We’ve been working so hard getting our new online boutique opened and running the business. It’s a blessing, but we’re overdue for a break. So the children are staying with Grandparents and my husband and I are getting away to the coast for the weekend! I’m looking forward to relaxing, deep breaths of sea air, leisurely strolls, candlelight dinner, watching the sunset, and peace and quiet. Ah, tranquility!

With this in mind, I created my artwork for Layers of Color Challenge theme, Summer Respite. I used floral paper, Layers of Color Garden Borders, Fleur Heart and Beaded Frames art stamps. I love my new paper flowers introduced to me by my friend, Heather (Prima Floral Embellishments).
I hope you too, enjoy your summer weekend!

We’re thanking the Lord for all our blessings as we celebrate the Grand Opening of Layers of Color Art Stamps online boutique! Our “doors” will officially open Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 8:00am Pacific Time Zone! The “Grand” calls for a party and the “Opening” works for the theme at Layers of Color Challenge. I’ve created Celebration Cinderella, and Jessica has created a Fiesta Party Card.

Celebration Cinderella by Laura Cinderella wears her party dress made of gathered tissue paper, Psalter music pages and Audubon Birds. I used several stamps from each of the eight, Layers of Color Art Stamp sets we’ll be offering for sale at our boutique.
Untie the button-styled brads and… the skirt opens, grandly revealing the Layers of Color Art Stamps Logo!

Fiesta Party Card by Jessica The first thing that came to mind when I thought of “party”, was the fabulous Fiesta I attended for a friend’s birthday. She did such a fabulous job decorating that I felt as if I were actually in Mexico.
For my “opening door” I made my friend a card that holds a CD with all the photos I took at her party. I used Layers of Color Garden Borders and Architectural stamp sets. I LOVE interactive cards, so this was a blast to make!

Thank you, everyone, for celebrating with us, and for sharing our family’s dream- come-true event!

Did you know?…Umbrellas have been found in historical artifacts and depictions thousands of years ago. Originally they were made as protection from the sun not the rain. The word umbrella is from the Latin word umbra, which in turn derives from the Ancient Greek ómvros. Its meaning is shade or shadow. An umbrella or parasol are also, sometimes colloquially called, gamp, brolly, or bumbershoot. The first umbrella shop of record, which opened in 1830, is still today at its original address in London. There, James Smith and Sons sold umbrellas that were works of art; many made of wood and whalebone and covered with alpaca or an oiled canvas, some even covered in feathers.

I added an umbrella to my artwork for Layers of Color Challenge. The vintage photo is of a female actress with a cane. I imagined her to be an umbrella shopkeeper, so I turned her cane into a colorful umbrella. Paraplule (para-plui) is French, for umbrella.

All stamps in this piece are Layers of Color Architectural Blocks stamp set. The background is paper rubbing over the stamps using colored pencils, then stamped over the rubbing with chalk inks and pierced through the paper. Details include stitching on the sheer ribbon and adding a decorative upholstery tack.

It was such fun to make that I also created a tutorial for this Unique Technique to show others how to make the paper umbrella and awning.

Jessica also met the challenge with this delightful rainy day dance! I love the bubble umbrellas and book page raindrops. This reminds me of Jessica’s childhood when she would dance in the warm California rain with her little friends…except they wouldn’t bother with the umbrellas… they wore their swimsuits!

Friendship is the theme and Skinny is the game over at Layers of Color Challenge Blog!

Jessica and I are both participating with stamped gifts we created for our friends using Layers of Color stamps. Jessica created a Birthday card with her Skinny and I created a knob hanger. My Skinny says, “If Friends Were Flowers, I’d Pick You!”

This is so exciting! We have a challenge blog of our own, Layers of Color Challenge. A new theme will be posted each first and third Saturday of every month and continue for one week. So please join with us in sharing our “Works of Heart”. We would love to see your humorous contribution, and keep in mind there is a FREE Layers of Color stamp set up for grabs to one lucky artist.

Mixed Media Mondays theme was hats and our Layers of color theme was humor. With this fun combination I created an altered page in my soon-to-be Mother’s Day altered book (Mama, this is just a sneak peak). I used the Layers of Color Beaded Frames stamps to add more movement and fun to my pages.

Thank you for looking! This is a shared mother and daughter blog. Today’s art was created by Jessica, daughter of Layers of Color.