Friday, March 29, 2013

Calendar Pages, Collage and Cards

  With Easter arriving I for one feel like the weather should be warming up by now! Our poor forsythia bushes are a bit behind in blooming (we usually have the flowers beginning St. Pat's day) but there's hope for some blooms next week.

  I received a wonderful pkg. of paints a few days ago. I mentioned quite awhile back that I won a GC for the Fall fearless and Fly challenge hosted by Carolyn Dube and Jessica Sporn. There were a few glitches but Carolyn pursued the issue(thank you!!) and lo and behold I had a $40 GC to spend at  Dreaming in Color! This online store was new to me so  you can just imagine the excitement discovering new products and having the chance to try them out-at no cost to me :):) They have an amazing selection of Twinkling H2Os and Silks among other things. I have H2Os and after reading about the Silks I chose to order 6 jars in some bright colors!

 
  Silks are acrylic glazes with a shimmer that surpasses anything else I've seen!! They remind me of the Twinkling H2Os except that the Silks are paints. Of course I had to immediately open each jar and paint a swatch of the colors onto a card-YUM!!!

  You can somewhat see the shimmer here although it still doesn't do justice to all the reflected light in the colors. I plan on making some time to play with them a bit in the next week. And if any of you own some I'd love to hear what you use them for!

 On to my calendar pages for April-whew-just in time too! I can't believe how quickly March has flown by...

 
  I had a bit of the Sunburst Silks acrylic glaze on my brush so I cleaned it off onto the blank pages. I wanted the feel of "April Showers" so I haphazardly painted Folk Art acrylics in Light Grey, Light Blue and Amish Blue. I like the hints of "sunshine" peeking thru, giving a hint of the sun and flowers to come in May :)
 
 
  My idea for the pretty umbrellas came from a recent blog post at Roses,Lace and Brocante
where Shane posted some really lovely photos of pretty umbrellas hanging from a ceiling. See, you just never know where inspiration may strike, or how :) Merci Shane! I just cut my umbrellas from patterned and solid cardstock. Then I loosely made some budding trees with watercolor, and added buds with the top of two paint brushes and two colors of green. Added butterfly and bird stickers, along with the quote I found online.

 
  And finally, here are the Easter cards I made to send out to a few friends and family:
 
 
  The banner is an image from a digi collage sheet by Retro Café Art and the chicks images are from ARTchix Studio. I used my Grand Calibur die cutting machine with the scalloped squares dies to make the cards and frame. To all who are celebrating I wish you a joyous and happy Easter!!
 
  Linking up to Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day,  Kate Crane's 2013 Calendar Project, and  Paint Party Friday. Please go and visit some of these wonderful challenge links. You never know what might inspire you to create something special.
 
" Art is like singing. Some do it better than others, but everyone can and should be doing it for their soul."  Barbara Mason

51 comments:

  1. Happy PPF. Those silks are sure beautiful and dreamy soft. Love your scalloped Easter cards, so sweet tweets. xox

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  2. Wow..such wonderfully inspiring works..love them all..those umbrellas are dazzling..love the little chickadees...and wow your Easter cards are exquisite! Fabulous work! Love the paints too..they show wonderfully and they have a shimmery-magical feel..beautiful!
    Happy PPF, thanks for your lovely words
    Victoria

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  3. Beautiful work! Congrats on winning those lovely colours, have fun with them! Valerie

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  4. Love the dreamy, pale colors of April!

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  5. I always love seeing new art supplies, it makes me so happy! Your calendar pages are so lovely and charming, really wonderful.

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  6. Thanks for the reminder that I OWN some of those H2O's!!!! I had forgotten about them!!!
    Your calendar is outstanding....you should make those and sell them. They are beautiful!
    Happy Easter and I send warm breezes to make your forsythia pop with beautiful yellow blooms!
    Hugs
    Jan

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  7. your calendar pages cover are exquisite ~ remind me of sky and nature ~ great colors and Easter cards are delightful ~ all very creative! Enjoy ^_^

    thanks for visiting and commenting ^_^

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  8. Wonderful Art journaling and theme. Love it :)
    HPPF and hugs
    Erika

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  9. Beautiful! I love that spring sky you started with for your calendar. I think your month of April turned out wonderfully. I love those umbrellas. Those new colors of yours are so bright. I will love to see what you create with them. Lovely Easter cards and Happy Easter to you.

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  10. Beautiful!! Those paints look amazing. I will have to give them a try.

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  11. I love getting new art supplies! Those silks look fantastic-i can see the high shimmer from the swstches you did. Funny enough before you mentioned the april showers feel to your journal page, i looked at it and immediately thought of the skies around here this ladt few days!
    Great Easter cards-such wonderful detail!

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  12. Your new paints (silks) sound fantastic. I enlarged the photo to see the shine. I bet they are just fantastic in real life. What you did in your journal is beautiful. I liked the cloudy sky and thought it was complete in itself. But your finished art is great.

