Life Book Week 13 with Rae Missigman

This week’s lesson, given by Rae Missigman, was as usual challenging for me because it was about layers and intuitivity – if there is such a word.  (My spell checker didn’t recognize it, but I’ll add it anyway, ha!)

After I finished the project I had to leave it alone overnight to see it with new eyes.  So, it wasn’t that bad after all this morning!

She does lots of layers in her projects and I like layers, but the intuitive part just doesn’t resonate with me, so I thought about it and and made a plan.  I used a stencil without flowers!  I picked two by Claudine Helmuth with different shapes of bird cages and the Love Birds stencil.  The other one by Heidi Swapp that has the bird on a branch which includes the mask and another stencil.

So after layer and more layers, this is what I came up with.

I used watercolor paper, acrylic paints, a black pencil, splash colors, molding paste, and napkins for collaging.

I guess you can say I made it my own because instead of using flower stencils, I used the ones I mentioned above.

Here are some close-ups.  Since I also stamped different birds, cages, and bold stamps, I was surprised to see these birds come out after the layers.

I like the idea of circling the different parts you want to highlight.

I also added some doodling and more stamps to the empty spaces.  I also used modeling paste for the birds.

I stamped this sentiment on tissue paper I used with a gelli page.  I love how all the cages stand out with different objects inside of them.

The only flowers were these on a napkin I added just for fun.

This picture shows the bird on the right side and more bird cages hidden by the acrylic layers of paint.

Thanks for dropping by to see my project for this week and please leave me a comment and tell me what you think!!

Happy weekend everyone!!

Carmen

Unity Stamps Anything Goes Challenge

 Unity Stamps is having a challenge using any girl stamp and I jumped right in using one of Angie Blom’s girl stamps.

I was really limited on what surface to use because this stamp is only  2.5″ x 3.75″ so I cut a piece of watercolor paper just an 1/8″ smaller than my card.  I used an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of black cardstock folded in half.   I used acrylic paint, stencils, gesso, and my Tombow Dual Brush Pen Markers to color the image.  I popped up the wagtercolor paper with mounting tape.

Isn’t this tatoo girl amazing?  I added a sheet to cover up her bottom 🙂

I also used the script stamp from the “Let It Go And Focus” stamp set.  It is the perfect size for greeting cards.  This is a close up to show detail of the sentiment.

Sure had fun making this mixed media greeting card, now to find someone to give it to.

Hugs, and create something today!

Carmen

And It Begins: Life Book 2016

Hello again, crafty friends!

I put together my projects for Life Book 2015, but there were so many pages, I had to make two albums.

I made the covers out of hard white mat board and covered them with the designer paper.  I didn’t want to make holes in my pages, so instead, I made some corners where the pages would be inserted, and glued them to the 11×17 paper I found at JoAnns.

This is when I found out I couldn’t put any more pages in the album even though I used three inch rings.

As you can see, I made a lot of art last year!

Life Book 2016 – Week One

Now, I start on Life Book 2016.  I’ve been working on my projects as fast as I  can so I don’t fall behind.  This year I want to conscientiously make all the projects because I’m still learning and I’m finding what I like.  I don’t want to get into a rot, so I feel that if I try all the different classes, I can learn new styles and more techniques.

The Warm Up

Tamara Laport, the genius behind Life Book has been conducting this series since 2012.  This will be my second year, and I enjoy going to my craft room and playing with all my crafty stuff.  I’ve also been able to take out different tools, paints, and stencils I haven’t used before.

Tam, is a very gentle, gracious, and giving person.  You can tell by her lessons and the details in each that se really enjoys teaching others what she knows.

The first week she did a warm up lesson about our word for the year.  I am struggling with overworking my art and so I figured that imperfection is better than getting frustrated.

A closeup of the lotus:

I used a variety of stamps to make it imperfect.

I stamped the word beautiful and the lotus with a Unity Stamp kit.

These two are also part of the kit.

Main Lesson, Happy Traveler.

I chose a lamb and an eagle to be my traveling companions.  I gave the eagle a little bit of attitude!

