Tagged: crafts
Making And Using A Mixed Media Master Board
I have been making a lot of junk journals lately and although I love making them I find something lacking in the repetative process. What is that something? Paper, paint and glue!!! I miss making a big mixed media mess. So I decided to make a master board with no end projects in mind but rather to let myself have some free play time.
First I just randomly glued papers to a large sheet of drawing paper. I also got out some tags to use up any leftover scraps. I even included some glittered tissue paper from wrapping Christmas gifts.
I chose a few colors of acrylic paint I thought would go well together’
I pretty much just scraped it here and there over the substrates with an old gift card.
The colors were too bright and garish for my taste so I toned them down with some white gesso. Then I splattered them with watered down paint for a fun effect.
I stamped over the painted with orange, black and white stencils.
When the master board was completely dry I added a few doodles with a fine tip black marker and a gold marker. I then used dies and punches to cut out all these mixed media elements that I will be able to use on upcoming projects.
Here are the finished tags I made using some of the pieces I cut from the master board and the matching tag bases.
I encourage you to make some master boards and have fun getting paint and glue all over your hands! You don’t have to think of how you will use them until a later date. As a matter of fact it would be great to have a stash of master boards on hand for when you get inspired to create with mixed media!
Sassy Girl Bookmarks
This post is about some more bookmarks I have made recently. These feature women cut from old pattern sleeves and colorful scrapbook papers. I’ll show you how I made them.
Cover bookmarks with pieces of vintage text and pattern tissue. Don’t think about it too much. Just place the papers down and glue them on.
Select some nice brightly colored scrapbook papers.
Cut papers into circles of varying sizes. I used some circle dies I have but you could always draw around round objects of different sizes and cut them out.
Glue the paper circles, pattern lady and quote on each bookmark.
I cut the quote into strips so they would fit on the bookmark. They look like they are just floating on the paper so I take and extra step to make them feel more incorporated onto the bookmark.
I used black watercolor pencil to loosely trace around each word strip. Now the words blend in better with the background.
Pop the bookmarks into plastic sleeves if you have them. I used the same colorful wool for the tassel that I used on the mixed media bookmarks from my last post.
Don’t forget to cover the backs to give them a proper finish. Now it’s your turn to use some vintage papers and pictures to create your own fun bookmarks!
I hope you like these fun bookmarks. They will also be for sale at the Spring Vintage Home Market.
Mixed Media Beach Book Marks
I’m going to be setting up at the Vintage Home Market show in Richmond, VA this Spring and decided to add some bookmarks to my handmade merchandise. My inspiration for making bookmarks came from some lovely wool I recently purchased at a thrift shop.
Doesn’t it just scream, “Use me for bookmark tassels?”.
Look at the wonderful textures and colors. So yummy!
Several people asked me to make beach themed junk journals for this show so I decided to add some beach themed book marks to my stock as well. Here is a quick step by step run through on how I made them along with the final results.
I cut some watercolor paper into strips.
Then I just scribbled on some blue watercolor paint.
I added some green and a darker shade of blue to completely cover the surfaces.
I added the bubbles by wiping away the paint with a baby wipe through a stencil. I painted on some seaweed fronds as well.
I cut out several seahorses with a Tim Holtz Bigz die and my Big Shot machine.
The seahorses were painted, sealed with glitter decoupage medium and dotted with a white Uniball pen. I made the eyes from gold sequins with a black paper dot for the pupil.
Some of the large bubbles got a glitter treatment and the seahorses were glued on to each bookmark. Captions were printed out, edged in blue ink and adhered to the base.
As I consider each piece a work of my own art I signed each one before slipping them into a plastic bookmark sleeve from Clear Bags. Some pieces of the inspiration wool was tied to the tops.
I also added decorative paper to the backs to finish them off. Here are the close-ups.
These bookmarks are really sturdy and well protected by the plastic sleeve so they will last a long time. They are perfect for taking on a cruise or beach vacation! I will be selling them at the Vintage Home Market in April.
Bookmarks are a lovely small way to create art that also serves a function. Cut some paper strips and let your own creativity flow while you make your own bookmarks!
