Mr. Turkey thinks he's hot stuff- he has no idea how hot he'll be in the oven next week! This guy is pretty safe since he's just made of decorative papers. I like to doodle when I watch TV and then I scan them into Adobe to use as background papers in collages. I printed about 10 different patterns with different densities of marks to have a full range of values. Using a master turkey drawing, I cut all the parts from the different doodles. They were reassembled and colored with acrylic glazes. I used transparent colors like Payne's Gray and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide with a lot of medium and built up thin layers of glaze to get the desired colors. Certain areas got touches of gesso and gold leaf to accent. The turkey was layered to turquoise and gold paper with 3D glue dots to give a little dimension then mounted on the red background. An easel back was attached so Mr. Turkey can be used as a Thanksgiving decoration.
These girls are ready for Halloween in some HOT little outfits! Who knew the dead were so fashionable? These lovely ladies come from a scan of an anatomy drawing from college. The diecut chipboard backgrounds were a $1 Michael's find. Each is covered with torn paper and sheet music. The outfits are an assortment of feathers, fabric and lace scraps and brass findings. They were so much fun to make and a great Halloween treat for friends.
I love doing color studies. Creating a loose set of parameters can be a good way to push yourself out of your normal patterns. Above are the back and front of a journal about RED. It started by cutting up a bunch of pieced quilt tops I was never going to finish. Each was 7" by 9" wide and I quickly stitched them to cardstock pages just to get started. The sewing machine was threaded with red thread and things just took off from there. I scoured my studio and found the biggest pile of red wonderfulness then googled RED for some great facts and quotes. The whole 12 pages came together in a matter of days- no overthinking or planning, just fun and pure play!
I like to have a stockpile of cards that I can use for birthdays, get well or whatever. I'm always cruising the sale aisle in the craft store for plain cards on sale. These make it so much faster to produce a lot of cards -all with matching envelopes. About once a year, I go through the pile of experiments, ATCs and paper scraps in my studio and start making stacks of focal points, pretty papers, stickers, etc. Then, I make stacks of my purchased cards and start matching things up. With everything spread out and in full view, it's easy to put a lot of cards together quickly. As I am finishing each card, I add stickers, ribbon and doodads to spice them up. In one afternoon I can make several dozen cards so I'm ready at a moment's notice to get a greeting in the mail.
Even if you aren't feeling creative, take a little time and make some ATCs. These little gems are fast and fun at 2.5" by 3.5". Use up paper scraps, try new techniques, get wild with colors. If you don't like the results, you haven't invested much time or materials. It pays to play in art to loosen up your creative spirit and this is a good way to do it. If you like your results, use them on a collage, greeting card or scrapbook page. Examples above include a pleated ribbon, faux postage and embroidered fabric scrap. 
My WINTER WITCH stuffie is a finalist in the Reader Challenge from ClothPaperScissors magazine! She's on her way to their offices in MA so wish her luck!!
Took some time this weekend to play with gelatin monoprints. Cheap and fun, you use grocery store clear gelatin and whatever paper, paint or dye you have on hand. I did a thin layer of gelatin in a cookie sheet so I had plenty of room to play with. I used Dr. Martin's colored India inks and Golden fluid acrylics with gloss medium for an extender. I applied the color directly to the gelatin and brayered or fingerpainted it across the surface. To clean up after the colors started getting muddy, I just laid newspaper in the pan and pressed gently.
