Tagged: paint
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!
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!
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.
Back To Mixed Media
During the months leading up to Christmas I am busy crafting for my shows. I don’t get any time to “play” with my paints, sprays, pens, etc… Now that the holidays are over, I’ve had some time to get back to mixed media. Here are a few of the projects I’ve finished.
I had a lot of fun layering and layering. I hope you like these pieces. I’m finishing up a couple more and will share them when they’re done.
Make some time during this “down time” and yucky weather to get out your paints and play!
I’m Not Buying It!
I’m writing this post so that I will feel accountable for my next sentence. I am NOT going to BUY any new craft supplies in 2017 unless they fit the two specific criteria I have laid out here. First, I am ALLOWED to buy the NECESSITIES if I run out. By necessities, I mean things like paint, glue, artist pens and pencils, gesso, etc… Second, I CAN BUY art supplies if I find them ridiculously CHEAP at thrift shops, yard sales or flea markets. That’s it! I am not going to go to Tuesday Morning, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s or any other store just to browse and see what they have. Browsing usually ends up costing me a lot of money!
So why am I making this bold statement? When I was crafting for Christmas, I found I had so many Christmas items in my stash that I didn’t need to go out any buy anything. I made lots of December Dailies, cards, tags and embellishments without purchasing a thing. The amazing thing is, I still don’t need to buy anything for next year either. I have so many supplies I’m drowning in them. Ditto for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Summer, Fall and you get the idea.
Now here’s where it hurts. I’m going to expose my shame and show you all the stuff I have to craft and make mixed media with. Ready?
Shelf full of card stock, stencils, journals, and books and files of ephemera.
Storage cubby filled with everything imaginable under the sun!
Rolling cart filled with punches, oil pastels and TWO drawers of stickers.
The surface of my desk. There is so much stuff on it I only have about two square feet to work on!
Under my desk are paper collections, paper pads and suitcases full of embellishments.
A Raskog cart from Ikea filled with paints, markers and more embellishments.
A metal shelf from Ikea filled with stamps, scrap paper, beads, lace and other “stuff”.
A vintage cabinet stuffed to the gills with items for making Junk Journals and Christmas projects.
More books for ephemera.
Another Raskog cart filled with Junk Journal fodder and a plastic drawer unit filled with jewelry making supplies.
Sadly, this is not all. There are some drawers in my studio and other places all over the house that have craft supplies in them. Now you can see why I don’t need to go shopping anytime soon. Everything I have I liked enough to purchase or save, so now it’s time to use it all up. I’m excited about the thought of actually having room to breathe in my studio.
Okay, so it’s confession time. I already did buy something this year. This is what I bought.
Two old reference books.
My justification is that they were cheap (only $1.00 each) and….
They are filled with pages and pages of these beautiful nature graphics! I can use these for so many projects.
So there you have it. I feel better after this photographic confession and goal for 2017. Hopefully you will be seeing a lot of posts showing the stuff I have been making.
If you feel like you’re suffocating in your supplies, or you want to save some money, craft from your stash and have fun with the supplies you already have on hand. Good Luck!
What’s On My Desk ATC
Every once in a while I get the urge to make a project just using the junk that is cluttering up on my desk. I decided to make an ATC sized magnet so I could reuse the magnet strip off list pad I had just finished up. I always have varying sizes of cardboard on my desk so that was a no-brainer for the substrate.
I opened a new bottle of gesso and an obscene amount poured out onto my little ATC. I was actually able to gesso 2 – 8 x 10 canvas boards, 2 – 5 x 5 stretched canvases, 1 – 6 x 8 canvas board and my ATC with that huge puddle!
Next, I painted on some cream and brown acrylic paints to give it a vintage feel.
This very blurry picture shows some eggs I cut from some scrapbook paper. I inked the edges with distress ink before decoupaging them onto the card.
Here is the “finished ATC”. It’s really simple, but it gives me that old field guide feeling.
I painted the back of the card the same color blue I spattered on the eggs and attached the magnet strip from the used up note pad.
I like how the ATC magnet came out, but I just needed to add one more touch to make me love it.
Yep, you guessed it. I added glitter to the butterfly’s wings. NOW it’s done and I do love it! I hope you like it too and that it inspires you to make your own little work of art with things that are already on your desk!
Secret Happy Mail And A Little Project
This post is going to cover two recent events in my life. The first is the receipt of some Happy Mail! Who doesn’t love to receive goodies in the mail? My Happy Mail carries a little mystery with it though. The envelope it came in has a name and a return address, however, I’m not sure who it is. It could well be someone I spoke to at a show and I’m just having a senior moment. It could be someone who follows this blog. Or it could be someone who knows me through my Etsy store. Anyway, it’s kind of fun trying to figure it out. But while I’m figuring, let me show you what this sweet “mystery” Happy Mailer sent to me.
