Saturday, January 3, 2009

I'm Still Alive!

Hello and Happy New Year! I know it's been a loooooong time since I've posted anything, but between work, stress, and health issues the time just seemed to whiz right past me. Not enough hours in the day, as they say. Plus, I just didn't have much to talk about. I couldn't say a word about what I had made until the recipients received their gifts. Didn't want to spoil the surprise! So now that everyone has their goodies I'll have two different projects to share with you today....

First up are some of the pages (I won't bore you with all of them) I did for scrapbooks I made as Christmas presents.

These are pictures I took at Thanksgiving when my niece and her family came down from Georgia to visit. It was the first time seeing my new baby great-great nephew, Caden, in person! So I didn't have much time between then and Christmas to get two of these scrapbooks put together! I had to cheat and use an 8"x8" format so the pictures would take up most of the room and I wouldn't be tempted to obsess for hours over each page like I normally would. I had 40 of them to make! No time for my OCD :o) Bad enough I had to sort through a thousand or two sheets of paper trying to find the perfect match (yes, I am a bit of a paper junkie LOL). It was fun doing scrapbooking again. That pretty much went on the backburner after I discovered ATC's and mixed media collage.

Next up is a set of ATC's that I made for a personal trade with my friend, Shelly.
I never really have an idea in my head when I sit down to create something. I like to just put on my music, gather a few materials, and start things in motion. For me, it all begins with the background. However that turns out will give me an idea of what theme will evolve.

"Gold Digger" started out with some stucco paste and metallic paint. It looked like gold nugget to me when it was done, and through word association gold nugget turned into gold digger. Sorry for the bad scan. The beauty of the metallic paint doesn't really show up well.

"Keep Dreaming" was an experiment with metallic flakes adhered to an alcohol ink background.

And "Queen of Imagination" evolved from painting a piece of scrapbook paper to tone down the bright colors, and adding an altered image to it.

So, that brings you up to date with my creations for now. It is one of my resolutions that I will allow myself more time to play this year. Hopefully I can avoid the dreaded creativity-block that I seemed to be plagued with the past few months. I have lots of supplies that are just patiently waiting to be transformed into wonderful creations, so I'm looking forward to being a "user" and not just a "hoarder" LOL.

Until next time....
Best wishes for 2009 and may your days be happy, creative ones!
~Anita

1 comment:

Shelly said...

There you are !!! I was hoping to get a glimpse at some of your scrapbook pages. Fantastic work. And you had such a photogenic subject to work with.
Thanks for the how-to on the cards (which I love, by the way). Stucco paste, huh ? Actually something I don't have . . . how did THAT happen?!! LOL
Hope your new year is off to a good start.
:-)
Shelly