Stencil Test Drive – Cascading Leaves & Winner of 3rd Journal

Well, hello again. We have an amazing week of weather here.  I’m taking advantage of it a little (ok, a lot) by doing some garage door painting outside and even doing a little art in my garage, where all my art supplies sit.  Well, that’s a lie, really… I’m looking at my art supplies and apologizing to them for not giving them any attention.  Must be Catholic guilt.

This week, another stencil by Jessica Sporn is being tested.  Offered by Stencil Girl Products.  I’m joined by other great artists (links below) to test out the “cascading leaves”.  Stay with me here.

So, I’m trying to figure what I want to do with the stencil.  My art supplies are way back “there” in the garage.. so what can I get to and make this simple?  I was cleaning windows and I noticed that my paper towels had a very cool, and somewhat similar design to the stencil I was testing.  Crazy, right?  or serendipity?  I love the texture of paper towels in my art.

Here’s my garage with my supplies and stuff  Now, look at all that?  That’s what I’m keeping.  Am I crazy?  Ok Ok.. Let’s not go there again.

(Oh, and p.s. if you are local, I will be selling some arts and crafts along with couches, chairs, kitchen table, bookcases… send me an email if you are interested.)

Sorry….back to art…here is the paper towel..

I grabbed my bag of lace and paper stuff, a bottle of red paint, portfolio crayons, Collage Pauge and a paint brush… oh yes and a journal book.

Started by taking a teal crayon (what? where you expecting a different color?)  and rubbed it all over the towel, then I rubbed it with a damp paper towel to blend it a bit.  Then, I drew in each stencil leave openings with a black crayon.  Smooshed around a little.  Did it randomly. Glue it down on journal page.

 

Now, what.. oh yes.. pack another box to bring downstairs.. move some furniture around.. my dog (Dixie) needs to tinkle.. make travel arrangements for my executive… ok, back to arting on my kitchen table.  Move my dinner plate over to the side and collage a little more.. and don’t get any medium in your chicken. Wait, that might explain something.  No, I kid I kid.

What did I have in my bag that I grabbed?  C’mon Judy, get creative here.  What can I do with only a few supplies?  Ugh… a challenge.  Or as “Inspector Clouseau” would say  ”a shallaaaaange”.

I really had a hard time with this one because I have so much more on my mind other than art.  I felt the deadline approaching, but was committed to the stencil drive.  I don’t know about you, but when I’m worrying about something, I have a hard time focusing on other things.  So, I had a talk with myself and said “self… what is your problem.. art should be good for stress.. get your act together, will ya.. chop chop”?  I had to be a little tough on myself.. geesh.  Can anyone relate??

In processs…

Final…

I will be honest here.. I am not in love with the collage; I’ve done better, in my opinion… but I am in love with Jessica’s stencil.  I can’t wait to use it again and again.

So, go check out the other Stencil Drive artists and see what they did with the stencil.

Jessica Sporn
Nathalie Kalbach
Michelle Rydell
Roben-Marie Smith 

Thank you, Jessica, for inviting me on this stencil journey with you and so many other amazing artists. I’m honored.

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WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

NOW………for the winner of my long, skinny journal….. Congratulations Gloria Zucaro!!!  Yay!!!!  I’ll contact you via email to get your address.

Happy Spring!!!  And thank you for your patience while I get through this massive purge/move. Don’t give up on me.  I”ll keep up my art and post as much as I can.  Your support means the world to me.   I’ll also be on Facebook if you want to follow me.

Judy ♥

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 ♥

Mixed Media Mail Updo

Hey there… I know I know….I’ve been gone for about 3 weeks.  Life/work, once again, gets in my art way.  But no fear, I’m here now.

I’ve been working on this video for a few weeks. I finally found the time to finish it.  I started out as a large pamphlet I got in the mail.  I thought it would be neat to alter it with some mixed media magic. Once I finished filming, this sucker was about 45 min long.  So, had to cut it down a little and fast forward a lot.  I put some comments in so you would know what I was doing.   Let me know what you think.

If you have any questions about my process, give me a shout.. glad to help.

Now… enjoy!

Here are some close ups.

          

  

If you  live in New England or even Massachusetts, you probably are ready for Spring like the rest of us. We’ve had enough snow this winter and I’m ready for a nice long walk… I don’t know… Maybe late April?

I hope you enjoyed the video.  Love to hear back from you.

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 ♥

Gelli Prints – Recycled Box

Well, I’ve been waiting for this week to come for about 4 months now. This marks the end of very long days, and sometimes nights, preparing for a very big customer event at work.  So, mission completed and have sent all the executives off on their trip. I promised myself once this week came, I would take some time off and enjoy some time in the studio….

…. and that’s exactly what I did this morning…… follow me, will you?

I recently purchased something that was contained in this long box.  I decided to recycle it … I could do something with it… right.. something for the art studio???  I think so.            CLICK ANY PICTURE FOR A CLOSER LOOK.

I gessoed all over.  If I were to do it again, I would sand the sheen off. But, a couple of coats; wait til each coat dries.  Tip: sand the box first.

