Paper Quilts

Crinkly Vestiges Paper Quilt

Well, it has taken me almost 1-1/2 years to finish this quilt, but I think it was worth it.

I took a workshop in Oceanside, CA with Helen Shafer Garcia almost 2 years ago 

at the Oceanside Museum of Art.  

We made paper quilts.  I do not remember the paper we used, but I do remember the process. It was messy, but fun.  That is probably the first and last time you'll see me use those two words in the same sentence.

We took our paper and crinkled it, then applied a wash of color on the paper.  With additional papers, we stamped, drew and painted images and sewed them onto the crinkled color paper. I guess you could say we made a patchwork quilt.  I was finished with this part before class was over, but for the edging of the quilt, I could not decide what to do.  We were given some Sari Ribbon to take home with us to finish the quilt.  Try as I might, I could not get it to work.  After many attempts trying to use the ribbon, I decided on a blanket stitch around the edge along with a running stitch.  This took me about a week to do, because I had to go slowly so I would not rip the paper and after about an hour of stitching, I became bored and had to go onto something else.  But, nevertheless, I finished it. YAY!!

Now, I am in the process of creating another paper quilt.  This time, Cathedral Windows.

Art Tiles

What are "Art Tiles"

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An "Art Tile" is a tile with a painted pattern or image on top.  They can be any size, but usually are on the smaller side, creating miniature pieces of art. 

I happened upon Art Tiles over the holidays last year.  At some point these were all the rage. Where was I? While at home sick and nothing to do, but watch television, I started flicking through the many different videos on YouTube, when I stumbled upon a video on Art Tiles. Joggles has a great video on how to make "Art Tiles" They are fast, fun and easy.  I had lots of fun making these tiny pieces of art.

The tiles above are 1" X 1", but I also made some twinchies, which are 2" X 2".  As I said before, they can be any size.  Putting magnets on the back is one option you can do with them, or use them in your art journals.  What a cute little pendant they would make.

Here is a close-up of three of the inchies I made.  I have to warn you, they can be addictive.  Very little materials are needed to make these.  Some chip board or cereal box, a little bit of paint, your finger and some stamps. You can also use magazine images instead of stamps or text/music paper.  I used washi tape for the background of mine and used only three paint colors.  On some of them the stamp was too large, so I used only a portion of the stamp.

Well, I hope these little "Art Tiles" inspire you to create some of your own.

Janeuary 2017

Jane Davenport

If any of you know who Jane Davenport is, you know she is a mixed media artist. This month she came out with a line of her own products.  Since she released her products this month, she is calling January, "Janeuary" and Michael's has collaborated with her to sell her new products in their store.  

As you can see from the picture above, I had to have some myself. I have to make a comment and say Tim Holtz has nothing on Jane, but that is my opinion. Everything and everything go together and work well together, yet at the same time each individual product stands on it's own.  There are acrylic paints, gesso and matt medium, washi tape, watercolor pencils, stencils, journals, butterfly notebook (faux midori) pencil/pen pouch, etc.  Also!  So, you don't get home and say, "now what?", she has free workshops on her website that shows you how to create using her products, or not.  You do not need to buy her products to get the free workshops.

These are just a few of her new products that are selling at Michael's.  There are lots more.  I mean lots! There are watercolor makers, pan watercolors (neutrals and bright), collage paper, journaling cards, paint over pens, stamps, rub-ons, notebook covers, etc.  Of course I wanted to go back to Michael's and get more, however, when I went back, they were almost out of everything.  What they did have, I already had or did not want.  I am not sure if Michael's is getting more of her products in, but I can always go to her website.

So, that being said, I'm off to try out my new found art supplies and see what "I" can create.  If nothing else, I know I will have fun!

Junk Journal

What is a "Junk Journal"?

On my last post, I mentioned I would explain what a "Junk Journal", which I plan to do.  First, I would like to show you what I did with the left over pieces from the 2017 Calendar I made.  I took the left over pieces and glued it onto a 9" X 12" manilla envelope, then folded it in half to create the cover for the book.

Here is the inside.  I glued a piece of cardstock to the inside to make the cover a little sturdier.  I will eventually add my signatures to the book.  

Now onto Junk Journals.  

A junk journal is a journal made out of junk.   Not really junk, but left over papers to make signatures for the inside of the book.  You can use left over scrapbook papers, cardstock, envelopes, magazine pages, painted papers, et cetera.  The cover can also be made out of left over materials as this one here.  The covers were made from a cereal box and covered with calendar pages.  I used scrapbook paper for the spine.

Here are some of the pages in the book:

On the left, I took some left over scrapbook paper, punch one side to give it decorative edge and glued it in place.  On the right I added a pock and some tags I  made from left over scrapbook paper.

On this page, I decorated a strip of scrapbook paper as I did with the picture above and glued on three sides creating a pocket.  The picture is a transfer.

the page on the left is scrapbook paper.  On the right it is a magazine page.  I stapled a doily folded in half to create a pocket and added a tag, again made of left over scrapbook paper.

On the left of this page, I made a belly band and added a miniature book.  

On the right is another piece of scrapbook paper.

When I had all my signatures together, I sewed them to the cover and Voila!  I was going to add beads to the strings, but then decided not too.  I need to cut them off. 

So, making a Junk Journal is really quite easy 

and a great way to use up all those left over scraps we all have laying around.

Happy New Year 2017

"2017"

I am a bit late posting on my blog for the New Year 2017.  I cannot believe that we are already more than half way through the year, can you?  Amazing how quickly time flies when you are not looking.  

Not is all lost, however.  I have been creating and creating and having fun in the process. Because I am behind on my posting, I thought I would post all past pictures on what I have up to until I am back on track and all caught up.  Hopefully, from that point on I can post weekly and maybe sometimes bi-weekly on thing going on in my part of the world.

I hope you enjoy and leave a comment and I will be glad to answer any questions how I created my pieces.

I started the new year by making a 4" X 6" calendar to help me keep track of my days, which I've already stated are flying by way too quickly.  This was a fun project and went together quickly.  I found some scrapbook paper that had all the months neatly outlined and all I had to do was cut them out and glue them on decorative paper.

As you can see, I was able to use the same scrapbook paper more than once. 

Next time?  A "Junk Journal", and what the heck is a "Junk Journal" anyway?