Black Magic Journal Pages...

 Working on my Discovery Journal with Roni of Ink Stains here are some photos of the "Black Magic" technique.  This post is photo heavy as I needed to show different stages.  These are my acrylic blocks for use with clear stamps.  I only own a 1" square and two 1" x 3" pieces.  However my stamp for this technique is larger than these.  Maybe 4" x 6" and I went shopping only to discover I cannot afford an acrylic block to fit.  Our little town does not offer 40% off coupons and I will not be "down the hill" any time soon.

This is a clear stamp set I won from Roni several months ago.  I just knew I wanted to use these in my page.  Hmmm...what could I use to hold the stamp? Part of the allure of Roni's class is the idea of using what we have and not rushing out to buy the latest and greatest whatever.

Aha!  I have an old 5" x 7" acrylic table frame and thought it might work as it even has a handle to hold while postitioning the stamp.  Lets see...

 Here is my clear stamp stuck to the frame.  I have also inked it with white acrylic paint for this technique.

 Positioned on the black paper. Pressed it down and...

Perfect stamped image.  I love the white acrylic stamped on the black paper.  This looks like damask fabric.

 Now to use my colored pencils.  I love colored pencils and have lots of them.  These are just my basic ones.

Here is the fun of the stamped image.  By using white acrylic paint you can now color over it with pencils or lots of other mediums which you will read about over at Roni's blog.

 Here is the one I colored.

Here is the stamped image without the coloring. 
My pages are not done.  I didn't have full size black paper as mine were all cut into half sheets.  Hmmm???  Use what I have.  I still have to mount these and include my two lists...(l) What I am good at, (2) What I'd like to learn.  This was an interesting challenge to write out the lists. 
I love the Black Magic technique and definitely will be doing this again.  I can see cards made with this technique. 
Once again thank you Roni for helping me to explore and learn new art techniques.  My colored pencils are so very happy to get used and not just sit there looking pretty. 
Are you working on your very own Discovery Journal? 
Our weather has changed and we are expecting rain.  The clouds are moving in and I for one am looking forward to rain.  We haven't had any in many months and it would be so nice for some refreshing moisture.  Our Fall colors are really beginning to show their early stages. 
Wonderful Week to all...

Painting Envelopes...

While ordering office supplies late one evening I was compelled to add a box of small coin envelopes to my order. I knew I could craft with them and they would be fun to decorate. Mr. C was not amused. "What are you going to do with so many little envelopes!" he said. I replied, "I don't know however I will use them!"

Here I am painting each little envelope with gesso to tone down the kraft coloring. I included my hand as proof that I can get messy. I am very fussy and never like my hands to get dirty or messy at all. So in true artist style I am forcing myself to allow messiness as others say it is part of the creative process and even others say it is part of the fun. Hmmm...my hands did clean up after the painting and it really wasn't so bad. There might be hope for me after all. :o)

No picture of my hands here but trust me they got lots of paint on them with all of this process. I painted each envelope with different colors on both sides. I wanted a variety.

Here is my favorite little blue envelope. I even added liquid silver leaf circles and it really gave a lustrous shine.

This treatment of dry brushing several colors included a metallic copper which I really liked. The photo does not show it well.

This little one was dotted with some black ink. I used the end of a square chop stick.

Hard to see the gold leafing dry brush technique here. I thought the colors were representative of a bright spring day with all the trees leafing out.








What am I doing with my little painted and gilded envelopes? Now that is for another day.

Here we are in a new week and I shall be busy cleaning and weeding and ironing and weeding and generally enjoying being a homeowner.

How is your week shaping up?

Wonderful week and I hope you make time to make art...

Rescued Chair...

This little chair was just waiting for me to rescue it. I was at the local Hospice Gift and Thrift and in the parking lot was a bunch of used...very used pieces of furniture. I saw this little chair and heard it calling to me. Sherrrrryyyyyy...
Of course I had to go take a look. And I always give furniture the wiggle test to see if it is too wonky. This little chair was only slightly unsteady. I knew Mr. C could strengthen it for me. The price? No way...$4. So I go inside and tell the clerk I want to buy this chair. She says are you taking it home today? Well of course I am...we have bonded and I can't leave it behind.

