Angel in the Window Coaster Collage – Stencil Test Drive

My dear friend, Jessica Sporn, did a post on her blog this week about angels.  I was inspired.  So, when she asked me to test drive her new stencil from Stencil Girl Products called Windows & Doors, I said to myself, “self, you need to do something with an angel”…. and so I did.

As most of you who follow me know,  I love to collect coasters from restaurants.  Sometimes, our server is nice enough to give me a stash of them.. .but I do ask beg them nicely.  I love working small sometimes.  It’s just such a nice little piece of art.  The coaster surface is really great; it absorbs wonderfully and has the right thickness.

First, let me show you the stencil I”ll be working with… I’m going to use the top right church window. Seems appropriate for an angel, don’t you think?  Jessica really created a beautiful stencil here.

I picked out a 4″x4″ rounded corner coaster and started to apply gesso.   Let dry. Then I applied some random colors and smooshed with my fingers.

I pulled off some of the paint with another piece of paper.. this tip came from Jane Davies; simple and effective.  Then used a brayer to blend the colors.

          

When I started to dry the paint with my heat gun, I started to get bubbles which is a very cool effect.  If you hold the heat gun very close, the paint starts to bubble.  Once I got the colors the way I wanted, I brushed a loose wash of acrylic teal paint with water on top and spritzed some alcohol on it to let the paint separate.  Can you see the texture it created?

  

  

Now, I know I wanted to put an angel on my coaster, but I needed her face to show through, so I put a light coat of Titan Buff fluid acrylic paint (from Golden) in the section where her face would show.

Now, it’s time to transfer my image onto the coaster. I printed off the angel image on the rough side of a transparency film (ink jet printer). I took gel medium and with my finger, rubbed some along the section where I wanted my angel.  I also put some on the image itself.  Laid down the image and gently rubbed with a soft cloth.  Wait a couple of minutes, then gently lift it off. There you go… I like that it’s NOT perfect.. it has a worn/vintage look to it.  Now, let her dry.. doesn’t take too long; about 5 minutes.

  

Oh boy.. I get to play with pastes.  I used the Viva Decor Modeling Cream in gold for the window.
I placed it over the angel’s face, taped it down on one side.  Using my palette knife, I scraped the cream over the stencil and lifted it up… Beautiful window.

Now, one of the panes was covering my angel’s face.. I had to gently scrape it off.  There she is.. so purdy.

I added my spiral lace paper in the corner and used a pen tube as a stamp for some small circles.  Added gold ribbon lace to the bottom of the window.

  

I found an old earring that I cut up with a wire cutter to make a window top.  When I cut the metal, it creates tiny rough metal edges; so I filed them down with a Chizzel-it.  I’ve had this for years.  I used it for engraving baked polymer clay.  Oh, who am I kidding.. it was just a fun toy.  You can also use 200 grit sand paper to file down the sharp edges.

I added some glitter and painted around the edges with a Gold Leafing Pen. I love this pen.  It’s puts the best finishing touches on your work.

 

I added a “believe” metal tag to the bottom.  After all, we DO believe in angels, don’t we?  Then I added some red lines of acrylic paint with my credit card that I changed to white in the end result… you’ll see why.

To the right of the coaster, I added handmade polymer clay flowers in red with turquoise (what else) rhinestone centers. Then teenie tiny flowers to the bottom of the stems.  The leaves are made with music paper. I thought the dragonfly was a cute touch, too.

 

Here is the final piece and a close up of window.

Now, it’s your turn to go visit my art sisters to see what they did with Jessica’s new stencil… go now!

Jessica Sporn, our leader in this drive.
Carolyn Dube  (by the way, Carolyn has a new Gelli Plate Workshop starting on April 1st… what fun; I can’t wait!)
Maria McGuire
Corrine Gilman (Corrine is going to be teaching at Lucky Star Art Camp this Fall… they are so “lucky” to have her join their team).

AND…Thank you, Jessica for another amazing stencil creation.  What else to you have up your sleeve?  Hmmm?

Well, there you have it.  So, grab some coasters next time you go out (or have a friend grab one for you) and get creative with them.  Then, send me a picture and I’ll feature on my blog.  OR.. create it, put photo on your blog, then comment on my blog with your link back to your blog… Huh?  What the hell did she just say?  Go on… you can do it… I know you can.

