Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Tricia!:

Beloved Home
18x28

It all started with a $2 framed canvas bought at a yard sale years ago. It had a painting of a flower, a red bird and a branch on a table. While I liked the painting my husband really did not. So over time it ended up in the laundry room - A room he is not in very much ;)

I discovered the frame was the right shape for an empty spot in our hallway so I decided to gesso over the red bird and create a new piece. I used golden fluid acrylics, oil pastels and the leaves are cut from scrapbooking papers, old wallpaper scraps and sheet music. The metal piece at the bottom is from an old cabinet. The door knob is an old button with thread. The bird a copied image from a book.

I got going at around 10 or so last night and finished up at 2:30 this morning, totally flabbergasted that so much time had gone by. What a weird, incredible feeling! There were times in there that I thought I would chuck the whole thing right out the front door but I am glad I stuck with it and relaxed and went with the mistakes and worked with them til they led to something good. I am realizing how important it is to trust and let go.

I really like using parts of photos in the collages. (the window and the nest) This is fairly new for me and I can see doing more of this. I feel inspired to go through old stacks of photos and to go out and take new ones. Doors and windows mainly and maybe lonely, bare trees. I haven't felt driven in that direction for a while. Time to blow the dust from the 35 mm. I am much more comfortable with that than my husband's digital.

The Artwords Topics have stirred something in me I am grateful for. Last night I probably would have curled up with a book and a heating pad, My tummy was killing me, except that I wanted to create a piece to have something to post for the week. For days I have been thinking --windows, windows, windows...I started playing with paints and forgot all about the tummy ache! How fantastic! Art is such wonderful therapy.

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Mary Ann!"

"is the topic for this week's artwords...i took this pic a couple of weeks ago when i was in chicago visiting my mom & sister. we went holiday {mostly window} shopping & i liked how this holiday vingnette was displayed at this antique store called, through the looking glass. in looking at this snap, i thought to title it: the present reflected in the past."

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Windyangel!:

Looking through the window
my eyes caught the sparkle
of a mystical, magical land

The horses ready to alight
on the minutest of sleighs
barely visible to mine orbs

"Wait for me"
I whispered
but the light
was changing

As I turned for my cape
snowflakes floated
no longer sparkled

Looking through the window…

This is a photograph I took this morning from our front window. I was thinking of this week's theme for artwords, which is window. After I put the photos to computer I started to play with this window. I had a grand time. I was transported...

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

Another beauty from Karen O.!:

Soul on the Window

With all these beautiful photos of windows and doors from Europe, I have plenty of inspiration for playing in Photoshop. Still pondering the artword of the week, window, I put this digital collage together. The words in the collage are a poem by my favorite poet, Emily Dickinson. Here is the poem.

BEFORE I got my eye put out,
I liked as well to see
As other creatures that have eyes,
And know no other way.

But were it told to me, to-day,
That I might have the sky
For mine, I tell you that my heart
Would split, for size of me.

The meadows mine, the mountains mine,--
All forests, stintless stars,
As much of noon as I could take
Between my finite eyes.

The motions of the dipping birds,
The lightning's jointed road,
For mine to look at when I liked,--
The news would strike me dead!

So, safer, guess, with just my soul
Upon the window-pane
Where other creatures put their eyes,
Incautious of the sun.

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Fran!:

"I was quite inspired by the Artwords topic of the week, "Window"! My mind went in many different directions, but in the end, it was a sheet of watercolor paper and my Pigma Micron pen that finally "won". Most of my work is very textured and collage, but fo this one, I felt I could draw what I wanted for this piece. It's a stretch for me, but I'm glad I went with it. Adding in the watercolor washes helped to define some of the images and to show the stark difference between the inside of the kitchen and the potential outside the window.
I pictured a 1970's kitchen and a woman dressed in her apron. She is working hard to finish the housework and looks longingly out the window, wondering what is out there for her. She is certain that it is something better than the drab mustard-colored kitchen!"