  

Then, I used up my Gelli Prints I had done over the past couple of months.  See my posts/videos HERE and HERE.  Measured, cut and glued.

I used Martha Stewart’s Decoupage Glue and Sealer.  I had it in the studio, so I do not favor it, really.

One the sides were glued down well, I scraped the edges with a scissors blade to get rid of the excess paper coming over the edges.

Then I used Pan Pastels to fill in any white spaces.

 

It’s coming along.

 

Took a rubber coaster and used it as a stamp (dots) with some Staz On black ink.  Then I used Distress Ink (walnut stain) to rub along the edges of the box to stain it or vintage-ize it (I made up that word).

 

Not shown here, but I added some stamping around with black ink.  Painted a text stamp with white acrylic paint and stamped all over.  I also took some brown and orange paint mixed and filled in some of the corners of the box.

Ok.. now I must put some “buttons n’bellishments” on there, don’t ya think?  What to choose, what to choose.

 

Then on the back.. I think a big face.  Yes?

I put a coat of the Martha Stewart sealer on one side and Liquid Laminate on the other.  The MS sealer had tiny bubbles and dried that way.  No big deal, but wasn’t crazy about it.  The Liquid Laminate was, as always, great.  Nice thin coat that dries fast.

 

 

Ok, now it’s done.. what shall I use it for?  It won’t take anything to heavy, I had to think light.  I decided to use it for my smaller stencils and Gelli Print bookmarks I made. I LOVE! I LOVE!

   

I love what embellishments do for an art piece.  My online “Buttons n’bellishments” workshop is over and I’ll be sharing the student results very soon, along with a Flickr group.

If you want to see what else you can alter/recycle with your Gelli Prints.. Check out Carolyn’s Heart Boxes and Corrine’s binder along with Jessica’s pasta box recycle.

As always, thanks for stopping by.  Leave some love.. I love hearing from you.

Judy ♥

Fabric Printing with the Gelli Plate

Ok, everyone.  I keep it short, as work is taking me down this week. But I had time to play at Carolyn’s Gelli Print Party.. now every first Friday of the month..  Won’t you join us.  Check out her blog and all the linkys to the party.

I enjoyed some of the prints.. not all, but was still quite fun.  I imagine building even more layers of stamps and image transfers.  Endless, I tell you.. endless.

 

Here are some close ups of the fabric prints.  I increased the saturation, as the paint on the fabric is very suttle and the camera did not justify the colors.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Share the love.

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♥

Faces Inspired by Artist, Michael Lang

I came across Michael about a year ago on YouTube.  I was fascinated. You will see what I mean if you take a look at this video.  If you don’t have time in your day, just watch the beginning, skip to the middle and then the end. You just won’t believe the end result.   He mixes a small amount of acrylic medium with his acrylic paints to make the colors just flow, blend and shade.  If you have time, watch some of his other videos.  Amazing!

So, I sat myself down to play with some faces, Michael inspired.  I did not use his method of mixing the paint and gel medium.  I used watercolor paints in a Moleskine watercolor journal. Whatchya think?

     

It’s really freeing when you don’t have to make a mouth, eyes or lips perfect.  I loved using crazy, bright colors on the facial features.  Portrait rules are out the window.  Thank you, Michael.

Hope you enjoyed this fun little escape from the norm.

Thank you for stopping by; I’d love to hear from you.

Judy ♥

Stencil Test Drive – Starry Night – Stencil Girl Products

Well, it’s my turn again to test out one of Jessica Sporn’s new stencils called Starry Night by Stencil Girl Products. This time around, I used the stencil creating two pieces.  I didn’t start out thinking I would do two, but it just seemed to fall into place that way.

PART 1 – First, I’ll show you my collage. I took Bristol Paper and made a paste of Super Heavy Gesso and Hansa Yellow Medium acrylic paint by Golden. Then I used the stencil to push the yellow paste through it onto the paper.  Let dry.

 

The result is below left.  Then I took Patina Green Glaze by Golden and spread it over the textured page.  

Now, let’s start collaging.  I added some lace ribbon down the left side and then did a leaf stencil with the heavy gesso on the bottom right.

 

I had put some of the same stencil on other cardstock (as you’ll see in my next project), painted it blue and ripped it, and put gold leaf pen on ripped section then put down the right side.  Now, I’m adding more papers and fabric and end with one of my polymer clay “bellishments”; I chose Mr. Moon. Here’s how it developed
I pounced some titan buff acrylic paint through some dry wall tape.  Love the dots.
Added some rhinestones on the pink paper; fabric under Mr. Moon.  Store bought embellishment on top of the gold embossed paper.  Made the embellishment a flower with lace stem and magazine paper leaves.  Added another “bellishment” at the bottom right.  I like the orange contrast with the rest of the collage.

Final collage.

If you want to learn how to make my handmade polymer clay “Buttons n’bellishments”, come join us in my online class that starts in February on Joggles.com

PART 2 – Handmade Journal

I started out with other 1/2 of the Bristol Paper from my collage. I used my palette knife and spread extra heavy gesso all over it and let it dry.  I love the texture this gesso leaves.