This is the label from the underside seat of the chair. It is solid wood and made here in the USA. I am now really bonding with this chair.

Here it is on Mr. C's workbench. All that needs doing is a little wood gluing to the spindle that connects to the chair back. How easy is this? Done and all better. Thank you Mr. C.

Now maybe a coat of white paint. After lots of sanding and priming and painting...

More sanding and painting. Thank you again Mr. C. Of course we had to wait until June for winter to end. I bought little chair in January.

And now little chair is beautiful in her new white coat and she is so happy to reside at the kitchen desk where she can be part of the family every day.

She is a very comfortable little chair and I am so glad she called me over to rescue her.

By-the-way...when I told the clerk that of course I would be taking little chair home with me right then she announced that the price was half the tag price. What?!! Little chair only cost me $2 and I am completely over-the-moon happy with her.

So sometimes being creative and crafty is not about fabric or beads or paper...sometimes it is the act of rescuing a worn out chair that someone disposed of and giving it new life with a fresh coat of paint and lots of love.

What have you been working on lately?

Inspiration for me...

A few postings ago I shared about my obsession with Mary Jane shoes and my unused stamp. Well, here is a 5 x 7 piece of artwork I made as inspiration for myself.

I used my stamp and embossed it with shiny black as in patent leather...one of my favorites.

I painted the canvas with gesso and then Golden Fluid acrylics and used my favorite colors...Phthalo Blue (Green Shade), Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) and Ultramarine Blue.

I used Golden Gel medium to adhere the "gold leaf" which is actually a golden colored wrapper from some chocolate I ate...yummy.

Then I embellished the entire canvas with buttons, ribbon, thread and heart shaped rhinestones.

Now my stamped Mary Janes took center focus with some photo corners. I left the stamped piece loose as I could change out the black shoes for another color if I want to.

All in all this is merely an artistic piece I made for myself as inspiration and to remind me of how far I have come on this creative journey I am on. I had fun making it and I am enjoying viewing it each day as I enter my studio where I have it hanging on a wall of lots of fun items.

Please tell me what is your favorite inspiration piece that helps you be creative?

Keep creating...

Product Demo = Results...

Our local Ben Franklin had a product demo for Golden Paints and Gels and brought a wonderfully talented gal named Nina from Berkley to demonstrate and give out samples. I couldn't resist attending because I am always reading artisits blogs and they mention using Golden gels in mixed media so I wanted to see before I buy. Well, I saw and then I bought. I treated myself to a set of gel mediums and also a set of fluid acrylics. Luckily I had a wonderful gift card since Christmas from my dear friend Lindsay and that is how I was able to get so much. Thank you very much Lindsay.

I came home and set everything out to see what I was going to do with it. Of course I wasn't downstairs in my studio I was at the kitchen desk with the new granite counter and yes, Mr. Hubby discovered me there and wasn't quite happy but I explained that I just wanted to see my new things. Yes, I did end up making a mess right there but I cleaned it up. lol :o) I decided to try a direct transfer image process. I applied some gel and then placed my laser toner copy right side down into the gel and let it dry completely. (Yes you can use a heat dryer to speed the process if you are anxious.) When the image and gel are dry you merely wet the paper and lightly scrub it off with a toothbrush or sponge. When all the paper is off you are left with the ink image left on your surface (mine is my art journal which is an old calendar book from 2005 of Monet paintings). If you scrub too hard you remove some of the ink but I think that merely adds to the character of the image.

Then I painted in the image with my new fluid acrylic paints. After that I used the fluid acrylic paint to stamp with and put lots of butterfly prints all around my painted image. I think it looks better in person than it shows here in the photo.

