Gelli Plate Fun!

Hello friends!  Christmas is just around the corner, and luckily I have finished making and addressing my holiday cards, so all I have left to do is mail them.  Today's post is two pictures of a print that I pulled from my Gelli Plate. I hope you enjoy viewing it.

This print was made using three colors of acrylic paint on my Gelli Plate. I then positioned the Bloom plastic stencil from Color Box on top of the plate, and pressed a sheet of white card stock down on it.  This is what they call the first pull.  For the second print from this same plate, I removed the stencil and then pressed another sheet of white card down on top of the plate and pressed on it again.

This is what they call a second pull.  Most artists like the second pull better than the first, probably because it has more color and texture to it.  It really depends on the stencil used and the color saturation on the Gelli Plate.

On my first print above, I didn't get a clear print in the center of the design. So I used a small flourish swirl stamp to stamp a design in the center. You can see on the second pull where the center came out complete.  The pressure you use when pressing the paper on top of the stencil and plate depends on how much paint or ink is pulled up by the paper.  That's what makes this technique so much fun, you never know what to expect when you pull up a print.  Some you like, and some you don't!

I happened to like both of these, and have made cards from both of them. Stay tuned to see the completed cards in a day or two. Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Week filled with happiness and blessings for you and your families.

Mindy

Merry Christmas

Hello friends! I have been playing with my Gelli Plate that I purchased recently. I have been learning how to apply the paint and inks, how much pressure to apply to the paper when pulling prints, and ways to use the prints on cards and projects once they are done. Here is a card I printed and pulled recently.

This was the first pull of a design I did on my 3"X 5" gelli plate.  I laid down 3 shades of pink and red paint on the gelli plate.  I then laid the 6" Bloom plastic stencil from Color Box on top of the plate.

I scored my 5.5" X 8.5" piece of white card stock at the center (4.25") then laid the card down on the stencil so that the floral design would be on the front right corner.  I then applied light pressure to the card so that it would pick up the paint through the flower stencil.  That is what you call the "first pull."

While the print dried I die cut the words Merry Christmas using the Holiday Compliments die from Die-versions, and glued it to the card front with white craft glue.

I also have two cards that will show "first and second pull" on one plate, that I will share on Sunday.  

Please come back for a visit then.  See you soon.

Mindy

Create in Color

Hello Everyone!  Happy Thanksgiving Week!  I decided to start off the week with a playful little card full of color and creativeness.  I have been playing with acrylic paints and Distress Inks on my Gelli Plate, trying out the transfer tape technique.  

The basis of this technique is that you put down color on your plate, letting it dry between layers.  The layers are built from the background toward you, because what you see is what you end up with.

When all of the layers are dry and you are pleased with how it looks, you adhere your packing tape to the top burnishing it down to the paint layer.  You then lift the tape,  the paint sticks to the tacky side and that is what you create with on your cards, canvases, and art journals.

When your paint layers are dry on your Gelli plate you can also stamp on top with Archival Ink  (permanent) and rubber stamps.  If you look closely at my tape strip, you can see where I stamped a musical stamp, and a Hero Arts Flower before applying and lifting the packing tape.  It is so much fun, yet time consuming, when you have to let all the layers dry before proceeding to the next step.

I also stamped a Frida stamp from Paper Wings Productions and colored her with Pitt Pen markers from Faber-Castell.  After fussy cutting around the image, I spattered some Distressed Ink on the card to give it a little dimension behind where I was placing the stamped image. I finished off the card with a sentiment strip created with lettering from the Everyday Compliments die from Die-versions.

Of course, the artist, Frida Kahlo was known for her bright colors she used in her artwork, so it was only fitting to use her image on my card with the bright colors transferred with my packing tape. There are several videos on YouTube that describe the Transfer Tape technique using the Gelli Plate.

If you have several hours to waste, (ha ha!) check them out, and have a great day!

