Summer Mind

While yesterday was the first day of fall, my mind and my heart will stay in summer for many months to come.

Living in the desert means hibernating during the heat of June through September but when the temperature breaks in the fall, activity-wise it's more like the summer everyone else was having. Festivals begin, strolls through the neighborhood are possible again and sitting out on the porch--a long-lost luxury.

So yes, I'm in a "summer state of mind" and that was my inspiration for this tag.

I'll describe the layers:

• Calligraphic scrapbook paper (Authentique Classique: Pretty) cut in the shape of a tag was tinted with Distress Oxides.
• Botanical collage paper was pasted over the top and the flower petals and leaves were filled-in with gesso.
• The bug is from the Stampers Anonymous Entomology set and was stamped with black archival ink. The wings were also filled-in with gesso using a tiny brush.

• The gessoed areas were painted with inks. Besides helping with adhesion, the gesso makes the colors more vibrant.
• The text was cut from an old book.
• I think most tags need a border to frame it and machine stitching around the edges was used for that purpose here.

I'm linking up to Simon's Monday challenge--the theme this week is stitching and also to The Funkie Junkie Boutique whose challenge is to make a tag.

Look for me on TFJB later this week where I'll have a guest spot and a fun project to share. Thanks for stopping by!

ATC Writers

Today I'm sharing some "artist trading cards" and the inspiration came from this week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp. Making multiples might have been implied so there are nine of them.

Many times, I'll thumb through books I've collected that were saved from dumpsters to get ideas and use for collages. A page from a history book captured my eye.

I trimmed each picture to standard ATC size, pasted them on thick cardboard, encased them with clear medium, used gesso to bring out the details and tinted them with markers.

I stamped the backgrounds by masking the faces and the text came from the same book which offered up a summary of the author's style.

The feature that really represents my style is the use of dimensional dots along the border. If you trade cards like these and would like one just let me know--my email is in the sidebar.

Most Noble

I discovered some wonderful paper over the weekend made by Stamperia called Oriental Garden. I found an image of a woman to transfer with gel medium (thanks, British Library), then stamped postal and architectural images onto tissue paper and pasted together a collage tag.

I'm excited to see what other things I can make using this paper!