Fa la la la

Hey everyone!  Happy Saturday, for a little longer anyway.  I have a really cool tag to share with you for the holiday season.

There's quite a bit going on with this tag, and it's really cool.  I had been experimenting with my supplies and used the tag as a mop up page of sorts.  Then I added another layer and got stuck.  It can be difficult, even when playing, to do a step, then not know the direction you want to go in.  That was where I was.  I liked certain parts and didn't want to cover those up, but I still needed to do something.  Have you ever had that happen, when creating art or in real life?

I'm also entering my tag into the following challenge:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

 

 

I also have to remember I have a LOT of supplies.  So there's no wrong answer, it's more about how you're feeling.  So the tag had some Dylusions Calypso Teal and Postbox Red smeared on it, then I used some of a mixture of Liquitex Gesso, Liquitex Bright Aqua Green, and Ranger Gel Medium and pushed through my Dylusions Trees stencil. 

I used Archival black ink with a Dylusions corner arrow stamp.  The left side scallop border is from a gelli print done long ago.  Then I grabbed other goodies to add to my tag.  Some legs from a Dylusions stamp set that I colored with Tombow and Artist's Loft markers.  Alphabet stickers, a wood chip, a yellow chipboard star and two star stickers later my tag seemed to be ready.  I did raid my ribbon collection for trims that would work well with this tag.  I think I found some nice ones!

Please let me know what you think in the comments!

Working in batches

Do you ever work in batches?  Trying to do a bunch of work at once?  I find it's helpful when wanting to have several pieces ready to complete, or when you blocked when you have a blank slate to work on instead of some splashes of color or doodles ready to work on, especially given how busy our lives can get.  We can get pulled in many different directions: spouses/partners, kids, work, household, family and friends, and me time.  Everyone needs a little me time.  And sometimes the me time ends up being that working in batches time.  Because let's face it, making art is supposed to be fun and relaxing.  Now it can certainly be with people.  Lots of us have those craft friends that we get together with and have a craft, regardless of the crafting taking place.

 

So working in batches can fill both needs.  You get to be crafty and get a start on a bunch of projects while also making the most of the time you have to create.  Above is a peek at some batch work I was playing with awhile ago.  Now I don't clean my stencils after I use paint on them.  I do, however, always clean after using some kind of medium.  It could be gesso, matte medium; if it's not paint, I grab some baby wipes and clean off the stencil.  One detail I really like is the one that looks like chicken wire.  I grabbed TCW's Punchinella stencil and Liquitex gesso and added spots of all over my 12 x 12 page.  I didn't clean it in between, so the leftover gesso made a chicken wire look in spots as well.  I love when that happens.

I've included some affiliate links for products I've used.  If you use the links and make a purchase, I get a small commission, with no price increase for you.

I really hope you enjoyed this peek and it shows how you can combine all kinds of media to create amazing art.  Have fun creating!

 

Time for Day 28!

Greetings everybody!  Welcome back and thank you so much for visiting.  I'm sharing the next page in my mini art journal for the Art Marks Challenge by Rae Missigman and Sandi Keene.

Day 28 - Believe

I'm also entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

For some Art Marks Challenge history, you can click here.  And Rae's Instagram account here shows what she made for each prompt. My journal is very simple.  A bunch of envelopes held together with some baker's twine.  Rae actually taped her pages into an already existing super chunky journal, which I think it an awesome idea.  It helps me to remember to think outside the box.  And to remember that there are always options when it comes to art.

For Day 28, the prompt is believe.  Beliving in yourself is a powerful thing.  It's not always easy, and I don't know about you, but I struggle with it on a daily basis.  Belief in general is a powerful emotion.  It's capable of allowing you to do amazing things.  I'm not talking arrogance, but knowing you can do something.  Not exactly hope, but belief is also very powerful.  Belief can also be snarky, which is why I used a Dylusions stamp set for my sentiment on this page.

I started with a gelli print and used a white paint marker to outline a bunch of details.  I also smeared the page with a Sakura solid paint marker in fluorescent orange and used the end of a paintbrush to do some scribbles in the paint.  I used my Cuttlebug and a die-cut set to cut some flags from some scraps of patterned paper and grabbed the leftover scrap from a heart I had cut freehand.  I also added a skull digi stamp from Oddball Art that I colored with colored pencils and  Tombow markers and colored pencils.   I also added doodles with a sharpie pen and some lovely drips with some Liquitex Ink in carbon black.

Thank you so much for coming by and I hope you enjoyed this art journal page.  Bye for now!

Mini Art Journal Day 14

 

Hi there my crafty friends!

I'm so glad you're visiting!  I have another page in my mini art journal for the Art Marks Challenge from Rae Missigman and Sandi Keene.

