n2cre8n

Minis: Go Play & Live Simply

I made a couple of smaller canvases recently and loved the fun sizes.  The mini one above that says "Live Simply" is 3x3" size with it's only little easel and the "Go Play" canvas is 8x8".  

For the mini one, it literally took about 5 min.  I spray painted the easel, addes some paint around the edges, stamped a leaf and two words, and it was done.

For the 8x8, I wanted to create lots of warm colors by dripping paint, so I did it in stages.  I knew I would use the words GO PLAY in white when it was done.  I instantly fell in love with these words when I saw them on Pinterest and quickly pinned them to my Words To Live By board

I let the paint dry in between each layer.

Drippage, drippage, and more drippage!

(as Donna Downey would say).

I doodled on some white chipboard letters (not sure if I like it, but it'll do) and attached them to the canvas.  

This little canvas sits in my foyer and I walk by it about 25 times per day.  It's my little reminder to not take life too seriously and to sometimes ignore the to-do list and just do something totally fun - GO PLAY!

 

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

New canvas I made to add to the collage of pictures on my foyer wall.  I chose the quote, some tissue paper, stencils, and began to play.  I love how fast these kinds of projects can be.

I didn't end up using all these items, but this was my starting point.

This tissue paper was perfect for my quote, so crumpled it up (after I took this photo) and layed it back out so it had some nice texture.  I adhered it to the canvas with matte gel medium.

Voila'!  Now to tone it down some . . . I used watered-down cream colored paint.

I wanted to use some thick gel for texture, but only along the top 1/3 of the canvas.  This stencil is 12x12 size, so I was able to lay it on the canvas and apply the gel to only the areas I wanted.

Peeling it off (still very wet).

 

I used a Donna Downey foam wheat stamp with red paint and then added various colors of acrylic paint to the textured areas of the canvas.

I applied the colors around the edges with my fingers.  I always love how the blend to form new colors.

The quote is one of my favorites by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I printed it on white paper and adhered gold tissue paper beghind it.

The texture that the tissue created in the background just makes me happy!

Finished canvas, 12x12" size.

 

Here it is at home in it's place.  

The mini canvas "Live Simply" and medium one "Go Play" are coming up later this week!

She Loves the Beach

A friend recently turned 40.  She & her hubby have the cutest cottage on the Chesapeake Bay.  It has adirondach chairs, sea glass displays, cottage furniture, artwork with old ships in one bedroom, crab catching gear, kayaks, and much more.  It's simply amazing!  So I knew I had to make her gift something about the beach.

 

 I started with a 8x24" canvas (I now LOVE this size and must do more).  I printed a color copy of a photo I took at their cottage about this time last year.  I added digital beach wordart "Beach Comber" by Sande Krieger.

I changed the blue sky to a sunset, added texture with thick gel in a stencil, and distressed the photo by sanding.

I added some paint to the bottom, accent paint to the texture, stamped some designs, and just played around until I felt like it was finished.  It was so much fun!

 

 

I think I should have kept this one . . . I'm sort of attached to it.  

Nah, tis better to give.  

Happy Birthday, Jen!

 

 

3 Canvases: Nature, Peace, & Creativity

My mom recently turned 60, so I wanted to create some canvases for her to hang in her office.  Each canvas signifies a piece of her:

 

Seeker of NATURE: my mom loved horses as a kid, but never had an opportunity to ride.  In 1997, her prince rode in on a horse and scooped her away . . . well, he actually wore a cowboy hat and lassoed her.  He is a calf-roper, has two horses, and they live happily ever after out in the country of Wyoming.

 

Finder of PEACE:  Just five years ago, my mom decided to learn how to play the guitar.  She's wanted to do this for years and finally made it happen.  She practices daily and finds a deep peace in the process.  Inspiring, for sure.

 

Maker of CREATIVITY:  My mom has always been creative.  I remember rearranging our living room multiple times as a child. She sewed dresses, quilts, curtains, and pajamas for us.  She made my 3 bridesmaids' dresses and 2 flower girl dresses.  She always had clever ideas for Halloween costumes.  She's been a lover of photography for as long as I can remember.  My dad would often start drawing a new stained glass pattern and she would finish it years later.  Today, she owns a creative framing store, where she is always trying new things - guns, fishing lures, bridal bouquets, photo name mats, etc.  She also is a stained glass and sandblasting artist.  Creative blood, indeed.  Check out her work at Rocky Mountain Framing

 

Here is a little more of the process that went into these.  I wanted to experiment more with the xerography process I tried in this post.  I found images & words that I wanted to use and printed them with a black laser printer.