Alert… Alert… Up Next:  Giveaways !!

Thank you for stopping by.  Share the love.

Judy ♥

Polymer Clay Bookmarks – Stencil Test Drive

Here I am again, going for another test drive with Jessica Sporn’s new stencils that she’s created and are now sold on Stencil Girl Products. I love what my friend, Jessica, has created and by now, I think many of the stencils she’s made have new owners and they are creating beautiful art with them.  Like, this week, check out the other artists taking this stencil for a drive Marjie Kemper,  Nataša May, Maggie Nemetz and Maria Mcguire. This week we are testing Jessica’s “borders” stencils.  I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do with them… something different. So, I ended up making polymer clay bookmarks.  How, you say?  Well.. lookie there.. here is a video on how I made them.

Post Video Comment:  My friend, Raine, who is a great polyclay artist, mentioned that the reason why I had gritty raised edges was because of the leather texture.  Ah, DUH MOMENT, JUDY!!! Of course it was.  I’ve always used texture plates with clay, never stencils. So, when I put the clay against the leather, that’s why it was rough, because of the tiny pattern on the leather.  There you have it. I digress.  Thanks, Raine.   Don’t mind me, I’m in my own little world over here.

Some close ups of the final bookmarks… click pictures for a closer look.

    

Don’t foget to check out what  Marjie Kemper,  Nataša May, Maggie Nemetz and Maria Mcguire did with their stencils.  I’m going there now.

I hope you enjoyed the video and the bookmarks.  They make great gifts.

Thanks for stopping by. I love hearing from you.

Judy ♥

Mixed Media Collage from a Post It Pad

I had so much fun creating my Post it flip chart paper collage.

It was hours of filming and editing, and would have been too long and I would bore all of you.. but here is a video of my process… sped up.  I would have kept it really time with my hand dancing, grooving to the music and talking, but it went on forever.  So…………

…. it started with my flip chart pad that I keep under my work surface.  An idea I got from Autumn Hathaway.. thank you Autumn.

Here we go…

Close ups. Click for larger view.

     

Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.

Judy♥

Sneak Peek – “Buttons n’bellishments” Workshop

Hi Everyone… Here is a little peek at my workshop.. just to entice you to join me.

Thank you for stopping by.

Judy ♥

Butterfly Collage with Ink Jet ImageTransfers

This week, I decided to give the Peerless Watercolors a try.  I purchased them at Art is You from Joanne Sharpe.

So, I stopped work early one night (5p.m.) (only one night, but i”m working on more of them) and I put on my jammies and sat myself down to play with the paints.  Let me just say what a great feeling it was to kick back and concentrate on my art.  Since my daughters are now both in college (help! send money), our nights have a bit more space in them.  Funny how fast the time goes and all of the sudden your here, their there and life moves on.  Screeeeeeech… halt… Sorry,  I got off track.  Continuing….

I decided to work on Strathmore Bristol paper and paint in patches all over the page like this…  Click on any image to enlarge.

Seriously, this page took me a couple of hours.  I had fun swiping colors off the “peerless” cards and onto the page. That took time and all with a small brush (water brush by Koi).  I love the puddling of the watercolors when you use more water.  They dry to a nice dark edge.

Once I was happy with the background,  I gave it a spray of PYM (Preserve Your Memories) to seal it.  You can see it deepens it a little.  I took this picture under a normal light bulb.  The top picture was taken under an Ott Lite.

So, my fine friends, I took it to my studio and scraped some gesso all over it (that’s why I had to seal the page first, otherwise the colors would have mixed), rubbed it off,  then buffed it dry.  Used black Staz On ink and a make up sponge with stencils (from Stencil Girl and Mary Beth Shaw = LOVE).  Added stamped, hand made foam stamps and of course some of my polymer clay ‘bellishments.  One of the parts I love the most, are my image transfers; the butterflies and the two women, under my teal heart..

Below, you can see some gold glitter trails it put in.

