It’s Tuesday and time for my Creative Squad to share a project with you with this month’s theme: “Letter to my Future Self”. Throughout the month of July, the team has been using any of my n*Studio Stamps and Stencils they would like to use to interpret the theme. This month’s theme is in honor of my recent 10 year (!) blog anniversary- which we are celebrating until the end of the month! I asked the team to create something that they’d like to tell themselves in 10 years. Like a mixed media time capsule. This theme flips the “If only I knew then what I know now” sentiment up-side-down.
This week we bring you Michelle Rydell’s happy and uplifting postcard!
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The theme for this month was a challenging one: Letter to my Future Self. Hmmm… I have thought many times about what I would say to my younger self if I could; what wisdom I could share that would help her on life’s journey. But what could I tell my future self? She knows everything I know, plus she has ten years more life experience!
I pictured myself in ten years – going to the mailbox and finding a postcard there, and smiling when I see it’s from me. That’s when I knew just what I wanted it to say. It’s a lyric from a Jackson Browne song called “For A Dancer.” It goes like this…
“Keep a fire burning in your eye,
and pay attention to the open sky,
You never know what will be coming down.”
I’ve loved that lyric for many years. I can’t say for sure what Jackson meant when he wrote it; but for me it means – keep your passion alive, and stay open to whatever comes your way.
First, to create the postcard I cut some heavyweight watercolor paper to approximately 4” x 6”. Then I swirled some pink and yellow watercolor onto the background…
I decided that wasn’t bright enough, so I added some fluorescent pink acrylic.
I used a blending tool to apply some teal acrylic paint thru Nat’s Lily Wallpaper stencil to add some contrast. I kept the stenciling on the left side of the page to leave room for the words on the right.
I did a draft of the lyric on scratch paper first, to see approximately how much room it would take up. Then I added some light pencil lines to the postcard and went to town with a black permanent ink pen.
I want to put this postcard on the inside front cover of my current journal. I have a pocket to put it in that will be just right. Once in the pocket, I stenciled the other half of the Lily Wallpaper motif to make it look like the pattern continues…
I took some pre-dyed ribbon and used the same Lily stencil to create a pattern with yellow paint.
And here’s the final page. I added some white outlining to the stenciling to show off the detail of the design, and added the stenciled ribbon to the grommeted hole.
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Michelle’s postcard is so gorgeous with those colors and such a nice message. I love that it’s going right in the front of her art journal so she can remind her present self too!
Michelle used the supplies listed below (some are affiliate links):
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
Don’t forget that I have a Blogiversary SALE right now going on with 20% off of online workshops (like Creative Jumpstart 2016), DVDs, and select items (including all the stamps andstencils) from the n*Store online. The sale prices are reflected in the store now.
See you next Tuesday for the another project from the Creative Squad, with a brand new theme for the month of August.
Comments (4)
Rae
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This might be my favorite one yet Nathalie. The colors are amazing and there is just something very real and alive in it! LOVE it! xx
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nathalie-kalbach
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Awe- thank you so much Rae ! Hope you have a gorgeous weekend!
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Brenda
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I like the color palette as well. I also enjoyed seeing the pictures of the different stages of the painting. Do you usually take pictures of the different stages for reference when working on a painting? Great painting!
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nathalie-kalbach
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thank you Brenda! Yes I do take photos in between to see the evolvement of it and also where I might have taken a different turn- but also to check on color values and because it is just a different view to see it through the camera.
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