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Peggi!:

"I combined a couple of my own photographs to create a sort of "alternate reality" - an impression of looking out a window onto a lake...the photos are actually of a lake in New Mexico and a patio garden, located in Bisbee, Arizona. I like the idea of creating a dreamlike state when I combine photos...it's challenging, but also a lot of fun. I suppose I could have made it all black and white, or all sepia-toned, but by having the two different types combined, I think it actually gives more depth & contrast to the end result...."

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

Welcome to Dianne! Her entry:

"SPOOKY.. Well I was taking this pic on the bus through
a window. I'm hoping you can see this bigger. There seems
to have been 3 gentlemen in front of the 3 church windows. When I
enlarged the pic it is just 3 stainglassed windows, how the gentleman
ended up in there is a mystery to me.."

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Karen O.!:

"The artword for this week is "window," which is timely for me since we recently returned from France and Italy with many photos of interesting windows. Any of the photos would have made a good entry completely unadorned, but not being one to leave well enough alone, I altered one in Photoshop. As I worked, I thought of windows, then the eye is the window of the soul. Soul-- that led me to put in the image of the ghostly soul lingering here on earth. Perhaps she has yet to find the window to her life beyond this one."

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Ascenderrisesabove!:

Title: "Window Shopping"
Photo c. Ascender 2006

Her face is every face
and each time she melts
she is a different woman
in contemplation of the air
she lounges
on polysterene rocks
the Biba mannequin
sighs of boredom
and an empty heart
a thrill of froth
gathers at her feet
and the window becomes a canvas
with a flicked lizard tongue
she licks the latest tune
as it cascades moistening
laying in the crevices
she feels herself flatten
splintering into drizzle

she awakes a glistening minnow
dying on the shore
glinting an eye at the sun

View Through a Camera by Christopher Barnes

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

Another great entry from Brandie!:

"This is a little piece of what might have been in my grandfathers thoughts, if someone were looking in. I used bits and pieces of stories I have heard throughout my past. Some came from him, and some came from other family members... I know I never tire of hearing these stories...
I have strung along some words that are supposed to be portrayed as a random series of thoughts and memories that may have been in his head as he sat with his paper and chalk... with a little bit of fiction thrown in, only because I like to dream myself...
I think about him a lot this time of year... Thanksgiving was always a BIG deal... Everyone would be at my grandparents house... We even had relatives all the way from California some years. All the great aunts, great uncles, aunts, uncles, cousins... EVERYONE... ooh... I can smell it, and see it and feel it just as if it were yesterday...
He would always sit at the head of the table (the captains chair...) and of course I would be sitting next to him. Oh... I could go on... but I would cry... and I don't really want to do that tonight...

Following are the words written into this piece:

...One day he will quit school to go to work to help feed his family. His parents are deaf and can not find work. He works 14 + hours a day for very little pay. He has little time to do anything but sleep and work. He has 2 sisters and 2 brothers, they have beans with every meal. He watches as his father waits until everyone else has eaten. Sometimes his father doesn't get to eat. His mother taught him to talk with his hands. She would spell secrets into his cupped hands, a game that only they shared. He wishes she could hear his voice just once. He spends the early morning hours before work and before the noise of his siblings, with his paper and black chalk. He draws paper landscapes and dreams. One day he will have a beautiful wife and have children of his own, and they will have children too. He will not have to work so hard, and he will teach his granddaughter to speak and tell secrets with her hands, and he will teach her to draw paper landscapes with black chalk...


I created this piece on a vintage rail road time card. I used 2 photos of my grandfather, and a railroad landscape, acrylic paint, graphite pencil, and an archival black ink pen. I used gel medium and an image transfer technique for the 2 larger images. I hope this piece touches you as much as it does me."

Topic #30--"Window" Entry

From Brandie!:

"She looks like she's looking at me saying: "One false move and I'm gone." I think she's lonely, like there are no other kids around... forced to entertain herself day in and day out... and she dreams of running away. She'll run to a place not so desolate, someplace populated where she can make some friends, and not be alone anymore.

I hope she finds her place.

