I am one of the artist’s participating in the Crafter’s Workshop Spring 21012 Stencil Blog hop to promote Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s Spring line of stencils. In case you missed it, I did a mini-tutorial in April for the blog hop where not only did I show how to use the stencil in my [...]]]>

I am one of the artist’s participating in the Crafter’s Workshop Spring 21012 Stencil Blog hop to promote Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s Spring line of stencils. In case you missed it, I did a mini-tutorial in April for the blog hop where not only did I show how to use the stencil in my journal, but I also had step-by-step photos of me creating the whole journal spread.

For this one, I chose to use the Wood Parquet stencil on fabric.

I decided to use some commercially printed fabric that I had over-dyed red.

Before starting, I taped around the edges of the stencil with duct tape just to give me a little more room around the edges. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about getting paint outside the stencil when I was working near the edges.

I used Jacquard Lumiere Acrylic paint, but any kind of fabric paint will work. After I stenciled each time, I moved the stencil over to the next spot without worrying about getting things lined up exactly. I like to just eye-ball things like that and it usually works fine.

Here is the fabric after I had stenciled the whole piece.

After it was dry, I stamped my Passport Rubber stamps all over the fabric with a StazOn stamp pad. (The paint was so shiny, it’s hard for the passport stamps to show in the photograph. But they show up nicely in real life.)

Before washing the fabric, be sure to follow the directions for setting the paint. Some fabric paints just need to wait for a certain period of time before washing the fabric and some need to be heat-set with an iron.

Please check out my book “Print & Stamp Lab” for more info on printing and stamping, including how to make your own stamps. I’m also one of the teachers in the group of online workshops, “21 Secrets,” that focuses on art journaling. Also, I have my own line of rubber stamps as well as other mixed-media supplies right here in my online shop. Check it out!

I hope you enjoyed this mini-tutorial on fabric printing with stencils and stamps, and how I used Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s stencil that she designed for the Crafter’s Workshop. Please check out the other artist’s who are also using this stencil as part of the blog hop:

• Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
• Marcy Penner
• Paula Phillips

To see the WHOLE spring stencil blog hop, with artists using all of Julie’s stencils, go here.

To an outsider, (or the mentally unbalanced part of me that feels like I’m a slacker and should get more done), I didn’t really do much. Tangibly, that is true because all I “did” was print out some photos [...]]]> Today I got back to work with art and started on some new pieces.

To an outsider, (or the mentally unbalanced part of me that feels like I’m a slacker and should get more done), I didn’t really do much. Tangibly, that is true because all I “did” was print out some photos on canvas and cut them out. The canvases and board in the photo were already collaged and painted from earlier work sessions. But, just like almost every time I work, I planted some seeds. Printing and cutting out those photos, then playing around to see how they’d look on the canvases & plywood got the wheels turning for some things I want to try. So, even though it doesn’t look like I did much, I’m pretty stoked.

This is what I love about doing art work first thing in the morning. The rest of the day, I think about what I did and what I can try tomorrow. For the most part, I approach my mixed-media pieces like I do when I work in my journal–I generally have no pre-conceived ideas of what I’m going to do when I start, and I just start working and see where it goes. But, since the mixed-media pieces take longer than just doing a journal spread, and because I work on several pieces at the same time, in different stages, and (try) to work on them every day, I get ideas as I work that can then marinate in my brain later on. Then I can start executing those ideas the next day, but still be open to something completely different happening.

Art [...]]]> I had planned on posting every day for the blog hop, and it just didn’t happen. I got too busy with work. So instead, I’ll do it all in one post! Think of it as a summary. Please click on the links or photos to take you to that artist’s blog for the tutorial.

Art Sparks May Tutorial Blog Hop

April 30, 2012 -  Tracie Lyn Huskamp: Stenciled & Stitched Special Occasion Greeting Card

May 1 - Traci Bunkers: Gelatin Plate Printing on Fabric

May 2 - Lisa Engelbrecht: Script Lettering/Tattoo style using Sakura Calligrapher Pens

May 3 - Judy Coates Perez: How Can You Resist Such a Simple Technique?

