Fly Away LFB Front Cover

At the Collage Stuff yahoo group, we are doing a little fat book with a bird theme. The title of the swap is "Fly Away." The pages are to be mailed to me by July 1, so I need to get busy and get the 19 handmade cover and 19 digital back covers done. My first idea did not work out like I had hoped, but I like this design.
I started out a background of a vintage dictionary page. I sprayed it some shimmer spray that one can make using Perfect Pearls, dye ink re-inkers, water and a mini mister. I used Peeled Paint Re-Inker and a Pearl Perfect Pearls. I stamped on it with a scrolly stamp, smooshed gold paint over the top, stamped again with the scrolly stamp with blank ink and then stamped the scrolly stamp with a red Studio Paint. I glued down the three roses from the 7343 Fairy Victorian Scrap (Collage Stuff). I glued down some vintage sheet music (Collage Stuff) on the right side. I covered the sheet music with gold paint, wiped most of it off, and then applied the same red paint and wiped most of it off. I glued down a length of green vintage UK bus tickets (Collage Stuff). So the background was done and then what to put on it? I never have a problem making a background. It's the "what do I put on it" that's hard sometimes. I found this bird image on the "On the Wing" collage sheet (Collage Stuff), sized it a little bigger and liked how it looked on the background. I glued it down and used a gold metallic marker and grey Copic marker to highlight the image. The words were made at the Acme Label Maker website. I used a black Copic marker on all of the edges to frame the piece. I'll eventually seal it with a gel medium or a Krylon spray sealer. I will probably change this up as I go along - making 19 exactly the same is boring! I will make a simple back for this page detailing the swap participants.

Skinny Book Page for June

I'm ahead of the game for once on the skinny book pages. They are 4 x 8". Yesterday, I bought some new scrapbook papers and I had an idea floating around in my head for how to use them. The theme of this book is vintage and Maggie Taylor art was also listed as something this person liked. I found out that Taylor's art is digital and she had art with a dog head on a man's body and etc. The perfect opportunity for me to use the Catnip Design's Little Kitty Sisters collage sheet that is exclusive to Collage Stuff. I glued down the background papers and the orange UK bus ticket at the bottom. I used a credit card to apply Making Memories Vanilla paint to the whole thing. I love that Vanilla paint. Then I overstamped it all with a text stamp in black ink. I put the kitty on the background and didn't like it. I added the two columns of vintage text. Much better! I cut the word "cat" from some of the new scrapbook paper and layered it on some of the same background paper. The kitty went on next. The crochet trim at the top is from Collage Stuff - May Arts 5/8" natural crochet trim. I smooshed some vanilla paint on two blue and one kinda orange paper flower, applied them with glue dots and used glue dots to put a vintage button in the center of the flower. One of the scrapbook papers I bought had tiny black and white checks, so I cut two strips and these went on the sides. Since I thought of this after the crocket trim was applied, I had to lift up the trim a little to push the black/white check paper under it. The title of this page is "Miss Kitty."

Make-0ver Marie #2

Here's a variation on the previous "Make-over Marie" ATC. The halo is from the "Watch Parts" collage sheet. It was sort of a yellow, so I changed it to blue. The background paper is actually shoes from the "Let them eat cake" collage sheet. The vintage text is overstamped with a crackle stamp. I cut Black Scalloped Lace Border in between the scallops so I could arrange it in a circle around the top of the halo. I applied Black Diamond Swarovsky crystals to each of the scallops. Again, Marie is colored with Copic markers.

Make-over Marie ATC

The theme for this month's Collage Stuff ATC swap is Marie Antoinette. I call this ATC "Make-over Marie" because I used my Copic markers to alter the Marie image from the Collage Stuff "Simply Marie Collage Sheet by Catnip Designs." She's so pale in the original image - too pale for me. So pale that it's hard to match any other colors to her. I gave her flesh some color, made her gray/white hair brown, lips a little pinker and used a very light blue over the entire dress. The background image is from the Collage Stuff "Altered London #1 Collage Sheet." This image is black and white. I used a couple of different blue color Copic markers to give it some color and coordinate with Marie. I overstamped a text stamp with black ink on the background image. The clock is from the Tim Holtz Lost and Found Paper Pack. I edged the ATC with a black Copic marker to finish it off. Sometimes I think I should add something else to this, but if I do, I'll probably mess it up. It's another simple design that will be easy for me to mass produce so that every swap participant receives an ATC from me.

One more thing - I love the Copic markers. You can alter the colors on collage sheets, and add color to black and white photos.

