Small Business Saturday

Today is small business Saturday. If you would like to buy something from my shop today use this code to get a refund for 20% off. Place this in the message to seller box and I will refund you 20% of your purchase. STARDUST13 Thanks to all of my followers. http://www.handsandharts.com/shop.html

Happy Thanksgiving

I posted this yesterday at Artistcellar for Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of my USA readers. Since I get to post on this holiday I wanted to share a gratitude spread that I created in my journal.  I make gratitude spreads often so that I remember all that I am grateful for throughout the year, but especially on this holiday. I started on the right hand side by laying down my four stencils in the Playful Pod series. I sprayed through the stencils with a mix of Dylusions sprays and my homemade paint sprays.  I used a mixture of red, orange, green, and brown sprays.  I wanted to represent many of the autumn colors.  I then removed the stencils and sprayed over this layer with an antique gold and a bright gold spray paint while it was still wet.  I let the page dry thoroughly. Next I applied a thick layer of modeling paste with a card along the edges of the page.  I pressed my hand carved leaf stamps into the modeling paste.  This left a basic impression of a leaf and a lot of texture.  Make sure that you wash your stamps right away and use a stiff brush to get off all the modeling paste, so that your stamps don't get ruined.  I let the modeling paste dry completely. I outlined the leaves with a dark brown Inktense pencil so that they would stand out more.  I used a stiff brush to add Inka Gold to the inside of the leaves.  I love the shimmer that Inka Gold adds to the page and the gold color went perfectly with my spread. I wanted the leaves to stand out even more so I painted around the leaves with raw umber paint and scrubbed it out so that there wasn't a harsh line of paint. This helped the leaves to pop off of the page even more. I wanted to add pumpkins to the middle of this page, because they symbolize Thanksgiving to me.  I used a charcoal pencil to sketch them in since the page was too dark for graphite to show up. I painted my pumpkins in with Quinacridone Burnt Orange with Cadmium Red Light Hue and Titan Buff for highlights.  I painted the stems with a mixture of Green Gold and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold and I brought the Green Gold down into the top of the grooves of the pumpkin.  I used both Liquitex and Golden paints. I used the left hand side of the spread for my words.  I started by rubbing distress ink pads on my page.  I used a variety of green and browns.  I also sprayed this page with the two gold spray paints in random spots.  I stamped my larger leaf stamp into each corner with StazOn ink in Timber Brown. I wrote Give Thanks on mulberry paper and I stamped Happy Thanksgiving on wax paper. I glued both down with fluid medium.  They both kind of melt into the background but leave some added texture on the page. I stamped and wrote words with a couple sizes of Pitt Pens in the middle of the page and I wrote "I have much to be grateful for this year" on the top of the page.  I decorated around "Give Thanks"  and "Happy Thanksgiving" with a white Gelly Roll pen and a clear star Gelly Roll pen. Don't be afraid to experiment and try out new things in your art journal.  It is a great place to have fun and grow as an artist and to remind yourself about what is really important. Here is the finished spread. Have a Happy Thanksgiving weekend Janelle

