Posts Tagged ‘art journaling’

“Art” you ready? I sure am…..

// April 30th, 2013 // No Comments » // Art Groups, Classes, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft, Things Crafty Classes

It all starts TOMORROW!  Join me in my art group to learn about how powerful POSITIVE can be in our lives.  Positive attitude, positive motion, positive energy.

“The Power of Positive – engage in art to engage in life”

Wednesday, May 1st 7pm – 8:30pm

I’ll line out what you can expect in the ongoing art journal class, what you will need to participate and I’ll create a journal page as we go along.  Join my art group for FREE at craftylink.com to play along!

 

I Made it Monday: Annie’s Crafty Adventure Edition

// March 4th, 2013 // Comments Off // madeitmonday, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft

love

Happy Monday everyone!!! This week for Made it Monday I get to share work by some of the most awesome ladies out there.  Last week we had our first challenge over in the Annie’s Crafty Adventure group.  It was exciting to see what everyone came up with for our challenge.  The challenge was called “Rainbow Bright”.  You can find the details for the challenge in the group.

I made a quick slideshow to showcase all of the work that was submitted, you can view view it  by clicking here.

Robyn Couillard also made a video of her process for this challenge.  You can find it here.

I hope you come join us this week for our latest challenge.

Our First Crafty Challenge!!!!

// February 23rd, 2013 // Comments Off // Blog, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft

Annie's Crafty Adventure

I am excited to announce our first weekly challenge has been posted in Annie’s Crafty Adventure.

The challenge is called “Rainbow Bright”.

love

Come join in the fun and post a project for the opportunity to be featured on this blog on Monday, March 4th, 2013.

 

I Made it Monday

// January 14th, 2013 // Comments Off // madeitmonday, Uncategorized

Last week continued to be very productive.  I worked on quite a few journal pages and did my first Tuesday Schmoozeday Live show in a few months.  It was fun and exciting and scary all at once.  So here’s what’s passed across my desk this week.

DSCN1473

 

My project from Tuesday Schmoozeday.  A journal made out of file folders.  You can find the replay here or here.

DSCN1462

 

Remember that journal spread I showed you last week? The one that I though was entirely too pink? Well this is that same page completed.  I added some color to the flames and blue to the wings.

DSCN1468

 

Another journal spread I did using some new supplies and my new favorite thing corrugated cardboard.

DSCN1467

 

And finished another page for the Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge.  You can read more about it here.

I wish you all a good week! Please join myself and all of the other wonderful designers as www.craftylink.com for Tuesday Schmoozeday.

Mixed Media Kind of Weekend

// December 3rd, 2012 // 1 Comment » // madeitmonday, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft

This weekend was a creative kind of weekend.  After sending and receiving some amazing artwork for the ATC swaps I was inspired to create.  The starting point was “What if…” and I asked the question “What if butterflies never left?”  That led me on to this adventure.

I began by painting the tree trunk using a VERY heavy coat of Tim Holtz Distress Crackle in Crushed Corduroy.  As the paint dried it developed large cracks that gave the feel of old bark on a tree trunk.  I added a base of white and blue for the background and added some white to the tree branches to make it look like snow had settled on the tree.

Next I used a glue stick to adhere the butterflies to my page and used a light coat of acrylic medium to seal them in.  I used a wash of white paint and acrylic medium to cover some of the butterflies and used a brighter blue to outline the largest butterfly.  I continued to add paint, then sand down until I was happy with what was showing through, and what was hidden behind my paint, then I added one final layer of acrylic medium.  Once that was dry I outlined the painted butterflies with watercolor crayons to add a little depth to them, and I mixed a little pearlescent powder to my acrylic medium and painted my large butterfly.  The combination gives it a light opalescent shimmer.

I added some music to help frame the butterfly collage and did the same process of applying paint and sanding down until I found a look I was happy with.  Then I found and cut out the word ‘HOME’ from a magazine.  I applied that with acrylic medium and coated it with layers of paint/medium mix.  Finally I traced the letters with a black permanent marker and once again added paint until I was happy with how it looked.

While trying to find something to put in the empty place where the quote is I used an acrylic stamp and my acrylic medium and stamped a few snowflakes onto the background then I lightly sprinkled it with a clear glitter.

Finally, using shell paper (rice paper with bits of shell embedded) I added journaling strips and wrote my quote.  I added a few more strips of shell paper randomly to tie it in and used my whitewash technique on these strips.

I hope you enjoy this collage, and find inspiration to create something yourself.

~Nikki

Book Review – ‘How to Make Books’ by Esther K Smith

// November 26th, 2012 // Comments Off // Art Jewelry, Beads, & Glass, Blog, Book Reviews, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft

For anyone wanting to give making handmade books a go, I really recommend ‘How to Make Books’ by Esther K. Smith.

How to Make Books by Esther K Smith

For someone like me who loves paper crafts, handmade books can be a great way to show off your skills, or keep all your paper treasures in one place. They also make lovely gifts and keepsakes.

I discovered ‘How to Make Books’ whilst at university and have used many of the projects inside. I now regularly revisit this book when looking for inspiration for gifts for family and friends, or on a rainy day.

This book guides you from the very basic instant book for a beginner, up to much more complex projects making some rather exquisite handmade books. It teaches various binding and folding techniques, along with inspiration for how each book may be decorated or used.  The instructions are extremely easy to follow, with step by step illustrations and lovely images of the author’s own examples.

Here’s my own example of the Accordion Postcard Album (found on page 42) that I created as a final outcome for my final major project, whilst studying BA Graphic Design. I made these three books as a series to store and record postcard size images of altered books I had made as part of the same project, (my tutors loved them!)

My own postcard books.

Personally, I think this book is a brilliant investment for anyone wanting to try their hand at making books. Find it online, along with some other fun and inspiring books by the same author. (I also follow Esther K Smith on her Facebook page, she posts some really lovely, crafty things!)

I Made it Monday: Journal Pages

// November 12th, 2012 // 1 Comment » // madeitmonday

 Over the past couple of weeks I have been recovering from some major oral surgery.  But I didn’t let that keep me from working in my journal.  I find that, for me, Art Journaling is a great way to work through whatever it is I’m going through.   Another thing I love to do in my journals is quote pages.  Quote pages are pages that either contain a quote or are inspired by one.  Sometimes these pages are just an abstract background with a quote or designed around the quote I’ve chosen.  That part usually depends on the day.  Here are some of the pages I have worked on over the past couple of weeks.

“Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.” Bill Cosby

“Like a bird on a wire, Like a drunk in a midnight wife, I have tried in my way to be free.” Bird on a Wire by Leonard Cohen

Doodling over paint with Sharpie Brush pen and white paint pen accents.

“The trees that are slow to grow bear the most fruit.” Moliere

Tuesday Schmoozeday Art Journal Play

// October 2nd, 2012 // Comments Off // Kids Crafts, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft, Things Crafty Classes, Tuesday Shmoozeday

Today on my Tuesday Schmoozeday I chose to talk about Art journals. I concentrated on healing ones but discussed many other types, and how easy it is with one piece of paper to make 4 different pages to use.
I also discussed that you do not have to be an Artist and draw and sketch, you can use magazines and old books to cut words and pictures from to make your very own art journal page and then add them together as you do more. Here is the link to the show’s replay and if you have any questions…just ask!
I also put in the discussion section a question if you would like to do the meditative project I did at the end of my show-by drawing a line in all directions and coloring them in with whatever you have around the house. I love this form of meditation and it’s very centering to me.
I love comments and any questions so do not hesitate! We all love the interaction with you! Don’t forget to check out my Knitting 101 Class and I will have others coming in the future!
Here are a few pictures from today.

Using Crayons in your art- A whole new experience!

// August 3rd, 2012 // Comments Off // Blog, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft

I love trying out new things. I am an experimenter at heart. When mixed media came into my life, I thought… now this is for me! Mixed media allows me to spread my wings. I can add any media I want and it will be accepted. So, I recently went on a mission to see what products I could use and how far I could push them.

I love all types of art, but dark art really inspires me, so I decided to experiment with some crayons on a day that I happened to be in a dark mood. After playing around some, I ended up with these two paintings which I absolutely love. One is a background with a drawing on top and one is all crayon. Let me give you a few things to try.

Set your heat gun or hair dryer to the hottest setting and grate some of the crayon or color on your substrate. You can draw and then melt it and add more color by holding the crayon over the part you want darker. This is so much fun to do, especially with kids, but I have to tell you that as an adult I love doing these. Sometimes just doing abstracts are a fun way to get you out of your creative funk. Open your mind and explore! You will be so surprised at how fun and inspiring this kind of play can be! You can check out a video here

 

New Video Today Fun Acrylic Paint Technique using Rubbing Alcohol

// January 26th, 2012 // Comments Off // Blog, Mixed Media, Journals & Papercraft

In this episode of Things Crafty we show you how a simple product like rubbing alcohol can make the coolest patterns on acrylic paint. Use this techniques on paintings, art journals,scrapbooks, cards and more! You will have fun with this easy technique. Come show us what you make and join us in our community, come upload pics and share. http://www.thingscrafty.ning.com

 

 

« Older Entries