Friday, March 1, 2013

Time Marches On and Textured Tag Play

  Wow, it's March already -YAY!! It's going to be a busy month with St. Patrick's Day, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, not to mention our clocks Spring ahead 1 hour for Sun. the 10th, and I'll be celebrating my birthday and one year of blogging on the 15th!

  So first up is my calendar spread for March. Here are the background pages:

 
 
  I used a fave technique-dots of Folk Art Patina, Americana Snow, Golden Cobalt Teal, and Masters Touch Olive Green around the pages. I scraped over the pages with an old credit card, moving the colors to cover. I then used the Mini Cubist stencil with Dylusions Bubblegum Pink Ink Spray.
 
 My pages ready:
 
 
   I'm not going to fill the space along the right side until later as I may want to add some pics from the festivities of the month. I'll be checking out what others have done this month over at The Kathryn Wheel - Kate Crane's blog.
 
  And now for some tag play! If you missed Carolyn Dube's "Use Your Words Workshop" you can still join this free series and be a part of the Flickr group too. It really was a fabulous series of videos and it's been fun creating from her inspirations!
 
  For this part Carolyn suggested using three tags and creating similar-but not the same-projects. We started by applying thick coats of gesso around the tags and allowing them to dry overnight.
 
 
    The gesso had been spread around with a palette knife. On the first tag I stamped into the wet gesso with a cork. For the center tag I mixed a bit of Golden Coarse Pumice Gel (think wet sand texture) into the wet gesso and on the third tag I just aded marks with the tip of the palette knife.
 
  Now for some color!
 
 
  For the first tag I colored with Caran D'Ache watercolor crayons and a waterbrush. For the second tag I used Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise and Bubblegum Pink Ink Sprays then added a bit of blue watercolor crayon on two corners for deeper color. On the third tag I again used watercolor crayons and a waterbrush.
 
  Here is a detail of the third tag before adding water. You can really see the texture and cork marks in the gesso:
 

 
  And here is a detail pic of the second tag:
 

 
 
  Isn't that texture with the Coarse Pumice gel just FAB??? Here's another where I used the gel:
 
 
 

 
 
     First I scraped the gel thru a words stencil and let dry. Then I sprayed with a few colors of ink sprays.
 
   Now, as the workshop is about using words I finished my three  tags with stencilled letters and a simple embellishment:
 
 
  
  
 
 


 
 
 Ready to add to journal pages!

 
 
  Have a great weekend!
 
" Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."  Edgar Degas
 

54 comments:

  1. Wow, what a lot of gorgeousness this week! Love it all! Hugs, Valerie

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  2. This is a wonderful collection of technique and color. Thanks for sharing! Happy PPF

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  3. Oooooh very cool pages and those tags are just AWESOME. I love the texture of that pumice gel :-) Fantastic :-)
    Found you on PPF and came over to have a looksee.
    IKE xx

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  4. super interesting and inspiring!
    cheers, dana

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  5. Love the creations ~ from your calendar pages to your exquisite tag art ~ ^_^

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  6. Wow Linda the texture on the tags is gorgeous, love that. And the calendar for March is so beautiful. Almost Happy Birthday and HPPF!

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  7. Loving your fabulous tags Linda and also your brilliant calendar pages.
    Happy PPF, Annette x
    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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  8. Love your calendar! Golden Cobalt Teal is one of my fave colors!!
    And the textures in the tags (and your photography of that texture!) is fantastic!
    ♥♥♥
    Happy PPF!!
    Mary
    Mixed-Media Map Art

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  9. cool gesso stuff! I need to try!

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  10. Ooh just look at all that lush colour and texture - fab!

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  11. Such delicious texture and colour....wonderful work!
    xx

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  12. Your calendar pages are brilliant and I love the colours of your tags.

    HPPF and have a nice weekend

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  13. What a wonderful array of colors and textures!

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  14. Delicious colors! I loooove the texture, so rich, and the end result is very cheerful and Spring like. :oD

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  15. Looks like you have a very busy month coming up! Your calendar pages are wonderful and as for your tags - wow! It was really interesting to hear how you created the different effects on each one - I especially like the pumice gel you put through a word stencil. They all look amazing!

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  16. Linda, wow.. so beautiful. i love that calendar and the shamrock on the 17th. Beautiful colors and textures.

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  17. it is wonderful to see the artful pieces you have been making. All quite inspiring.

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  18. Fabulous tags - delicious colors and stencils! Wonderful calendar, too! <3

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  19. Love the texture and colors. Beautiful and you've been a busy bee.:) Thanks!

