Four Eyes

Another mixed media/digital art collage...All the elements are from original mixed media art I created, scanned, then mixed together digitally. Fun?

Destination Unknown

I am beginning to experiment by using some of my mixed media art pieces as elements or backgrounds in my digital work. Do you like it?

Get Inspired by Your Reading Materials!

Oh my goodness! I have to say it...I absolutely love this piece! LOL It's weird and funky and those shades of green and mysterious dots/circles give me an artistic orgasm! Ooo, baby baby...This piece was created from Helga's Challenge on My ARTistic Life. The prompt was "Get Inspired by Your Reading Materials" and incorporates the dots/circles from last weeks' challenge. What fun it is to be challenged to try something new. Thanks Helga!

Hilda Conkling The White Cloud

Inspired by my new journalling obsession and Hilda's words, "there are many clouds but not like the one I see" ... Delicious poem!

Hilda Conkling Waking the Moths

I love the simplicity of this poem "I awake them one by one from their sleepy hours"...isn't that delicious? Gives me chills and inspired me to create this altered book spread. OH, and this color combination is one of my new favorites; teal, lime and yellow!

Hilda Conkling Land of Nod

Another Hilda challenge hosted by the generous Gale Blair at Paper Whimsy....aaahhh....such whimsical dreams in the land of nod.

Hilda Conkling Loveliness

Vibrant? uh, yes! LOL

I just love Hilda Conkling...wasn't she amazing? Just a few words in this poem, yet so much wisdo there....

October ATC Lottery

October's ATC Lottery Theme is "gratitude" and the first thing I thought of is that I am grateful for imagination. What are you grateful for?

Name Banners for Children

Someone I work with just had a baby and I thought it would be fun to make name banners for his newborn son and existing daughter. I won't overwhelm you with all twelve of the pieces but here is one from the boy's and one from the girl's. This was such a fun project that I might have to make one for myself! :-)

Autumn ATC for Lottery

Paper Whimsy Forum has started up a new ATC lottery each month and here is my entry for September...it's been a LONG time since I made an ATC and it was fun!

Hilda Conkling Wishes

Another Hilda Conkling Challenge piece hosted by Gale Blair for Paper Whimsy Forum members only. Come on over and join in the fun! I adore the imagery of Hilda's poetry and look forward each month for the new free collage sheet & poem. Thanks Gale!

Get Inspired by Patterns!

Last week on My ARTistic Life, Helga challenged her readers to "Get Inspired by Patterns". Since I had a few moments, I decided to play along. It was fun and I started seeing circles and dots in lots of places I might not have noticed before. Here is the finished piece for the challenge.


I enjoyed using different techniques for the dots; scrapbook paper, punched paper, punchinella, paintbrush tip, markers, watercolors, masks and stencils...just to name a few!

I didn't get my photo submitted in time for Helga's drawing but I was busy creating a patterned image that popped into my head during a deep-tissue massage. What do you think of it?

Thanks Helga for the challenge...it was inspiring!

Rolodex Card Swap

My friend Christine Shebroe is hosting a Rolodex Card Swap and here are a few that I made to trade with the other artists in the group.


...and here are the backs of them; just need to fill out the personal info and out in the mail they go!

Tissue Paper Background Tutorial

We were talking about background textures on the Paper Whimsy forum and I thought it would be fun to do a basic tutorial on one of my favorites; tissue paper background! Easy peasy, anyone can do it and you probably have all the supplies on hand. Have fun!

I own all the text and images in this tutorial – feel free to use them for whatever you want. Commercial, not commercial, credit me or don’t credit me it’s all good with me. Hugs, Carol

Step ONE: Gather all your supplies. You will need:

• Substrate - things like cardboard, heavy watercolor paper and cardstock work best for this technique.
• Tissue Paper – any color, design or style. If you don’t like the color or design you can paint over it, right?
• Adhesive – I use gel medium but you can use any wet adhesive like Elmer’s glue or ModPodge.
• Paint Brush – any size or style but I would recommend 1”-3” in width depending on the size of the substrate. You want to be able to apply the adhesive quickly.
• Assorted Inks - sprays, paint, alcohol inks, stamp pads to name a few.

Step TWO: Crumple the tissue paper. I usually crumple the tissue pretty tight (left of photo); then loosely open it as shown to the right of the photo. Of course it depends on the end result you want for your background. The more you open up the tissue, the less texture you will get.

Step THREE: Using the paint brush, apply the adhesive somewhat generously to the substrate. Use enough adhesive so that it remains wet until you can place the crumpled tissue on it. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the placement of the tissue. I just plop it on there and press it down using my hands.

If I want a more flat texture, I use a brayer or the adhesive jar/bottle to press it down a bit more.

Step FOUR: While the tissue is still wet, tear off the extra tissue around the edges. You can trim the edges with a scissor if you want but I like the randomness of the torn edges.