I cut and tore them apart, laid them on the canvas to decide on the layout, then covered the backs with gel medium to adhere to the canvases.

 

One of my favorite techniques is adding texture with stencils and modeling paste.  

I went to grab my paste and learned I was out, so I did what my mom always taught me: WING IT!  I dug through what I had and ended up trying extra heavy gel medium.  I loved the results.  

I just laid the stencil on the edge of each canvas and applied the gel with a palette knife

 

After they dried completely (heat guns speeds this up), it was time to add some color!

Many more layers of paint and textures were added.  Sometimes, I just rubbed in some color with my fingers, other times I sprayed on colors.  My favorites are Ranger's Color Washes and the shimmery Tattered Angels: Glimmer Mists

 

A finished trio to hang on the wall.  Happy birthday, mom!

Home Decor Canvases

 
There's nothing like the pressure of out-of-town guests coming to get me sprucing up my home!  A few months ago, you could find me in the workshop spraying canvases, stitching ribbons, and painting.  I wanted some pieces to inter-mix with my framed photos.

I began with washes of paint and Glimmer Mists on the canvases.

My colors and inspiration for the images came from my World Market curtains on our kitchen sliding glass doors.  They are across the room from the wall these canvases are on.

I sprayed more colors with stencils, added some stamping, and strips of ribbon.  This one is the largest canvas.

 

A medium canvas with Prima flowers.

 

And a smaller canvas (on right) with four minis beside it.  These minis are my favorites.  They're about 4x4" and were fun to work with.  My dd11 LOVES working with this size.

 

I originally had them on this wall, until we changed it out with 6 large family photos.  

 

So I moved them to the wall beside it, on the fireplace mantel.  I like them better as a collection without all the other photos, but both ways were fun to play with.

 

Hello again . . . and Fall table runner

whew, had to dust this thing off!  life has been busy and blogging has been on the back burner, but I do miss it and have lots to share.  I've been doing several art projects and taking hundreds of photos, just haven't posted them all.  So I'll try to do a little catching up!

Here is a leaf table runner I made for the fall season.

Once again, I was inspired by Alisa Burke's blog post, where she made a wreath from paper leaves.  She hand-drew the leaves on old book pages and then cut them out.  I decided to use a die-cutting machine and sew them onto a piece of fabric.  I dusted off my vintage Wizard die-cutting machine (ha-ha) and leaves die. Here is the pretty newer Wizard  and the new big daddy, the Grand Calibur.  My leaves die is no longer available either, but they have this new one: Maple Leaves. 

I cut three layers of old book pages at once, since they are so thin. I did not emboss the leaves, only cut.  I wanted a very simple look.

To add color to the leaves, I used watercolors.  I thought if I put a strip of adhesive onto brown paper, it would hold them nicely in place while I painted.  Well, it did . . . but it was hard to peel them off and I ripped a few.  Since the pages are so thin, I'd recommend just laying them out and using a paper piercer to hold them, if needed.

After the leaves dried, I pulled them off and outlined the edges and leaf veins.

I pulled out some red and purple thread and sewed them to a piece of canvas cotton.

It's not very wide, maybe 4 inches.  Just right for my foyer table.

Happy Fall!

 

My, what big DIES you have!

I've been out of town for almost 3 weeks . . . lots of fun and good to be home!  Until I get caught up, I have to share this awesome video of the new Spellbinders products from CHA!  They have a new LARGE machine and LARGE dies (like up to 7" large)!  Think mini books, home decor, easy scrapbook pages, and more!

 

My sister, Holly (her blog is hollysimoni.typepad.com)  has been on the design team for 5 years and is now one of their blog specialist!

She was interview on video doing a demo of the new machine and dies! 

