Hello My Friends.....

Hello My Friends.  I hope you are still here with me....  I feel like most of my posts talk about how long it has been since I've posted.   Needless to say it has been a very busy few months.  I just finished creating several gifts for a colleague of mine who is getting married next week.  Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph them before I gifted her with them!  Oh well.....  I have been doing other crafty work too. 

I participated in a tag swap at Following the Paper Trail with Laura Denison.  The tags I received were AMAZING!   Such talented artists out there.  I loved all the tags I got, and for different reasons, but the piece I am showing today features one tag in particular that spoke to my heart created by Carol Boudreaux.  Not only is it gorgeous, but the quote which reads, "The butterfly counts not months, but moments, and has time enough  (R. Tagore) is particularly meaningful to me.   With multiple projects going on at work and feeling pulled in many directions at once, I have been super stressed lately and really just feeling like there isn't enough time to do everything I need to do.   Then I got this tag.   I just stared at it for a long time... and then it sunk in.  There IS enough time.   There is always enough time.  It might mean re-prioritzing what is important, or maybe it means not taking myself so seriously.  I knew I wanted to do something special with it, but didn't know what.

So, while perusing the web, I was at Gabrielle Pollacco from SuchAPrettyMess.blogspot.com and I saw her BEAUTIFUL multi-media works on canvas.  I've always wanted to do one, but have always felt lost.   Thanks to her FAB tutorial, I became inspired.  I would like to say I planned all along to use the tag, but I didn't.  It just sort of happened.  I was just playing, trying to get the hang of the layering, and not having the paper buckle, etc.  I was going to attempt to copy Gabrielle's BoBunny canvas, but I just ended up going in my own direction.  That's the creative process for you!

WHAT I DID:
I used a 12x12 canvas and covered it with several pieces of torn paper.  I struggled with the paper buckling but as Gabrielle says, the heating tool helps with that.  I used many rub ons, did a lot painting with acrylic paints, used masking of chipboard letters for the work GROW and just kept layering.   I'm not sure that I am done even still.

I also used lots of Glimmer Mist (which I had not used in a while).  Here is a closer image of Carol's tag:

Gorgeous right?!  I also spent some time on the heart charm.  It was the wrong color so I painted it white and pink and then used a script stamp with archival ink for the vintag-y look.  I got a version of this idea from someone on YouTube who did that with keys.  I love making them I will try to find her site again.  It is so fun to do and adds such dimension. 

So there we have it!  Please check out Gabrielle's site.  She is a wonderful teacher and very talented artist!  I will find out if Carol has a site, currently I only have her email.   Have fun everyone!   Oh, and I am on vacation and looking forward to some AWESOME creative time!

Debbie