Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Stencil Test Drive - Borders

Welcome to the Borders Test Drive & Giveaway, featuring Marjie Kemper, Natasha May, Maria McGuire, Maggie Nemetz,  and Judy Shea.

I love borders.  I never feel like a creation is complete unless I've added some sort of border around it.  So I created the borders stencil.  It has an assortment of borders that can be used around the edges of your project, or to give texture, or as design elements.

On the book I altered for my parents, the checked border on the top and bottom of the back cover are from the borders stencil.  I used one of my favorite texture techniques -- mixing gold mica powder into glass bead gel and spreading it across and through the stencil with a putty knife.  Here's the back of the book again...


Now for the front of the book!  There, I pulled the gold-tinted bead gel through the leafy border, as well as through some of the stars and spirals:


On the inside spread, I covered the book pages with gesso, and used a credit card to scrape Quinacridone Magenta and Nickel Azo Gold over the gesso.  When the paint was barely dry, I scrubbed it off with a baby wipe through the geometric border on the stencil.  I like the distressed, textured look this gave me.  It inspired the other elements that I added.




On the spine, I wrote: Sam and Ellen, a love story.  They'll be married 59 years this August!  Here they are seeing the book for the first time! 


You can also use the border stencil to create an overall design:


Here's a journal spread I did using inspiration from Marjie Kemper's use of tags in this post, and Carolyn Dube's tag post from her free online workshop, Use Your Words.  

1.  I laid out three tags side by side on scrap paper.

2.  I placed the border stencil across them horizontally, and sprayed randomly with Dylusions spray in Calypso Teal and Fresh Lime.

3.  I placed the border stencil vertically and sprayed again.   

4.  Using a neocolor  II crayon in golden yellow, I scribbled around the areas not touched by the stenciling.

5.  I misted the three tags with water and spread the inks and neo color crayon around.  Then I sealed them with clear gesso.
 
6.  I wanted the tags to go from small, medium to large in my journal.  So I cut the bottom off of one of the tags, and attached it to the bottom of another tag.  This created 3 different sizes.  I stenciled across the tags using the border stencil and white acrylic paint, to give them contrast and make the bottom tag more cohesive.

7.  Once I knew the layout of the tags, I removed them and used my yellow crayon to color in letters from the letter stencil Carolyn's been using in her workshop.

8.  I removed the stencil and loosely colored around the letters with Vermilion and Scarlet neocolor II crayons.

9.  I misted the page and washed the colors around.  The letters disappeared into the background, but one step inspires the next -- plus I know they're there!

I adhered the tags onto my background using heavy gloss gel, which both sealed the background and tags, and also acted as an adhesive for scraps of lined paper for journaling and some inspirational words from a sheet of Tiny Text stickers by Cosmo Cricket.  Then I darkened the background with a red Portfolio Pastel. 

 I liked it so much, I had to do the other side of the page for a full spread!


I added letter stickers to spell "GUATEMALA" on the top left of the spread.  By the time you read this, we will be in Antigua, Guatemala, for a week with our families and the children at the two schools.   I am excited to have my art journal all prepped to memorialize my trip.  I will be sharing pictures and observations as soon as I can!
 
Please be sure to visit Marjie Kemper, Natasha May, Maria McGuire, Maggie Nemetz,  and Judy Shea and see how they've used the Borders stencil.  I am so very grateful that they took this test drive with me!

GIVEAWAY!  Comment by Sunday, March 3 for a chance to win the Dots and Dashes stencil!

UPDATE:  and the winner is Arnold Romero! 

And finally, I just have to share these gorgeous tags that Annette made using the stars and swirls stencil that she won as a giveaway and uploaded to the Jessica Sporn Designs Flickr pool.  I LOVE THEM!  
http://nettyscraftings.blogspot.com/
Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

This I Believe

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year."  Ralph Waldo Emerson 


Emerson wrote these words about time.  He called it the great illusion -- that we live as though the best days are yet to come, and take the present moment for granted.   On the one hand, when we're having a bad day, it is comforting to think that our best days are yet to come.  But if we wake up with the attitude that today will be ordinary, chances are it will be. 