This piece was created on 4 x 4 clayboard. I had this piece of clayboard sitting on my work table for a long time. Whenever I use walnut ink there is always some left over, so rather than just letting it dry out, I brushed it on this little piece of clayboard... This became the background for this piece, layers and layers of walnut ink... It is a deep brown color. I will with different consistencies of walnut ink... sometimes very thin sometimes very pasty... so many layers of different textures were applied to this piece. Well you know I used walnut ink on this one, I also used acrylic paint, copies of vintage photos and vintage book pages."

Topic #30--Window

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Windyangel (Wendy)!:

"I was asked by a friend to do some Christmas cards. This is more challenging. I have to do something she'll like. A couple of the things she likes are birds and outdoors. She chose the papers. I didn't have any photos of winter birds. I decided to do this picture from some clipart I had. I did it my own way.

Anyway, I was quite scared about the drawing. It's not really something I do very often or very well. I was pleased though. Even if Jen doesn't care for it, the drawing was good practice. And once again I was reminded that though I couldn't find something I was looking for at the last minute - my good pencil crayons, sometimes it works out better. I used mostly the water soluble caran d'ache. YES, the blending was perfect.

I love birds. Chickadees are birds that I commonly see and hear. This winter I'll try to get photos. They are very tame. I've heard of people feeding them from hand. Beautiful chickadees."

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Christine!:

"This is for my journal -- I love the quote -- and don't you wish you could fly?"

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

Welcome to Michelle! Her entry!:

"In this world, darkness is plentiful - war, poverty, sickness, hunger, hate, death. Sometimes...nay, inevitably, our life paths will take an unhappy turn. The road will become gloomy & sad. Don't let the dark consume you, child! Look up, up, up and the night clouds will part. A brilliant moon hangs in a sky strewn with innumerable pinpricks of starlight. Take these heavenly wonders as reminders that no matter the depth of the dark, light waits beyond. Trust in this & you can endure and conquer."

This the "journal page" I created on the 8 by 10-inch canvas board that I featured in my background tutorial (entry "Art's Foundation.") I did darken the final background just a touch more so it would have more blue than green. I created a little owl gal similiar to this in a previous journal page and just had to create another. I guess this would also serve as my entry for the ArtWords topic, "birds."

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

Here's a little ATC I made a while back entitled "Benny and Her Bird"

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

Welcome to Laura! Her entry!:

"Part of an alphabet journal I recently started and B for bird fit perfectly! "A bird in the hand..." which to me represents what I have in my life right now that is golden and to be treasured, as opposed to trying to acquire that which can't be seen easily or seems difficult to attain.

Acrylic paint background, handcarved stamp, clipart bird, photo of my hand altered in Photoshop, raised & gilded stencil letter "B" on torn gessoed paper, golden fiber thread."

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Amanda!:

"I have been struggling to contribute to Artwords for the past few weeks. I haven't been able to achieve anything creative because my energy levels have been so low. A few days ago I managed to start experimenting in Photoshop and created a couple of images I was fairly happy with for starters (see my photos on Flickr) and then today I started working on my entry for this week's topic "Birds".
I knew I had appropriate photos because when I was living in Melbourne I had this wonderful experience with the geese at Studley Park. My husband and I were just sitting reading at one of the picnic tables and about 20 geese came and mobbed us! I know geese can be aggressive so I was a bit alarmed, but they were just lovely. They came right up close, checking us out and honking, letting me take loads of close-up shots. Then our mobile (cell) phone rang and the person on the other end was quite concerned - the geese were so loud she could hardly hear me speak and she thought we must be getting attacked!
They really were such beautiful healthy creatures, so brave, just looking us in the eye, but with curiosity, not animosity. Wonderful!
I've had the feeling that Photoshop could be a good way for me to express myself creatively when I'm pretty tired because sitting at the computer is something I still tend to do unless I have a headache. It's just that I haven't been able to create anything I was really satisfied with up until now. I discovered a great group on Flickr, the Photoshop Support Group. They put up short tutorials on how to achieve certain effects and you can start discussion threads on how to create a particular look that you are after. Already I've learned a lot from them and it is showing!"

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Karen C.!:

Last Night My Mama Came

"I've never stopped searching for those signs.

My dear sweet doggie Bubbles was sick the same time as my mother; I always felt she hung on those last few months so she would be here to help me through those first months of grief after my mother was gone. After Bubbles passed away I asked my mother to give me a sign that they were together.

