Halloween Mantelpiece with Elizabeth Craft Design Dies!

Recently I have been brainstorming to share some projects with a small retreat gathering at the end of this month using Elizabeth Craft Design Pop It Ups designed by Karen Burniston.  Simon Says Stamp has a fall-themed challenge this week, too, so this will be an entry there as well!  There is so much potential with these wonderful wafer-thin dies.  No size limits here, either!  So making a fun scene inside a card has few restraints.  Some of the manipulations that are available by the way the dies are positioned and cut make them very versatile, and it makes my head spin to think of ways to decorate these wonderful cards and decorative projects.  These are called triple pivot cards made with all of the Elizabeth Craft Design's pivot dies designed also by Karen, double Lorna Label platforms, etc.  Check out some of Karen Burniston's YouTube videos for ideas and instructions for these amazing adaptations to her dies.

Close up of first few panels

This decorative project for the mantel is all ready to delight my grandchildren with its spooky silhouette stamps from Tim Holtz's Stampers Anonymous stamps.  I used stamps in three different sets from a couple of years ago.  There are many sets in Tim's collection that can be used with this project.  The mantelpiece is adaptable to any size mantel.  I chose to use eight panels for this one since I could get eight panels from two sheets of 12 x 12 double-sided cardstock.  Rather than try to give you written instructions for assembling an accordion album, I have included the link to Karen Burniston's YouTube video.  She tells you all you need to know about the basics of assembly in her videos.

To reinforce the panels, it is advisable to cut panels out of a heavy cardstock and trim off the center portions, leaving only the exterior frame.  Attach the frame to the back of the panel with tape runner or a fast-drying glue.  This frame can be made from a heavy cardstock or my favorite--hot pressed 140 lb. studio watercolor paper in a pad.  I love this for stamping images to color with Copics, too, so I keep a supply on hand.  My favorite brand for this is Fabriano.  These frames can be left white or colored as you wish with Distress inks or spray them with ink spray and let it dry before you cut them.

After all your panels are cut and reinforced, stamp your images onto white cardstock and cut with one of the decorative panels that will fit onto the center area containing the movement mechanism.  Mine have three smaller panels matted with the largest one in my color choices and the remainder are not matted.  Some of the stamped images will be too big for the panels, but that's okay.  The open style of these wafer-thin dies will allow optimum placement of the die on the stamped image.  the parts that are cropped away will not be missed.  The brain automatically ignores things with only a small visual suggestion--re: the ends of the branch the owl is sitting on, the tip of the cat's tail and the bat wing, or the bristles on the end of the broom   I know, you are now looking at the close-ups to see what I didn't fit into the panels, aren't you?

Close-up of middle portion of mantelpiece

Next step:  using Tim Holtz's Distress Inks and his foam applicator tool, color the backgrounds of the stamped images as desired.  For the moon in some of my images, I punched a 3/4" circle from the sticky part of a post-it note to make a mask.  I then placed the mask where I wanted the yellow moon and sponged the purple Seedless Preserve Distress ink all over the image.  Then remove the mask and distress the moon with the golden Wild Honey Distress ink.  Hint:  use the remainder of the post-it note over the area (with the circle centered over the moon)  to keep the purple sky area free from the ink you use to color the moon.  Next decorate your album panels with the stamped pieces and mats.  Embellish these images with googly eyes, colored gems, buttons, glitter, foam ghosts, and whatever appropriate embellies you may have in your stash.  Finally, assemble the album as seen in the video.  (Click  here on YouTube to go see it again!)

The Trick or Treat title at the top of the piece shown in the close-up above is stamped and cut out with a Tim Holtz's Sizzix die.  Then it is sponged with Wild Honey Distress behind the title and edged with Seedless Preserves Distress ink.  To mount it on top of the album while displaying it, I used two of the larger discarded pieces cut from areas of the panel cards.  I glued two parenthesis-looking pieces together to make them stronger (make two of these), folded them in half, and attached them to the back of the title. To make the title sit on top, merely spread apart the "legs" and have them straddle the card as shown in the close-up above.  Later it can be removed and the entire mantelpiece can be stored safely in a closed position.