I get so lost in time when I am doing image transfers.  My favorite combination to make a perfect transfer is a transparency film and gel medium.  I did a few tests using different mediums and my best result was Golden Gel Medium.  I have not tried Liquitex, but I will someday.

I transferred on muslin  and cotton fabric, paper towel, masking tape and I did a packing tape transfer also.  I got the images from Dover Clipart which is copyright free.  You can join their mailing list and they will send you samples every week.  Click on THIS LINK and put in your email address.  You will get samples every week.  If you like them, you can save and download on your hard drive on your computer.

The technique goes like this:

Get yourself some transparency film. Maybe you know someone who might have some or you can split a box with a friend.  I had some old Lexmark ones and some I hadn’t used even after I printed on them  months or years ago.  You want to print on the matte side, not shiny.  Your best bet is to print a bunch of images on one page.  You can use Microsoft Word or Powerpoint to insert an entire page of images (please email me if you need help with that.).  This is my method. There may be other ways, for example, using a photo software would also work.

Cut your image out.

Spread some gel medium on the surface you want to transfer to and on the image itself… gently, you don’t want the ink to rub off.  Use the consistency of spreading butter on bread.  I use my finger to spread the gel, as I don’t want any brush line.

Lay the film with image face down on the gelled up surface and rub it down with your finger in a circular motion, working from the center and making sure your reached all around the image.  Now wait 5 or 10 minutes or even longer.. overnight even if you need to be away.  But, if you’re like me, you ain’t going nowhere and you want instant results.

After you’ve waited and I hope you were patient, peel up the film slowly.  Check a corner and see if the ink is now transferred to the surface.  If it did, then keep slowly peeling it off.  Did it work?  It works 99% of the time for me.

Here is a few pictures of my image transfer results…

The butterflies are on paper towel, cotton fabric (old ripped t-shirt) and masking tape.  I decided to color in the black and white clip art with the “peerless watercolors” and the “Koi” watercolors…

I give the images a spray seal of the PYM so I  know they will keep their color and last a long time.

I made a bunch of image transfers on muslin fabric for my mom who loves her religious (catholic) books.  She wanted angels so she could sew them to her fabric covered books.  She was just in love with them.  I’ll be using my masking tape painted images on some other art; I wanted to use them on this page, but it didn’t seem to match.

Hope you enjoyed this post and I want you to try the image transfers and let me now how they come out.

And always… thank YOU for stopping by and leaving some blog love.

Judy ♥♥

Fun Finds, Wood Blocks and ‘bellishments

Hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, we were melting from the heat around here.  Amazing how fast it changed.  Ok, ok.. so I already put my heat on a little… and I put on my electric mattress pad at night to warm up my tootsies. Ahhhh… one of the BEST inventions, I tell you.  ”Honey, keep your cold toes to yourself”.

Well, I wanted to share with you some cool finds I came across at Michael’s.  They have a table full of marked down costume jewelry.  I bought a few to use in my work.  Here a bunch.  Aren’t they purdy?  I’m sure I will find a place for them in my collages.

Next, my new friend, Nancy, (love that I can say “new friend” in my 50′s) sent me, along with some other goodies, these pieces of jewelry.  I just need to lock myself a way in my studio for a week.  Just bring me bread and water.. ok ok.. some chocolate too. Who am I kidding.  I’ll come out to eat.

So, with all these new embellishments, I decided to make a few more of my own.  I love making these.  As you can tell, I just love the turquoise and the reds.  Oranges are great too. It all depends on what looks good with the staining.  Read on.

Hearts is what I went crazy with. Oh, and of course, I love the faces.   I made some tiny birds also, along with a pair of wings.  The ” ‘bellishements”, are made from polymer clay.  They are impressed with texture sheets, buttons, jewelry pieces.  Anything with texture really.  You have a cool pattern on the bottom of your shoe.. bam, texture.  You have a cool door knob .. bam, texture.  You have a cool embossed place mat, coaster, piece of hardware.. bam.. texture.  Look around you, it’s there.

However, recently an artist blogger friend did a post on some wood blocks that she got from a couple of co-workers.  Read Autumn’s post HERE then read more of her posts.  Her journal pages are to die for.  So, I thought I’d search out the import store (Ganesh Imports)  they got the blocks at and found a store in Newburyport, MA (where I go often).  Off I went and found some great wood blocks.  Thank you, Autumn for your post on this.  I would have never known about Ganesh.

