Veering off the intended path

When I saw the white corrugated cardboard at The Funkie Junkie's Boutique on Etsy I couldn't wait to get some and play, play, play!

Then I saw a few other bits, including a die that's been making me drool forever and some wonderful rusty primitive stars and such.

Finished up the shopping cart and woohoo, a couple of days later I was standing at my work desk putting together the most gorgeous white corrugated tag with white fabric and white lace embellishments and a single rusty star. How pleased was I? Pleased people. Tickled freakin' pink.

Right up until my guy walked by, peeked his nose into my business and said "Wow, that looks like a wedding."

Weddings are definitely not my thing, but more importantly this creation was supposed to be chic, vintage, French sort of thing. Not a wedding tag. I don't even know anyone who is getting married.

This led to thoughts of color and texture and then zoom ... we now have a tag sprayed with color wash, embossed with vintage photo distress embossing powder, and pools of more lettuce color wash applied with a cotton ball that ended up leaving behind odd, wonderful bits of fuzz.

Because when I decide to switch gears I leave the road altogether, bumping along dirt paths and the occasional sidewalk.

Now I have a tag that I'm happy enough to have created, honestly it's not bad at all, plus this white corrugated board is such fun to work with ... but what the hell happened to chic, vintage and French? At least we've still got a little vintage.

My second attempt, just look ... it's yellow. Yellow! In what world is sunshine yellow also chic, vintage and French?

Does anyone know if the word "art" is derived from a French term? It's really my last hope to pretend that I can stick to an idea.

If you think of a way to make this mess chic and French let me know: In the meantime, please drop by the Frilly and Funkie blog to see what the Funkie Junkie and her team are creating!

Art journal cover: Deadline entry

We're in a bit of a rush at my house, it's past bedtime and less than two hours to go to enter a cover for the eclectic Paperie journal blog hop.

Art journaling has long been of interest to me, but this is my first attempt. Technically what you see here is something like my fifth attempt.

Because I started with bright white, moved into yellow and blue, then yellow with glow-glitter blue and so on until we arrived at this finished pinkish, lavenderish, whitish ... something.

I quite like it, especially the clockwork that was embedded into the very, very first layer: Gesso.

Despite being cut from aluminum and simply pressed into the gesso ... it's not moving around at all. Maybe that's due to the four or five layers of paint and ink on top.

Anyhow, we'll see how things roll with the actual journal. Hopefully the inside pages can stand up to layers and layers of indecision and "repair" art.

I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely weekend, complete with margaritas and unbelievably outrageous hats in honor of Kentucky Derby Day!

CC2C No. 3: Marbled Stains with a wee bit of Faux Patina

Challenge: The StudioL3 Compendium of Curiosities volume II Challenge, technique 3 and 2 (I couldn't make it last week)

Technique: Marbled Stains, page 46 (Faux Patina, page 58)

Sponsor: Eclectic Paperie (Angie, who has since started a blog!)

Main products used for this project: Manilla tag, aluminum can flats (to create Tattered Florals), texture fades, alcohol inks, distress stains, perfect medium, and Martha Stewart embossing powder.

Project observations: StudioL3 owner Linda, who I swear must be able to read minds, has managed to surprise me with a happy coincidence this week: You see after a long few days of sadness and sickness, Thursday evening found me finally feeling well enough to wish for a little crafty distraction.

Too late to participate in the second of the CC2Cs, I decided to relax, no pressure, flip through Tim's newest Compendium, choose any technique that seemed intriguing.

Guess where I landed! Can you believe it? PAGE 46! MARBLED STAINS!

I giggled a bit to myself this morning when I saw that Linda's choice for this weeks' challenge was the technique I'd played with only last night. The giggling didn't get far though since I'm still not able to quit coughing and my sinuses have reached maximum capacity.

Oh well, clearly you can see that I managed to play for a couple of hours last night and again this afternoon (even sliding in a bit of homage to last weeks' challenge after all).

This tag turned out sort of, ahm, finished. That's about all. I like the flower element and the shiny copper embossing and the background, but I'm not thrilled with the result as a whole.

And, FYI, I suck at Marbled Stains. I can stain, everything within a few feet actually, but the marble effect is a struggle. I photographed a grouping of my attempts, because I know how everyone likes to see mud, including one where I obviously gave up marbling to concentrate on a technique I'm planning to patent as "Splattering Wildly".

One last thing to point out is the lovely pearly-colored centerpiece on my faux patina flower at the bottom of the tag: It's a lovely UTTE embellishment made by none other than Lori at I Been Thinkin' 'Bout Inkin'! I hope you'll take a moment to visit her blog: She's funny as hell and creates beautiful art!

Go forth then my friends, visit Linda at StudioL3 and get your fingers inky!