A closeup of my little lamb.  Yes, she’s blue, but she’s happy.

A closeup of the eagle leaning on the tree.

A closeup of the the traveler’s face.  Notice the doodling I did on her hair to add some dimension.

I also did some doodling on the bottom left corner with a white marker and other doodles with the black one.

And used a stencil on her cape and on the upper right hand corner.

Tam added a pouch to her traveling companing, but I didn’t add one to mine because I fuzzed too much over my lamb and I just wanted to finish.

I’ve been working today on Week two, and will post the homework tomorrow.

Until then, happy crafting!

Carmen

Life Book 2015 – Weeks 36 and 38

Week 36 – Finding Strength with Donna Downey

This is one of the many class I’ve been waiting for in Life Book 2015.

Donna used one of her stencils and a different substrate to teach us several techniques, but if we didn’t have the stencil, Tam shared a step-by-step PDF to create our own figure.  You can also google it and find the instructions to draw one.

I did both and loved how they came out, so I made several because I’ll be participating in a craft show on Sunday, the 25th and I’m going to sell them!

Donna usually works on canvas or a journal, but she chose to work on a piece of fabric, which she first primed, and then stretched to create her own canvas.  I couldn’t find the wood stretchers, so for this one I used canvas paper.

I wrote a few words in the background with India ink and then transferred the image using the stencil.  I’m going to staple it onto a flat canvas and frame it.

I created this one on an 11 x 14 canvas following the PDF instructions.  I was going to frame it, but I just finished the edges.  If anyone asks about a framed one, I’ll have to quote them a higher price to cover the cost of a frame.

“She colored her thoughts with only the brightest hues.”

I used Flex and Fill paste which I bought at the hardware store to add some texture on the corners and painted them with Golden’s Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold.  The quote is one of Donna’s stamps:

This is the Blue Girl.  I created her after I saw Picasso’s.

“Your beauty comes from within like a lotus flower unfolding.”

I added some hearts on the upper left corner because it was lacking something.

I also used a stencil with the paste for the bottom right corner and a Lotus Unity Stamp.

This is Donna’s girl project done in orange and green.  I added more texture to this one and a Donna Downey stamp.

“She pursues BIG dreams instead of small realities.”

Week 38 – The Journey to Acceptance with Jill Berry 

Jill had her journey earlier in the year when she found out that she had a huge heart aneurysm and had to be rushed to a hospital to have open heart surgery! She’s been on a journey of acceptance about her new path ever since.  Her video was very touching and she shared a couple of poems with us.

Her technique was really exciting and interesting.  She is known for her collages using maps and other interesting papers. She showed us howto make “multi-layer gel skins.”  It took me a week to make the gel skins because I had to wait for them to dry in order to add more layers.  Also, how to make backgrounds using artists tissue paper.  I didn’t have the tissue paper, but I used rice paper I bought to make another project which I will share in the next post.

This is the Egyptian Goose I drew on rice paper and collaged onto an 8 x 8 canvas.

On the top of the canvas I glued the gel skin which looks like a tree branch.

The stones by the stream, are a circles stencil I painted with different acrylic paints using a sponge on rice paper.  The green paint that looks like it has flowers is a gel skin also.

A close up of the gel skins and the rice paper.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my creations and if you’re in the El Paso, TX area, I hope to see you at the craft fair which will be at the Marty Robins Recreation Center.

Thanks for dropping by and see you soon!

Carmen

Life Book 2015 – Week 34

This week we continue with the Healing & the Feminine Archetype theme.  This lesson was taught by  

Alena Hennessy who showed us how to paint a muse!

Alena talked about the different goddesses and what they represent.

I chose again to go back to my roots and explore the Aztec goddesses.

I chose the goddess Chicomecoatl. (chico meh, co atl)

Her themes are fire, providence, energy, community, abundance, fertility and strength.

Her symbols are hot spices (especially chili peppers), corn and fire.  In Mexico the goddess presides over maize and all matters of plenty during the time of harvest.  She is also the earth goddess and provides warmth, energy and fertility to those in need.

