Angel

 

As you can read, "Failed to Publish" is still here.  I have a slew of comments in queue ready to be published.  I try three times every day in hopes my comments will be published.  Thank you for understanding. 

 I began this project in my craft room where I cut a heart out of corrugated cardboard, stripped the top layer, and painted it white.

Then I began pounding irises.  I was having one of those days when my art was as scattered as my thoughts!

I decided I had "sacrificed" enough old iris blooms

and was ready to move on.
 
I used a tiny piece of one of my "overdyed" flower pounded fabrics in this assemblage.  The heart was most assuredly floral in nature.

The crocheted floral piece was made by my grandmother and it was one of three crocheted squares I had removed from an old pillowcase years ago.  It looks like I got some of the iris "juice" on the square, too.

My grandmother was a genuine angel, so I will dedicate this heart to her.

I included some cheese cloth

that I dyed using green tea.

I used green coated copper wire to match the green in the crocheted leaves.  My mind is still racing with all kinds of ways to make and decorate these hearts, because I see this as a series that I want to pursue sometime in May.

This is Day 20 of 22 leading up to bEARTHday and I recycled corrugated cardboard and pounded some dead iris blooms to create a heart assemblage dedicated to my Grandmother who, along with my Grandfather, raised me from birth.

Thanks for visiting because your support of my projects means the world to me.  

 

Today I shared a post from April, 20, 2016.  This is actually Day 19 of 22 leading up to bEARTHday.  And I'm STILL grateful for your visit. 

  

T stands for Teabag Beauties

 

I am still unable to leave comments, even on my own blog.  I plan to have the courage to reinstall Firefox in a few days.  I'm reluctant to do so because I will lose everything, including all my saved cookies.

Blogger has finally been kind to me and I can now once again leave comments.  Let's hope it stays that way and I haven't jinxed it.

The following post is from April, 2014.  

Before I jump to my recycle post for T today, I wanted to show six tea bags from tea I drank last week. 

They are now completely dry.   I can't wait to remove the tea from these so I can make art using the bags.

As for the watercolor paper I dried them on, I am still pondering whether to keep the six colors intact, or cut them into smaller pieces.

As for this week's T Stands For Tuesday post, I recycled some very different tea bags.  After all, it's still all about recycling.  It began a few weeks back when I started this in my collage altered book,

then added tea bags that did NOT like to come apart.  It was about that time I came up with the concept for this spread I call "Teabag Beauties."  Remember, these tea bags are what some people would consider trash.

I had hoped this would put the entire spread in context, but the lighting was not especially good.

As I've explained in the past, this book is larger than my scanner, so you don't get the full effect this way.

I should explain that I first laid down two shades of green paint, then thought the pages were too dark, so I added a bit of white paint to tone the colors down.  Next I added the cheap tea bags that don't open well.  In a way, I actually preferred the distressed look. 

I added two flowers and two buttons I hoped would compliment the floral colors the girls wore, but the buttons turned out a bit unbelievably garish against the green background and vintage look of these little beauties.  I noticed it more so in the scans than when I took the photos, so I'll more than likely try to either remove the buttons or live with the spread as is, since it doesn't look garish in real life.

Today is Day 7 of 22 leading up to bEARTHday and I recycled five tea bags, sent the spent tea to the compost pile, used some gifted images, added two gifted flower petals, and included two buttons I removed from an old dress.

Now it's your turn to show how you celebrated T this Tuesday.  Remember, you don't have to take the photos on Tuesday, you don't have to drink tea, you don't have to drink anything, as long as you can relate the post back to something drink related, as I did with this spread.  Be sure to use a direct link below so Bleubeard, all our Tuesday T friends, and I can visit you, too.  And remember please, not everyone visits on Tuesday, so please make sure you add the link associated with Tuesday T, and not to your blog in general.

 

 

Messy and more

 

By now I'm sure you are aware that Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey (AJJ) this month.  Our theme for the entire month is Anywhere, Anytime, Any Place, with Anyone.

Please note, even though I read each post you share on AJJ, I STILL can't leave comments on any blog, including my own.  Yesterday I asked Blogger AI to solve the problem.  Sadly, I got no helpful information.

Today I have two altered book pages to share.

This was a disaster I turned into a floportunity.  Instead of looking for dye ink, I adhered red fluid acrylic to a wood mounted red rubber stamp.  When I didn't get the results I hoped for, I added water to the stamp.  The water turned the fluid acrylic into a watercolor.  It also dripped on the page when I attempted to stamp.

 

Because I didn't want to give up on the page, I decided to create a sentiment that I wrote using a black Posca pen.  The page buckled so badly, I decided to adhere it to my latest altered book.

 

I added a small strip of washi tape that had hearts.  Next, I will show the page I originally had planned when I started this, but I will use dye ink instead.

 

Above is the mess I made when I tried to use fluid acrylic paint on the wood mounted red rubber stamp. 

 

  Thankfully, I found red dye ink, so this is the page I originally pictured in my head when I started.  Details are below.