Mixed Media Necklace

I'm still in the mood for mixed media collage.  I'm still trying to use up some of my painted paper stash that I talked about last week.  This week I want to show you how to make a necklace.  I started with a box of wooden dominoes. I drilled holes in one end of each domino with a Dremel tool.  I love this little power tool that is so versatile.  I made a template to mark the holes on the dominoes, so that each one would have the hole in the same place.  I decided to drill holes in each domino so that I could decorate them anytime that I wanted to without having to stop and drill the holes first.  That way I can make a quick gift whenever I need one.  With the holiday season coming up and being a busy mom, quick gifts are what I will be making. After the dominoes were prepared I picked collage papers that were in the same color family or that coordinated with each other.  I tore some of the papers into small pieces.  I used regular matte gel medium and covered one side of the domino. I layered the papers over the domino adding a layer of the matte gel over each new layer until I had the domino mostly covered.  Make sure that you keep the matte gel out of the hole in the domino so that the cord can go through later.  I used a variety of papers, some that were opaque and some that were translucent.  I let each side dry completely before adding papers to the other side.  I didn't add any papers to the sides since they are so narrow.  I usually make a few of these necklaces at a time. After both sides were dry I added a little paint to the collage.  On some of the dominoes I used Metamica paints to cover over the areas that didn't have any papers.  I also added paint along the edges and on any of the white paper edges.  I blended out the paint just a bit while still letting most of the paper show through.  I also painted the sides of the dominoes.  I like the extra shine that the Metamica paint adds.  On some of the other dominoes I used Silks acrylics glazes and painted over the whole domino.  They add a more subtle shimmer to the whole domino while still letting the papers show through.  I also used Viva Decor Inka Gold to add some shimmer to one of the dominoes.  Inka Gold works really well on wood and over collage. While the dominoes were drying I used punches to cut out shapes from more of my papers.  I also put a thin layer Glitterati fibers in Flamenco between two pieces of parchment paper and melted them into a mat of shimmery fibers.  If you touch a hot iron to the paper over the fibers for a few seconds they melt.  I used punches to cut shapes out of this as well.  The last way that I got some shapes was by layering the Celestial stencil over a painted paper and tracing out the star shape and cutting it out.  I choose which side I wanted to be the front of the necklace and I glued the prepared shapes to that side using more matte gel medium.  I used contrasting colors most of the time so that my pretty bits of paper and fibers would pop off of the surface. I let everything dry completely and then I used a black Pitt pen or paint to add a shadow around the shapes so that they would show up even more. I finally added a coat of varnish to both sides and the edges so that they would be protected more from wear.  Then I used hemp cord large enough to slip over the head and knotted the end to complete the necklace Here are a few more necklaces that I made. I hope that this gives you another idea on how to use up little pieces of paper and make a nice gift at the same time. Janelle

Memory Box

I have a new nephew and he is also my Godson.  Therefore I wanted to make a special present for his parents to use as he grows up.  I decided to decorate a wooden box for them to keep memories and keepsakes in for him.  I used a pallet of brown and blue for this box.

I got a plain wooden box and started gluing papers to it.  I put a layer of matte gel medium by Liquitex onto the box and added scraps of my painted papers.  I went over the top of the papers with the gel medium as well.  I made sure that there were no bubbles and that the papers were stuck down all the way.  I used mono-prints on deli paper and computer paper.  I also used bits of the different papers that I used for cleaning off my stencils.  I like to spray inks through stencils and then flip them onto a piece of paper to clean off the excess spray.  I use these papers for collage later, so I have a large collection of all kinds of papers that are painted.  I keep layering images onto the same piece of paper until I get some interesting papers.  For this project I selected thin papers so that they would be flexible and go over the curves of the box easily.  I covered the majority of the space inside and outside the box.  The only surface that I didn't decorate was the bottom of the box.

I decorated the inside of the box and then the outside so that everything would dry well and nothing would stick.  After all the surfaces were dry I added Metamica paints in Chestnut and Moonlight to the open areas.  I scrubbed the paint out so that I didn't have a lot of harsh lines and everything was blended together.

After all the paint was dry, I used Tam's Whimsy Hearts and Stars stencil to decorate the sides and back of the box with black paint.  For the top of the box I used Tam's Inspiration stencils to add the words "you are loved" in black paint.  On the front of the box I stamped his name in black paint.

When the paint was dry I sketched around the shapes and words with a white Gelly Roll pen.  I added lines inside of everything with a clear star Gelly Roll pen.

I let the box set for a couple of days to make sure that the paint was completely cured and then I sealed the whole box in stages.  I used gloss medium and varnish by Liquitex to seal it.

The box shimmers and shines and will be a great place to store all of those baby milestones and memories when his parents are too busy to fill out the baby book.

I hope that you can find interesting ways to use all of your extra painted papers that mixed media artists seem to collect.

You can see more of my art on my Website: http://www.handsandharts.com

Janelle

Art and Craft Shows

I'm getting ready to sell at my first art and craft show at the end of the month. I have been doing a lot of research to find out what I should and shouldn't do, what I need to bring, and all kinds of helpful hints.  I have been anxious about selling in person for the first time.  I have a huge fear of rejection, plus I'm pretty introverted and haven't spent a lot of time talking about my art.  I love to write about my process and share pictures of the things that I make, but I haven't talked about them in person much except with relatives. I guess that I have to start somewhere though.  Hopefully I will get some practice and get a bit more comfortable talking at this show.  Do any of you readers who make and sell art have problems promoting and talking about your art?
The show that I am going to be selling at is the
Fatima Fall Craft Show
Saturday, November 23, 2013
913 Napoleon Road
Michigan Center, MI
10 am to 4 pm
If you are in the area please come out and support a lot of local artists and crafters. 

