'Sparkly Serendipity Strips Send Someone Something Special!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

Lookee here! Phoenix Peacock used some of my Serendipity Strip embellishments to make Valenties day ATCs! They are so pretty. Visit her blog to see more...

Would love for you to comment on this post. And Followers are always encouraged.

Thnaks for visiting and please come back soon.

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW 2/2/11 - Laminatin' Heaven Inside / Snowtorious Outside!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

Outside, here in Chicago, it's the Snowtorious B.I.G. Blizzard of 2011. But inside it's warm and comfy where I'm finishing up a little project to organize my future art projects. (We are so blessed to still have heat and power.).

The challenge was gathering supplies every time a new project is started. I was always neglecting to take something out - and then I was scrambling for something before medium or paint got too dry to manipulate.

So I decided that a supplies list was in order - a permanent list to use every time I start working on a project, including a written goal of what I want to accomplish during the art session. This way I can stay focused, be more efficient, effective and hopefully, more productive. Up until now, most of my art sessions have been random and serendipitous. I'd just work on whatever caught my fancy. Or experiment with whatever technique I'd just read about.

 Left to right: Golden Interference acrylic paint
(in a travel shampoo bottle with
 dabber applicator top), Xyron 510 refill,
YES! paste,

Permanent Supplies List, Xyron 510

You can see the laminated Supplies List just peeking out from under the right edge of the  Xyron 510 refill.

To make the list, I picked a sheet of Strathmore Bristol paper from my stash that was used as an experiment for calligraphy practice. It also had gold glitter all over it. I picked this Bristol paper because it's like thick cardstock. Then I covered it with some tinted gesso, and let that dry. I added a glaze from my stash I'd concocted with Golden Interference acrylic paint. Then I cut the paper in half from top to bottom and adhered the two pieces back to back with Xyron 510 permanent adhesive.

Next, I stuck a small double-sided tab in between the sheets at the top. It has one of my initials on each side. I adhered the tabs using my little Xyron 'X' sticker maker.

Then, I hand printed the list using a Sakura Glaze pen and printed the title with the calligraphy tip of a Copic pen. At first, I was going to type my list into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, but changed my mind. I decided that a hand printed list would be much prettier to look at for the next few years...

After the inks dried, I switched out the Xyron 510 perm adhesive refill for the Xyron 510 laminating refill. Then laminated the list. This was the first time I did any laminating with the Xyron. Not sure I did it 100% correctly, but it came out great for my purposes.

By the way, I also re-organized my workstation again before I started this project. My goals were to get as much stuff off my table as possible and to only have 1 current project on the table - in addition to my regular essential tools. I'm still working towards these goals, but getting a lot closer!

Here is a peek at more WOYWW artist desks.

Thanks for stopping by - and I'd love for you to become a follower while you're here. Just click the Follow button at the top of the page (if you're logged into www.blogspot.com.)

Peace,
LuLu

'Summer Breeze' Challenge

"...in every lovely summer's day I'll always think of you - Sarah"

2.5" x 3.5"

Mixed-media - hybrid digital collage, glass, gel pen

'I'll be seeing you in all the familiar places

that this heart of mine embraces...

in a chestnut tree or a wishing well...

in every lovely summer's day

I'll always think of you...

I'll find you...' 

- lyrics of a Sarah Vaughn song

Ingredients:

Kimberly's digital sketch, my scanned original photos,

my scanned vintage ephemera,

my scanned custom flower embellishment,

glitter glue, gel pen, digital software products.

Howdy and welcome.

This is my entry into Kimberly's Summer Breeze challenge. The original line drawing of the lovely lass is done by Kimberly. Then I altered the drawing with my custom digital artwork and scrapbooking embellishments. Altering this image was fun - and challenging!

All the patterns and background are my original creations from my original digital scans of vintage ephemera and from my original photos. (I prefer to work with my own art and not have to worry about copyright issues. Using my own work is so much more fun, too.) I worked back and forth between Microsoft Digital Image Editor and Photoshop Elements (PSE). Many layers, lighting effects, contrast, saturation, gradients and levels of transparency were used.

After I got all the frames, patterns and backgrounds the way I liked, a heart was added. Then lyrics were added from a Sarah Vaughn song I'd been listing to on my iPod while waiting at the car repair shop. Her gaze seemed to echo the song's mood perfectly. That was serendipity.

After printing the digital image on photo paper, I sealed it with soft gel  medium gloss (Golden) and let dry overnight. Next day, I added glitter glue (Stickles)  to her hair, to her bangles and 3 dots on the left, then added dots of red gel pen to the heart and strands of hair.  Then let dry overnight.

Following day, I scanned the embellished image and changed the image size to standard ATC dimensions. Next I created a digital flower brush in PSE using a scan of a flower embellishment I'd constructed ages ago for scrapbooking. I applied the digital flower brush three times on the right, applying a shadow to each of the 3 digital flowers, and applied gradients on each flower, too! 

Signed it and submitted to the challenge. Then I went on vacation!

Later, I may post some step-by-step images of my process.

Don't you just love the pattern in her dress? It's made from a Photoshop brush I whipped up. Have you tried to create any digital brushes? Have you used any store-bought brushes from digital kits? What do you think of these patterns and backgrounds?

Thanks for stopping by - and I'd love for you to come back again!

Peace,

LuLu 

I took the Diva Challenge October 2009!

Digital art (original art, masking, layers, patterns, filters in Photoshop Elements (PSE) and MS Digital Image Editor (DIE). Glitter, color pencils, found object, snaps - plastic and metal. Embellished with a 14K gold wire braid I assembled, crystal heart, stickers, metal word charm.