Frog Dog Studio...Exciting News

I'm really excited to FINALLY be able to announce that I've been asked to join the Design Team for a new Mixed-Media Kit Club...Frog Dog Studio, the brainchild of Tina Walker. You will want to check out the announcement on Tina's blog. Also go check out the blogs of the other members of the Design Team...Melissa McRay Johnson and Rita Barakat. I am so honored to be working with these 3 artists...incredible talent and I know that I am going to learn alot from them!

Here are a couple sneaks from the June 2013 Kit...I love what Tina has put together in this kit!

The final reveal will June 1st so stay tuned for more information.

Thanks for stopping by...time for me to go get my art on!

Repurposing While I Purge or How to Use Up STUFF

I continue on my quest for an organized studio...

purging, donating and repurposing ;)

Here is a project I created for HELMAR and you will find the full blog post here...pop on over & visit my absolutely favorite adhesives!

SO MUCH TO DO...SO LITTLE TIME!

Have a great weekend...

Helmar's MAY Challenge...

Lydell Quinn is the creator of HELMAR'S monthly challenges and here is the challenge for May.

"The beginning of the month means a new Challenge!  Mays Challenge is celebrating the special ladies in our lives.  Its Mothers Day very soon and I thought we could share some ideas for Mothers Day here on the Helmar Blog.  Being a Mother is a great gift and our own Mothers/Grandmothers are treasured.  Celebrate the special Mum in your life.  It might be your own Mum or Grandma, or it might be your partners, or it might be a special person who is just like a second Mum to you.  It might just be a celebration of you as a Mum- YES you fit into this as well."

You will find all the particulars here. Can't wait to see what you create! Make sure you stop by the HELMAR Design Team blog as my 1st post for the upcoming DT term with go live on Fri. 5/10.

Have a creative day...I know I am ;)

Creating Art & Living!

I'm still around even though I've been quiet {if you know me then you would understand the dichotomy here}. I'm busy living my life creating ART...and loving every minute of it.

I'm teaching Art Journaling classes...I'm taking classes...I'm working on several secret projects...I'M BUSY! Here are a few photos of what I've been up to.

The 2013 HELMAR Design & Education Team

Working on Spring here in NC...soon I hope ;)

Secret Project :)

Mosaic Class at Serenity Studio Arts

waiting to be grouted!

Upcoming HELMAR DT blog project

Copper Wire Wrapped Jewel Cuff in progress

Teaching Art Journal classes at Serenity Studio Arts

Now I'm off to CREATE! Have a great day...

My WEEK in Review...Art Journals, ICE Resin & Jewelry!

I've been BUSY...creating everyday...something...trying new things...having BIG FUN!!!!!

I'm taking a jewelry class from Courtney Stein Birdsall at Serenity Studio Arts on Mon. nights. This is one talented metalsmith...let me tell you. I'm going to twist her arm to let me showcase some of her jewelry pieces in a future blog post!

 Last week I learned how to wrap sea glass.

This week I learned how to create a frame and wrap beads...I really love this technique!

On Thursdays two of my very favorite soul sisters come over and we spend the day creating art...usually working in art journals but this week I taught them how to create jewelry using the Media MiXage system from Spellbinders and ICE Resin. I can't talk about our little group because "what happens at Mart's...stays at Mart's"...so I will have to twist their arms to see if they will let me share.

Harriet's Rose Garden

Inspire the Dream Collection

My Creations

A sneak peek at a secret squirrel project that I am working on...now that everything has arrived I can get started.

I have been playing in my journal and I am trying out a different approach...leaving some white space on the page. Here is the page I created and I'm really happy with it...so different from one of my regular pages!

Last BUT not least...and truly thankful and excited...I will be teaching Art Journaling down at Serenity Studio Arts here in Elizabeth City, NC. 

I have been gathering supplies and information for several people who have never created an art journal. Courtney {proprietor of the studio} and myself are trying to create the concept of an open studio for art journaling. At this time we have scheduled several different dates and time...once you have completed your first session then you can drop in at any of these times to work on your journal. I plan on introducing different techniques and supplies at each session but also just be there to encourage the students! Because I absolutely love this journal we will be starting off in the Dylusions Creative Journal designed by Dyan Reaveley. 

Now it's time to go see what else I can get my hands into...have a creative Friday & thanks for stopping by!

