As the Wabbit Turns...

When last heard from, I was going to work on posting more often, wasn't I? And there ya go, left alone to my own devices, I end up waiting even longer to post than before! You can't trust these damned wabbits, I tell ya! They tell you one thing and then do the other.

OK, so I still haven't figured out where the time goes. And it's been ages since I posted any art. So I thought I'd make up for it today.

Here's a page I did in JoAnn's Paris deco from our Round Robin in the TreasureArtTrends Yahoo group. The picture of the building is a sticker from a set I bought by the page from a roll at a now-defunct scrapbooking store, Recollections. It was owned by the same company that owns Michaels and Aaron Brothers. They closed it to focus on their other two businesses, but really, they want you to shop at Michaels. They do not 'get' that they are in no way alike and that the merchandise is not the same. I've worked in many businesses, many of them enormous in comparison to that company and this is arguably the worst business decision I've ever seen made. I digress. The postage stamp and the map legend are both from the same page as the sticker. Hmmm... everything on that page is from Recollections, including the ribbon and the aqua Adirondack Dauber that I used to influence the color of the gesso I washed over the background papers.










On this page, I used my Adirondack Daubers to create a faux landscape for the background which I then stamped on and embellished with some flowers, etc. I've added miscellaneous papers and another sticker "Sainte Chappelle" from another page of stickers with a Paris theme. I love the colors and that is my favorite, all-time text rubber stamp in the background in ColorBox Chalk Ink Maroon.

I've been in several groups that have used that theme. Once you get on a roll buying things to use in them, you are glad to have more groups use the theme so that you can use up all you have bought!

This is a page for Dawn in England from a Romance Round Robin deco in the same group. This time, I've used my favored Lyra Watercolor crayons to make the background, spritzed it with some water and swished it over with a big watercolor mop to spread it out. The heart was cut free hand from a scrap of watercolor paper. The roses are from a Shabby Cottage Studios digital collage sheet I had my sweetie print out on the laser printer at work. I used one of my sets of clear alphabet stamps to typeset the words and double stamped them in Maroon Chalk ink. For the heart, I used a Stampington heart that I think is by Christine Adolph. I inked the stamp with the same Maroon ink and stamped on scrap paper a few times, re-inked, stamped the scrap paper once and then stamped my watercolor paper scrap heart. Sometimes, when I stamp on a shape I've already cut out, I put the stamp down inked side up and lay the paper on top to put the image where I want it. Then I press on the paper with the palm of my hand or roll it with my trusty wooden brayer, being careful not to let the paper move too much. It wasn't dark enough to stand out so I inked the edge with the maroon ink. The only thing that is not happy about the chalk ink pads is that you must set them with heat.


The small doily was scavenged from a gourmet meal my sweetie, The Sports Fan, and I had when we were staying at the Little America hotel in Flagstaff, AZ. Every dish came out with one of these doilies and I grabbed them before the dishes were removed. We're talking big meal here, so I think I ended up with about 14 of them between the two of us! Our car club ended up there overnight. I can't remember what trip it was though! If you are ever going through Flagstaff, Little America is the place to stay! The rooms are really nice and not expensive. The food is great, there are two restaurants and a buffet, a humongous gift shop, interesting lobby, and gorgeous grounds. It looks like it might be a truck stop from the road and it's right by the interstate where I-17 starts by splitting off from I-40. When we were there this year, our waiter told us that they are adding a spa. If they took Golden Retreivers, you wouldn't be able to get me to leave! Sadly, no dogs allowed. We stay there at least once a year when we go on the Arizona BEAT, the British European Auto Tour, each April in our Mini Cooper S, CoopahS.