Back of skinny book page

This is the back of the previous skinny book page. I have to admit that I was getting frustrated trying to find good quality photos of women who dared online. Everything I found was too small to print well. I remembered that in one stash of books, I had a bargain book on the Queen Mother. This photo is from that book. It was black and white. I scanned it in and colored the women with my Copic markers. The Queen Mum's coloring is a little lighter than her daughters. The daughters are more tan than their mum, as this is how it usually is. I glued them down on some paper from the Tim Holtz Lost and Found Paper Stack. I framed the image with the back of the printed paper. I overstamped the plain back with gold paint and the Collage Stuff Stylish Background Stamp. I made the names at the Acme label maker website. The small gold crowns are from Collage Stuff. I outlined all of the photos and words with a gold metallic marker. I found the metal butterfly pin in my stash. I used to offer these at Collage Stuff, but I can't get them now. I colored the green paper flower a darker green with my Copic markers and finger painted gold glaze on both flowers. A gold jewel adorns the center of the flowers. As usual, I'm happy to have this month's skinny book page done!

After I uploaded this photo, I thought it needed something else, so I added the little gold flower stickers at the ends!

Skinny Book Page

This month I have to create art for a skinny book with the theme "Women Who Dared." For the front of the page I decided to go with a Frida Kahlo theme. I like grungy and I like to overstamp with paints and inks. This Frida image is from a Collage Stuff Frida collage sheet. The wings are courtesy of a butterfly from another Collage Stuff collage sheet. I changed the color from red to purple and used some PSP brushes to add white sheet music to the wings.

The background paper is actually a hot pink with glitter in a diamond pattern. I painted thinned down tan paint over it with my fingers and smooshed it around. I was digging around in my many art stashes and found a clear stamp set I hadn't used before. It had grungy images. I stamped part of a frame stamp near the top and bottom of the page. I used a text stamp to stamp in between the frame parts. Next the Frida image was glued down. Thinned down Sand color paint was applied over everything. I wanted Frida to blend in more with the background.

I used a scrolly stamp with Gold Golden Glaze and stamped everywhere excluding Frida's face. I had some Making Memories tiny alpha stickers, so I spelled "artist" around Frida's head and punctuated each letter with a gold jewel - a crown of sorts.

I stamped some twill with a small floral design stamp, glued this down, and then glued black ribbon over the top of it. I applied gold glaze to a pink paper flower and used an antique gold brad to attach it. I printed the words "Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly," cut them out and applied sand paint and gold glaze after they were glued down. This is a Frida Kahlo quote.

Now to come up with something for the back.

More MaDonna Art

More wonderful MaDonna art by LuAnne B. I love these ATC's. LuAnne has used the following Collage Stuff Collage Sheets: Madonna, Altered MaDonna, Altered London #2 Color ATC, and Altered London #2 Black and White ATC. She's also used Tim Holtz Sprocket Gears, Collage Stuff Copper Assorted German Scrap Stars, Collage Stuff Gold Scrolls (colored with alcohol inks) and the Tim Holtz Retro Grunge Paper Stack. Thanks LuAnne for sharing your art with us!

Frida ATC

The April ATC swap at the Collage Stuff Yahoo Group is a Frida Kahlo theme. I used two images from the Frida Collage Sheet available at Collage Stuff. I cut one of the larger images kind of in half and glued it on the left. The round ball (kinda looks like a sun) behind the monkey's head is also from that same image. On the right side of the background, I used the ATC size clock paper from the Tim Holtz Lost and Found paper pack. So that's the background - Frida and Tim! I glued the little sun down next (in the right place so it would be behind the monkey's head) and then the Frida image next. I outlined them with a gold marker. At the top left, I wanted something kind of like the sun, so I cut up a Gold Large Round Frame German Scrap and glued down three pieces. I wanted some bling to go on the rings of the sun. I found these gold ones, but I'm going to look in my stash for some other colors. I copied a little piece of the Frida image skin tone and used it as the background for the words "as bright as the sun". I printed that out on my computer/printer and glued the words down. I really love Frida's art. To me, it just shines, shines as bright as the sun! I finished off the edges of the ATC with a gold paint dabber. Again, this is a simple design as I have to mass produce these. I like to include one of my own ATC's for everyone participating in the Collage Stuff swaps.

Very Simple Mother's Day Card

Mother's Day is coming up and my mom likes it when I make hand-made cards. I hardly ever create a greeting card these days. I'm out of practice. I like simple! Simple is good. I used an image from the Collage Stuff Altered Madonna Collage Sheet. The image already has a lot of detail, so it doesn't need a lot of embellishing. I used some vintage sheet music at the bottom. I have gone to auctions in the past and picked up boxes of old books. I found an old church hymnal book in my stash and used a part of a page near the top. I overstamped the background with a swirly stamp. You can't go wrong with the little paper flowers and bling centers. I edged the card in red ink first and followed it up with black ink. It's a very simple, non-traditional Mother's Day card, but it will suit my mom.