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  13. Lovely calendar pages...I think this is such a cool project. and adorable cards. Have a blessed Easter, and happy PPF!

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  14. Congratulations on your win and your choice of those luscious colors. I love your cards, but I especially like your new calendar page. Have a blessed Paschal Sunday!

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  15. lovely paints you chose Linda! Beautiful calandar pages and cards you made too!

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  16. Such pretty cards and I love those April pages so much, perfect for the month of April, very lovely!

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  17. luscious colors! Love the calendar pages, so sweet!! Love the shimmer of those clouds.

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  18. Love the colours of your new paints, what a wonderful prize! Those cards are wonderful.

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  19. Beautiful April calendar pages and beautiful cards as well. Have a very, very Happy Easter, Linda!!! Big hugs to you!

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  20. I really like your calendar pages the love the shimmer of those silk paints as well. I'll have to have a looksy. Your work is awesome. Happy Easter and PPF!

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  21. congratulations on your win Linda, they sure look awesome paints.
    Love your pretty cards and calendar pages.
    Happy PPF and Happy Easter, Annette x

    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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  22. I love the paints, can't wait to see what you do with them! Love the new calander page and the pretty cards! Happy PPF!

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  23. Oh those silks look so yummy!! Congratulations on the fabulous win!! The cards are so special too! We are finally having some beautiful spring weather just in time for Easter!! Enjoy the weekend! Happy Easter!

    Hugs Giggles

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  24. Oh, aren't you lucky! Those paints are beautiful! I LOVE the background for that calendar-page you did, it really reminds me of April, with the sometimes stormy days, and the shifts between sunshine and rain.

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  25. fantastic win and some great products from dreaming in colour, thanks for the link. Your calendar and cards are lovely

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  26. Love all of your fabulous creations, Linda! Happy Easter to you and your family!

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  27. Very, very pretty spring pages...you have some lovely paints to play around with too. I like your very happy easter cards:)
    xxx
    xx

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  28. These calendar pages are beautiful. I love how you painted the background like a sky and then used complementary color pieces for the calendar days. And the umbrellas--seriously pretty and fun. Keep up the great work.

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  29. Ooooooooh....lucky you...those paints are to die for.

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  30. Love your calendar and the cards are just adorable! <3

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  31. Happy Easter Linda. Lucky girl you have those Silks. Enjoy them my friend and looking forward to see your creations with them.
    Susan

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  32. I can't wait to see what you do with your new shimmering paints. New art supplies are so much fun. I love the calendar pages -- very spring like and so well designed. I must add some color to my own calendar now. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  33. Wow, what beautiful colors! I love the apricot nector, especially. Love your calendar pages and the pretty Easter Cards, too. Happy Easter!

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  34. I love the calender pages!!! How lucky to win the GC and can't wait to see what all you create with those wonderful Silks.

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  35. These are absolutely wonderful! The pallete choice is perfect. I acyually do think umbrellas are a great motif

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  36. Love the brightness of those colours, specially the plumeria. Hope your easter is swell.Happy PPF.

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  37. Silks are so fun - you can use them kind of like watercolor (might have to thin a bit) and like acrylic glaze. Try painting them over white or black gesso. Check out some of Dion Dior's artwork - she does beautiful work with both twinks and silks. Your calendar pages are just lovely. HPPF

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  38. I just love what you did with that background. It all comes together. :)

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  39. Those umbrellas are the cutest ever!

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  40. I really like the palette of your calendar pages. Really nice. And enjoy those silks. They are so much fun!

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  41. those paints look like fun!!! wonderful pages!!! and the cute embellishments you made are adorable!!!

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  42. The Silk paints looks luscious Linda...congrats to you!
    Your calendar pages are each so unique ... and I see that Hal Borland quote fits perfectly ... great minds LOL!
    I saw Shane's umbrella photo and thought how lovely it was...so true about inspiration being everywhere...
    Happy April my talented friend...
    oxo

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  43. What pretty pretty paints! It's all lovely looking, but I like the clouds especially :) Happy PPF!

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  44. You are SO, SO lucky to win those silks. I have heard about them, but not seen them.

    I thought your calendar page was sensational, and quite lovely. You are very talented, both with words and images.

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  45. Your April pages are a perfect design in anticipation of May. A wonderful background for your daily blocks. Those look like gorgeous paints and your Easter cards are beauties!

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  46. Beautiful sparkly colors! Love the umbrellas. Super cute pages!

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  47. congrats on winning those Silks I know of them but have never used them.Love the background for your calendar page and wonderful quote.

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  48. Great pages... the trees in the bottom corner look fab - perfect sign of the arrival of spring!

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  49. Linda I love your Easter Cards they are so sweet.

    Loving your calendar pages too.... great colours and the umbrellas are cute.

    I won some H2O's they are great fun to play with....

    Karen x

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  50. Great pages love the color,quote and paintings on the April page. Lovely idea the sun peeking through.

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!