Close-up of last few panels

We plan to make a similar project at our gathering, except we will do one with a Christmas/Winter theme. Watch for a blog on this next project a little closer to winter.

Another project we plan to do at the retreat is a fall card that will be appropriate for harvest time or Thanksgiving, using Elizabeth Craft Design's Garden Bench.  You have already seen one card made with the bench on this blog, so I want to show the versatility of this amazing die.  This will be the subject of my next blog.

More Painting with BLACK INK Papers!

Lotus

Since the summer of 1985 we have had a small water garden next to our patio.  Recently it has been neglected, however the Mrs. Perry D. Slocum Empyreal Lotus (not a typo--that was its name from the supplier) in my garden remains healthy.  And in fact, it has taken over the pond, as it will do in any body of still water.  The growing season for lotus begins with a few leaves floating on top of the water.  As warm weather ensues, the leaves begin to shoot above the surface of the water and open like a big umbrella.  Then, in June, the flower buds rise above the umbrella leaves and begin to open.  The first day, they are at their most vibrant color--a peach striated bloom.  Each successive day, the bloom changes in color and seems larger, until it is dinner plate size.  And the day before losing its petals, the blossom is pale yellow with very few peach striations in the petals.  But this plant isn't finished yet.  As it matures, it reveals a small greenish pod in the center, and after the petals fall, it continues to mature into the typical brown lotus pod you see in floral arrangements, with big brownish seeds in the holes.  Then they begin to lose their seeds, and the pods become fodder for floral arrangers.

So in the past, I have recreated Mrs. Perry D. Slocum in watercolor, oil, and an etched zinc plate, which led to many signed and numbered hand-pulled prints back in the early 1990's.  Now she is displayed in my latest creation in 3-D constructed with Black Ink handmade papers from Graphic Products Corporation.

Thanks go out to Beth Grubb, the amazing artist who introduced me to Black Ink papers last year when I got my fingers all messy with Mod Podge and those wonderful papers and made some art with them!  She inspired me to again do a floral piece.  She had a class last weekend at our local PlazaArt store, and she brought in some of Black Ink's newest papers.  These papers jumped out at me and screamed "Lotus in a pond!!!"  So we were given a square canvas, upon which I began the re-creation of a lotus blossom.  I would have loved to show the umbrella-like blooms floating above the water, but it would have had to be displayed lying on a table, not hanging on a wall!  So instead, I applied a portion of a leaf three times around the edges, giving the illusion of 3-D leaves.

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Side View Showing Leaves on Canvas Edges

The new papers are so luscious.  Tools needed for this project were a pair of scissors, a jar of Mod Podge, and a disposable foam brush.  Each piece going onto the canvas is covered on top and bottom with the Mod Podge and carefully placed and shaped as it dries.  This was the method used to suggest the shapes of the leaves, the stem, and the petals.   As I added the final petals to the bloom, I used a bamboo skewer to coax them into shape.  The canvas is covered and wrapped in one of the new papers that suggested water to me.  I love the turquoise, yellow and greens in this paper.  Two different kinds of green papers represent the lotus pads floating on the water.The blue and purple papers under the blossom are glued flat to represent a shadow on the water.  The papers used for the blossom are from the same style of papers as the water. To create the bloom, I used two of the available papers in this style with the colors of orange and yellow on one and pink and orange on the other.  All papers are highlighted with a metallic gold or silver.  This inclusion really adds depth to the papers AND the project!

The center of the lotus depicts the pod with some of the papers folded and crinkled to build up the center so the pod has a little height to it.  The top of the pod is made from a piece of packing paper that was scored to make it similar to honeycomb. 

