Jumping Off Cliffs * Developing Our Wings

Hello my dear Friends!

I'm waving to you from a plane returning from my dream India adventure, and today I'd like to share a special journal spread I made a while ago.

This piece was made in a round robin art journal of a Polish friend of mine.

Our starting point was this beautiful quote by Kurt Vonnegut:

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs
and developing our wings on the way down.”

You must admit these words are very inspiring. Here's what happened on my desk: :)

I decided to start creating the mood with the atmospheric Cold Country papers from 7 Dots Studio.

Then, a little bit of base texture action with Modeling Paste + stencil, beautiful Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays and - as usual -> some home made tea stains I simply can't do without. :)

Then it was time to create the focal points of my piece - clusters of all kinds of delicious bits and pieces. I looked around my desk and collected bits of chipboards, lace, scraps of different papers and fabric, thread, buttons etc. I believe that these little things can magically carry all kinds of stories.

The main photo comes from 'Flow', one of my favorite magazines, I also added some of my Mechanicals here and there.

The final touches are splatters with white and red Art Alchemy acrylic paints and a pinch of Mini Art Stones and Glitter.

Here you can see the products I used - all available in our Mixed Media Place store:

I really like how these pages turned out, it was a huge joy to create them - expressive without too much of technological fuss - a great way to put some feelings on paper -

- I hope you experience the same joy during your creative process and I hope I inspired you to do some journaling as well!

xxx

Season of Mists

Hi my dear ones!

Imagine my delight when once at a flea market I got hold of this amazing vintage tin muffin tray!

It was love at the first sight - its embossed patterns, the time-worn texture and the round shapes that were begging to be filled with something inspiring.

So I finally decided what I would do and here it is - my fall inspired, moody assemblage piece that I hope will move you too.

The inspiration hit me when I was browsing through vintage photos - as it often does. ;)

To make the whole project coherent, I decided to go for photos of children.

If you're looking for a source of such photos and you feel you wouldn't bring yourself to cutting the actual vintage photos into pieces, you can easily use my Ephemera Collectibles or Elements from my Cold Country line.

For me, each of these circles is like a separate story being told, in a way it's a separate art work on its own. At the same time, I wanted all of them to work together too.

I had this thought running through my head: A Season of Mists. I listened to this idea and wanted to create the dreamy, nostalgic atmosphere of Fall and Indian Summer. Can you feel it there?

I made poppy pods (from my own garden!) a strong leitmotiv and I really love how they turned out.

When you look carefully, you will also spot thread, pieces of gauze, fabrics and lace, some delicate wire and... accompanying each of the photos - the poppy seeds that I made myself with Mini Art Stones i Micro Beads.

Wouldn't you say that Rusty Mechanicals add to the mystery as well?

I didn't want to change the color of the tray completely, only to enhance its beautiful vintage character - the Rust Pastes did their magic just perfectly!
I also added a little bit of Deep Waters acrylic paint, greyish and bronze tones of Lindy's sprays and a touch Clear Crackle Paste here and there.

A helpful hint: before splashing any colors (and tea!) I covered the photos with Soft Matte Gel this way protecting them from absorbing unwanted stains.

I really love how this piece turned out - it reminds me a little of a dreamy cabinet of curiosites, would you say? :)

Here are the materials I used:

Before I say goodbye, one more important thing.
I keep reading your comments on the blog and the emails sent in for my Creative Team Call and I can't tell you enough how much they mean to me.

Thank you so much for all the words of support and friendship both for me and my Creative Team!

Choosing new members is a really difficult and quite stresful job to be honest, but it's also exciting - who will I meet this term? What new creative adventures lay ahead...?

You still have time to apply till October 7th, so don't hesitate, I'd love to hear from you!
Hugs

Art Stone addiction - Dreamy

Hi again my dear ones!
New month has begun - and for me it means the grand opening of the class season - starting last weekend I'll be back to my usual schedule of classes, events and travels - and if you'd like to see where I am going - visiting this link will be the easiest way!
In the meantime - I'm still waiting for my Studio to be finished, which is stopping me from making any longer tutorials and videos - all my tripods, lamps and video camera are still packed, which really makes me frustrated... but after a week of break there is a high chance everything will be on the right track again very soon!
As I hate to give up I decided to create no-matter-what and after a longer moment of struggle I was able to clean a small part of the table and actually glue something together. Late at night, surrounded by jars, boxes, buckets and baskets - I found my little quiet zone in between all this madness around me.

As you can see - im absolutely obsessed with Micro Bead, Pebble and Art Stone textures at the moment. I'm sure I can fit them simply anywhere and I'm sure they will look just great. There is something enchanting in these structures and I just can't help myself - I want more...

Just like I mentioned in this post - it is great to come back to my Cold Country collection which I made a while ago for 7 Dots Studio. I never really had a chance to play with it, so it was really high time to put it on my table. I love this colour palette and quiet, nostalgic and romantic feeling of these papers. Somehow, it is 100% me...

Layers are my other obsession and I've been quite stubborn with them here. After adding all the papers, lace, doilies, random scraps and finally - embellishments this project is really thick and heavy - it is glued on the piece of chipboard and is going to be framed sometime in the future.

Part of the composition is covered with Art Basics Heavy White Gesso part  is sprayed with Lindy's sprays but you can see my new Mechanicals with rusty finish bare - just  as they come out of the packaging too. I love this look and I'm sure you will see more of similar solutions in the future.

Here is the list of the supplies I used - all of them are in Mixed Media Place Store:

Remember to come back on Friday to see new beautiful creation and tutorial by one of my talented Creative Team Members!
Have a great, inspiring week!