Green Paper

On a Grand Tour...

Have you ever heard of a Grand Tour?

Wikipedia has a full description, but I'll just give you a few lines:  "The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means…The primary value of the Grand Tour, it was believed, laid in the exposure both to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent."

Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

photograph credit here

So, when you wonder why I haven't posted to my blog in forever, just imagine I'm on a Grand Tour. That sounds much more exciting than I-got-a-demanding-new-job, and sadly, I'm-not-very-interested-in-my-art-or-my-blog-lately.

As far as the winner of the November challenge...They all won! I am sending the French Dictionary Collection to each of the artists who entered. I am missing emails for 3 of the artists who entered, so if you entered but haven't been contacted, just send me an email at [email protected] and I'll get your collection to you.

I plan to keep my Etsy shop open as I sell off some of my extras and things I know I really won't use again, so feel free to stop in from time to time to see if there's anything new.

And, of course, Classes and Images are available in the e-store, as always. If you've read this far, I have a bonus for you - 50% off anything and everything in the e-store. Just use the discount code grandtour (all one word). The offer's good through January 15th.

I hope you're well, and that you're enjoying your art. Have a wonderful Holiday season!

Patterned Papers...

I was asked a while back about some of the patterned papers I use in my gluebook. Were they scrapbook paper that could be purchased somewhere? I keep meaning to do a blog post to respond, so here goes!

I use papers I've created with patterns from a variety of sources. Here are a few examples:

The following paper was copied from an end paper in an antique book. This is one of the papers included in my Collage Basics class.

 
This next one is created from a portion of one of my Antique Holy Cards, that's the original card on the right. I don't think this one is available anywhere yet, but the Holy Card it came from is HERE.

 
The one below was created from a portion of a page in an antique French Zoology book. See the strip of bees at the top of the page?   This is also available in the Collage Basics class (even though it says Collage Club for some reason...)In case you think creating your own papers is hard, the 2nd and 3rd patterns were created using the software Microsoft Paint. It comes with Microsoft Windows, so if you have Windows you already have Paint.  I demonstrate how I make these papers in the Your Vintage Gluebook class - it's so quick that students were showing their patterns in the Flickr group on the day I posted the lesson!

Creating your own patterned paper is a wonderful way to truly personalize your art. There's nothing like using your own papers and images to make your work really individual!

If you don't already do this, I hope you give it a try because you WILL become addicted, I promise!

By the way, if you're ever curious about where I got a pattern or image I am using, I'm happy to share the info. Just email me or leave a comment and I'll get back to you with the source.

From me to you...

I'm offering a little discount to everyone who'd like to shop in my e-store this month - $5 off your total order - image collections, online classes, Collage Club memberships, or a combination of all three! 

Actually, you could even pick up any of the calendar collections for $5, use the discount and get it for free!

 
Just go to the store: http://www.e-junkie.com/greenpaperpackages. Place your order and use the discount code: aprilshowers (all one word!)

 
That's all there is to it! The discount code is good all month, through April 30th. Shop more than once if you want to, I won't mind.

 
And don't forget to send me a picture of what you make so I can show it on my blog!

A Video...of Lenna's Collage Art

I 'met' Lenna Young Andrews online a few years ago, when we were both in the ARTchix Yahoo group. We caught back up and became friends during my first class, Your Vintage Gluebook. Lenna has done a lot of truly beautiful vintage collage work; I've shown some here on my blog before.

She recently made a video of her vintage paper creations. It's really fun to watch and she told me I could share it here with you, just click on this link: http://animoto.com/play/hKJuM9uunkGfio0b8FN6TA

I hope you take a minute to watch it (and maybe make your own?) and let me know what you think.