FREEBIE FOR MONDAY: COLLAGE BACKGROUND

Well, it was certainly hot enough yesterday. After nearly a full summer of, literally, sweater weather, we suddenly have temps in the 95-100 degree range. (That's 35-38 degrees Celsius, for the non-Fahrenheiters among us.)

I spent a lot of time in front of a fan yesterday, meant to do "work" on my laptop, but got distracted and played instead. Bad girl! Bad! Or good, depending on how you look at it, because I made art, which is, after all, my favorite way to play.

I call this collage sheet "Echoes".


Now then, if you click on the image, it will enlarge for you. After that, press the F11 key on your keyboard. All the stuff at the top and bottom of your screen will go away, and the image will get even bigger, and you can save it at what I hope is full size. Press F11 again, and you'll get back all the stuff that just went missing.

Want to alter the page? Leave your email in a comment, or email me, whichever you prefer, and I'll email you the page as a Photoshop file (psd), and you can manipulate the layers, remove one and substitute your own, etc.

Hope this is something you can use!

My SWAP ENVIES ARRIVED!

Some days going to the mailbox is pure pleasure. Like today. I opened the door, and riffled through the pile of junk mail, giving all of it a silent "Pffft!", until I came to this:


What is that?! I wondered, and then I remembered the Decorative Envies (envelopes) swap. Oh! Oh, goodness. Sarah's decorated envelopes for me. Do you know what self-restraint I exercised? I turned the letter over, and the back was even better than the front:


And then...and then...sigh. I couldn't open it! I was on my way to pick up Ceili from the dog groomer. Opening the envelope might damage it and I didn't want to risk that before I took pictures. Dang. I put the letter on the front passenger seat, where it sat and lured and tantalized until Ceili and I got home.

And then...more delay. Find a nice background to lay it on... Get the camera... Free up the camera card so I could take it out of the laptop and put it back in the camera...Finally!

See? I get a fabulous envie I can send to someone else, too! I love the row of old cars. Which reminds me, the theme of this swap was Parade. Didn't Sarah do a wonderful job of conveying it?


Those old cars remind me of my childhood, county fairs, drive-in movies with my family, and yes, parades.

Can you tell I spent a good deal of my childhood out in the country? The picture on the back reminded me of all those things, too! (Well, except for the drive-in. Don't think I ever saw a tractor there. Maybe a flatbed truck, though.)


So, thank you, Sarah! My envies are delightful, and my mind is asking, "Who? Who is going to get a note or letter tucked inside?"

I hope Sarah likes the ones I sent her. I can tell I have a ways to go before I reach the level she's at, though!

And on that note, I think I'll go to bed. Smiling.

ME: A Sister in the Bloggerette Society!

I've never been in an actual sorority, or particularly wanted to be, but it looks like the time has come. I've been accepted as a Sister Bloggerette, and today is *RUSH* day! (Want to join? Just click on the button at the upper left of this page to find out how!)

Our Rush assignment was to take this photo

and make something with it, anything we pleased. When we'd done that, we were to frame the piece and put it into our Rush pots. The one rule: You had to have a picture of yourself somewhere in the post.

Now, my printer's out of color ink, and I didn't really have time to work with tangible bits and pieces in the construction, which made following the letter of the law a tad difficult, but hey, I'm teaching myself Photoshop one project at a time. This was a natural.

Here's my finished piece:


Sooooo....uhmm...I'm the one with the glasses! To see it better, just click on it, and it will enlarge. I hope when I can get ink for the printer to really print this out, but for now, this was the best I could do!

FREE: CIGAR BOXES GONE PASTEL

Once again, MizMollye has inspired me. The other day she put up a whole slew of beautiful vintage cigar box art, free to download. The box labels were so fabulous, I downloaded the whole bunch.

I was looking at them, mulling over possibilities for use, when it occurred to me that for some uses pastels or sepia might work better for me. Minutes later, I was opening them in my photo editor and happily playing with the colors.

If there are any here that you'd like to take, feel free to click and copy. (And be sure to visit MizMollye's post, too, to get the original, fantastical, bright art!)

















