I'm so excited!
Yep, I just did the happy dance because I'm so excited to go to Artfest in April! I've never done anything like this before, but I'm glad I'm doing it. I even got all of the classes I wanted, including one taught by the author of Poemcrazy, my current favorite book about writing poetry. Oh, I must go get started on making things to trade with other Artfesters. Must fly!
I blogged about the House in the Sky collage last month. I have to say I think it's darling. (Of course I have to say that! It's like saying you think your children are beautiful.)
This is the detail of a quilt that I saw at the Quilt Museum at This Is the Place Heritage Park. I'm awed by this person's talent.
A vintage green Avon decanter and a Royal Doulton figurine match up nicely! These are going to be the colors of my new bedroom!
I made this bracelet last summer and decided to show it off. Of course, as I go to take the picture, the clasp falls off. Guess I'll be restringing it now.
So, I found my dream house this weekend. Unfortunately, it's at This is the Place Heritage Park and I don't think they'll sell it to me. But I don't think Great-great Grandpa Brigham would mind if I moved in!
Yesterday, I was running into the apartment to change my clothes before going to my parents' house, when I saw this flower. I've lived in this apartment for 2 1/2 years, and this is the first time that I've seen this flower blossom.
Hello, everybody. And a Merry Christmas in July to you all! 
I'm not really sure if I'm done with this collage, but I really like it the way it is now, so I'm going to leave it for a little bit and then go back and decide if it needs any other embellishments to finish it up.
This collage definately started with the picture. I found this picture on *Playingwithbrush's Flickr photostream and it really stuck with me. I thought about it a lot before I started working with it. I then decided that each of the girls (and the dog!) needed a crown, so I printed off the crown transparencies from jack and cat curio's Flickr photostream and then colored in the opposite side with a gold American Crafts Metallic Marker. I then adhered them to a piece of cardboard that I had covered with a sheet of Amy Butler scrapbook paper and then added the text from a vintage children's book which I aged with chalk ink.
So, like I said, I'm not sure I'm done with this one, but, for now, I like it!
Well, May didn't seem like it was flying by when I was still pregnant and wondering when I was going to have that baby, but looking at my art journal, my last page was done on May 1st and I still haven't blogged about it. "Direction" was my word from the Art Journal Challenge Flickr Group. This page didn't turn out quite like I wanted because the paint pen wouldn't work. But I do like the legs without bodies walking down the golden path. 
This is my "Breathe" page for the Art Journal Challenge Flickr Group . It's mostly done with Sharpies with a photo of the baby, a piece of torn scrapbook paper, and the word "breathe" rubber stamped to finish it off. It's my first art journal page that I didn't paint. And everything except the Sharpie coloring was done standing up since I don't have a place at my table right now to do anything. Believe it or not, I'm actually almost done organizing my stuff...but the table is still covered. I don't get it. 
I have had these three almost finished for quite a while now; I just needed to get a hot glue gun to secure the lace and the buttons as glue dots were not doing the trick. Here's how these were created:
1. I started with canvas boards again and glued on strips of old sheet music. I then painted over the sheet music using cheapo acrylic paints.
2. After they dried, I made some ink jet transparency transfers of three different silhouettes I got from Jersey Barb at the Collage Images Flickr Group (you have to be a member of the group to look at the pictures). Ink jet transparency transfers are pretty easy; you do need to practice a little before trying to add them to your real artwork. I think I'll post a tutorial on how to do them another time, but if you really want to know how to do them, here's how I learned to do them: http://reviews.ebay.com/Make-your-OWN-rub-ons_W0QQugidZ10000000000111773?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:SEARCH:2
3. I then glued on some black lace and pretty vintage inspired black buttons. Glue dots don't really do the trick for these, so I used hot glue instead.
4. I glued on some black ribbon on the back for a hanger and then covered the back with more vintage sheet music to finish them up.
They were actually really easy. They were just a little time consuming because you had to wait for paint to dry and glue to dry. But they were fun and now they're on my wall!
