A Dedication to ….. …my daughters!

Hey Blogsters..

I’m going to just jump in here and show two lovely young ladies how much I love them and how proud I am of them.  So, I’m dedicating this post to my two daughters, Megan and Rachel.

Their fun and humorous creativity just touches me.  How many times have I said to them “want to do some art in the studio”?  Their reply was usually “no”.    Is it not cool to sit with mom and be creative?  Maybe when they were younger, but the last several years has been a big fat NO.

With that said, take a look at creativity in action with some of their work.

First, there is Meg.. She’s going into her Sophomore year at college in the Fall.  She brought home her art portfolio from her drawing class; take a look.

These are canvas boards are 16 x 20″

This one below is a huge sheet of drawing paper about  18 x 26″.

Another large drawing; 22 x 30″.

Rachel is going into her Junior year in High School.  She made this book from the both of them for mother’s day; I just love it and will treasure it forever.  Sneak a peek at a couple of pages.  Size is 5 x 5.

I guess being creative myself all these years did rub off on them somehow.. I’m so proud of them in everything they do.

Love you, Meg and Rach♥

Mom

Thanks for stopping by.

Next up….. my favorite new books and dvds – a review

Workshop Announcement and….

Hey Blogsters!

I’m so excited to finally write that I will be teaching a 4 hour workshop on making Polymer Clay Mixed Media Accordian Books.  That’s a mouthful!

It is local in Massachusetts.  If you are local to the Scrapbook Cupboard, please join me.   The store has the class on it’s calendar.  Click on the link, then click on “calendar” and change it to June.  A BIG thanks to Bev, the store owner, for reaching out to me to teach.

I’m showing you a picture of some finished books I’ve made. They will be at the store shortly.

Front:

Back:

..and the pages in between:

I used pieces of my fabric collage cloth.. I’m thinking will will make up a few batches and bring it for my students to collage their pages with if they desire.

Am I nervous?  Yes.. I won’t lie to you my friends.. It’s my first real paying class.  I’ve done tutorials on our local cable access tv and have taught at the school to elementary children, but this is my first adult class.  I’m feeling anxious but at the same time, I can’t wait to share and inspire others to creative these fun small books.

More from the judio…

This is a piece of chipboard, covered with masking tape, painted, antiqued and polished up (with good old fashioned shoe poslish.. yes shoe polish). I put some handmade fabric collage cloth on top.  I’m loving this.  The masking tape method makes your pieces look like old leather.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…A Dedication

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Swap and Tutorial

Hey Blogsters…

Did you think I forgot about you?  No way, I love you guys…

Just to give you a teeny weenie bit a background.. I am a member of “Lovin Mixed Media”.  LMM is a Ning network.  As a matter of fact, if I had to choose one place to just stay and eliminate all my other art memberships, this would be it.  It’s creator is Gary Reef; a fantastic artist who’s honest, fun and plain entertaining.  I want to hang out with him.   Well, the only way to describe Gary is to watch his YouTube videos.  He has an (as he would say) “amaaaaazing” staff running all different aspects of the site.  Gary has put a great team together to run “Lovin Mixed Media”.  You’ll notice right away, the hard work he and his staff do to create a phenomenal place to “hang out”.  It’s a well oiled machine.  Come join us!

On LMM I recently joined a new ATC group.  I’m not a huge fan of swaps because of some recent swappers or swap leaders not committing to the end, etc.. but, I think this one is honest and legit.  The leader is so excited to take this on.. and it continues.. there are no deadlines.

So, with that.. I decided to make my ATCs out of my first love, polymer clay and make it a tutorial so that whoever gets my ATCs can go see how I made them.

Here we go…..

As I said in my buttons tutorial, please keep safety in mind.. please visit that post for my “safety note”.

Here is what you’ll need to make these beauties:

• One package of Polymer Clay (I like Premo or FimoSoft) – you may get 2 ATC’s from one package.  Light colors clays work best.. I like beige to get my results.  It “antiques” well.
• pasta machine, acrylic roller or rolling pin.
• rubber stamps, textures to imprint clay
• baby powder, water or cornstrach to keep the stamp from sticking to clay
• 2.5″ x 3.5″ template of ATC.  I made one out of clay, but you can also use a playing card. Glue a bunch together to make a thick template.  Make an ATC window out of heavy cardstock.
• craft knife or clay blade
• piece of saran wrap or piece of paper
• dedicated polymer clay oven, if you don’t have one, read below.
• acrylic paints
• colored pencils (not water soluble)
• paint brushes
• stamp pad (I like StazOn)
• alcohol and cotton swabs
• sand paper (not too rough; 400′ish grit)
• glitter glue
• brown paint for “antique” finish
• sealer (I like Future Floor Polish)
• blow dryer or heat gun to speed up drying time
• gold paint or Krylon 18kt Gold Paint Pen

Condition the clay until soft and pliable.
Roll the clay to a 1/16″ inch thickness.  On an Atlas pasta machine, I use #3.
If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can use your rollers and measure as needed.  Here are some ideas from Glass Attic under “no pasta machine?”.