At this point, I usually put a light layer of the adhesive over the top and let it dry completely before proceeding to the next step.

Once the tissue is dry…create to your heart’s desire. Rub ink pads over the raised area to highlight them or use acrylic paints and dry-brush them on. Just go crazy and have fun!
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Here’s a piece I quickly did to show you a collage piece from start to finish. I started with some old tissue that came in a gift package, crumpled it up, unfolded it a bit, and glued it to the cardboard substrate. Notice that this tissue paper didn’t leave large wrinkles like the pink one did. It was a bit lighter weight and didn’t crumple as much. Interesting, huh? Who knew? LoL

Next I tore along the edges of the substrate to remove the extra tissue and applied a light coating of gel medium over the top. Notice that this time around, I applied the gel after tearing…see you can mix it up! I hate repetition and rarely do things exactly the same way twice.

After the tissue was dry, I took my “Old Paper” Distress Ink stamp pad and rubbed it over the raised areas. I was surprised how many highlights actually came out…it didn’t look like there were that many; did it?

After the ink was dry, I laid a stencil on it and sprayed over the top with “Orange Juice” Memories Mist. I LOVE orange!

After that was dry I took a favorite rubber stamp, inked it up with black ink from a stamp pad and made a row of paisley designs across a portion of the background.

After that was dry I used my favorite fluid chalk pads and rubbed around the edges in hot pink and orange, which you can see in the next photo. For me, this is what makes art interesting…lots of layers on the background…and this is before you even start putting your images and embellishments on.

Notice that I always let each layer dry before adding a different color element. Otherwise, things can get muddied up a bit and unless that is what you are going for, it will be disappointing to do all this work and have to gesso over it only to begin again. Wah! However, I always have my heat gun handy to help the drying process along; just don’t get it so close that the adhesive bubbles up or the tissue catches on fire! LoL

Reminder - when using a heat tool always keep your eyes on what you are doing. From beginning to end, this background only took about ten minutes.

Now you are ready to add your collage bits! Can’t wait to see what you create next! Hugs, Carol

Hilda Conkling Quotes Challenge 02.14.09

Gale Blair at Paper Whimsy is hosting a year-long art challenge and is generously providing participants with gorgeous collage sheets and Hilda Conkling quotes to challenge us twice a month. In order to participate you must be a member of the PW forum...come on over and join us!

This month's color theme is blue and I used the provided fish, flower, door and text. I began with a PW image, colored & painted it, then further altered it to create the vision I wanted to use to tell the story of the the text. Here is my strange, pure, happy two-page spread. Enjoy "The Key To My Mind"! Namaste, Carol

Gothic Arch for Ja*who*dee

Judy really threw me for a loop this time with an "open theme". I kind of freaked out, got stymied and my muse left me to figure it out for myself. I decided that today was THE day and pulled out everything I had that was aqua and/or brown...her favorite colors. Here is what I ended up with (muse looking over the shoulder) and I will be mailing it off Monday. Thanks, Judy, for being patient. Hugs, Carol

Stylized Portraits with Karyn Gartel

I wanted to take some online classes with Altered Diva Karyn Gartel and she made an offer that I couldn't refuse right before Christmas....so here is the first of the classes I am taking with her; Stylized Portraits. The painting aspect of the canvas is completed but I need to add some embellishments and details to make it "my own". Any suggestions for final embellishments would be much appreciate...I need to complete this! Hugs, Carol

Altered Book "Birdland" for Chris

I recently created this spread for Chris in my I.C.E Altered Book group...her theme is "Birdland". I just love this quote and used it for inspiration. Hope she likes it!

Christmas Art Exchange!

Now that Christmas is over, I can finally post the 12x12 canvas I created for my friend Nancy. We decided that we would exchange art for gifts this year and I'm so glad we did! Here is what I created for her:

...and here is what she painted for me! I love it!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Ball at Paper Whimsy

I don't know why I ever start out with an "idea" in my head for a project cuz my muse just takes over and does it her way! SHE didn't want to create what I had envisioned so I went along with her...I never argue with my muse. :o)

However after we finished her gown, I asked permission to make mine and she contentedly agreed. I have posted both of the finished gowns below and am going to let you decide which one I should "wear" to the ball. My muse and I have agreed that your vote will make the decision and we are NOT telling you which creation belongs to who. We also know that one gown looks more "ball-like" but we would like you to vote for the gown that you like the best! If you would like to leave me a comment telling me why you chose the one you did, I would be thrilled!

If you'd like to, please tell your friends...I would like a good mix of people voting. Thanks...I will let you know on August 25th which gown won.

The poll is POSTED TO THE RIGHT of this blog post and I think the choices are are self-explanatory....Asian-Inspired Gown & Flower-Power Gown shown below left to right. :o)