Pay it forward!

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay it forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.So basically, if you comment and you’re on, I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make!Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I got mine from Belinda here.

Mission: Collage {final instructions}

Since it's Saturday and there are only a few steps left, I decided to list the last remaining steps today so you could finish up over the weekend if you wanted to! Here are the final 5 steps:

1. Scratch: Use a sharp instrument to scratch anywhere on the surface of your collage.

2. Text: Sally lists specific examples of what to do with a book page during this step, but I am going to open it up and say that you can place any text (as long as it is not magazine, since we already used that technique) onto your collage.

3. 3-D: Apply something dimensional to your project..any embellishment you like as long as it is not flat.

4. Write: Write any word or phrase, in any medium you would like: pen, pencil, ink.

5. Surprise! One last step that you can use to add your unique spin to your project! Let your imagine run wild with this one!

Now that the steps are all out of the way, we need to get down to business. I drew names to pair everyone up today and here are the results:

Kim + Karen

KJ + Julie

Emilia + Philippa

Tami + Liz

Neda + Hazel

Everyone has a link on the right side of the blog. Please reach out to your partner to exchange mailing address so you can ship your collage to them. So that it is fair to everyone, let's make it a date to ship our projects no later than 9/22. I would hate to hear someone was left out in the cold, so please make sure to contact your partner!

I'll post my finished pieces tomorrow! See you then!

Mission: Collage {Update Tres}

~in progress~

~in progress~

I am all caught up! Here is look at my projects after completing the last 6 steps! There are only 5 steps left! That means that we should be ready to mail these off to eachother within the next few days. Tomorrow, I will draw names out of a hat and post the partners so you can begin contacting eachother with your swap information! This is so exciting, I can't wait!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Mission: Collage {Number 4}

Hey hey! We made it though the new carpet...except for the smell. I hate "new" anything smell. I've got the windows open, but unfortunately Mother Nature decided that Southern California needed to swelter again, so I am not sitting here painting away...I am a step behind on Mission: Collage! Gasp!! Here are the next steps in our collage process:

1. Pattern: Use any medium you want and make a pattern on your collage- lines, dots, secret message in Morse Code...anything you want.

2. Draw: Fancy sketch or simple drawing; use pen, pencil or ink to highlight something that is already on your collage or draw a new shape on your project.

3. Sand: Go out to the garage and grab some sand paper! Use the paper to make a distress accent on your collage.

Isn't this fun?! I love doing this Mission with you all! I'll be back tomorrow to show you my projects using the last 6 steps we have talked about. Until then, have fun!

Mission: Collage {Part Three}

Alright- time for another installment of our collage steps! Here are the next three steps for your collage:


1. Smudge: Wet your fingers and smudge any of the chalk, pastel, crayon, charcoal on your project.

2. Magazine: Attach a page or piece of a page of magazine to your collage and then use a damp cloth or baby wipe to remove areas of ink from the magazine you put on your collage. Cheap magazine pages work the best. Scrub a dub dub!

3. Stamp: Anywhere, anykind, any amount. Caution: be careful about what kind of ink you choose to stamp with...there may be wet areas again on the project before we're finished!

I enjoy seeing your works in progress as I surf around the blogs!! How fun and exciting it is to see everyone's collage come along!

Mission: Collage {Update Number 2}

unfinished I

unfinished II

Here's another peek at my two collage projects after steps 1-6 have been completed. I went back to each piece and washed the sheet music with paint to age it a bit and then added steps 4-6. I used gel medium to attach the pictures to each canvas and then added the masking tape for effect only. I hope you are having as much fun with your project as I am! Please feel free to give us a sneak peek of your project too!

Tomorrow I will post steps 7-9. There will be a slight delay in posts on Wednesday and I hope to be back up and running on Thursday. Casa de Luggage is getting new carpet on Wednesday.

Have a great week and thank you for stopping by!

Mission: Collage {part deux}

Ok! Now we're off and running! If you missed the first three steps to our collage, you can find them here. I hope you had fun with them!

Here are the next three steps:

4. Chalk/Pastels/Artist Crayon: Apply to random areas of your project- you can draw, add shapes or simply add color here and there.

