Black Bird and Stars

Here's my first collage in the calendar.  Because the paper is wrinkling on the back from the glue, I'm going to collage only on the right side of the book.

For the bird, I tried an image transfer with Modge Podge. I don't know if I like it since it leaves a shiny residue on the paper. I also used a piece of vintage wallpaper, an old letter and a vintage Hungarian postage stamp. Still needs something....but, you gotta start somewhere.

It's almost Valentine's Day and I've been making some little treat bags. The bird is from a hand carved eraser stamp.

Fly Away Birdie Tag

Today's tag uses a piece of a vintage document, doily paper, and a bird cut from a letterpress printed image.

Tag 58

Birds, butterflies and Flowers

I've been busy this weekend - 4 more tags.

Tag 37

Tag 38

Tag 39

Tag 40

Song Bird

Today's tag uses vintage music in the background. I hand-colored a letterpress printed bird and added hand made Japanese paper and gold rubber stamps.

Tag 36

Tag Collage Challenge

I am so behind on posting my tags! So here are 2 for this week.

First is Tag 8, a Love themed tag that was intended for Valentine's Day. I used a vintage postcard to make a tag and then added a Japanese washi paper heart, the word "Love" stamped on an antique document and a cute red vintage label with XO.

Tag 8 - Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Last weekend, I exhibited at a paper show and purchased some cool tags from one of the other vendors, A Stamp in the Hand. (I would link but their website is down). The tags are made to look like old postcard backs and are larger than my usual hang tags. For Tag 9, I used some vintage wallpaper, a fortune from a fortune cookie, a print of a bird and an old postage stamp with a kiwi bird from New Zealand.

Tag 9 - sending good fortune

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 51

A little red bird, vintage music, stars and Japanese washi paper scraps.

collage week 51

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 43

It's almost Halloween so my collage this week is done in black and orange ...but no pumpkins here. It's a treat with handmade papers, a vintage document scrap and some favorite rubber stamps.

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 40

This week's collage is done on birch board. I used some antique ledger paper from 1890, vintage wallpaper, and a bird that I printed on a vintage letter. The bird is printed from my hand carved linoleum block and then embellished with pen and ink.

collage week 40

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 22

Another small collage this week. Last week I created a background from a lot of different type scraps. I used half last week and half today. A hand colored bird  and hand made paper scrap are layered on top.

collage week 22

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 12

I have a stash of old Reader's Digest book covers and I used one for the base of this week's collage. I rubber stamped leaves and type and then added a strip from a vintage document. On a separate card, I stamped a pattern and then layered some hand made paper. I added a bird cut from a vintage print (the bird is a copy - scanned into my computer and printed as needed to keep the original) and glued the smaller card onto the book cover.

collage week 12

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 10

Spring has suddenly arrived - it went from cold (by Southern California standards) and rainy to sunny and 80 in just a few days. This week is a little bird collage on wood panel - robin red breast to welcome spring. Vintage music, documents and wallpaper plus rubber stamps were used to create the collage.

collage week 10

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 9

This week, I used another wood panel and mounted vintage music for the background. I layered on a paper doily and gold star paper. I printed a bird image on a vintage French document and hand colored the bird. The blue-gray handmade paper was printed in gold with a rubber stamp.

Collage week 9

52 weeks of Collage Part 2 - Week 1

One of my goals for 2017 is to do another 52 weeks of collage. I purchased some birch wood panels at my local art store to try as a base for collage. They worked great! It's hard to rubber stamp on canvas because the surface is uneven but the wood is nice and flat. The wood panels can get expensive but I got these on sale. I like that if you don't have a place to hang them, the panels easily sit on a shelf since they are 1.5 inches deep.

On my first collage, I used black and gold handmade and vintage papers letting the natural wood show. The wood grain just adds another element.

52 Weeks Part 2 - Week 1

Rubber stamps work really well on the wood

Spring Song

A new collage to welcome spring. This was done on a piece of pale gray scrap board. I used a rubber stamp in the background. The hand made papers are in shades if green and gold and the little bird is embellished with watercolor. This one is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Spring Song original collage

New addition to the flock

I have a new addition to my flock of birds. This one is from Ecuador and is similar to ones done by Ecuadorean silver artist Joaquin Tinta. Mine is unsigned but I like it anyway. You can find a bird for yourself on Etsy or Ebay.

Modernist Tinta-style bird from Ecuador

New Print

I carved some random linoleum blocks (the ginko leaves are from the 2016 calendar), played on the computer, and came up with this print. The final print was done on my letterpress in 4 colors - dark brown, yellow ochre, grey, and an over tint varnish. It was inspired by the birds flying south for the winter ( I say winter even though it's over 90 degrees right now and it's the middle of October). I did a limited edition of 16 and it's for sale in my Etsy shop.

"Flying South"

New Year, New Product

I have some new product in my Etsy shop. This bird image was one of the images from my 2015 calendar. It's now printed on a linen pouch and comes with a set of matching note cards.

Pouch and Card

Linoleum Block and Card

Tiny Little Bird

My collage for week 48 is a tiny little bird collage done on a tiny little canvas. The canvas measures 2.5" x 3.5". It's collaged with rubber stamps, a vintage letter, paper from an 19th century French ledger, star tissue paper, and a bit of handmade paper made in India. The bird is a rubber stamp from the set "Birds & Nests" by Cavallini Papers & Co.. They have lots of cool stationery items - check it out here.

Collage week 48

Prada Pink

While at the mall, I found a discarded Prada Candy perfume tester card. (You know, those little pieces of card that you spray perfume on so you don't have a million scents on your wrist.) This pink, gold and white patterned confection became the basis for my week 30 collage. I combined it with pink and gold handmade papers, rubber stamps and vintage type.

Collage week 30