To The Bower They Came - 6x4 Collage

I've been itching to make a simple paper collage; that is, one with no other media such as inks or pencils.  And I wanted to use original items, not photocopies.

I started by selecting a photo from my stash.  I chose this one in spite of its poor quality.  Well, that's not entirely correct.  I chose it because of its poor quality.  For one thing, even bad photographs tell a story and merit our attention.  Secondly, the photo is not precious to me so I don't feel remorse about using the original.  Besides, I don't know the couple in the photo.  A friend of my mom's gave me a bunch of old photos and this was simply one in a pile.  The poem ("Oenene") by Tennyson came next.  The stanza I chose describes a bower, so I leafed through an early 1900s natural geography textbook until I found a photo with trees.  The colorful strip is a scrap from an old atlas.

I like this collage very much.  The vertical elements in the individual segments work in contrast to the landscape orientation to keep your eye moving.  The sepia tint of the photo pairs well with the color of the old book page (something that isn't apparent in a scan, I'm afraid).  And I love the photo corner remnants!

Thanks for popping in!  Have a great day.

With Deepest Sympathy

A stamping friend of mine has suffered the worst tragedy:  her youngest daughter passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last week.  They have determined her cause of death to be cardiac arrest due to a severe asthma attack.  She leaves behind a husband and 7 year old daughter, not to mention a lot of questions: she never regained consciousness after being found.  The only thing giving the family any solace at all is that Brandi was an organ donor who was matched with at least two recipients.

I'll be honest, I don't know yet what I will write on the inside of this card.  I can't imagine the level of grief my friend and her family are feeling right now, and there are few words that will give them comfort so soon after their loss.  I stamped "My thoughts are with you" and will figure out the rest when I sit down to address the card.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Supplies:
Tan and white cardstock by Bazzill; whisper white cardstock from Stampin' Up; butterfly stencil by Tattered Angels; vibrant turquoise Dylusions spray ink; sympathy sentiment by Stampabilities; Versamark ink; black embossing powder.

Mini House-athon Notecards

I like to make notecards to protect any ATCs, or in this case, moo houses, that I send through the mail.  They help to prevent any mishaps when the envelopes go whizzing through the postal machines.

Since I needed to make several, I kept them pretty simple.  Each one was a variation on the same theme:  a mail carrier image stamped onto an old book page that was matted with maps from an old atlas.  I turned the mail carrier into a "postage stamp person" by adhering an old postage stamp over his head.  I added faux postal cancellation stamps to finish the tableau.

The mail carrier was stamped using blueprint sketch distress ink.  In this group photo, the card on the right gives a better representation of how deep the color is in real life.  And here is a link to Deep Red Stamps, so you can see what the mail carrier looks like with his original head.  He's part of a great stamp set for anyone who likes to make or send mail art.

Thanks for dropping by!  Have a great weekend.

No. 1 Shamrock - Moo House with Inchie Garage

These two items were actually the very first and last things I made during the recent Mini House-athon.  I created the moo house first, to use as an example before the -athon even started.  I created the inchie garage at the end in order to complete a trade for someone else's two-piece set.

The clovers were clipped from a business insert in our local paper.  I adhered them to a patterned paper that had been sponged with picked raspberry distress ink.  I used vintage book text to cover the roofs, and the butterflies, numbers, stars and diamonds are all rub-ons.  The edges were lined with a Krylon gold leafing pen.

Have a fantastic day!

Performance Poppies - Moo House with Inchie "Garage"

As the Mini House-athon was winding down the other night, I was rushing to complete two more moo houses for potential trade.  Things were going along pretty well until I decided to add some rubber stamping on top of my collage images.  I will let you learn from my mistake:  don't try to rubber stamp over two images that create a "valley" between them, no matter how shallow that valley is.  You won't get a complete image and if, like me, you used permanent ink, you won't be able to remove it.

So, what do you do when life gives you lemons?  You make lemonade! Or in my case, I just lopped off my stamping mistake and turned that moo into an inchie!  Once I added the roof, I decided it made a cute little garage for the other moo house.  It's not as great as my original design, but at least I was able to salvage something.

Thanks for dropping in and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Outrageous Owls - Moo Houses

My blog posts this week continue to highlight the moo houses I made during last weekend's Mini House-athon on ATCs for All.  I gotta say, I love this size art!  It's a challenge to work this small, but so rewarding.

These two owl houses were completely unplanned and unexpected.  Other participants were making houses with owls, so they were obviously a desired theme for some but they were not on my radar, if you know what I mean.  Then, I rediscovered these clip-art owls in my stash (when I was returning some other unused ephemera to its place).  I had purchased a collage sheet of owls from ArtChix Studio quite a while ago, and had not yet found a use for them.  It really was serendipitous that they came to my attention during the -athon.

I started with a scrap piece of green patterned paper. I dry brushed it with titanium white acrylic paint, then adhered the clock and compass rub-ons.  After adhering the owls, I colored their eyes with a yellow marker and added some rub-ons along the bottom of each house.  For the roofs, I used a scrap of patterned paper that looked like an old newspaper.  That layer got mostly covered up with another rub-on that had teeny-tiny text and random black splotches.  The numbers 13 and 14 are also rub-ons.  I sponged seedless preserves distress ink and Adirondack potting soil ink around the edges to finish them off. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Have a great day.

The Fisher Kings - Moo Houses

For these two moo houses, I combined two of the optional themes set for the Mini House-athon:  Monopoly and All Things Green.

I started with the Pacific and Pennsylvania Avenue deed cards from my $3.00 Craigslist Monopoly game.  The Pacific reference reminded me that I have some German scrap fish and seashell images in my stash.  Most of the images were simply too large for a moo house, but I was able to make these two fish work by adhering them at a sharp angle.  I first doctored up the backgrounds with some grungy (distressed style) rub-ons.  The roofs were cut from the same Monopoly cards and doctored up with rub-ons that I colored with a yellow ochre marker.  The small crowns were on the same sheet of rub-ons and I thought they would be rather whimsical, so I added them.  The scan doesn't show this well, but the jewels on the crowns were colored red with a marker.  The red was just the small amount of complimentary color that these houses needed.

These mini houses look super cool in real life and have so much detail, it's almost mind-boggling!  I'm happy to say that they will be staying together

Have a fabulous day!