Decorating Cookies with Stencils...A New Use

Many of you know I he{ART} Stencils and one of my favorite designs is the Quatrafoil. When I saw Ronda Palazzari's stencil design from The Crafter's Workshop I was over the moon excited...I knew I would it use in many different ways but what I didn't ever think beyond the surfaces I create with! Well I was floored when I was contacted the other day by Hillary aka The Cookie Countess at my Etsy shop letting me know how she used Ronda Palazzari's Quatrafoil stencil for decorating sugar cookies.

  Check these cookies out...

Here is Hillary's guest post on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle and you will also find her at The Cookie Countess website.

Thank you Hillary for sharing...I'm so impressed with your talent!

Off to do some creating...have a great day!

Jill K. Berry Stencils and Artistcellar

Hello everyone...it's the start of a new week and I'm raring to get back to work, took a little time away from creating art. Today I want to share a guest designer post that I was really honored to do over at Artiscellar. If you love stencils you have to go and see what there!

Hi everyone…Martha Richardson here. I’m thrilled to be a guest designer on the ArtistCellar blog today. I love using stencils in my mixed media work, love making my own backgrounds…just love the freedom stencils give. I was even more excited when I received Jill K. Berry’s Signature Series in Rivermap and Roadmap. I have been a fan of Jill’s since I received her fabulous book Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking.

One technique that I often use is to create a STENCIL STUDY…I want to know how the stencils will look, react with paints, sprays and mists and how different papers will react. Let me show you my process and all the projects created from this stencil study.

First up is both Jill K. Berry stencils on a 6x6” square of Strathmore 140lb. watercolor paper using Dylusions Spray Inks. I thought that Roadmap would be the one I liked the most but I was pleasantly surprised to find the opposite to be true. From these papers I then went onto to create mini journal pages that will be collated into a journal at some point and several postcards that will be sent to Jane Davies postcard project. I have several of these mini journal pages created already from other stencil studies.

Below: Roadmap Stencil & Dylusions Ink Sprays in Dirty Martini, After Midnight & Calypso TealBelow: Roadmap stencil & Dylusions Ink Spray in Funky Fuchsia, Dirty Martini, After MidnightBelow: OOOPS! Oversprayed Dylusions Ink Spray...appears the watercolor paper REALLY soaks up the color. THE SAVE...Wendy Veechi Studio 490 Embossing Paste in black applied over the mistakes. SHHH...we won't tell anyone and they'll think I planned it that wayBelow: Rivermap stencil and Dylusions ink SpraysNext I tried the Rivermap stencil on Strathmore 140 lb. Mixed Media paper with a background wash of Dylusions Spray Inks {ink sprayed on baby wipe and then washed across surface} and stenciled with Distress Inks. Love the finished feel and look. I used this background to create a gift tag which will hold a gift card for a soon to be traveler.I again used the Rivermap stencil {see how much I liked this one} on a mop art journal page. As I’m creating the leftover paint, spray or mists get wiped onto a blank journal page so I’m always creating backgrounds in my journals. This background is in one of my Dylusions Creative Journals. The experiment this time was to see how the stencil reacted with Luminartes Silks Acrylic Glaze in Olive Vine and Bolivian Blue. Now I have created another layer on my page and added some beautiful shimmer and that same time. Is the background done? … nope! But it’s ready for another layer to be added.Finally some other random stencil studies created over random papers created with more random sprays, mists, or paints. I applied black acrylic paint over 2 of the papers and Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 Embossing Paste and both black and white over the stencils. Then using my Vagabond and various dies cut out different shapes that will be utilized in other projects down the road. I also applied black and white embossing paste over another background…really loves the effect. You can see the hearts used in the gift tag above

So to recap from my “stencil studies” I have created 2 mini journal pages, 3 postcards, 1 art journal background, 1 tag, random die cuts and a page that I’m undecided on. Am I finished with these stencils...no! They will added to my ever growing collection and with creating this stencil study I know have a visual aid that will help me when I go to find that perfect stencil to be added to a project.


Finally the winner from last weeks giveaway is:



carolMarch 31, 2013 at 7:18 PM

I would like to try them, I keep seeing people get great results with them! My favorite (because I only have two) is the one I cut myself, of some kind of pod-like flowers.

CAROL...Please contact me through my blog ;)

Thank you for joining me today. Maybe you will try a Stencil Study...if you do let me know what you think.

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