Mindy

Blossom Beauty

Welcome Friends! Today's post is a page from my Art Journal, using the New Stampendous Stamp Set, "Blossom Beauty!" I was so excited when a friend, Diane Hover, brought it to my attention, that I knew I had to order it at once! (she is one of my enabler's)  It is a two stamp set, with a large face, and a large flower. Since the images were larger than normal, I knew I would need help in shading and coloring this image. I searched the Internet, and found a class coloring just this set at My Creative Classroom, with the renown artist, Jennie Black.  She is a wonder with Watercolors and most markers, including Copic Markers (my favorite!). I am in the process of taking this class, and have many practice images to play with, that don't look half bad. This is my first attempt at coloring the face and flowers. Please enjoy!

I'm sorry I won't be able to give a step-by-step tutorial on how I colored the stamps, but there are classes available if you are interested.  Once your coloring is complete, there are other videos available on You

Tube, that will help you add hair, dresses, etc. to your stamped images from Stampendous.

To create the journal page I made, I first applied a layer of fluid Cream acrylic and fluid Ultramarine Violet acrylic paint from Golden Products to the blank page in dots.  I then blended the two colors somewhat with my brush, and then let them dry.  I die cut my large flowers from the Blossom Die set that is also available through Stampendous.  There are three dies in the set that cut the full flower, the small center area (like her necklace) and the center with the next layer of petals, to give you a stacked set of petals in case you want to give your flower more dimension. I fussy cut around the face, and the dress (downloaded from one of the YouTube videos).  When the background was dry, I stamped on it with a texture stamp and Love Letter Memento ink, and a small Hibiscus stamp from Deadbeat Designs stamped in Grape Jelly Memento ink. The single Hibiscus stamp from Deadbeat Designs was stamped on her dress in Grape Jelly ink also. 

I then attached them to my page with Regular Gel Medium from Golden Products. I love the Golden Mediums because their water content is low, and they don't leave the paper images or pages warped or wrinkled. I first attached the face, and then layered on the dress, and then the two large flowers. I set this all aside to dry, and then came back with the small center of the large flower and used foam tape to attach it to the page.  I used it to cover a smudge of ink on her chin that I couldn't remove or erase. 

Each time I color the face, I get a different look, which I really enjoy. There are so many ways to use these stamps, and I have several ideas already on projects I want to use them on. I hope you will enjoy, and leave me a comment on ideas you think would look good with this stamp. I also hope you had a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday!  I don't do much scrapbooking, but I do enjoy working in my Art Journal, which is what I did on NSD this year.  Have a great week, and I will see you again soon.

Mindy

Art Journaling Class I am Taking

Hello Friends! I am in the process of taking an Art journaling class from Christine Urias on her blog;
Scrap Time;"More than just Scrapbooking"  and it is called "Exploring Art Journaling 3".  It is a 30 day class, each one concentrating on different media used for backgrounds and pages, with a different journaling prompt each day.

It is very interesting, and is helping me use many of the products I already have in my studio, to make amazing pages. I am posting a few of the ones I have completed so far in the class.

Some of them are two page spreads, and other's are just a one page spread.  I am doing them in my small journal from Dyan Revealy and Ranger.  If I really get into one specific technique or medium, I will do another page in my larger journal. The background for the Transportation page (above) is done in acrylic paints mixed with Gesso.

The background for the favorite TV shows page (left) is made with Lyra watercolor crayons.

And the background for the Daydreamer page (bottom) uses Stencils layered and then misted with Dylusions Sprays.

Most of my doodling and drawing is done with my Posca paint markers, and Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay India Inks.

I hope you enjoy seeing some of my Art Journal where I test out products and ideas, to see which I enjoy working with, and how they work together on a project. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a comment or question below, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.  Have a Great Day!

The Caged Bird Sings

Greetings, and Happy Friday to one and all!  Today's post is a mixed-media canvas celebrating Spring and the Weekly Challenge at Classy Cards N' Such blog.  