May 4 - Melanie Testa: A Thimble Purse Pattern

May 5 - Lyric Kinard: How to Edit a Photo for a Thermofax Screen

May 6 - Jill Berry: The Layers of my Heart

Her step-by-step photos are great. I love the antique-looking brown background that she made with a walnut wash. And the bird is a [...]]]> Today kicked off the beginning of the Art Sparks May Tutorial Blog Hop. Tracie Lyn Huskamp started it with her tutorial on this sweet Stenciled & Stitched Special Occasion Greeting Card.

Her step-by-step photos are great. I love the antique-looking brown background that she made with a walnut wash. And the bird is a stencil that Tracie designed that you can buy from Stencil Girl Products.Be sure to check out her tutorial. The process can be applied to all kinds of mixed-media.

Tomorrow is my turn, so be sure to come back! Here’s the whole list for the blog hop:

Art Sparks May Tutorial Blog Hop

• April 30, 2012 -  Tracie Lyn Huskamp: Stenciled & Stitched Special Occasion Greeting Card
• May 1 – Traci Bunkers: Gelatin Plate Printing on Fabric
• May 2 – Lisa Engelbrecht: Script Lettering/Tattoo style using Sakura Calligrapher Pens
• May 3 – Judy Coates Perez: How Can You Resist Such a Simple Technique?
• May 4 – Melanie Testa: A Thimble Purse Pattern
• May 5 – Lyric Kinard: PSE for Thermofax Screen Printing
• May 6 – Jill Berry: The Layers of my Heart

I did a quick internet search, and found this great blog post by Lisa Pressman about naming artwork. And of [...]]]> Tomorrow is the Final Friday gallery crawl in my town, so I’ve been getting some new work ready to show. I have five new pieces that I’m really excited about. But I’m stumped on titles.

I did a quick internet search, and found this great blog post by Lisa Pressman about naming artwork. And of course, the ArtBiz blog has all kinds of information, such as why you should name your artwork, and just about any other info an artist might want.

Want to help me brainstorm some awesome titles? All of these pieces are 12″ x 12″. Three are canvas, and two are plywood.

I think I’ll call this “Richard’s Poppies” because the photo was taken at an old boyfriend’s place, and his name is, well, Richard. I love this photo and have fond memories of his place out in the country. Oh, maybe I should call it “Fond Memories.”

For this one, I’m thinking of “summer Days” or “Lazy Days” but neither of those are really grabbing me. It was taken in Vinland, KS with my holga camera.

I’ve gotten a few suggestions on this already: blooms or dated blooms. Which made me think of “Nostalgic Blooms”. But, I’m still thinking. This one is on plywood.

This is a photo I took in a cemetery, but I don’t want it to be associated with death. I’m thinking about “Prayer to the Universe.” It’s also on plywood.

I took this photo walking the alleys in my neighborhood. This was in someone’s backyard! It’s a little windmill and gas pump. So I’m thinking of calling it “Backyard Windmill” but I’m open to something better.

So there you have it. After Final Friday, and after I have decided on their titles, I’ll get them in my online shop. I haven’t put any of my original artwork up for sale there yet, but I’m hoping to next week!

I’d love to hear your ideas on some catchy, thought-provoking titles. Thanks for you help!

It’s so [...]]]> Lately I’ve been feeling out of sorts. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I knew I wasn’t feeling “right.” I was feeling stressed, and not grounded. Other than being exhausted, I think a big reason was because I hadn’t been “making meaning” according to Eric Maisel- which for me is making art.

It’s so funny how I can get into a healthy habit that is so obviously good for me, and then so easily get out of it when things come up that make me feel like I don’t have enough time for that healthy habit. Self-care really needs to be non-negotiable for me. I know this, but sticking to it is hard for some reason.

This is a piece I had started earlier, and worked on more today. It might be done, but I’ll have to sit with it to decide.

I haven’t been on my art schedule the last few weeks, because as usual, I felt I had too much other work that had to get done, and I only have so much time because I haven’t cloned myself yet. While I was working in my journal Wednesday, I really enjoyed it, and I had yet another aha moment of “oh yeah, I need to get back to making art every day.” And instead of saying “I’ll start Monday,” I started today. I’m participating in Final Friday next Friday, which is Lawrence’s downtown gallery crawl, so I need to get some pieces finished up.