 

No matter how much I try, practice does not make me a better stamper.  However, it is definitely better than what I attempted on the Messy page.   Once the ink was dry on the page, I added the computer generated sentiment and the lady I colored to match the heart.  I found her in one of my magazines.  Next I laid down the washi tape on which the TH paper doll could stand.  I then adhered the paper doll.

 

Bleubeard and I are incredibly thrilled you stopped by and hope to also see you at Art Journal Journey (even though we can't leave you a comment) with your own interpretation of Anywhere, Anytime, Any Place, with Anyone. 

 

 

 

Steampunk Halloween

 

I'm sharing this Halloween inspired spread with Elle (eotc), who has been a wonderful host this month at Art Journal Journey.  Her themes are Steampunk, Halloween, or Steampunk Halloween.  Since it's the last day of the month, this is my final entry.

I call this Steampunk Halloween.  Detail images are below.

 

 

I apologize that this scan is not what I had expected.  I will get to that shortly.  I first colored a sheet of deli paper with metallic turquoise acrylic paint. I then adhered it to my Halloween altered book.  I colored the pipes with brown dye ink and green dye ink so they would look old.  I then adhered them to the page and added the die cut pumpkin.

The top of the page didn't lie flat when I scanned it.  Therefore, the top pipe looks distorted, although it is not. 

I hope you will join Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey.  You still have time to share one more entry.  Once again, I want to thank Elle for being a great host this month at AJJ.

On the bubble

 

Today I'm at Art Journal Journey joining our host Mia who can be found at Craftartista.  Her theme this month is Make your own background.  I'm also sharing this with Nicole and Friday Face Off because there is a face in this post. 

It's obvious I named this On the bubble.  Details are below.

On the bubble is a television term which may not be familiar to my international visitors.  If a company's television show has neither been renewed nor canceled at the end of the season, it is on the bubble.  It could go either direction until the network or cable company decides to renew or cancel.  It also means being in a situation where you’re on the verge of either success or failure.  You should think of it as hovering on the edge of two possible outcomes.

The TH paper doll is sitting on one of the bubbles, all of which were created with yellow ink, then cut with punches and glued in place over 110 lb cardstock painted pinkish red.  The sentiment was computer generated and outlined using black dye ink.

 

Thanks for dropping by today.  Bleubeard and I hope to see you and your handmade backgrounds soon at Art Journal Journey and a face at Friday Face Off.

 

 

Quirky

 

This will be my final entry for Matilde from Craftowanie, our host this month at Art Journal Journey.  Her theme, in case you didn't know, is People.  I am also joining Creative Artiste's 116th challenge, where the theme is always Anything Mixed Media Goes.  I'm getting in just under the wire for their challenge this month. And because my entry has text in it, I'm also joining Try it on Tuesday's latest theme, which is to add some text.

This is the front of the entry.  I'm not sure you can tell, but the front is about an 1/8th inch wider and about 2 inches shorter  than the inside.  The entire entry was created using see-through plastic and held together using washi tape. For the front, I first painted part of the front of the plastic with yellow and turquoise green fluid acrylic paints.  I then stamped the images, both by Lynne Perrella.  The heart with text, I stamped twice.

I couldn't fit the entire inside on the scanner, but I got most of the left and all the right side.  Detail images are below.

 

Inside left

Inside right

I used the same paint on the inside as I used on the front.  On the left, I added two types of lace, over which I laid a lady cut from a steampunk inspired book.  Note the text behind her bike.  Above and around her I placed several pieces of thread, then the letter H.  The focal figure from the front came through because I didn't use any paint in that area.

On the right, I added different lace and two TH paper dolls.  I adhered them with clear packing tape.  Look closely and you'll see one of the girl's face is caught in half under the tape.  Finally, I added the word "Quirky" to the right side.

Materials used included clear plastic, fluid acrylic paint (yellow and turquoise green), red rubber UM stamps, three types of lace, cut female image, two TH paper dolls, packing tape, computer generated word, and washi tape.  

Thank you for your visit. I hope you will join Bleubeard and me on this final entry for June at Art Journal Journey, Creative Artiste, and Try it on Tuesday.

 

The House Bach Built

 

I want to begin by thanking our second time host, Vicki Parsons of Stamped Smiles for hosting during the month of February at Art Journal Journey.  She did a fabulous job hosting and we look forward to having her back next year.  I only wish I had not been so sick in February and could have participated more.

This month my dear friend and co-administrator Erika

is our host the entire month of March at Art Journal Journey.  

Her theme is   Home Sweet Home

She provides all kinds of examples on the AJJ blog.

This is the house Bach built.  Detail shots are below.

 

I have several pages of painted sheet music I didn't use last month and I decided to start this month using some of those to create this house.  Various pages were used to create this home.  I painted vintage sheet music pages using Phthalo Blue in a green shade and Phthalo Green in a blue shade, and Silver, all Golden brand fluid acrylics. I added a piece of gifted twill tape between the roof and the house.  I added the "tree" because the house looked bare sitting by itself.

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 Home Sweet Home.

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 Home Sweet Home entries soon at Art Journal Journey.