Here is my find… the big one is about 2″ round.

Love them.  Have you ever seen a carver make a wood block?  Once you see it, you will appreciate it the work that goes into making just one block.  Take a look here.  Talk about patience.. poke a needle in my eye.

So, I decided to make few “medallion-like” ‘bellishments out of one of one of the blocks… the bigger one.

Take some polymer clay, get it soft, roll it up in a ball and press it out into a circle shape.  Then so the clay won’t stick to the wood, I put some cornstarch in an old t-shirt, tied it up, like you see below and pounced on the wood then lift and separate.. hmm, sounds like a Playtex commercial.

     

Now, bake in a dedicated clay oven per the directions on the package of clay.  (Note:  Go here if you are concerned about using your kitchen oven to bake clay).  Don’t burn it and tent it and you’ll be fine.   I like to use either “Premo” or “Fimo Soft”.  Once baked and cooled, I stained it with brown acrylic paint. Smoodge it in the deep textures, then wipe off gently with a clean paper towel, letting the paint stay in the grooves, let dry.  Then I take a sealer (I used Future Floor Wax) and brush one coat on, let dry.  That’s it.  Now you have your own ‘bellishment to use in your collages, journals, etc.

You can check out my step by step button’s tutorial I did HERE.

   

Now, let’s go back a couple of summers ago on my trip to Martha’s Vineyard in Edgartown.  I actually found some wood blocks there at a place called “In the Woods” (they do not have a website).  These puppies can get expensive, but they are worth it.  Here’s my purchase.  The bigger ones are about 6″ x 3″.

Can you stand it?  Aren’t they so much fun.  So different than any other rubber stamps out there… BUT I must say this…
They are made for fabric, not paper.  It can be done, but, you need to have some cushion under your paper when you stamp.  I just used a folded up piece of fabric or paper towel.  I just love using them to texture my clay.  LOVE. ♥

The other use for them is paper casting.  I use tissue paper for my casting; the kind you blow your nose with.  Here’s a look at some of the castings I’ve done…

This won’t work with detailed rubber stamps.  You can see the deep lines that really define the tissue. When the tissue is finally dry, you can paint and stain the pieces.  Use in your art anyway you want… Made by you.

I used one casting on one of my book covers.. The dark blue circle with the read heart.

I’m getting ready to venture out to Art is You.. in Stamford, CT Columbus Day weekend.  It’s my first retreat that i’m going to.. alone.  It’s always fun to go to these things with a friend, but it didn’t work out this time.  However, I’m sure hoping to come home with many new friends.  I mean, not with me, of course.. HA! .  I’ve heard that is retreat is something special, one of the best.  So, here I come.  I’ll be taking pictures and blog about my experience.  I’m trying to make a bunch of ‘bellishments to take with me.  I’m thinking 100.. yikes. Better get moving a little faster.

Well, I’ve filled up your brain with a lot of info tonight.  I’ll be doing a tissue paper casting blog or video soon.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.

Judy ♥ ♥

Mixed Media Tiny Collages

Well, here I am again..yes too long of a stretch.  But, here I am.

It’s definitely been an interesting few months with crazy work hours and my oldest daughter being in grad school this summer through next summer and my youngest daughter graduating from high school and heading to college in the fall.  We got through the parent/senior activities, the graduation, the party and a dance recital.  Moving my oldest into a college house, college orientations.   That doesn’t even include my job which is going through changes like I have never seen in my years here, a trip to Chicago for work.. and… and….  Wait.. am I whining?  Call the “waaaambulance”.  Take me, I’m ready.  Whew.. I feel much better now.

During all of my “un-Me” time, I got into this art rut, block, whatever you want to call it and I just couldn’t get myself up in the studio.  I started to think that something was wrong with me and why can’t I just get up and and start to be creative again. I asked, but no one answered.  Then, just recently I realized that I was successful at so many other things these past few months (see paragraph above) that art had to just go on the back burner for a minute.  I don’t know if it was guilt that was driving me to feel horrible about myself at not being successful at creating, did I care anymore about my art (yes, I do)  or just I was afraid to just start again. So, I am giving myself a break on those feelings now.  They are not completely gone, but definitely not as heavy as they were.

