Sweet Determination - Tim Tag for February

I love this sweet, serious, determined little person (part of the Tim Holtz Found Relatives set), and was myself determined to find a way to use her image.  I am not a fan of Valentine's Day overall, and as I live solo couldn't see doing a pretty card to give someone.  But I could make a "baby book" page for this wonderful little girl for the 2015 February Tim Holtz Tag.

Exhibit 156: Vintage Botanical Alphabet

Another experiment, as I try to discern the wily ways gesso interacts with inks, sprays and paints.   In a previous make I happily sprayed away on a page that had been painted with white gesso, only to discover upon drying that nothing of the sprayed pigment remained.  

This time, I decided to take advantage of that to create a lacy background with DecoArt Media crackle paste, I love the white foreground this paste creates, against all the amazing crackles that can readily be covered with virtually anything - DecoArt's own antiquing cream, Distress or other sprays, gelattos..... the field is wide open.  

Playing Around in an Antique Butterfly Curio Case

Wanting to get something together for this week's post to Brenda's Visual Journey, I started playing around with Deco Art's Weathered Wood and new Crackle Paste.   I also wanted to meet the requirements for the current PaperArtsy and Vintage Journey challenges.  The former requires only paint, and the latter has quite a few options, as it is a tic-tac-toe!

Valentine

Just to record what I sent my mother this year..... using a Sizzix strip die repeated, with a fun sentiment I received from Linda at Funkie Junkie in a recent shipment.  The top card is edged with gold embossing powder, and the two Mover & Shaper hearts are painted with atarnished Brass several times.

Love - Hold On or Let Go

Valentine's Day has never been on my Top Ten Holiday list, although I love all the frills and romantic themes.  But wanting to continue exploring in this new paper world, and to have a goal to work toward, I decided to try something for The Vintage Journey's "Love is in the Air" challenge, set by the talented Astrid.  I had also just received my Mixed Media starter kit from DecoArt, and really wanted to play around with that crackle paste, as I have seen so many wonderful projects already using it.  And I wanted to play with some more of the Distress Stain sprays.

So no story in mind, I used a beautiful Michelle Ward stencil that had a heart reference, applied the crackle paste through, and once dry, spritzed away with Worn Lipstick and Tattered Rose sprays.

I liked the result.  I sprayed it all with some Smooch Spritz in gold for a bit of sparkle.

Living in the Layers

Well, this page certainly didn't turn out at all as I had even vaguely imagined when I started thinking about what to do for the latest PaperArtsy challenge "Shiny Stuff".  All of the samples from the team are luscious, and had my head spinning in many different directions.

My thoughts seem occupied by translucence, however, so I decided to start

with a

Quinacridone Gold wash on gessoed pages, to which I added crumpled tissue paper with Glue and Seal, and topped with a thin wash of Smalt Hue.

All of the lovely textures seemed made for sprays, which could wander down and among all of the rivulets.  I have quite of few Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays that have gold or other metallic effects, and some Prima sprays that are also quite shiny.

I was really starting to like this, but still had no "story" to tell..... oh, well - just  keep playing then!

Young Woman of Wonder

Here is a link to the poem from which the title derives - there is also a link at the end with a bit more description.

My imaginary Victorian Townhouse attic trunk has once again yielded a treasure......young Esmée on her sixteenth birthday. From the other items found with this, I surmise that she received a trip to Paris!  She appears to be in the family dining room, and I am certain there is a wonderful cake on the table awaiting her.