The topic this week is "Flutterbys" celebrating birds or butterflies, or both!  

I started with my Bird Sanctuary die set from Spellbinders SB-S5-033, also available in the Classy Cards N' Such Online shop.  I have had this die set for quite awhile, but haven't had the chance to try it out yet. After cutting it all out with my Cuttlebug machine, I started arranging pieces to fit my 8" X 8" canvas.  I dug through some of my "scraps" of die cut images I keep from when I try out my dies, and found a frame from the Romantic Rectangles Spellbinders die. So after smearing out some of my favorite colors of Golden Acrylic paints on my canvas, I stamped my Music All Over Background Stamp from Impression Obsession, on the canvas in brown Memento ink. I then attached my rectangular frame in the top left corner with a little adhesive and two turquoise brads. I then adhered a strip of the Spring Market printed paper from Websters Pages to the rectangle with foam tape to give a little more dimension.

I then started attaching my Bird Sanctuary die-cuts on top of the frame.  There was a beautiful bird cage, some greenery leaves, two small birds - one with dimensional wings, and a decorative greenery border.  I also added a 3-D Mini Daisy from Sizzix and Susan Tierney-Cockburn, left on my desk from the "Flower Garden Challenge" a few weeks ago. A decorative button topped off the bird cage after attaching the leaves and bird.  After my "arrangement" was complete, the lyrics from a poem by Maya Angelou kept repeating over and over in my mind; "I know why the Caged Bird Sings."

After adding the phrase, I still needed something decorative in the top right, and bottom left corners of the canvas.  I dug out one of my Prima Stencils and applied a little molding paste to the corners. I let everything dry overnight, and when dry, I colored the molding paste with Dark Bark chalk ink to antique it just a bit and tone down the "whiteness".

I hope you enjoy my canvas as much as I enjoyed making it. I love all types of winged creatures, from butterflies and birds to dragonflies, ladybugs, and bee's.  I guess that is another reason I enjoy Spring so much. It is an awakening of sorts, a new beginning of life, both in plants and creatures, after the cold bleakness of winter.

Trick or Treat . . . . . . . . .

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! Why do I always hear this song in my head when I see someone in costume?  Halloween is just around the corner, and although I no longer dress in costume, I remember the days when I dressed in costume for work. I worked retail, and on Halloween we always dressed in costume to entertain the customers.  By the time I got home from work, and being on my feet in my costume all day, I usually changed into my jammies and went to bed, without handing out much candy. It seems the neighborhood I grew up in, grew up with me. So, in the later years there wasn't much action, except for the house across the street.  As the kids in that house grew up, the parents started putting up a large tent, and would be the waiting spot for parents while their kids were in the neighborhood trick-or-treating. They would serve coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies to the kids and parents, and would have music playing during the festivities.  Years later when the carloads of  kids would appear in our neighborhoods, their house was always the gathering place for frivolity and fun! If I had purchased candy to hand out, and no one visited our door, I would end up delivering it to "the tent" to add to their cauldron of goodies.

Now, the neighborhood I live in  has no children. I may buy a bag of candy that I like, "just in case someone stops by!" I usually don't open my door after dark anyway, you never know who is out there anymore.  So, Halloween is not that big a deal.  I do love the art of the holiday though!

In this card, I started with a Prima large tag, and stenciled black chevron stripes on it. I then added two cat die cuts, and an image from a vintage postcard.  The tag was trimmed to fit the A2 orange card base, and I then stamped "Trick or Treat" and a tiny star down the open side of the card.

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween, and a spooky, kooky good time!

Sugar Skull Template

Happy October friends!  It is the first of October, the beginning of a season of holidays, cool weather, and lots of falling leaves.

I found this awesome Sugar Skull 6 X6 Template, and added it to my New Mini Art Journal from Ranger. I have been having so much fun painting, printing, and technique testing in my larger Ranger journal, that when the smaller size ones came out, I knew I had to have one of those to carry with me when attending classes, and spending the day relaxing and refreshing outdoors. 

The Crafters Workshop carries this stencil in both the 6 X 6 and the 12 X 12" sizes. I have always wanted to build a shrine to loved ones gone before me, for Dias de Los Muertos celebrated the first of November.  I have a month to experiment on what I want to include in my shrine, so stay tuned here, to see what I come up with.  I like things that are different, and unique, and if they are made-by-hand, that is even better. My family always appreciated hand made arts and crafts, so I'm sure my shrine will contain mainly hand made items in it.

I have many projects planned for the coming month, so check back with me, and be sure to leave me comments on the projects I will be sharing. I really appreciate your comments, and hope to keep in touch with you. Enjoy Fall,  and create something yourself. Hand-made is always better!

Mindy

Journal Page Tribute to Our Prima Doll Stamp Blog Hop

I completed a page in my Art Journal today, paying tribute to my participation in my first ever Blog Hop. The Prima Doll Stamp Blog Hop was during the month of August, 2013. Each week, 5 other artists and myself presented projects on our blogs featuring the Prima Doll Stamps from Julie Nutting, celebrating the Four Seasons of our year; Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

I saw this technique, Creating a Patchwork Background, on a YouTube video with Dyan Reaveley for RangerInk.com.  Using her creative Art Journal, I started by doodling on a page with my Pigma Micron black permanent marker.  You can then fill in the sections with solid colors, or filling in with Zentangle doodles in each section. Ever since Zentangle became popular, I have been engrossed in it. I love drawing patterns inside outlines to make cards or just intricate designs.

The next step is to add color to your designs. Dyan used her Dylusions Inks in water brushes in her video, but I used Marvy and Prismacolor markers to color mine in.

You can then use any stencil or template to make a design guide. I took two of my Prima Doll Stamps, "Riley" & "Olive" and traced them out on clear packaging plastic with a Sharpie marker.  You could also use StazOn Ink to stamp on the plastic, because StazOn is the only ink that will stamp on non-porous surfaces.  Then cut out your design with scissors.  The next step is to place them on your page where you want them and using Tim Holtz Black Acrylic Paint Dauber, or any black acrylic paint and sponge dab the paint around your figures and over part of the page. You can then take a paper towel or baby wipe to soften the edge of the paint where it meets your doodling. I used a matte black Patio Paint by DecoArt, and it made the dark background look like a chalkboard. Using black makes the colors of your designs more dramatic. 

When the acrylic paint is dry, outline your shapes with your black marker, and then outline the design with your White Gel Pen.  I then took my white Posca bullet tip paint marker and did a little journaling around the edge of the page. For details in the middle of the page, I used the white gel pen to journal about the other artists and their Blog Sites.

I had so much fun with this Blog Hop I wanted to remember the details by journaling about it in my Art Journal. So there is another use for the Doll Stamps, as stencils in an art project.  I hope you have enjoyed today's post as much as I enjoyed doing it.  Have a great weekend, and I will share with you again soon.

Mindy

PRIMA DOLL STAMP BLOG HOP! - Week #2- Summer

It's time for Week #2 of the Prima Doll Stamp Blog Hop! Have you seen the Doll Stamps from artist Julie Nutting? They are adorable, and a few of us are having so much fun with them, that we have decided to put together a 4-part Blog Hop, and the rules are very simple.

Each Tuesday throughout the month of August, we will be sharing creations made with a variety of these fabulous stamps, to inspire you. This is going to be a 4-Seasons Blog Hop with each Tuesday's projects featuring a season of the year.

The theme of Tuesday, August 13, 2013 will be Summer Features;  Tuesday, August 20, 2013 will be Fall Features;  and Tuesday, August 27, 2013 will be Winter Features.

All you will need to do is HOP to each of our blogs each Tuesday in August and leave us a comment. Be sure to leave your email address, because on August 30th we will EACH be giving away a prize!  (and we need to know how to get in touch with you, so we can send your Blog Candy!)

Yes, each participant will be giving away a prize package, and these packages will be shown on each of our blogs during the Hop!  REMEMBER. . . . you will need to comment each Tuesday to be eligible for the prize drawing.  AND. . . .if you share our hop information on your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account, be sure to let us know and you will get a SECOND chance at the prize drawing.  WAIT THERE IS MORE!  If you become a follower/subscriber to our blogs, you will get a THIRD chance!!!!!!

Are you ready for some fun?????Here are our participants, and they are waiting for your visit this week!                          
                                                                     * * * * * * * * * * * *

                                                               Dar's Crafty Creations

                                                                 Primitive Seasons

                                                              A Mermaids Crafts

                                                                   Nellies Nest

                                Paper & Ink with Mulberry Mindy (you are HERE)

                                                               Scrap for Joy

                                                                     * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here is my Feature for Week #2:  SUMMER FUN AT THE BEACH TRIPTYCH

This three-panel art piece can be used as a free-standing collage, or wall art piece used to decorate your special "get-away" space, to remind you of a time, feel, or special destination that inspires you to relax and enjoy every moment of the day!

I started out by collecting all sorts of "beachy" type ephemera, clip art and stickers that reminded me of a special time. Most of my summers were spent with my family at the beach.  My father would take a couple of weeks vacation time during the summer when I was out of school, and the family would drive down to the coast of Texas, where we would enjoy the sun and sand, and lots of fish dinners during our stay.

I began the project by giving the entire piece a nice coat of white gesso and letting it dry completely. I then glued my clip art picture from Paper Wings Productions to the center panel about half way down.  Then using the picture as a starting point and guide, I sketched the mountains on the left panel, and the water line/horizon line on the right panel.  I then basecoated the beach/sand on the left , sand in the center, and water and sand in the right panel. When the paint was dry, I added a layer of gel medium to the sand area and sprinkled on a  layer of  Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder in Antique Linen, which when right from the jar looks like grainy sand.  I also added more gel medium to the left panel, and sprinkled on Spring Meadow Speckles from JudiKins, which is a product similar to glitter, (loose and rough textured) and reminds me of chopped up grass clippings. This gave the sand dunes a feeling of plants growing at the edges.  I then used various shades of watercolor pencils to color in the sky areas, and the water with waves.

After the sky dried, I painted a wash of yellow acrylic paint, thinned with Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid around the edges of the frames, in the joining area, and on the back of the piece.  Then using the circles background stamp from Paper Wings Productions I stamped one row of the circles around each

frame in Sepia Archival Ink from Ranger. I colored in the mountain area with my Copic markers, and stamped some low clouds with the cloud stamp from Paper Wings. I also wet my watercolor brush with water, and scrubbed some white cloud areas in the sky areas and blotted with a paper towel. Using my white Posca marker, I added white caps to the waves in the water, and softened the stamped clouds so they weren't so striking.

The last steps consisted of adding all the collectibles to the triptych panels. To the left panel I added acrylic bubbles and spanish moss to the grassy area, with 3-D flowers to accent the panel. The center panel hilighted the sun in the sky and the shells in the sand at the water's edge, and a turtle sticker and sea glass accented the last panel along with the words, "Summer is. . . . Time for Fun!"

For my Prima Doll, I stamped the Doll in Peasant Dress Stamp on heavy watercolor paper, and colored her in with Copic markers, coloring on her one-piece bathing suit. I then paper pieced her dress/cover-up from a summery flowered scrap of scrapbook paper. I dimensionalized the dress and figure using the very thick 3-D Zots from Thermo-Web to adhere her to the triptych panel.

So, there you have it! Don't forget to leave a comment here, to be eligible for my "BLOG CANDY" give-away. Please check my sidebar on the right for a picture and list of my Blog Candy prize!

DON'T FORGET TO CONTINUE ON HOPPING TO JOYCE'S BLOG,  "SCRAP FOR JOY" to continue on the hop!

Here are a few more of my past projects using my Prima Doll Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon!   Mindy

PRIMA DOLL STAMP BLOG HOP! -Week #1 -Spring

WOW! Have you seen the Prima Mixed Media Doll Stamps from artist Julie Nutting? The are adorable!

A few of us are having so much fun with them that we've decided to put together a 4-part Blog Hop, and the rules are very simple.

Each Tuesday throughout the month of August;  August 6, 2013  August 13, 2013  August 20, 2013 and August 27, 2013 we will be sharing creations made with a variety of these fabulous stamps to inspire you. This is going to be a 4-Seasons Blog Hop with each Tuesday's project featuring a season of the year. 

The theme of Tuesday, August 6, 2013 will be SPRING FEATURES!

The theme of Tuesday, August 13, 2013 will be SUMMER FEATURES!

The theme of Tuesday, August 20, 2013 will be FALL FEATURES! and

The theme of Tuesday, August 27, 2013 will be WINTER FEATURES!

All you will need to do is HOP to each of our blogs each Tuesday in August and leave us a comment. Be sure to include your email address, because on August 30th we will

 EACH be giving  away a prize!

Yes, each participant will be giving away a prize package, and these packages will be shown on each of our blogs during the Hop! REMEMBER. . . .you will need to comment each Tuesday to be eligible for the prize drawing.  AND. . . if you share our hop information on your blog, Facebook Page, or Twitter account, be sure to let us know and you will get a

SECOND chance at the prize drawing. WAIT THERE IS MORE!

If you become a follower/subscriber to our blog, you will get a THIRD chance!!!!

So, what do you say?  Ready for some FUN??????

Here are our participants, they are waiting for your visit!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dar's Crafty Creations 

Primitive Seasons

A Mermaids Crafts

Nellies Nest

Paper & Ink with Mulberry Mindy (you are HERE)

Scrap For Joy

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So, without further ado, here is my Spring Doll Feature: The Spring Doll Door Hanger!

My Spring Doll Door Hanger is made from "Olive", one of the newer doll stamp releases, and she is mounted on  a wooden unfinished triangular banner that I painted with Baby Pink acrylic paint. I then adhered a sheet of Rose Garden printed paper from First Edition papers.  Rubber stamp accents such as bees, peacock feathers, and border was stamped with Sepia brown Archival Ink from Ranger. Olive was also stamped with the brown Archival Ink on a Prima Tag Pad and then cut out and applied to the banner.

I colored her features with Copic markers, added a paper pieced skirt from the Rose Garden paper pad, and adhered her to the banner with 3-D glue dots.  I also added vellum daffodil stickers and dragonflies, along with a tag cut from the Rose Garden paper pad.  A cute printed grosgrain ribbon was tied in two bows, and then used as the hanger loop to hang from any door knob or on a bedroom wall.  I hand wrote the inspirational word "PLAY" to the door hanger to symbolize the child in all of us, using my Posca markers. To top it all off, I added some acrylic stones for bling on the dragonflies and necklace for the doll.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Don't forget to leave a comment on my blog to be eligible for my "BLOG CANDY" giveaway! Please check my sidebar on the right for a picture and list of my Blog Candy Prize!

AND DON'T FORGET TO CONTINUE ON HOPPING TO  JOYCE'S BLOG,

"SCRAP FOR JOY" to continue on the hop!

Here is another of my projects using my Prima Doll Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon!

Mindy

I've been Caught by the Fashion Police!

Have you ever prepared to leave the house, going somewhere, and your spouse or family member says, "Are you wearing that???"  I caught myself saying that to myself as I passed the mirror this past weekend.
When I was a teen, my Mother used to always tell me the "Fashion Police" were going to take me in for what I was wearing. That is what inspired this page in my Art Journal.