I also realized, after reading some inspiring stories, that after the silence of an art block, there can come great refreshing ideas.. a new window will open.. an opportunity of fresh art, work, creativity.  Ya, I’m still waiting for that.

The other thing I thought of was – I need a great workshop to attend.. something different and with a  real LIVE art teacher.   So, I have some plans for the fall, I decided.  I’ll be sharing that with you soon.

BUT… I did get up in the studio last night… Can I get a “woooo hoooo”.. did some painting, collage and some doodle art.  I was alone and it was blissful, I tell you… blissful.

Let’s get on with it, Judy… oh sorry.. yes….

So, I started making these little 2×2 collages a while back and I put some finishing touches on them.  I am just in love.. Working small is fun.

These are made using Stampboard, a great surface to make art on.  Here are the 3 and a couple of closeups.

I put them in a necklace box and painted the box black; sort of a shadow box effect.

 

I started with liquid acrylic paints. Then I added some little scraps of paper (black area). My handmade Dryer Sheet Collage Art Paper and my Gel Skin Art; just tiny pieces.  Of course my handmade “Button n’ bellishments” from polymer clay.  I added some tiny scraps of screening also. I just love the little embellishments and bling…. and the texture, the texture.. oh my favorite.

Working smaller can be a little less overwhelming if you don’t want to go big ………..or medium.

And look… look at what my oldest daughter gave me from her art classes in college.

Paper, palettes, paints, brushes.. All mine.  How can I not get creative with all of this yumminess in my possession?  Thanks, Megan.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Judy ♥  (I really wish that WordPress would have some better icons to put in the blogs) sorry.. no whining.

Mixed Media Love Letter

What’s THIS?  FEBRUARY?  I”d like to know where January went, please.  Seriously.

I’m not going to complain that we have had a very mild winter here in Mass.  If  the temps stay in the 40′s, I can still go for my walks.  I can handle low 40′s but anything under that..fuhgeddaboudit.

My latest piece is what I’ve been working on since my large canvas was complete.  After working on something that big that took so long, I sort of crashed from all the creative energy.

Well, I’ve done many of these “love letters” in the past.. you can see a previous post HERE.

This particular letter was for my niece, Caitlin.  A gift for purchasing her first condo.  So excited for her.

Here are some pictures and close up of the “C” and then I created a short video about it.

    

Well, there you have it. I hope you are enjoying the videos.  I’ll be doing more once I get in the groove of the editing.

In the meantime, create something and enjoy every minute of it.

Judy ♥

Back and new stuff…

You’re probably wondering, where the beejeezus is Judy.  She never writes, calls or sends flowers.  Sorry, I’m here.. been a long stretch, but I have updates.

Anyway, I had two weeks off from work and it was nirvana, I tell you.  But the funny thing was, I thought I was going to be up in the studio most of the time, but it never really worked out that way.  Three of us got the flu and that set me back a week, daughter home from college, cooking, gathering.. and on and on.  So, here I am almost 2 months later from starting my canvas….  Nuff of that…  moving on now…

So, last time, I left you with the latest canvas I started.  Click HERE to remember.

I took more still shots  of my work, but not every single step in my progress.  I got so caught up in the fun creative process.  But, I have a surprise for you at the end of this blog.

Here we go…

So, here is the progress about 3/4 the way through.

I made some flower stems from fabric that I loaded up with gel medium and let them dry.  Then ripped a lace-like tablecloth in a strip and diluted it with paint for the “grass” for the flowers.  You’ll see in a minute.

   

I forgot to mention that I cut a necklace chain for the stem of the bottom flower.  Bracelets for the ground of smaller flowers that were actually bobby pins.

Then I made my polymer clay leaves for the flowers.  I must say, stamping into clay is so fun.  In the center flower at the top of the canvas, I also stamped text into the leaves.  I am loving that look.   I may take a small portion of a larger rubber stamp and if I don’t particularly like the stamp anymore, I’ll cut the section off that I like.   A small detailed scissors is great to cutting around a clay stamped image.

