Build your wings....

Hi all!

I am SO excited to see signs of Fall heading my way!  I am still trying to get my routine down now that school is in full swing but so far I am really liking how much I can get done in a day!  We took off on our last camper trip of the season this weekend and just about froze!  Luckily I had long pants and a light jacket for me and Pezza but poor Kevin did not remember to grab his jacket and we ended up having to go get him one :P  We headed to one of our favorite places in Luray, VA and headed out to hike in the Shenendoah National Park.  I found a hike that said it included a rock scramble for a portion of the trail where you would have to climb across rocks sometimes on your hands and knees!  YES PLEASE!  I so miss rock climbing since I came to VA from MO. 

See those blue blazes on either side of the rocks?  That was our trail marker!  So fun!  Unfortunately I have been SO So sick with allergies and hiking plus campfire smoke REALLY did me in.  Sunday I was a mess - talk about a violent over-reaction.  And I am pretty sure my asthma has returned - BOO.  Despite being ON antibiotics I was running a low temp all day yesterday and today.  Not fair!

I DO have an art journal page to share - although I only took one picture of it...???  What's up with that?  And now it's gone because it is one of the circle journals I have been participating in.  BUT I wanted to share it with you anyway:

It has some great texture going on and lots of layers PLUS this super cool image transfer from Dover Pictura - I am officially a Dover Ambassador!  I was supposed to start earlier this summer but my summer was not conducive to doing much artwork so I am really looking forward to getting busy with the absolutely amazing array of images available from Dover - and now DIGITALLY through Dover Pictura!  I have been using Dover images for my artwork for literally decades!  They make great coloring books and clipart books as well as super reference books for everything under the sun.

I began the page with a few random light washes of yellow and then laid down a stencil resembling cracks and sponged on Teal Zircon Silks paint.  Then I stamped with one of my original Pezadoodle Background stamps - Dropped Scallops in brown Archival ink.  I added bits of pale blue wrinkled tissue paper and then rubbed lightly across it with Gold Inka Gold to bring out the texture.

I got my image from the Dover Pictura digital collection 150 Silhouette Designs.  I printed her off on my laser printer - it is important to do it on a laser if you want to use it for an image transfer or the ink will smear (don't ask how I know.)  You can get laser prints at places like Staples which is where I will be going soon for COLOR laser copies soon for another project I have in mind.  Once I had her printed I just spread a layer of gel medium where I wanted her - not too thick - and laid her face down in it.  After it dried overnight I wet the paper backing and gently rubbed it off with my finger - perfect transfer!  This is different than just printing her off and gluing her down because you can see the background behind her - she becomes a part of the layers.  After I added the quote I finished off with a feather stencil.  I mixed Kiwi Luminarte Primary Elements with my Gel Medium and smoothed it on over the stencil - gorgeous!

Are you familiar with Dover Publications?  What can you do with them now that they are digital???  For starters, with the holidays approaching, check out the loads of fabulous vintage images they have.  Check out the Halloween collections being featured right now - vintage to contemporary including some great Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) images and photoshop brushes.  Or enter the Very Victorian craft contest - Dover has plenty of fantastic Victorian image collections to choose from!  What are you waiting for???

a Dover Christmas...

hi everyone!

ok who is done with everything for Christmas???  so NOT me!  I have finished my christmas shopping but i have NOT finished my Christmas cards OR the purse I am making for my mom  EGADS!  i think i will have the christmas cards done tomorrow (have i posted that before???)  and perhaps the purse will get done this weekend...I think we have all weekend free for once.    even my Sunday is free now since we have no foster kittens to take to the adoption event.  my poor Bubba kitty is LOST without any baby friends though.  kitten DISASTER really - whiny and needy all day loooong.  poor thing.  i hope he remembers how fun they were when we get a new batch in the spring when kitten season starts!

have you gone over to Color Me Creative and checked out the festivities over there?  did you know you can win a freakin' Cameo even?????  do take a peek at the Holiday Bash and have some fun!

and how about another christmas crafting contest - because NONE of us have enough to do right?????  this one has me really excited though!  are you familiar with Dover publications?  even if you think you aren't you probably are!  and if you are an artist or crafter of any kind you NEED to be!!!  they have been around forever - coloring books are a big one - you see them in Michaels all the time.  cut out clip art books are another - my mom has used them for DECADES in her art work.  the best part - nearly everything is royalty free!  they are great collection sources for inspiration as well.  however - they are slow to catch up with the times.  it took FOREVER for them to offer their collections on CD even - which was huge because otherwise you had to trace, scan, or photocopy the images in order to use them.  more recently i have been wishing they were available as instant downloads so i didn't have to wait for a cd to arrive in the mail.  well guess what - THEY ARE NOW!  the best part you can buy whole collections or just the images you want.  oh my mind is on overload with ideas but for today i have a project I am entering in their Heartwarming Holiday Craft Contest.

This is done on an MDF board (of course).  I used an image transfer technique to put my black & white image on the piece after the background was done.

once it was transferred I painted it in using Twinkling H2Os to emphasize the image and add some subtle sparkle.  I think I could make a whole collection of stuff using this method!  of course i don't know what i would do with all the finished pieces afterward!  perhaps i should get my etsy shop going again!  this style of mixed media artwork will also be included in my next online mixed media workshop on Color Me Creative!

Go check out the Dover Digi Shop for yourself and you can also check out the other entries on their Pinterest Board!