My Word for 2018

Every year I give my "word for the year" quite a bit of thought.  This year I thought my word should be YES.  Hmm...what does that mean?  To me it means saying yes to things that I've been holding back from learning or actually practicing.  Like learning how to do videos of my art process.  That may sound silly but sometimes all of the techie things just get to be too much for my old brain.  I enjoy watching others progress in their journey but fear, like everyone else, holds me back. 

So here we go again, another fresh start, another year, another opportunity to learn new and fresh ideas. Please join me in making 2018 a year where you will say "yes" to branching out artistically and embracing different products, ideas and techniques.

What's your word for 2018?  Feel free to share it with me in the comment section.  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great start to a new year.

Hugs ~ Renee

Gel Plate and Stencil play

Do you have a Gel Plate? or two or three?  I have at least three different sizes and brought one out to play with today.  I forget I have them but they're very useful to make master boards which I then cut up for projects.  While pulling my prints I had too much paint on the GP so I grabbed a black canvas that was nearby to mop up the excess.  The colors were so vibrant that I placed a Prima stencil over my mess and used some white gesso to transfer a lovely face outline onto the canvas.  This is what happened.

A little Jane Davenport paint, a little Dina Wakley paint, a cute butterfly and a Washi tape eye and voila!

Thanks for allowing me to share my art with you and always thanks for stopping by!
Hugs ~ Renee

A Summer Loving Calendar Page

Summer is right around the corner and a wonderful time to be creative. This mixed media calendar can be placed on a bulletin board or if you like to art journal it can be a project created right inside your journal as a two page spread. This project incorporates all kinds of techniques and textures then there’s the added fun of writing each day’s activities in the small woven calendar boxes. If you do one for each month of the year and then bind them together it makes a wonderful, reflective diary to look back on later.  You can find a supply list on the Imagine Craft Blog today.

Skill: Intermediate to Advanced

Time: 2-3 hours

Directions:

Step one: Prepare the background paper.  The substrate for this particular calendar is an 11” by 14” piece of Strathmore 140# Mixed Media paper that had been used to blot off ink from a stencil used in a previous project. The technique is similar to using a Gelli Plate, allowing previous projects to blot off the ink rather than wasting it.  At the top of the paper apply Memento Luxe Teal Zeal ink onto the paper, spray with Bahama Blue Fireworks! Craft Spray, spray water on top of that and allow the colors to blend together.  Apply additional sprays of water and let the inks run down the paper. Use a heat tool to set the color and dry the excess. Next apply Memento Luxe Morocco ink to the bottom of the paper with a large dauber. Deepen the color by applying Radiant Neon Electric Orange on top of the Morocco ink.  Spritz with water, allow the inks to mingle together, blot slightly with a paper towel, dry completely with a heat tool. For the last layer of color apply Memento Luxe Dandelion to the center part of the page, spray with water and allow the color to blend and run. Dry.

Step two: Use removable alphabet and number stencils for the date and season. Place the words and numbers where desired, use gesso or a texture paste to get the most out of the stenciled words. For this project the Graphite texture paste is reminiscent of a paved road. Very carefully lift the stenciling pieces straight up and wash them thoroughly to remove all of the paste. Allow the texture paste to dry thoroughly so as to avoid smearing it.

Step three: Die cut the butterflies from coordinating patterned paper, set aside. Stamp the Julie Nutting dolls with StazOn Jet Black ink, color them in with Memento Markers, and cut them out.

Step four: Make the woven mat for the calendar days by cutting 5 strips of paper, in this case a piece of a master board from another project, to measure 1” by 7 ¼”. These strips will be woven across. Then cut 7 strips of the same paper to measure 1” by 5 ¾”, these strips will be woven down. It helps to cut a piece of scrap paper and use a tape runner to stick the tops of the strips down. It not only makes for a more solid piece for the actual calendar but keeps the strips of paper from shifting while being woven together. Adhesive tape can be applied on the backside along the way while weaving to hold the pieces down flat. When finished weaving determine the days of the week and the number of days in the month so the calendar is accurate for each month.

