Blog Archives

Hump Day How-To #3: Cereal Box Notebooks

1/29/2014

This is the 3rd installment of Hump Day How-To.

Yes!! I missed a few between #2 and #3, but I'm still here and still making videos. The more videos I make, the faster I get at editing and loading them, so maybe by December of this year I'll have it down to a science :-).

This week, I wanted to make books from recycled items. I'm not a cereal eater, but I've got folks around me who eat cereal, so I was gifted several cereal boxes. (Now that I've made 52 books in a year, people like to bring me things and say, "Here! Can you make a book out of this?" and I love to say, "Sure!! I'll give it a try!!" and that's kind of how these wonderful little field notebooks came to be. What's your favorite material to use for recycled art?

Materials Used:

Cereal boxes
Waxed linen thread
Dental floss
Acrylic paints
Gesso
Bone folder
Bubble wrap (recycled)
Bottle cap (recycled)
Hotel key card (recycled)
Sketch paper
Watercolor paper

Things to consider if you decide to make your own:

Your sizes will vary based on the size of the original box you're using.
If the box is super glossy, you might try using a bit of sandpaper to rough it up a bit, then follow that with a coat of gesso to give you a prepared surface to paint on.
I like using dental floss as thread when I don't plan to handle the book too much. It's sturdy to a point, so keep that in mind when selecting your thread.
You can use your sewing machine to make a straight stitch up the middle of the book instead of hand sewing.
Be sure to measure the cut for the flap WHILE the papers are in the book, otherwise your slit will be slightly off.

Join me for another Hump Day How-to next week.
xo

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Ten on the Tenth #1

1/10/2014

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What is 10 on the 10th??
Each month on the 10th I'll deal myself 10 cards from the Mixed Media Inspiration Deck™ then video my process of creating a journal page using the suggestions from the cards.

There will be 12 of these videos by the end of the year. Join in the fun. Watch the videos, make your own journal page, come here and reply with links to your pics (or post them on the MMID Flickr board, Pintrest board, or Facebook page).

Here's the first installment!!

Happy creating...

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Friday Favs, Follows, & Fodder

1/10/2014

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Favs: Online Bookbinding Supply Stores

Talas Bookbinding Supplies (Check out their Teflon bone folders)
Hiromi Paper (Best book cloth ever)
Hollander's (Waxed linen thread in beautiful colors)
Colophon (Great supplies for marbling paper)
Paper Arts (Amazing handmade papers)

Fodder: Books on Creativity

I have a ton of favorite books when it comes to creativity, but since I'm trying to stay at 5 for each list, here are five I randomly selected from my bookshelf (no particular order):

Follows: Mixed Media Artists on YouTube

One of the things that makes the treadmill bearable is bringing along my iPad to watch art videos on YouTube. Here are five of my go to channels while at the gym:
Carolyn Dube -- acolorfuljourney.com -- she's a rockstar when it comes to the Gelli Plate and StencilGirl Stencils.
France Papillon -- talk about next level art journaling -- her spreads are beautiful and complex and fun to watch.
Effy Wild -- this is raw art journaling at its best -- and she just started a new weekly series -- check it out...
Mystele -- one of my favs -- she's the queen of gut art and her work is powerful and playful at the same time.
Patti Parrish -- so many different techniques -- she's got some great videos for beginners.
These five are worth a look, but be ready to spend some time with them -- once you start, its difficult to stop.

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Hump Day How-To #2: DIY Silhouettes

1/8/2014

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In this second installment, I show you how to make your own silhouettes. These little black images can be used in a number of ways. I like to use them in my art journals because they help me convey a feeling the same way body language can convey more than words. How do you use silhouettes in your art?

Materials Used:

Magazine images
Card stock
Scissors
X-acto knife
Painters tape
White Posca paint pen
DIY blue acrylic paint spray
Tim Holtz mask sheets

Things to consider if you decide to make your own:

Use a pair of sharp scissors when cutting.
Remember to cut slightly inside the line of the image to help you have a silhouette that more closely matches the original image.
I create my silhouettes in the video using magazine images, but you could also use photographs or drawn images. Try taking a photo of your shadow then creating a silhouette from that photo.
Instead of card stock, you could cut your silhouette out of craft foam, adhere it to a piece of cardboard, then use it as a stamp.

