Six Players: Sunflowers for Marlynn

here we are at our last turn in the Six Players swap…

Marlynn from Honeysuckle Breeze chose Sunflowers for her theme….

you may remember the wonderful India pages she created for me last year…

here are my first and last pages for her theme…

the cover page I created for her sunflower theme is my favorite…with the arch…and Paper Whimsy sun face…

I even found sunflower written in Japanese for the top right along with other languages too…

the lady on my last page is from the NYPL digital library…

a wonderful source for copyright free images…

I used sunflower seed stickers … I like the quality of them very much…

I really liked the sunflower stickers too!

…it seemed that my center pages were in limbo for a good while…

I was getting a little hung up on the flowers and needed to think beyond that a bit…

like what goes with sunflowers…

quotes are always good inspiration…

and birds like seeds…

thanks once again to Karen at The Graphics Fairy for the wonderful bird image…

a piece of snipped parchment paper cupcake liner made a nice frill and layer along with other bits of paper and faux greenery…

and a favorite of mine…

bees…

where would the world be without bees…

I found the perfect little metal bumble bee pin from Japan in my stash and attached it with gel medium…

one of the most versatile adhesives I know of…

here are my center pages … I used a twill binding that came with the round metal bits attached to add some interest across the center of both pages…

I created a tag with some of the extra bits I had on hand too…

nothing better than when it finally comes to you what you’d like to make…

then all there is to do is to get busy and do it…

“The earth laughs in flowers.” ~E.E. Cummings

I could have sworn that this quote was also credited to Ralph Waldo Emerson…there must be a story there somewhere?

Gina’s shades of white…

my turn in the Six Players rotation to work on Gina’s “shades of white” theme…

as some of you may know Gina left this world suddenly near the end of November 2010…

the India pages she created for me are wonderful and so magical…

they were some of the last pieces she made…

starting her white pages was tough for me…

I finally got busy on Tuesday, 8 February not knowing that my sweet Mother had slipped away in her sleep that same morning…she was not discovered under early evening…

I had selected the quote below a few days before as inspiration…

“My soul her wings doth spread
And heavenward flies,
Th’ Almighty’s mysteries to read
In the large volumes of the skies.”~William Habington (1605-1654)

the one thing I had set aside for Gina’s white pages were some white feather wings…

I was thinking ‘white swan’…I {heart} swans…

but when Gina died it quickly turned into an angel’s wing…

Gina had sent punched pages that she glued background onto…

I added a little gesso to these center pages with dictionary background…collaging with fabric and paper…

the dove is a TAP transfer done on thin cotton…

I stamped onto a piece of delicate handkerchief…

added computer generated words…

stitching everything together before gluing it onto the page…

bits of lace…papers and trim sewn onto watercolor paper to create the heart…

the border at the bottom was made with tea dyed lace…

paper flowers with vintage white buttons glued in the centers…

my last page is a collage with a mini trading card…layered netting…gauze…laces and ribbon…

the “HAND MADE” is from a cigar box strip and the daisies are pieces of an old necklace…

my tag for Gina’s Shades of White…

which I made after my mother’s death…

the only new thing I have managed to create so far…

a good friend of Gina’s…Kathy…has kindly stepped in to help finish our Six Players swap…

“It is the color of a dove and in some places a color of mourning.” ~Gina Wise, taken from her beautifully written inspiration letter for her “white” theme to each of the players

India from the heART land

another pass in the Six Players group swap…

Elizabeth‘s tag…stitched with golden thread…really set the flavor of her inspired elephant pages for my India theme…

she knows I have a thing for elephants…to see more of my elephant posts…you can type the word elephant in the LOOKING FOR SOMETHING Search block to the right on my sidebar…

the addition of the marcasite elephant beads…just perfect…

marcasite and rhinestone jewelry trumps diamonds for me every time…

being able to touch these pages is definitely part of the enjoyment…

so many great details…I discover new things each time I sit with the pages…

her post today gives super details of her creative process which always fascinates me…her close up pics are brilliant too…

Elizabeth is a natural…the way she layers and collages with her sewing machine is inspiring…

last and certainly not least…the heart of India to me… Mahatma Gandhi…loving called Bapu or Father…Elizabeth dotted her “i”s with perfect marcasite moons…she totally outdid herself capturing the heart and essence of India…

here are my India pages so far…I am going to have to come up with a really special cover to house these amazing pages…my original idea of using a Simple Abundance cover is not going to work as these pages are already so bodacious…

I was amazed when Elizabeth’s bulging envelope arrived with extra goodies galore…

the ceramic teacup made the journey perfectly in tact…

as if these beautiful India pages were not enough Elizabeth created one of her stitched journals for me…

the really special denim journal cover was stitched by Halle…

with a great pocket sewn in the front cover to hold pens…

it is impossible to show you all of Elizabeth’s sewn pages…

there are two signatures packed with goodness…

again so much to discover on each and every page…

I will have to think of something very special to do with this wonderful journal…

for now I am really enjoying just turning the pages…

many many thanks Elizabeth and Halle too!!!