I chose her because she represents abundance and strength and because I love corn tortillas and chili peppers.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art : “the headdress is known as amacalli(“paper house”); it is the most typical attribute of the corn goddess.”

One aspect of the Aztec gods and goddesses were their insatiable thirst for blood.  I will spare you the details of how she was commemorated every September.

She comes in various appearances: a girl with water flowers.  She is regarded as the female counterpart of the maize god Cinteotl, their symbol being an ear of corn.

I really enjoyed drawing and painting this girl. I used watercolor paper, Pitt markers, india ink, and acrylic paints, and color sprays.  I might have taken too long and not be too intuitive, but I wanted to include all the symbols she represents.

The title – Chicomecoatl goddess of Maize and Strength

Corn,

Chilies,

Strength and Abundance

Her sweet face 🙂

That is it for now, friends, posting this goddess made me hungry for tacos!  LOL

Keep having fun and thanks for coming to visit!

Carmen

It has come to my attention that the image I used to create “Chicomecoatl goddess of Maize,”  was actually posted on a blog  without the original artist’s permission.  I publicly apologize for this omission, but just as I explained to the artist, Oesparza12, (sorry, she didn’t leave her full name on her comment on this post) I used Google’s search engine and it took me to the blog where this art was posted.

Everyday Life , and Life Book 2015 – Lessons 29 – 32

Hello crafty friends!  I’ve been quite busy the last few days.  I went to a Faber-Castell Gelatos class at Michael’s on Monday with my crafty friend Maria.  It was a “free” class, but we had to purchase a $25 kit.  Good thing we had 50% off coupons!

Our instructor, Carol, showed us how to use Gelatos on different substrates.  It was fun taking the class, even though, I had already used Gelatos on other occasions, but I did try different materials included in the kit.

This was plain chipboard which we covered with gel medium to work as a resist.  Then we applied different colors of gelatos rubbing them with our finger.  I then added some paper, used my gellatos as ink and applied onto a foam stamp.  Then using a small stencil that came with the kit, I used the gelatos as watercolors. (There was no texture paste available.)

Next up was the raw canvas and the embossed paper.  I had never used the raw canvas and it was interesting to see the effect of the Gelatos on it – they feel so creamy and have lots of pigment.  On the embossed paper, I tried to create an ombre effect and used water to combine them, but I found the embossing disappeared.

 

I love the corrugated chipboard.  I took some of my Gelatos and found some metallic ones that I used on this piece and they really blended well and made the colors pop!

Lastly, I made a small desert scene using the gelatos like water color.  Good to remember the next time I run out of a watercolor.

These last two are embossed cardstock and velvet.

I’ve used Gelatos on Heidi Swapp’s papers before and I love the effect.  You can’t see the last piece, which is velvet, but I did not like the Gelatos on this at all.

Last night I gave a scrapbooking class to three of my friends and it was an opportunity to work on my photos as well, but didn’t get the chance to take some pictures.  I need permission from my friends to post their scrapbook pages.

This morning  I felt like having bagels and lox, but I didn’t have the smoked salmon 😦

Doesn’t this look scrumptious, just looking at it makes my mouth water!  (I used a google image, yumm!!)

I went to my Alberston’s store and in addition to finding the smoked salmon, I also found two terrific sales on Rib eye steaks and fresh salmon!  Both were $5.00 off per pound!  I saved $18.00!  yay, me!!

When I got home, my husband’s car wasn’t there, so I knew something was up.  I called him up and he said he was at my aunt’ apartment and that she needed to go to the emergency room because she wasn’t feeling well.  My aunt is 91 years old and is having trouble remembering things.  She forgot I had already taken her to see her doctor for the same thing, but I took her anyway.  We spent four hours waiting – which is really good for an emergency room wait, and her diagnosis was the same as before, so I took her home and when I returned I went straight to take a nap!  And that was the end of my day – and still no bagel and lox!

I know tomorrow will be a better day!

Now on to Life Book 2015!