Join me next week for another Hump Day How-To
xo

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Friday Favs, Fodder, & Follows

1/3/2014

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There are a lot of firsts happening on the blog this week, right? That's what the New Year does, it gives us space to create things, to start things, to invent things, and to share things. But this Friday series is not about inventing (or is it?), it's about sharing some of the "lessons" I learned during my Book-in-a-Day yearlong challenge. It's about the materials I discovered, the people I encountered, and the plethora of resources I uncovered (and rediscovered). Here's how it will work:

One post every Friday for the year.
I'm going to try to keep the lists to 5 each week.
FAVS = a list of some of my favorite supplies, tools, classes, websites, youtube vids, and on, and on, and on.
FODDER = "raw material" and inspiration for mixed media art, book making, art journaling, and creativity in general.
FOLLOWS = an "annotated" list of five links to folks I follow or to the work of people who inspire me or to their Twitter feeds, Pinterest boards, Instagram feeds, Facebook pages, etc.

Easy peasy, right?
So I bring you the first Friday Favs, Fodder, and Follows post.

FAVS: My Favorite Fountain Pens

If you've been hanging out with me virtually this year, then you know that I collect fountain pens (or fine writing instruments, as I like to call them). YES!!! I'm a bit of a pen snob :-).
Here are my 5 favorite fountain pens:

Lamy Safari Fountain Pen
I own one in blue and one in silver!

Pelikan Pelikano Junior
I own two of these "pocket sized" beauties. I don't have that purple one yet, but I think I should!
This is a great fountain pen for a beginner and it comes in a right hand or left hand version!!

Platinum Plaisir Fountain Pen
This is the pen I'll be using for my Pink Pen Possé group this year!!

Cross ATX Fountain This is one of the smoothest writing fountain pens I own. I LOVE it.

The "Quote" pen by ACME
I've been collecting ACME pens for more than 15 years and I own a number of them. More than I'm willing to tell :-). They are by far my favorite brand because each pen features a different artist and the rollerballs can be converted to fountain pens!!!

FODDER: Raw material for artistic inspiration

Pinterest: I joined Pinterest when they came on the scene, but couldn't see the point of it at the time so I stopped trying to figure it out, but today, I'm a bit addicted to looking for inspiration and images on Pinterest and I'm slowly learning how to use it. If you are there, leave your link in the reply section below and I'll check you out. My boards are at: http://www.pinterest.com/kialagivehand/
YouTube: The shear number of videos on YouTube blows my mind, but to narrow it down, I search for keywords like: "mixed media tutorials" or "art journaling" or "book binding" to help me find something interesting to watch. When I have a specific technique or topic I want to find, I use a more specific search phrase like: "Faber Castell Gelatos" or "Crackle paint" or "collage with newspaper" etc. I really like the One Minute Muse videos because they are literally ONE MINUTE long--we can all spare 60 secs for creativity, right? RIGHT!!!
The Heller Rare Book Room at Mills College Library: I go here when I want to research a specific book structure or a particular book artist. The librarian, Janice Braun is amazing and over-the-top smart about all things book art related.
SkyBluePink: a great online store with lots of ephemera and bits for your art and journaling. Lots of vintage stuff too.
Pandora Online Radio: when I don't want to think about creating a playlist but I need some good music to write to or make art to, I go to Pandora!!! I like that I can search by artist or by genre or by song to get similar music.

FOLLOWS: Inspirational Tweeters

Here are 5 folks I follow on twitter because they tweet inspiration that makes me smile:

Wild Sister Magazine -- daily love notes
Iyanla Vanzant -- motivational speaker extraordinare
Danielle LaPorte -- Desire Map Phenom -- she drops a #truthbomb on you everyday!!!
SARK -- just all around goodness coming from this radiant woman
PeopleWhoInspireUs -- daily inspirational quotes -- I love the variety

So that's it. The first Friday Favs, Fodder, and Follows. Share your lists!!

xoxo