Secret Squirrel WOYWW

I haven't had much time in the Fun Room, but I have managed to make quite the mess. Thank heavens for the floor!

It's been very much catch as catch can as we worked with landscapers all weekend doing some dirt work, putting in flower beds, building a rock garden, etc. Actually there was a lot of watching and deciding and not much work until Sunday afternoon when we hustled to plant perennials. When I had a free moment I would come in and work on my secrets journal.

I signed up for 21 Secrets this year and have really enjoyed the few classes I've taken. Terri Kahrs has a workshop for a journal that can hide your secrets and she's introduced me to some great new background techniques. My favorite one is neo-color crayons on paper and then with a wet brush and gesso spreading the color around. Example below.

The color, page and texture are all very smooth. I've used it a lot since I did the background pages for the journal and have come up with some cool background layers. Terri has a distinct style and I loved her inspiration journals, so off I went trying to replicate that.

On the left side....but it's just not me. See right side and following pictures. More me.

Secret spaces are under the number flaps and in the envelope....and

...the tag waiting for a fiber of some kind under the gold tag. But because I like Terri so well, I've decided to incorporate one of her elements on each spread to remind myself of the experience. That's how pup in a cup ended up on the tag. FUN.

So I've explained the Secret Squirrel part. Wondering what the WOYWW part is in the title? What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday which gives us a chance to snoop about desks world wide. Julia Dunnit hosts us each week and you'll find the specifics on her blog.

Happy snooping. 

ATC once more, with Texture

One of the fun blogs I've been following of late is Alison's Words and Pictures. She has a wonderful artistic sense and is quite active in a lot of challenges! A couple times now I've seen her designs for the Fun with ATC's  challenges. The current challenge is #87 - Texture. Since it seems I've been doing quite a few of these lately and I am a BIG fan of texture, I decided to see what I could come up with.

I started with Neocolor watercolor crayons in green, a couple of shades of yellow, a blue, and fuscia. In 21 Secrets I am taking a great class with Terri Kahrs and she uses baby wipes to blend the crayons. With several layers you can get some intense color. Since I am still pining away for spring up here in Alaska I decided to take a summery approach to things.

I used the white Wendy Vecci's molding paste with some light green paint mixed into it, and applied it to a Crafter's Workshop bamboo stencil. I am a new convert to the molding paste - it's so much softer and fluffier than anything I've used before... pretty fun.

That was layer number two. The butterfly has been floating around my desk for sometime now - it needed a home - and a body. I used a variety of embossing powders on a Tim Holtz pen nib, with a final coat of Ranger Bridal Tinsel embossing power. I love this stuff! It has some glitter in it and it adds a nice sparkle to whatever you apply it to.

The final layer was this lovely sentiment I came across recently on something from Artchix Studio. And since texture was the name of the came, I layered on a little glossy accents on top just to make it stand out a little more.

ATC's are such a fun size to work with. They make great magnets, you can pop them on cards, or actually use them for trading. If you haven't given them a try - I highly recommend it. They're quick and fun. Enjoy!