Another deco page completed

Lucky me....I received another deco book from the Next Generation Stampers group!!! I started with my paints...Golden Fluid Acrylics. I'm just a novice with these, and with painting, but I'm happy with how the background turned out. Then I looked through my many stamps to find some that would work well in this tiny book. I added a couple of peel offs to the corners... and, it's done. I did add some dots along the bottom of the pages with my gel pen, but they don't show up in this scan very well. I hope the owner of the book likes the pages!

Shaving Cream Background Technique

Another beautiful background technique!!! I've always wanted to try this one, but it took a 'kick in the butt' from Trish to get me to DO IT!! Here are the some of the results of my shaving cream backgrounds; I actually have 16 different pieces of background from this one experiment. I kept adding different colors of reinkers to the shave cream after making 2 pieces so I now have lots of wonderful color combinations. Trish suggested using hair mousse, but I found shaving cream to be cheaper, so that is what I used. And the added bonus with this technique is the velvety feel of the paper!!! I love the result of this technique, and I think the next time I may try less reinkers to see how they look with more cardstock showing through.

My Deco Book Returns Home

Here's MY Deco Book; it returned home just last week and I just finished working on the cover. I chose one of the 'Little Beauties' I received in a swap and that is what guided me to the colors I used on the cover. The book is very small and resembles a matchbook. This was a wonderful swap. Thanks to those special artists who contributed to my book.

For the back of my deco book I used another of the 'Little Beauties' I received in one of the swaps on the CCSwap group. I thought the saying was appropriate for this little book.

This is the matchbook opened. I listed all the artists who contributed inside the front cover. This was a great swap and I think I was the first to have my deco book come home. .... probably because the book only has 6 pages!

Here are the fronts of all 6 pages in my book....FANTASTIC!!! Starting at the top left and moving to the right and down the artists are: Trish Bayley, Fiona Davis, Dawn Gold, Adrienne Goodenough, Ria Vaneman, and Kathy "Sweetpea" Beringer.

Here's a picture of the backs of all 6 pages in my deco book. Starting at the top left and moving right and then down they are: Trish Bayley, Fiona Davis, Dawn Gold, Adrienne Goodenough, Ria Vaneman, and Kathy "Sweetpea" Beringer. Aren't they GREAT!!!

Deco book page spread

Lucky me!!! I got another Deco Book in the round robin we're having on Next Generation Group. And here is the page spread before I send it on its way to another participant in this swap. I finally used some of the stampboard I have. And I used a new inkpad I just purchased....Brilliance Pealescent Chocolate...what a luscious color!!!

Textured Gesso Background

Another cool background technique was posted by Trish....the textured gesso. This is a great one and I'm so glad I'm journaling these as I know that I'll forget about some as time passes. The next time I try this I want thicken my black gesso a bit to get more texture. And I think it would be great to add some pigment powders to the acrylic paint before it dries. I only tried silver and gold metallic acrylics and blue and pink pearl acrylics, but the options are endless!

Deco Book Round Robin

I finally received my first deco book to work in from the round robin happening on Next Generation Group!!!! Hurray!!! I was decorating the page right next to my friend Adrienne who had already created a beautiful oriental theme. So I decided I wanted to coordinate with the theme and the colors she had already used.

I loved the style of the handmade book I was working in. And the pages that were already decorated were fabulous. I'm sure the owner will love it when it returns home to her. But I can't tell you who the owner is yet....we want her to be surprised when her book comes home.

Food Labels - Art Quest Challenge

I didn't think I was going to like what I created, but I surprised myself!! I used a piece of patterned paper that I didn't even like, but added my new color mists that just arrived from Outside the Margins. Since the tea bag packaging reminded me of my 'yoga style' stamps I used them on the piece. After taping on the package pieces from the herbal tea I decided to add a some accent with some sparkly gel pens. I sure like what the color mists did to the patterned paper!!