These pages should be for inspiration only, because I have trouble remembering what I did and when. I work on them in stages, a little bit at a time, for days and days. I think I started this page by spritzing on pink Smooch sprays and then added layers with Lime green and Ivory acrylic paints. I then used a large stipple brush to dot on layers of black and brown Memento Ink.  I then adhered apiece of book page and the cute little dog from my June Nesting Components kit from Paper Wings Productions.  I also adhered the large Prima Tag with a handmade doll from Julie Nutting's book Collage Couture. Her dress was pieced with scrapbook paper, and the rose stamp from Paper Wishes was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored with Copic Markers. I shaded around the doll image with PanPastel chalks and then added colors from the background page to help it blend in with the background.  I added a few Die-cuts from the PWP June Kit and journaled on them after adhering to the page. I added letters for the words "Fashion Police" from the sticker sheet in the June kit, and highlighted around each element with a gray Posca marker from Uni.

To finish it up, I added strips of light mint green ribbon with brown dots to the edges, some swirls and squiggles with the pale peach Posca marker, and a giant floral brad that matched the colors in the top right hand corner. I forgot to mention that the roses and the doll are popped  up from the surface with foam tape to give the page dimension. I also accented the folds in her skirt with some holly green Stickles glitter glue, and added two tiny flowers at her waist. 

These art journal pages are so rewarding to me, because when I finish, I feel as though I have added a piece of myself to the page.  Plus, I have tried a new product or technique that I have never used before to express my artful feelings. I hope you all try something new to stimulate your creativity, and have a wonderful Wednesday!  Please visit again.
Mindy

Picture Perfect Garden Angel- Mixed Media Canvas

Hello fellow artists!  Today's post is a first for me. My first Canvas Mixed-Media Collage piece. I have been studying pieces by other artists, and finally decided to give it a try myself.

Most of the supplies for this canvas was from the June Nesting Components Mixed Media Kit from Paper Wings Productions. I also used one of my New stamps from the Julie Nutting Doll Stamp Collection from Prima, "Riley" is her name.  The angel wings stamp is also new from Prima, and works along with the Doll stamps.

The canvas is an 8" X 8" stretched canvas I purchased throught Oriental Trading Co. I didn't photograph the step-by-step tutorial, because it was my first canvas, and I wasn't sure how it was going to come out.  But now that I know what to expect, and the steps involved in creating a canvas like this, I will try to do a tutorial on the next one I do.

If you have any specific questions about this piece, you can leave  a comment here on the blog, or email me to ask your question. I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you for joining me here today. See you again soon.

Relax, Take It Easy, Let Yourself Go!

Happy Friday Everyone!  I posted on Wednesday that today's post was going to be special, something that has been a long time in the making, and I wasn't kidding!

Several months ago I broke down and purchased one of the Art Journals that Ranger makes, just like the one Dyan Reaveley uses with her Dylusions Ink. I thought this would help me in journaling my thoughts, and help me try out products to see what they can do.  I stared at the blank book for weeks and weeks, before finally jumping right in and smearing some ink on a page.  I worked on one double page layout for weeks, letting the various layers of paint, gesso, and glue dry well.

Then it finally hit me!  You don't have to concentrate on one single page until it is done!  Now I have 6 or 7 pages started with backgrounds, and each day I have time to work in it, I add a little something to the pages I have started.  Wednesday I finally completed one page, and here it is in all it's glory!  Taa Daa!

I know it may not be exactly what I had in mind when I began, but I have to remember that " I am still a work in progress!"  I learn something new everyday, and that is really all that life is about.  AND, that is what this journal is all about! 

Learning new things, trying out new products, and creating something that speaks to me.

Sharing it on my blog will also give me the opportunity to receive constructive criticism from my bloggie friends and help me produce pages that I know will speak to others, too.  So feel free to share your comments with me, but just remember I am NOT a professional artist, I do this for fun and my own personal enjoyment. I hope everyone has a wonderful and productive weekend.  Stay safe, and if you get the chance, "Create a  little something that makes you HAPPY!"

Mindy