A round robin swap, my first with five other players

I've started a new round robin with five new players. The last one was so much fun, I'm sure this one will be also. For this swap, five other players signed up to create two tip-in pages, decorated front and back using their favorite colors. My colors and theme are the same as before. I am going with rust, but this time, I'm adding white to the mix. I'm looking forward to this swap, but know it is going to be a challenge, since this swap is all about colors.

My first recipient is Halle, who requested that her pages be blue. Although they could include other colors, and blue could be any shade or hue, the overall page had to "read" blue.


I was hoping this page would have turned out a bit better than it did, since I was actually going for an image of the earth as seen from the moon. Although I tried my best to turn it into a moon, I thought it looked a bit like an ice cream cone. I used maps and dressmaker tissue for the moon, over which I painted anywhere from a deep blue to a pale blue. I was going for a moon that was partly dark and partly light. I think I should have made it a bit round or elliptical, but I already had it in place when I realized that mistake.

For the earth, I started with a blue circle, then added the white swirls and deep blue land masses. Behind the earth, I painted a black sky, then added the words "Blue Earth,"the only words I used on any of the pages.


For the back side, I started with a deep blue fluid acrylic, then watered it down in spots. Next I added the paper lace I cut from my Martha Stewart punch, over which I placed a feather. I dyed the fabric last fall, and it was a good color combination to compliment the blue fabric I layered over it. Finally, I added an image of a little girl. I couldn't help putting some pink in Halle's page, because I know how much she loves pink. I just hope it didn't detract too much from the blue.


I actually got these two spreads turned around after I started working on them. I turned the "back" side into the "front" by accident because I started working on both sides at the same time. You can see I had more dark blue fluid acrylic on the right side of the above spread, which should have been the gutter side. I just hope I left Halle enough room for the gutter, which is now on the left of this spread. And another thing I feel I did wrong was sanding the center image. I wanted it set apart from the other images, but feel I probably shouldn't have done it that way. At least I raised the center head using pop dots. I just hope Halle can "imagine" the overall effect.


Originally I was going to add words to this side, but I couldn't bring anything together. I was thinking words like her heart was in a cage and she needed wings to fly away, but I couldn't make any words make sense. So, I left the spread so the images could tell their story, which can be interpreted by Halle and anyone who wants to add their own words. This background was created using three different pigment inks and one chalk ink.

The first page was made using 110 lb card stock and the second page was made using 110 lb watercolor paper. The icon at the top of the above page is actually an old pin back button that I removed the pin from.


For the tag, I started with a page from a psychology book, over which I added various blue inspired bits. The tiny earth from space started out being my model for Blue Earth, but ended up looking nothing like what I created. And yes, making these pages was a true adventure.


The back side of my tag has my information on it. It's a good thing Halle knows me so well, or she would need an interpreter to read this. I'm not sure this is what Halle was hoping for when she asked for blue pages, but I hope she's not too disappointed with what she got. At least she now has them, although they took awhile to get to her.