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  20. Beautiful compositions, I like the tones and textures so delicate!

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  21. Beautiful tags Linda and beautiful calendar pages. So positive and heartfull. Have a great PPF!!!

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  22. Lovely work this week Linda and happy birthday when it comes! Thanks for the heads up on 'spring forward'.

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  23. Love the background you've used for your calendar pages and the green is so appropriate firvSt. Patrick's. and you've managed to really captured the amazing texture of the tags by the way you've photographed them.

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  24. oh these pieces are fantastic and I love the textures!!!! wow!!!!

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  25. You sparked a memory of our St Patrick's Day swap years ago at PW.....how I loved doing that! Time sure has flown by, hasn't it?

    Your textured tags are great fun.....like frosting! And the calendar is just outstanding, Linda! I love the colors you used and the way the blue squares pop!

    Ah, so much happening this month....it gives us hope that Spring is just around the corner!

    Hugs
    jan

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  26. I love your cheerful use of color, and the textures you created with the gesso are fabulous. Blessings!

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  27. I love the monthly calendar. In a way, I miss the one I used for two years, especially after seeing the beauty of yours. You have some awesome stencils.

    Although I came to see the calendar pages, I fell in love with those tags. Beautiful and clever, especially the one with the cork.

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  28. All beautiful colors and textures. Looks like you had loads of fun. HPPF

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  29. Your tags are gorgeous! Love those great textures!

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  30. Love your calender page...so pretty and they way you always show your process..thank you!!
    March sounds deliciously busy!!

    Hugs Giggles

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  31. You have had great success with your backgrounds, They are stunning!!

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  32. I just love the background of the calendar pages. SO vibrant and beautiful.

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  33. This are fabulous! I love the end result and the bright happy colours, but also the stages in between. And your calendar spread looks great! You have an exciting month ahead of you!

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  34. March will love living in your calendar pages! Those tags are so cool! Have a happy month and a special birthday ahead, Linda! Hugs!!

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  35. Dear Linda
    Your journal pages are so well prepared - I love the shamrock for St Patrick's Day - nice touch!
    Busy month for you Linda - we've got birthdays galore too!
    My husband, my son-in-law and mine!

    The tags are great - I love following your process - very clever!
    Shane ♥

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  36. Beautifully done - and I LOVE all that texture. Thanks for the step outs. Carolyn's workshop was wonderful! Happy PPF!

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  37. Love your tags, especcially the one with the textured script! Your calendar is fabulous too :) xox Conny

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  38. These are great. I admire your patience with all the different stages and materials. I'm a lazy artist so I stick to watercolours. Less clearing up. Though less creativity too perhaps. :-)

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  39. Linda, i am in love with those textures!!! And such gorgeous colors. i can tell you had fun while doing these. Those backgrounds are amazing. Thanks for sharing! xox

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  40. Hi Linda,
    First of all, your March calendar spread is fab! I love all the movement and color of the background. It really wakes up March! And your tags look really fun and creative. Those are great colors too and wonderful designs.
    I am glad you are having so much fun : )
    Hugs,
    Terri

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  41. Great backgrounds here! The calendar one is particularly catching my eye! So much fun!

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  42. Love your tags, Linda! I'll have to check out Carolyn Dube's workshop.

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  43. Fantastic! Wow your calendar pages just boost color and life, wonderful and I adore those lovely tags, you're swinging with color!

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  44. Really awesome tags! Love how a busy background works when you put in contexts. :)

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  45. Gosh you have been busy..... fantastic work!

    Enjoy your birthday and blog birthday too :)

    Karen x

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  46. Fun process start to finish! Great outcomes.

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  47. Love the gel pushed thru the word stencil. Cool!

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  48. March sounds like a wonderful month at your house dear Linda with lots and lots to celebrate!

    Your textured tags are so colorful ... great fun seeing your creative process too!

    It must have been hard to cover up so much of your lovely calendar pages...the extra touch of edging each 'day' really adds a lot ... I enjoy details like that

    oxo

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  49. Linda love all the three tags. Great texture and colors.This Gel is a new thing to me. Thank you for sharing your lovely work.

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  50. I admire all the things you are doing. . . these are turning out to be fantastic. Blessings, Janet PPF

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  51. I'm glad you joined us at Inspiration Avenue for Show and Tell. I love what you're doing-the colors and textures are fantastic!

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  52. Interesting work and even more interesting seeing how you created it. I really love that down-in-the-gel close-up - superb image all on its own.

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