Squares today with a chance of squares tomorrow

Squares today with a chance of squares tomorrow, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

**I'm totally saying a prayer that this posts!**

This extremely geometric beauty is another page from my mixed media art journal.

I got the idea from Carolyn Nehring (she's on my blog roll now) and as always when I attempt to CASE someone...this looks nothing like what she did! ;-)

I *did* manage to use up bits of leftovers though. YAY! I went with a yellow/green/light blue scheme. I cut up the larger squares and glued everything down, then colored between the squares with green watercolor crayon and a bit of black watercolor crayon.

To tone everything down, I dry brushed the whole page with off-white acrylic paint.

I added a few tickets because I really have this thing for tickets. Heh.

I love that there are spots everywhere to journal on and the smiley faces make me happy!


Have a great weekend!

~Cynthia

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

That's right, my blogging buddies, I have defeated that evil Mr. Blogger! I went the LONG way 'round and am now blogging through Blogger and not Flickr.

I. Win. (She typed with an evil cackle...)


OK, for literally the SIXTH time, I shall now commence my little blog post!

This card RIGHT UP THERE came about because the little beach image was just sitting on my desk, a rejected attempt. I used the second try on a card I posted earlier.

I thought...if I just color it a bit with some watercolor pencils, the image just might be OK for a card.

So I did.

I also added a bit of Distress Ink to the edges and distressed a bit of ribbon with the same ink. Then I layered it on a brown piece of cardstock, corner punched with Tonic's Ticket/Tag Punch. (Love that so much!) I offset the image so that I could add a sentiment later on the right side.

The white layer is glossy cardstock stamped with a background stamp using Archival Ink.

And all that is layered on a kraft cardblank.


Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill (kraft and brown cardstock); The Paper Studio (kraft cardblank); unknown/stash (glossy paper)
Stamps: Stacy Stamps (beach image); Glitz Designs (Distressed set)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Walnut Stain); Archival Ink (Coffee)
ETC: Tonic (Ticket/Tag Punch); The Ribbon Boutique (Ribbon); Glue Glider Pro; Artists' Loft (watercolor pencils)


Now...if I can only get this thing to post, we'll be good to GO!! ;-)

~Cynthia

Well....

Mr. Blogger has done it again. I've tried FIVE times to post a card. It keeps telling me on my Flickr account that my "credentials" are not accepted and that I need to delete my Blogger account on Flickr and try again.

So I did.

Now I can't post anything from Flickr here.

*sigh*

I hate Mr. Blogger.

I will keep trying. He will not defeat me.


~Cynthia


ETA: I just found a sad little thread on Flickr, where others have been having the same problem. And there are a lot of us! So sad, but I hope they get it all fixed. I'm just glad it's not MY FAULT!!!! =D

Spooky stencil pages!

Spooky stencil page!
Originally uploaded by HikerCynthia

Well.

About all I can say is...these are some interesting art journal pages! ;-)

My LSS is finally carrying Crafter's Workshop stencils. WOOT! I bought this one (trees) and my mom bought the swirly/dragonfly one, which I am totally going to borrow! =D

Anywho, I covered the pages with Distress Stains (Walnut Stain and Antique Linen--love these things!!!), then placed the tree branch stencil down on the right side of the layout and sprayed some Adirondack Color Wash.

WAAAAAY too much Adirondack Color Wash.

Way.

Way way way.

Way. Too. Much.

On the left side I used the same stencil, but dabbed (pounced?) ink on it, creating a sort of negative image.

Since I wasn't completely happy with either page, I attacked both sides with some of my brand new 7 Gypsies stamps and the splat stamp from Stampin Up.

I think what I might do is pour some of the Color Wash into a mister bottle for a finer spray. That might help the excessive amount of ink that seems to fly everywhere.

I also think a bit of white or cream paint might be in order to tone down the colors.

Always a work in process. =D


~Cynthia

Rusty Hinge Sunshine

Rusty Hinge Sunshine
Originally uploaded by HikerCynthia

On tap today is another page from my mixed media art journal.

The colors are so much more vivid in real life, so you'll just have to squint your eyes and pretend. ;-)

I like to think of this page as my "citrus" creation. I used lemon, lime and blood orange colors (paints, watercolors, Distress Inks) for the layers.

The white stenciled areas were made with an old paper lace heart and white paint. I just used a small section of the larger heart.

The bits of paper have small yellow pears on them.

I used one of my newest stamps to create hot blood-orange suns (using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink).

After I completed the page, I journaled around a line from a song called "Broken In" by Trent Willmon. I loved what he sang:


Yeah, kinda like me,
I've been banged and bruised
Been around the block a time or two
But I'm running like new, goin' places I've never been
No, I ain't broke, I'm just broken in


I thought that was hilarious and so true of me! =D So I used letter stamps to print BROKEN IN all over the page. The black type really brings the page together and 'anchors' all the light colors.


Well, I'm off to do all the chores I didn't get done yesterday! Have a wonderful day!!

~Cynthia

Class Card: Red Stripey Card

Class Card: Red Stripey Card
Originally uploaded by HikerCynthia

This is the final card from the class I took with Stacy from Stacy Stamps.

It's...um...not my fave.

I like the stamps--the sentiment and the stripes-- but I would probably have chosen different colors. Stacy wanted us to use clear embossing powder, which was supposed to darken the ink so that it matched the cranberry scalloped circle paper. BUT, it was late and time to go, so I skipped the embossing powder. Heh.

The class was a lot of fun. I do hope to take others in the future. =D


Thanks for stopping by today!

~Cynthia


PS: I see Mr. Blogger has returned my friends. Yay, Mr. Blogger!

PPS: Happy Memorial Day! My thanks to all who have served, are serving, and will serve in the American military. Thank you for protecting our freedom!

Oh, Mr. Blogger!!!

Just a quick note here....

I noticed yesterday I've lost all my friends here on the blog site. I did NOT delete you! Seems Mr. Blogger has been having that sort of problem all over. I sent them a little note. I hope they get it fixed soon. I can still find you, you just don't show up on the right hand side there, under Followers.

Here's to a quick resolution!

~Cynthia