End of the Year Sale

I am having an end of the year sale at my etsy shop. If you like color, beach glass and/or fun and funky art, jewelry and supplies then stop in.

I'll be offering FREE SHIPPING on everything!

What I've Been Working On...

I created this surrealistic Photoshop composite as a project for a Digital Imaging and Design class I am taking. As many of you know, I started back to school almost full-time to get a degree in web design and graphic design.

I was not prepared for how much time and energy this would take away from my other projects like blogging and collage challenge, so I apologize if it seemed like I had just disappeared.

I miss working in paper and hope once the semester ends and with a lighter spring course load that I will be able to get back here more often. In the meantime, keep creating!!

Orange Envy

Ok, so you've probably guessed that the theme this month is the color orange. If you can guess why I titled this collage Orange Envy, then please tell me, because I really have no idea!

The color orange was an easy choice for me for the month of September. Here in the Midwest we are just starting to see tiny tinges of orange on the leaves reminding us all that summer is over. I like the the fall (don't love it) because it signals that quiet and more reflective times are ahead of us. Personally, I like to hibernate and incubate my creativity during the long winter and the fall starts me on that process...

As for this collage, it was inspired by the centerpiece. An image I borrowed from the Walters Art Museum. Since it was a nice round shape, I decided to go a head with the center placement of it and highlight it with some torn orange pieces of paper.

Arch Window

My last architecture collage was inspired by this image of an arch window that I have been wanting to use in a collage for awhile. I finally decided to use it with this turquoise paper. I also found a piece of a greeting card with folk art stars that worked well with the entire collage.

Next month, new theme. I'll give you a hint. It'll be a color!

Check, Please!

This week's architecture collage features a hodge podge of patterns that seem to work. I started with this exterior image of a stone building in Europe. I complimented this with a brick pattern and used a check printed gift bag to balance it. A green scrap from a previous project unifies it all.

Beach Glass Cuff Bracelet

I am taking a break from blogging about my collage challenge to show you my latest creation: a beach glass cuff bracelet.

Over the weekend a longtime friend - and fellow jewelry enthusiast was visiting - so I signed us up for a class at a local bead store to make this bracelet. We had a blast and in less than hour we each had one of these lovely cuff bracelets.

Made from aluminum, the bracelet is super light and very stylish!

Paris in the Summer

Continuing with my architecture theme this month, I thought it'd be fun to use this image of the Eiffel Tower. I've have the image for awhile and never knew what to do with it until today.

After looking at several different color schemes for my latest sketchbook collage, I settled on this cheery yellow. It's a nice compliment to the tower. It makes me long for summer in Paris, how about you??

And the theme of the month is...architecture

I really didn't have a theme for this month until, well this morning. I realize the month is already 5 days old, but I felt I needed to see what available images I had before I made my decision.

I settled on the theme of architecture for this month's collage challenge. Since the days when I worked in 2 architecture museums, I've been interested in building structures.

This collage reflects that. I chose an image of a European-looking building as my focal point. I then selected this bright blue sheet of paper and complemented it with some rough textured natural paper. Stay tuned for more architecture inspirations as the month goes on!

The Question

This is the last in my series of red collages for the month of July.

I like how this one turned out, because I had been struggling with the composition. It wasn't until I decided to shift everything just so, that it all turned out. Don't you love happy accidents?

Next month, stayed tuned for a new theme...

Red Hearts

My latest collage in red was quite a challenge. But not for the reasons you may assume.

Instead, it was simply that I have so few scraps of red and they are all pretty much the same shade of red. Then I realized that most shades of red are the same, because it they were any lighter then they would be pink or orange!

So, I had a brilliant idea to break up all the reds so the collage didn't appear, well monochromatic. I took a piece of tissue paper and glued it to the top of my all-red collage composition. Then I used a gel medium to adhere it so that it became transparent in spots. I must say that I am pleased with the result and think this may be favorite red collage so far!