Lay your sheet out on your flat and clean work surface.

Spray with water or use baby powder.  Now push your rubber stamp into the clay making sure you get a good impression.

Lift it up and make sure you see good lines to color/paint in between.

Now take the template/playing card and center over the impressed image.  Cut around it with a craft knife or clay blade.

Here is the image of another one I started; my favorite.  The entire face won’t get on the ATC, but it will still look good… you’ll see.

Now, here is another option if you do not want to impress the clay.   You can stamp right on the clay with the rubber stamp and ink pad, just like paper.  Don’t press hard enough to make indentations, but just enough to get the inked design on the clay.  I’ll do one for you.  Note: You can also stamp it after it’s baked which will allow you to press as hard as you want.

Once the clay is cut to the ATC size, you want to smooth down the cut edges.  I do this with a piece of saran/plastic wrap or you could use a piece of paper.  Just slide your finger around the edge gently, just enough to smooth down the sharp edges.

Now it’s time to bake the clay ATCs according to the clay’s package directions.   I put mine on ceramic tiles to bake.   If you don’t have a dedicated oven, you can use your kitchen oven, but make sure you cover the clay.  You can use parchment paper on a cookie sheet, but cover the cookie sheet with another one or cover with aluminum foil.   Also, make sure your oven is regulated at the correct temperature.  Let it preheat as necessary.  You may want to get a separate thermometer to make sure it’s correct.  You don’t want the oven to spike while the clay is in the oven.   If the temp is not steady, you will risk burning the clay and the fumes are not good.  Remember, these ATC’s are thin; pay attention to your timing.

Now they are out of the oven.  Get I get an “oh ya”??  C’mon people.

Take your sandpaper and sand around the edges.. take off anything sharp;  get it smooth.  Lay the ATC flat and with a firm but gentle hand sand the image.  Specifically, the places you will be coloring.  You want to gently rough it up.  This will allow the color to grab the clay.  Especially with colored pencils.  Try one section with no sanding and the other with.. you’ll see the difference.

Now it’s decorating time.  You can choose to use acrylic paints or colored pencils.  Pencils, I used Prismacolor.  Paints, I have used Golden, Claudine Hellmuth’s Studio Paints and basic craft paints.  Try what works best for you.  Your world, remember?

Start painting in the design.

You can speed up the drying time by using the blow dryer or a heat gun.. but don’t stay hovering over the ATC with the heat too long as it will soften the clay again.  So do it quickly like a fanning motion…. or just be patient and wait.. go have a cookie or even better, chocolate… oh, chocolate.. be right back.

I worked on several of ATCs at a as time seen here.  These are ready for an antique application.

This next step is what will make you go “ooooo…. ahhhhh….ohhhhh”.

After I took the supplies picture, I realized I left out my Golden Heavy Body Acrylic in Burnt Umber which, I feel works best and gives the lines a nice deep color.

With a soft paint brush gently brush the paint over the entire front of the ATC and push the paint into the lines of the stamped image.   Use caution when brushing.  Don’t use a heavy hand.  If you push too hard, you will rub a little of the paint off.

Take a damp paper towel or clean rag and gently, I mean gently, wipe the paint off the top.

“Oooooooooooooo”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh”

Let it dry.  Make sure the deep lines are also dry.

This is another favorite step of mine….. this will definitely make you feel the love.

Time to take out your sealer.  I like Future.  I guess  you could say “Back to the Future”..  get it?  No.. ok movin on.

Again, soft brush.. I gently brush on the Future and let dry.  You could do another coat if you wish.

Here is the ATC done with colored pencils… very pretty.

This just keeps getting better…

After the sealer is dry and you like the finish.. here comes the magic.  The whole process is magic.. each step just gets better and better.

Get out your glitter glue.. I like Stickles.  Start to highlight your image that makes you smile.  Bring them to life.  They are so beautiful, you’ll want to marry them… ok too dramatic?

This one continues to be my favorite.  It actually won 1st place in an ATC contest at a local art fair.  Woohoo!