5. Photograph: Use a new or vintage photograph and attach it to your collage. You can sew, glue, staple, transfer..you name it. Your picture can have neat, crisp edges or you can distress the edge, use decorative punches or scissors.

6. Charcoal: Use charcoal to add another layer of depth to your collage. You can color any areas you would like with the charcoal! The other day I posted a quick charcoal how-to here.

Don't forget these steps are outlined in Sally Jean's book. If you want to explore more in depth, don't forget to check it out next time you're in the bookstore!

Mission: Collage {Update One}

unfinished

Here is my collage after the first day. I chose canvas panel, 6x6". I used Golden fluid acrylics for the "paint", vintage sheet music for the "paper" and some gold metallic "ink". I held the ink dropper way up high and was looking for some spatter...but alas, not so much.

I am not looking ahead at the technique list, so I hope somewhere down the line I can distress that paper a bit. It's a little too crisp for my taste.

I hope you all are having fun with the "mission" so far! By the way, don't worry about being the odd man out..I am making two collage projects since we have an odd number of swappers. Double fun for me!

More techniques tomorrow! Until then..

Mission: Collage

Yeah! It's the moment you've been waiting for! Our first installment for Luggage- Mission: Collage. What? You didn't sign up? You still can! It will be a blast. I can't wait to see all the interpretations of the instructions!

Before we start...I want to make one thing clear: This is a "do whatever you want the rules are out the window feel good about yourself and your art" swap. Please do whatever comes to your mind when you see the techniques.. my suggestions are only suggestions to get the ball rolling; there will be no right or wrong projects and when we're finished, everyone gets their own original piece of art from your partner!

Your collage can be on any surface as long as it will "take" the techniques. For example, cardboard, canvas, cardstock, etc. I am not sure your collage will work on glass or metal.

Having said that, he we go! Today's techniques are: Paint, Paper, Ink

1. Paint: Anything you can apply with a brush. Place paint on your surface to be the starting background of your collage. You can use all one color, mix and match, whatever!


2. Paper: Attach paper onto the painted surface for an accent to the background. Any type of paper will do!


3. Ink: Doodle, spill, splatter, dab, you name it! Add some ink to any areas of your collage.
   

I think what I will do is post the techniques every other day and post my collage in progress on the days when I don't post the techniques. Is that fun? If you want to show your piece in progress, feel free to post it on your blog and link to us in the comments here so we can all see!

Have fun today!

Mission: Collage

It's not too late to sign up for the first ever Land of Lost Luggage swap! You can read the details here. We start tomorrow!

Now hear this! Now hear this!

You wanna make a collage? It's the first ever Lost Luggage Swap! Mission: Collage.

This will be easy! All you need to do is make a project- any sized project- on a canvas, on recycled cardboard, on an ATC, on cardstock, on a match book...you get the idea! Your collage must contain the following techniques that I read out of Sally Jean Alexander's book- Pretty Little Treasures: Paint, Magazine, Text, Paper, Chalk or Pastels or Artist Crayon, Charcoal, Pencil, Stamp, Scratch, Wipe, Ink, Pattern, 3-d, Write, Photograph, Smudge, Draw, Sand, Surprise. If you have a copy of this book, instead of drawing the techniques randomly out of a hat, I am going ot follow the order listed on pages 15-19. For those of you without the book, never fear, I am going to list about 3 of the techniques every day here on the blog; I'll explain ways you can interpret each technique, but the rest is up to you!

So, by my calculations, it will take about 1.5 weeks to list the techniques. You can make a little of your project at a time, or sit and knock them out all at once. It shouldn't take too long! I find that if you sit and think about something for a long time, it is more stressful than just letting the art flow from your fingertips!

Once the collage is finished, you can post it on your blog or flicker and leave a comment here linking to it. After everyone is done, we'll put everyone's name in a hat and draw partners. You ship your collage to your partner and your partner ships their collage to you! One for one. What a fun time we'll have!

There is no need to rush out and buy the supplies on the list. For example, paint can mean acrylic, watercolor, h2o's, with re-inkers, etc. Just let the ideas flow!

If this sounds like fun to you, please email me! (My address is to the right--->) We'll get going with the techniques on Friday's blog post! Yeah!