My apologies if there are duplicates in this post. The computer is fighting me, and this month has officially caught up with me. I've caught cold, and will now carry myself off to bed, and hope I did this entry right!

FREE SCRAPBOOK, COLLAGE BACKGROUNDS

I love old architecture, and was fortunate enough to have a show this weekend in the parking lot of a vintage grade school. During a quiet spell, I got some shots of the weathered building, and when I opened them in my photo editor it struck me that the old, peeling paint on one of the doors would make an interesting background image for collage or scrapbooking.

I've changed up the colors, so there's a variety of looks and possibilities. Just click on the image to see it large, right click to save, and print. These are very large files, and you may not get to see them as big as they really are, but to increase the chances that you will, press the F11 key. It will get rid of all the stuff at the top and bottom of your browser, and the photo will increase to fill that new space. Then just press F11 again when you're done, to get the tool bar, etc., back.

Hope you get some use from these!

FREE PHOTO FOR YOUR COLLAGE: WHA...!?

I found this photo of two lovely boys caught with surprised amaze on their faces.

What had just been said to them? Did the photographer tell them to "Watch the birdie"? What birdie? Where? We'll never know, and I will always wonder.

But here's a fact: If you'd like to use this photo in your collage art, click on it so it shows up full-size on your screen, and then right-click on it to save. (Mac user? I don't know what you do to capture images, but I trust you do!)

FAVORITE PEOPLE I NEVER MET

I love going through photographs at estate sales. You just never know who'll turn up, or what expressions they'll be wearing, and I've accumulated a small collection of people who made me smile when I saw them, and set me to thinking of collage projects to come.

As part of my reorganizing project, I got them out and put them on display today, using a bead and wire garland and paper clips. They're on the wall facing the door, so now I get to see their faces whenever I walk into my sewing/craft room, which is looking better by the day.

It seemed appropriate to show them off. This is the whole garland of poses. You can sure tell it's in a basement, but I don't mind!


Isn't this little one adorable? I love the dark plaid dress, which seems somehow flamboyant for the times.


And this handsome young man. Who did he marry? What did he become? Was he happy?


This picture is one I study, and wonder about. Were they caught in a moment that symbolized their life together, and their relationship? Each of them stares, unsmiling, in a different direction...


And what on earth put that expression on our birthday boy's face? Don't you just wish you knew? He looks like he's saying, "Yeah. So? What's it to you?"


Do you see just the tiniest bit of impatience in this little face? It must have been tiresome, so stand so still for the camera, with so much of the world still to explore and experience.


These last three make me want to laugh. People are wonderful, aren't they?

Just look at this family, with its beautiful, bespectacled Mama, mustachioed Papa, and two children, one of whose eyebrows are clearly posing a rather imperious question to Somebody.


Ah, the sixties. Gotta love it. Let's watch The Beverly Hillbillies! And I think Grandma here must've been a total lovely-hilarious character!


Last little charmer, a delight who makes me smile every time I see her:

I'm still not quite ready to unveil the room in all its (har!) glory, but am surprising myself every day with how much I'm enjoying working on it. Filing can be fun? Who knew?!?

IT'S WEAR A PLUNGER ON YOUR HEAD DAY!

Goodness. I have just Got to keep a closer eye on the calendar. I almost missed Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day! There are just two hours and fifteen minutes left to celebrate!

I am, however, prepared. Not to do it myself, of course. I've seen where that plunger has been, and I am not touching any part of it but the handle, and that reluctantly. No, I have People to do the actual wearing of the plunger for me:


My tree is up, though undressed. Tomorrow, my daughter is coming for a game of Scrabble. Maybe she'll help put some ornaments on, a pleasure I haven't shared with my kids since they left home, well over ten years ago.

Also tomorrow: Oatmeal Muffin Day. I am flat out of oatmeal. Must remedy that!

IT'S A GIVE-AWAY! COLLAGE SHEET

Well, the kids are back in school. For some of us, that means more time to create things. Not for me, of course, since I've been an empty-nester for a l-o-o-o-n-g time, but that doesn't mean I'm, like, totally out of touch. Only partially. I think. Anyway....

