Dreamer

I had a spare cut-out from when I was cutting one of my stencils. When creating my stencils, I design the pattern on my computer (in Corel Draw) and print it on a piece of paper. Then I attach the paper to a piece of acetate (or anything else I'm cutting my stencil from) with scotch-tape and cut along the lines with my craft knife. Sometimes I keep the paper cut-out for future use.

[quote by Oscar Wilde] 

What really made the difference in this case is the white outline – it made the pattern pop out and unintentionally created a Celtic knotwork.

Muses

In November, I took part in an online course called “Mining your Muse” taught by multi-talented artist Barb Owen. 

In one of the classes, we were doing Painted Muses and Barb gave us templates to use – but being a person who doesn't (like to) follow instructions, I drew my own Muses. Well, I admit, there was some cheating involved. I drew a picture back in 1998 that I shelved and almost forgot about. Barb's templates reminded me of this particular drawing and I decided that it was time to revisit my long-forgotten Muses and make them right this time. 

One of the most valuable lessons I'd learnt from Barb is that eyes are actually in the MIDDLE of the face – it changed my life considerably... LOL Now, I was able to add faces to my Muses (and correct the size of their heads too). I drew them on a sticky-back canvas first, coloured them with watercolour pencils (not a very clever idea on sticky-back canvas). They were originally meant to go on a piece of cardstock and stand alone but then we had this little conversation:

... and I made a page for them in my journal. The background is simple – acrylic paints applied with a brayer. Then, I wanted to spray it a bit with a diluted white paint but the nozzle of my not-so-mini-mister was clogged and all it could do was spray just one narrow jet of paint - an unexpected but happy mistake. 

[quote by Saint Bartholomew]

Wonderful life

There are two versions of this page – one I detest greatly and one I don’t like much. 

I think I did a good job in both cases with the background. There was one version in-between but that one didn't make it past background.

What I don't like is the handwriting. In this case, it's way-too planned and organized. (and the black stripe is where I made a typo...)

When writing on my second page, I made sure the text was a bit more “random”, but again, the only part I like is the “wonderful” part. I guess, there's too much text and the composition isn't great. I fought with the urge to recreate it again, but I invested so much time in this and I somehow learned to like it in the end.

[the quote is from my horoscope]

Great power

Again, I had a clear vision how this page should look like and it doesn't. But when I look at the final result – and not think about all the mistakes I made and had to “correct” – I think it turned out pretty well. 

[quote by Beatrix Potter]

You can’t fix stupid

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. 

- William G. McAdoo -

This page is to remind me not to argue with stupid people – you can never win such an argument and you lose a lot of energy in the process. 

The background is a Prima paper toned down with paint. The letters are cut out of a piece of paper that has been sprayed with various inks and stamped randomly. 

Invisible

This page started with some texture paste leaves in the background and a tissue sewing pattern glued over the whole thing. And then it remained waiting for inspiration for several weeks.

Then I bought two bottles of Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels – the only two bottles available in my country at that time. I fell in love with this product and wanted to spray it on everything. So the page got a fair dosage of Glimmer Mist combined with Dylusions. It created awesome background which I ruined when I wanted to apply glossy varnish to seal it. The brush would take away all the Glimmer Mist but I managed to save the day by applying the varnish with a sponge. But the nice sprayed patterns vanished.

[quote by Richard Buckminster Fuller]

It seems I'm repeating myself – I forgot I used the word “invisible” only a couple of weeks ago. Never mind... but somewhere at the back of my head someone is telling me to remove the quote and find a new one... [sigh]

Perfection

After painting several vibrant orange/reddish pages, I needed something more “pastel”, less distinctive. The colour combination I decided to use in the end isn't something I would normally choose but I'm really surprised how well it all came out.

[quote by Salvador Dalí]

The background is done again using my favourite “stamped tissue/deli paper” technique. I stamped the images with my new favourite stamp set “Architectural Trims” by Tattered Angels.

Several months ago, I tried the caught-in-crystal technique. I admit, I re-purposed it to my needs and to my supplies (I was never good at following instructions anyway and we don't have the floor polish you are supposed to use). So I had several “crystal” circles which I originally intended to use on my Christmas cards as baubles. But I think they look good as flowers too.