Tagged: stamps
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!
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!
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!
Mixed Media Altered File Folders
Last week I watched a video on YouTube about altering file folders. I know I’ve done it before a long time ago but the video gave me a desire to make some again. I decided to try using up some scrap papers in the process as my stash is getting out of hand.
First I just covered the two file folders with strips of scrap paper cut in various widths and lengths.
Then I scraped on some white paint with a palette knife to mute the colors.
I stamped doily patterns on both folders using different colors.
I chose three colors of paint for each folder and randomly added them also using a palette knife.
Next I put on the focal points by using masks I made.
Finally I added some embellishments, stamped some script and did some finishing outlining with my Pitt Big Brush Markers.
These two folders have already been put to good use holding images I have cut out of magazines that I will use in other mixed media projects.
If you have some ordinary manila file folders hanging around, give altering them a try. You’ll end up with some happy storage for your office or craft room papers!
Altered Target Dollar Spot Tags
A few weeks ago I wrote about the craft items available at Target’s Dollar Spot. The gist of the post was that some of the items crafters are buying there, they could easily make themselves. I purchased three different packs of Valentine’s Day tags and then duplicated them myself.
I would never use the three packages of very uninspired tags left the way they were. I decided they needed some altering to take them up a level.
Target’s Printed Card Stock Tags With Baker’s Twine.
Altered Card Stock Tags With Baker’s Twine
Target’s Two Layer Burlap And Card Stock Tags
Altered Two Layer Burlap And Card Stock Tags. I had to get rid of the awful plastic strings first!
Target’s layer tags with baker’s twine.
Altered Layer Tags With Baker’s Twine
Altering these tags took only minutes and cost me nothing. I think they are much more fun and worthy of giving than the way they originally started.
If you like to craft and have purchased items that are a little less unique than you like, take a few minutes to “make them your own”. Break out your die-cuts, stamps, stickers and washi tape and get “crafty”!
DIY Valentine’s Day Pillow Boxes-Update
Here’s a quickie little post to show you all twelve of the Valentine’s Day Pillow Boxes I made. Here they are all filled and ready to give to friends.
I hope they inspire you to make something homemade to give out to the people you hold dear!
DIY Valentine’s Day Pillow Boxes
This week I worked on a little Valentine’s Day project. These little treat boxes will be filled with goodies and given to some of my friends.
Plain white pillow boxes.
I started out with these plain white pillow boxes I had in my stash forever.
Random script stamping.
I stamped them randomly with an old style script stamp and black ink.
Big bag of Valentine’s Day goodness.
I broke out my really big bag of Valentine’s Day craft supplies.
Tidbits ready for making embellishments.
I die cut some shapes and pulled out some other elements to make embellishments for the treat boxes.
Finished embellishments.
After putting the paper parts of the embellishments together I added some bling.
Random washi tape.
Next I added some random strips of washi tape to the boxes.
Two sided tags.
I stamped these little tags with “how sweet” on one side and the lips on the other side.
Finished treat box.
Here is a sample of one of the finished treat boxes. I did not put them all together as I don’t have the treats to put in them yet. When they are all filled I will try to remember to take a picture and post it.
This was a simple and fun project to do. You can do the same thing with plain white bags or other small containers if you don’t have pillow boxes.
I hope the recipients will enjoy them!
Another YouTube Challenge – Flipbooks
It’s been since September that I last entered a YouTube crafting challenge. With the holidays and my vintage and craft shows I was just too busy to enter any others. Well now that the dust has settled, I’m ready to enter some more challenges. This one comes from craftyirina on YouTube and it requires participants to make a three page flip book. I had never even heard of a flipbook until Irina explained them. The complete video about her challenge, the prizes and how to make flip books can be found here:
I decided to dig into my hoard vault and use the Prima Marketing “Princess” papers and embellishments I had won from another challenge.
Whole kit of Prima Marketing’s “Princess” papers and embellishments
I love these papers so much but this is where my dilemma began.
Three double-sided pieces of 6″ x 6″ papers
Flip books work well if the three pages are joined using washi tape because it is flexible enough for the pages to fold up. Unfortunately, none of my washi tapes came close the matching the papers. So I had to make my own with masking tape and a script stamp.
Pieces of masking tape on wax paper ready for stamping.
Stamped masking tape ready for using
I’m not going to bore you with step by step photographs of the making of this flipbook, but here are pictures of the finished project.
Front cover of flipbook. I actually tied stained seam binding around the book to keep it closed but forgot to take a picture
The first page on the inside has a pocket with tags inside
This is the second page you see when opening the book
This page has the information tag Irina required which flips open to the left
This is the last page that has a little bag filled with tags and various types of paper clips
At some point Irina will probably do a video showing my flip book. I will write a quick post and include the URL to the video when she does. In the meantime, go to craftyirina’s YouTube challenge video and see if this is something you are interested in entering.
I have never made a flipbook before, but this was such a fun project I will definitely be making more. This week I will mail my book to Irina. Wish me luck!
glitteronmyface 