Hellooooooo...... March has brought me back

Life is a funny thing. I seem to loose focus on the basic things that are important to me. Simply, ART makes me happy. To create it, to pin it (haha.. yes I am addicted  to Pinterest), to see others artist creations or to go to a class and learn new techniques makes my heart soar! However, somehow I forget and get stuck in the day to day thick of life. However, when you listen God leads you to where you need to be. I have come back to it and feel so wonderful. I hope there are still people out there and thank you if you are!



 

Here is what I have been up to lately... three current trades over at my Paper Traders group.

 

 



 

In this swap we are to create ATCs that are harmony colors on the color wheel. I chose blue and green. It is an interesting process to create in monotone. Even though they are basic colors, it still a blending process. For the bottom, I used a square pattern stencil and then used a white pen to add the dimension.

The group also does a Winner Take All monthly ATC swap. This is my entry this month.

 



 

And here is my work in progress. This swap is a Mixed Media Postcard. I used modeling paste for the first time with my stencil. I learned how at the Art is You retreat I went to last year but this was my first try on my own. For the background, I used old book pages and paint. Then I added gesso, paper flowers with paint. The bees are stamped with StazOn Ink so they would not blend or bleed into the background. I outlined the flowers and thought I was done... but it seemed to need something more. I wanted to add some depth to the sun so have started to add more ink lines. Need to get this done soon, mail out is next weekend. Wish me luck.. haha
How do you finish your projects? Know exactly and mail out early, work until you feel done, or some other way? Love to know how people end their creativity.


And as I do believe in structure and do know that I am truly blessed, here is my Sunday top 5 things I am thankful for.

1. The calendar said that the first day of Spring was on the 20th and it feels like it today

2. My fingers have had ink or paint on them all weekend

3. I am excited to be starting a new job in two weeks

4. Love of my family

5. My beloved Grandmother's birthday is Thursday and I know that there will be some good cake  and ice cream in heaven this week!!

Have a wonderful week, Amanda

Art on a Friday

 

Taking some time off work is heaven! I have lots planned to do while away, and a few art projects are on the top of my list.

Here are my pages for Michelle as part of our art journal swap. For her pages, she requested cool colours, greens, blues, purples. I had so much fun with this theme.

Layers of color and gesso was the start. Then stamped over with a script stamp. Also though hard to see I added scraps of book pages and then blended them in.

The flowers are a new stencil I just purchased. There are three sets and they are all background patterns. I used gesso to form the flowers. After it dried, I sponged a light shade of lavender ink for the petals and used a golden orange paint pen to create the centers.

The edges are purple paint lines with penned dots.

Just a few finishing touches and I will be sending this off. I am really having fun making pages for this swap over at Paper Traders Yahoo Group

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

A Labor Day of art

It has been awhile since I have added to my blog. I miss checking in and visiting other people I am following. But most important is that I have been doing some art and it is time to get back into the swing of things. I have been working on my art journal for my Tip-In project over at Paper Traders.

I was playing with some Alcohol Inks and gesso. The rings were made with gesso and a bottle top. The little circles were from a homemade stencil of punched out circles.

It needs some edging so still a work in progress.

 This is a page I made inside. I used crumpled paper bags for the pages. I liked the way the gesso and the paint made a textured look. The image on the left was some goodies given to me from one of my swap partners. They are a great group of people.

And then more circles and rings of gesso and white paint.

 Here is one of the pages I have received from my swap partners. This is Shelly. The pieces are sea glass from the Bahamas where she lives. TOO COOL! The edge is hard to see in the picture but is has some of the sea sponge from there too.

I love the colors and her beautiful coral art work. She added on the page a quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow... "My soul is full of longing for the secrets of the sea" So true!!!

This is another swap tip in from Pam C. The fish are so awesome. The are embossed and have great colors and dimension. She added the quote from J.F. K. "We are tied to the ocean... And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch. we are going back to whence we came. I could not agree more!

Here is one more swap tip in page and this one is from Heather. What a great collage. I love the colors and the fun fish! I feel very blessed to be with such a great group and love all the wonderful pages I am collecting for this journal.

I will have more to share as I fill up my journal and fill in more of my own pages.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Amanda

Blog Hop Winner..

 What a wonderful Blog Hop this weekend with Paper Traders. Thank you all for the nice comments and visiting my blog. And as shown, the prize is all wrapped and ready to go for the lucky winner!

And the Winner is Jo Murray!

Thanks and I will put this in the mail this week.

Take Care, Amanda

Sunday Treasures

 Yesterday was so much fun! My sister and I went to a vintage antique show.

There were lots of vendors with wonderful items. Many vendors created very artistic displays. I am so inspired!

The icing of the cake was this amazing hand craved St. Francis statue. It was love at first sight! The birds are hand craved and added on the statue. I do not know the artist name as they wrote on the bottom in ink and it has rubbed off mostly. This little statue has a new home and it just made a wonderful day yesterday, perfect.

