Category Archives: Paper Beauties

The heART Exchange Experience

I want to start off by saying that I so admire bloggers who blog regularly.  It seems no matter my intentions I have thus far been unable to make it a regular habit!  I feel like I have to be in a certain frame of mind and I have to have the right pictures to accompany my post so !voila!–a perfect recipe for no regular posts.  Perhaps I also need to quit playing Words With Friends online too…but that’s another story.  I am determined to keep veering back onto my blogging path until I get it right!

I had a very fun experience doing my first heART Exchange through the website http://yourheartmakesadifference.com/about/about-the-movement/.  I swapped with “an artist, dreamer and believer” named Leanne Wargowsky at fromchaoscomeshappiness.com.  We were matched by the swap coordinator at Your HeART Makes a Difference after we joined the swap.  Here is the piece of art I received from Leanne

 

It is a really fun collage piece on painted canvas!  I am thrilled to receive it from Leanne!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sent her a piece I had previously posted here in one of it’s incarnations.

  It was really fun to send a piece out into the Universe without knowing one thing about where it was going or anything about the person to receive it.  Sending it out only for the sake of doing it and to give it wings.  I will probably participate in other heART Exchanges because this one gave me so much pleaure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have an artsy day!

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Alone Time

 

 

Kusadasi Turkey

Sometimes I need some alone time.  Pretty regularly actually.  I know I’m not the only person who feels this way because I have friends who tell me they are the same way.  I can tell when I need alone time because I start to get annoyed by    every    little    thing.  I get short with people.  I find every question or comment like nails on a chalkboard.  Doesn’t matter if it’s family, friend, or foe.  I know it is time to get away for a bit.  Doesn’t have to be for long–even a couple of hours is adequate but longer is better.  I hear there are some people who don’t know how to be alone.  Maybe it has to do with your upbringing.  I’ve always been this way as far as I can remember.  I love people and I love to have fun and interact, but in between I need solitude.  My dog is allowed to hang out with me during my alone time–she actually enhances it by being generally adoring and silly and calm!

Today I am feeling like I need alone time.  I’ve been “on” for several days now and I need to be off for awhile.  My ultimate master plan is to hunker down in my art shack and immerse myself in a vat of gel medium and then roll in glitter and paint and ink.  Well, that’s my fantasy ultimate master plan…more realistically I will be thrilled and satisfied to gel medium some object and then beautify it with stuff!

Here are some things I’ve been working on lately.  Did another piece of doodle art–this time colorized with colored pencils and Copic markers and Signo markers.

 

A mixed media piece I’ve been messing with for awhile and can’t decide if I even like it right now.  Sometimes I like how things are progressing and then add another something and wish I had an undo button.

We’ll see how it looks at the end.  The last piece is a scrapbook layout.  I was completely enamored with scrapbooking a few years ago, but I’ve gotten away from it for a couple of years because I was exploring other creative options.  I’ve decided I want to do some scrapbooking lately because I’ve had so many wonderful adventures and events and memories that I want to preserve for my family in a meaningful way.

TFL!

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Happy Colors!

I like to doodle.  I doodle when I’m on the phone, when I’m waiting for things, especially when I’ve been in long training sessions or staff meetings in the office.  It’s a form of listening for me.  If I doodle I can listen and pay attention better.  I don’t start reading labels or handouts or whatever I can get my eyes on.  My mind doesn’t wander away.  My doodles are somewhat aimless and very stream of consciousness.  I have no particular plan when I start and I generally won’t stop until I’ve filled up the space.  Many times I will date them and save them because I particularly like one or sometimes they inadvertantly get saved in my notes and I run across them later.

In the past couple of years I’ve been embracing my creative bent and mixed media art and learning lots of techniques.  I’ve recognized that my doodles can be used in my mixed media creations.  I have been experimenting with coloring them with various mediums.  The one above I doodled with a Copic marker and then colored with colored pencils.

I am a fan of several artists who use a lot of happy colors and images and at times some colorful language!  I adore them.  These people inspire me in so many ways; their art, their knowledge; their fearless creativity; their wonderful big personalities and most certainly their boundless energy!  I aspire to be just like them when I grow up in my artistic endeavors.

One of my favorite artists is a wonderful woman named Joanne Sharp ( http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com/).  I have admired her gorgeous spirited work even before I knew her name.  I would see it in publications and instantly be drawn to it.  I had the great pleasure of meeting her in person this summer and getting to know her a bit.  Her work is endlessly colorful and squiggly and lighthearted.  It is inspiration I get from her that made me think I should try colorizing my doodles.  Enjoy!

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Tag–You’re It!

Ha ha..I crack myself up sometimes!  I love to decorate clothing tags to use on other things.  Not all of them–certain ones that have just the right weight and size or if they have a cool texture or a cool graphic.  Apparently I’m more discerning about tags than I realized!  Anyway here are a couple I made last week.

 Before

After the katyoparty treatment!

Coated with gesso then drug a bit of texture into it.  After that painted with acrylic, went to town with paint pens and Stickles!

and repeat…gesso, acrylic paint, stamped image enhanced by paint pens and stickles and another scrap of the fancy schmancy painted paper!

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Fancy Schmancy Paper Transformed

As promised I am going to show you what I did with the painted papers I did the other day.   drum roll please……haha..that may be a bit too much of a buildup!