Then I took Ultramarine Blue acrylic paint by Golden and scraped it on the gessoed paper with a old credit card.  Just look at that texture.  It almost looks 3D.   Just beautiful for any texture queen.  Click on the pictures for a closer look.  Hard to believe it’s just a piece of paper.  My daughter thought it looked like denim.   
Then I took the same yellow paste I made above with the heavy gesso and the yellow acrylic paint and used a palette knife to push the paste through the Starry Night stencil.  Helloooo.. is this cute or what?
I took Liquid Laminate and brushed a layer over the entire page to give it a shine and strength.  You’ll notice that I only covered 1/2 of the page.  Once the laminate dried, I took some lace paper and put a few of my favorite spirals on the back then took a black sharpie pen and outlined the stars and swirls.  See the shine?  
I took Wausau paper (cardstock like) that I got at an office supply store and made one signature of 5 pages.  I ripped around the edges for two reasons.. one to make them smaller than the cover pages and two, to give them a roughed up
look.
.

Now, it’s time to sew the pages and cover together.  As I told you in my last post, I am not a journal maker. This is basic in one hole and out the other sewing.  I used black wax thread.  Then I sewed one of my polymer clay buttons to the cover.  Sprayed some Dylusions Ink to the front and back covers pounced some titan buff paint through the stencil and
called it done.   Badda Bing.. Badda Boom!

   

Front and back cover

Well, that was fun.  I’ve never been sad doing art.

Check out Jessica’s post this week test driving her stencil.  Then go check out my partners in stencil crime, Maggie Nemetz and Revlie Schuit and see what they did with the Starry Night Stencil. Here are the Stencil Test Drive players:

December 6: Hebrew Calligraphy

Carolyn Dube and Michelle Rydell

December 20: Medieval Leaves

Carolyn Dube, Corrine Gilman, Maria McGuire and Ronda Palazzari

January 23: Random Squares

Seth Apter, Kristin Dudish,  Corrine Gilman, and Diana Trout

February 27: Fun Borders

Marjie Kemper,  Nataša May, Maggie Nemetz and Christy Tomlinson

March 14: Retro Flowers & Circles

Nataša May and Maria McGuire

April 2: Embrace the Rain

Carolyn Dube, Marjie Kemper, Nataša May, Michelle Rydell, and Revlie Schuit

April 18: Flying Tulips

Kristin Dudish and Carol Merveille

May 2: Cascading Leaves

Nathalie Kalbach,  Michelle Rydell, Judy Shea, and Roben-Marie Smith

May 16: Apples & Pomegranates

Carolyn Dube and Revlie Schuit

June 6: Dots & Dashes

Jane Davies, Maria McGuire and Carol MerveilleThank you, Jessica, for inviting me to be part of the drive.

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear from you.
Judy ♥

More Gelli Plate Fun & a Gelli Journal Give-a-way!!!

Hey, I’m back with another video on some gelli’ing.  It’s now the end of the Gelli Print Party with Carolyn Dube, but I’m just loving the prints and making some cool art from them.  Go check out Carolyn’s blog and see her videos, then check out her linkys to see what others are doing. 

Now, check out my latest video.

In my last video, I took some of my favorite prints and made nice strips with them.  Maybe bookmarks? Click picture for close up.

   

As much as I love my prints, what am I going to do with them all?  I’m going to make a journal with them and give it away, that’s what.  Yahoo!!!

First, let me be clear…. I am NOT, I repeat AM NOT a journal maker.  So, I am just taking the pages and sewing them together.  Nothing fancy.  Make one signature, sew it to a cover and then they can be journaled on with backgrounds already for you.  Thanks to my friend, Raine, for showing me how to do this a long time ago.  She makes amazing journals.  I don’t even know the name of the stitch I’m using, that’s how much of an non-journaler I am.  In and out, that’s what it’s called.. the “in and out” stitch.  No, not really.  I kid, I kid.

So, here is the journal I stitched together.  Simple, not fancy and ready for your mixed media fun and journaling, collaging or whatever you want to do with it.  You could glue a blank page to an inside page and journal on that OR paint some squares of lighter paint to write on.  So many ideas.

       

I gathered all the Gelli papers together and ripped them down to size with a metal ruler and just pulling strips off so they would have torn edges.  A few pages are smaller than the others, just for fun.  Then I made a cover page and coated with Liquid Laminate (love that stuff) to seal.  I made 3 holes in the binder and used wax thread and an upholstry needle to sew all the pages together.  Again, in one hole, out the other until I used up the thread and the pages were nice and snug.  Strung some fabric beads I had made on the binder edge and added one of my “buttons n’bellishments” to the cover.  If you want to learn how to make one of these embellishements, take a look at my online class and join us.

I hope you enjoyed our party.  Thank you, Carolyn, for a great Gelli Print Party!!!

If you want to win this Gelli Journal, leave me a comment here and then if you have a Facebook page, like and share my post there.   I’ll pick a winner this Friday, 1/11.

Thank you for stopping by, as always.  I love to hearing from you.

Judy ♥