Cherry Red

This is my latest "red" collage. I combined 2 different shades of red paper and separated them with a torn piece of cherry printed paper. I thought the apple was a nice touch that added a visual contrast to the piece.

On a side note, is it me or is red one of the most difficult colors to capture digitally?

Red Hot

It’s the six month mark for my collage challenge. I am half way done and still have a half a year to go. This month, instead of just showing you the collage I created, I am also going to give you a glimpse into my creative ideas for the rest of the month.

I bet you can guess from the title what this month’s theme is. If you said, “the color red,” then good for you! You got it right. For the rest of the month, I’ll be focusing on all things red.

But first, I had to go through all of my scraps and images to collect everything and anything that contained a shade of red. Then, I assembled them all together to get a feel for the color palate.

For this first collage, I was really drawn to the scraps that I had used a punch on, because I liked the way they could overlap but also show some white space. Then I put the image of the phone in, and more punched out scraps. It didn’t seem completely finished, so I added the ladybugs as an after thought and am pleased how it all turned out. What do you think??

Beach Time

It's the first {official} day of summer, and I am celebrating. While we have had a lovely spring here so far, summer means that the really warm days are ahead of us. And of course, what better way to enjoy them than with a trip to the beach?

This collage offers such an escape. The two shades of orange set against the sea shells for me signify none other than a blissful summer day in the sun.

What represents summer for you??

New Month, New Collage

So after finishing up a month of flowers, I’ve decided to focus the month of June on another warm weather favorite of mine: the beach.

I’ve professed my love for the beach elsewhere on this blog so will refrain from doing so again.

This collage has a range of blues in it. I started with the center image of the wave and found other shades and textures of blue to complement it. I think the tonality of the piece turned out quite nice.

Spring Lilies

Wow! I am getting good at these quick collages. This one took less time than the last one. I had this image of the yellow lilies and found the back of a handmade paper card.

I cut the paper to fit my sketchbook, glued it down and then affixed the flower image to the top and viola a completed collage. I hate to think that this quickness (or efficiency) in collage creating is a metaphor for how fast the month is going, but well it might be true….

May Flowers

Ok, so I am guessing you’ve figured out the theme for May – flowers! Although, I realize I tend to use them already a lot in my work, I still wanted to dedicate the month of the May to them.

Normally, here in the Midwest, May IS the month when flowers appear. But with the unexpected (and much appreciated) early spring we had here this year, the flowers were all in bloom last month. I am not complaining though because then it will make the summer seem longer too.

So here is my first ode to the flower. I started with an image I’ve had in my collection for years and have tried to incorporate into something, anything. I was happy that my intuition took over this afternoon while creating this collage. Instantly, after rediscovering this lovely bouquet image, I placed some bright turquoise paper, then some cloud paper and knew I needed a hint of yellow and viola found this interestingly odd shaped one. I think this may be one of the fastest collages I’ve put together in a long while. Enjoy!

Purple Swirl

This week officially ends my purple theme month. I skipped the cutesy title this time in favor of a purely descriptive one instead. I’m also quite impressed with myself that I finished 3 collages this month!

This collage features several different shades of purple and two kinds of faux texture. I like how the swirls in the center contrast with the rough knitted patterns that frame the collage.

Lavender Daze

Yes, another cutesy name for my latest purple collage. This time it’s Lavender Daze because of the lovely shade of flowers and also because I am starting to feel like I am in a daze.

This spring has been exceptionally busy for me, and I feel like I can’t keep up with everything I have to get done. This weekly collage creation was initially intended to be an enjoyable way to spend a little time with my creative side, but has instead turned into one more thing to check off of my never ending to-do list, hence the daze part of the title.

I am hoping this soothing lavender collage will serve as a reminder to slow down a bit. While creating it, I was drawn to this image of purple flowers overlooking the ocean. It seemed like such a peaceful and relaxing setting – just what I need in my own life now!

