Monday, November 21, 2011

Watercolor Playtime


I recently switched the guest room with my studio because I needed more space and who really needs a large guest room? I found this watercolor tin from when I was little. Isn't it adorable? I then hunted down my "good" set from college years that was hardly used at all. The cover is plain silver and not at all cute! Grabbing some watercolor note cards, I sat down last week on a rainy day and decided to paint some thank you cards for some much deserved people. It was such fun to use a media that I never use.

Friday, November 18, 2011

More Stencil Madness!




Still going crazy with stencils! Once I get started on these little tags, I can't stop! I've been only using paint, so I decided to try the Distressed Stains by Ranger to see how they would look. They came out somewhat hazy, however I love the look. The stencils are from Crafter's Workshop.Using tiny scraps of paper, I then cut their outfits, getting into my paper doll zen-like state. The little hot pink jacket to the left is made of Ranger's sticky back canvas and dabbed over with their Worn Lipstick stain. Although it's hard to see, I embellished the ribbons with some of the Tim Holtz Ideology items. I then took the color, Picket Fence and put it on a brown tag and it came out looking like gingerbread snowflakes. I had purchased the new Graphic 45 Christmas line and thought the black hollies would look amazing on the stenciled background. The little pierrot inspired me to buy this paper (more on that project later) and thought he would look adorable in the corner and was I right? Cute, cute paper! Now to figure out, who will receive these little tags on their gifts this year?

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Stencil Crazy!

I am loving stencils lately. A while back I saw on Jenny Doh's blog that she was using doilies and bakers twine together. This caused me to grab some doilies and start using them in my collaged backgrounds. I either spritzed or painted through the doilies, using them as a stencil and fell in love with the look. They are so dainty and add such an old-fashioned look to my art. I then saw a video with Mara Johnson, where she was using stencils on an old file cabinet and it looked like a lot of fun to try. I ordered the 12x12 stencils from Creative Imaginations, thinking I'd like to do a piece of furniture. I actually have started that and will post pictures when I am done.
 I was up in the Sacramento area teaching back in May, when I discovered some 6x6 stencils by Crafter's Workshop at The Stamp Art Shoppe and started using them extensively in my backgrounds. I have yet to find them in a local store so I was elated when I found them in San Jose at A Work of Heart, while teaching there. Of course I bought more because we were using them in the project. I received a huge order this week and am furiously creating more with them. I am officially addicted to stencils. I can't seem to get enough of them! Will post pictures of my stencil crazy creations in a couple of days.