Several months after my mother’s death, I dreamed she and I were looking out the window of a house over a misty swamp. All these animals danced across the top of the water through the trees and disappeared in the fog ... very ghostlike and eery. My mother never uttered a word and yet I was so glad to see her again; she seemed so real. In my dream I reached out to touch her on the arm and she evaporated into thin air.

Last week I had another nightmare where I was searching for my mother, which prompted the I Dreamt Last Night journal page I posted on November 18th. The night after I posted it to my blog, my mother and Bubbles came to visit me in a dream and I heard my mother’s voice for the first time in six years. She had no great words of wisdom for me, but her voice filled me with such a great sense of peace … the kind of peace that can only come with the visit of a loved spirit.

My family chose the dove as a symbol for my mother; she was always the peacemaker in the family and true to her nature, she swooped into my dream and gave me the peace I so desperately longed for.

I thought it was fitting that I post this today, as this is what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday."

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

Welcome to Aileen! Her entry!:

"I created the background using my Color Mist sprayable watercolors and once try I spritz it with alchohol and then dried it with the heat gun. The wording is "One is the loneliest number....two is better then one...""

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Fran!:

"I have not tried to do anything with a bird in the past, but I figured that the shape of a bird was something I could probably create with my collage work. I'm fairly happy with the result of this mixed media piece. It's created with handpainted (with acrylic) papers, encaustic wax, and a printed phrase by Maya Angelou, one of my favorite poets and writers. The text reads, "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." I think that's such an important point. We all have something to say!"

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Darcy!:

"BirdWoman" by Darcy Altaville of BlueJude Studio c.2006

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Karen!:

"I'm still melting transparencies. Today I put together this journal cover with a melted transparency of an old ledger sheet over the eggs. Then I tried another technique from Somerset Workshop 2-- polymer clay embellishments. I made a bird egg from the clay and punched holes in it and sewed it to the cover. I named it Eternal because of the old conundrum, "Which came first -- the chicken or the egg?"

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Ascenderrisesabove! Be sure to check out her full post (very "Hitchcocky")--the link to which is in the comment section of the original topic post:

Title: "On a Wire"
Medium: Photo; PhotoShop 2006

Contact Ascender for Print Purchase

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Kate i! Be sure to visit her blog post for the full story--the link to it is in her comment under the original topic post.:

"the word for ARTWORDS this week is BIRDS and last week it was STORY. i thought i would combine the two and make a story with a bird in it! yah, cheating, i know!

the story on this card, is that i live on the west coast of Canada...the very, west coast...and our winters are mild but wet. i live in the woods with lots of birds around, but the crows and ravens are the ones that facinate me. they are renowned for their cleverness and called the "trickster" in the local native legends. they have an incredible vocal range and have been known to shape and use tools out of bits of wire! "

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

Welcome to Peggi! Her entry!:

The Birds (Da Boidz)

"This is my first time submitting, in fact =) I've been wanting to do a piece with ravens for a while, and I wanted it to be a bit "dark." This is a digital collage where I combined a couple of my own photos with an image of a raven - the photo of a rose that I took last year, I decided to make "negative" thus, (hopefully) giving the collage more of a dark, edgy look. Hope you like it!"

Topic #29--"Birds" Entry

From Tricia!:




"I made it as you can see on Saturday. As I finished it up, I joked with my husband that I hoped the next artwords topic would be birds. How weird/cool is that?! Don't you love it when things like that happen? :)
Admid a hectic day, art was made and now it is time for bed. My mind is racing from caffeine but my body is exhausted.

16x20 canvas covered with dress pattern paper and gel medium for texture. black acrylic paint was next, then brown, then titanium buff. walnut ink was spritzed on. rubbed in. white fluid acrylics were watered down and sponged on. the ruler was added. (this is a special piece for me. i found the ruler in my stepdad's garage days after he passed away.) the wooden birds were painted buff, then white, jewel eyes were added. lace was added. other elements added, tiles and nest photo. also pieces from a nest we just got from the back porch on thursday. the last step was to drizzle and flick spots of beeswax for added softness.