Here is the ink stamped ATC with glitter…

The finishing touch is edging the ATC with gold paint.  I usually use an 18kt Gold Leafing Pen by Krylon.   After completely dry, brush a light coat of sealer on the edges.

Here’s a photo of my bunch of ATCs finished.   Lots of them will be going to England to begin the journey of finding new owners.

Be creative every day and have fun.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

I hope you create your own and show me your results.  I would love to see them.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh Buttons…Oh My

Hey Blogsters…

As you can see, my banner above is full of buttons, beads and embellishments.   Those are all made of polymer clay. Well I’ve been busy in the workshop making some to show you.   I thought I would show you how to make my buttons.

Some call me a texture queen cuz I just love textures.  In clay and on my mixed media canvases, pushed into molding pastes, built up by using stencils.. I’m in love.

So, let’s have some fun, shall we?

Safety note:  Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after working with the clay.  Also, work in a well ventilated area when using the oven when baking the clay.  Make sure your oven is regulated.  If it spikes, it may burn the clay which will give off fumes.  You may want to test the temperature by using  a separate thermometer to show exact temp before you put your clay in the oven.  Please visit this site for everything polymer clay such as baking, brands, conditioning, safety, etc.  Just search via the index to the left.

What you’ll need:

• 1 package polymer clay (I like Premo or Fimo Soft). I used a beige color to get the results I want, but you really can use any color; it’s your world.  A whole package will make several buttons.
• textures: rubber stamps, jewelry, other buttons, doily, etc..
• baby powder or water
• brown acrylic paint
• dedicated oven for baking polymer clay
• knitting needle or wooden skewer to make the button holes
• Future Floor Wax  or any other sealer or varnish
• don’t forget rags, paper towels, too
• optional: rubber gloves

Start out by conditioning your clay in her hands until soft and pliable.  I also have a dedicated electronic pasta machine to help with conditioning.

Depending on how big you want your buttons, make a log out of your conditioned clay.  Cut these into equal pieces if you want them to be all the same, and then roll into balls and then press with your finger to make a disc.   You can also use something flat, like a jar lid to smoosh it down.

Now, here is where the fun comes in.   Take your discs and start to impress them (maybe do a dance or tell a joke; just kidding) with objects or rubber stamps.  I am using a rubber stamp sheet that is flexible.

Sandwich in it between the sheet and press down making the textured impression.

Well, lookie there.  Are you excited yet?

Do this to all your discs, using the other textures… Here’s an old plastic doily that I pushed the clay into with a plastic lid.

Excited?   Okay, I’m exhausted.. I’ll do one more… tough crowd.

Now make your button holes using your knitting needle, wooden skewer or whatever suites your fancy.

Once you finish these steps with ALL your discs, it’s time for the shakin and bakin.. well, we’re not gonna shake, but we are going to bake.

Here are your buttons, ready to go in the oven.  I use a ceramic tile.

Bake these according to your clay package directions and visit the site I mentioned above in my “safety note”.

The timer has gone off and the baked clay is cooled, right?  Let’s keep going…

Here they are baked and cooled.

Feel like getting messy?  You may want to wear rubber gloves… or not… up to you.

Now, it’s time to antique them.   Take your brown acrylic paint and smoosh (there’s that word again) it into the grooves and crevices of the textures.

With a lightly dampened rag, wipe off the excess on top, so all that’s left if the paint in the deep textures.  This will also give the clay a golden vintage look.

Let dry completely or you can speed it up with a hair drying or heat gun, moving over it in a fanning fashion. Note: make sure your push your hole maker thingamajiggy back in the baked holes, as the paint will get in the and they need to be free of it.

Here they are all “antiqued” and “vintagy” (is that word? it is now)  looking.  I threw in a few turquoise buttons, one of my favorites.  Now tell me you’re excited.

One last step…….

Get out your varnish and brush on one coat on the buttons, front and back.

Let the varnish/future dry, or you can use your heat gun again.

Here they are finished.  So purdy.. I see you smiling.. you ARE excited?

Here are a few other techniques.  I used a burgundy clay with a gold antique, a black clay with turquoise antique and then the red button was baked with no texture then I stamped on it with a rubber stamp with black ink stamp pad.

You can certainly sew these button on sweaters or make smaller ones for shirts.  They can be washed, but in cold water and put the garment inside out.

My main uses are to use them in my mixed media art.  However, it you can make charms, bracelets, necklaces, mosaics. … Make a colorful bunch and fill up a glass jar.. put them in a cool looking bowl..just imagine.

Here is a small canvas I did with wire sewing one clay embellishment and thread sewing a button.  They are great for chunky journals too.

