Deb's Umbrella: Two Ways

My friend Deb of Paper Turtle has offered up a photograph and asked people to edit it anyway they would like.  You can see her original photo and read about her challenge here.  Since it's a sun umbrella where she and her husband sit to enjoy the end of the day, I chose a quote about the joys of the great outdoors. I did all my editing in picmonkey, a free site which offers all kinds of overlays and effects (it's kindof like photoshop elements for dummies). I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out . . . it feels like me.
But, I wanted to do another variation.  One for Deb, one which I thought she would like and which would fit her and her life.  So, here's version #2:

This was such a great challenge. It really helped me learn to use more of the features in picmonkey.  And it helped me think about how different creations might appeal to different people. I wonder which of these variations you prefer?
Other bloggers are playing along with this challenge, too. To check them out, click here to go to Deb's blog and see the linky.
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p.s. The 2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt is on! Check out the details at this post. **************************************************************************

Photo Cards: Monthly Make and Product Review

For Christmas every year, I like to give some hand made cards.  This year, I decided to do something different. I made cards featuring my photography and had them printed at Snapfish. I made several themed sets.  The first set (above) features "sea" photographs.

The second set has a "land" theme. 

The third set features photographs of Ireland.  I also printed a pair of sympathy cards.

It was a lot of fun to make them, and I'm really glad that I did (and I'm calling them my Monthly Make for December). But, to be honest, I'm not completely sold on Snapfish. I found the website a bit difficult to use because it seemed to over-crop my photos, which limited the choices of photographs I could use.  Also, the pricing was very confusing (I used some discount codes), though they ended up being very reasonably priced.  Finally, while I liked the smoothness of the cardstock and thought they did a good job on printing the images, I would have preferred for the card stock to be a bit thicker.   I would have used a different website, but I couldn't figure out how to use the ones I looked at! I do think I want to make more photo cards in the future, but I want to try a different site next time. I'm not very good with technology, though.  So, I'm looking for recommendations for a very easy-to-use sites to make photo cards.  As well as any comments you have on these sets.

Venice Collage #3

I started this collage a long time ago in a crackle paste class.  Last week, I pulled it out of my unfinished projects bag, took it to my studio and painted it.  I added a few embellishments, and I now declare it done!  It's the third in a series of texture collages that feature photographs I took in Venice.  You can see the other two in this post.  I might do one more in the Series, but we'll see.  I definitely want to do one more in my Paris series, so I'll probably turn to that one first. 
I'm also submitting it to the Gingersnap Creations Challenge Blog for the Once in a Blue Moon Challenge, which is accepting entries based on any of their previous challenges!  If you're looking for a wonderful list of challenges, check out this link.  I'm submitting for the GC67 "Go 3D" challenge.
 It felt good to finish up another project! Have you completed anything recently?

Feedback Friday: altered books, collage sheets & art journals

A couple of posts lately have generated a few questions, so here are the answers!

Many of you commented on my heritage photos and use of photos in my art in general. I do not use original photos in any of my collages. I do use original photography in my other types of art work, which I posted about here, and in photo greeting cards, which I posted about here. Instead, I have created a whole bunch of collage sheets using original photos.  I make them in a very old fashioned way.  I arrange them onto a 8.5x11 sheet of paper, adhere with repositionable adhesive, and then take them to a copy store and have them color copied using a toner process to make multiple copies.  I know I should just learn how to scan and print at home, or at least scan and manipulate at home, but I don't know how and it's just not a big priority for me right now. So, I go old school.  I have three types of collage sheets:  those created with heritage photos (the two in the upper left of the photo above); those created with current photos (see the travel ones in the bottom row); and those created with ephemera (the two sheets on the right).  I sell the sheets at craft fairs and would sell them online, if I ever got my act together to open an etsy store. I love using my own images in my art because it makes it feel like the art is more of my own total creation. Although I use rubber stamps and other clip art/collage sheets sometimes, those pieces don't feel as totally my own as when I use my own collage/photography.  Using my own collage sheets also makes  my art more original because these images aren't generally available.  Finally, by repeatedly using certain images, I continue to create my own style and look. 


Deb asked about my art journal pages and where I store them.  Basically, I create them in bound journals and they just stay there.  My every-day art diary pages are done in these small (6x9) journals:

The page on the left is about how dd Clara leaves all her hair supplies, make up and clothes all over the house  (LOL!).  The page on the right is a completed background.  I usually have a bunch of completed backgrounds in my art journals, to jump start a journaling session. I also find creating backgrounds to be a relaxing and satisfying bit of creative time.
When I feel like using a big format, I used these spiral bound watercolor paper pads:

Finally, many of you asked about the girls altering book groups, which I posted about here.  The group is a local group - most of us met through our membership in Club Scrap.  As we completed our pages, we sent them to our Queen Bee.  Once we are done with all our pages (next month), we will all get together and people will get to choose one page from each theme.  You can then bind them yourself.  Each page has been punched with three aligned holes, so I'm just going to create a cover and bind them with a big d-ring.
Coming tomorrow - more feedback; this time on storage!

Organic Art

Here's two painted panels I created that feature photos I took of shells and seaglass. I love the relationship between these elements.