This quote inspired me to honor my parents.  They truly embrace each day to the fullest.  There's not a Broadway show, opera, museum exhibit or concert that they don't see.  They have traveled extensively.  When they're not at a performance or out of the country, they're dining out with their friends, walking on the Coney Island boardwalk, volunteering somewhere, or visiting their children and grandchildren.  They have joie-de-vivre to the max!


This is the quote of the month at Artists in Blogland's Color This Quote challenge, which starts tomorrow.  What does it make you think about?  Share your creation with other artists here!


Materials and process:  This is the back cover of a book I altered (I'll be showing the rest in my next post!).  I cut the niche to fit the photo, and then collaged book pages through and around the opening using matte medium.  I also used Tim Holtz Symphony tissue tape underneath the quote.  I stenciled the squares using my borders stencil, mixing mica powder and glass bead gel to create the glittery texture.  The heart and rose are polymer clay baked in my (accident proof) Amaco oven (thank you Judy Shea for your wonderful class!), and I made the leaves using fiber paste painted onto deli paper, then cut and stained with fluid acrylics (green gold, quinacridone magenta and nickel azo gold and carbon black).


Submitting to the challenges at Stampotique (SDC88-use text) and at City Crafter (all that glitters).

Linking to the blog hops at  Create With JoyCreative Everyday, Make It Monday, and Monday Mantras.

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

You've Got to Have a Dream

   "Dreams are like the paints of a great artist. Your dreams are your paints, the world is your canvas. Believing is the brush that converts your dreams into a masterpiece of reality."
Anonymous

 
My canvas started with a collage of book paper, marks with warm colors and then cool colors, a sketch of a woman in flight, and the words "dream" and "believe," which I'd made out of polymer clay.  My thoughts traveled to Antigua, Guatemala, where we sponsor three families and are the liaisons between two schools in New Jersey and two schools outside of Antigua that are trying to educate the poorest of the poor.  (Here's a prior post about our connections there.)


When I do assembly presentations in New Jersey about children in Guatemala, I ask kids to think about what it would be like to grow up and never dream about the future; to grow up with only one dream -- survival.


First, I ask all the kids to stand up.  Education in Guatemala is only free through grade 6.  So I have 1/2 of them sit down to represent kids who don't go middle and high school because they can't afford the tuition.  Then I explain that children in primary school still have to pay for their own uniforms, transportation, school supplies, pencils, books, paper, erasers, etc.  This costs on average $25 a month per child -- well beyond the means of most poor families in a country where the average annual income of an indigenous worker is $1600 a year.  Only 30% of the children who begin primary school in Guatemala actually continue through grade 6.  So I ask 2/3 of the children who are still standing sit down.  Finally, I tell them that many poor families need the sons to go to work in the coffee plantations with the fathers (to augment the $2 a day that the father makes), and the girls to stay home with the mothers and watch the younger children.  So I have 1/2 of the remaining children sit down.


Now there are only a few kids standing.  Only a handful of kids in the poor communities can dream of doing anything except having babies, cooking over a fire, and washing clothes by hand if they are girls, or picking coffee beans or doing unskilled labor if they are boys.  Unlike American children, the children we see in Guatemala don't dream of becoming teachers or doctors or lawyers.  Dreams are luxuries.


In the musical South Pacific, the character Bloody Mary sings a song called "Happy Talk."  The lyrics are:  "You've got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true." 

On Tuesday, we are going back to Guatemala for the week, to see our families and the beautiful children in the two schools, and try to do just a little bit to help these children dare to dream, and believe that their dreams can come true.