I hope you liked this tutorial.  I have such fun making these pieces.  They look so beautiful all in a pile; as you can see from my banner.

Please let me know if you have any questions… or have any feedback.

Please share this with your friends; it’s such a fun project with beautiful results.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up……. Polymer Clay Artist Trading Cards (ATC’s) Workshop.   Don’t miss it!

Mixed Media Frame and Fun

Hey Blogsters:

Well, right about now, I am sick of the cold here in New England.  But, on a good note, the daylight is around a little longer now.   I shouldn’t rush it.  Time goes by too fast enough as it is.

I’ve finished my Mirror Frame that I did for a special family couple of their two children.  I hope they don’t read this post yet, as I haven’t given it to them.

The size is 10″ x 10″.   I put something in front of me while I took the picture so there would be no reflection in the mirror.

The frame is made from wood (purchased at craft store), covered with 2 layers of tissue paper applied with Golden Gel Medium.  Once dry, I painted it with Golden’s Fluid Acrylic Carbon Black.

The squares are made of chipboard, they are about 1 1/2″.   I used Claudine Hellmuth’s Sticky Back Canvas for printing my pictures on.  I gathered my pictures from my photo software and put them on MS Powerpoint, making sure they were the same size as the chipboard.  I always use MS Powerpoint for printing and arranging several pictures on one page and in one place.  Once I practiced printing on paper several times to get the right size of the squares, I felt confident to print on the SB Canvas.

Cut the pictures from the canvas.  Before you stick them to the chipboard, I used a black paint pen to paint edges of each chipboard square.  Burnish the picture to each chipboard.   If the canvas spilled over a little on the chipboard, I just used a craft blade and self-healing mat to trim to size.   Sandpaper around the edges to sand down the tiny “burrs” of the canvas.   With a make up sponge wedge, I pounced the sponge on a StazOn black ink pad and just went around the edges of the picture to give it a shadow’y (is that word?) look.    Important:  At this point I laid out all the squares on newspaper in a well ventilated area and sprayed on a matte sealer;  I used Preseve Your Memories (PYM) spray.  Great stuff!

Before you glue down the pictures to the frame, I took silver acrylic paint and went around the edges of the frame and the mirror with a sponge.  Now, the squares are ready to be glued down to the frame.  Arrange the squares to your liking and glue down with strong glue; I used Weld-Bond.

In the top left hand corner of the mirror, I made a tiny polymer clay heart and after it was baked and sealed, I wrote the word “love” on it.  Glue to mirror with strong glue; I used Liquid Nails.

I hope you enjoyed this small tutorial.  Give it a try.   Nothing beats a handmade gift -  made from the heART.

Here is another playful piece I did in my studio.

I was playing with some colors on my palette paper.  After I was done, I swirled and smooshed the colors around for a cool background.  If you think about it, palette paper is made for wet paints, so why not recycle the pages to put in your journals, etc.  It takes a lot of wet media abuse.

As you can see, I just doodled with white paint pen.  Then I took some scrap tissue paper and glued a 1/2 face size to the edge.  Painted that with Golden’s Titan Buff Fluid Acrylic paint; let dry.  Then just played and drew a face and painted it.  Nothing serious at all.

Let’s call her……..um…..Fiona………. I put that doodle in her hair.  I think she’s looking at it saying… “she really just didn’t put that in my hair, did she?  That is so ugly.”    She hates it, I can tell..

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Open Your Hearts

Hey Blogsters!

For the past few months, on my walks, I’ve found some interesting heart shapes I’ve captured with my camera………BUT…

… Let me begin here with a quote from Melody Beattie’s book “Journey of the Heart”. She does daily meditations that are so touching.  I thought this would be appropriate for my heart post.

“Let your heart open-gently, safely, surely and certainly.  Do not let others decide when or even if you will open your heart, when or if you will embrace love.  Those choices are too big, too important to let others make for you.  Only you can decide when and how.” ….

“Look around.  It’s not your location that makes you safe.
It’s where you are in your soul, your mind and your heart.
That place is good.  That place is safe.
Open your heart.
Embrace life.
Go joyfully on your way.”
- Melody Beattie

So………….. I share my hearts with YOU:

vine

puddle on ocean rocks in Maine – I know this is pushing it a little.. but can you see it?

stones off my driveway; at this glance it’s a heart of stone.

vine leaf coming through brick walk

heart rock

… and finally I reveal to you my wooden heart collage that I’ve been promising.

I just love this piece.  You could even say I put all my heart into it.

