Hello again!! Who's ready for another adventure? How about a little tease...
I love mini art journals. There's less pressure and excellent for playing when you're short on time, even if you're using wet media, like paint. This month Rae Missigman and Sandi Keene are doing an Art Marks Challenge. You can start any time, do one day, do the whole month, whatever works for you. And use whatever size journal you want. Rae has these marvelous little cards that she plays one, one for each day. Easy for those short on time and wanting to make some art. For the Art Marks Challenge, there's a word every day to ponder and create art with, or around, or about, whatever suits you.
For some history about the Art Marks Challenge, you can click here. And to see what Rae is doing for the project, you can head to her Instagram account here. I made a little book from envelopes. Yes, you read that right. I grabbed 8 envelopes, punched holes in the middle of the long sides, then used baker's twine to tie them all together. For those of us still learning about actual bookbinding, this very rudimentary method works wonders!
So I have done some of the prompts, and I'll be posting multiple days in between other projects to give you my interpretation of the prompts.
A little housekeeping to get out of the way, while also educating you and sharing this with you. It's related to art and not related to art, now that makes sense! Obviously most art supplies cost money, and we could all use more of that, right? I have a couple different methods I use to do just that! One is so super easy I was thinking, no way this is for reals! But it is! And I've seen the numbers change while I'm doing it! It's a simple e-mail system called Cliqly. The system is provided for you, you do everything from the site and it takes 10 minutes a day!! It's so easy and has two ways to make money. It works like this: sign up and you get a list of 5,000 leads to e-mail with credits put into your account. You also do what's called list building, which means you send out e-mails and anyone who clicks the links gets added to your list. Your list literally grows every day. You earn click commissions, as is someone clicks the link you get s small commission. In the e-mails you can also add your own referral link, which you get when you sign up. That's the big dollar signs. So what you're saying-yes, what I'm saying is it's easy, dare a I say fun, and can make you money for a short amount of time, score! So by all means, please, you can follow this link if you want a super easy way to get a some extra cash.
I'm also an Amazon affiliate, which means if you follow some of the links here and purchase products, I'll get a commission. I would certainly appreciate it, and it helps me bring you all this artsy goodness. I want you to be able to create what I'm creating as best I can. So
that's why I link to as many of the products as I can. I often see something that inspires me and knowing the products helps me so much! Now your project won't look exactly like mine, and that's okay! That's what make every piece unique. So the links are my way
of helping you put your unique spin on the artwork. And with that, on to the show!
These are the first two days of the Art Marks Challenge. I've linked to as many products as I could find, however, some may no longer be available.
Day 1 is Begin.
To make the background, I used a flat brush, the center one in this set, and my finger to spread around three different colors: Artist Loft Neon Green and Liquitex Basics in Light Green and Aqua Green. Very technical with my finger, absolutely. To make the actual book, I used supplies I had on hand, envelopes from the mail. Yes, you heard me. You can use anything, really. I've used underpaper, patterned paper I no longer love, scraps, as long as they're long enough to fold in half, they're fodder. My binding method isn't super technical either at the moment. I used a single hole punch (here's some great options, mine is the silver one with the attached tray under the hole; very important!) to punch two holes through eight envelopes and used one of my favorite supplies to tie them together: baker's twine.
Once the paint was dry, I added my elements. I thought about the word begin, and what it means. One way is every day is a new beginning, so I followed that train of thought. I used a big die-cut from my stash, black cloth Thickers alphabet stickers (the design is called Doll) from American Crafts, same font as these American Craft Glitter Thickers, and a heart sticker from this set of Pinkfresh Studios Stickers. I also used other supplies including an acrylic alphabet stamp set for "every." The triangles are from a stamp set by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. On the top die-cut, I used a Uni Posca Red Paint Marker Ultra Fine to write the word "EVER." Those paint markers come in at least two different points, ultra fine and medium, and I've got colors in both. I love paint markers. I find them a great method of adding color without having to wait a huge long time for the paint to dry. They come in a huge variety of colors, and different tips to cover all your crafty needs!
The bottom border is a stamp from a stamp set made by a Polish company called Badass Art Stamps. I had a subscription at one point ad have several sets. Some have cursing, I will warn you, but they're beyond funny and the style is so stinking cool! I of course used my black Sharpie pen and my white out pen, similar to these, to add some more details and called it done!
Day 2 is Decide.
For this page I started with a red Sakura Solid Paint Marker for the background. I didn't do full coverage on purpose. I also used a older Dylusions alpha stencil in two ways. I used a makeup sponge to add some yellow acrylic paint through the stencil, as well as using my Sharpie to trace letters through the stencil.
Depending on the kind of paint you use you'll get more or less coverage. It also depends on the effect you're going for, and I will get into that at some other point. My yellow paint is student quality, so pretty transparent, which I really like here.
The words "can't decide" is from a mini alphabet stamp set similar to this one and a little cat's eye shaped ColorBox Pigment Ink Pad in blue. And therein lies another aspect: different types of stamping ink. To give you a few: dye, pigment, embossing. Another topic I will get into later, so stay tuned!
I used a couple die-cuts from my stash, and a stamp set from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for the blue and black circles. The "I'm" are white American Crafts Foam Thickers.
Thank you for much for visiting! Bye for now!
