"Word Map Journey" - Postcard

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This week's Sunday Postcard Art challenge was "Numbers."

This is my second entry, and is a re-imagining of this January 2015 tag that I made. The only difference between the above two pieces is the color of the words.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.18.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Turquoise Red Flowers" - Postcard

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This week's Three Muses challenge was "Splashes of Turquoise and Red."

I created this using GIMP 2.10.6.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"December" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - December challenge.

I mimicked some of Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine very differently than his.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.18.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I'm not posting this on his site.

"September" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - September challenge.

I mimicked some of Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine very differently than his.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.18.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I'm not posting this on his site.

"August" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - August challenge.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine somewhat differently than his.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.18.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I'm not posting this on his site.

"July / New World Order" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - July challenge.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine somewhat differently than his.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I'm not posting this on his site.

This month both the Republicans and Democrats will hold their National Convention to choose their candidate for the US Presidential election in November. After recent events that have occurred, I no longer see any reason to bother to vote.

"June" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - June challenge.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine somewhat differently than his.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I don't usually post my tags on his site. I originally planned on not posting to his challenge anymore, due to lack of comments from other participants, but someone else said they rarely receive comments either.

"May" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - May challenge.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine somewhat differently than his. I included the intermediate steps, to show how I made mine.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I don't usually post my tags on his site. So far this year I have been entering his challenge, but I receive few, if any, comments from all of the other artists who enter his challenge. So this will be the last time I post my link to his challenge. I will continue making tags for his challenge, but not post them on his site.

Updated note: I tried to post my entry on his site, but it was automatically deleted after appearing in the "inlinkz" initially.

"Flowers" - Postcard

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This week’s Moo Mania challenge was "Floral."

I made this based on an art card that I saw that had used a Tim Holtz saying: "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

The fonts are:

Noto Sans
Noto Sans Bold

"April" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - April challenge.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine somewhat differently than his.

The main focal point is the mosaic bird, which I made separately, then added to the tag. I used earthy greens and browns for my background colors, which give a hint of Spring. (It's actually snowing here today, where I am in southern New England. It's probably going to kill my Bleeding Hearts, which started growing about two weeks ago.) I also have a library / book subtheme in this piece.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I don't usually post my tags on his site.

"March" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - March challenge.

I initially mimicked Tim's steps to create my tag, but mine came out terribly. I ended up making further modifications, so mine came out very differently than his did.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I don't usually post my tags on his site.

"February / Valentine" - Postcard

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I was thrilled when I read Tim Holtz's February challenge post, where he said his challenge is open to more than just tags. I decided to make a matching postcard for my tag. (I know his challenge isn't meant for strictly digital, but I think I've become a better artist because of using some of his techniques, so I'm posting this entry. Update: only one entry is allowed per person, and I already entered my tag for his challenge, so my postcard can't be entered.)

I re-used some of the same elements that I had created for my tag for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - February challenge in this postcard.

Because everything on this is old, I am also entering it in this week's Tuesday's Treasures.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my postcard, but I made mine slightly differently than his piece.

I started with a pseudo distressed/water spritzed background. I used an all over flower and leaf image to create a monoprint stencil and used a chalk brush to ink that onto the background. I created a heart stencil and used a smoke brush to ink that. Next, I gold embossed text over the entire card. I completed the piece by adding embellishments and text strips (most of which I had already created when I made the tag).

I found the photobooth portrait on the Internet, and color tinted it. (To the best of my knowledge, the image was allowed to be reused without restrictions.) I created a large heart template, then used it to cut out a section of an old book page. (I used a bevel script to give it dimension.) I also cut out some flowers from old book pages. Then I added text strips on white construction paper. I added a drop shadow to the embellishments, to give the illusion of depth.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

The words in the background are from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe.

The font is Jane Austen.

The foreground font is Courier New.

"February" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - February challenge.

I mimicked Tim's steps to create my tag, but I made mine slightly differently than his.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I don't usually post my tags on his site.

"January" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 - January challenge.

After struggling for quite awhile on this, I finally came up with something. But I made mine slightly differently than what he did.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I don't usually post my tags on his site.

"December" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015 - December challenge.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.16.

I made mine slightly differently than what he did.

I created the wreath using individual holly leaves, like Tim did, but I used red holly berries for accents, instead of bells. One of the red berries got covered up when I added the bow, which I preferred on the bottom, instead of the top where his was.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I don't normally post my tags on his site, but this time I am, to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

"November" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015 - November challenge.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.14.

I made mine slightly differently than what he did.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I'm not posting this on his site.

"October" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015 - October challenge.

I created this awhile ago, using GIMP 2.8.14.

I made mine slightly differently than what he did.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I'm not posting this on his site.

"Fall" - Tag

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I created a Fall themed tag, after seeing and being inspired by Jennie Atkinson's tag for A Vintage Journey.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.14.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

The font is Garamond Bold.

I have shown the steps I did, to create this, and describe them below:

Step 1: I was originally going to use a diamond pattern like the inspiration tag, but then I found the diamond shape that I ended up using instead. I used a GIMP script that I had written awhile ago to replicate the shape, then added a layer mask to erase it along a diagonal. I liked how the faded part looked, so I didn't fully erase it.

Step 2: I added ink spray using a GIMP brush, then applied a Gaussian Blur filter on that layer.

Step 3: I didn't think my tag looked close enough to the inspiration tag, so I added another layer and used a larger brush to create a larger inked area. I added a layer mask and erased some of the ink. I also reduced the layer opacity to get the desired shade of gray.

Step 4: I added text from an old book. I added a layer mask to erase it along a diagonal, and reduced the layer opacity to get a faded look similar to the inspiration tag.

Step 5: Looking at the tag after Step 4, I liked the golden tones that I saw in it, so I decided to spritz gold onto it. I added a "gold flecks" layer to do that. (The gold flecks were from an old book page that I had previously converted into a PNG file. I have used those gold flecks in several art pieces over time, and converted a few more of those pages while working on this tag.)

Step 6: I found an old book page with various leaves on it, and used the Oak leaves from it. I got the fern type leaf from another old book page. I decided to use a bright red Fall color flower, instead of a white flower, and found one on an old catalog page. (In all cases, I needed to convert the pages to PNG files first, which is a manual process.) I used a brush to paint the leaves in a golden Fall color. I needed to reduce the size of the flower to make it more proportional. I added a drop shadow to all of the elements, to give some depth to them. Then I added the word Fall with a layer of silver paint covered by a layer of gold paint to make the word stand out better.

This is a Tim Holtz style art piece. I admire his work, and appreciate that he and other artists show the steps they do to create their artwork. I have been struggling with my creative side lately, so finding pieces that inspire me is helpful.

I am entering my tag in the following:

NF Digital Art Meme

"Hallowe'en Fright Night" - Postcard

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With Hallowe'en coming soon, I created a postcard that was inspired by a piece I saw on Tim Holtz's site:

http://timholtz.com/halloween-inspiration-series-jan-hobbins-2/

http://janhobbins.blogspot.com/2015/09/halloween-book-tutorial.html

I created this using GIMP 2.8.14.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"June / Blue Plaid Summer Blues" - Tag

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I created this for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2015 - June challenge.

My tag is loosely based on Tim's, and I created it using GIMP 2.8.14.

Summer is waning here, which inspired my theme of a retro bathing beauty swimmer having the "Summer Blues" at Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

The font is Benjamin Franklin.

Because my artwork is digital, and Tim Holtz's challenge is intended for people who buy his products, I'm not posting this on his site.