Saturday, February 10, 2024

The Dragon

 Hi everyone. Happy weekend to you.

It is nice to have the sun this morning, and hopefully a mild day too. I'm hoping  maybe it will be warm enough to take a peek into the bees and slide in some food. I will have to see though. Otherwise I'm hoping for a lot of art time, and that when my hubby checks my car's check-engine light, it isn't anything I need to take the car into the shop for (seeing I just had to buy new tires last month and that was an ouch!).

Today I have a page in my journal to celebrate the year of the dragon. It begins today. 


I started with gold paint,and once that dried, I used some red paint and a stencil. I inked the edges red. Then I used a Chinese writing rubber stamp and randomly stamped the background. 

And isn't that dragon face cool? A few years back I found this die on sale and I couldn't resist buying it. I don't know why I haven't used it yet though. Hopefully that will change now that the package has been opened.

The dragon face was die cut from red cardstock and then I rubbed a black ink pad over it to accentuate the details.  I glued him down and after he dried, I stamped the prosperity and happiness words  (from an old Hero Arts set) on acetate and added those. I then added some red velvet trim along the top and bottom, as well as a gold dot on each end. I finished with a fortune from a fortune cookie that I had. I colored it red to have it blend in better with the page. I'm not sure the page actually needed the fortune though now that it is attached. 

I'm linking my page up to several challenges. First of all to More Than Words, where this month the challenge is your element or dragon or red. I used all of them on my page since my element is metal, and the gold (well they're not real gold) dots represent that.

I am also linking up to Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge #101, where the topic is always Anything Goes.

And finally, because the gold background is the color we associate light , I am also linking up to Vicki's Keeping It Light challenge at Art Journal Journey.

And finally, I will be joining Gillena's Sunday Smiles on Sunday.

And finally Gillena mentioned it was her birthday today. Isn't this a beautifully frosted cake? Perfect for Gillena's birthday and for the upcoming Valentine's Day.


Happy Birthday Gillena.

Have a great weekend or the rest of it (depending on when you visit). 




19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful page! Happy Chinese New Year! -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com

ashok said...

Happy Chinese new year :)

Angie's Recipes said...

That's really beautiful!

Fundy Blue said...

This amazing, Erica! You explained your process beautifully, but I can't conceive of imagining and creating it. I guess that comes from experience over years. The dragon is striking and a perfect tribute to the Chinese New Year.

Iris Flavia said...

To hubbies!
And to art and dragons (wish me luck I get not "attacked" again, like last time here in Perth!) Hugs, and to a great weekend!

Gillena Cox said...

Its my birthday today. When you get to my linky party be ready to dance

Much♡love

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Those warning lights can be both essential and annoying. Recently I had one come on. “Check engine immediately” it said, or words that conveyed that message. I immediately abandoned my intended purpose, turned around and headed for the Volkswagen dealer where I was told that the light had short-circuited, the reason that it was staying on. “Nothing to worry about,” the serviceman cheerfully said, and fixed the warning light. Meantime the whole debacle cost me almost two hours of my time! All the best - David

Gillena Cox said...

Yeah!!!!
Thank you Erika

Much♡love

sirkkis said...

Dragons are a good example of light and red. Yours look great.
Happy birthday there;) We have a most exciting evening, because our new president will be announced this evening. There are 2 candidates left from 8.
Happy evening to you xx

Lowcarb team member said...

That is a lovely page.
Happy Chinese New Year to all who celebrate.

All the best Jan

CJ Kennedy said...

A very handsome dragon. Send them here on Tuesday so they can breathe fire and melt all the snow. Stay warm!

Aimeslee Winans said...

Hi, Erika. Hoping this comment goes through as I have been having trouble with that the last few days. Hope your car has an easy fix and your bees get food. A very lovely page to honor the Chinese New Year. That's a terrifcally unique die, very striking. Happy new week, xoxo

Valerie-Jael said...

I love your dragon page, fantastic. And that's a perfect cake for a valentine birthday! Hugs, Valerie

Paloma Gomez said...

That's a beautiful page. I wish you a good year of the dragon, too.

*Vicki* said...

Oh my that dragon face is amazing! The background is a wonderful fiery design and color! The strip of ribbon make me want to touch it! Wonderful Year of the Dragon page and I'm so happy to see another art piece from you for the "light" theme my friend! That heart cake looks so yummy!!!

Jeanie said...

Love that dragon -- and I'd also love a bite of that cake!

Neet said...

Such a pretty cake, I could just eat a slice.
But that dragon page in your journal steals the show. What a fantastic page it is. I love the background you have made. It's like a huge banner in golds and reds with the occasional touch of black for contrast. The head! Oh Erika, what a find that die was. So perfect for such a number of things and certainly one to bring out each Chinese New Year. It is fabulous.
Hugs, Neet xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

What a fabulous page Erika- the gold does shine a light through that die cut - perfect for Vicki's AJJ theme, hugs ,Chrisx

Andree said...

A wonderfully dramatic journal page. The amazing dragon looks suitable fierce against the flaming background.
Thank you for joining in with our February challenge "Anything Mixed Media Goes" at Creative Artiste Mixed Media. Good luck! x