Newest completed creation

I completed this pillow from a kit this afternoon while at Crafternoon meet up. I've been a lot more creative and ill post some of the creations and instructions when it makes sense

After a long hiatus

It has been ages since I have posted or created anything new. There are several reasons the two most powerful are depression and disorganization (I could not get to the art stuff I needed).

But in the last few weeks art ideas have been rolling around in my head and with Christmas tomorrow I figured its time to start. So I made this piece for my boyfriend. This is our first Christmas together. Really our first gift exchange as well.

Ingredients I used:
Recycle cardboard
Scissors
Ruler
Scratch paper
Scrap paper for decoupage
Matte medium
Glue brush
Gesso
Heavy gel medium
Stencils
Paint brush
Water
Paper towels
Portfolio oil pastels - light blue, dark blue, white, light green, dark green, black, red and yellow. one of my favorite colorants. If you have not tried them you must) along the end to give it depth. These pastels smear so nicely
Graph paper
Jenni Bowlin punch
Green China marker
Tacky glue
Acrylic paint - yellow, white, green
Plastic wrap
Carbon paper
Graph paper
Black stazon
Tim Holtz heart stamp
Uhu glue stick
Crown tape
Yellow rick rack
Leaf bead
Heavy book


I had a cardboard box in the recycle pile. It was a great blue color with the word "blue". I cut it down to 8.5 x 11 inches. I decopauged with random scrap paper. I used a technique I learned from Julie Fei Fen Balzar of using a stencil and gesso to creat a resist to the green paint. I used flower and circle stencils. I mixed heavy gel medium to make the gesso thick and easier to use with the stencils. I used portfolio water soluble oil pastels to add depth to the sides. To create a garden I used a punch, green china marker, and portfolios to draw the flowers.

The focal point is the house made out of cardboard. I hand drew the larger one then made a smaller template and cut it out. I painted both with gesso and let them dry.

The background house was painted with yellow acrylic paint and let it dry. Using the plastic wrap technique where I painted over the yellow with watered down white acrylic. While the paint is wet smoosh plastic wraps to make texture. Leave the wrap in place and Let this dry completely. Using the portfolios again I outlined the sides and edges with green and dark blue. It was glued to the base using tacky glue.

For the smaller house, I used carbon paper and a paint brush handle and scribbled the carbon on the gesso. Then using portfolio in blue to deepen the color and cover the edges. Using a tag as a template I created the door out of recycled graph paper stamping the heart. Colored the heart with red portfolio and out lined the door in green portfolio. Glue this to small house using uhu glue stick. The roof was edged with yellow rick rack blue leaf bead and brown crown tape. Glued the little house to the big house using tacky glue. I set a heavy book on the house as it dried.

Pretty cool if I say so myself

Progression of a canvas

At Artfest this year I took a class with Mary Beth Shaw focusing on how to get dimension on your canvas. She introduced me to this amazing product called wood icing. On this piece I used it with a brick wall stencil and the wood icing.

The second pic is glazing medium and pan pastels in an awesome purple color.

The next pic is acrylic paint applied very freely.

Finally I added the big purple paper flower and the polka dotted paper tape

I think I'll hang this in my room

Mothers Day Gifts

Again I have started to slack off on doing art daily. Long term motivation seems to be what I need. Now that I have defined the problem, what is the solutions? I don't know. I am holding out that once I move and can be in a new place and set it up I will be more motivate. All in favor say "aye." Hahaha



For mothers day though I did create some gifts. I did tin sunflower collages. I took the idea I learned from Opie and Linda O'Brien and with a twist made it my own.


Ingredients

Wooden Plaque or piece of wood at least 3/4 inch thick

Tin (I used an old folgers coffee can and a cafe du monde coffee can that is not old.)

Heavy Rubber Mallet
Can Opener
Tin Snips
Permanent Marker (I used a sharpie)
Hammer
Pliers
Awl
Piece of Scrap Wood
Carpet Tape
Finishing Nails (I got mine at Home Depot for less than $1.)
Gesso
Paint brush
Water
Matte Medium
Sheets of Music
Glaze or paint mixed with a glazing medium. I used golden glaze in violet earth.
Drink Can Pull Tab





Steps

1. Preparing the wood. The plaques I used were already finished. So if you are using just plain wood you might want to sand it smooth first. I covered mine in gesso. Let that dry. Then collage sheet music on it with matte medium and let dry. You can use any vintage paper you have. I wanted something to give the background interest. Glaze over the collage. Let dry.


2. Preparing the tin. Using a can open remove the bottom of the coffee can. Then with the tin snips cut along the seam of the can. I bought my tin snips from the O'Breins and they work great. They sell them on their Etsy site which is the link on the supply list. Using the rubber mallet flatten the metal. Now every thing is prepared.


