Baby Wipe Background Technique

 

I'm having a bit of trouble finding material for two of my collages.  The problem is, I chose to make a large substrate and I limited my fodder choices to a single gifted magazine.  I may have to rethink the size I chose (and cut).  For today, I thought I would recycle one of my tutorials.  This is an old one I created in 2009 before I had a decent camera.  I hope you can make out the materials and steps I took.

This is a quick and simple background technique that gives you a bonus.

Supplies:

Acrylic paint (color of your choice)

Baby wipes

Card stock (CS)

Plastic or craft sheet to protect your work surface

 

Place a small amount of acrylic paint on about 1/4 of the CS. Since acrylics dry quickly, you should only work on a small part of the page at a time.

Spread the paint using a wet baby wipe. Be sure to pick up all colors and spread evenly. Don't overwork the paint, or you'll end up with mud.

After you are pleased with the first area, add more paint to another area and continue spreading the paint with the same baby wipe.

Continue adding and spreading the paint until the page is complete. When finished, you will have a background sheet as well as a coordinating color baby wipe you can use as an accent on your page or a matching tag.

 

Now wasn't that easy? And it produces great results quickly, too.  This is Day 6 of 22 and I recycled an old tutorial.

 

 

Cruciform

 

The next collage we are to make is to take the shape of a wonky cruciform.  You can find the first collage here and the second one here.

These are the five pages I intend to use to create the cruciform.  A cruciform is a cross, but we are to make ours a bit wonky.

We were told to add other components to the base components,

so I added a bird on a ball.  I am joining Erika and her bird theme at Art Journal Journey.

 I was really happy with this entry until I added the long blue strip (a piece of sky) and the two pieces on the other sides (a found tape measure and a green strip), all of which came from the magazine.  I had measured so carefully, I didn't need the strips, but Kelly's wasn't as pristine as mine, so she needed something to delineate the four quadrants.  The only thing that didn't come from the magazine was the bird I found in my stash.

Thanks for following along on these six collages and for joining Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey. We appreciate your visit.

This is Day 5 of 22 and I recycled five pages from a gifted magazine.

 

Grid

 

How many of you went to Kelly's web site yesterday and saw the second collage was to be "Radial with a focal image?"  It took me awhile, but I realized making those triangles was harder than I anticipated.  I'll be working on that collage in my spare time, but in the meantime, I forging ahead with the next collage, which is to make a grid.  Want to see the first collage I made?  It's here.

I plan to use this single page for my grid.  It caught my eye and I knew it would be perfect for the grid collage.

Nothing like Kelly's, of course.  I realized after the first few cuts, that I should have made them larger.  If I ever make a grid again, I'll know to make the cuts larger next time.

This is Day 4 of 22 and I recycled one page from my gifted magazine I'm using throughout this project.

Strata

 

Kelly at Collage Lab gave a free workshop where she created 6 collages in 60 minutes.  If you want to check it out for yourself, click on the link above which will be good thru noon Sunday CDT.

Kelly's collages are 4 inch by 4 inch (10.16 centimeter X 10.16 centimeter).  Mine will be 8 inch by 8 inch (20.32 centimeter X 20.32 centimeter).

I have made a conscience effort to only use images from this single magazine.  This is the only magazine I will use to create all six collages.  The pages I chose for the first collage are above.

My foodie friend Sally gave me this magazine.  I hope you can read it's from 2017.  

 

Our first collage was to be strata, or strips of paper.

This is my interpretation of the assignment.  I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out, even though it looks nothing like Kelly's.

This is Day 3 of 22, and I recycled pages from a gifted magazine.

 

Second on the 2nd: Bird Bath

 

As most of you know, I like my second look each month to reflect our host at Art Journal Journey's (AJJ) theme. That means I needed to find something related to Erika's theme, which is Spring Birds.

For my second look this month, I'm going to share the cardinals in my main floor bath.  I confess, they are not ALL cardinals.  The collection started out as birds of any type, then morphed into cardinals (and a few redbirds).  Although I was a bit leery to show my bath, it seems nothing in my life is off limits.   So please join me in my main floor bath. 

We'll begin inside the door and work our way counterclockwise.  I never put these things away, whether Christmas or not.

These are some of the original birds I purchased.

On the top left of this vignette is a bird I special ordered from a craft show back in the late 80s.  It is made of eggshells, which gave me the idea to save eggshells and color them myself.  Of course, since I can't draw, mine will never take any apparent visual shape.

The cardinals came about because I lived in Webb City, MO. before I moved to Wichita.  The town AND high school mascot was the cardinal, and I assure you, they were far more plentiful there than they are here.  People who visited often gave them to me, especially since I had so many rocking horses, even back then.

The only "Christmas" addition to this room is the little red tree I bought on clearance a couple of years ago.  Note the cardinal tin with the cardinal magnet that sits on the side of the tin.  I can't seem to get that cardinal thermometer (on top of the tin) to stick to the mirror anymore.

More cardinals grace my back splash and vanity.  Yes, this is how it ALWAYS looks in here.