I had these small white pots I purchased in the knockoff bin at the grocery store for $1 and they had been taking up space in my studio for a project “someday”–you know how that goes!  I tore the paper into random strips and used glossy Modge Podge to adhere the strips to the sides of the pot all the way around.  I wasn’t too calculated about this.  I’m not one to measure and plan every move.  I added some gold paint pen in some areas.  So far so good as far as I’m concerned.  Then I had the brilliant idea to use some gold Shiva paintstick on some areas.  I figured if a little gold is good then a lot more must be better right?  no no no…this did not turn out the way I thought and I began to hate this pot!  I’ve had this happen before where I just can’t seem to leave well enough alone.  I began wiping as much of the paintstick off as possible and there may have been some cussing involved.  Once again my brain whirred into motion and I thought I could mix some pigment powder into the ModgePodge and add another layer over everything.  I used some brilliant yellow/orange pigment powder and liberally slathered it over everything.  After it dried I liked the sheen and added the layers of ribbon around the top.  I used round orange rhinestones as accents.  But why stop there??  I decided to add some silk blue flowers.  Flowers make everything better right??  I first tried putting them on with Modge Podge but that didn’t work as I hoped.  They wouldn’t stick except to my fingers—grrrr.  I decided to use some PVA glue to get them to stick and then Modge Podge over them when they were dry.  It was a battle but I was not about to be beaten by some blue blooms!  Several layers of ModgePodge and more orange rhinestones later this pot was finished!

On this pot I first stamped some bold swirls on the painted paper before I tore it into random strips.  Once again used glossy Modge Podge to adhere the strips.  Added some cool mesh ribbon I’d been saving for a special project!  Added silver paint pen and silver Stickles for some sparkle.  Coated the whole thing over with glossy MPodge and remembered I had some big chunky rhinestones!  Who can resist those???  Not me.

This one is probably my favorite of the ones I’ve done.  I love the vibrant colors and patterns.  Same theory as before–rips random strips, glossy MP all around.  Added gold paint pen in areas, added two layers of ribbon around the top.  Purple Stickle dots and then orange silk flowers.  I learned that flowers with larger and fewer petals are MUCH easier to adhere to a rounded surface like this pot.  Used the last of my orange rhinestones for the flower centers.  I’ve debated adding some gold paint pen dots to the orange flowers but haven’t because I’m alittle gun shy after the paintstik debacle on the first pot.

These next two pots I did not use the painted paper I made.  They were actually the first two of the white pots I embellished.  I used Copic markers.  Also the first time I used my Copic markers.  My crude rendition of a beach scene on this one.  I sealed it with glossy ModgePodge because I like the shine!

Experimented with combining colors of Copic markers and I love sunshiny yellows and oranges!  Added a couple of rubons to the sides and colored them in.  Now I have a couple cheery cups for my markers and paintstiks!

Still have about 5 of these bargain bin white pots.  Who knows what I’ll do them??!!  Thanks for looking!

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Fancy Schmancy Painted Paper!

I had a great time a few days ago making some painted paper.  Actually they are painted torn out book pages!   I was preparing a book to be altered and for those of you who may not know about altering books it means you have to tear out about half the pages in the book.  Tear a few, leave a few, tear a few, etc.  I hate wasting anything so I use the torn out pages to make backgrounds or embellishments for other projects.  Sometimes I chop out certain words or cut shapes or, in this case I smooshed acrylic paint around and then doodled with markers and paint pens.

I was loving me some silver paint pens and swirls!

Squiggles and Xs and Os–still feeling the silver vibe!

This one turned out to be my favorite.  I love repetitive patterns and colors.

Simple squiggles, lines and dots!

This wasn’t the end for these papers.  I used them for another project which I’ll post about next time!

TFL!

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100-Day Art Challenge–Days 61-64

It’s so nice to be caught up on the challenge!  I am really enjoying doing one a day again.  I actually had time to play with some sparkly beads too.  Here are my last four days.  I was still completely crazy for making lines with my ruler and my markers.  Something about them being so methodical and logical really clicked in my brain and I find making them comforting.  I love the sense of order.  Then I went back to the holiday theme again.  Not sure why making a couple holiday theme pieces was so appealing to me.  Went to Costco on Saturday and they already had holiday items lining the aisles.  Hell, I haven’t even bought Halloween candy yet!  Here are my arts!

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100-Day Art Challenge Gallery

Here is a gallery of all my creations for the 100-day challenge up to Day 60.  TFL!

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The Latest from the 100 day art challenge

We are up to Day 61 and I am up to Day 60!  So close to being caught up for the first time in weeks.  I was feeling frustrated at being so far behind but now I’m out of the woods.  Here is the link to check out the board at the Cloth Paper Scissors.com forums. 

http://clothpaperscissors.com/forums/t/1759.aspx

Today is a foggy chilly day here in Denver but in here in my art studio it is vibrant and warm!

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Catch Up Time!

How does the time fly by so quickly??!!  When you’re a kid people tell you that as you get older the time passes more quickly but you don’t really get it.  Now I get it.  I am at a wonderful crossroads of my life where I am both anxious and hesitant about the future that is quickly approaching.  It seems I am at a point when I am realizing my passions and my dreams and yet I am leaving the familiar and safe behind.  One foot in the gate and one foot out.  I’m looking ahead but still holding on.  I’m a Gemini–can you tell???

Here’s the last few days of mini-art from the 100-day challenge…

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