Altered Awkward Family Photo Chunkies

Even though this month's "Altered Awkward Family Photos" chunky theme was my brainchild, I admit that I too, had a difficult time deciding what I would do.  One night while playing with a tree stencil (see middle photo), the idea came to me.  I would create a Family Tree!

I used some 4x4's that I had previously made out of pages I had removed from a book to be altered.  These pages were created by tearing the pages down to 4x4 size and then glueing about 7-8 pages together.  This would be my chunky substrate.  I then took my tree stencil and Distress Ink pads (Vintage Photo) to create my tree, adding branches with various parts of the stencil, .

To give more dimension, I added tree branch die cuts that I had created from scrap papers.  The ones I chose to incorporate had the same color tones as the stenciled tree.  I did not have a proper sized leaf punch, so instead I used a small circle punch to cut out faces from the Awkward Family Photo Calendar pages that were the inspiration for this theme.  I then shaped the faces into more of a leaf shape by folding the circle punches in half and cutting into a crescent shape.  Fortunately, the borders of my calendar pages were green, so as not to waste them, I made leaves out of the green borders and added those to my "Family Tree."  Though unintentional, the crease down the center of the "leaves" made them appear more life-like and added even more dimension to my chunky pages!

The Amazing Race Art Journaling Challenge Kicks Off!

I signed up to participate in Susan Lazar Wojtkowski's "Amazing Race Art Journaling Challenge."  Over the next several weeks, Susan will post the name of a country from which we will draw our inspiration.  She tosses in "detours" which gives us a choice to try a new technique or learn something new.  She even provides fun facts (arts, music, food) about the country we are visiting to get us fully immersed in the challenge.

Although I am not an art journaler, I have been craving doing some art for myself lately.  I  decided to treat the challenges as prompts for my own altered book.  You can imagine how excited I was to begin this journey!  However, when the first destination was announced, I found I had a challenge of another sort on my hands. 

The first destination announced was China.  I know that many people are intrigued by Asian motifs and themes.  I am not one of them.  I have very little in my stash that is Asian.  So here I was ready to begin this journey with little material to work with.  What would I do for my China page?

When I am stumped for an idea, I find that just starting often helps get me through my block.  Here, I grabbed an old book with a sewn spine (didn't even prep the pages).  Next, I pulled out my stash of gelli prints and thought this brick pattern in red would make a nice background.  This particular print was made with a brick patterned embossing folder on deli paper.  I went to my foreign text stash and found some Chinese text and selected two pages to use.  I selected ink pads in reds and oranges and applied color to the columns of text with a make up sponge for a diffused, blended look.  Then I glued those pages over my gelli print.  Now what?

I few years back, I had experimented with a pop-up flower in a friend's altered book I was working in  for a round robin.  I loved how it turned out, and always wanted to have one in my own book.  A pop-up lotus flower would be the centerpiece of my China spread.

I created this flower out of 9 sheets of vellum.  I love how the flimsiness of the vellum gives the petals a more natural feel.  finally, I had watercolor crayons that I had never played with before, so decided to use them to add just a hint of color to the petals.

Now, onto the next leg of the race:  France!

Marbling Paper with Shaving Cream

At a recent playdate, I wanted to experiment with marbling paper using the shaving cream technique.  (Thank you Teri for sending me a link!) What absolute fun!!  You basically take a shallow pan (I used an aluminum pan) and fill the bottom with a layer of shaving cream.  You don't need too deep a layer of shaving cream--just enough to cover the bottom.  You can use a spatula to spread the shaving cream into the empty spaces.

You can use food coloring or acrylic paints for this technique.  I thought the food coloring would bleed too much so I chose to I use cheap acrylic paints.  I chose three complimentary colors and placed drops of paint sparingly onto the layer of shaving cream.  Using too much paint will smear.  Now comes the fun part.  You take a mark-making tool ( I used a skewer stick) and begin to move the paint around on top of the shaving cream to gently mix the colors.  I found that keeping peaks in the shaving cream yielded the best results.  If you smooth out the shaving cream till its flat, you will not get the pretty marbling effect.

