GPP Street Team Crusade #36 - Braving the Elements

So yesterday was pretty cold here in Manchester, NH. Not the kind of weather where you feel like hanging out outside. The good news was that I had $70.00 dollars worth of gift certificates (Thank you sweet hubby !!!) to my favorite craft store, Absolutely Everything, they were having a 40% off all Xmas stuff sale and I had a sweet friend ready to head out shopping with me ! The lovely Colleen from Candia even drove us to Topsfield, MA for our shopping spree!

A few of the things I bought with my juicy gift certificates were perfect for the GPP Street Team Crusade Crusade #36 - Braving the Elements ,where Michelle encouraged us to take simple elements, like hand cut snowflakes, and use them with a variety of painting techniques we have learned from past Crusades.

Today was a perfect Sunday morning to "brave the elements" - it was freezing outside but the sun was beaming in the studio and I had lots of free time for experimenting.

Look at this incredible snowflake doilies Colleen found for me in the Xmas Clearance !!!

Talk about a perfect mask !

and these chip board snowflakes are perfect for this project but will also be perfect on the tree next year and they were only $2.00 !

I can't use spray paint in the winter but I thought about these glimmer sprays

and the alcohol inks and misters from Ranger

and gathered them up along with my acrylic paints and make-up sponges

to get my play time on !

I did cut a couple of snowflakes myself as well - you can see their outline here, where I misted over them with the alcohol ink in demin and pearl.

The two shots above show the doilie used as a mask (top portion) as well as those chip board snowflakes.

This page was done using the snowflake I cut myself used over and over with the misters and with acrylic paint and a sponge.

I ended up gluing the painted snowflakes down on to my two page spread...

along with some other collage elements...circles, the front of a gorgeous angel Christmas card we received, a piece of paper napkin, an image of a sweet little one, and a photocopied dictionary page.

So this is what the two pages looked like before I added in my journaling, some pen work and some extra touches of acrylic paint...

And this is the final Winter two page spread after my hour or so of play time...

(click to enlarge)
It is not quite finished - I will probably add in some more journaling about winter in the section on the bottom right. Lots more winter left too !

(in this detail, you can see the other cool rubber stamp with boxes for the date that I got for $2.50 - it will be great for many, many journal pages !)

So there you have it !

As I wrote in my journaling, I still dislike...okay, hate...winter in lots of ways. But I am finding the silvery lining in this one. I bundle up and go where I have to go, with not too much complaint. And I am enjoying my inside time very much as a lot of it is being spent in the studio. Doing projects like this is such wonderful therapy and fun !

I also loving watching the beauty of this coldest season through my windows...

I will leave the outside stuff to this brave little guy as much as possible !

Head over and join Michelle and the other Crusaders for some winter play time fun ! It is always a pleasure no matter what the weather !