Happy mail received from a sweet mystery gift giver!
I got lots of sheets of deli paper which I have never had before. I can’t wait to “play” with these. I also received two fun shipping tags for altering. I’ve never seen a red tag before! How fun. I want to thank Marnold for sending me these wonderful goodies. You really made my day!!!
Now onto the other event in my life. I entered another challenge on YouTube. This one is sponsored by a very talented lady named Shemi Dixon. Her challenge is in honor of her birthday and she requested that the entries be handmade postcards. If you remember my post titled “A Little Piece Of Myself” I made brightly colored Scripture cards. I loved the process of making these so much I made some more of the large sheets and decided to cut one into postcard size for Shemi’s challenge. Here is the postcard I sent her.
Front of postcard for Shemi’s challenge.
And I stamped the back with an appropriate stamp.
Back of postcard.
If you would like to see the video where Shemi opens my package check out her channel Shemi Dixon on YouTube. She uploaded the video on September 17th and it’s titled, “Happy Mail and More Amazing Postcards From Maggie, Angela, Helen, Michele”. She is such a gracious host!
I had a lot more of this sheet left so I decided to try making greeting cards with some colorful blanks I had on hand.
Greeting cards made with my flower artwork paper.
I think they turned out really well. I know I will be making more of these!
It’s nice to get some Happy Mail and be able to paint and doodle in the middle of my big show season. It keeps me from getting too serious! Thank you Marnold and Shemi for giving me permission to play!!!
A Little Piece Of Myself
While watching endless a few YouTube videos about mixed media and crafting recently, one video really stood out. It addressed the issue of using up gelli print papers, particularly ones you don’t care for. As it so happens, I had just made a batch of prints using a piece of glass instead of a gelli plate.
The video that inspired me is by YouTuber katetheskate22 and can be found here:
She cut the finished papers into ATC sized cards to give out as a type of business card. Because I have my brick and mortar shop, an Etsy shop and do shows there is no way I can make enough to use as business cards. I really wanted to make some so I came up with another use for them.
In a nutshell, here is katetheskate22’s process:
I started with a “gelli” printed paper.
I punched two sizes of circles from various papers and glued them randomly on the paper. Then I painted the circles with a few colors of paint.
I painted petals, dots, swirls and a few outlines around the circles using a couple bright colors.
Next I used darker paints, Sharpie markers, Faber-Castell big brush pitt pens and a white gel pen to do some more outlining and adding smaller details.
Because my flowers were not really close to each other, I filled the gaps by using a script stamp and black Staz-On ink.
Lastly, I cut them into ATC sized cards (2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″), backed them with white card stock, signed them and then rounded the corners. Instead of putting my business information on the back I stamped them with special Scripture verses that I can give to people who may need a pick-me-up. They can even be used as book marks or tags. Like katetheskate22 did, I made sure I left room to write a personal message if I want.
I love the way these came out and the process was pure art play. You do not have to be an artist to make some cute cards that are bound to add a special little touch to someone’s day. I can’t wait to hand these out and then make more!
Just Messing Around
I was lucky enough to purchase this big bunch of old hand written and typed letters recently.
Big bunch of old hand written and typed letters.
I really had no idea what I was going to do with them. I looked around my craft desk and my Twinkling H2o’s (shimmering watercolor paints) were still at hand so they were the medium of choice.
Twinkling H2o’s ready to be used.
So I just sat down and made a big mess with lots of paint and water. It was really quite fun.
Water color paints on an old letter.
I used every color of H2o’s I had in different combinations. After playing and letting the letters dry, this is what I had.
Yummy pile of shimmery water colored papers.
But now what? I knew I could tear some of the papers up to use in mixed media pieces or my art journal but I had another idea.
Little Stampin Up stamp sets I got for my birthday.
These fun little stamps were also still on my craft desk so I decided to use them on some of the paper and make a bunch of small embellishments.
Little embellishments to use in mixed media or my art journal.
I think they turned out really cute and they have an awesome crackling paper texture. Now I am ready to made an art journal page using some of these cute little embellishments that were made from just messing around!
Mixed Media Odds and Ends
Just a quickie post today as I don’t have too much to share.
I have been very busy lately with Mossy Cottage but I did manage to finish (I think) one page from my first attempt at Journaling by 5s by Shannon Green.
“Dance”. First finished page from journaling by 5s.
And here is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) I made for a challenge.
ATC card I made for a challenge. Inspired by Gina b. Ahrens first UStream video.
Well that’s all for this post. Hopefully I’ll have some time now to work on some more of my art journal pages. I’ll post them as I finish them. And if you haven’t tried journaling by 5s yet, what are you waiting for???
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