Saturday, November 19, 2011

Jan's tip-ins for the color swap

My swap partner this month was Jan at Dandelion and Daisy. Her colors are pink and orange, and she said either color could be the primary, with the other color as the secondary. Jan's pages are 8 inches by 11 inches. Now that she has received her pages, I can show you what I made for her.

I didn't read the instructions very well when I started making this page. Jan asked for heavy pages and she suggested cardboard. Well, I don't have cardboard, because I don't buy boxed items like cereal and Bisquick. Consequently, I had no cardboard. Needless to say, I used orange card stock, then realized after I had made the page that 1) it wasn't really heavy enough for Jan's specifications and 2) the glue I used on the tags made wonky ripples on the reverse side. So of course I had to cover that up. And that was AFTER I had already cut the side using decorative scissors.

I scoured my embellishments (thankfully they are now out of storage) and found as many pink and orange embellishments as I could. I painted the tags three different colors of pink, two of which were metallic, although that doesn't show up in the scan. I'm really thankful for all those tags I saved when my furniture returned from storage. Jan called this a "sampler." I won't argue with her name for it.



The flip side of this began with a sheet of pink copier paper (20 lb), to which I placed the dressmaker cutout that Annette (Voodoo Vixen) sent me over it, then filled the page with joint compound. I painted the joint compound orange, except for the dressmaker stand, which I painted pink. The pink was fabric paint (have I mentioned I don't have much pink?) that had a tiny nozzle. I thought I could go around the edges of the stand using the nozzle, but I think I made a mess of it. I added some ribbon I bought specifically for the project, but ended up not using very much of it. The next time I use joint compound, I think I will color it before I apply it to the substrate. After the two pages were joined, I cut the second side, once again using the decorative scissors.


The only "in process" shot I took was for the first side of the second page. This was the second of many steps I took after first applying gesso to both sides of a flat rate envelope (did I mention I didn't have cardboard?).


I genuinely hated covering the background, because I thought it was awesome. However, I tediously cut many flowers (many more than I used) from wallpaper samples. And although it doesn't show in the scan, two tulips are raised with foam dots. I suggest you go to Jan's blog and see this from her camera's viewpoint. Her photo shows the elevated flowers much better than my scan.


I showed this side last week as my Inspiration Avenue challenge entry. If you missed it, you can see how I made it here using caulk and paint. I didn't adhere the dress to anything until it was dry, then added it to the painted page. I forgot to sign the page until after I scanned it. However, you can see a very good photo of this page on Jan's blog.


I entered this tag as part of a challenge on ABC (Yahoo group) with the intention that it would be for Jan. I received the central piece, which is beautifully beaded, from Annette (Voodoo Vixen). If you look closely, you can see a few swirls from a piece of my paste paper. I sewed the two sides together, the only sewing I did on Jan's pages, even though the dress theme was quite evident.

As an aside, Jan told me the bit of paper ephemera I used, which was part of a metal pouring process, was special because her DH was in that business for many years. I hope Jan likes these pages, because she is a fantastic artist.


Please don't forget that I visited another museum a couple of weeks ago, right before the first frost and the changing of the leaves. This is a museum for both parents and children and is very, very popular (and busy). It took me most of the day (from 10 to 4) to walk the various buildings and exhibits. I hope you don't get tired of these photos, because I suspect they will be coming for awhile.

11 thoughtful remarks:

elle said...

Saw these over at Jan's blog. So very delicious! Greatly executed!

Nancy said...

Nice work! I esp. love your use of the wallpaper flowers.

PeggyR said...

I love what you came up with! I'm in a round robin swap with quilt blocks and our theme is the color orange.

Unknown said...

I love all the variety you used here- if it IS a sampler then it is a FABULOUS sampling of your work- love it!

Monica said...

What a lot of work and such interesting techniques.

Diane said...

BEAUTIFUL work Elizabeth--I normally wouldn't think of using these colors--but they really pop and the make the artwork even that much better--great techniques too--Thanks for sharing!

Julia Dunnit said...

Oh these tip ins are fab..I love how you used the colours..(of course I love the primary colour use rather than pales) and the dress theme is lovely..the beading and stitching enhance beautifully.

Halle said...

Very inspiring pages. I haven't started her pages yet. Have lots of papers set out but that's as far as I've gotten. :)

Dianne said...

Awesome pages for Jan! of course I love those colors...

Terrie said...

Lovely colors and textures! The cutout flowers were a great idea - I surely get not wanting to cover up a background you like!

voodoo vixen said...

Good grief... I missed this entirely... this is what happens when you have a Mother for 6 weeks.. which makes it sound like she is demanding and really she is anything but, just takes up a lot of my time!! ;) Love that you have found a use for your bits and bobs... and now they are lovely pieces of art!!