At this time I have lots of ideas and projects for my new Golden products.
Check out their website: www.goldenpaints.com

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July with family, friends, parades, fireworks and food.

Remodel continues...

Well, the remodel continues...

We now have 6 gallons of very expensive paint on these cabinets you see. No doors or drawers yet. Yesterday I emptied and removed all the knobs from 24 drawers that belong in here. Plus I have 2 large pull out drawers. What a lot of cabinets, doors and drawers this kitchen has.

Interestingly enough in this one month-to-date process I find I don't even really need this kitchen in order to exist daily. Oh don't misunderstand me...I love this kitchen and will love it all the more when it is completed! Maybe I am merely in the exhausted mode of "I want this mess to be over and done with".

Hopefully the ceiling will be painted next week. Then the walls and then maybe we can uncover the paper masking that is soaked with paint, clean my beautiful granite counters that are hopefully surviving under all this and then I will feel better and see hope.

Now that the weather is so much nicer and the sun has come out and warmed us all it is also easier to think of simple meals that don't require a lot of cooking.

I do hope all of you are enjoying Spring in your areas. I even took a few hours to do some weeding and pruning. Then I enjoyed hand watering to wash pollen and dust from plants. I skimmed the pond but the pollen and oak droppings are beyond skimming at this point. The frogs seranaded me and I got to see 9 of them sitting on their lilly pads. I shall post some pics of the pond in the near future. I don't think I shall be lucky enough to photograph an actual frog as they are extremely shy and dive for cover even if I walk as quietly as I can to see them.

Happy Weekend Everyone.

Studio welcomes me...

This is my studio and it is welcoming me with open doors! I feel a spring in my step just knowing I can get into making my creative messes. As you can see I do have a lot of sorting and organizing and putting away to do but at least the door is open.
I usually don't spend much time in here when the weather is cold and nasty as I am not motivated unless the sun is shining and I am toasty warm. Yes, of course I have heat and air conditioning in my studio but that is not the same as sunshine coming in through the windowed french door.
Today I spent a bit of time working on a birthday gift for my sister. I actually have two sisters with April birthdays. They were born 12 months and 12 days apart and spent their younger years being treated like twins by our mom. Of course both of them are younger than me.
I also put some paint on my new journal I am working on. I am inspired by the Somerset magazine "Art Journaling". I have no artistic drawing or painting skills however I do have a love for colors and collage. I realized while reading the magazine that I never even doodled in my life. While growing up I was not allowed to doodle, or twiddle my thumbs for that matter, because it was considered a waste of time and showed no intelligence as per my mother. Yes, now I realize that she was "different".
Actually my mom was very creative and was always crafting, sewing, cooking, canning and talented. She was left handed and I think that is why she was so creative. I am right handed as a side note. One year we all went collecting pine cones on our property in the mountains and then mom spent the summer wiring all of them together to place around the outside frames of the windows of the cabin. I loved the look of them. I remember her hands being pricked from the sharp pine cones but she perservered and completed every window. I think there were at least a half dozen on the cabin front.
I learned lots of crafting and sewing from my mom. Thank you mom. She is flying in heaven.
So sometimes I struggle with artistic endeavors but I am not giving up. I think I can learn to doodle and hopefully draw even at this stage of my life. I just need to remember that there is no perfection and that everything is a learning experience. I certainly have lots of artful supplies as I like to be prepared for whatever when it hits.
My wonderful husband built my studio and carefully measured every nook and cranny and counted all my storage containers to build them in perfectly and mainly to be organized as he HATES clutter. Nice try honey...I love to squeeze more stuff in every space possible. He even put an electrical outlet in the ceiling over the island for glue guns and such so I wouldn't get tangled in the cords. He made certain that I have doors that close off the studio and no one ever has to see my mish-mosh.
I really love my studio and having my very own space to be creative in. I think I shall go and splash some more paint on some paper and plan the next step to the birthday gift.
Happy creating everyone and thank you for letting me ramble on.
Saucy Chick Sherry