I didn’t get a lot done this morning, but I did work for an hour, and got the juices flowing for ideas for some new pieces. And now I can get on with my day and feel happy because regardless what happens the rest of the day, I started the day with making meaning.

I am one of the artist’s participating in the Crafter’s Workshop Spring 21012 Stencil Blog hop to promote Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s Spring line of stencils. I chose to use the Pointy Circles stencil, and naturally wanted to use it on a journal page. I took pictures to show step-by-step not only how I [...]]]>

I am one of the artist’s participating in the Crafter’s Workshop Spring 21012 Stencil Blog hop to promote Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s Spring line of stencils. I chose to use the Pointy Circles stencil, and naturally wanted to use it on a journal page. I took pictures to show step-by-step not only how I used the stencil, but also how I created the journal spread from start to finish. So in a way, this is a mini-tutorial. Grab some tea–there are a lot of photos!

After applying a thin layer of gesso to my journal pages and drying it, I applied a watercolor wash using my Koi watercolor set. Instead of using the waterbrush that comes with it, I used a larger brush since I was applying color to the whole spread.

I dried the spread with a hair dryer, then I used a sponge brush to apply the paint by dragging it over the 12″ x 12″ Pointy Circles stencil.

After stenciling the other page, I scrubbed around with a baby wipe to remove some of the paint and have a distressed look. I mainly did this because I had gotten too globby with the paint when I applied it.

The baby wipe removed most of the watercolor, so after I dried the spread, I applied a thin layer of blue acrylic paint.

I felt like I couldn’t see the stenciled design as well as I wanted to, so I re-stencilled with a stiff brush this time, using the same color of green paint.

Before I removed the stencil, I scrubbed around with a baby wipe because I didn’t want a solid look. I left the stencil on while I did this to keep from spreading paint into the other areas. That insured the design would be crisper, but still distressed somewhat.

Then I stenciled the other side.

After drying the paint, I added some collage and a tape border using a metric ruler decorative tape. Then I stamped the large letters with my Pistolgrip alphabet stamps, did a little writing with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, then more stamping with my Labelmaker alphabet stamps.

Next, I used the line stamp from my Journaling stamp sheet to have lines for writing on. But first I placed a foam sheet under the page to help get a better impression with the stamp since it is big.

And then I did some writing.

After I finished writing, I added some stickers, did a little more collage, and stamped the hand from my Astrology stamp sheet. Then I used the 6″ x 6″ Pointy Circles stencil to create a border.

After the paint was dry, I stamped near the stenciled borders with one of my stamps from my Doodles & Carvings stamp sheet, then I used some Portfolio Watersoluble Oil Pastels to add a little more color in places. Last but not least, I dated my spread with a date stamp, and I was finished!

Please check out my book “The Art Journal Workshop” for more in-depth info on art journaling, along with a lot of journaling exercises. I’m also one of the teachers in the group of online workshops, “21 Secrets,” that focuses on art journaling. Also, I have my own line of rubber stamps as well as other mixed-media supplies right here in my online shop. Check it out!

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I create a journal page, and how I used Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s stencil that she designed for the Crafter’s Workshop. Please check out the other artist’s who are also using this stencil as part of the blog hop:

• Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
• Jenny Doh
• Ronda Palazzari

To see the WHOLE spring stencil blog hop, with artists using all of Julie’s stencils, go here. And, May 17th I’m in the blog hop again with a different stencil. For that, I’ll be doing something different besides a journal page.

I’m sure you’ve been wondering where I’ve been. I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since my last post. But I’ve been busy. Really busy. And each day, I told myself “I’ll blog tomorrow for sure.” But it didn’t happen, and as usual, it’s been one thing after another.

I had my open [...]]]>  

I’m sure you’ve been wondering where I’ve been. I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since my last post. But I’ve been busy. Really busy. And each day, I told myself “I’ll blog tomorrow for sure.” But it didn’t happen, and as usual, it’s been one thing after another.