Getting My 2018 December Daily Ready
This is my sixth year keeping a December Daily. I have written posts about some of my previous December Dailies in the past but this is a new Christmas to document and I’m as excited as ever. Here are just a few quick pictures of my set-up.
Decorating the cover
I usually use old book covers for my December Dailies. The cute snowman image is a piece of a Christmas napkin I decoupaged to the front cover. If you want to decoupage a light-colored napkin, tissue paper or thin paper on a dark background you may want to paint a layer of white underneath. If I hadn’t painted white underneath this napkin I would have ended up with a light green snowman. I just painted a section white and dabbed the edges to soften them and somehow it just looks like snow around the snowman. Of course I added chunky glitter to make my snowman glittery!
Select assorted papers
I selected about forty assorted pieces of paper for the pages. Not all are scrapbook paper however, some are vintage Christmas cards, envelopes, Christmas book pages, Christmas carol pages, old advertisements, etc.. I like to document my entire December and not just through Christmas day. I’ve made sure I have enough “pages” to have at least one a day. Sometimes I may use two pages for one day if a lot was going on and some days I may only use one side of a page. If I don’t have enough pages I can always add more and if I have too many I can take some out.
Arrange papers
After I’ve picked the papers I want to use, I spread them all out on the dining room table and then put them together in an order that is pleasing to me. When arranging the pages I consider color, size and type (such as book page or Christmas card) so I don’t have two of the same type near each other. I make sure my nativity pages are approximately around the 24th of December. I can always fine tune the location of pages as I go along.
Add a place to stash goodies
I like to attach a small decorative paper bag to the inside of the back cover. That gives me a place to stash embellishments I want to use in the journal. When my journal is completed the bag gives me a place to put items I want to keep that didn’t make it onto a page.
Add binding of some type
I use O rings to keep my journal together. They allow me to make my journals good and chunky and give me the freedom to add or take out pages as needed. Sometimes I will remove a page to work on it if I’m going to use wet mediums like paint or spray ink.
So now that I’ve shown you my “naked” December Daily, I hope to post throughout the month and give you ideas and hacks for ways to embellish your own journal. Just keep in mind the rules for keeping a December Daily:
- There are NO rules
- Don’t stress if you can’t do it everyday. Maybe just keep track of the highlights
- There is no right or wrong way to keep a December Daily
- Don’t compare your journal with anyone else’s journal
- HAVE FUN!!!
Burlap Heart Embellishments
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I decided to make heart embellishments out of burlap. The process was really easy, but I think they came out really well. Here’s the simple process.
Cut some ordinary burlap into smallish pieces. The bigger ones in the picture above measure about 6″ square.
I painted the burlap for interest as well as to keep it from fraying when I cut it into smaller shapes.
I cut the fabric into heart shapes. Some were cut with a die and others I free-handed.
Here’s the fun part! I took out a lot of my Valentine’s Day stickers, bling and graphics. I also took out some sequins and plastic flowers.
Here’s the finished heart embellishments.
I will use these little embellishments on cards, tags or gift bag toppers. I hope this has inspired you to get out some of that plain old burlap you have lying around and make some fun embellishments!
My Mini Mixed Media Morsel Tiles
I am very busy working on our house as well as making items for the Spring Vintage Home Market. This allows very little time for me to make larger mixed media projects. I decided to follow along with the projects Cat Hand teaches in her Mixed Media Morsels Dessert videos on YouTube. They are smaller projects that are completed fairly quickly. And if you haven’t seen any of Cat Hand’s videos, you need to check her out. She is an amazingly creative lady.
She has only posted one video in this series so far. Here is the link:
Here are photos of my projects using her steps.
I used Tim Holtz grunge board pieces for my substrate as I did not have any wood pieces. I wanted my backgrounds fairly neutral so for most of the tiles I used vintage book papers and sheet music. For two of the tiles I used colored scrapbook papers.
I simply decoupaged the pieces of paper randomly onto the tiles.
I stamped some small images onto white tissue paper.
Then I decoupaged the tissue paper to the tiles. The white tissue paper almost disappears when it’s been decoupaged down.
Next I added color using my Faber-Castell Pitt pens.