Week 28 with

This week’s lesson was Tiny – Story Telling with Danielle Donaldson who creates beautiful lithe fairy worlds in her artwork.  This was indeed a fun bonus lesson.  We created a little person and then attached her to a clothes pin and on to a bowl filled with strips of words, and sentences.  The object is to pick random strips and put them together to form a story.

I just happened to have this bowl that had a heart on the bottom – perfect!!

This is the tiny person on a large clothes pin and the strips of words and sentences.

And this is the story I came up with after picking up strips randomly!

“Here’s the thing about her.  Every once in a while, the girl craves happy rainbows of periwinkle unicorns floating above her hair.”  (Really random!)

Week 30

Letting Go and Letting In with Flora Bowley was about intuitive painting.  I’m beginning to like these lessons, but I still have the tendency to apply too much paint.  The process was to start off by practicing on paper and black acrylic color.  She had us do “marks” and “patterns” on the paper first then use them on our watercolor paper or canvas.

The idea of letting go was interesting to me because when I paint something I like, I want to highlight it, but not this time.  We had to let go of that image and just do marks and patterns all over the canvas.  I did two at the same time trying not to use the same colors.  Although I did cover up a lot of the marks, you can still see they appear as texture – I liked it!!

I kind of used what I learned in other lessons – like color blocking and doodling.

Be bold –  I used some bold colors here!

Can you see the texture?  I really like that!!

For the second painting I chose bright colors against a silver background.

Here again is the texture.

Week 31

Traced Hand Hamsa Protection with  Rachael Rice.  This was a short bonus lesson.  She shared with us her ‘protection’ methods as a highly sensitive person.  As Rachael says: as artists, many of us often seem to be more sensitive than the ‘average’ person out there, so I think it’s a good idea to consider how one can make sure not to take on too much energy or suffering from others.

First of all, I am not a superstitious person, so this lesson made me a bit uncomfortable.  I don’t rely on symbols or fetishes to protect myself for other’s energy, but I did follow her lesson while leaving out all the superstitious stuff out.

Instead, I was thinking about the beautiful Henna tattoos I’ve seen on other people.

I used watercolors for the background…

I added some gold acrylics and a stencil to make the frame and the swirls on the background also,

and doodles and zentangles for the patterns on the hand.

Week 32

You Are Wise With Tamara Laporte

This lesson, given by Tamara, was focusing on transforming limiting beliefs into liberating beliefs, which was August’s theme.

The limiting beliefs that Tam talked about was about our progress and growth in life.  The “I’m not good enough,”  Tam writes:  “We look at how we can ‘be present’ to these thoughts, really become more aware of them and possibly change them somewhat. I think even just becoming aware of them and sitting with them, seeing them for what they are is a great start in this area.”

Here are some examples of limiting beliefs:

I’m not worthy • I’m not good enough • I don’t deserve to be happy • It’s hard to making a living off a creative career • My paintings are not good enough • I can’t paint • I should not shine/ be seen/ be noticed • Dreams are silly • Working must be a chore • Life is hard • I will never be able to … •

I’ve had those limiting beliefs myself.  When I was younger I had a low self-esteem, but as I grew older I learned to honor and love myself through self examination and through my art.

This is the image I have of someone who “can do it.”  I used a stencil on the right and bottom of the girl using sparkle texture effect and blue acrylic paint.  I love the texture!

I really like her sweet face 🙂

I wrote down some things that make me feel powerful.  I gave her a butterfly wing and stat bracelet…

and lift me up!

A closeup of the earth all shiny and blue.

Well, there you have it, folks.  I hope you’ve enjoy looking through my art and laughing with me about the everyday things that happen in my life.

Until next time, keep on crafting!!

Carmen

Several Cards I Have Created in The Last Few Weeks

Here are some cards and other mixed media projects I’ve created, but haven’t posted.

My grandson Sage stayed with us for a few days this summer and wanted to surprise his girl friend.  He said he wanted a folder to tell her how much he loved her.  “Grandma, can you make something for Emma?”  What do you want me to make?  “Oh, just take a folder and do your stuff on it!”  He loved it!  You should have seen the look in his eyes when I gave it to him.

