Featured Artist: Keri Sallee

I am so excited to have a chance to jump on the Artsy Addicts bandwagon!
 

My name is Keri Sallee and I am a 33 year old lover-of-all-things-creative who lives in beautiful Northwest Arkansas with my three crazy kiddos (10, 6 and 3) and my hot red-headed hubby of 11 years.

Like many of you, I started scrapbooking when my son was born 10 years ago because "it's what all good moms do!", but as I did it more and looked around, I found there was a bigger world than sticker vomit, rounded corners and matted pictures. There was a whole BIG world of actual ART being made by papercrafters. They were using paint and ribbon and texture and sprays and all sorts of other stuff that the hard core "acid-free/lignin free" creators would cringe at!

So I started to expand my horizons, if you will,  into a little altered art and fell in love with making mini albums, but...there was always a little secret dream I held on to...I wanted to be Christy Tomlinson! Her pieces inspired me with their texture and depth and composition...they were these amazingly BEAUTIFUL MESSES!

For years, I wouldn't let myself even experiment with it. I let myself be ruled by the negative "what ifs": "What if it doesn't look right?" "What if no one likes it?" "What if I mess up?" "What if..." "What if..." "What if..." I never even allowed myself to thing of the positive "what ifs": "What if it looks great?" "What if you like it?" "What if it's fun!?"

Sound familiar to anyone you know?

So one day, I decided to YouTube stalk Christy and I began to notice a pattern to the way she did her work. Not a pattern in the "everything looks the same" kind of thing, but a pattern in her techniques and steps.

Since then, I have found a fun and fabulous freedom in doing my own version of "Christy Tomlinson Mixed Media." I have found a little bit of myself each time I am fearless in trying new things and have found that there's more to my art than just paper and glue and "making pretty stuff." It's therapeutic...freeing....and revealing.

Today...I want to share with you one of my favorite pieces so far. It's only the 3rd piece I've ever done, but the words just say so much: "Enjoy Yourself and Pay Them No Mind."
 

Here are some closeups of my favorite parts:

This project was made using the "Birthday Wishes" collection that Glitz Designs designed for Echo Park's Photo Freedom line. I'm not a "pocket" scrapper, but I loved the bright colors, fun prints and sayings, so I had to have it. 

The black "lace" is actually just a lace stamp that I stamped on a coffee filter and scrunched. Coffee filters are easy (and cheap!) ways to add texture. I use them all the time!

A few other products you might recognize are Tattered Angels' Glam, ArtC damask stencil, Prima Marketing Flowers and drywall tape (from my hubby's DIY stash.)

I hope you've enjoyed my little project today.

You can find me in cyberspace here:

Instagram: thecreativelifestudios

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecreativelifestudios

Twitter: thecreativelifear

Blog: www.thecreativelifear.blogspot.com

Thanks for letting me share today..,.and remember...if you ever get caught up in the "what ifs", remember this little project...the cage is empty because the bird is FREE and so are you. Enjoy yourself and pay them no mind.

God Bless.

XOXO....KERI