I had my open house in my studio on March 24th, which went well. I was proud of myself because I didn’t stay up all night cleaning my studio. I decided that what ever shape it was in by a certain time at night was good enough–that sleep was more important. And I actually got to bed by 1am. (which might sound late, but it’s probably the earliest I’ve gotten to bed before one of my open houses.) The women who came were so fun–some returning customers and some new ones– and they all went home with various goodies. I’m always appreciative of the people who come to my open houses and support me. Thank you!

Right after my open house, I had to finalize my online workshop for 21 Secrets, and get it all ready on the website. It’s live! Have you signed up?

Then the next weekend was my journaling workshop in my studio. It was a small class, so I got to journal with them. It was a really great group of people and the workshop went well. I think everyone went home happy with their experience.

Then a few days later, I had to have my sewer line cleaned out. I have to have it done usually every year because of the tree roots getting into the sewer line. But I dealt with it at the first signs of a problem, and moved on!

But I didn’t get to move very far. The next night my cat Goliath went out for about 10 minutes in the storm we were having. And when he came back in, I saw something was wrong. The top of his head was shredded and his ears were badly cut. He had been attacked by something and it looked pretty bad. So the next morning I took him to the vet and had to leave him for the day. He had to get his head shaved so they could see the extent of the damages, and he had to get both of his ears stitched up inside and out. The vet said a cat didn’t do this to him–it might have been a raccoon. He had to stay inside for almost 2 weeks until he got the stitches out yesterday, which meant the pet door had to be shut. Which meant my dog Ruby couldn’t go in and out as she pleased. Which meant not only was Goliath not feeling well and mad because he couldn’t go outside, but so was she.

On Easter day, I decided to be extravagant, and I took half the day off. WHEEE! I went to see the Hunger Games with friends in the late afternoon, and then went back to work when it was over. Very good movie! I haven’t read the books, but now I want to. Easter weekend was the only weekend for awhile without an event for me. It was nice to have a tiny break.

A panoramic shot of part of my booth. Click on it to see it bigger.

This past weekend, I was a vendor at a knitting show, Knitting in the Heartland. It was a small show, and from a vendor standpoint, very slow. But, there were some great things to come out of it. I always try to find positive things at events where I don’t do as well as I had hoped–and this one had several. I got to see my pal from college. He came to the show to see me, and he bought some yarn for his girlfriend. I got to talk to some fiber friends I hadn’t seen for awhile. A shop owner from Parkville, MO bought a bunch of my hand-dyed yarn and is going to carry it in her shop, Florilegium. YAY! And, here’s the freakiest good thing. A woman who came to the show to take some classes, recognized my last name and asked me where my family was from. Long story short, her parents were good friends with my father’s parents in Sioux Falls, SD and she now lives in Iowa. What are the chances of that? So I got her contact info, and I’m passing it along to an aunt and uncle who were childhood friends with her and her family. Also, packing my Jeep and trailer gave me an idea as to whether I could fit everything in it for when I travel to vend at the Estes Park Wool Market. I’m thinking this year of taking my jeep & trailer instead of renting a van. So yeah, you can always find something positive and I had quite a few.

The first day of the knitting show, I didn’t have a knitting project to work on while I was hanging out in my booth. So Saturday night, I planned one out, and I started on it Sunday. I’m making a shrug, and will have the pattern available after I finish. I’m loving how it looks so far. I’m half way done.

Please come back tomorrow. I’m participating in a stencil blog hop, so I’ll have something fun to show you!

My open house is March 24th, which is just around the corner. Come and get yarn, fiber or mixed-media supplies for your Spring projects!

Then the next weekend also in my studio, March 31-April 1, is my workshop The Art Journal Workshop, based on my book. March 16th is [...]]]>

My open house is March 24th, which is just around the corner. Come and get yarn, fiber or mixed-media supplies for your Spring projects!

Then the next weekend also in my studio, March 31-April 1,  is my workshop The Art Journal Workshop, based on my book. March 16th is the last day to get the early bird discount. After that the price goes up, so don’t wait! I have room for 3 more people. Click here for more info and to sign up.