Is This Collage?

I haven't done very much collage, I just have trouble figuring out what should go together. So here is my attempt which has enough green on it for the Created Byhand Challenge. This is an 8 X 10 artist canvas board that I glopped gesso on and made some texture marks with a plastic spoon. When that was dry I scribbled Reeves water soluble wax pastels on and blended with a wet brush. The next step was colouring on the still wet canvas with Portfolio water soluble oil pastels, rubbed around with my finger then blended with a dry brush. I let that dry, then rubber stamped a couple of large background stamps, one music and the other script.
While this was drying I tried a Cuttlebug paint technique I read about somewhere on the internet. I put blobs and drizzles of paint on a piece of watercolour paper, placed another piece of watercolour paper over this and ran it through the Cuttlebug. I got 2 quite nice papers, but next time I think I'll just use a roller instead of the Cuttlebug, I don't like the risk of getting paint in my machine. When the paper was dry, I used my new Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Heritage set that I just got from Cherish The Thought yesterday. I sponged Walnut Stain Distress ink on the embossed areas to bring out the texture. My quote from Quietfire Design is stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink on a digital background I had leftover from the Tea Time ATCs. This was cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Oval and layered over a brown cardstock cut with the largest die from the Scalloped Oval set. The chipboard rectangles are cut with the Sizzix ATC die, dipped in coffee and the edges rolled until I got a nice distress look. They are stamped with some Michael's 79 cent stamps with Rich Cocoa ink and edged with Walnut Stain Distress ink. The white flower thingy is the back part of a button from Ruby Dog's Art House with a circle punched from scraps from the embossed painted paper and a brown half pearl in the centre.

Tea Time Triptych 1

Tea Time Triptych 1
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

The themes for the ATC Vancouver swap at The Grind are telephone, time or tea pots. I focused mostly on tea pot with a digital photo of one of my tea pots and a Quietfire Design quote stamp.

July 24 Greeting Card

July 24 Greeting Card
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

Today's Neat Nique card at Cherish The Thought uses White Wash Core-Dinations cardstock and a new Cuttlebug embossing folder. This is lightly sanded to let the base colour show through. The stamp is from Local King rubber and is stamped with StazOn ink on cardstock cut with the Nestabilities scallop oval die cut. Jessie provided this beautiful striped ribbon which provides the perfect finishing touch.

Greeting Card Teapot

Greeting Card Teapot
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

My all time favourite die cut project so far is a journal page I posted on July 1 and it would fit the Byhand Challenge for this week of Looking In, Looking Out or die cuts but I thought I should actually create a new project for the challenge. This card for the Created Byhand challenge uses the Cuttlebug Blooming Bouquet Embossing Plus folder for the main background and I rubber stamped the Quietfire quote with Versafine Vintage Sepia on white cardstock before running it though the Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folder. This is layered over brown cardstock then mounted on an ivory 5 X 6.5 in. card black. The teacup is stamped with Memento Rose Bud on a separate piece of white cardstock and cut with the Nestabillities classic scalloped oval and the edge rubbed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. This is mounted with foam dots and a brown sheer ribbon bow is glued near the top.

ATC Vancouver July Swap at The Grind

ATC Vancouver July Swap at The Grind
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

Now to the main reason for going to The Grind on Sunday, the regular monthly ATC swap. The themes for July were animals, architecture and Asian. I did all of mine on the Asian theme. I used stamps from 2 different Asian theme sets, the Chic Circle Embossing Plus Cuttlebug folder, my own flower photo and some silk flowers. Some of the photos were debossed and coloured with gel pens. These are a representation of some of my cards for this month.

Covers For Envelope Book

Covers For Envelope Book
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

These are my covers for the envelope book collaborative project with artists from the ATC Vancouver Swap group. All my envelopes were delivered to our swap hostess Penelope on Sun at the regular ATC swap session. I'm not showing the envelopes I altered or the contents as I and some of the other participants would rather savour everything when we receive our finished books at the Aug. regular swap meeting. I feel it's fair game to show the covers though since everyone decorated their own and will get their own back anyways. I got through all the envelopes and contents which was not hard to plan, but did take some time. It seems to always take more time that I think it will. I really struggled for an idea to decorate the covers, then an idea came to me and it was done relatively quickly. I can't wait to see the finished book.

