Hello bloggers! I know that my posts are few and far between lately. To say that my life has been a little bit of a whirlwind is an understatement. I've been jet setting and just trying to keep a handle on everything that life throws my way. Nothing too overwhelming, just crazy busy. But honestly, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if my life didn't require a safety belt even when not driving.
Although I have been doing a significant amount of shooting (for someone who doesn't advertise), I decided that it's time to refocus my time on my art. At least for the summer. I miss it. It's just that simple. It's tough when you have two things that you are very passionate about --for me it's my art and my photography. I haven't mastered juggling both successfully. One of them always ends up overwhelming me and not in a good way. Do you juggle too? How do you do it?
Anyway, in an effort to kick start my creativity in mixed media I decided to host a tag swap for the month of June at Artsy Fartsy. Yeah, I said June. I can't believe we're almost half way through the year of 2013. But anyway --back to me kick starting my creativity. Uhhhhhhh...::crickets:: So it didn't jump start quite as quickly as I thought it would but nevertheless I got some tags done. Woot, woot! And that's a lot to be happy about. So let me show you what I made this morning...
Remember you can click on the images to view them larger.
I just love this little guy --he is so cryptic and mystical and well, there's just a whole lot going on with this little fella. But I can't help but feel sadness when I see him. The technical stuff: Mustard Seed Distress Ink all over tag then I cut out a mask of the little guy and positioned it where I was going to stamp him. Then I covered the entire tag with Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I stamped the vines from the Dylusions line and then I removed the mask and stamped my little Creep. Yep, this one inspired by Radiohead's "Creep". I also shaded the edge of the tag using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
I made three pretty identical tags for my swap --they all basically look like this one. I first covered the entire tag with Peacock Feather Distress Ink and then shaded the edges of the tag with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I wish I could remember who makes the stamp I used for this tag but I don't have that in front of me so I will update it when I have an opportunity. The hardware is from the Ideaology line and the "journey in time" stamps are from Maya Road's art journaling stamp set.
I love, love, love, love, LOVE the gold stars! The stars are courtesy of a new stencil by Heidi Swapp. I positioned the stencil on the tag and then covered the stencil with gold embossing paste by the fabulous Wendy Vecchi. I actually took one of Wendy's classes last weekend! But more about that later. Anyway, I think these stars are the bees knees. ::big smile:: The final step in these tags was misting perfect pearls innnnnnnn...oh crap, I don't remember the color. I want to say Sunflower Sparkle but I think that may be incorrect. Again, will get back to everyone on this. But I do want to say that the mist and stars added a whole lot of magic to these tags!
This one is oh so pretty --I used my favorite distress ink color, Mustard Seed. I shaded the edges using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and all other steps mimic the ones already mentioned above. Pretty neat, eh?
As I mentioned a second ago, I had an opportunity to take a class with the fabulous Wendy Vecchi. It was a technique class and I'll admit that I knew 75% of what she taught that day but the class was still interesting and I walked away with a bunch of tips and some new techniques.
Alright, I will do my best to not be a stranger. I will post photos soon from some of my recent shoots and adventures. Until then...peace, love, and never truly losing your creative spirit. :)
