Michelle Ward has a new challenge up for July on her GPP Street Team site, called "Strip Ease." Go see...it's easy and fun to do!
Even though I'm not a huge fan of doing vintage, I seem to be attracted to old papers of all sorts. I began by grabbing a bunch of them, tearing them into strips, and gluing them down. I grabbed an old gift card and spread a thin layer of gesso over them, letting the text and images peek through.
Using that same gift card, I scraped several colors of Golden's acrylics here and there, loving the texture that the overlapping strips created.
I continued to play with strips of different papers - the sun and grass are scraps from my stash. The stem and leaves for the flower came from a paper bag from a store, and the flower is created (except for the very center) from paste paper scrps. The only thing that is used scissors for was the very center circle on the flower.
I outlined the sun, grass, and flower with a neopaque crayon, used my pitt pen and new stencils from Michaels' to ad the words "way too hot,' (It was 102!) and then journaled with the pitt pen. Pretty different from what I normally do but fun to push in a different direction for a bit!
absolutely lovely color & content...thansk so much for sharing your process... ;)
Posted by: donna!ee | July 09, 2010 at 11:06 AM
whoa...what a drastic finish! i love the original ripped collage and thought that is where it would end....but you played and played and got so daring and vibrant and super fun - love that you kept torn elements as the theme. gorgeous! and YES...it's been way TOO HOT!!! thanks for sharing your pages, and your process paula!!
Posted by: michelle ward | July 09, 2010 at 12:08 PM
So rich and delicious, Paula!
Posted by: Julie Prichard | July 09, 2010 at 01:40 PM
Wow!! I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your interpretation of Michelle's challenge! Love your colors and the flowers and the sun...especially the colors! So fun.
Posted by: Kari | July 09, 2010 at 10:59 PM
ooh i love it!! It is fascinating to see how it began, until the finished product. I need to remember to do that more often :) I love the colors
Posted by: dawn | July 09, 2010 at 11:11 PM
Great colours! The finished page, with its rich colours, is so different to the vintage beginning. Lovely work Paula.
Posted by: Debra | July 10, 2010 at 02:11 AM
What an awesome page - love the colors! I agree - the texture the torn strips background created looks like it really works for this page. Stay cool!
Posted by: Kimber | July 10, 2010 at 02:02 PM
I love it! It's nice to see the progression of your work. Delicious colors and I agree it's way too hot . . . humid etc.
Posted by: Jane | July 10, 2010 at 02:13 PM
I love this one. I like seeing the whole process. This is a fun challenge. I have one page dome but plan to do more before I post it. Have a wonderful weekend.
Posted by: Kate Robertson | July 10, 2010 at 02:15 PM
Oh how I love these pages ! I love how you got there and the colors and those strip-y flowers ! Just gorgeous ! You rocked the Strip Ease, my friend !
Posted by: Kim Mailhot | July 11, 2010 at 07:15 PM
Love the technique, the colours, the texture and then the fun with flowers!
Posted by: Suzanne Bouchard | July 11, 2010 at 08:53 PM
Oh my! I love that first wash of colours. I favour Golden Fluid too, and suspect we have the same colours sitting on our desks ;-)
Posted by: Cath | July 12, 2010 at 05:27 AM
Love this! Thanks for sharing your process. The end result is wonderful....and I agree, it's way too hot!
Posted by: Janet | July 12, 2010 at 10:49 PM
I like where the strips of vintage paper took you....the result is fantastic and colorful!
Posted by: Mary | July 14, 2010 at 11:23 PM
Your page turned out so great, thanks for sharing both the before during and finished layout! It's SO hot in Sweden too right now, very hot!
Posted by: iHanna | July 15, 2010 at 01:49 PM
I love the original page of just plain text a LOT but you have taken it to a really different direction. I know about that hot...I'm across the Potomac from you in Annapolis. Good days to stay inside, eh? (I may have to go look for that stamp tonight with my coupons!!)
Posted by: Maureen | July 15, 2010 at 04:21 PM
Oh, I really like your pages, Paula. The colours, the journalling, how you have integrated the strips, everything!
Posted by: Jackie | July 17, 2010 at 02:57 AM
Hello Paula,
I like the colors you used scraping the paint over the paper strips. You're right : this gives a very nice background with texture.
Nice to see how you kept playing with the strips of paper. I like how your complete page turned out.
greetings from belgium
Inge
Posted by: inge | July 17, 2010 at 05:06 PM
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Love the strong colours end the lack of fear! simply adorable...
Posted by: Lena | July 18, 2010 at 12:10 PM
Great the way you showed your creative process. I love the end result with all the colors.
Posted by: Helen | July 19, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Love your spread! The color and texture are terrific.
Posted by: regina | July 26, 2010 at 12:36 AM
What a colour set! Superb!
Posted by: finnabair | July 28, 2010 at 06:02 AM
Very well done, I love the beautiful colors, and love to see how you did these pages. Thank you for sharing !
Posted by: Brigitte | July 29, 2010 at 03:29 PM
I really love the layering on these pages and how the colours have turned out. Thanks so much for sharing.
Posted by: sheila | July 31, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Okay, what you did with your credit card makes this so awesome! I know what you mean about not using much vintage--I don't either. But I think it's because sometimes it's so straight-forward. You've really given the vintage bits subtlety and depth! Love these pages and your colors and style. I'll be back!
Posted by: Chris | July 31, 2010 at 02:14 PM