White is right!

I have been looking forward to making these pages for a Six player swap I'm in since I learned Gina's theme, which was white. Even though I was all "True Colored" out, I loved the idea of revisiting white with its many shades and nuances. Gina sent the pages she wanted us to use for her book, so the cutting and measuring was all done for us. How easy was that?

Since I was the first to work in Gina's white book, I wanted her pages to be special. But, since I have been in a slump, my art has not been the best. Fortunately, I am very pleased with most of the pages I made for her, which I will show part of today and the rest on Saturday. Gina has now received her pages and I'm relieved to know she likes them. Remember to click the pictures to get the entire page.

I started Gina's first page (which was blank) by masking the edges on both sides. I didn't want gesso, which I lathered on quite thick in several layers to get in the holes. After each layer was dry, I flattened the page under a heavy book, but it still buckled. I lightly outlined an arch on the textured page, which I was hoping would remind her of an old church or building.


Next, I drew an outline of the arch on a middle sheet of a decorative 3-ply napkin. By using the middle ply, I got a ghost image, but nothing that would compete with the image I stamped. The image is shown above, on my craft sheet, which makes it look brown. I used Linen Distress Ink because the color is so pale.


Next, I attached the napkin to the gessoed page using more gesso, then trimmed.


From there I added an image Terri at Pringle Hill Studio offered one Friday. Originally, I planned for the girl's hand to be behind the arch, but I couldn't make the position work. Although I planned to add something to make her hand not seem to float in air, I ended up leaving it unadorned. I used molding paste to make the arch, which I think has dried up, since I had trouble getting it to spread. Now I wish I'd masked off the molding paste area, too, but I never expected to have so many problems with the molding paste, which I remember being so easy to spread in the past.


Although the "Innocence" side was the first side I made (and probably my least favorite because of the molding paste problems), this side was the last. It turned out to be one of my favorites, too. Gina's pages are so small, I had to make these squares 1" each so I would have some variation. I used book pages mixed with paint chips (and their names) in various shades of white. To get the thin and rather fragile book pages the same thickness as the paint chips, I glued them to thin cardboard. I then adhered everything to a piece of thin cardboard because I was trying to lessen the buckle on the other side. After the two sides were assembled, I decorated the page using a few "white" embellishments from my stash.

I also made this tag as my sign-in entry. Although it's hard to read, I stencilled the word "White" on a purchased tag I first covered with German text sheet music. Next, I added a stamped image I got in a swap, cheesecloth, and some glittery decorative ribbon. I told Gina and the other swappers that I threw any and everything on the tag that would stick, because I was really stuck when it came to this tag.

Today's blog is one I found recently from a comment left on my blog and I immediately fell in love! There is so much to see at Dandelion Lady's blog. Melissa, or Dandelion Lady to most, lives in Michigan in the US. She is fearless in her art and the various media in which she works. I was really drawn to her posts because of the tutorial she shared on making a super easy envelope for cards using recycled materials and doesn't require a lot of fancy cutting or measuring. I stayed to look at her aprons, her hand carved rubber, her paintings, her block prints, her fabric dyeing using non-toxic chemicals, her recipes, and her photography. And if all that isn't enough to whet your appetite, check out her assemblages and the rusty found objects she uses in them. I hope you like Dandelion Lady's blog as much as I do.