Saturday, January 15, 2011

First Herbal Ally Challenge Completed

I decided to go minimal with my cover for the moment. As the year progresses, I may add to it if the muse hits but I like the simplistic look.

I started with 2 coats of white acrylic paint to block out the blue background and black writing. Then I coated it with a coat of thick gold acrylic paint. This essentially waterproofed the cover as well.

I had recently learned a new technique of transferring images using a laser printer print out, some modge podge and water. I transferred a picture of nettles on there then added "Herbal Ally", "2011" and "Urtica dioica".

After that, I let it sit for a few days, unsure of how I wanted to decorate it. I wanted color on it but didn't want to use acrylic paint. I broke out my colored pencils and liked the effect. I may or may not add other layers, pictures, etc. but if I don't, I'm happy with how it looks for how.

I'll post the next challenge in just a bit. In the meantime, take a moment to print off this page and fill it out about your herb. Place it in your journal when you are finished. I've made it small enough that you should be able to cut it out and glue it to the first page of your journal. If you need one smaller, let me know and I'll shrink it down further.

Here are some more Herbal Ally covers:

Karisma did a beautiful cross-stitch cover along with a pressing of her ally that will double as a bookmark

Christine created a lovely cover with an amazing drawing of nettle

JoyceAnn's cover is a beautiful tribute to dandelion

Stephany created an amazing needle felted binder cover

4 comments:

karisma said...

Its beautiful! You are very artistic. I have posted mine too. :-)

nettlejuice said...

Beautiful cover!
My herbal ally for the year will be the black walnut tree, in honor of the year of the tree. I'm tempted to join in your challenge, but I don't think I will be able to keep up with it. I look forward to following along though, especially as nettles is one of my faves.

Love and light.

dizzijoi said...

I love the covers so far. I finished mine...well, I may still write "Herbal Ally" on it and then seal it tomorrow. But I posted what I have :).

Yzzy said...

lol i'm sooooooo blessed behind on this Herbal Ally Challenge. I'm not an artsy kinda gal and have seriously been hunting for the perfect art to do my cover in. Alas I Spent too much time on that venture ..... !! :) i am copying the simple painted cover idea. Just saying lol

Related Posts with Thumbnails