This piece is a step in a new direction for me. i was extremely uncomfortable with the size of the canvas and actually i am surprised that i ended up with a piece that i like. art for our tv room! my original vision when i painted the canvas black is nowhere close to where i ended up. is this the way it works? i am just beginning. i am excited about this journey. i am trying to just breathe and go with it. good night to all. sweet dreams."

Topic #29--Birds

By Marie Najera

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

Welcome Karen C.! Her entry:

"Well I didn't really dream last night ... but I did dream it this week and it felt frighteningly real.

This is my entry for the Artwords journal prompt: Story. This is two-fold, as I was frantically searching all the rooms story after story looking for my dearly departed mother and yet my dream also seemed to be telling a story.

Oh yeah ... and my doodling letters leave a lot to be desired ... not sure I'll ever get the hang of uniform letters LOL"

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

From Zorana!:

"The story here is not about the giant bird towering over trees, with little creatures floating around and a boot standing in her way. (Now that I wrote it, it sounds like it could be some kind of story there.) But no, this is a love story and I'm writing it because this blog is my little journal and I want to remember some sweet moments.
Yesterday my daughter was showing me what they did in their math class and left the paper on the table. What choice do you have with a piece of paper sitting in front of you but to doodle? So that's what I did - mindlessly doodled filling the page with lines. The funny thing is - my husband saw it this morning and loved my doodle so much that he scanned it, enlarged and printed on good paper. He even placed it over an existing painting (in a frame not shaped for it). Then he stood there and admired it, as it is the most precious piece of art.
Now - if that is not love, I don't know what is."

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

From Darcy!:

"Keeper of Words" bookmarks

"I was talking to my daughter one night and I was saying how much I love books, and I love bookmarks but I rarely use 'em cause I laways lose 'em. Well, this is the bookmark that's hard to lose and a delight to use."

They are available for sale on her Etsy--visit her full entry--link in the comment section of the original topic post.

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

My entry for this week:

I often combine text and vintage imagery within the settings I create in my art. As I work I feel like I am weaving them together to tell a story about the person or people in the piece. I have a large collection of old books in my studio from which I draw the text--often times opening a random book, opening to a random page and dropping my finger down on the page--serendipity at its best, as I often find just the perfect text to tell the story. Like in this ATC....

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

From Helene!:

Works from her Sarah Run June Series!

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

From Ascenderrisesabove!:

Title: "Next to Nothing"
Medium: Original; Collage

Contact for Print Purchase.

It's the kiss of the tears
stinging & cold
the sum of the years
the story untold
In the heart of our hearts
the heart of the soul
at the heart of the hopes & the fears
that we've known
we know we'll know
we were throwing time away
breathlessly throwing time away
throwing time away
recklessly throwing time away

It's the dawn of the day
surely must come
Married we stayed
Look what's been done
In the heart of our hearts
the heart of the soul
at the heart of the hopes & the fears
that we've known
we know we'll know
we were throwing time away
breathlessly throwing time away
throwing time away
recklessly throwing time away

Throwing time away

"Wasted" by Jones-Krauss-Maimone-Thomas; "Story of My Life" Lyrics

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

From Tricia! Be sure to visit her full post by clicking on her link in the comment section of the original topic post.:

11"x12"
"First I copied a photo of my grandmother, Melva. I never met her; she was murdered when my mom was nineteen. By my grandfather...but that is another story...Anyway... I have stared at this photo more times than I can count trying to get a feeling for who she was and it felt a bit strange to use the image in this way but as I went through my photos it was the eyes that held me, and the uncomplicated dark background, the scratches and folds. So I decided that for today she would be "Vera". Next I found a bit of writing I had done a few months back. I thought they might work together. I glued the photo to a square of black textured cardstock, adding photo corners. Next I glued the cardstock to some wallpaper scraps. I wrote Vera's story around her image and then sewed that to two pieces of gessoed duck cloth left over from a rug project 7 years ago-so glad to have found a use for it! (Funny how it can be a good thing sometimes to be a packrat!)
The definition of "coward" was cut out and added. Vera's lips and hair ribbon were colored in and she was outlined in white. For that I used a white china marker. Chandelier prisms that I just found this morning at a local salvage yard were added along the bottom, a pink ribbon attached to the top for hanging.
As you read Vera's story imagine her speaking in the husky voice of a woman who has smoked for thirty odd years......a tired, slow voice............."

