the Altered Brush Project by Donna Downey

This project was so much fun. I never thought of altering a paint brush. On Donna Downey's blog you can see all the brushes hanging in the bathrooom. Thats right her bathroom.  She also has links to her other posts of altered brushes. Go take a look. You will be amazed at all the creativity. Not one is the same theme at all.  Amazing pieces of art!

Of course because I love Halloween Edgar Allen Poe was a perfect pick for a theme. 

 

 

I didn't have a frame for his photo so I made one out of modeling paste. It's not the greatest looking  but I think it fits the project.  I wanted to add more trees branches without making it look cluttered so after added distress stains to the handle I stamped more trees on it with archival ink.  

 

Here is a close up:

 

 

This was so much fun!

You can still join in!

Don't forget to go see the other brushes!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

Smile! Fun with Stampotique Stamps and Dylusions

Hello!  Still busy at work but I'm trying to squeeze in some arting time to relieve the stress. I have new stamps from Stampotique Originals called Smile and Kitty by artists Daniel Torrente & Jill Penney that I used on this tag.  I also used Dylusions spray inks, stamp and stencil.

 

Isn't he cute. He just makes me smile. I'm not a cat person at all but I love this little cat. You can use it for anything.

 

In my next post I will show you what I made for Donna Downey for her "Altered Brush Project". You can check it out here if you can't wait! This project was so much fun and its amazing not one is the same theme. They are all gorgeous!  Thanks Donna for a fantastic project!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Mermaids!

Last week I received my order from Stampotique!  It's been really had to play in my art room with working late but I made this tag with Smushasha.  I love her. 

 

I used Dylusions spray ink and glass bead texture paste. It made a cool effect because it almost looks like bubbles. 

 

That's it for now. I spent some time in my art room last night and will have a few things to show you once I take pictures.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Friends Forever

Hello! Sorry I've been missing in action. I've been working late, trying to get to the gym, meet with my trainer, and get some art time.

Today I have a quick and easy journal page. The background is distress stains and water, the four friends I found in my scraps, and the flower stamp I didn't even know I had until I cleaned my art room and rearranged things. I have so much space for my stamps and when I pull open a drawer I can see them all.

 

Quick and easy. I wanted to try something new but I don't have the time. Hopefully, I will have more for you soon.  I'm linking this is Julie's Art Journal Every Day! You should go over and take a look at all the pages!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

CREATE, BEAUTY, WONDER AWE

I have a plastic case that is just for metal things and they are mostly miscellaneous household items. I would see a few things laying around in the basement and throw it in the case. I do have quite a bit of color wire so I decided to see what I can make with them. Pulled out my box of metal and chose the washers and after wrapping, twisting and pulling I made these flowers.

 

I found I had brads that were long enough that I when I put them through the middle of the flower they were long enough to push through the canvas and secure it with gel medium.

 

The stems I made from twisting the way together and shaping the wire for leaves. The background was made with Liquitex acrylic inks.

 

Thanks so much for stopping!

 

 

 

Blessings

I've been playing with Liquitex Glass Beads Acrylic Texture Gel and it's so much fun.  I linked to the Liquitex website so you can see what it looks like.  On a #8 tag I applied tissue paper, gesso and the glass beads and waited for it to dry. While waiting I actually cleaned up my table a little so I can see it! I know strange; it was for me too!  Once dried I applied acrylic paints but I can't tell you which colors because there are actually quite a few and I ended up with this color.

Look at the close up. Real cool texture, right?

 

Great color and now I need a focal. I searched through my photos and found the perfect one. This flower was also in a garden in Chicago (don't know its name, sorry!). I used a doily for the background and sprayed it with Dylusions Spray Inks and Adirondack Color Wash Sprays; found two little flowers I think are Prima, the word and it's done!

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Dracula, Spooky, Creepy!

Another Halloween tag today!

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 



Imaginations

Growing up my parents didn't let us watch too much TV until we were much older. We had toys, played outside with family and friends, read books, made mud pies, etc.  Using our imaginations was key to keeping ourselves occupied. I still have a great imagination and when I'm waiting in line or doing something so boring my mind wonders and I off to another world.

My daughter also has a great imagination. When she was little she had a few invisible playmates. The first two that showed up was Boy and Girl. No other names but Boy and Girl. Of course when I had to talk to Boy and Girl and tell them that they had leave her alone so she can go to bed I wasn't talking to the right spot. "Mom, they are not there. Why are you talking to the wall?".  There were times where I wanted to yell and scream and other times where I had to walk away laughing so hard.