The process:  I mixed mica powder and glass bead gel to make a textured paste to scrape through my border's stencil to create the metallic texture on the right and left of the canvas.  The words and heart are made with polymer clay, thanks to Judy Shea's amazing Buttons n'Bellishments class.  Her curls are made with twine, and embellished with fluid acrylic Iridescent Gold paint.

Linking to challenges at Paper Issues (twine),  Simon Says Stamp & Show (metallic); Frilly & Funkie (layers and words). 

She is also my face # 16.  Here are faces 17 -21!


Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

See you at Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Love Always


Like everyone else, I was profoundly touched by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Next to keeping our children safe at home, we expect them to be safe at school.  What happened was unimaginable.  
 

Shortly after, I started working on a painting.  I knew I wanted it to have a house or a school house.  I knew I wanted it to have a heart for every person lost that day.  I wanted it to have a sense of time - time passing, time running out, time standing still.  I wanted it to to have bright, primary colors, like children would use.  And finally, I wanted it to convey a sense of re-birth and renewal, because death and birth are intertwined; one does not exist without the other. 

As I worked on it, I kept hearing the song "A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Miserables in my head:

 A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now
You're here, that's all I need to know
And you will keep me safe
And you will keep me close 
And rain will make the flowers grow. 

Here is what emerged:

Made with acrylics, polymer clay, gelli plate paper collaged house and hearts, stamping, scribbling, love.

Linking to Creative Everyday,  Create With Joy, Mandarin Orange Monday, Make it on Monday, and Monday Mantras.


My older daughter Mariel and two of her cousins have always been extremely close -- like sisters.  I've held onto an extra copy of this photo of the three of them (from 1998) for years, thinking I'd do something special with it.  When I bought this old book at a book sale, I knew its destiny!


I cut an opening in the front of the book roughly the size of the photo.  I removed some of the first few pages too, and used them to make a matte for the photo.  I used the pieces I cut away to decoupage around the opening on the book cover to smooth out the edges.


I added many layers of paint, lace, stenciling, stamping, and embellishments, to created a frame for this sweet photo.  I glued the cover together with all of the remaining pages, leaving the back cover to create a stand.



I do believe that they will love each other always.

Linking to Eclectic Paperie (altered book), Happy Daze (Love is All Around), Inspiration Emporium (LOVE), Frilly & Funkie (lace and hearts) and One Little Word (Always).

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

An Artsy Valentine's Day and Faces 13 - 15


Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope that every day, you wake up and remember that you are loved! 

Face #13:
 Face #14
 and Face #15

These pencil drawings are inspired by photos of our "families" in Guatemala.  We leave February 26 for our next visit and I can't wait to see everyone!  I am definitely seeing progress in my faces!

Here's a sneak peak at some clay pieces I made in Judy Shea's online workshop, Buttons n'Bellishments.  It's been so much fun!  Stay tuned Monday for a look at the canvas they are embellishing.


And finally, this journal page was inspired by Carolyn Dube's online class, Use Your Words!

It is in an old encyclopedia I am altering; I was inspired by the text that was on the page: "Great Outlet to the Sea." 

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Face 12


The most beautiful flowers...


are made even more beautiful...
 

when someone loves them.

Linking to Simon Says Stamp & Show (something messy), where I was honored to win top 3 last week with this design.  This canvas uses the (messy!) process described in this post.

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Use Your Words & Face #11

Today was the first day of my friend Carolyn Dube's FREE online workshop: Use Your Words.

To celebrate and commemorate, here's Face #11, entitled "Use Your Words!"


The letters in her hair are from Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Stencil - Letter Jumble (9x12) at the Funkie Junkie boutique! She started with a nose (which ended up being rather long), inspired by this spark of "artspiration" from Carolyn's newsletter.  Can you see the nose too?  (My daughter Samy saw a leg from behind.)


Today the snow started melting.  But despite all the shoveling, it was quite glorious over the weekend.  Not so much for my friends in Connecticut and Massachusetts.  But Samy and Freddie had a good time!


Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.