Art Partner Challenge

I recently took part in May's Art Partner challenge on The Latest Trends in Mixed Media Arts yahoo group and this is my finished card.

The rules are pretty simple, Inka will send you one stamp, one card and one embellishment. You get to choose the background and the technique. Winner receives a $10 gift certificate, plus all 10 people get to keep the stamp Inka sends.

This was a lot of fun for me and not something I normally do, stamping and card making so I'm glad I had the chance to play. The angel stamp is great and I know I'll be using her again. I see a shaker card with micro beads coming soon!

The background is three colors of ink that were applied DTP then drybrushed with gesso and added a hint of pearlizing medium across the card. I added pink lace, paper flowers and stamped the text.

I also added a pearl to the middle flower which was the embellishment that was sent with the stamp.

Of course it always looks better in person : )

Altered Book Worshop

This past month (April) we worked on an Altered Book Workshop at The Artist Circle. I've been following along best I can but with my eczema outbreak my hands are so sore I haven't been able to do much.


I did manage to get the pages sanded, gessoed and painted for step one. Then I experimented with different papers to cover the pages as the base. I used some printed tissue paper. My wrinkles for texture were a bit to wrinkly for me so I wrinkled less on the next group of pages.


I used some sewing pattern tissue - my favorite, and that gave the pages a nice aged look. I'm now out of dress pattern tissue so I'll have to hit the thrift store for more, I just love the stuff.


And finally I used some blank pages from my son's writing tablet. I didn't have any old book pages that would fit my board book so I figured the lightness of the tablet paper would give it the same look minus the text, which I can stamp on if need be. I was disappointed that the base color did not show through as I had hoped.


I'm not happy with the way this book is going but I know its all an experiment and will continue to work in it. I may or may not go with a theme as suggested, maybe I'll just keeping trying new things and then work on another book once I find what works for me. I also think I'm better off with a smaller board book as this one is bigger then those chunky square ones.

In the end its all a learning experience and I always find a new technique along the way that I can use in other creations. The next step is to use some cat's eye fluid chalk but I don't have any so I'll figure something out or maybe splurge on myself for Mother's Day and pick some up this week.