playing with smash books and journaling

I have been having fun doing a smash book and I made these envelops and tags to have on hand to just add to my book or journal when I need them. You can purchase similar kits at my etsy store for only $5,

Went butterfly hunting with my camera and look what happened

I found some really lovely butterflies welcoming the Spring. And you can purchase metallic prints of all of them in my etsy store.

New mixed media collage journals

I have been working with watercolors, glue and salt to make new backgrounds for my mixed media collage journal covers. These 2 new journal covers were made with a large watercolor that I just made. I love the look that the salt makes as it absorbs the paint on the paper.

Mr. Blue eyes Siamese kitten

I took photographs of this 8 week old kitten. I love the blue eyes. These photos are available as an art card or 5x7 at my etsy store or my art fire studio.

Another Titanic art journal

I seem to be fascinated with the Titanic anniversary this year. It has been 100 years since that ship sank. Now with the Costa Concordia it seems we have not learned the lessons of the past.

This mixed media collage for the cover has feathers, vintage photos from the ship, vintage buttons, Swarovski crystals. The back cover has some photos of some of the people who died in the tragedy.

Almost the end of the year Time flies

I do not know about you but time seems to fly faster and faster as I age. Perhaps it becomes more precious to me as I realize that there is less time in my life left. I find myself being selfish about what I spend my time on. I want to spend it creating art and being with people I love. Here is an art card that I made that reflects how I feel

What are metallic photographs and why are they better?

I process most of my photographs that I sell as metallic photographs. This requires me to order each photograph from a custom lab that is equipped to make this special type of print. I often get asked why not just make the photos at home with a high quality photo printers like most people do? There is a big difference between metallic photos and regular photographs from a home printer or even a photo lab.
Here is a description of Metallic Prints…
Special Paper type: Kodak Endura Professional Metallic paper. Special chemical processing can only be done at a custom lab.
Description: Rich, distinctive metallic look with a huge WOW! factor. The glossy finish and metallic-looking appearance of this paper create images with exceptional visual interest and depth. Its professional emulsion set provides extreme sharpness, brightness, and color saturation with an intense black density. Photographers have described the look as “chrome on paper.”

Metallic photos are guaranteed to be color fast even in the light for 100 years. This means you do not have to put a piece of glass on top of your photograph to protect it from light damage. I personally like my work to be available to the viewer without an interfering piece of glass.

Once you see a metallic photograph you will see the difference.

celebrating the 4th of July is fun

Here are some photographs that I took on the 4th.

African Antelopes sharing secrets

This is another animal photo that I really love. If you are interested in this look in my etsy or artfire stores.

Here is how that recycled transparency ended up as a cover for this journal

Here is how I finished with those alcohol inks.