When you are satisfied with the pattern, place a sheet of paper on top of the shaving cream.  Gently press the paper into the shaving cream for full coverage.  Lift the page and let sit to dry for 3-5 minutes.  If there is enough paint left, try to pull a ghost print.  After the page has dried for 3-5 minutes, take a squeegee and remove the excess shaving cream from the page.  What you have left is a beautiful marbled page! 

Recycled Greeting Card Chunkies

Ever wonder what to do with those greeting cards you receive?  Instead of just tossing them, why not recycle them?  That's what we did for this month's chunky pages.

As I went through my stash of Christmas cards, I pulled out the ones that had the shiny foil features in red, gold, silver, etc.  This would be my unifying element.  I then used circle punches to create lots and lots of circles in a variety of sizes.  It's so interesting to see how the different sized circles change the look of the original image!  You know how you can't always recognize a common object when you look at it  through a microscope?  Same idea.  

I selected  5 different sized circles for each of my pages.  I arranged them in overlapping fashion to fit on the 4 x 4 chunky format.  I secured the circles with two-sided tape to hold them in place while I free-motioned stitched around the circles.  You will see that my back ground is a high-gloss silver cardstock.  My thread is metallic gold.  All of these elements help to tie my foil Christmas card circle punches together into one cohesive chunky page.

Relaxing with a Coloring Book

I've been seeing lots and lots of these adult coloring books lately.  I was toying with the idea of trying one, but never seemed to find the time to just well, color.  About a mont.

h ago, my classmates and I were together at a gathering.  One of my classmates had picked up one of these coloring books called "The Lost Sea" and thought it would be fun if we each took turns coloring in the book--sort of like an AB round robin.  They asked me to start and I happily took on the challenge.

I started by flipping through the pages--all of them were "ocean-themed" pages.  Some of them were multi-page pull-outs.  I would have loved to have done one of those pages, but was not sure I would have the time.  Better to start smaller.  

The page you see above it the one that I was drawn to.  I got out a bunch of my gel pens and got to work.  I started from the inside/center and slowly worked my way out.  I say "slowly" because I was surprised at how much time it took me to color.  It took me three nights to finish the multi-colored spread (circle frame).  I was even more surprised at how unconscious I was of the time I spent coloring.  I found it relaxing, almost meditative to sit and get lost in the simple activity of coloring a page.  I also found it addicting!  As slow as I was to start this project, I couldn't wait to come home after work and start coloring.

I found myself with enough time to do the second spread (the simple circle) before it was time to pass the book to the next contributor.  I experimented with a green/blue palette since this was, after all, all things "ocean."  I had several pens in this palette but ended up using highlighters because they  made it easier to cover the larger spaces.  Accents of glitter glue add a finishing sparkle to the pages.

I am now officially hooked on adult coloring books!  

Chunkies are baaack!

After an extended hiatus, I must say that it feels great to be creating on a regular basis again!  I have had to scale back my commitments this year, but the chunkies are the perfect fit.

We decided to start this new chunky round by illustrating the word or intention we have chosen to focus on for 2016.  My word for 2016 is "Replenish."

I think this first set of chunkies will be a very inspiring set of pages for all of us!  What better way to bring an intention into focus than creating art inspired by that word.

Embellished condiment spoons

Over the holidays, I was gifted with a condiment spoon embellished with colored wire and beads.  I just loved the idea and thought I would try my hand at it.

I started by anchoring a piece of 24 gauge wire around the neck of the spoon by wrapping the wire around the end 4 times (you can wrap more than this if you like).

After the fourth wrap, I positioned a small bead in the center of the spoon handle and wrapped once more to secure it.  Next, I added two beads and positioned them on top of the handle and secured it with one more wrap of the wire.

Continue  to alternate one bead, wrap once, two beads, wrap once, etc. until you have placed a total of 7 beads.  Wrap four times and trim wire.  That's it!!  Of course, depending on how big or long your spoon is, this design can easily be adapted.  Play with colors and bead sizes to create a nice variety of designs!