Blog Hop - Cecilia Swatton's Stencils!

Today, I'm blog hopping with a group of amazing artists.  We're all using one of Cecilia Swatton's beautiful stencils from Stencil Girl!  I chose to use her 6 x 6" Gingko Leaves stencil:

I decided to alter a plain wooden box from Michaels:

I used gold acrylic paint to stencil the beautiful leaves onto tissue paper.

I painted the box green, and then adhered the leaves using matte medium.  I love how the tissue paper "melts" away, and creates a beautiful texture.

   



I used my Borders stencil from Stencil Girl to decorate the outside of the box, and added some word stickers from Tim Holtz. 










I videotaped some of the process.  Enjoy!

You can also watch "Box With Gingko Leaves" on You Tube. 

There are two giveaways for this blog hop!  One is on StencilGirl Talk, and Cecilia is hosting a giveaway of her own on her blog.   ALL comments in the entire hop are eligible to win. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN! The giveaway will close on Sunday, October 27th at 11:59PM Central Time. 

So get hopping!  Here are all the great participants on this blog hop!

StencilGirl Talk
Cecilia Swatton
Linda Kittmer
Linda Cain
Carolyn Dube
Corrine Gilman
Judy Shea
Kirsten Reed
Jessica Sporn (you are here!)

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

 

Stencil Test Drive - Bubble Girl!

It's time for another Stencil Test Drive - this time using the "Bubble Girl" stencil from Stencil Girl!

 For this test drive, I decided she deserved her own journal.

I started out with a book I'd been saving to alter.

I covered the front and back with old book pages and other ephemera:

I scraped green, blue and yellow paint onto the front cover, to create a landscape:

I lay the stencil down, and scraped Wendi Vecchi's black embossing paste through it.  (Then I immediately washed off my stencil!)

Here's how it looked. 

I painted in the bubbles with glass bead gel, to give them some depth and sparkle.  Then I let the embossing paste and glass bead gel dry overnight.

I gave my girl a red dress, blue striped stockings and shoes, and painted some words around the bubbles. 

She will inspire me to embrace these affirmations!

Now I'm off to visit the other artists on this test drive.  They are:

Corrine Gilman

Textile Recycler

Maria McGuire

Susanne Pichler (Froebelsternchen)

Marcia Beckett

Marsha Valk

Kirsten Reed

I can't wait to see what they've created!  AND... I am giving away a Bubbles Girl stencil!  So comment by midnight on 10/27,  Sunday, for your chance to win!  All the comments on all the blogs in the hop will count, so make sure to visit everyone and comment!

UPDATE:  I decided to give away two stencils because I was late announcing.  And they are: Rita Montgomery and Barbara Macasakill!  Send your snail mail addresses to jessicabethsporn (at) gmail (dot) com and I will ship your girls to you!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

 

Art is You and Me and We

I spent 5 days at the happiest place on earth.  No... not Disneyworld ... Art is You in Stamford, Connecticut!  No long lines, no overpriced food and souvenirs -- just wonderful, artistic souls, creating and playing together.

My first workshop was with Jodi Ohl, someone whose work I have long admired. 

We worked on portrait techniques, and created glorious mermaids and maidens.

I was in class with Kirsten Reed, and when we went to dinner afterwards, our ladies had to have their own seats at the table.

Michelle Ward's class, called "Recess," was a stretch for me.  I was challenged to have stillness and restraint in most of my canvas, so that the recessed areas would draw focus.  I don't think anyone would describe my art as restrained, but I enjoyed making the effort and still feel that the canvasses look like "me."

I was WAY out of my comfort zone in Nellie Wortman's class.  We bent wire and did a lot of hand sewing to create these hanging sculptures that hold a little electric candle luminary.   Nellie was a very generous teacher, offering advice, words of encouragement, tips and techniques, as well as her remarkable story.











My last class was a two day painting workshop with Tracy Verdugo called "Sacred Marks."  This was as much a spiritual experience as a painting experience, and I loved it.   My huge 36 x 36" canvas went through many stages:

I'm still not done with it.... I hope to finish it soon and will share it when I do!

Of course, the best thing about Art is You is reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.  And of course, rocking out to good music while making art makes it even better!

I'm so thrilled that I will be teaching at Art is You in October 2014.   Stay tuned for workshop details and more!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, where I hope to catch up with more old friends who I haven't visited in a long time...

 

Stencil Girl & Xyron

The lovely Maria McGuire asked me to be a part of a collaboration between Stencil Girl Products and Xyron.  I was happy to oblige! Xyron sent me double sided sticky tape, and adhesive dots to use.

I had a Configurations shadow box in my stash from Christy Tomlinson's monthly mixed media kit in December 2012. 

I wanted to decoupage all of the boxes, and flip some of them to use them as little canvases, but I didn't want to get my hands covered in glue!  Xyron to the rescue!










Xyron's double sided tape and adhesive dots were perfect for adhering my stenciled book paper to the sides and back, for wrapping stenciled deli paper around the little boxes, and for adhering all of the different embellishments. 

The adhesive is so strong that even when I moved the box, turned it from side to side, or tilted it in different directions for to photograph it, everything stayed in place.  It was stuck like glue, without the mess!














Here are the stencils I used in my project:

Cascading Leaves
Circles & Squares
(Designed by me!)
and
Unfinished
(Designed by Seth Apter)

The lovely elephant was a gift from my older daughter Mariel.  She bought it for me when we were in Israel this past summer!

Here's a video of the process! 

 You can also watch the Stencil Girl & Xyron video You Tube here!

Your comments make me so happy (seriously - ridiculously happy!) and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

 

One Little Word - Color!

The "word up" at One Little Word this month is "COLOR."  This word opened up so many possibilities.

But in the end,  I was inspired by this beautiful quote:

http://letterladysletters.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-post.html

to create this 12 x 12" canvas:

Here's how I made it:

1.  I sectioned off the canvas using very skinny artists tape.
2.  I scraped modeling paste through stencils to create a lot of texture in each of the 8 triangles.  The stencils are:
     Red: Cascading Feathers
     Orange: Squares & Circles
     Yellow:  Flowers & Circles
     Green: Ronda's Feathers (thank you Ronda for the lovely gift of this beautiful stencil!)
     Blue: Stitch a Greek Border by Maria McGuire
     Indigo: Flying Tulips
     Violet: Hebrew Calligraphy
     Neutral: Dots & Dashes
3.  Then I rubbed paint into them, using the colors of the rainbow, and one neutral.  Because LOVE is for EVERYONE.
4.  I rubbed gold paint and gold leaf to onto the raised areas.
5.  Then I added embellishments from my stash.

Here's a video of part of my process:

You can also watch "Painting a Rainbow" on YouTube.

You won't believe the riot of color over at One Little Word.   I hope you'll check out the other creations by the Design Team, and join us at One Little Word for this versatile prompt!     

AND...  I have decided to give away on of my Squares & Circles stencils to someone who comments on this post!  So give me a shout out before midnight, EST, on Friday 10/18 to be eligible to win!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

PS - the winner of my FRAMES stencil from the test drive on Thursday is Jo from Anita Houston's blog:

Jo MurrayOctober 10, 2013 at 1:18 PM That's so clever....embossing twice. Worked really well...and this stencil is perfect for that technique.

Congratutions Jo - send me your snail mail address (to jessicabethsporn (@) gmail (dot) com, and I'll sent it to you!

Thank you for visiting and commenting.  I know how busy you are and the fact that you take time to leave a word or two makes me so happy!