Check it out HERE 

See more info and examples on the Spellbinders BLOG

He Dances with Me

My hubby and I have been taking lindy hop dance lessons for the past 8 months.  I can't tell you how thrilled I am.  I've always wanted to take lessons, as a couple, to learn how to dance together.  We saw this lindy group dancing down the street in the Christmas parade in 2008.  I wrote down the website from the banner they carried and the rest is history.  My hubby was extremely uncomfortable with the whole thing at first, so I can't even express how thankful I am that he agreed to try it.

Eight months later . . . he's enjoying it as much as I am!  It's something we do together and it gives us our own little "date night" once a week.  We are often forced out of our comfort zone, but it helps us grow.  He says he continues because he loves how it makes me smile so much!  How lucky am I?!!!

So I knew, when I saw this post by Alisa Burke, that I wanted to make a heart wreathe with a dancing theme.  Here's what I came up with:

Alisa's canvas was totally my inspiration - I made my heart wreath exactly like hers, so I give her full credit for this idea.  Take a moment to check her's out at the link above.  She inspires me everyday!

Following Alisa's instructions, here is how I made this 16x20 canvas:

1.  Paint some scrap paper with watercolors.  She used scrap, junk mail.  I used white 12x12 cardstock.  I used a wet on wet watercolor method to blend my colors.  I sprayed the paper with water, then painted, then sprayed, then painted . . .

2.  Add words on the paper.  Vary the size, pen width, color, etc.  I used words that were all about dancing:

    Oh Suzie Q, baby I love you

    Shorty George

    Swing out, passby, circle, outside turn, basket

    Texas Tommy

    Boogie Back

    etc.

3.  Cut these papers into circles of various sizes.  I used a pair of scissors and cut them very quickly in three sizes.  They are imperfect, wobbly circles - but it doesn't matter at all!

4.  Scrunch these circles up to resemble flowers.  At the INSPIRED.artist.workshop, Donna Downey showed us that you can form paper into many shapes by adding water.  While making her canvas apron, we twisted book pages into stems by adding water.  Once they dry, the maintain that shape.  The water loosens the fibers in the paper.  So I used that method here by spraying both sides of the circle before scrunching it up.  It worked great.  They held their shape and are firm now.

5.  Now it's time to make a background for our heart wreath.  I painted this canvas with acrylic paints, sprayed water, and blotting with a paper towel.

6.  I followed Alisa's suggestions to adhere the flowers with hot glue.  They are dimensional and bumpy, so a mess of hot glue worked great.  I then tried out an image transfer technique that I learned from CD Muckosky at INSPIRED.  I painted gel medium onto printouts of sheet music, then adhered to the canvas.  At this point in the photo above, I was pretty sure I had just ruined my piece.  I let it dry, then wet the paper and rubbed off with my fingers.  Sure enough, the paper came off and the image remained!  whew!

 

7.  I then added the words "He dances with me", using a calligraphy pen and black India ink.  The word "DANCE" was stamped on with Technique Tuesday alphabet stamps

8.  Lastly, I found an image on google images of a couple doing the lindy dance.  I altered it in Photoshop Elements by increasing the contrast and levels until it resembled a silhouette of the couple.

I'm completely thrilled with the finished result.  It makes me think of our Thursday nights together dancing and makes me smile!

 

Love, Love, Love

now I'm singing "love, love, love, I want your love" (Bad Romance, Lady Gaga) - love that song!!! video here.  She is crazy, kooky, wild, and theatrical!  Modern-day Madonna, you could say.  Her background story is great.

but today's post is not about bad romances, it's about good (unless it'd be therapeutic to make a piece of art about a bad romance, then be my guest)

I found the blog of Alisa Burke through the Donna Downey "INSPIRED" site.  Alisa is one of the instructors for a mini workshop and she is fabulously messy and grungy!  As I was browsing through her site, my heart was drawn to this piece: Love Everyday Wreath.  I am determined to make this piece SOON!

check out the tutorial page to see the entire completed piece.  It's a project you can make from junk mail!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Donna Downey's stamps

This video from www.thepaperlife.com does a great job of showing Donna's:

huge foam stamps(for canvas decor, wearable art, and more - lots of ideas going through my head for these)   

smaller red rubber stamps by Unity Stamp Co

and some views of her canvas bags, thin canvas pieces 12x12, and her cute decorated booth!

I love these canvas skirts (notice the one she's wearing in the video).  Not sure where I'd ever wear one, but I'm sure I could come up with some place to!

Here's the video!