HONEYCOMB PACKING MATERIAL

 This paper reminded me of the lotus pod, so I cut a piece and glued it on top, keeping the openings a little flexible so I could glue pearlized beads into them.  The beads represent the seeds in the pod.  To imitate stamens around the pod, I used some eyelash yarn from my stash.  I have decided I like this lotus art better than any done in previous years!  Now I need to create two more close-up flower blooms so I can create a pleasing arrangement of canvases on a wall!  So what's next?  I am thinking a magnolia (since there are so many here in the South); and an iris, our state flower in Tennessee, will make nice additions to the lotus and the sunflower shown in a previous post here on the blog.

Close-up of Pod

More Cards from Elizabeth Craft Design Dies!

Front of the Garden Bench Die Card

There is no end to the possibilities of cards and projects one can make using Karen Burniston's Pop-It Up dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  She is on a roll!  And as a pop-up card lover, I am delighted.  Now if someone would also design some sentiments for these dies, it would make it a lot easier on me!  I search and search for the perfect thing to say on a card.  I had to resort to the internet to find something for this one.  I think it works okay, and thank goodness I have a computer that I can use to print what I want to say.

This little garden bench die is rapidly becoming my favorite die.  I keep thinking of fun things to do with it.  And so do my friends! Ann Cumbie plans to make a Halloween bench, complete with a spooky street lamp behind the bench.  I have some ideas for Halloween, too, and I will post when I get one made.  In the meantime, here is a great one for your friends who are gung-ho exercisers.

Inside of Garden Bench card

I love the little accessory die that is the tree behind the bench.  It can be so versatile--with or without leaves and flowers, and it can be used for any season.  Plus, the shapes that make us the leafy sections can also be used for clouds.  Woodgrain embossed paper makes a great bench, too.  I used white woodgrain paper here.  

The paved section under the bench is from an old stash of paper from Club Scrap.  The grass-printed paper is also from my stash of paper, and I think it probably came from Michael's long ago.  I hope it is still being printed, since I plan on searching for more.  It works great on pop-up cards that need to be little scenes.

Triple Pivot Butterfly Card

Above is my interpretation of Karen Burniston's Triple Pivot Card. Why make a simple pivot card when you can do a special manipulation with the pivot card die and make a triple pivot card?  It is far more interesting.  Of course, it is also very labor intensive, so I recommend once you have this technique mastered, make several cards at a time, using assembly line methods.  Each step will get easier if you do it this way.  Plus it will really groove the technique into your brain so you won't have to re-run the YouTube video again and again like I did!  And here is the inside of the card:

Thank you, Karen Burniston, for all your inspiration using Elizabeth Craft Design dies and other products!

Art Journaling for ME?

Entire Cover of the Documented Life Project Art Journal

I have often thought of doing an art journal.  I even read a book about doing one and the positive influence it can be in your artistic life.  But, frankly, I didn't know where to begin.  By just experimenting on each page, it bares your soul to whoever is looking at it, and I just didn't feel comfortable doing that.  I guess my mother's voice will always be in the back of my mind as she laughs at a portrait I painted  of my brother--my first attempt at one (when I was 19), and as I look back at the one photo I have of it, I see that I didn't do a bad job--in fact, it actually looked like him!  She was just highly critical of everything, and somehow I cannot free myself of the feeling that I have never quite made it as an artist.  But the critical side of me is beginning to be overshadowed by my right brain's non-logical way of thinking.  I AM an artist!  And I am beginning to be proud of whatever I do...whether it pleases others or not.  Maybe that is due to my age, but who knows?  I have also come to the realization that it is the process of creating that pleases me when I finish.  It is the actual doing of it that is most important...not the finished product!

Although I am late coming to the table, I joined Documented Life Project, an art journal journey that presents a challenge each week to participants.  It is up to us how to interpret that challenge and convert it to art in our Moleskine Daily Journal.  A friend of mine, who was also interested in jumping on board, found a Moleskine Daily Journal that was an 18-month one, beginning with the first week of July 2014.  So we ordered them and started our art journal journey.  I did the first week of mine, and then decided to go ahead and do the cover and all the tip-in pages, which are mostly watercolor paper added to the second page of each week with Washi tapes of all colors and prints.  