4. Using a permanent marker, trace your design on the back of the tin. Simple designs work best but the tin snips do a great job on detail work as well. Cut out your design.
5. With the hammer, awl and scrap wood tap a small hole in the tin where you would like the nails to be placed. You can use a small metal punch for this but for me the awl works just as well.
6. Place a piece of carpet tape on the back of each of the tin pieces. Arrange the pieces on the wood as you would like them. Use the carpet tape to hold them in place.
7. With the hammer and finishing nails, attach the tin to the wood.
8. Attach the pull tab to the back with a finishing nail. This will work as a hanger for the finished piece.

nothing to report and a book within a book

Last night, after my injection I went home and fell asleep. So no new art. So I thought I would share something I made last summer and the directions for it.

Its a book inside a book. I started off making a mini book. here is the link to a website that explains it really well.

http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/makingbooks/minibook/index.htm

I did this mini book in a class I took for free (free is a very good price.) In the class the instructor had the most awesome clip art so the entire mini book is clip art and rub on lettering.

I painted the two page spread with Golden's heavy body acrylic paint in payne's grey. I just did it haphazardly to give it a lot of texture. The lettering is from a text sheet of paper and using my sizzlit machine. I am not sure of the font. I adhered the mini book in the spine of the book.

Now I have a page that has pages to turn on it.

This mini book can actual be a big book too just use larger paper with the same dimensions. Lynne Perrella does this times and it is awesome.

Cover art

I am on a roll folks. I am continuing to create art on a regular basis. I am doing so much that I decided to only post things that get finished.

Last night I finished a cover to one of my books. I usually do the covers near the end of a book because other wise I am smashing the embellishments and when I am working on the inside the art on the cover makes it hard to get a good impression and such.

The technique that I did on this cover is a faux leather technique. I love it because it uses recycled grocery sacks. Perfect for an earth day project.

Ingredients

1. Brown Grocery Sacks torn into random pieces
2. soft gel medium
3. glue brush (a paint brush dedicated to glue)
4. Substrate in this case my book cover

Steps

1. Glue the pieces of grocery sack down on the substrate.
2. Cover with gel medium. Let dry

Easy peasy huh and it makes a great background. I have a page I will show later when it is finished that I did the same thing. I used an old nylon paint brush I got at an estate sale and as I was spreading the glue bits of the bristles were coming off so my book has these interesting black spots that I had not planned for at all.

Next I stamped the white swirls using white gesso. Let that dry. Then stenciled using sequence waste the purple and yellow dots.

To the spine I add some ribbon flowers along the spine. These are different then the technique I talked about the other day. I will show you how to make these later when I do some step by step pictures. These particular flowers I made last year for Artfest as trades and forgot to trade them.

Final step was to stamp something on the front. Coming up with titles for my altered books is very random. What ever word pops in my head I use. In this case, April the month it was worked on and it fit perfectly.

Circus page

This page has been worked on different times in the last year or so. It really has gone in spurts. The spread was gessoed first, as are most of my pages. Then the circus tissue paper from the dollar store was added. I thought it was really to bright for anything I would do so I dry brushed titanium buff over it to push it to the background and fade it out. So then it set for a while.

Then one day I was messing around with creating ribbon flowers and realized the orange polka dotted ribbon went well on this page but I did not have any focal image so the page sat with possible embellishments but no focal image.

In September, my friend go married and we made her wedding programs with orange vellum. Well the orange vellum that was not perfect became mine. As I thought about it I thought it went really well with this page.

I stamped the face, buildings and quote (all from Zettilogy) and placed them on the page. I added the ribbon flowers and like the page but it did not seem finished.

On Monday, I had a box of trim out next to me and the braided trim was right on top the perfect color and the perfect size to finish off the page.

I am not sure where I learned to do the ribbon flowers, but I know I was influenced by Sister Diane who taught me how to make flower embellishments out of buttons and trim so I am going to give her credit.

Directions for the ribbon flowers.

Ingredients:

1. Ribbon about 6 inches but really this depends on how full you want your flower. The ribbon has to be wide enough that you can run a stitch along it. I used 1 inch wide ribbon.
2. Scissors
3. Thread any color
4. Needle
5. Button
6. Embroidery thread or fake flower stamens.
7. Fabric glue or heavy duty industrial glue like E-6000

Steps:

1. Cut ribbon to desired length. Run a running stitch along the edge. This edge will be hidden by the button so don't worry about thread color. Cut off thread. Leave at least 3 inches of thread at both ends of the ribbon.

2. Gently pull the thread so the ribbon bunches up. Tie the to ends together tightly.

3. Thread embroidery thread through button and tie off like flower stamens or use fake stamens. Glue button on top.

This ribbon make great hair embellishments as well.

I know another each ribbon flower that I will share later.