Day 14 - Connect

 

How do you connect?  What do you want to connect to?  I think we all seek some sort of connection.  It can be a struggle for some.  I'm trying to reconnect.  And to deepen my connection to certain parts of my life.  One part that I think many of us adults neglect is our inner child.  I don't think it's planned, but we get caught up in life and lose track of having fun.  So my page for this prompt is about connecting with your inner child, and learning to love that part of yourself.

I'm also entering my page into this challenge:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Simply Create Too #194

For some Art Marks Challenge history, you can click here.  And Rae's Instagram account here shows what's she's making for each prompt.  For those who haven't seen my previous posts yet, I'm working in a mini art journal I made out of envelopes, but you can use many different things, including scrap or underpaper, so some pages already had stuff on them.  A hole punch and some baker's twine later and a mini art journal for the challenge ready for art!

I've posted either groups or individual.  We'll see how I'm feeling for the rest.

I really like blue, but I kinda wanted to be more subtle with using it on this spread.  I started with underpaper as a foundation.  I've come to love underpaper.  It's basically the paper your surface (desk, table, work surface of your choice) is covered with, and it gets covered with whatever you work with.  Ghost prints of stamps, paint swatches, swipes, test doodles, just about anything art wise.  Eventually it gets covered enough and can be used as collage paper, die-cutting, so many possibilities.  And I was able to incorporate things from the background into my page.

 There's plenty of stamped images, including a border stamp set from Dylusions rubber stamp set, a large mini star stamp and a bigger stars acrylic stamp from my stash.  I chose balloons to represent my inner child.  What child doesn't love balloons?  Thinking about it, what adult doesn't love balloons?  Balloons are fantastic in their simplicity.  I used a chipboard heart, a die-cut from my stash, and two digital images from Oddball Art.

I swiped the bottom of my page with my purple Sakura solid paint marker.  My chipboard heart is covered in gesso and some ink and paint splatters.  I used colored pencils and Tombow markers to color in the blue and green heart.

 

I also used my Uni Posca white, orange, and black paint markers for filling in the stars, x's, and adding my doodles.  I filled in a couple corners with The Crafter's Workshop Well Rounded stencil and Artist Loft red paint.  I used a Moodclue blue chalk marker to make the balloon strings and a Balzer Designs rubber stamp set for the x's on the balloon strings.

 

I also added some ink drips with Liquitex Phthalocyanine Blue Green ink.  Lastly I added a sentiment from my stash.

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my art journal page.  Bye for now!

Collage This!

Sometimes I find it hard to get out my own head.  Creating has a few rules in a sense.  Like if you want something to stick to a page, something to hold it there.  Maybe adhesive on the back, wet paint, or a handy dab of glue.  But when it comes to other things, like ideas, there really aren't rules.  Sometimes I get stuck on what I think it should be, then I see something and realize, I gotta get outta the box!

That's just what I did with my entry for the More Than Words August challenge - Collage or College!

A couple quick notes before we get too far into our artsy playdate.  We all know we need to make a little extra money, right?  I do this in two ways: being an Amazon affiliate and the Cliqly e-mail system.  When you follow the links to Amazon and make a purchase, I make a commission.  It's helpful for me to continue making the lovely art that I hope you enjoy.  The e-mail system is a super simple way to make money online when you don't have a lot of time.  I mean ten minutes, and most people have ten minutes.  Everything is set up, you log in, send e-mails that are already written, and watch commissions roll in.  You even get your own referral link to include in the e-mails to get referral commissions too.  And yes, it's absolutely for real and super easy to do to bring in some nice extra money.  Who couldn't use that?

Now onto the show!

This art journal page got me rethinking how I could do something.  I really wanted wings, and was trying to figure out how to do that.  I thought of a few different ways: drawing, stamping, using paint or some other media to draw wings on.  Then I changed my thinking and grabbed my die-cut stash.  Bingo!  I grabbed word die-cuts that were similar in color, not necessarily white, cut them up in different sizes, and crafted my wings.  Then I used some white paint and my white-out pen to give a little uniformity and shape as well as add details, and I had my wings!

My background was already started a bit with bits of paint everywhere.  I added quite a bit of stenciling, one of my favorite techniques.  Some of my stencils are older and hard to find.  For this page I used StencilGirl Scribble Scratch Stencil by Carolyn Dube, similar to this one by The Crafter's Workshop and  Traci Bautista's Circles Circles Stencil with Artist Loft Red Paint.

 
 I also used this chevron stencil from The Crafter's Workshop with Liquitex Basics Yellow Paint.

 

I also used an older Dylusions alpha stamp set for "no", a mini alpha stamp set for "ON," Dylusions Bordering on the Edge stamp set for a border, and an acrylic stamp set from Studio Calico (I think) for the stars.

 

I also used magazine cutouts, since this IS supposed to be collage.  I used a set of legs from a Dylusions stamp set called Mini Moo and outlined the word "ON" with a Uni Posca Ultra Fine Point Red Paint Marker.

I'm also submitting this to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use Your Favorite Technique.