Purple Haze

This month’s theme is purple. I bet you already guessed it from the cheeky title I chose for this post. April is here and Easter has come and gone, but I’ve still got purple on the brain, which is why I selected it for this month’s collage theme.

Below is my first collage of the month. Ok, I realize it’s a little late but we’ve been having some gorgeous spring weather here, and I just had to get out and enjoy it.

You’ll also notice that this collage features a large purple flower, albeit seated in lovely lavender cupcake holder, and surrounded by other shades of purple.

Irish Spring Collage

Ok, I realize that St. Patrick’s Day was last week, and while I’ve finished the Irish cheese and soda bread, I can’t get the green theme out of my mind. It probably doesn’t help that today it is raining here, which also makes me think of Ireland and vividly green grass.

For my latest sketchbook collage, I found this lovely image of a castle among the green grass and decided to incorporate more shades of this springy color into the composition. And it only seemed fitting to include the large scale four-leaf clover into the collage.

New Collage Challenge

Earlier this year, I started my collage challenge. The goal was to create a collage a week. Well, we've all seen how that has gone!

So, I decided to create another collage challenge for myself for the rest of the year. Instead of forcing myself to create a random collage each week, I will assign a different theme to each month to keep me on track and inspired.

This month the theme is SPRING. March is a month with so many beginnings. For me, it starts out on the first with my birthday. Then there is daylight savings, the day when we set the clocks ahead and are greeted with longer days and more hours of inspiring sunshine. This is followed by the actual first day of spring, when everything is new again.

My ode to spring this week consists of cheery pink tulips and bright yellow butterflies, because to me spring is all about the rebirth of nature and all living beings. What does spring mean to you????

My New Muse

Over on Creative Perch, I've started writing a column about being everyday creative. The first week of my challenge I was supposed to make creativity my religion and come up with a ritual to honor that commitment.

I decided to incorporate my weekly collage making into my ritual of celebrating creativity. But first, I needed a muse to inspire me.

I found an image of an actual muse, "Seated Muse" to be exact. It's from a family guide at the Walter's Art Museum, where I visited earlier this year while on a brief trip to Baltimore. I placed her to the side with a mystical background and plain blocks of complementing colors to the other side.

Hearts Galore

I am in a Valentine’s Day mood, so I went through my beach glass collection and was surprised to find several hearts. I decided to photograph them in the shape of a heart on some lace printed paper.

My favorite one is the little blue one. I am thinking of turning it into a jewelry piece. Any ideas on what it could be turned into?

Drilled Beach Glass Pieces

This afternoon I learned how to drill beach glass and drilled close to 10 pieces! Drilling beach glass is so much different than wrapping beach glass, which is why I hesitated learning it. I don't consider myself an overly detail-oriented person, so wrapping was just fine with me.

After taking a beach glass drilling class last fall, I still felt apprehensive and decided to continue wrapping. Then a friend offered to teach me properly. I must say with a little more practice I could be drilling small pieces and sideways, but for now I am just happy to have drilled a hole without breaking a single piece. Ok, I did chip one of them though!

Another New Collage

Can you believe it? Another new collage completed. Although, I already fell off the once a week wagon, I am happy to report that I am back to my collage schedule. Last week I simply had an unplanned blip in my schedule.

This collage was inspired by a black and white image of a house from my collection of art postcards. I worked the other colors and visual textures into the collage as a contrast to the stark house image. I also found a "Do Not Enter" sign that I thought was funny because while the background makes the house look cozy, the flat black and white image looks almost ominous. You like?

New Year, New Collage

With the new year already underway, I decided to splurge a little and get a new sketchbook. The old one was great, but I wanted something with thicker paper and spiral bound, so my collages would be easier to photograph and share with you.

I'm committing to a collage a week, so wish me luck! Above is my first one. It's an ode to the snowy start to the year but is filled with cheery colors to remind me that spring is just around the corner. Enjoy!