American Princess

Before you start reading this post, look over in the right column under "happymusic" and push the play button. There ... isn't that better with a little Born in the U.S.A. blaring at you?! Now you are in the right frame of mind to read this post! LOL!

When Christine posted the Altered/Collage Challenge this week at Scrap Artist, I wasn't too sure about it. Our inspiration this week is artist Sally Jean and she has this strange knack for using china doll heads on her artwork. I have never been a fan of playing with dolls. But I decided to give it a try. Christine seems to think this challenge will help us find our inner princess. Guess what ... it was a blast! I never thought I liked dolls but I guess digital dolls are different! And my American Princess just jumped right out onto the canvas.

Come on over to the Scrap Artist Altered/Collage Challenge and try it out for yourself. Christine has even posted a freebie doll head for you to use. AND ... this challenge is a digital swap so at the end of the week, you will receive a zip file with high-resolution copies of all participants' ATC's. Fun stuff!

To create the doll, I used a china doll head from the Internet and dressed her with clothes cut out from the Scrap Artist collaboration All American kit. I used the pen tool to freehand the dress parts. The bottom of the dress is crocheted lace from Maya's Flower Girl kit. The background map is also by Maya in her Weathered Treasures kit (both from Scrapbook Graphics). I blended the map in with elements from the All-American kit from Scrap Artist. I drew the feet and then cleaned them up in Illustrator. The grungy brushes are all from Nancie Rowe-Janitz's Digital Distressing kit at Scrap Artist. I used Atomic Cupcake's inking action. Fonts are Times New Roman and EmmaScript MVB. Created in Photoshop and Illustrator CS2.

Collage Crazed!

I don't know what is going on lately but all I want to do is collage. Since it was my turn this week for the Altered/Collage Challenge at Scrap Artist ... and it's always my turn for the Heritage Challenge ... I decided to combine the challenges and have a "This 'n' That" collage challenge. It's virtually the same challenge except to qualify for the heritage part, participants must use a photo from the 1970's or before. These are both of my sample layouts. I really had fun with the "I am invincible!" one. If you can't read the journaling, it says, "I may not always win but I have never been defeated." I don't know where that came from but it was the first thing that came to me! And that's what an art journal is all about, right?!

The second layout is my Great-Great-Great Grandmother, Selma Hoetzel. The journaling there reads, "Born in Germany. Died about 1891 in Michigan. Wife of Carl Hoetzel. Mother of Marie Jenny Hoetzel. Maiden name unknown." If you want to know more about Selma, click here.

My scrap style is constantly evolving but it seems that I am really drawn to the Somerset or Legacy style. It's just so interesting to me. I still turn out a simple page sometimes, but I am not as proud of them. Sounds strange, I know. But when I finish a layout, either I feel really good about it or know that it is just ok.

Artist Quirking Card

There's a challenge going on over at Digital Art Quirks where we are making rolodex cards ... kind of like the calling cards of yesteryear. Historically, a calling card was used socially to signify a visit made to a house if the occupant were absent; or as an introduction for oneself (to new neighbors as an example). Modern day business cards were derived from this concept. Anyway, this was a fun way to get to know my fellow Quirkers. My card isn't too quirky, actually, but I had fun making it. I even used my own paper that I created for the Scrap Artist grab bag #4 that Christine (Fiddlette) and I gave away for the last Altered/Collage Challenge.

Visual Palindromes

I am so excited to be one of the new Studio Matters Blog Girls at the Scrapbook Graphics blog. My good friend, Christine (Fiddlette), and I are both going to be leading the Studio Starts challenges each Friday. I decided to do the first challenge and have named it Visual Palindromes. A palindrome is a word, phrase, verse or sentence that reads the same backward or forward (‘racecar’ for example). Some of you already know that I am a linguistics dork. I majored in Modern Languages and minored in Linguistics at Texas A&M. I just love the study of language! So I tried to carry this over into art. We are interpreting palindromes by using papers and elements. I hope you will join us in the challenge! We are giving away a posting gift just for playing! For more information on palindromes, click here.

Oh me, oh Maya!

I got Maya's new Quirky Grab Bag Volume 1 last night and dreamed about it all night! I woke up this morning in the mood to collage! So that's just what I did. I had fun with this one. I know what all of the images mean to me but feel free to interpret as you please!

Most of the stuff here is by Maya at Scrapbook Graphics including the background paper (a blend of papers in her Weathered Treasures kit), the flower crown (Joyful Fairy), crown (Maya Doll), butterflies overlay (Believe kit), hand (Free Spirit kit) and all of the fun and quirky images (Quirky Grab Bag 1). The cut-out words, pointy hat with flowers and the wings are by Hope Wallace at Scrap Artist. Created in Photoshop CS2.

Never Forgotten

We went to Arkansas last weekend to visit Marty's family. I came home with a few boxes of heritage pictures from his side of the family. Unfortunately, most of the photos are not labelled and I may never know who some of those relatives are. So sad when people are lost to time. One photo really struck me hard. It is a photo of a baby in a casket. Of course it is a sad picture because it is a dead baby but the real tragedy for me is that sweet little baby, who was obviously loved, will be forgotten. I have no way of finding out the name or even if it is a boy or girl. I have decided to name this baby Alex in rememberance of the baby in my previous post. Coincidentally, I was creating this layout the very day Alex died. This is going to be my sample layout for the Altered/Collage Challenge at Scrap Artist this week. The theme is going to be "Honoring Death" and I hope I don't scare anyone away because of the topic. But I feel that so many pages are devoted to happy, fluffy stuff. But life has good times and hard times and each life ends in death. This challenge can be taken on as a journaling challenge or any way the participant wants to interpret it. I hope we get lots of participation because I think each piece of art will be something special.

4"x6" Mini-Pages

I love the ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) that I am seeing at some of the scrapbooking sites but I'm just not sure if I'm ready to go THAT small. They are only 2x3. But I found a couple of cool 4x6 photo albums the other night and had an idea ... scrap at that size ... it would be quick, cheap to print and I could use some of those fuzzy, small pictures that aren't suitable for 12x12 scrapping. Here are the first 3 that I have done. They are so much fun!