Emma’s Folder

I used stencils, spray paint, acrylics and a black marker

 

The back of the folder with a silhouette of a person dancing.

Close up of the stencil I used and the word Celebrate!

This is a mixed media canvas for a dear friend of the family who just found out she has Ewing’s Cancer, a rare form of bone Cancer.  She is so sweet and only 14 years old.

A closeup of the quote:

It didn’t take long for her to start loosing her hair, so I sent her a card to cheer her up!

I used a couple of Unity stamps for this one.

One of my cousins asked me to make a Sympathy card for a coach who just died, so I dusted off my Cricut and cut out a few images from the Basketball cartridge.

I also used my single stamps and stamped the inside.

Finally, I’ve been taking some Craftsy card classes and these are a few of the cards I’ve created.

The lessons were given by Catherine Pooler – so much fun!

Life Book Week 19 – Shadow and Light

Wow, two posts in one week!!  I must really be behind!  Nah, just taking my time, LOL!

This lesson was presented by Jessica Swift.  She is an awesome pattern designer from Portland, Oregon.  She designs hand carved stamps and other media.  You should go to her shop and see all the amazing things she creates!

This was so much fun!  I got to use some of the stamps I created myself when I took Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s Stamp Carving Class a while back.  Please go visit her too – she is obsessed with carving stamps LOL.  I also purchased her book Carve Stamp Play which is full of wonderful carving and how-to pictures!

But I digress, sorry about that.

I only made one stamp for this class because I tried to make the one thing I have difficulty with – circles!

Since I will be creating a big journal at the end of our creative year, I opted for creating two pages on one large watercolor page.

I divided my page in half by adding painter’s tape to the middle and right hand side so I could have a border.  I will be cutting off the paper on the left side, then folding the whole page in the middle.

The left side is the light part.  I used acrylic paints in greens on the bottom layer and Speedball block printing ink in turquoise for the stamps.  I used a favorite stamp of mine at the bottom because this is the one my grandson’s friend made for me.  It has two small ants at the bottom of the flower, cute!  Then I stamped the leaves on the borders followed by one small stamp I turned right or left to make a border.  Then I made lines with my dotted home-made stamp for journaling.

The dark side on the right is a combination of different shades of purple acrylic paint and then I used a pink Speedball block printing ink with the home-made stamps.  I also added some white dots with the white paint marker.  My husband was really impressed when I showed him this page .  Made me happy!

This is the upper part of the light page.  I added black dots with my Pitt pen.

A close up of the border I used between the two pages.

Sorry about the picture bellow, it warped a bit on the right hand side.  You can see a closeup of the 1/2 flower I made with the leaves on the dark page.

The bottom right with the line stamp and white dots.

And the closeup of the flower with the white dots.

I was really happy to use all the different types of pens and materials I have accumulated in the past seven years since I started playing with paper.

I go to Joann’s, Michael’s or Hobby Lobby and go straight to the clearance section to find anything that is on clearance I can use  in the future.  I have found quite a bit of goodies every time!

Next week we will be having a substitute instructor – I promise to be nice to her, LOL!  Apparently Flora Bowley is having some family health issues and will not be posting so Jenny Doh will take her place and Flora Bowley will do her class in the summer.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned, lovely friends, and see what new project I have in store.

Until then,  happy crafting!

Carmen

Life Book 2015 Week Nine

Lynn Whipple posted a very fun project with watercolors this week for us on Life Book 2015.  Lynn is a wonderful artist and I hope you go visit her blog.  She has awesome acrylic paintings as well as mixed media.

Favorite Favorites

I’m just letting go when it comes to creating now a days and this is what I came up with.  I used watercolor washes as the base for this Native American jar and I hated to cover up the frame, but I did just to follow the class.  Since I used salt on the wet watercolor, it left a beautiful texture.

Never the less, here is my Jar of Favorite Favorites

We were instructed to write in different colors of ink, stamps, or other media of our favorite things .

I went a little wild using my pinkies on this one, but I liked the overall effect.

Thanks for visiting again and see you very soon when I post my next lesson.

Hugs, y’all!

Carmen