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.