Another Hands AB spread

I had planned to have and post a bead tutorial today in response to the comment and question that Roxanne left on a previous post. About a third of the way through the process yesterday, I took a break to eat and clean up the kitchen before I continued. Then the phone rang. It was my art friend Dana. Apparently I didn't get the water turned off when I answered the phone and the water filled both sinks, doused the counter, got into the cabinets under the sink (left open as experts suggest so your pipes won't freeze), and was threatening to reach my dining room carpeting when I finally got back to the kitchen about 40 minutes later. Needless to say, I spent the entire rest of the day sopping and mopping. Everything had to be taken off the counter and out of the cabinets under the sink to be washed or dried, whichever was more appropriate. But I couldn't do any of that until I had baled the water out of the kitchen because I was afraid if I didn't get it cleaned up, the water on the floor might freeze overnight and turn the kitchen into an ice rink!

The only laughable incident occurred when Bleubeard decided to come investigate and found the "lake" around his food and water dishes. He took two huge, quick hops into the dining room. Now THAT was funny.

By the time I had it all cleaned and two loads of water laden towels washed and dried, I was exhausted. And no, I didn't take photos since you wouldn't want to see me with my bottom in the air as I mopped the floor on my hands and knees. Luckily, I had finished this double spread late Saturday night, or I would have nothing for today. In fact, I'm not sure what I'll post tomorrow, since my other art friend Kathy, along with Dana, and I are going shopping today.

I started with the right side, which I've had finished a few days. But I saved the other half of the beige card stock I used for the background, hoping some special image would grab my attention. The right side began with another magazine image and I imitated the color in the cartoon using the direct to paper method and blue ink. I also colored the green tickets to make them more like the color in the cartoon. The words "high five" were right off the cardboard information holding the blue buttons (used on both spreads).

I got to looking at the stitches on the guy's black jacket in the left image, thought it looked like a jean jacket, and remembered a small piece of scrapbook paper my friend Kathy had given me. I turned it into a sleeve and cuff, where the cuff is raised using dimensional tape. I wanted it to look like the image was coming out of his sleeve.

I'm off to get ready for shopping today. After all, it takes energy to keep up with Kathy, whose single favorite activity is shopping! Have a wonderful and warm day. There's talk it may actually warm a bit today.

And since I was unable to post the bead tutorial as promised, I'm featuring Roxanne's incredible blog. There's nothing she can't do: paint, journal, take lovely photographs, and make some stunning mixed media pieces that center primarily around nature. Her blog is filled with her thoughts that she accents with her beautiful photos. I hope you enjoy her blog as much as I.