Air Mail

I LOVED the color palette at CSI this week! Thinking of mail made me think of some cool mail I've had recently. I have been collecting some vintage parts lately, namely watch faces and old skeleton keys. I found both through Etsy in Eastern Europe. I got a batch of watch faces from Ukraine and keys from Romania. Both packages came loaded with cool stamps! Exciting mail for sure.

I started off by wetting a piece of watercolor paper, then added spray ink. This ink sort of separated, giving slightly different hues and I think it looks cool. I used some postmark stamps on the background, from all over the world. Next I cut out a world map from a Silhouette cut file, out of white cardstock. I covered the pieces with two colors of distress ink, then spritzed to give the mottled look. I got this great stamp/die set, from Stampin' Up, for my birthday; feathers. I love them! I inked the stamp with distress ink, gave a quick spritz of water, then stamped. I gives this sort of watery look that is just awesome. I wanted a bird flying with mail, so I cut the teeniest envelope out with my Silhouette. It is so cute! I cut a larger one out to hold my journaling too. I found the perfect washi too. Right colors AND airplanes.

Evidence used: envelopes, string, animals, stamps, feathers, and washi

Testimony is in the envelope. "I've been collecting some vintage metal parts from around the world. So fun getting mail with cool stamps."

The Rock

I'm not sure what is was about this CSI case that made me think retro. Maybe it was the colors, maybe the retro images in the inspiration photo, maybe that typewriter, but I thought of these Alcatraz photos. Could have been I remembered the office, with its cool instruments.

Evidence used: cameras/film strips, typewriters, transportation, arrows, metal

Testimony is in haiku, because who doesn't love a good haiku?

Echoes of the past
Life suspended, lost in time
Alone on The Rock

Lava Cast Forest

As soon as I saw the CSI journaling prompt to write about an unusual place, I thought about this place we discovered this winter. We had gone over to Eastern Oregon to stay at a resort and kept passing a sign pointing to a place called Lava Cast Forest. We had never been, so we thought we'd go check it out. It was a bit of a drive, on gravel roads, but we made it. What we found was pretty interesting. A nearby mountain had erupted, suddenly and quickly. As the lava moved through the forest, it filled the area, but moved on and no more came, so it didn't incinerate the trees, just buried the bottoms, and hardened around the trunks. As the trees decayed, holes were left in their place. The area is filled with odd holes in the lava bed. Where trees had already been downed, whimsical little tunnels where left.

Evidence used: book pages, text, clouds, wet medium, and a square spiral

Testimony is about an unusual place. "Oregon is a very volcanic state. The Cascade Mountain Range splits right through the middle of it and it is full of volcanoes. We were out, exploring lava fields and found a sign pointing to Lava Cast Forest. We had never heard of this so we investigated. A nearby volcano erupted so quickly and the lava passed so fast, as it moved through the forest, it filled the ground, but did not burn the trees completely, leaving pits as the trees died and decomposed. Where trees were down, tunnels remained."

Song Of The Sea

I tried everything to get the "brown paper bag" color, but failed to find anything that would work. Then it hit me, duh, use a brown paper bag, so that is what I have used for my background. I cut a 12x12 square from a grocery bag, wadded it up, spritzed and laid flat to dry. I applied some gesso to create the old look to the bag.  A friend of mine gave me an old hymnal to use for art pages and since there was the music prompt in the evidence, I decided to use one of the pages. For me, the sound of the roaring surf is music for my soul. I love to just sit and listen. This piece of music was perfect to covey that idea.  The rest came together pretty quickly and I'm quite happy about the page. I had just thought the colors fit coast photos well, but it ended up being a meaningful page.

Evidence used: music elements, rub-ons, mixed media BG, spiral, And enamel dots.

Testimony is something I do for entertainment or in my case, well being. "We often jump in the car and go over to the coast; just because. This day we were escaping smoky skies."

Dance!

I have a fun project from The Cut Shoppe today. As soon as I saw the Get To The Point file, I knew I needed to make a shirt for Zumba!  I used the 8.5x11 cut,  in the Silhouette software. I love how all the arrows point into a perfect little circle. I used that space to add the word "Dance!"

I opened Get To The Point in my software, sizing it to the desired size. I then used the text tool to add "Dance!" and chose a font that had a feeling of fun about it and placed it in the circular space the arrow create.

After lining up the word just the way I liked, I grouped everything together by using the group icon in the bottom left of the program, then flipped it horizontally. I usually do this by right clicking and choosing the flip horizontal in the dropdown menu that appears. This step is super important or you will have a backwards design, which is ok if you desire people to be able to read your shirt in their rearview mirror. Not saying my dancing is bad or anything... I digress. 

After making the cut, I weeded out all the vinyl I didn't need, leaving just the arrows and "Dance!" left on the plastic. I laid out my shirt, as centered as I could on my ironing board. I use a cloth napkin, over the plastic, to keep from melting it. Follow the directions for adhering your vinyl. I usually iron until it doesn't pull up and I can easily pull off the clear plastic, ironing again to really get a good stick. 

Here is my shirt, already to go! I got to wear it for my first day of teaching a Zumba class!

Be sure to stop by the shop today and find the perfect cut for your next project. 

Sanctuary

I honestly wasn't sure what to do with these colors, so I took my cue from the journal prompt to write about wildlife. Recently my dad and I want to a wildlife refuge a few miles from my house. I had actually never been into the area, just generally knew it was there, and boy was I ever surprised. It is a huge area with all sorts of ponds and wetlands and we saw a ton of birds. It was a truly fabulous bird day. We wandered for several hours photographing all the cool birds we saw. I even got some great take off and landing shots of several types of birds. I think my favorite was seeing the pelican (center photo) take off; just majestic.

I mostly used the grey and yellow from the palette, with splatters of the pink and green in the background. I love how fresh it looks. Obviously feathers feature prominently and I loved this feather paper I found, that has been waiting for the perfect photos. The feathers and burlap flowers just finished off the rustic look.

Evidence used: animals, flowers, leaves, envelope

Testimony is about wildlife.

Falling Springs Mill

I really loved these colors! I instantly thought of photos from a mill in Missouri that I recently got to visit. There are lots of these old mills throughout the state. Some have been restored and are parks, some private and used for tourism, and some left as is. Falling Springs mill is like that. It is a park, but it hasn't been turned into a destination. I really is like stepping back in time and the setting is just gorgeous! The twin waterfalls just come right out of the middle of the limestone cliff.

Evidence used: globe, chevron, metal, key, starburst.

Testimony is documentation of a location.