Unity

I had a lot of leftovers after working on the gold and cream color journal pages last month.  Since I had not yet started my mindfulness cards for August, I thought I would play a little bit more with Jane LaFazio's  "Recycled Circles."

When I was finished, I took a moment to study what I had created.  I love how the seemingly different pieces of tissue paper are united in harmony by the similar colors.  I love how the concentric arcs, though made up of separate bits and pieces, come together to form a complete whole, and I love how the stitches bind everything together into one cohesive circle.  All of this led me to this one word, "Unity."  

Life is a Circle

 The pages for this gold and white color journal were weeks in the making.  I was inspired by Jane LaFazio's Recycled Circles.  These circles are made with several different gold and white tissue papers I had in my stash.  

I started by creating a background on watercolor paper.  I used a variety of gold acrylic paints applied through a few of my favorite stencils.  I then cut the decorated sheet into 4" x 4" squares.

Next, I selected 8 different patterned tissues and cut them into 8" circles.  This way, the finished product would fit onto an 8" x 8" page (folded in the center).  I used binder clips to hold the stack of tissue papers together while I quartered the circles.

From there, I cut each quarter circle into half c-shapes in concentric circles.  I laid out the half c-shapes in decreasing size to decorate each of the 4" x 4" squares.  When I was happy with the design, I used a glue stick to hold the tissue papers in place.  

For added texture, I sewed some of the circle outlines by machine with gold thread.  I trimmed the excess tissue and thread for clean edges.

I mounted all four squares onto an 8" x 8" sheet of watercolor paper folded down the center and then added the "Life is a circle" quote around outer-most circle.

2018 Summer Mail Art

Hot off the heels of my "Sacred Geometry" Mindfulness cards, I decided to also make these string art nautilus cards for the 2018 Summer Mail Art Swap.  I had wanted to join this annual swap last year, but did not have the time to make the commitment last year  I understand that some years they can have upwards of 20 people that join!  That's a lot of mail art!  Sign ups closed at the end of May and you have the months of June, July and August to make and send mail art to the participants.  So I made up my mind to sign up this year.

This is my well-worn template.

Eighteen.  Count them.  Eighteen.