I almost forgot.  I added the red candle for Christmas, too.  It makes great ambient lighting when I'm entertaining company in the evening and it has a lovely scent, too.  Can you see I'm wearing a blue top in these photos?

When I moved into this house, there was a tiny medicine cabinet and mirror in this room.  I moved it to the bath in the basement and bought the larger one specifically for the tri-fold mirror.

This is the vignette I created on top of the medicine cabinet.  Note how I managed to NOT get a good photo of the wreath I made one year that fits over the shower/tub.

My friend Scott gave me the wood, and I built this really simple shelf one afternoon.  I needed added storage for the many birds I had no room for.  After all, this bathroom was much smaller than the one I had in Webb City, and I was tired of bringing a few out at a time, then packing others away.

This may possibly be a better view of the shelf.  Yes, I'm that short!

 

This is really bad lighting.

Maybe a bit of back lighting will help a bit.  You can see how most of the birds gracing the window are either stained glass, leaded glass, or sun catchers.

As we work our way past the window toward the tub and shower, the lighting once again improves. 

One large wooden rocking horse graces all these birds and bird related items.

More birds, some of which are cardinals, some not.

Here's a closer look when I stood on a stool to take this shot.

You don't have to tell me the middle picture above the door leading to the craft room is crooked.  I've tried to straighten it in the past, but when I open or close the door to the craft room, it moves.

Here's another view of the rocking horse and birds it holds.  The chair can be used for dressing, if someone needs to sit to dress.

Between the chair and laundry basket is a metal tin with several cardinals on it.  The tin holds excess toilet paper, although it is nearly empty after my company left!!  The star topper was something I won during a OWOH blog hop.  It has a white bird among the flowers.  It's supposed to hang, but makes a better tin topper.

These towels sit above the laundry hamper.

Here's a rather bad photo of the vignette above the towel bar.

And now we're back where we started.  Did you notice the bit of irony on the back of the toilet?  Yep, I thought this vintage cat shaped creamer would feel right at home here. 

I hope you enjoy poking around my bath.  Please flush and put the lid down when you leave.  And please close the door, too.  Bleubeard likes to visit, and I try to discourage that!

 _______________________________________________________________

That is my second look at Decorating For Christmas.  I thought I would also share a few photos I took one afternoon using my much better camera.

Not much has changed, except I got a bird clock, and without realizing it, I changed the tree's position that year.

I noticed this stained glass piece never showed up in the previous photos.

And finally, a decent photo of the cat that lives among the birds.  Note the stained glass bird in the floral arrangement.

Now it's your turn to share a second look.   All you have to do is bring back a post that you are especially proud of, or one you shared before anyone knew your blog existed.  Then link below and Bleubeard and I, along with other Second on the 2nd friends, will be by to visit.

 

 

 

T Stands For How Could I Forget T?

 

I am deeply sorry and ashamed.  In over 600 T Tuesday posts, I got my days mixed up.  As I was preparing to write my T post this week, I went to my blog and saw T participants were wondering where T Tuesday was.

My sincere apologies, dear T participants.   I swear, I thought T was this afternoon, not YESTERDAY.

I can only hope it will be at least another 600 or so T posts before I forget again!

 

 You all obviously know what to do, so please link below.

 

 

 

Recycled Spring Birds

 

I want to begin by thanking my dear friend and co-administrator, Erika, for hosting the month of March at Art Journal Journey.  I loved her many interpretations of Home Sweet Home.

This month we at Art Journal Journey have my dear friend and co-administrator, Erika, back for a second month.  This time her theme is Spring Birds. You can think spring, birds, or both when you create your journal pages.

It's time for some pretty spring birds.  I apologize the images are a bit twisted.  I blame it on the scanner, but it is actually my fault I didn't line the altered book up properly with the scanner and I glued the birds a bit "kilter."  Detail shots are below.

This has truly been a record breaking cold, icy, wind swept, and snowy winter.  However, the ice has started to thaw and the birds are returning to the feeders.

These colorful birds are starting to occupy the bird houses set among the spring flowers in the garden.

This lovely bird has landed in a magnolia tree.

The crackle product I used for the background was old and only worked in a few places.

As many of you who follow or read my blog know, each year from April 1 through April 22, I recycle something every day.  Today is no different.  I cut these birds from the back of a bird calendar I saved from 2014.  Oftentimes, high end calendars show the monthly images on the back of the calendars.  That's where I got these.  What did you recycle today?

Erika, Mia, Bleubeard, and I are delighted you joined us and hope to see you this month at Art Journal Journey as you share your own interpretation of Spring Birds.

Please remember we welcome art journal pages that meet the theme requirements, altered book pages, canvases, loose, or stand alone pages including fabric and digital art.  I (and the administrators) cannot leave comments on Facebook or Instagram entries.  We do not allow cards!!!  We also don't allow tags, index cards, ATCs, or ATCoins, unless they are part of a journal page, and as much as we don't want to, will be forced to delete your entry.  Please remember if your blog is not in English, we ask that you translate it for us since the translation tool doesn't work on some blogs, including mine.  Hope to see you and your Spring Birds entries soon at Art Journal Journey.