It's Tape

This is made with tape--washi/design tape, whatever you want to call it, placed in strips or torn into pieces and, where there were windows, covered over with tissue paper.

What could possibly have inspired me to do this?! It started with a photo found on the net (thanks, Vintage Everyday).

After printing, I began to cut away sections and then set it away for awhile, not sure where to go with it but I knew collage would be a part of it.

Then along came a prompt from Simon's Monday Challenge Blog where this week's theme was to add some tape to whatever you make.

Okay, so I went a bit overboard but it was an interesting personal challenge and if I ever use this technique again in a more serious way, I did learn how to best manage the properties of the tape (slick surfaces, sealing, etc.).

I won't share them with you as I doubt anyone would ever do something as crazy as this.

Colibri de Costa

Wild thing, you make my heart sing...

I have a hummingbird feeder right outside my window that I keep filled year-round. The most frequent visitors are Costas. They are very small (less than 3 inches) and I am amazed how they can survive the extreme temperatures and monsoon storms during this time of year.

So this is the "wild thing" I chose for this week's theme at Simon's Monday Challenge Blog.

I traced the outline from a photograph and used watercolors on a blank watercolor postcard.

The male hummingbird has an iridescent purple gorget (throat patch) that flares out along the sides of the neck like a mustache. I wish I'd had iridescent paint but I could go over it with some Perfect Pearls if I wanted to duplicate this effect.

If you are shy about watercolors, you might be more comfortable working with a small format as I find it easier to manage. All you need is a tiny brush.

Christmas in July

Simon's Monday challenge was prompted by a special blog hop and a chance to win some crafting goodies, but Christmas in July--really?

While it was hard to "get in the spirit" when we've had record-breaking high temps this week, I accepted the challenge and here's my entry.

My card may be a little unconventional so I thought you'd appreciate a peek at the main ingredients before I applied a wash of gesso and then Distress Oxide (Peeled Paint) to create the background.

It would be difficult to pull this off without using a strong backing so I pasted the collage onto some thin packaging material which would be cut to size near the end.

Some Liquid Pearls (Ranger) were dotted around the oval, the backing was trimmed and then I pasted brown mulberry paper (because it's thin) on the back to frame it. Before mounting on folded cardstock, I stitched around the border.

The poinsettas were cut out of Graphic 45 Winter Wonderland, the bird is from Wallflower and the calendar page is from Tidings (Tim Holtz Paper Stash).

I used a glue stick for everything except the poinsetta (attached using spray adhesive) and the final mounting (double-sided cellophane tape).