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

From Karen!:

" I wanted to choose art that told a story. The photo above was originally made by my grandfather in the early 1950s. It needs no caption really. The viewer can put the pieces together and see the story — in the midst of a flood, these men are making the best of a bad situation by putting on their waders and just waiting for it to pass.
Hoping my grandfather is not looking down shaking his head, I digitally altered the photo and added my own quirky touches."

Topic #28--"Story" Entry

From Brandie!:

"I love the way this man looks so clean cut, neat and orderly, a very tidy person, and yet everything around him is such a mess. He has some definite skeletons lurking in the shadows... or at least I hope so...

I didn't realize until it was ready for the collage, but a piece of a dictionary used says.. Parker Bu.......
This is a remnant of a dictionary that belonged to my grandfather, Parker Butcher. I almost didn't use it. I was very close to choosing a piece to replace it. My heart broke as I held it inches from the glued surface that would be it's permanent home. It was pulled out of the depth of vintage ephemera in my collection seemingly at random, but maybe he handed it to me for use in this fabulous piece. hmm lovely thought, a warm lovely thought, gotta love those.

I created this piece on 5 x 5 inch clayboard. I used copies of vintage photographs, pieces of a vintage cigar ad, a vintage dictionary, acrylic paint, matte medium, and walnut ink. Oh... and tiny pieces of archival scotch tape. (how clever)."

Topic #28--Story

"Story of Painting" by Squeak Carnwath

Topic #27--"Red" Entry

From Ian!:

"little refugees : (pencil doodle with digital colouring)

actually i've carried this image around for a long time. for reasons i've forgotten, one of our haunts at school was the library. i don't think it was the attraction of books so much as it was a long, narrow room which faced broadsides to the south, hence the sun made it the least depressing corner in the whole place.

so this one time i found a magazine lying around with an article on refugee camps and the cover depicted two young boys, one sipping something from a huge tin cup while the other looked on in expectation of his turn. i'm pretty sure they were bangladeshi kids in the photo but it really seems to be a recurring global problem so my kids are from no particular place. one little detail i liked in the original picture was the impression the cup was too hot and someone had torn a rough square from a cardboard box for the kid to hold it with.

anyway, back in the library i remember doing a pencil sketch of the image which i kept but somewhere between then and here it got lost with the rest of my childhood drawings. this version is a lunchtime doodle which i've tidied up and coloured in using paintshop."

Topic #27--"Red" Entry

Welcome to Tina! Her entry!:

"I love the color RED! I really like this piece. Not sure why; may just be the subject material or just the color, but I really really like this piece."

Topic #27--"Red" Entry

From Mary Ann!:

Topic #27--"Red" Entry

Welcome to Helene! Her entry!:

"yes!!!I have done my first artword challenge"

too many things to do so little time;
Blessed be!" It is for sale--contact her if interested (her link is under "Participants").

Topic #27--"Red" Entry

From Christine!:

"I had red out for my Christmas fairies -- so I made this happy collage. I'm keeping this one!!"

Topic #27--"Red" Entry

Welcome to Tricia! Her entry!:

"This piece was done using a wooden frame from Michaels Craft Store, you know, the $1 ones...and I first gessoed, then painted with acrylics (red, gold, green, black and white), stamped with black ink, added a birdie image, some scrabble letters, a small metal charm that says "joy", and some metal hardware circles found in my step-dad's garage. Inside the frame are 4 of the 1 inch square cards I played with another day, not knowing at the time what I was going to do with them. Behind the small squares is a piece of watercolor paper that was painted using the same acrylics. I actually painted the paper to use for another project but I like how it works here and I have enough paper still to do something else with it too. I am just now starting to use my paints to make my own papers (thank you marni for the inspiration!) instead of always using the scrapbook paper from the store. I also enjoyed working in the square format of the frame and of the small art pieces."