The Same Women

I have some photos that I bought at a resale shop and something about the women in them appeals to me and I find myself using them over and over again in collages.  Some of the backgrounds are scans of ephemera I own, and any digital elements are from kits at Deviant Scrap and Scrapbook Graphics (Tangie Baxter).  They are both awesome sites with styles of elements that would appeal to anyone!  I've decided not to buy any more ephemera until I use up the piles that I have, but I keep buying digital kits and elements anyway..........they're hidden in my computer............

Dreaming of Italy

My husband and I are thinking of going to Italy next spring so when I saw this kit from Deviant Scrap, I had to buy it. (Tuscan Sun by Rucola Designs) I also used some edge frames by Beth Rimmer (also at Deviant Scrap) and miscellaneous elements from Tangie Baxter (Scrapbookgraphics)

My Body is a Cage

Marion Bockelman is having an ATC swap using the Peter Gabriel song "My Body is a Cage".  These were done in Photoshop Elements, then printed and a few embellishments were added.  The digital elements were from Paper Whimsy, ArtChix Studio and Deviant Scrap.

Deviant Scrap has a few challenges this weekend - one was to alter a shrine they provided and another was to make a party animal avatar.

The shrine had flowers on the sides so I "covered" it with circus posters, a photo and a ring toss game.  I added the flags, sign, animals and dancers with elements from kits by Beth Rimmer, Finecrafted Design and IGES, all available at Deviant Scrap. 

This avatar uses elements from Paper Whimsy and Beth Rimmer.

A Little of this, A Little of that

These collages have nothing to do with each other - just some random things I've been working on.

Some of the elements are from Tangie Baxter and Lisa's Altered Art.

The damsel is from Paper Whimsy and the rest is from Tangie Baxter's Art Journal Caravan 2012.

The photo of NYC is one I took a couple years ago and this is an old family photo with a few elements from Deviant Scrap kits.

Recycling / Spring Cleaning

I recently went through and organized all the "stuff" I've been collecting.   I've been saving these vintage papers and photos - for what? That perfect piece of art?  I remember my grandmother used to put her birthday and Christmas presents in a drawer because they were "too nice" to just start wearing them, so she was saving them.  I used to think she was nuts.  I guess I get it now - ha!  So, I've decided to start using them up and have been working on some compositional studies.  These are photos I've bought - not family members - and maybe the studies will lead to doing some journals with my family photos.

These were done in a spiral sketchbook and I glued two pages together throughout the books to make the pages sturdier.  The first two and the last two are on facing pages.  The woman in the first collage is from Somerset Studios magazine (one of the "free" artist papers in the center) and the group of girls in the last collage are from Lisa's Altered Art.

Royal Poses

I'm getting a little braver with PSE, but am no where near where I want to be.  These collages used elements from Paper Whimsy, Jessica Sprague and Tangie Baxter.  I adjusted the colors on some of the elements and played around with the opacity on some of the layers.