To see my tutorial on how I make my “Buttons ‘n bellishments, GO HERE.  This shows you the button process, but can be used the same for embellishments.

Here are some final pictures, but at the end, I’ll take you through the process with a surprise.

On my wall….

.. and finally, what I have been working on all day… a short video of me going through my canvas.  A few corrections on words I noticed I should have fixed, but I had already done the video once before, so I kept it in. It’s just me talkin it up with you.   I hope you enjoy and would love some comments.

MixedMediaCanvas by Judy Shea 12112 from Judy Shea on Vimeo.

As always, thank you for stopping by and sharing this blog adventure with me.

Judy ♥

Getting Inspired with friends and Riley’s art

Well, it’s been a bit busy ova here lately.  Funny though I can’t even tell you why.  You know what I’m talkin about, right?   You get busy, the days fly by and you can’t even remember what you did the day before.  Oh wait… or is that just me?  Is that just me and my getting older?  Me being forgetful?  Me approaching menopause?  Me being……….. oh never mind.. I forgot.

Anyhoo… I want to share some lovely photos of a recent gathering I went to.  It was the Rhode Island Polymer Clay Guild’s 12th Anniversary.  I used to be part of the team there, but I stepped away about 4 years ago.  However, I do still keep in touch with the fabulous ladies there and they invited me back for the soiree.  We all brought some food.  The ladies all brought their art and I did not.  I just talked for about 6 hours.  What?

Here are some goodies that everyone one brought:

HULLO?  It was fantastic.  Thanks ladies for being such wonderful hosts… Toine, Bobbie, Sandy, Dora, Pat, Rita and Toni.

Some of the women there do more than just polymer clay.  The creativity and skills are vast, I tell you, in this small group.

I took some pictures that really inspired me.

Toine is a creative soul in that, if she could, would make her own shoes.  She’s told me this a few times.  That just amazes me.  She showed me a travel mini- watercolor paint palette that she made out of an mini eye shadow case.

You basically dig out the old eye shadow powders and fill the empty sections with watercolor tube paint and let dry.  She even uses the eye shadow brush as the paint brush.  You could just buy one of these eye shadow minis at a dollar store too.

Toine shared a site with me on how to make one.. it’s called INSTRUCTABLES.. great site to learn from.  I’m definitely trying this.   I just love this idea!

Toine also made her own mini watercolor pad.  It was about 3×4.  You can see it sitting next to her palette.  Another thing I must try.  Check out this one also at INSTRUCTABLES.

My partner in crime, Bobbie, was working on a new bracelet made out of buttons.  I recently sent Bobbie a bunch of my “buttons n’bellishments”.  She took my homemade polymer buttons and mixed them with regular buttons and hand sewed them to a thick black cloth elastic band.   I had made one in the past out of my polymer buttons, but hers came out much nicer.  I had too much space and you could see all the black band.

The red, turquoise, and bone-like buttons are the ones I made out of polymer clay.

Bobbie.. this came out deliciously gorgeous.  The trick to hers was the overlapping of the buttons so when you put it on your wrist, it didn’t stretch out and show the band.

Bobbie is also taking up water color painting.  Look at these beautiful pages she made that just made me salivate… ew.. not really… I behaved.

My creative juices went nuts when I saw these… oh the things I could do with those.  I can’t wait to see what she does with them.  It’s endless.

In other creativity news, I turn to children.  My great niece, Riley, is a great little artist.  I promised her I would take a picture of her door art at home.  Her creations here range over the past year from home art, pre-school and now kindergarten.  I share this now, with you, my blog friends.

Riley and her mom.

Mom, Christina, is another creative soul.  I guess it runs in the family.  You can see one of Christina’s creations HERE ..when she made me a special fabric card for my 50th birthday.

RILEY’s ART:

Isn’t Riley just awesome?  Look at these colors, people.  Don’t you think we should all display our art this way in our homes?   Don’t ever stop creating Riley.  I love you so much…. Love,  Auntie Judy.

I hope you are inspired.  Go make a mini water color palette or a button bracelet.  Be inspired by children’s art.

Thanks for stopping by and leave some comments for Riley.. she will love to read them.

Judy♥