texture.

This is the first time I've Mod Podged a paper doily right onto the page. I love the raised texture it gives and how if softens the color underneath.

Left Side:

Right Side:

Close Up:

Plant Your Own Garden, Decorate Your Own Soul

I made this for a very sweet lady, it was a real privilege.

As always, the little heart garden was so much fun to make. If you saw how much paper I paint to make those flowers you'd know how Type A I am - for such a paint-splattering fool at least :-)

What do you think of the funky hair? I'm enjoying branching out into more contemporary styles - it's nice to give these Modern Girls a little edge. 

Thanks for visiting!

Tags with Magnet Gifts: Giveaway

When I saw Paula Cheney's Tag for the 12 Feminine Tags of Christmas my first thought was, "Yeah. Not gonna happen"

It's very pretty but so far from my style I didn't think it was worth even attempting. But not trying isn't my style either - not at all - so I broke tag down to a sketch and took notes from the tutorial of techniques I could use. Looking at it as a sketch helped me "see" the design elements and I realized that while Paula's tag was very layered and filled to the brim with techniques and product, the design was fairly simple and straightforward.

And I liked it so much I made it twice, one horizontal and one vertical.

For this yellow tag I tried to mirror Paula's mostly monochromatic color scheme, deep embossing, color smoosh *grin*, large bow and large round element.

The fun thing about these tags is that the focal ornament is a magnet made from a wood shape, painted black, topped with hand painted paper and embellished with wood letters and ribbon. The recipient can use the magnet once they are done with the tag.

I ended up making a whole stack of magnets. They were too fun to make just one.

This bright tag is built on hand painted watercolor paper embellished with music paper. It's so energetic and cheerful and feels Christmasy even though it doesn't utilize the traditional Christmas color scheme.

Thanks so much for visiting. 

If you'd like to receive one of these magnets in the mail just leave me a comment and I'll choose a winner or two.

Super Hero Ornaments

I made these last year for my friend J. and never blogged them for fear he'd see them before Christmas.

Pretty cool, no?

Saw them Happy Looks Good on You and they were a lot harder to make than they look :-)

Christmas Angel Tag - Bombshell Style

You know I love my Bombshell Stamps. So when I saw an angel tag by Carolyn Peeler for the 12 Feminine Tags of Christmas I couldn't help but add the wings from the Sacred Heart set to the pirate from A Pirate's Life.  Boom! I got me an angel... more like a Victoria's Secret angel but...

It was fun to do some masking and coloring - it's been awhile.

In addition to the glitter, there is a border of glass micro beads around the edge. It gives the tag great texture, shine and interest that the photos aren't quite capturing. Silly winter skies and the trouble they wreak on picture taking!

The color scheme, glass beads and pearl were all inspired by the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

Thanks so much for stopping by :-)

Trees Christmas Tag

Here's my take on Maile Belles  Christmas Tag for Day Ten of the 12 tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.

This is Maille's tag:

And here's mine. All my white stamping ink let me down so I squished gesso through a stencil instead and left it to dry overnight.

That tree stamp is SO old. I used it to make Christmas Cards in 2001.

Bird on Branch Christmas Tag

One thing I realized this year during the Twelve Tags with a Feminine Twist is that I really don't bring a lot of my own style to the tags. I tend to make my own version of the designers tag and that's it.

But, I know it's much more fun, and more authentic, to create something my own style that is inspired by the tag of the day. Does that make sense?

My first attempt was earlier today with the Snowman Tag - I flicked some red paint (oh, how I love red splatters!) and stenciled on some white paint through punchinella - and just that little bit made a huge difference in my perspective. 

So when I approached Jennifer McGuire's GORGEOUS tag from Day 4 I did my best to do it my way. Namely I used hand made paper, gesso, lots of ink and hand cut elements. The only purchased product was the scrap of Bazzil I cut into the branch and some jewels  - even the ribbon was from a package we'd received.

I also drew inspiration from Tim Holtz's tag from April, it too used a bird on a branch motif with a background reminiscent of book paper and a color scheme mixing warm yellow/oranges with blues and browns. Over at Simon Says Stamp the current challenge is "inspired by Tim's 12 Tags" and I have to say I had a great time looking through his tags deciding what to draw my ideas from.

It felt a lot better to make it my way and it's a good reminder that it's just not as fun unless it comes from your heart.