Step 5: Using a strong adhesive, adhere the woven calendar.  Add some Washi tape here and there; glue the butterflies across the top on with On Point Glue. Add some butterflies to the skirt and shoes of the doll on the right.  Glue the stamped dolls down on either side of the calendar.  Ink the edges of the mixed media paper with Brilliance Pearlescent Rust ink.  Stamp the days of the week, if desired, at the top of the calendar.

I'm also submitting this to the Craft Stamper Magazine "Take It Make It June Challenge" which is Anything Goes.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Be sure and follow the link to the Imagine Craft blog for additional information and inspiration. Just tell them I sent you.  Have fun creating! Hugs- Renee

AIRs " Fly" Tag Using Imagine Crafts Products

Shipping tags are a wonderful substrate for mixed media art. They are small, the paper is durable and when completed they fit nicely into an art journal or can be used in place of a card. This tag showcases not only texture and color but also techniques such as embossing, masking off areas when stamping, mixing inks, using foils, coloring ribbon with inks, just to name a few. A mixed media tag is a great excuse to break into all those stockpiled, precious products since a tag requires only a small amount of each product.

Skill: All Levels

Time: one hour or less

Instructions:

Step one:  Mask off the head portion of the image to be used, Washi tape can be used for this, ink up the stamp with StazOn Jet Black permanent ink and stamp image onto the shipping tag.

Step two: Stamp swirls with Paris Dusk ink then stamp again in the same area using Rose Bud ink. Dry with a heat tool. Fill a water pen with Fireworks! New Sprout and color dress with the water pen.  Stamp the word “Fly” with Delicata Black Shimmer ink; this can be embossed with Clear Embossing powder melted with a heat tool. Add highlights on the heart, arms and legs of stamped image and dots on the swirls with a Memento Marker pen in Rose Bud color; silver foil can be randomly added onto portions of the tag.

Step three: Spray two pieces of ribbon with Fireworks! Craft spray.  One ribbon will be sprayed with Lilac Posies and the other with New Sprout, additional water can be sprayed onto the ribbons to achieve the desired color. Blot with a paper towel, coil up the ribbons separately and allow them to dry. When dry the ends can be trimmed, they will be richly wrinkled. Tear faces off of the Washi tape and place on tag. Lay lines of Washi tape on a scrap piece of card stock, die cut into a butterfly shape, adhere some silver foil to the butterflies.

Step four: Ink edges of tag, tie the dried colored ribbons on the top, and staple the butterflies into place.

Supply List

Imagine Products:

StazOn ink – Jet Black

Delicata – Black Shimmer

Memento Dew Drop ink – Rose Bud, Paris Dusk

Fireworks! Craft Spray – Lilac Posies, New Sprout

Memento Marker – Rose Bud

Embossing Powder – Clear

Craft Mat

Other supplies:

Manila Shipping Tag

Stamps – Mela by Stampotique, word “Fly” by Stampotique; Joy Clair Hugs & Smiles

Washi Tape – Jane Davenport

Prima – Silver foil and Glue stick; water pen

White ribbon

Sizzix – Butterfly die

Card stock

Heat tool

Big Kick Die Cutting Machine

Paper towels

Check out the Imagine Crafts blog today for this and other design team creations!

Thanks for stopping by ~ hugs ~ Renee

CHA Anaheim new releases from Art-C

Hi there!  I'm sharing a couple of small canvases made with the new releases of acrylic paints and stencils from Art-C.  Here's another shot of the box of goodness they mailed to me to try out.

Here are two cute little canvases I created using the acrylic paints and stencils from the box.

I layered the Walnut Brown Luxe color onto the canvases first using the lattice stencil.  The Metallic Gold paint can be applied straight from the tube to the canvas or through a stencil such as the Bee or Butterfly stencils.  I wrote the words with the tube of Ultra Chalk black matte paint.  The edges can be painted on with the Gold Metallic paint or make a raised design directly from the tube.

