Faux grass technique

The latest background noise challenge from Trish B: faux grass paper! I used dill weed and 4 different colors of green glaze to get a very realistic bed of grass- too cool :)

Another piece of potato paper

I used a regular sheet of card stock this time and
sprayed it with Eggplant Color Wash. Let that dry (I think if it had
been bone dry there would have been more white ares), then squirted on
the potato. Baked that until it cracked and was dry to touch. Then I
bravely sprayed bleach over the entire surface and watched magic
happen! I used a soft rubber edged kitchen scraper to remove the potato
after the bleach had dried. It came right off! I just brushed away the
crumbs with a paper towel and got a great piece of paper.
I'm wondering about neutralizing the bleach so the paper will
be "friendlier"?

Potato resist technique

I saw an interesting technique for hand dyed fabric on a TV show the other day and wanted to try it on paper. The proper technique involves mixing instant potatoes to a gravy consistency and then squirting it on black fabric in random patterns. As the potato dries it cracks and crazes. They sprayed bleach on the dried fabric and then rinsed the potato away, revealing an incredible batik like pattern!

Here is my attempt on paper: I decided to try freezer paper first because it has the wax backing and won't fall apart as easily. Since this is my first attempt I decided to spray on Color Wash in Eggplant. Next time I'm going to dye it first and then spray with bleach. Anyway, I applied the potato thickly on one piece of paper and thinly on the second. Since I have no patience, I stuck them in my oven on the drying setting. They were pretty dry in 30 minutes so I went ahead and sprayed. I dried them to set set the ink with my blow dryer and then rinsed them gently.... and it worked!!!!! The scans lost a lot of the definition, but the sheet with the thicker application turned out perfectly- very batiked looking. The sheet with the thin application is nice too, just very subtle. By the way, the look before removing the potato is very cool too!

Here they are:

In loving memory of Tina Reichart Swaney

I lost one of my dearest of friends March 15Th. Tina was only 50 years old- how could this be? She was only sick briefly, but didn't even tell her immediate family the seriousness of her illness until the week she passed. She worked tirelessly for her church youth group and has 3 kids of her own. Her brother Mark and I taught Katie (the oldest) to say "Mommy's cuckoo!" when she was three years old. She would only say it at the absolutely most embarrassing times! Tina cared for her mother through years of debilitating Alzheimer's, and her father, when at 94, finally gave in and agreed to live with her. Of all the people that I wished happiness and long life for, it was Tina. Such a good person deserved to see her children marry and have children. Life is so strange. I just want everyone who visits my blog to know that a great everyday person passed and left a big ding in my heart.

Travel Tip-ins for CCS swap

These are tip-ins with a theme of "travel". I distressed a map from the town i live in, adde some of my hair mousse paper and a great old pic of my mom and grandma. I never did find out what the tiff was all about, but looks speak volumes for sure! I photo shopped with the dry brush filter and then hand colored a few spots. Then I scuffed it up. I added a transparency in black and white to give some edge. Caption: "remember ... be cheerful on your path to your dreams!"

The back is classic Judy Garland in the wizard of Oz. I hand colored the transparency and attached it to a cool piece of embossed bronze paper. Caption: "wherever you go... there oyu are..."

Hair Mousse Background Paper

Trish B's next background noise paper is a variation on shaving cream paper... I used a crumbled local map for the paper and went with dark colors. I love the way it turned out! I'll be using it for my Travel tip-in swap for the CCS group.....

Easter Bonnet Bird Brain

This is a paper doll I did for a one on one swap with Lyn R. Our theme was easter bonnets... I used a dress cut from a vintage Pattern catalog and accessorized with some flip flops and gloves. I received a most beautiful paper confection from Lyn in return!

Cracked Glass Part Two

Since I can't leave anything in its original state, I decided that I must cut cracked glass (see below) into tiles and go from there. Here is the result- very cool. Next I'm going to do some digital colaging with it and see what happens next....

Cracked Glass Art Quest Challenge

Trish Bee is at it again! Her latest challenge was cracked glass using UTEE. Of course I had to substitue floor wax with shoe polish (pew-eeee!), didn't have any colored inks except homemade red and some eggplant. I started with a butter colored cardstock and added some pearlex between the layers of UTEE. I used a lot of different colors for the final inking. I love how it turned out- I have a special project planned and I think it will fit right in. Thanks for another great challenge Trish!

Index Card Booklet

This is a neat index card book that I picked up at the dollar store. I embelished it for the "letter stamp" swap on CCS- it turned out pretty cool!

Mini Album for Texture Swap

This is a mini album that is designed to hold six postcard sized pages. I made this for the texture swap on CCS.... going to Maggie.

Double Duece Dare!

Drumroll please... I received a packet of elements and was dared to make something. I was allowed to add papers, stamps and more goodies. Here is the result:

Art Lab Two

Here I go again- I managed to blow up the original Art Laboratory, so I am back with another version. I am soooo far behind on challenges and background papers that I may not catch up until April. So this is short with no picture. Just a launch and incentive to myself to get this blog beefed up and running!