Poppies will put them to sleep........

Well, they won't put you to sleep but every time I see a picture of poppies or use this stencil I think of that line from The Wizard of Oz.

My arm is still on the mend but it is feeling much better. I'm going to try to get into my art room this weekend.  I started this only after a few days I hurt my arm. It's not finished but I thought I would show it to you.

This is what I used; Stencils: TCW270 Poppies, TCW361 Tiny Circles, TCW228 Herringbone, 8x10 mixed media board, dictionary paper, and acrylic paints.

 

 

You can see the stencils and the other supplies used in the close ups below.

 

You see I let the paint bubble to add more texture.

 

I don't feel it's finished yet but it will great for a before and after post when its done.

 

Is it finished to you? Let me know your thoughts!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Favorite Stamps - How Many Do You Have?

I keep two small baskets on my table with rubber stamps I use often for either backgrounds or when I need a quick quote. I found this stamp of grapes at the bottom of the basket and the face was already stamped and attached to the tag. The backgrounds on the tag and the page was made using my favorite stencil, Mini Herringbone.  I'm playing with different color combinations this year and they don't always work out and not sure I like this one but it was fun playing!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Art Journal Page - Cherish

This page was quick and easy. I found the page started but never finished. All I added was the hearts with modeling paste and when dry added Golden Fluid Acrylics and just let the paste soak up the color.  I found the word in my box of scraps and attached it. It's a weird color combination and I might have been able to do more but the colors threw me off.

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Art Journal Page - The Ones You Can't See

I have been pulling out my rubber stamps lately and using them in my journals. I have so many stamps that I thought it was time to start using them again.

 

I love this quote - Sometimes the things that are most real are the ones you can't see.

So true! The mermaid is from Stampotique and the fish from Stampin Up.

 

The background was made with gesso, Liquitex Acrylic Inks and water. I used some scrap deli paper to stamp the mermaid, fish and tore the rest to glue on the page.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

One Stencil, Two Sizes, Three Cards. It's Easy!!!

I have a post on The Crafters Workshop blog.

You can click HERE.

 

It's amazing what you can do to get your creative mojo going with just

One Stencil in

Two Sizes - 6x6 and 12x12

which I made

Three Cards.

 

It's easy as 1, 2 and 3!!!

 

 

The Crafters Workshop

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

Perception and My Injured Arm

Hi Everyone! Just a quick post today. I pulled the muscles in my upper right arm and have been in lots of pain. The Orthopedist said it's just musclular and didn't do anything to my shoulder. I am right-handed to it's been hard not to use it. I work on a computer all day and by the time I can get home its pretty sore.  Thank goodness for pain patches! 

I've been taking it easy the last few days. At first I was stressed I couldn't do anything in my art room but then changed the way I was thinking. I have been using the time to read art books that I bought and never read. WOW I should have read them a long time ago.  With a list of ideas and techniques, I can't wait to get in there but I still have more books to read!!!

Perception!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

Art Journal Play - Texture and more texture

The one thing I love about art journals is that there is no right or wrong way to use them. I've been playing with layering textures on the page. Here is a close up of this page. See all the layers of paints, dictionary paper and when I dried the paper with my heat gun I let it bead up for even more texture.

 

The rubber stamp I used is from Red Lead Paperworks. I stamped her on dictionary paper and then fussy cut. Isn't she cute?  This journal page is only the size of an ATC 2.5" x 3.5".

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Art Journal Page: Courage

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I spent most of mine in my art room and just worked on art journal pages. Trying new techniques and playing will all sorts of materials that I haven't touched in quite a while. I also found journal pages started but never finished so I thought I would just finish the page and move on. 


I found this quote and decided to use my own handwriting on my pages.

 

Finished Page -

Here is a close up of the flowers. I have a huge roll of paper that I cut pieces from to use underneath my projects when I'm spraying inks or paints.  They now are full of inks and paints so its time to start using them.

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hope - Mixed Media Tag

This tag I was planning to take pictures of my process but the process took over and it didn't happen. This tag started out with a Tim Holtz stencil, acrylic paints, music paper, modeling paste, embossing powder for texture and a little dry glitter.

I love adding layers and layers to the tags. The manila tags hold up so well to lots of wet mediums. I'm into wings lately and I have been adding them here and there.  This one is a stencil I found in the $1 bins.

 

You can see all the texture on the tag is in this close up. I love using embossing power. It can give so much texture and the distress embossing powers add a crusty texture that I love.

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tiny Moleskine - Happy Playtime

I'm trying to get back in the routine of using my art journals more and need some playtime to back into creating. Many are posting their word of the year or resolutions. This year I don't have one and maybe that's a good decision but I do have some resolutions, sort of. I think 2014 I need to concentrate of my favorite things; stencils, art journals, mixed media, collage and trying to paint in abstract.  I have so many things I want to try but they have been on my list for the last couple of years and either I try them this year or just forget them. 2014 I need to work with the skills I do have and push them to the next level. I may find I have better ideas than my very old list.

Here are the art journal pages I created playing around with paint, stencils, and a white pen.

 

The page below I found flowers or strange plants in the paint when it dried.

 

Not finished with this one yet. I may add some writing to it.

 

Do have resolutions or that one word to live by in 2014?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Butterflies Three

My god-daughter, Cassidy, and I had some time before Christmas to get together and create lots of things. As always we make something for her mother for Christmas. We decided to use a narrow canvas and three butterflies.

Here is Cassidy's finished canvas:

 

Her canvas she used modeling paste and stencils. I love the way it turned out. She attached the butterflies so that the wings pop.

 

Here is my canvas:

 

 

I also used modeling paste and stencils but used additional paints and some stamps in the background. It was originally orange and yellow but I hated. That's the best part of a canvas you can just paint over what you don't like.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 

My Favorites - Beginning to End

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

I hope the new year brings everyone much joy.

 

Since I do not have anything new to post just yet, I thought I would share some of my favorite pieces I have created since I started this blog.  Warning it's a long post.

These are my favorite Christmas cards. It's amazing what you can make with one stamp set and Christmas paper scraps.

 

 

I love this first birthday card. You can see the birthday girl having a tea paper with all her friends.

 

I love face stencils and this one is no expection. You will definately see more of this one.

 

This is my favorite tag I made for Linda's 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge over at The Funkie Junkie. I couldn't finish the challenge this year to do time constraints. Hopefully she will continue with the challenge next year.

 

 

I have my camera with me 24/7 and love street photography. I'm not that great at it but I love these showing people taking pictures with their iphones and went to an art show and met Seth Apter. Perfect ending to a perfect day!

 

 

Made this using Seth Apter's stencils. This piece is called In Disguise. I'm in the process of making more versions of this so stay tuned.

 

 

A mixed media piece that I use lots of Crafters Workshop stencils. It's only 6" x 6" but wouldn't it look great on a larger canvas?

 

 

 

Carving cardboard is so much fun. You will definitely see more of this in 2014.

 

 

 

This is a journal page I made with modeling paste through a stencil and used a photo of my daughter's hands. She is a sign language interpreter and I love how the photo worked with this page.

 

 

A page from my mother's journal.

 

 

This piece was a lucky one for me. When I posted this Jaime from The Crafter's Workshop asked me to do guest posts on their blog! I'm having so much fun doing it.

 

 

 

I love collage. These are two of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

This journal page I completed in a workshop with Marjie Kemper. It was so much fun. I'm hoping to do more workshops in 2014.

 

 

 

Last but not least is my string art Christmas card from 2010. It has the most views on my blog.

 

 

That's it for now!

Thanks so much for stopping by!