Frankly, I am quite proud of the cover.  I began with gesso on the leather cover...oh, how I hated to cover that leather!  But as I got into stamping, adding Jacquard's Lumiere paint with a stencil, doodling, adding Tim Holtz's tissue paper, and then coating it all with Golden matte medium and allowed to dry for 24 hours or more.  I then hand-rubbed a coat of Judikins' Microglaze to protect it from moisture and soil and then buffed it to a soft shine with a paper towel.  I have since covered it with plastic sleeves to protect it as I journal along this next year, since I am very messy at times.  I am not fond of art products on my fingers, so this is a challenge to me.  I find myself peeling off matte medium all day after working with it. Where does it all come from?  I am convinced my fingers are manufacturing it.

Washi tape Edges 

So here is the book standing up on its bottom edge, showcasing all the pretty washi taped edges where the tip-in pages are taped to the book.  Yes, this book is going to be a "fat book" when it is all finished.  That adds to its charm, in my opinion!

I might add that each page of the Moleskine is first coated with a light coat of gesso.  That helps to protect whatever medium you are using from bleeding through to the back of the page, which is the first page of your next layout!  We were instructed to add monthly tabs to the top of the book, too.  I used the wonderful rounded tab punch made by Stampin' Up several years ago.  I wish they had never retired that punch.  It makes a very cute and sturdy tab.  These tabs are all laminated, too, since they will get lots of use.

With all the amazing art supplies and techniques I have learned through the years, and also some I learned in Jean Parker's Mixed Media classes at PlazaArts in Nashville, Tennessee, I am having fun with this art journal.  Thank you, Jean!  And thank you to my journaling friends--Ann, Boo, Kathie, Robin, Lori, andTeresa--for encouraging me to do this project.

So our first week in July's challenge was to use a crossword, sudoku, word search, or another puzzle on your layout.  I chose a crossword, since I actually do solve one every day at lunch.  But on this layout I also wanted to give a nod to our country's birthday and one of my favorite holidays, the Fourth of July!

Add a Puzzle Challenge page

This page incorporates a couple of paper napkin layers...the watermelon and the large black dots.  In Jean's classes, we always bring decorative paper napkins to swap.  Mixed media artists love all things paper that can be glued to projects, and paper napkins spark many creative endeavors.  Some of the pages have the days of the week with the date of the month showing.  I choose to either write over mine or cover them with paint, depending on how much I actually want to journal on that week.  Some people emphasize those days and journal them faithfully.  I try to add a few things that will spark memories as I look back over the past weeks of 2014.

I will show you one more layout, and then I will stop this Art Journal journey for today.  This next one shows the challenge of incorporating an Instagram or a small photo into your layout.  I chose photos of sunflowers from our garden, since they are in full bloom right now, and just looking out at them nodding their heavy seedheads with little goldfinches clinging to every one of them is a heart-warming picture to me.  I love those big, cheerful blooms topped with the cute little hungry birds!

Small Photo Layout with the tip-in page in closed position

Small photo layout open

This layout has lots of layers of Golden fluid acrylics, a grass die cut, Washi tape, a sun ray stencil from Tim Holtz, a sunflower stamp stamped with a stamp pad made especially for it and then cut out and glued on with matte medium,  more pen doodling, and the cross-hatching, which is kind of making an appearance on all my pages.  It is done with a piece of corrugated cardboard and gesso applied haphazardly to the ridges with my finger, then pressed down on the pages horizontally and then at right angles to the first stamped area.  Then it was slightly shaded with a black pen to give a little depth to the cross-hatching.

I will continue working in my art journal, but I won't share every little detail with you.  There are other art things happening in my life, and I will share a little bit of these things the next time I blog!

Paint with Paper!

