"MAKING ART" WITH MY GRANDSON

Hi Everyone!  Happy Saturday!  

I hope you're having a wonderful Saturday and making some time to experiment and play!

You've heard the old saying, "that was so easy, even a child could do it!"  Well, here is proof that even a child can "make art" with Tim Holtz' new Distress Paints!

Last evening, my husband and I babysat for our son and his wife so they could have a much anticipated "date night". Our six year old grandson, Cooper, is quite the budding artist and always wants to come to "Mimi's house" to "make art" in the studio.  

Last night after dinner, Cooper and I made our way to the art studio while "Papa" entertained our two year old granddaughter, Katie by playing dolls and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  (He's a good Papa).

Cooper had made some strips out of regular typing paper and markers a while back.  He said he made them for me and gave them to me.  I told him that the next time he came over, we would make something with them...so I kept them.

Here is what we ended up making....a 5x7 canvas using some of the strips that Cooper had made me.  I wish the lighting of this picture was better because the colors of the canvas are really quite stunning.

Cooper used Tim Holtz' new Distress Paints to make a background on a canvas that I had prepared with white gesso.  He watched me put the paints on a canvas and then he did his all by himself.  He liked watching the paints run as they interacted with the spritzed water.  Then he dried the paints with my Craft It Heat Tool.  Next he selected the strips he wanted to use on the canvas and glued the backs of them with a glue stick.  (I would have chosen Matte Multi Medium...but this was HIS project, not mine!)  I just made sure he had them glued really well on the back so they would stick.  

He glued the strips in place and then I just made sure that they were stuck! The only thing that I did on this canvas was to seal it with Matte Multi Medium when it was dry.  That was what we did next.  I brushed the Matte Multi Medium on and while it was drying, Cooper stamped away on some typing paper using all of my train stamps.  His favorite...Tim's On The Railroad stamp set.  

Finally, I told Cooper that it might be neat to add some paint circles or something to his canvas.  I used the lid of a stamp cleaner bottle and showed him how if you dip the edges in white paint, you can stamp them onto the canvas.  He liked that idea so he made his own design on the canvas using the lid.  Then finally, I added just some light brushes of white paint (using my finger) randomly on the edges of the canvas because Cooper didn't want to get his hands dirty!  haha  

I was so proud of his art piece!  So was Cooper!  My son and his wife absolutely love the canvas and say it will be hung in a prominent spot in their home.  I'm hoping maybe Cooper will make another one for me.  I love it and want to hang one in my art studio.

Have a great day and take some time for yourself to play!!!  Get your kids or grandkids in the craft room with you!  What a great way to spend some time together!    

"WAT-ER" YOU THINKING?

It's March, Spring is coming on and that usually means rain.  So, let's get this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show "WATER" challenge going with some wacky fun thanks to that multi talented, multi faceted lady from across the pond, Dyan Reaveley of Art and Soul.  I love her spirit!  I love her style and I love her products!

On my February 11th  "Let's Get Messy" post, I made the comment that I really loved the free feeling of playing with Dyan's Dylusions Ink Sprays and her art journaling style and that I knew I would be doing it again.  Well ... here I am, one month later and I have a new art journal piece for you ...

I did this page on a separate piece of Bristol paper because I don't have my Dyan Reaveley Art Journal yet.  But, as soon as it comes in, I can just tape this page right into the book!  I made it the size of the pages in Dyan's Art Journal.

I spritzed and sprayed and played with Vibrant Turquoise, Cut Grass, Calypso Teal and a little Fresh Lime Dylusions Ink Sprays to create an "underwater" background....reminiscent of the different colors you see in the crystal clear ocean waters.  Then I added some ghosting techniques using Biscotti Perfect Pearls Mist and Dyan's Flowered Dots Stencil.  After I created my background (you will see more of that in a minute), I stamped some background images onto my page to create the ocean floor.  Here I am coloring in come seaweed from Dyan's new Ocean Backgrounds stamp.  I simply sprayed just a drop or two of Cut Grass onto my Non Stick Craft Sheet and picked up the color using my Sakura Small Water Brush to fill in the seaweed.

Here you can see more detail in the blending of those gorgeous colors and the ghosting technique that is really visible with the random polka dots (almost like air bubbles in the water).  I stamped the leaves from Dyan's Around The Edge stamp set and colored them in using the green and then highlighting them with a white opaque pen.

For a little texture, I added just a touch of Wendy Vecchi's Embossing Paste that has been colorized with a touch of Melted Chocolate Dylusions Ink Spray that I sprayed on the paste and mixed it up.  Love the background!  All of those varying tones of green and blue and the white ghosted polka dots really does remind me of an underwater scene.

Enter these fun and wacky characters from Dyan's newest stamp releases:  Under The Sea and Monster Mash.  I stamped my characters onto Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper and heat set them.

Then, using my Small Sakura Water Brush, I began coloring in all of the characters with various Dylusions Ink Sprays.  They are ALL so bright and fun! 

The inspiration for this wacky piece comes from the hilarious sentiment from Dyan's new Say It How It Is stamp set.  With everyone acting so stupid, I needed to be sure my characters looked like they were "getting stupid".

When was the last time you saw a purple octopus holding a polka dot umbrella underwater?  (The umbrella is from Dyan's Ruby Rainbow stamp set.  I LOVE how all of her stamp sets are so interchangeable!)

Or a pink jellyfish looking creature with a dunce cap on?  (I made the dunce cap myself). 

Or how about fish being so stupid they not only wear dunce caps but swim upside down?

And then we have our poor monster standing on the ocean floor in rubber galoshes.  I'd say that all of these characters would exhaust anyone with their stupidity!  But, they are FUN!

