Collage Art

I suddenly realized that my blog says it is about family, travel, and crafts.  I have been a bit of a slacker lately on crafts - partly because we have had a lot of yard work to do, partly because it has been so nice outside, partly because I wasn't motivated, and partly because crafts are more fun for me when I have someone to work with and talk with as we work.   Even though my Mom is 91 years old, she is very artistic and we worked last fall to make all of our Christmas cards using collage.  


The first step is to make multicolored tissue paper.  There is a lot of interesting tissue paper available, and we collect that too, but we paint a lot of our background tissue also.  


We cut heavy artist paper into approximately the correct size for a greeting card (5" x 5" or thereabouts).  We cover our work area with paper towels as this can be a messy operation.  First, we paint the artist paper with medium (clear glue) and then lay a piece of tissue paper on the glue and paint it again with the medium.  Then we add scraps of paper, or dried flowers, or anything else that can be glued and suits our fancy.  We carefully paint each layer with more medium.  


Once the card is dry, we cut it to size and mount it on card stock.  Scrapbooking paper is perfect for the card and matching envelope.  It is 12" x 12", and we cut it at 6 1/2".  The large side is the envelope.  We fold it nearly in half - leaving a 1/2" flap at the top and glue the sides together.  The 5 1/2" side we cut to 10" x 5 1/2" and fold in half to be the card.  


The dried art work is glued to the card.  The finished product: