New life

Didn't you love it as a kid? A bonifide "do over"?

Well, in art, we can also re-think our art, and breathe in some new life to it!

Sometimes, it happens while working on a piece, maybe you sleep on it over night and wake up with a different plan. Sometimes you create something and just know it wasn't your best effort, and it sits there like a big white elephant in the room, staring at you every day, thinking, 

why did she abandon me? Doesn't she love me?

Sighs the artist, yes I love you but I didn't have the time...the direction...I was lost.
until now...

I totally love the redesign, just some simple touches with paper, paint and embossing powder and it has a new life breathed into it. I love the Art Deco Alphabet stencil, very cool lettering. I felt I need to jazz up the word "ART" a little so it could hold it's own next to the sophisticated "MATTERS".

I know you can easily see that I collaged the background with text paper, but did you notice that I also added assorted papers  to the paintbrushes and a few inspiring stamped words too!

The base was really easy to create with some Van Gogh Painting washi tape which I sealed with some Deco-page paste, added some Exotic Orient washi tape to the brush, a little bit of Dresden trim and some Mirror Gold embossing powder and I love it!

And speaking of embossing powder I covered the mug completely with all sorts of different Baked Textured powders designed by Seth Apter of The Altered Page and wow, it has a lot of dimension and depth now.

And some awesome products from DecoArt which helped me to pull it all together.

Now, guess who is also feeling a bit neglected now?

Linking up to Paint Party Friday where no one feels neglected!

Wanderlust

confession: I am a paper hoarder

Ok, maybe a little bit...more than a normal person but not quite to hoarding capacity!
 I did do a little research on Inside the Hoarders Brain  and came to this mind blowing revelation:
 you can almost replace the word hoarder with artist and it fits.
Mind. Blown.

I keep scraps of paper close by to my art desk, so I can grab a sheet of paper to brayer off excess paint, practice a stamp or stencil on and in general clean up messes with. I end up with some really pretty papers this way. I don't do much in the way of true collage work but I'll use these papers for backgrounds, and layering in my art journal like I did here.  

Currently, I am watching my daily video in Creative Jumpstart 2018 and Gwen Lafleur is explaining this process as a "shortcut" to creating layers of depth for mixed media. I can even spy one of the Irresistible India Mini Woodblock Border Stamps that you can purchase from her store on the top of the blue paper.
 I love these papers so much that I'll even keep tiny shards...
I just hate throwing them away! 

Can anyone relate?

stencils:

Journal Notes 6 by Pam Carriker and Pen and Ink by Leslie Riley

other supplies:

DecoArt, Rubbermoon

So my question to you...do you consider yourself a hoarder of paper? maybe art supplies?
 trinkets and doodads for assemblage work? Is your craft room out of control?

I think mine verges on it,
 I mean it's crammed full of stuff that I hate to throw out because I may need it.
And on that note, I have been working on clearing out bags of stuff: taking it to the dumpster.
It's a work in progress to release my inner hoarder but I am really giving it an effort to try.
however...
I did get tickled about the comment in the article about shredding paper, cause my first thought was yes, I could shred, but can I take that home? Ya never know, it could make for some interesting art.
I know.
I need help.
Or do I?
::waggling eyebrows::

linking up to
Paint Party Friday

Mistakes Happen

I learned something new, well, new to me anyway, 😜

I have to admit that I have never used embossing powder with paint before, only with ink and then only with stamps but now I learned that it works great with paint and that has opened up a whole new area with mixed media!  

I'm like a kid with my first box of crayons, sheer giddy with excitement! 

Still crushing on the Dresden trim, this time I used some Antiquing creams to knock some of the shine off the angel wing because the background is an explosion of glittery goodness between the gold embossing powder and metallic paints that I used.

I typed out word strips and glued them to the back of the wing for some hidden journaling. You can bend the Dresden trim but I don't think it would stand up to repeated opening and closing but then I'm pretty much the only person who looks at my journals anyway so I'm thinking it will be fine.

I'm trying hard to use up old supplies so I used some old vinyl letters, I had to use a gel medium to make them stick and then painted them black since they had polka dots on them. Somehow polka dots did not seem to work on this page, lol And yeah, added a sprinkling of embossing powder over them!

In hindsight, I'm not sure why I titled this page "mistakes happen" because I was really intending this to be another page to go along with my WOTY hope which is used in the writing on the back of the wing. 

A mistake?...maybe...but they do happen!

 Gwen's Supplies:
Khadi Papers Sketchbook
German Dresden Trim - Extra Large Wings

MT Washi Tape - Crystals 
Exotic Oriental Traditional Chinese Metal Wafer Dies - Round Chinese Screen 

Emerald Creek Embossing Powder - Mirror Gold

Art Deco Collection  - Alphabet stencil

DecoArt

Americana Lamp (Ebony Black)
Dazzling Metallics in Royal Ruby, Splendid Gold
Glamour Dust in Limelight, Copper
Media Antiquing Cream in Carbon Black,Patina Green

Linking up to Paint Party Friday