The other invisible playmate I will always remember. He came from a different world and stayed with her for a little longer than Boy and Girl. One night she wouldn't go to sleep. I would walk in there and she would say it wasn't her fault it was his and point to the end of the bed. Now, when I child truly believes that her playmate is there you start to think maybe she might be going nutty or you're completely blind or too old to believe in the magic.  I would get upset make her lay down and talk to her playmate that he needed to stop. I thought it was Boy but the second time around she informed me that it was her dragon. As her mom I didn't want to act surprised or that it didn't exist because I needed her to go to bed. The third time I was not happy. I walked in the room so mad and she said she couldn't go to sleep because the dragon was jumping on the bed. What can a mother do but make her lay down and grab the dragon with both arms telling her that he can't stay in the room anymore, open her door and walk out. Looking back I laugh so hard at myself. She looked shocked that I did it but she fell asleep. Lets face it you need an imagination to carry you to worlds that never were.  LOL I didn't have to go far!

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

When magic happens

Have you ever shown someone your creation and they point out something that you didn't even see? That's art magic!  Here is my creation and can you see what I didn't?

 

I didn't see the word BOO in the background. I was just using scraps of paper for this project. Its a 2"x4" canvas panel so using scraps was a perfect option. It's amazing what others see in your art!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

They have hair!!!

Today I have a journal page to show for Julie's Art Journal Every Day.  The photograph are real flowes taken in the gardens in Chicago. I do not know their name. If anyone knows please leave me a comment.

This page had a funny ending to it.  I was all done with the page and started cleaning up. As I was putting away inks and fluid acrylics I reached for the India ink and didn't realize I didn't close it.  Well I don't really know what happened but it knocked over and I tried to pick it up before it spilled. I did reach the bottle but the top flew. I realized that I had a few drops of ink on a few things in my art room and table BUT most of it landed on my finished journal page. It bounced a few times on the table and this is what it created on my journal page.

 

 

I love happy accidents!

Have you had any happy accidents?

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

A girl and her gator

Today I have a tag to show you. The image was a gift from a reader and I have had it for over a year. I'm sorry to say I don't remember who sent it to me but thank you again. She sent this to me because she knows that my daughter loves alligators. Its her favorite animal.

 

I used distress inks to color in the picture. The background was probably made with distress inks or acrylic inks that needed to be cleaned off my craft sheet. I have a basket full of tags with different forms of backgrounds that I'm trying to use.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Poison Ivy

No, I don't have any but I added it to this tag. I used templates/stencils from Crafters Workshop and Red Lead for the tress and bats.  The paper is all scraps and odds and ends. All my Halloween paper, embellishments, stickers, scraps, ribbon and other odd items are all stored in two plastic storage containers that are sold for 12x12 scrapbook pages. I take everything out of the packages and have fun go through it all. The problem with that is I don't know who made them. Sorry! I do know the leaves are Dylusions stamps that I stamped with archival ink and cut them out to add dimension.

 

Robins Egg Blue (acrylic paint) and Aqua (archival ink) aren't typical colors used for Halloween but I love the way it pops off the page.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

A weed can be beautiful

I have a journal page to show you today. This journal is actually a large leather bound photo book that I found at a tag sale a long time ago.  The pages are heavy duty paper and there is a waxy tissue paper between each page. It's a wonderful journal because I know the pages won't stick together.

I wish I took pictures of my process in making this page. It didn't start out as this at all. I kept experimenting and not liking how it was turning out. There is tons of paper and paint on this page. I will show you a couple of close ups so you can see some of the paint coming through.  I added modeling paste to the page and then covered the whole thing in Gesso.  Once it dried I had a clean slate and I knew exactly what I was going to do.

 

The photo of the dandelion was one I took and won second place for a competition for a camera club.  Once a month I go through all my photographs and print them on one sheet of photo paper then I store them in my art room to use for projects.

 

Here is a close of the page. You can see the other paint colors coming through and the texture of the modeling paste.

 

 

 

 

As I said before I wish I took pictures of the process but when I start a page in my art journal I lose all sense of reality and then it's finished.  This page took me almost 3 hours!

 

I'm linking this to Julie's Art Journal Every Day. You should go over and take a look at Julie's pages plus every one's who linked up!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!