True Colors -- FINALLY!

Hello Everyone!

Well, this post is long overdue -- and even longer overdue is the artwork of this post. I am in a round robin swap with a yahoo group, and we are working on a True Colors round robin (and have been for many months now!). If you've read the True Colors book by Kathryn Bold you are most likely familiar with what this round robin entails.

The palate chosen by Candace was comprised of the following colors: turquoise, orange, red, yellow, purple and lime. A retro rainbow! (Hey... if I had thought of the "Retro Rainbow" before I started working on this journal entry, I would have come up with an entirely different layout!)

Here is what I did come up with...


I had a lot of fun with this layout, especially with the word/letter placement, because I wanted it to complete the quotes that I utilized, but I also wanted to make it appear random and interesting at the same time.

I hope that Candace likes what I came up with... and hopefully she'll like it enough not to be too terribly upset with me about how long it took me to complete it!

~Anne

Fairy House Tip In!

Hello Everyone!

Well, I sent these off the other day, but, I didn't get around to formatting the photos until this afternoon... so I thought I'd share with you one the final two tip-ins that I made for the swap... this one is Carole's "House" tip in...


Carole wanted "Houses" to be her theme for her tip ins... at first, I thought I'd make a 'tea house' but my oldest daughter told me "everything you do is tea... do something different" and she is right, it is my most common theme! What can I say... I love tea!

So I decided instead I'd create a fairy house layout for Carole. The door opens to reveal a little baby fairy. This piece is very dimensional, as all of the leaves and many of the flowers are silk...

I hope Carole likes it!

~Anne

Another Tip-In...

Hello Again everyone!

Well, I finished everyone's tip-ins for this swap last weekend, and I got them all scanned, I just haven't finished editing the scans (this is my least favorite thing to do). I hopefully will finish editing the scans and post all the pics to my flickr within the next day or two, and then I'll post them to my blog as I have time to sit down and write a bit about them.

This is Patti's Tip-In page...


Patti's chosen theme is Victorian Women. There is a lot of layering on this page, layers of papers, gesso, gel medium, images, and more gesso... I finished the page with a couple of vintage buttons, and some crocheted lace, which makes the span of the page a bit larger than the 10" it's supposed to be.

I hope Patti likes it!

~Anne

More Postcards!

Hello Again...

Here are more of my altered postcards from the Spring Postcard Swap...


sorry about that harsh black line next to the above postcard...

I really like how the colorful background contrasts with the bright white butterfly. This one started out as my least favorite, but developed into my favorite of the series of seven. I just kept layering ... and layering ... until I finally was satisfied.

That's all of the postcards... a series of seven. (for the first 3, please scroll down to my previous post)

Tomorrow (if I remember to post!) I will share with you another Tip-in page!

~Anne

Postcard Art

Hello Everyone!

I have been working hard on several swaps... I finished most of this stuff last week, but I didn't sit down and sort through my scanned material until now... so, I thought I'd share with you a few of the postcards I made for the Spring Postcard Swap.

In all, I made 7 postcards. Yeah, I made the postcards, rather than altering existing postcards. The way I saw it, I could either alter some of the vintage and antique postcards I have in my stash, or I could go out and buy some new postcards, or, I could use some of my card stock and some of the piles of patterned paper I have in my stash... so I chose to go with what I already had on hand.

The theme of the swap was to be "Spring" and since Spring is a pretty broad theme that can be interpreted a number of ways, I decided to go with my own interpretation... and what I think about when I think about Spring... and that would be the Cherry Blossoms of Washington DC. Yeah, other things come to mind too, not just Cherry Blossoms... however, I've visited Washington DC twice, and both times were amazing... but one thing that I missed both times was the showy display of the cherry blossom trees along the Tidal Basin.

So these postcards are a celebration of the beauty of Cherry Blossoms. Only the first 2 postcards are Asian inspired. The one connective link between the seven cards in this series is the set of 3 cherry blossoms with rhinestone center...

Here's one more with a more vintage look...

I'll post the final four cards tomorrow!

~Anne

Tip In #2

Hello Again!

Well, as promised (and this is a momentous occasion, because even though I do promise -- and strive to keep those promises -- I rarely remember to go and post to the blog when I say I'm going to!) here is Tip-In #2 for the swap that I'm participating in.

This one is for Cathy, who stated that she'd like to have an "open theme" in other words, our choice! Now, usually I like these, but since I'm pretty new to Tip-Ins, I wanted to get a gentle nudge in the right direction, so I asked her what kind of themes were her favorites, and among the favorites she mentioned, she included one of my favorite themes (and my theme for this Tip-In swap!) Asian!


I am really quite pleased with this piece... another layered piece, and dimensional as well, the flowers at the corner left and the little Geisha in front of the bridge overlooking the irises "stand out" courtesy of pop-up glue dots. These two pieces are bits from an antique store find some time ago, they are "stand up" place cards. I trimmed the excess card stock away from the flower place card. I think they add just the right touch to this piece.

I hope Cathy likes it too!

Thanks for checking in with me!

~Anne

PS: don't forget my sale! It ends Sunday night at midnight!

Tip Ins!

Hello Everyone!

I've been working on some swap art lately, specifically, for a tip-in swap that I'm participating in. I have five tip-ins total that I need to complete... and I'm nearing the finish line with them... yay!

Here's the first tip-in that I completed...


As you can see, it's a Marie Antoinette layout. The scan doesn't show the layering in this piece very well due to the dimensions in the crystal embellishments, but I'm pretty happy with the way the piece looks in person. I hope that Stacy is happy with it as well...

Anyways, it's late... thanks for checking in with me.

~Anne

PS: I'm having a HUGE end-of-month sale! Please check my tea journal for details!

What I've been up to lately...

Well, besides tea (I'm working on a new herbal blend!) ... I've been working on Teresa's True Color Journal!
















This is the spread that I created for Teresa's Green, Orange and Red journal.

It's been hard to get myself out into the studio to work, because, frankly it's very cold out there! I do have a small space heater, and I do have a heated slipper thing (it's not really a pair of slippers, more like a cushion that I slip both feet into, and it heats and massages), and both of these things are terrific, however, it's still cold out there!

At first, I found Teresa's color choices to be somewhat intimidating, because I guess I find it difficult to use the three colors together... but, I am really happy with the way my spread came out. And I think I have a new appreciation for the color green!

I hope that Teresa likes it!

~Anne