Janelle

New Art Journal

My current art journal is just about out of space, so I thought that it might be nice to show you how I make my journals.  I use my art journal to travel internally and externally. Sometimes I explore exotic places and sometimes more mundane locales.  I use my journal to gain clarity and to work through problems as well as to experiment.  Sometimes our path is obscured and we go to a dark place, and when we get there we find a bright spot amid the darkness.  I used this idea for the theme of my new journal cover. I start my journals with a piece of white duck cloth canvas.  I cut the piece a little larger all the way around than my pages will be, plus a flap.  I like to be able to close my journals and have everything tucked away inside, so I add a flap. I decided to decorate my cover with stencils.  I started with the Pari stencil and some turquoise and brown fabric paint.  I covered the whole piece of canvas with the stenciled image randomly using my chosen colors. After this layer was dry I used white fabric paint and a brayer to push back the background image.  I let that layer dry. I painted over the edges of the canvas with black paint making sure that I scrubbed the paint out, so there wasn't such a harsh line of black.  I randomly scrubbed black paint over the whole piece.  I wanted to add interest and and to obscure the map in certain areas.  I let that dry as well. I took the Celestial stencil and added star images inside of the black areas with silver fabric paint.  I let that layer dry and then I heat set the entire piece of canvas.  I put my journals through a lot of abuse, so I wanted to make sure that the paint wouldn't rub off the cover. I cut a piece of felt and a piece of cotton fabric for the inside of the cover.  I like to make quilted journal covers because they are more unique and the quilting adds interest to my design.  I use felt inside because it adds some stiffness to the cover so that it isn't too floppy.  I pin all the layers together and free motion quilt the whole piece.  This time I used a random wiggly pattern for my quilting. I don't draw out the pattern before I start sewing, I just doodle with the thread and see where it takes me.  After I had covered the entire piece, I zigzag stitched the edges three times.  I want the cover to have a strong edge and not to fray too much.  I trimmed off all of the excess fabric and neatened up the edges. Outside Inside I prepared my signatures next.  I use Strathmore mixed media paper with a velum finish in my journals.  I love the way that the paper holds up to all the wet messy journaling that I do. It is also a smooth paper so I can easily draw on it too.   I made four signatures with five folios each.  My finished pages are 9" x 12".  I really like working on this size of paper.  I added inclusions to my journal this time.  I haven't done this before, so it should be interesting working with these extra papers.  I chose a couple of different sizes of card stock, some graph paper, and some manila envelopes. I made a template of out of a food box for punching the holes in the papers.  I am using six holes.  I line all the folios up in a signature and the inclusion papers too and I hold everything together with large clips.  I place the fold in to the crack of a large outdated phone book.  I punch the holes with an awl. I do this for all the signatures. After all the holes are punched I line up everything inside my cover and mark where the first signature will go.  I sew the first one in with book binding linen.  I start on the bottom hole on the inside, leaving a tail, and sew to the outside and then into the next hole up and down to the first hole and do it again.  Then I go up on the inside to the next hole and do the whole process again.  For the last set of holes I go to the top hole first and sew twice through the holes leaving a tail on the outside.  I repeat the process for each signature. I learned this method of binding a journal from Effy Wild.  She has a free tutorial if you want more information.  You can check that out here.  Here is a quick illustration to demonstrate the stitching path. The black lines are the first row of stitching and the red lines are where the stitching is doubled I use the tails on the outside to bead.  I knot them and bead them to add a bit of decoration. I punch a hole into the center of the flap and using a button hole stitch I sew around it to finish the cut edges.  I add a ribbon, a lace, or cord to close the the journal and keep everything inside.  I like to wrap it all the way around with some extra room so it will fit as my journal expands.  The inside tails I knot and add a bit of glue to the knots so that they don't come undone. Here is a page in my journal where I used Tam's Butterfly Wings stencil and the Loved stencil plus some of my hand carved stamps. I hope that you enjoy making your own journal sometime.  I get a huge amount of satisfaction from working in a journal that I made myself. Janelle