Would You Like that Gift Wrapped?

We all have it - in boxes, bags, in the basement or the storage closet. Gads of wrapping paper - and I'm not just talking Christmas...

We have some we bought for a special occassion (wedding, christening, graduation) that we did not use up.

We have the garish (ugh)

And the kind that truly dates itself

Themes (please don't tell Miss Gwendoline we have this in the house) that may appeal to some

Though why would you want mushroom wrapping paper?

Some times if you are really, really lucky you find the sweet stuff ( I find mine thrifting and through my favorite Etsy shops)...

Old, but with a wonderful patina

The kind I like to use for collages - here I used a favorite on Mail Art

Or for wrapping small gifts for friends...
If your looking for something different for your art work, go check out the wrap you (or even better, an older relative) have tucked away. You just never know what you might find! Jewels

And the Winner is...

Rebecca who stopped by for my Give Away - she Home Schools and is going to try this technique with her two daughters ( I did warn her about the high messiness factor, LOL). Miss Gwendoline gave her nod of approval. Cheers. Jewels

New Technique and Give Away...

On my last book purchase from Amazon I picked up some new ones on collage techniques.

I immediately fell in love with Jane Davies (author of Collage Journeys) latest book, Adventures in Mixed Media - lots of great ideas including how to make Fabric Paper.

Which I am sure is not "new" for many of you but it sure was for me - and such a simple thing to make.

Start with fabric (including one for your foundation), paper, tissue paper and a solution of water/white glue (2:1 ratio) and just start layering. It is a messy process (kinda reminds me of all those paper mache projects when I was young) and you do have to wait overnight for your end product to dry...

...but fun results - and this was my first try!

I made a big square so I could try different techniques on top - stamping, painting, aging...Davies gives more ideas in her book.

After a lot of experimenting I managed to create a gluebook spread (well I figure it is still involves cutting, gluing and paper so counts).

I also created some ATCs (thanks Lenna for the tip for my photo)...

...including one I would like to give away! Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw the lucky winner next weekend - be sure I can get to your email address...as for fabric paper - I think the possibilities are endless! Enjoy, Jewels (p.s. feel free to give me a shout if you want more details on how to make...)

You Bug Me Part 2

Here is what I received in return for my Mail Art that I talked about in my last post...You Bug Me Mail Art.

First to arrive was this lovely envelope from Beth. She just had an exhibit up where she lives near Traverse City. What a great combination of drawing, stamping and transfers.

When it arrived I was wondering about the length - until I saw the lovely vintage embroidery floss she included. She had found it thrifting and decided to send some out to all of us. Very thoughtful of her...

Next in the mail was Leslie's piece. I really love how she incorporated the theme into the address...

And this beautiful "bug" on the back. She included some pieces of ephemera (can never get enough new stuff) for me to include in my collaging...

Finally from Creative Lenna who decided she wanted to join in the fun this month (where does this girl find time to do all the things she does!).

I particularly loved her stamps - too cool. She also included some paper pieces for me to use.
I snapped these in my garden - thanks so much my friends! I don't think I will get bored with Mail Art any time soon....Jewels

You Bug Me Part 1

For July the Mail Art Gang had the theme "You Bug Me" (also known as Bug Love). Here is what I did (now recieved by everyone participating).

We had to "draw" something - that was the challenge so I had to "draw" (no pun intended) on my inner child.

I did make a sketch first as I  did not have a clue what I was doing.

I ended up doing the back first - I had originally thought I might put the address in the hat but I kinda liked the whole picture without any text. All I used was water colour pencils on water colour paper.

 The front design reflects all the decorative painting I took in the 1990's - I still have all the brushes and acrylic paints from that "stage" of my artsy career. To protect my work, I sprayed with two coats of Krylon Matte Finish.

I also wanted to include something buggy for my friends and made a mini quilt for each. How fitting I could take a pic with my Bee Balm in the garden (which had a lovely Bumble Bee hoovering, but not willing to stay long enough for a personal shoot).

The base for the mini quilts was an old piece of upholstery. I layered with vintage lace and ribbon and an image I printed on to fabric. Added an old button for a finishing touch and voila.

I packaged in some old gift wrap I thrifted (another post I think) and added a little "bee" card. My next post will be on all the lovely Mail Art I recieved in return. Enjoy! Jewels

That Felt Good

I feel a little (well actually alot ) MIA these days. Work is all consuming leaving little time for artsy things. It is also hard to get enthusiastic about blogging when one sits in front of a computer all day - sometimes I just need to get away from the dang thing...

That said I had an urge earlier today to cut and glue the good old fashioned way. Hard to believe it is a year ago I signed up for Mary's class and got introduced to gluebooks. I decided to start a new one - though I did hem and hah over a Moleskine or a different size...but this fella pretty much determined it was going to be the traditional route...

For this book I am going to try to stick with graphics and photos of children. I am also going to try hard to only use the REAL thing - no downloading and printing stuff. Everything from my stash (which is a good size now) which may force some thinking out of the box on my part. For this spread I used paper from an old atlas, dictionaries and two childrens book I thrifted. It did feel good just to be focused on this and "play". Enjoy. Jewels