 This was another little jewel that I got. Have other pieces of this set from mine and my husband's family. This little dish is a fun addition.

Another simple item that I found yesterday is this vintage box of greeting cards. They each have a little sparkle. Love the box they came in, too. Can't wait to use one on a project.

Don't forget the Paper Traders blog hop, check the link on my sidebar or here


I am so thankful for my little treasures and such a wonderful day with my sister. My top 5 this week are

1. Learning to handle work frustrations
2. The spring sun
3. The artist I do not know that created such a beautiful St. Francis statue
4. Blessings from someone I need understand differently
5. Knowing that art gives me such great peace and joy

Have a wonderful week, Amanda

Blog Hop at PT

 

Welcome to my blog and hope you enjoy strolling through. My name is Amanda and since I was very little I have a great love of Pandas. This guy has been many places, even the children's hospital once. My other love is Paper, lots of scrap paper. The rest is blog history. But now as my two girls are grown up I am spending more time learning the wonderful world of mixed media. I have done paper art for many years and now branching into much more. I have learned a lot from a wonderful group Paper Traders. All weekend they are having a fun blog hop. Here are the details Blog Hop. Below is the details of my giveaway!

 

 

First is a handmade art journal. It is a variation of the one from Teesha Moore. It is 6 x 5.5 was hand bound like her video shows.

Some pages fold out on a side or other. It has a total of 8 pages. It just waiting for your creative art to make it complete. In other Teesha videos she has great ideas for how to paint and create art journal pages.

I will also include other fun items like ribbons, buttons and fun embellishment.

Of course there would have to be some scrap papers too.

 



And lastly a few fun postcards.

 

To be included in the random drawing on Monday for this prize, please leave a comment on this post or the original blog hop post here.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon, Amanda

Paper Trader Blog Hop

I am excited to participate the First Paper Traders Blog Hop. I hope it will be a way for you to get to know me and a few of the other group members better, see our art, and get a chance to win some nice prizes that are being offered along the way. Maybe you'll even be inspired by what you see and want to join the group.

The Blog Hop will be open the entire weekend of April 19-21, 2013. Be sure to start at the Paper Traders Art Blog here http://papertraders-art.blogspot.com/ and follow the blog hop list of participating members below:

Paper Traders Art Blog

Bockel24
Art and Soul
Sunshine,Lollipops and Butterflies
Creative Solace
Art Beckons
Scrap Panda
Creative Musings
A Surcee Life
Textile Delights
Stamp Gram’s
Glenda’s Art Escapes
Fairy Rocks

Each member will share a little bit about herself and offer either a handmade art piece or other quality prize that will be randomly awarded to blog readers who leave a warm, fuzzy comment. Just comment below and provide a way for me to contact you and I will pick a randomly drawn name from those who leave a comment. One entry per person, please.

Have fun on your journey and I hope you'll come back to visit soon!

Another Art Page

 

I was behind getting my page done this month for the Word Prompt Journal. Check out the sidebar link to see all the great pages created by members and others who have joined in.

I did want to try some new techniques for this page, so used a dollie and gesso for the first layer of my page.

 This is the dollie. It had four corners so I decided to use each one on each corner of my page. I see that this technique is tricky to know how much gesso to use. It is a fun surprise each time to see what would show up.

Next I blended some alcohol ink on the page to add more color. The theme for the page was to use some symbols of time. I used my stamps with clock faces and clock hands.

I am trying to practice my art lettering. It is a work in progress. I stamped letters and then tried to add to it. I need to let it be.. I will keep trying.

Then I wanted to add this little bird. I created a nest using strips of paper and layered to create the effect.

Here is the final page.

Challenging myself more

 

 There is a lot of things that I want to learn and do. Being part of a wonderful art group has helped to push me in that direction. I belong to Paper Traders. This is a art journal we are doing with the group. We are given a monthly word prompt to create with. This is my Follow Your Heart for February.

 

This was a magazine collage swap with the group. I love to create and use new techniques. To make the shoreline and cliff. I used many magazine pages. Cut the pictures into slices and then reassembled them to create the page.

 

This was another swap to take an old photo and create "oddball Ancestors". I used stamped butterfly wings and embelished them with lots of stickle. The hat was from an stamp with the mad hatter. It was fun to think outside the normal way of using stamps. I created the background blending the background with paint and alcohol ink.

I want to create more, this was fun.

Pages for me

 

I received these awesome pages from Shelly at Paper Traders. Like the projects I have been working on others have been working on pages for me. My requirements are a theme of Ocean. This is the first one I have received. The pages are beautiful. The background is watercolor and blending. The corral is hand painted. And then the two pieces of glass pieces are from the ocean where she lives. She also included a Longfellow quote. This is so me, I just love it. I really love working with this group and the items we share with each other. I am blessed.

Have a wonderful week, Amanda

Blank Slate

Art can do so much and I found that it helps me in many ways.