So..."WA-TER" you thinking of creating?  Do it and then post it to our challenge blog at Simon Says Stamp and Show! You could be the winner of our most generous sponsor's 

$50.00 credit voucher!  You could also be named as one of our TOP THREE entries for the week!  If you need some more inspiration, stop by the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog and check out the other beautiful projects my Design Teammates have waiting for you.

Good luck!  I can't wait to see what you make!

Here are the products used in creating this fun art journal page ~

InLinkz.com

A VINTAGE ALBUM WITH B-LINE STAMPS

It's Friday!  I hope everyone has a great weekend planned.

Monday, I posted three vintage/shabby chic postcards that I made for Simon Says Stamp and Show's shabby to chic challenge.  Some of the images I used were from a line of stamps that aren't new but they are new to me....B Line Designs.

I absolutely ADORE these stamps.  They have such a vintage feeling and the quality of the stamps and their prints is amazing!  

I created this chipboard album that could be used as a photo album or as a journal.  All of the stamped images on this album cover are from B Line Designs.  

 

This album is made from fairly heavy weight chipboard.  I cut two pieces of chipboard 6x6. Those would be the covers of the album.  Then I cut two pieces of chipboard 1x6.  These would be the "spines" of the album.  Then I cut two strips of Tyvek approximately 1 1/2 x 6.  The Tyvek acts as a reinforcement at the joint to keep the paper from eventually tearing apart with so much opening and closing of the album covers.  The design of this album puts me in mind of the old scrapbooks you used to get that were tied together.  I applied 1/4" Scor Tape on either side of one edge of the chipboard.  

I made sure I had about 1/4" space between the two pieces of chipboard before I attached the Tyvek strip to the chipboard using the Scor Tape.  Again, this creates the joint for opening and closing the album cover.  None of this will be seen as it will be underneath cardstock that will completely cover the chipboard.  Repeat this for the other cover as well.

 Next, I added a piece of paper to cover each of the album covers.  You must be sure when you do this step; whether you are using a blank paper or a patterned cardstock, that you are aware of any direction designs on the paper and also that the spine of the album will match with the other cover so that when you put them together, the insides are facing each other.

I like to leave at least 1/2" border of paper around the edge of my chipboard when covering a piece of chipboard.  I used 1/4" Scor Tape to adhere my paper to the inside of the chipboard.  

My original thought was that I was going to apply paint to blank paper, creating real "artsy" covers after I had already adhered them to the chipboard.  But, once I did this, I R-E-A-L-L-Y didn't like what I made.  And, I decided rather than to go "artsy", I was going to go vintage.  So, remembering that there are not mistakes in art...haha...I decided to cover up this cover with some vintage tissue paper and move on.  Ahhh....that is one thing I love about doing vintage stuff.  You can cover up a multitude of things with layers of ephemera, book text, and in this case, vintage looking tissue paper!

With the help of some Multi Matte Medium and 7 Gypsies Life Tissue Paper, here are the new and improved covers.  I did some distressing with Distress Inks as well.  I also applied Multi Matte Medium over the tissue paper to seal it and better protect the album cover.  Then I added little bits of gold highlights from a Gold Paint Dabber and my finger as I lightly swiped the edges of the chipboard and some streaks onto the covers.

Here are all of the pieces before I put them together.  In this photo, you can see how important it is to be sure that the spines match up (on the outer edges of this photo) or your album won't open properly.

Then I added Tim Holtz' new Tissue Tape from his Industrial Grunge series to the top and bottom of the covers.  I LOVE this stuff!!!!  And I love how much more vintage it makes the covers look.  That black and sepia toned tissue tape with those wonderful vintage images is really amazing stuff! 

 

Next I stamped all of my images onto Specialty Stamping Paper with Jet Black Archival Ink and then colored in all of the images using various Distress Inks and Tim's small detailer water brush.  I added Glossy Accents to the "watch crystal" to give it more dimension and realism.  And I added a piece of vintage black tulle behind my dapper gentleman that is pop dotted onto an old vintage letter.  The letter is stamped on a newsprint type of paper and distressed with Vintage Photo, Gathered Twig and Black Soot Distress Inks. 

I cut two pieces of interior cardstock 6x7 inches (leaving about 1/8" border of the cover tissue paper showing on the interior of the album).  Then I glued those into place on the interior of the album covers.  I measured in 1 1/2" inches from the top or bottom of the spine and punched the larger hole using my CropADile in the center of the spine piece.  Then I cut 24 sheets of the newsprint type of paper 6x7 inches and lined up a paper with the holes I had punched into the spine.  Then I used that paper to line up the rest of the papers and punched holes in all of the papers to match the holes that I punched into the "spines" of the album.  Next I put the album together using about a yard of black ribbon that was threaded through the front cover, down through all of the papers, across the back of the album and up through the other hole.  Then I tied a knot then a bow on the front of the album.

 

Here is a picture of the album back.

Here is a closeup of my gentleman also known as "Chris" on the B Line Designs Stamp.  I love the vintage hand written letter behind him.  I also ran a small chain from Chris' hand over to the pocket watch which is also pop dotted.  The chain is held in place with the use of a Tim Holtz' Jump Ring.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope that you like my little vintage album/journal and the tutorial on how to construct one of your own.  For more information about B Line Design Stamps, click HERE or check with my very dear friend at Rocky Mountain Memories in Estes Park, Colorado.  Cheryl Grigsby is a Ranger U buddy and owner of Rocky Mountain Memories.  She and her very dear friend and my new buddy as well, Susan Mostek are the sweet ladies who got me onto these lovely lovely stamps.

Have a great weekend!