The products are very fun and versatile!  Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share these tiny creations.  Take care ~ hugs, Renee

Check out https://www.facebook.com/myartc/

Got Keys? A tutorial showing how you can make your own unique key holder.

Here is a link to a tutorial on the IMAGINE Craft/Tsukineko blog showing how I made this cute key holder for our new place.  A simple project that anyone can do and everyone can use!  Use your own color palette and whatever stickers you might have in your stash.  Sneak peek.

I hope this finds you all well!  Thanks for stopping by, leave a comment if you have time just so I know you're there, have a great weekend.  Hugs ~ Renee

Butterfly Girl ~ Monoprinting an Art Journal Page

Happy Thursday.  It has been snowing lightly all day until now....the sun just came out!  I'm still playing around with the acrylic block printing idea.  I have another tutorial on this to show tomorrow but for today I thought I'd share a journaling page that I did using the same technique.  I did this on watercolor paper and cut off the edge to make the butterflies with Tim Holtz's Butterfly Frenzy Sizzlit die.  Then I covered the butterflies with Distress Stickles to make them sparkle.

The main quote is a poem by M.F. Moonzajer taken from his book A Moment with God.  It says "Butterflies better understand than you, the meaning of love and sacrifices one must make for their beloved."

I hope you're having a wonderful day.  If you have a chance stop by tomorrow and check out my mono printed steam punk style tag.  Take care, talk to you soon ~ Renee

A ten minute card

I had to make a quick thank you note today.  Here is a ten minute quickie that is very versatile.

I actually made about ten of these since I was looking for the perfect color of ink for this one.  Now I have to just color the butterflies with Ranger's Distress Markers to match the "thank you" ink.
Have a great day!

Blue skies after Hurricane Sandy

We woke up to blue skies this morning after torrential rains and winds all day yesterday into the night.  I do believe every leaf in the neighborhood is on our lawn but that's OK.  The only tree branches on the ground were the ones that broke in the storm last year right around this time.  Thanks to all for their phone calls, emails and general good wishes and prayers.  Our hearts go out to those who did not fair as well!
The blue skies were an inspiration to me and I decided to put it to paper in my DR Journal with a bit of journaling marking the storm.  Since there is a challenge at Simon Says to just add pearl I decided to deck my lady, let's call her Sandy, out with a pearl necklace so she is dressed for the party over there.  There were a few sprays of Mementos Bahama Blue Fireworks involved to add a glimmer to the pages.

Products used:

Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paints

Dover clip art hand and butterflies

Stamps:  large face stamp, Dyan Reaveley stamps, Cardboard, Judi Kins Gears

Tim Holtz Gears Die

Queen & Co. Pearls

Reeves Water Soluble Crayons

Memento's Bahama Blue Fireworks Glimmer Mist

Black micron pen

I hope this post finds all of you on the East Coast safe, sound and dry.  Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers in behalf of us all.  We had definitely braced ourselves for the worst, glad it is over.



Art Abandonment in Boston

If you haven't heard of Art Abandonment take a look a Michael de Meng's site.  I printed off the gift tags from the site yesterday and bagged up some ATCs to take into Boston.  We were picking up some weekend guests at Logan Airport and meeting up with some of their friends in the North End for dinner.  The first ATC was abandoned in a Starbucks at the airport.  It was picked up and opened within minutes.  I watched as a smile flashed across the face of a big burly man when he opened the tiny envelope and looked at the butterfly.

Another was left in the ladies room of a wonderful restaurant called Florentine.  It, too, was found within minutes and hung in the workstation area for all the waitstaff to see.

The only one that I did not see picked up was this one.

I'll wait and see if the finder posts a message on the Art Abandonment FB page.   I hope she went to a good home.  We're going apple picking sometime this weekend.  Pie will be involved at some point.  Wish we had smell-o-vision for that one.  I love the smell of apple pie baking in the oven, don't you?

Our Creative Corner Challenge

Our Creative Corner has a fun challenge this week.  If you like denim it might be something you'd like to try.

The "recipe" requires 3 buttons or brads, 3 ribbons or twine accents, and some real or fake denim.  I have an old pair of jeans that I've been making little purses out of for some tiny friends of mine.  My husband can't believe little girls need purses.  He was amazed that even a 4 year old can insist on carrying a bag full of junk she doesn't really need.  (lol)  The jeans came in handy again for this project.  I used my Sizzix die for the butterfly and also for the primitive hearts.  They cut right through those jeans like buttah, as we say here.  I made the roses with Tim's Tattered Pinecone die.
After assembling all of the components it comes together quickly.  I cut the blue floral paper, 4"x6", first.  I sewed the strip of lace across the bottom with the 3 hearts and then sewed the denim butterfly above that.    I glued the flowers in the centers of the hearts with Glossy Accents.  The butterfly's body is made of rolled paper.  I used the words by Authentique to say "play, sing, dance" and glued 3 tiny buttons on the right side.  The baker's twine is grey and white and I tied it into 3 bows, two for the butterfly's body and one over the words.  The stitching around the floral paper is done with a grey pen.  The entire panel is glued to a pink piece of cardstock and all of that is glued to a 5"x7" white blank card.

Simon Says Challenge: No Rules!

The Simon Says Challenge is a "no rules", do whatever you like type of challenge.  My favorite.  I have chosen to do a tag using Dyan Reaveley's stamps.  The face is from the Dylusions collection called "Bits of This".  First I sprayed a manila tag (Ranger's size 8 tag) with Dylusion spray inks.  I used Fresh Lime and Vibrant Turquoise.  A quick dry with my heat tool.  I stamped a large leaf pattern with Ranger's Rusty Hinge Distress Ink randomly on the tag.  I stamped the face on a scrap piece of practice paper card stock using Ranger's Black Archival Ink and then colored the lips in with my Distress Markers.  Using my Gelly Roll pen called Clear Star, I added some highlights and sparkle to her face.  There was an acrylic butterfly in my stash left over from some long forgotten class so I dropped a little alcohol ink on it, dried it, then stamped a crackle finish on it using a crackle stamp by IndigoBlu.  The butterfly stays in place nicely with the help of some Glossy Accents.  Next came the phrase by Stampotique and a piece of ribbon dyed with spray inks to match.

The Map to Your Heart Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

Here is a new challenge from the Moxie Fab World.  The challenge is to use an old map or map paper to create a project.  My project is a card with a butterfly that was stamped on a piece of map paper by Wander Paper Pad/Basic Grey.  First I used a 5"x7" blank white card as my base.  I stamped it with miscellaneous travel stamps from Stampington using Ranger's Iced Spruce ink.  I then cut a strip of cardboard to adhere across the center of the card.  Tim Holtz's "journey" stamp graces the bottom.  I bought the tiny canvas,  which measures 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" square, at Michael's.  I did a direct to paper technique with Ranger's Stormy Sky ink and then cut little strips of the map paper and glued it all around the canvas to cover the edges.  The peel and stick words are from Authentique.  The butterfly stamp is by PSX.  I used Ranger's Rusty Hinge to stamp the butterfly and heat embossed with clear powder.  The antennae are a Jolee beaded coat hanger that has been twisted around.  The final touch are circles that were punched out of the map paper and glued randomly around.

Simon Says Challenge/Tim Holtz Tags

This is a Tim Holtz inspired tag.  The stamps are by "My Sentiments Exactly" and also "IndigoBlu's"crackle stamp.  The flowers are Tim's Tattered Florals die cut.  I used Rusty Hinge Ranger ink, Iced Spruce ink (which I adore) and Graphic 45 Steampunk paper with a little Rock Candy stickles on the butterflies.  I colored  some of Tim's pearls with ink to match the other components and tied them to the top of the tag.  It is a tag that can be used for almost any occasion.