/* */ Beulah Bee: Aunt Ada
Showing posts with label Aunt Ada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aunt Ada. Show all posts

July 23, 2022

Bird Post

 

I inherited my great Aunt Esther's collection of post cards and I used a pair of them to create a bit of mail art with some Stampendous birds.

One bird was stamped on plain tissue paper, the other on a vintage book page, and both were cut-out and pasted on the cards. I did this mainly because I could play around with the placement and avoid a mis-stamp that can't be undone. The pine trees and leafy dots were also done this way.

There's a bit of collage paper and miscellaneous stamping to fill things in and I tinted with colored pencils and ink markers.

I was inspired to make these by Simon's challenge this week, "Let's Go On Vacation!"

Both cards were mailed by Esther's sister while traveling through St. Louis (on vacation) and of course, birds are great travelers, too. 

Fun to see Ada was excited to report she procured a hotel room with a bath for $1.50.

My, how times have changed....

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

May 02, 2020

Blue Skies



Does anyone know what day it is because I am seriously starting to lose track of time.

As one day runs into another during this sequester, I'm grateful for my hobbies which have recently grown to include playing the piano--something I haven't done for a while.

I've spoken about my two great aunts, Esther and Ada, and how I inherited many of their keepsakes. Ada was a college professor with a masters in Music and I have hundreds of pieces of her sheet music including the song "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin.

That was my inspiration for this tag made to link up with Simon's Monday challenge this week because it is not a card.


I modified the image by replacing the wings, punching holes in them and scraping away the printing to lighten spots for tinting. I used a Gelly Roll and various ink pens to modify the umbrella.


The background is an image transfer that came from an old book page, I drew circles and made dots for the border and the text was produced on a vintage typewriter.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

April 08, 2018

Ada 1916


My great Aunt Esther wrote on the back of this photo, "Ada, June 1916." I suspect it is a photograph to commemorate her sister's graduation from high school as I have several copies and the year would be appropriate.

I used a wooden panel (10" x 10"), the new Idea-ology collage paper (Botanical), some Memoranda paper stash and an Idea-ology Collector Layer. All the paper bits were made thinner by rubbing the back side with water and I also used damask patterned tissue paper along with some light pink. The circle scroll design was an image transfer.

(Click on the photos to see a larger, lightbox view.)


The wooden support was gessoed, I pasted on a crinkled sheet of light pink tissue paper, added crackle medium, then rubbed on brown wax to bring out the cracks.


At this stage I was thinking I should have waited to crackle the board AFTER I arranged the collage but in the end it may have been the right approach even though most of the surface was covered up.

Here are some close-ups that show how I layered the collage paper.




Working with the collage paper I learned that, if you don't want the white of the tissue to show, it's important that the glue underneath covers the entire surface. In the photo above, the hand-written name has fewer missed areas of glue underneath than the section of tissue just above it.

My glue of choice for this piece was fluid matt medium. I like that you have a longer working time than a gel medium and that it moistens the paper slightly so it lays down easier. You can get all the bubbles out without using much pressure (which might tear a delicate paper).

March 31, 2018

Erasable Memoranda

 

The paper used for this tag was cut from a vintage (1916) portrait cover (a graduation photo of my great aunt Ada). It's a light mustard color with an embossed stripe texture and because of its age, it's a bit friable and easy to distress.

I built a collection of boxes filled with various bits and mounted it on top of ephemera from the Tim Holtz Collector Layers. The ruler came from the Dapper paper stash and I embossed the end with metallic powders.


I tinted the metal star and index clip (Tim Holtz) with metallic white and butterscotch alcohol inks and that's a distressed Remnant Rub on top of the clip. 


I made it for this week's Monday Challenge Blog at Simon Says Stamp which prompted crafters to do something "Inside the Box." I enjoy working with the prompts because it gets me creating things I've always wanted to try but might not have otherwise.

My little boxes are not an original idea and I must give credit where credit is do. Rebecca Sower is an artist I've been following since I discovered this magazine article (Somerset Studio) in December, 2009. I didn't realize until just this moment that an altered book I made recently may have been inspired by her too!

August 07, 2016

Turning Point


Today I am pleased to share some exciting news (for me, anyway) along with a journal page made from magazine scraps.

It features a photo, taken at a drinking fountain in a park in Chicago at the turn of the last century, of my two great aunts, Esther and Ada, and some girl friends (click the photos to see a larger version).

Collaging scraps from magazines really triggers my creativity--there are so many odd and interesting images to be found and I highly recommend it when you need a little "play" time. I use a glue stick as it works well to keep the thin pages from wrinkling.


I've enjoyed paper crafting for quite a while now, stamping, pasting and coloring but the world of die-cutting was never a part of it.

However, the introduction of some mixed media thinlits by a famous craft designer has finally compelled me to enter this arena and I've ordered a Big Shot machine and some dies!

Thankfully, the craft blog world is full of fabulous tutorials that I plan to review because I don't know much about die-cutting but I'm very excited just the same and hopeful that the pleasure of using them will be worth the investment. I'll keep you posted... ☺

October 25, 2014

Splatters for Andrea


A recent post by Andrea Ockey Parr has inspired the creation of this tag made by stomping various Distress Ink stains on a piece of glossy paper. I used a black Gelly Roll pen to outline some of the splatters, turning them into shapes resembling flowers and added an image of my great Aunt Ada, some stamped dragonflies and a bit of washi tape to complete it.

I am always inspired by Andrea's creations--her work is full of whimsy and color and she often uses mediums in an unconventional way.

She never fails to make me smile and she leaves the BEST blog comments.

Thank you, Andrea!