Since this is the picture that I use for my profile, I thought I should probably explain what it is. This is La Dama de Elche (The Lady of Elche). I lived in Elche for five months, and even though I never got to see the real Dama (she's in a museum in Madrid), I've always felt kind of a connection to her. And that's why I gave this blog, and myself, the name La Dama de Collage. 
The second page is "Alive ABCs." This one includes the first transparency I made on my printer (I found a box of ink jet transparencies at the DI for $1.00. After pricing them at Office Max for $30, I decided I couldn't pass up on this brand new box.), butterfly stickers and black Sharpie(from the dollar store), cheepo acrylic paint (I never use the artist's acrylic paint; I just use the cheepo craft paint because I love the colors and the price), letter brads, glitter gel pens, and vintage text from an old elementary school vocabulary book that cost all of 50 cents.
The words for the ABCs are ache, breathe, cheer, dancing, earn, and fear. Here's what I've journaled along with the words: "To be truly alive...We must ache, so we know who to comfort others. We must breathe, so we can find our place of peace and calm. We must cheer our family and friends...and ourselves. We must dance, even if it is just a happy jig in our hearts. We must earn the peace and happiness we desire, so that we do not take them for granted. We must fear, and then we must conquer that fear."
Right now, sitting at the table and working on my "art," is very difficult My feet are starting to swell up even if I spend a minimum amount of time at the table. But I have accomplished these two.
This week's word for the Art Journal Challenge Flickr Group was "Life." I was thinking about that word as I was going through a magazine that I really needed to get rid of (I have to purge the stuff I've been saving before this baby comes or else he'll be sleeping in a box of magazines and craft supplies) when I saw the picture of a woman in a green dress. And I thought she was full of life and happiness. So, she was my inspiration for these pages. 
I then started thinking about all of the things that are my life, the things that make me happy to be alive and I wrote those things down as I thought of them.
I think this is my most positive art journal page yet. Everything else I've done has focused on being tired, and pregnant, and in pain, and tired. This, however, is going to be one of those pages that I'll keep turning to because it just makes me happy to see and read it!
In honor of spring, I've been working on this little flower fairy collages for about two weeks. They've been so much fun to do, and I just wish I had more free time (not working and without the children) to work on more art-stuff. I think this is the longest I've worked on a little project like this. There are several layers involved here. I've described them below.
1. On a canvas board, glue on (I used gel medium) ripped up pieces of different texts. I think I used about 3 or 4 different texts on each board. 2. Paint with acrylic paints. 3. Spray with Java color Walnut Ink (I want to get some that is lighter next time. The Java is really dark.). 4. Stamp with gold pigment ink script stamp. 4. Flip watered down acrylic paint (the same color as the original layer) on the background. 5. Make a borderwith vintage music pages (mine came from an old clarinet book) that have been aged with chalk ink. 6. Glue on copy of vintage image from internet. 7. Stamp on vintage paper the word with gold pigment ink. Use Xyrex machine to make stickers of the stamps. 8. Use trims and flowers (I bought mine from Marilyn at Outside the Lines) to finish up the collage. 9. Use masking tape to adhere a ribbon to the back for easy hanging. 10. Select pretty scrapbook paper, cut it to fit the back of the canvas board, and adhere it to the back to of the collage.
I'm going to go eat mini-corn dogs right now. The baby is making me do it!
This page was inspired by the three hours of sleep I had last night (well, really early this morning). It wasn't until after 4 o'clock that I was tired enough that I could sleep despite my cough. I didn't want to take a day off work today, since it's the end of the quarter and I have a bunch of grading to get done, but I also didn't think I would be able to go to work on no sleep. So, about 3:30 this morning I decided to write a lesson plan for the sub and call the system to find a sub. I also called my doctor and asked for a prescription for some cough syrup...maybe I'll actually sleep tonight.
So, I wanted to start new and here I am with a new blog and some new art. Above is the first art journal page I've ever made.
These are some more tags that are in my Etsy store.
These are some tags I made to celebrate my return to art-making. I gave them away to the only person who left a message on my new blog (which is now an old blog after...oh, a couple of days. I hated it and now I'm back on Blogger) and made me a Flickr contact. I hope she likes them!