I edged the tiles with black to make the colors pop. Finally I added words and a little bling to each tile. Here are some closer pictures of the tiles.
If you are looking for something fun and creative to do this year, why don’t you try making some mixed media morsels. Cat Hand explains and demonstrates every step of her projects making them perfect for mixed media beginners and pros alike!
My DIY Traveler’s Notebook
Most people who are in the arts and crafts or planner worlds know what a traveler’s notebook is. There are tons of videos and blog posts about how to set up your TN (traveler’s notebook). And what you use them for is only limited by your imagination. I have watched many YouTube videos showing pretty TNs filled with TN inserts and paraphernalia all which add up to the cost of a new car! I’m not kidding, the bare bones TNs, without inserts, sell from $30.00-$70.00. Yeah, I’m so not cool with that.
So I decided to make my own TN. Basically all they are is a piece of leather or vinyl and some elastic cord. So how hard could it be to make my own? Not hard at all. I used two pieces of sample vinyl wallpapers from one of those huge sample books. First I glued them backsides together so I have a pretty cover and inside. Then I followed a video detailing how to attach the elastic pieces.
This is what my bare bones TN looks like.
Okay, I know it doesn’t look great yet, but that is because I haven’t worked on any of the pages inside.
I am using my TN as a prayer and Scripture book. But if that’s not your thing, you can use them as day planners, art journals, junk journals, glue books, etc…
Here are some of the pages I’ve made for my journal. As my prayers are private, I photographed these pages before I wrote my prayers on them.
Traveler’s notebooks, however you deem to use them, are a great way to use your creativity as well as use your stash!
If you don’t already have a TN, check out some videos about them. I bet you’ll get hooked just like I did!
Fun DIY Stickers
Okay, I know this is probably not a new idea, but this is the first time I actually tried making my own stickers. You can use any pre-made sticker blanks, varying the sizes and shapes to fit your projects. I used these round printable ones I got from The Dollar Tree.
I watched some videos on YouTube for inspiration. I used paints, sprays, stamps and ink, scraps of decorative papers, sequins and even tiny alphabet and word stickers to decorate the sticker blanks.
Here are some of the stickers I made.
Stickers, in general, are really inexpensive to buy. As an artist, I like to create as much of my own projects from scratch as I can, instead of relying on store-bought items. If you want specialty stickers, like inspirational ones, they are really quite expensive. Making your own allows you to customize them to fit every project perfectly while being unique and inexpensive!
P.S. Here are some laminated mixed media bookmarks I also made.
End Of An Era
Moss Cottage Vintage has just gone through a major change. Due to the sluggish economy these last years, I have felt that my profit margin at the Fredericksburg Antique Mall isn’t were it should be. I am doing well on Etsy, but that is because my overhead is so low.
I like having a space in the mall because I like to “play” at displaying my items. But the space I was in was just too big and too expensive to make it worth my while.
So, out with the old…
And in with the new!
I love my new space! It’s surprising how much stuff I was able to fit in there and my sales have already increased!!! If you come to the Fredericksburg Antique Mall, my booth is the third one on the left on the ground floor, right before you go into the back section. Send me a message if you are coming and I’ll try to meet you there.
Now onto some arts and crafts. Here are two cards I made recently. One for my nieces 16th birthday (she loves anything Tudor) and one for a gentlemen who loves fishing.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Moving the shop was quite a big ordeal and I’m also busy with some household renovation projects. I hope I’ll have a chance to “art” again soon.
After The Party Up-Cycle Tags
The Christmas holiday season is over and all the goodies are gone, including the 3 batches of Chex mix I made. So it’s time to say goodbye to the empty cereal boxes.
Some went the way of the recycling bin and others… well, they went the way of my craft room.
I cut a box into tag shaped pieces.
Then I covered one side with printed paper and the other side with plain white card stock.
I layered on pieces of different papers and sandwiched trims, pieces of paper doilies and snippets of tulle between the layers.
Here are the finished tags.
I didn’t buy anything for this project. I only used supplies from my stash. I think they turned out pretty well considering they started as waste.
I hope this inspires you to look in your recycling bin, pull something out, and use items in your stash to create something pretty and new!
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