I am working on my next tip-in trade pages for the swap at Paper Traders. The request is White on White pages. I love this idea. So here is my first phase. I cut the pages and there are elements I want to use but do not know if it will all stay.

 

The heart is something I cut with the cricut on some ledger looking paper and the very tip has a butterfly.

 This is some texture wallpaper with leaves.

This is some tissue paper with a light pink pattern. She said that muted color was acceptable. I am still thinking but gesso could cover some. I really love this paper because of the shine and the pattern.

Even with a request of white on white there are many options. Starting with a blank slate is refreshing and reminds me that there is always an option to restart and hope will guide you through.

Wonderful days and much to be thankful for and the Top 5:

1. So much to learn and enjoying every minute

2. PINTEREST fun

3. Stressful job helps me to value my art time

4. Time with my girls

5. The many blues of a morning sky

Have a wonderful week and wishing you projects that give you hope.

Amanda

Sunday Journal

 

Finally got this together. This is my new Art Journal for a challenge at Paper Traders, 2013 Word Prompt, Life Mantras. They have a great link for the making of this from Teesha Moore's website. This journal was created using one 140lb watercolor paper 30x24 sheet. She has great video instructions on her site. The final size of this journal is 8x10.

 

 

I remembered to take some pictures as I was painting it. Forgot to when I was making it but it is a start. I made some of the mistakes she talks about but it is my first one of many more. It is really easy to make and I love the way it comes out.  

Some pages are fold-ins. Love the size and creative options this makes. I do like adding the paint and with a wet brush spreading the color and then taking a paper towel and removing some and adding swirls of dimension. (Another video on Teesha's site)

 

I made my brush too wet and colors bled through to the other pages. (She warns in her video)  I will do better next time. The varying color shading is so fun. I do need to get back to the journal though. ,In this challenge, each month we are to follow a word prompt and January is Live Simple and must include stamping. As it is the 27th, I better get to getting.... 

I am very thankful for so much but my top 5 are:

1. Sunday morning of beautiful winter sun

2. Watercolors that are never the same twice

3. Catholic Schools Sunday and little ones in uniforms, first time in 20 years it is not my girls (A little feeling old... haha)

4. Remembering that no mistakes just options

5. Fresh pages for creating

Life and Art

 

It has been a while since my last posting. Life has taken me on a journey that I had not planned but has taught me a lot about who I am and what I can do. I am glad to get back to some of the things I love and this piece is a current SWAP I was able to participate in at Paper Traders Group

This SWAP was a Rusted Autumn Tin. I need to be better about taking pictures along the creation. However, there is tutorial on the group page on how to rust tin. It was a fun to learn. This is an Altoids tin lid. Once the rusting was done; I added in the objects for an autumn theme. The pumpkin and leaves are from a Starbucks VIA coffee package for the pumpkin spice. It was the perfect little item for this piece. I also made paper rolls to fill in the bottom. I layered buttons to add a little vintage touch. So the piece could be hung up, I used the fun yarn that has little tuffs of thread that looks like leaves.

It is nice to be creating again. Hope that I can reconnect with people and wishing all a wonderful weekend.

Another Swap

Here is a project that is almost complete. This is the front view of the love envelope I am making for a swap at Paper Traders Yahoo Group. I used a mask to create the cupid. Then layered the Dollie lace, paper trim lace, and some hearts from a punch. I hope to complete the inside note and the other 4 copies. I need to send out next week. Slowly working on my 50 by 50 list and now will have 3 swaps completed of the 50.. One day at a time.

Snowflakes are a few of my favorite things

Being a California Kid and spending my younger years in the Southern part of the state, I think it is funny how much I love snow or anything to do with snow. Maybe it is because I only visit it or have had only a handful of times that I got to live in it. So for my ATC monthly swap over at Paper Traders Group   I created a snowflake card. Using white ink with my stamping is always a challenge but this turned out ok. What I like about creating ATCs right now is that they are small, fun ways to try out techniques, and in trading I get to see how others create them too. FUN...

Sixth Anniversary Shrine

There is a tradition at the Paper Trader Group to have an Anniversary project. This year it was to make a shrine to swap with the other members who participated. I have never made one before so thought I would try it. The only guidelines were the size and to have something tie to six (years for the group). I added the six domino for that.  I used an ocean theme. I found the mermaid on Graphic Fairy. She is the perfect fit. The base of the shrine is a piece of drift wood I found on a trip to the lake.  A fun project project.

Moody Monday

Yep it is Monday again... I did have a creative weekend and that always makes the week following a little easier. I finished this ATC. I appreciated the support comments about letting it sit. I am still learning but this worked out. Added the stamped dragonfly and then wanted something else and these words were rambling around in my brain so I added it to the card. Under the word Love, I added a heart made from tissue paper. Then added the black pigment ink to the edge. NTS, pigment takes time to dry so don't pick up the card and then a white piece of paper. For awhile, I could not figure out where all the black smudges were coming from! Haha.. 

P.S. I added this to a WTA swap on a great yahoo group Paper Traders.

Wishing all a great week!