“If you rest…you rust”

lots to show and tell here…you may want to grab a cup of something ;)…

Elizabeth received my rust pages in our Six Players swap so I can now show them to you here … they measure approx 8 x 11 inches … I enjoyed her rust theme very much…

in fact Mr Magpie and I had collected some special rusty bits on a walk we took on a beautiful day in October of last year crossing Key Bridge into Washington, DC…

while we were out and about we climbed the “exorcist stairs” just across the bridge in Georgetown…

here is a little of what we saw walking up…a good excuse to pause and catch our breath 😉 …we were amazed that we have lived in this area a large part of our lives and had never done the climb before…

when I first created these pages for Elizabeth the page with the swans was intended as the first page…

after living with the pages for a bit I realized the swan page made a better last page…Elizabeth will be punching holes in the pages to fit a three ring binder so she can arrange them any way her heart desires…

this page photographed lighter than it is in real life…odd but true…finally got to use some of my soaked cigar band strips…LOTS of layers of paint…some rubber stamping…more paint all around a rusty star on a piece of text from Seth Apter’s Disintegration Collaboration…

the piece of rusty looped metal made a great embellishment with a piece of torn and tea dyed handkerchief fabric…

the stone face is a photo I took at the US Botanic Gardens near the US Capitol in Wash DC…I am always drawn to the stone faces when we visit and have photos from every angle…

the Helen Hayes quote…”If you rest you rust” seemed to really fit the bill…if you know Elizabeth at all you know that she is not one to hold still for long…always into trying something new or perfecting a technique she’s tried before AND documenting in detail on her blog to inspire and teach us all…

another rusty star on book text with a great round rusty washer…I did hit the rusty bits with a coating of gel medium since rust never sleeps 😉 …

the lady in the smooshed Starbuck’s drink lid was filled with Diamond Glaze…

a bit of rusty chain that Mr Magpie spied on the bridge…we found treasures coming and going…

it was fun to add fabric and crocheted doily bits as well…eventho I used 140lb water color paper…it buckled with the many layers of paint…I thought that added a bit to the old look and feel of the pages…

using some of my favorite map tissue paper for background…paint washes…a bottled water label (we are always soaking cool labels off things)…and a couple more rusty found treasures…

just had to stamp the hand on some pattern tissue as Elizabeth and I share a fondness for hands…she’s done some great work around hands…with at least one altered book on the subject…

last is an ATC I made using some bits from the pages I created…

this certainly was fun…makes me want to make something rusty for myself…I can’t wait to photograph the amazing India pages Elizabeth created for me…I will be showing those here soon…

last chance today to join in my SEW Somerset magazine giveaway…the winner will be announced on Sunday

Six Players: Tree of Life…remembering Gina Wise

Duane’s theme for his book is TREES…I was inspired by Gustav Klimt’s 1909 Tree of Life and decided to draw my version of a Klimt tree…

I am not one to draw much…a bit of doodling is usually it…

my tree was created on 9 x 12″ piece of 140lb watercolor paper washed with walnut ink…

I went over my drawing again and again using pencil…paint…metallic markers…chalks and gold krylon pen…

as a finishing touch I added one of my wire bird nests…I was pleased with the results…

because of playing with this piece for Duane…I was inspired to create a Klimt dress for Margaret’s November Dress Up challenge earlier this month…

had to wait until Duane received his tree to tell you the rest of the story…he will be folding the page and adding it to a star book he is creating for his Six Players swap pieces…

~*~

on a somber and very sad note…one of our Six Players…the very creative and talented Gina Wise passed away suddenly…even though I only knew Gina through our swap group and the wonderful pages she created for my India theme…I have not been able to stop thinking about her…

she has reminded me of the impact that our creativity can have…

touching people we’ve never actually “met”…

enriching them with generosity and kindness…

this is the tag she had sent along with my India pages…

front and back…

her theme for the Six Players swap was WHITE…

my heart goes out especially to Gina’s Mother and family…it is so out of time for a parent to have to bury a child of any age…