The direction of my journey in art changed after a class at PlazaArt in Nashville, Tennessee with Beth Grubb, an amazing artist who uses interesting handmade papers to create gorgeous works of art.  For a year now, I have been trying to come up with a large "something" to go above the headboard of our bed.  Nothing came to me until after taking Beth's class!  The free child in me was unleashed.  You may also see these creations  on the Graphic Products Facebook page here (the sunflower is there now).

Working with Black Ink fine art papers, we tore, cut, Mod Podged, and designed works of art.  In this class, a small canvas was covered with the papers, some cardstock, and a little gold paint.  One of the papers I chose had some string that pulled out of the paper easily, adding another collage element to the design.  Our guest room, now mostly used by two little granddaughters, had recently been painted and redecorated in purples and a touch of muted teal.  So this canvas became inspiration to do three different ones with similar abstract qualities.  A decorative pillow (see photo below) gave me an idea to tie these elements together, since it had the word "SMILE" on it.  

I added die cut letters to each canvas to carry out the theme--Grin, Giggle, Laugh, --all things little girls do without restraint. 

What fun it was to create something for the sheer pleasure of combining textures and colors to make something pleasing to the eye.  Here are the three canvases a little bigger so you can see the incredible Black Ink papers a little bit better.

The Giggle painting (above)  is shown smaller than the two square ones that surround it in the wall arrangement.  It is actually larger than Grin and Laugh, but making it larger here made it lose the edges, so I kept it smaller.  The textures in all three are very similar.

Back to the class:

The class lasted long enough to design a second canvas and even a third one.  So I played around with a more graphic look inspired by some more of Black Ink's wonderful papers.  Here is the result of that second experiment.

Thanks to the generosity of Black Ink, Beth let us pick and choose extra papers from the class to take home and make more magic, so I did the third canvas at home ("Laugh" shown above).  There was enough paper left to do another graphic canvas similar to the one to the left with the gold leaves.  I used music images on another one for my daughter's newly decorated entertainment room.

It was during this class that the long awaited inspiration for the other bedroom wall was born.  Each year our garden yields massive amounts of sunflowers.  Only planted in rows for two years, they freely have scattered seed, with help from the goldfinches and other feathered sunflower connoisseurs.  My husband takes care to keep many seedlings growing inside other garden produce rows just for the sheer enjoyment they give us.  Sometimes I think they are more important than the food we grow.  They are food for the spirit!  And my idea is born!  A giant sunflower on a big square canvas, using these wonderful papers and maybe some other media has become my goal.  

Beth was excited to hear about the Tennessee Stampers' Annual Retreat after several of us had "played" in her class, and she agreed to come and teach her unique techniques to the rest of the group.  We were so lucky to have her there, and she inspired many others to branch out and add handmade papers to our projects (now those of us who have stamped for years already love our paper!) .  So I decided ahead of time to begin to plan the long-awaited project for the master bedroom wall by producing a miniature version...just to work out any kinks or problems I may have trying to achieve my goal.  I loved how it began to look as I was gluing and cutting and tearing leaves and petals.  I used a piece of paper that had a very textural reptilian hide look to it for the big center, cutting it out with a large round scalloped die.  It was mounted on chipboard before cutting, then it was elevated off the canvas with some heavy-bodied E-6000 craft glue.

I was unsatisfied with the center of the sunflower, although it was pretty fine as it was. It just needed more.  It needed to have beads added to make the center resemble the seed head in its immature state.  Besides, I just love a little "bling!"  After a couple of weeks studying this canvas, I decided to work on the center.  So using Ranger's Glossy Accents, I built up the outer edge with a variety of added textural products, including larger amber colored clear beads and some other glittery additives to resemble the stamens on the outer edge of the sunflower's center and then added more of the Glossy Accents to the center after the edge was nearly dry. On the center, I poured a generous helping of little tiny black glass beads from my stash of beads that have been in my craft room from my early teaching days.  After these were nearly dry, more Glossy Accents and black beads helped to raise the edge of the black area to resemble a sunflower.  Success!  Now, the challenge will be trying to figure out what to use on a canvas three times the size of this one! 

THE FINISHED SUNFLOWER STUDY