July 17 Greeting Card

July 17 Greeting Card
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

The neat nique for this Sat at Cherish The Thought used one of the Crafty Secrets clear bird theme stamp sets, Versafine ink, a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a Dreamweaver stencil. We used the stencil and Memento stamp pad to create the clouds, first time doing that for me and I like the result.

July Greeting Card 2

July Greeting Card 2
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

I made this card using a 5 X 6.5 inch white card blank and Spice Market cardstock. The green layer is embossed and cut with the Cuttlebug Blooming Bouquet Embossing Plus folder and layered over the orange cardstock. The little orange petals are drop out pieces from a Cuttlebug flower die cut. I added some Spiced Marmalade Distress Stickles on some of the dots. The Quietfire Design quote is stamped on white cardstock with Memento Potter's Clay ink and cut with the Spellbinders Label 2.
This is the same Embossing Plus folder I used on this card at the last Sat. neat nique project at Cherish The Thought, but this one uses the whole folder instead of just part of it.

July 10 Greeting Card

July 10 Greeting Card
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

Here is yesterday greating card from Cherish The Thought. We used another of the new Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folders, but I didn't buy this one so I'm not sure of the name. This one is quite large and we used only part of it to fit a standard size care. Happy Birthday on the lighter blue cardstock is stenciled with stamp pad ink and a brass sencil. The birds are a Sissix die cut with adhesive paper and glittered. This is mounted on a white card blank and the embossed layer is mounted with glue dots.

Pink Flower Journal Page

Pink Flower Journal Page
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

This is the journal page I designed earlier and can be seen here. I added a vellum ellement like the sample in an earlier post and a silk flower. Now I am looking for the perfect photo to use on the facing page.

Pink Flower ATC

Pink Flower ATC
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

These are more samples of using the Cuttlebug Chic Circle Frame Embossing Plus folder and turning them into ATCs. Two of these samples use the debossed side and gel pens.

Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Chic Circle Sample

Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Chic Circle Sample
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

Some samples I worked on after getting the Cuttlebug Chic Circle Frame and making the journal page shown in the post here. The one on the left is Kraft cardstock using the debossed side and a white gel pen to highlight the debossed lines. The one on the right is using the folder on vellum layered on white metallic cardstock and the pink flower cutout inserted in the frame.

Journal Page Tomato 2

Journal Page Tomato 2
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

Judy, this is for you. I put this new set of journal pages together yesterday. I really like the structure of a cut tomato so this is a photo of a half tomato digitally layered over a scan of painted watercolour paper and a couple of special effects. This is printed on watercolour paper and is ready to be added to a future journal.There is a slight variation on my Flickr, but I like this one the best.

July 3 Card Project

July 3 Card Project
Originally uploaded by okanagan_spirit

So the previous journal page used one of the new Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folders that just arrived at Jessie's store and I was lucky to be there before she introduced them at the Sat. Neat Nique and therefore had the journal page to show to rave reviews on Sat. This card made yesterday at Cherish The Thought uses the Cuttlebug Blooming Bouquet Embossing Plus folder on shiny card stock. The edge is coloured with Memories re-inkers on an application tool and blending solution. This is layered on green cardstock and then onto a red card base, with green ribbon and gold cord for trim. The little dots on the design are coloured with gold leafing pen.

Journal Page

This is one of the pages for a journal I am still working on and I am including some old family photos taken with an old box camera I had. Most of these are photos that no one else has, so I am making journals for gifts. I used a new cut and emboss folder that I just got yesterday from Cherish The Thought and made doors to show parts of the photo. I am very happy with the result.
This shows the photo with the doors open. The decoration above the door is part of Tim Holtz style label embossed with Tim Holtz Damask Texture Fades embossing folder. and sponged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.