Size: approx. 18″ x 14″

This piece started out as an old wooden painting I found at a consignment store.   What I used:  spackle, caulking, molding paste, vintage papers, tissue papers, fabric lace, gold leaf, old jewelry, polymer clay (face and button flowers),  found objects, charms, gesso, acrylic paints, stencils, rubber stamps, metal hinge.. whew.. that’s about all I can think of.

I hope you enjoyed my heart post..  Would love to hear back from you.

Next up:  Two weeks vacation from work for the holidays.  I’ll be in the studio to share some fun projects with you.

I hope all you have a wonderful and safe holiday… 2010.. can it be?

Judy

The Canvas Project – A Great Ending

Hey Blogsters!

I’ve been creating some fun things in the studio to show you,  but first I want to share the results of my submission to the Canvas Project.   Here is the post that refers to it that shows my final 5 canvases.

They chose only 1 out of the 5 submitted canvases for each of the 700+ artists that contributed.  The 84 page book is below.

As you can see, they chose my “impound” canvas.

I’m excited to be part of this project and honored to share a little bit of success with my good friend and outstanding artist, Amy, whose chosen canvas is on the opposite page called “instigate”.

Amy reeled me into doing this project and I’m glad she did…. thanks, Amy and congratulations!

Thanks for stopping by!

Next up:  Time for some art and what I’ve been up to in my studio… also…my misfit journal.

Look Who Made a Journal…

… and that would be me.

Hello Blogsters:

Yes, I’m a bit behind… having the same trouble as my friend, Amy, (read her blog post) with sciatic pain.  Not fun, believe me.  Amy and Karen both had to watch me hobble around like an invalid.. Thanks, my friends for your help on our art day, which I wasn’t going to miss.. no way, now how…. on to art talk….

I’ve always have been intimated by making an Art Journal; especially the sewing of the binding.. Give me the heebie jeebies.  But, I’ve been intrigued by them.  I’ve seen plenty of YouTubes and other blog tutorials, but never was I gutsy enough to try it….  And then there is the piece of writing in it too… WHAT? .. what am I going to write about?  It’s enough to make the book and make the backgrounds, but now I have to write in them too? <insert running away and screaming sounds here>.

Wait.. who says I have to write in them?  No one and therefore, I don’t. (well, for now anyway.. one step at a time)

So with that, I asked an art friend of mine and amazing book maker and taker of many book classes, Raine, to show me how to make a basic book….. from scratch.  She did.  I wish I had taken pictures of each step, so I’m sorry I didn’t, but it was my first time, so for the next one, I will.

Here is the finished book and then I’ll show you some of the backgrounds I started to create.

We started with heavy cardboard for the front and back covers and a manila folder strip for the spine.  I used Weldbond glue to adhere the upholstery fabric to my front and back covers; a cotton fabric was used for the spine, gluing the manila folder strip to it.   She showed me how to do a Pamphlet Stitch using waxed linen thread.  I sewed 4 signatures in it.  How cool is that?  I put beads on the left over threads hanging down from the spine.  The button on the front cover is one I made from poly clay.  The size of the book is approximately 8″x8″.

Here are some pages I’ve background and for those who know me.. I LOVE textures, embellishments, found objects and playing with layers:

Some of the techniques/textures I used in this book so far, and I say ‘so far”, as I have not finished this by a long shot.  Materials: gesso, acrylic paints, color mists,  polymer clay, tissue paper, cheese cloth dyed with ink sprays, rubber stamps, wax crayons, decorated duct tape (yes, it comes that way, I’m not kidding; on the last page shown), resin music paper, ink jet transfer.

I can’t tell you how satisifying and accomplishing this project was and I have to thank Raine for helping me.  I appreciate it more than you know.

Here is a small vinyl book that used to be a calendar note book that I altered, but have not sewn any pages in yet.  Now that I know how to sew a signature, I can attempt this myself.

This was covered with crackle paste, then I used a Walnut Ink to stain it.  The bird, was an ink jet transparency that I put directly on the cover over old book page and gel medium over it.  Sanded around it and put beads on the ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…”Do You Doodle?????”

The FINAL 5…

… canvases for the Canvas Project.

In my last post, I mentioned that we were given words to inspire us for each canvas.  I will tell you my words, but try to guess which canvas goes with each word:

Empress
sometimes
valiance
less & …
impound

Here are some details; I hope you can see enough of them.

I have to say I really enjoyed doing these canvases.  They were fun and less intimidating than some of the larger canvases I’ve done.  So, now they are off to Atlanta, where they will be displayed in the Atlanta Airport.  I opted not to sell them; I think they would look cool in a shadow box or on an altered piece of wood with a painted shabby background.  I’ll have to get hold of more of these little canvases to work on.  What fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy