How to make a quick card with stencils

Sometimes you just need a simple, organic, very quickly made card.  That was the inspiration behind this stenciled card today.

You could use any stencils you have on hand and make the cards any color you choose.  I happen to love this stencil from Artistcellar called Bodacious Pods.  It is one of Chris Cozen's Playful Pods Series stencils.  I just pulled a blank, white card from my stash and taped the stencil over the front of the card, lightly tracing the stencil with a permanent black pen.

It isn't necessary to trace all of the stencil images onto the card, just as many as you would like.  Next I placed the stencil again on top of the card, taped it down to my craft sheet, but this time it was a little off from the original pen work.  Then I scribbled some purple Gelatos on my craft sheet, sprayed the Gelatos with water to activate it and sponged the light purple color on to the first pattern of pods.

I like the water color effect made by the Gelatos when used this way.  When this had dried it was time to stencil a sentiment onto the card.

I chose to use Tamara Laporte's stencil in the Articellar collection called "Tam's Inspiration".  I sponged StazOn Jet Black ink through the stencil.  When the card was dry I added some touches of gold and some doodles to finish it.

As I mentioned before you could use any stencils or colors that you prefer.  Try pulling your stencils out and making a quick card the next time you need one and don't have much time to make it.

Thanks for stopping by today, I always appreciate your visits and support.  Take care ~ Hugs,  Renee xx

100 Faces in 100 Days~Day 40

I continue on my self imposed journey of 100 faces in 100 days!  Day 40.....every day is different.  Some days I just do a quick sketch with my "magic" pencil, other days I pull out the paints.  Today I decided to do a sketch with the magic pencil, Stabilo Aquarellable, and some Gelatos for color.  I drew my face on water color paper.  The color is all just scribbles with the Gelatos by Faber-Castell.  Then I sprayed the Gelatos with water and blasted it with my computer Power Duster can of air.  I should really try cleaning my keyboard with this stuff, I use it up on art work.....go figure.  I sprayed more water on the Gelatos and air dried the image with my heat gun, allowing the water to run down her face.

A close up of her face

"Splat" seems to be a good name for her!

I hope this finds you all well.  Have a great week, thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate the visit.  Take care~Renee

Postcards from the Edge Class

Tomorrow I'm teaching my "Postcards from the Edge" class at Ink About It in Westford, MA.  I'll be teaching different techniques with inks and sprays, stenciling, stamping, gelatos, gesso, Goosebumps, all kinds of good stuff.  Personally I love postcard size art so I know it'll be fun.  We'll make 4  postcards for sure, possibly 5 if we have a little extra time.  Here are the cards that we'll be making.

I'm sure we'll have a great time!  Well, at least it isn't snowing today.  Nice bright sunshine!  It snowed most of the day on Tuesday but we managed to have a lovely day in spite of it.  Thanks for stopping by, talk to you soon! 

2013 Art Journal Calendar Pages

I'm preparing for my new classes at Ink About It my LSS in Westford, MA.  I'll be teaching Calendar Pages using Dyan's art journal.  There will be one class a month with two calendar pages to complete.  Here is my first installment for Jan/Feb 2013. 

I wanted to have an icy blue effect on this page with a little twinkle of snowflakes in the background.
For February I wanted more of an orange sherbert kind of an effect.

I hope people find them interesting enough to sign up for the classes.  I had a lot of fun developing the pages.

Have you tried art journaling yet?  Have you tried making your own calendars?    There are some great tutorials on YouTube that can inspire you and help you to overcome that fear of a blank page staring back at you.  Throw some gesso on it first and let it dry.  Now it's not blank any more.  Just let your imagination soar and have some fun with it.  You don't have to share your pages with anyone unless you want to.  Become fearless and try something new this week.  Go for it.