I worked on these for a couple of days and ended up with over 20 necklaces. Many of the charms I had already made, but had not done anything with them; others, I just made yesterday. I used a lot of wood and metal on these.
Some of the wood are small cubes, while others are the backs of Scrabble tiles. I either collaged on them as is, or glued a small background on & collaged on that.
It feels good to use up some of my stash of goodies! I didn't realize how MUCH I had!!
Just completed this piece today. I worked on it, off and on, over two months. I knew it needed something, I just couldn't figure out what. Then, as I was reading MaryBeth Shaw's new book, chapter by chapter, it hit me like a ton of bricks--VALUES!! I needed more contrast. So I did that, made a few more layers of color on the figure, and now it feels finished. 
I made a batch of ATC's for Valentine's Day. This one is my fave. The background paper I used was from last year's Family Mixed Media Madness event. All my kids, significant others, and grandkids made papers. It was a lot of fun, and we all ended up with tons of papers.
Here's the bunch. I have always loved Valentine's Day. I suppose I'm a true romantic at heart. Or maybe I just like an excuse to use lots of pink and red. Regardless, my friends and family can usually count on some Valentines from me!
Today, before throwing away a Better Homes & Gardens magazine, I decided to skim through and snip out words to which I was drawn. I placed them in a small bowl so I could carry them into my studio. I think it looks like a delicious serving of Words! I challenged myself to create a poem, using only these words. (I made sure I snipped the little words too--prepositions, "a" and "the", etc.)
Then I spread out all the words, and began formulating a bit of a poem....
and here is the final poem. (The word on the left that got cut off is "Tomorrow.") I pasted it into my art journal, and now I have a great little entry for a snowy wintry day!
It amazes me what things can inspire us. I've had a dry spell for awhile, with family situations and with our new cottage. But I've been aching to create lately, and stencils and masks have turned me back on! I needed to come up with an idea for our Creative Spirits group that meets soon, so I began leafing through Collage Lab, by Bee Shay, and spotted a section on masks and stencils. I've been curious about them since taking Michelle Ward's class last summer when we used them with spray paints. Then I began thinking about what could be used as a stencil/mask, and decided to leaf through some magazines in search of good silhouettes. 
I traced her onto a manilla file folder, then cut her out, using a craft knife. So I have both a stencil and a mask.
Here's a sample of using the stencil, with just some scrapbook papers I had handy. I added a few collage elements, and she's all done!
Here's another sample, again using scrapbook papers, this time using the silhouette as a stencil. I added a lacey skirt and some shading, and another quick fix for my creative need.
And another collage, cut out of some collaged paper I had made, glued onto an envelope I received from an artist friend at Christmas. And this is all, just using papers. Imagine what I can do with paint! Simple, yet effective. I think my dry spell has been healed!
Just completed these mixed media angels. I saw something similar in Somerset Studios, by artist Lainie Taylor, and thought I'd try my hand. Details: faces from a cabinet card I collected, feet and hangers are beaded, ribbon tied in bow behind their wings, and a thiner ribbon for their waist, fabric for the "apron" , trims on hems of dresses, dresses made of hand-painted papers, and wings from wrapping papers or specialty papers. 
It was a lot of fun collecting the materials for these ladies. I wanted bold, contrasting colors.
I sketched a pattern onto watercolor paper, and cut out sections for head, dress, arms, and wings. Then I glued various papers, fabrics, etc. onto the paper.
They're a little too heavy/big for the Christmas tree, but I have them hanging from a shelf.
This was my first one, and I hand beaded the hem here. These were so much fun! Like paper dolls times 100!
This is done on a clayboard. I masked off the area of the plant that I wanted to save, and then texturized the rest of the board, with wood icing and molding paste. When dry, I used 4 colors of color washes, using fluid acrylics and smooshed it into all the crevices. When that was dry, I brayered regular acrylics across the whole thing, using 3 colors. Then I peeled off the tape to reveal the plant underneath.
This piece I owe to 2 people: April, who showed us how to use regular Rit dye to "explode" color onto watercolor paper a while back. And to my nephew Ryan, who posted this Emily Dickinson quote on Facebook earlier today. It seems I was saving this paper just for this specific quote.