I decided this would be a great day to encourage creative juices, and how better to do that than to give away something to create with? I fell in love with these two little boys the minute I saw them, at an estate sale a couple of years ago. The older boy seems to be completely befuddled by something, and the littler one just looks thunderstruck, and I can just imagine all sorts of possibilities for collage.

Click on the image, and it will show up full-size. Then right-click on that, and select "Save as..." from the drop-down menu. Tuck it somewhere on your computer where you can find it, print it out, and have fun!

Happy first day of school!

PIECES OF PUZZLES

I just saw the coolest thing on Miz Mollye's blog! She'd seen one of these


on Art in Red Wagons, from a puzzle piece art swap, but missed the swap. So she created her own solo version, doing all the pieces for it herself:


I thought the puzzle piece art was so cool, I did a Google search. Turns out the things are all over the place, with swaps going on pretty regularly. I still haven't run across an entry that tells how the swaps actually work, but there's sure to be one out there somewhere. Anyway, here's another one from Alcoholinky:


And another from Art Chicks, featuring Cindy McMath:

I can't help it. I think these are totally cool. Oddly, although they're closely related to ATC (Art Trading Cards), they appeal to me more strongly. It has to be the shape, because I can't think of any other real difference--both are small artworks created to trade or give away, both often feature collaged images and words, but the ATC are always the size and shape of a playing card.

It just hit me: The only thing missing from this blog is a picture of my own puzzle piece art. That most likely is the result of my not having done one yet, an omission I do believe I will take care of immediately.

LITTLE TIN BOXES--A CRAFT TO DO

Yesterday was one of those days, and I mean that in the best way possible. I needed to make something. Really, really needed to put my head, heart, and hands into an art or craft project. Does that kind of craving ever hit you?

Luckily, Kimbuktu, on her wonderful blog, was ready with the answer to Well, what are you gonna do then? I took her instructions on making a tiny coin purse from an Altoids tin, and ran with them. Thank you, Kim!

So, if you'd like to do this, too, here's what you'll need:

• Empty tins. Altoids are great, but others work well, too.
• Paints
• Protective coating or decoupage medium
• Stickers
• Magazines, books, pictures, etc.
• Doo-dads (That's the technical name for those little bits of this and that like tinsel or buttons or beads or broken jewelry or the like.)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Tape

I started by selecting several tins I wanted to play with, and painting them. I figured a basic cream color would work well. I had the bright idea of making a color copy of the tins, to use for templates, but ended up using the tins themselves. Well, some things seem like better ideas than they are, I guess!





It took several coats of paint to cover the tins, and after I'd painted them I put on a protective coat of clear. While each coat dried, I flipped through old magazines and sheet music, a book or two....

You can use the original images and words cut straight from your source materials, or copy them, if you have a scanner/printer. The magazine and music I used the originals. The little girl and the elf riding a frog were in an old children's book, and I couldn't bring myself to lay the scissors to them, so I copied what I wanted onto some thick, creamy, textured paper acquired at an estate sale.

The Altoids tin was my first project:



The Value of Enthusiam


Then one using a Celestial Seasonings tin:



Dive Right In!


Then one using a bitty little Starbucks mint tin, that opens at the top:



A Coffee Hallelujah


And last, and probably my favorite, a barn-shaped tin a little magnetized toy had come in:



Little


On that one, I've done the back and inside, too. The others are waiting for that step. The back:



Wee Folk, Good Folk


And the inside:




Kimbuktu's tin has handles, which I haven't done. Yet. I'm thinking of a wire-wrapped bead handle, but that's going to have to wait for later today or else tomorrow.

When I'd finished the little collages, I protected them, with decoupage medium for the magazine pictures, but the "Little" tin, it was small enough to cover with wide packing tape, and I opted for that. My copier is an inkjet, and I didn't want to risk the ink running when I brushed a liquid coating on.

The edges of the tins, which I haven't shown here, I covered with strip stickers meant to be used as scrapbooking borders, which gave a nice finished look.

Are you ready to make yours? I'd love to see the results, if you do!