Gina touched my life ever so briefly and yet…

I will not forget her…

prayers and healing to all those left behind…

this life is so very fragile and precious…

tell someone you Love them…

Peace * Love and Light to all … Be Well oxo

Six Players: India pages from Gina …

another rotation in the Six Players swap … my theme is India … remember Marlynn’s amazing pages here … Gina Wise has sent these gorgeous pages that she made for me …

with the loveliest details…fabric…paper and more…

little tinkling bells…two kinds…

sari ribbon fabric done with a special hot tool finish that added great texture and interest… the beautiful silver piece behind the perfect Indian playing card for the back page was done with cardboard…duct tape and a cuttlebug…pretty amazing result…

the tiny Krishna shrine has little metal roses adorning it on the top…

Gina also made a precious little matchbox shrine that is wonderful with so many special layers…my photos really do not do the richness and depth justice…I have it right here by the computer to enjoy daily…

the Mehndi hands on the front and inside pages are amazing …done on alcohol ink colored pages…

I’ve always thought how exotic and fun that would be to have done…the lovely ribbons Gina included make a great addition to my growing India stash too…thank you so much Gina

* * *

my bloggie friend Ana of i made it so has a new fun feature called “friday archive dive”…you can see the button on my sidebar…it’s a brilliant idea and a nice chance to go back and visit blog posts from the past…all are welcome to play along…you can see this week’s prompt here and find out all about it…

there is still time to enter my giveaway if you haven’t had a chance to pop by…winners will be announced on Sunday

Six Players: Mexican Folk Art Theme

as promised … here are the tip in pages I created for Dianne’s Mexican Folk Art theme … each player has chosen a different theme and varying page sizes…

lots of paint and gesso went into my pages … I printed a skull image onto transparency paper … highlighting with a white pen … I placed it behind the opening I cut in the front cover … the final step was using Golden brand Gold Mica Flake (Large) around the edges of the page … it gives nice texture and shimmer…

*these pages measure 8 x 16 inches*

it wasn’t hard for me to decide to go with Frida…

I created a tin foil frame by rolling and smooshing foil together … stitching it onto the page with bits of colorful fiber… the  flower  is rubber stamped and hand colored…

on the left hand side I used assorted papers to help affix the skeleton transparency dry brushing with gesso and adding a loteria game card at the bottom … el corazon means “the heart”

I painted the back page with blue paint and used a piece of torn wax paper that I had used some time ago for making mono print pages … glad I saved it as it made a perfect layer under the shrine stamp that I used as a frame for the black and white Frida image … white gel pen helped add interest to the stamped frame…

Frida has a lot of powerful quotes … I chose

“I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”

I used black fine marker to accent the pages too…

here is the tag I created to go along with my tip in … I certainly did enjoy this theme …

next month I will be working on “Trees”

Six Players Six Months

six of us will be exchanging tip in pages over the coming months … each person has a different theme…

I chose INDIA for my pages … they are sized to fit into a Simple Abundance book cover that I will alter when all of my pages arrive in Virginia …

my photos do not do justice to these wonderful pages from Marylnn … the paint has given the pages an extraordinary rich look AND feel…

Love the clever shadow effect in dark blue behind the Taj Mahal … Marlynn is an excellent cutter too…

wonderful metal tree branches from New York … a golden crown and other fabulous layers …

wouldn’t I just Love to be lucky enough to be peeking out of the Taj Mahal some day … notice the lovely lady’s bindi … Marylnn is all about details … Love that …

and the tag she made …

just look at all of the goodies she included … teas from her travels … I’ve already tried the Indian Spice and it is wonderful…

truly a gal after my own heart … she rescued a lavish embroidered Indian tunic and shared a piece with me … the pages were in this neat Taj Mahal file folder and tucked in the special “Anuschka” bag … Marlynn has done several posts that will tell you lots more about her creative process along with some wonderful photos too … what a grand beginning to our swap … thank you so much Ms Honeysuckle Breeze …oxo…

last but certainly not least …

the frosting on the cake was this gorgeous glittery Swan Boat card and bookmark that she brought back for me from a trip she took to Boston … oh did those make my heart swoon … just perfect for my swan obsession … one day Mr Magpie and I will get to ride on the swan boats …

soon I will show you the pages I created for Dianne’s Mexican Folk Art theme … sure had fun with that topic!