A Glimpse of Heaven

glimpse /ɡlim(p)s/  -  (noun)  a momentary or partial view

I'm drawn to vintage portraits with unusual or intense expressions. This image is a good example of what I mean and it's what prompted me to use it.

After some fussy-cutting and sanding, it was pasted to a tag covered with an old German bible page partially tinted with gesso, inks and colored pencils.

The flowers were cut from scrapbook papers and the text is a Clippings Sticker (Tim Holtz). I use these stickers a lot, their curation is very good and always seem to prompt a creative angle/story I might not have considered.

I stamped the symbol in the sky with grey archival ink and enhanced the values with a black fine-line pen.

I'm linking to the "Flower Frenzy" challenge on Simon's Monday blog.

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

Until next time, take care. 

Love Everything

Hello friends, today I'm sharing a greeting card crafted for Valentine's Day. It was made using an image altered in Photoshop before printing, trimming and pasting to my card.

If you're curious what I mean, here's the before/after using a filter called "poster edges."

I cut a paper heart and tinted it with Distress Oxides (Candied Apple and Worn Lipstick), the background was stamped with script and gesso applied to knock it back, washi tape was used to visually anchor the image and a border was cut from striped paper.

I'll mention a very useful (non-digital) technique for altering the color and texture of any image which is scratching the surface with the point of a knife to create lighter areas which can be tinted with color. Here's a close-up to illustrate:

The sentiment stamp seemed perfect for this image and it's one of Simon's from a set called Delicate Flowers. I'm linking this post to their Monday challenge blog because this week's theme is "All Loved Up."

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

Until next time, take care. 

12 Tags for Christmas 2019 - New Year New Me

In previous years, my twelfth Christmas tag usually had a serious/religious theme (see here, here or here) but since I'm a little behind and it's already the New Year my last tag in this series is a spin on the New Year holiday instead.

Every year we get another chance to do things differently and I'm full of ideas on how to change things up. The list is long and I know some goals won't be met so I'll focus on the important ones like more patience and more kindness. More sleep wouldn't hurt either 😏.

Happy New Year everyone--let's make it a great one!