B#3-August 10,2009 - Need to identify a book for my Altered Book class I am taking in CT next week. Thought I had one, but everytime I look at it figure it might be interesting to actually read before I turn it into "a work of art". Flying low today due to not sleeping....willprobably sputter all day because of this. Visited thereddoor-studio.blogspot.com today and was blown away by the quality and talent of the artist. Very humbling. Oh well, maybe by next life time I can get it together.

This picture is of a pocket birthday card I did a while back. This reminds me I need to document/film other more recent work. Another think for my to do list!

 I have intended this blog to document my creative journey and share my discoveries as I explore whatever techniques come my way.

What have I learned today?

Knowing when to stop with a piece of art is tricky. I ruined a perfectly good background that I had made by putting lemon juice on a piece of glossy card stock and heating it until it turned brown. It creates a wouderful aged look, but No! I had to keep stamping on it, embellishing it until it resembled something not so good. All was not lost because I was able to wash off most of the stamping that I had done.

Several techniques involved here with this card. Alcohol inks were used to create the polished stone card backgrounds. The base card for the sun was made by brayering a spectrum ink pad on watercolor paper, spritizing with water, sprinking with salt, letting dry and then stamping with sun (was embosed black ink and colored with chalks), butterfly and flowers.

Technique: Fingernail Polish Backgrounds

My favorite technique for decorating paper and possibly the most economical in this recession-weary world: Visit the Dollar store and buy a bottle of red fingernail polish; float/drip/sprinkle it on a pan filled with about 1" of water; lay white card stock on top, remove, let dry. You have created a one of a kind background paper that you can embellish, stamp, etc. Works great for backdrops for Valentine sentiments.