Chicago Trip

Back in November my cousin J and I took a bus trip to Chicago. It was a great deal. Her local park and rec department organizes the trip. They drive you right downtown to the magnificent mile. Anyone who has driven down there in the past knows it can be intimidating to drive in true Chicago traffic. This was the perfect trip. We got to socialize the whole way and really enjoy seeing the sights through Chicago.

This was a tough page for me to come up with. The pictures have been sitting in a pile for quite some time. I was perplexed by the royal blue sky at dusk on the Watertower and the Hancock Tower.

 I finally picked the Basic Grey Out of Print paper line for these pictures. I inked a lot of it with Tim Holtz Faded Jeans distress ink, to fit my pictures better.

I have a new favorite stencil in my stash. It is from The Crafter's Workshop. I picked it up at an art store during my vacation. There was nothing scrappy in this store, but I do enjoy browsing art stores from time to time.

 I created this flower by layering scalloped circles, and misting the flower until it was damped (with water). I crumpled the entire thing up a bunch of times until I got the shaped I was looking for.

You can see I used a combo of mists and gelatos with the stencil. First I splattered some gold mist all over the paper. I had to play with the color from the crazy shoes we were trying on at Nordstroms and the fact that they were just putting up the Christmas lights. I mean what else is there to do during a random downpour besides try on fun shoes.

The blue gelatos were from a Faber Castell pack I picked up a Michaels on the way to my crop. I kept hearing about them, and I had a coupon so I decided what was $5. I could give them a shot. They were very fun. They were the consistency of lipstick, and I rubbed them on my messy mat. Then I misted them with water to make a thicker watercolor. They were very fun.

Looking forward to next years trip. I'm ready for some new clothes.