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.

InLinkz.com

Organized my Tim Holtz Distress Inks or Things That Make Me Happy

Sometimes it's the little things that can make one happy. I've wanted to label all my Tim Holtz Distress Inks and change the way I was storing them. I knew I wanted the labels to display the color and on all 4 sides but I just never got around to it. 

I try to organize my work space in a way that creates an easy work flow. I had the Distress Inks in plastic storage boxes but I would have to pull out a whole pile to look through to find the right color. When I say I wanted to create an easier work flow I remember reading that this is one way to organize your studio, products, etc. Basically that is the general way that my studio is set up but it still needs tweaking and this is one of those TWEAKS ;)

This side of my studio stores most of my inks, paints, stamps,  and tools for most projects. It is directly in back of my project table and within arms reach. I don't have to get out of my creative mojo to look for something I need. I LOVE my Ikea Expedit shelf and I have found various inexpensive baskets and containers to hold my supplies. The stamps are organized by designer, paints & inks by company. 

I found some Avery labels and swiped the ink color on the labels needed. I hand wrote each label because I wanted to get to work and knew that it would take time for me to get to a laser printer. I love how the labels took the color!

I decided to label all  my favorite colors first knowing that I would get bored doing it.  This was a real eye opener when I realized which colors I use the most. At this point I stopped for the evening.

When I started back up I went ahead and again did the colors I like the most out of the remaining inks. You can see the ones I left for last...lol!

I chose to label all 4 sides because when I clean up I don't want to waste time looking for the side with the color. It was worth the little bit of extra time! Now I had to find a way to store them. I looked online for storage ideas and realized I didn't want to spend the money {would rather by supplies} or take the time to make one. There are some great storage ideas on line but I went "shopping in my house" and came up with 2 different containers just perfect for the task at hand! The smaller one contains my favorite 21 ink colors...yippee...and it will sit on my project table with in an arms reach. 

The remaining 27 ink colors will be stored on a shelf in this miniature armoire. Both of these storage containers will eventually get altered but I can live with them for now.

I figure the entire project took about 7 hours over a 3 day period. Here is the link to the chart provided by Ranger Ink if you want to do this yourself. It must be printed with a laser printer, an ink jet printer will not work as the words will smudge when you apply the color.

I hope this gets you thinking on how your craft area is organized. Do you have any tips or suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by!

Anatomy of a Tag with 7 Dots Studio and Helmar

Today a thought I would share a quick pictorial of the process I used for creating the tags for the 7 Dots Studio & Helmar Promo Week.

Gather all  materials

Squish Distress Ink directly on non-stick craft sheet

Spritz with water...look how the colors

have intensified

Oops...left tag MUDDY...why?

This was the 2nd tag and 2 complementary colors

 had mixed together...not pretty!

Fixed tag by adding Distress Ink directly on tag ;)

Distress edges with my favorite brown...

Gathered Twigs

Adds just the right amount of depth & interest

The muddy tag all fixed...happy dance!

Embossing with Distress Ink applied to embossing plate

Layering papers for tags

                                     

Hmmm...thinking...the hardest part ;)

                                 

Finished tags

Materials used:

7 Dots Studio ~ Hopefully Collection

Inkessentials Craft Taga #10 Manilla

RANGER Non-stick craft sheet

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~

Gathered Twigs 

Squeezed Lemonade 

Mowed Lawn

Spun Sugar

Shaded Lilac

Vagabond Die Cutting System

Tim Holtz Alterations ~ Mini Paper Rosettes

Sizzix Embossing Folder ~ Paisley Palooza

Helmar Acid Free Professional Glue

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Thanks for stopping by...I love making tags...do you?

Fun with Helmar & Faber-Castell

This week the Helmar DT created projects utilizing all the fabulous Faber-Castell Products, here are my 2 projects:

Here is my 1st Helmar Design Team project to share with you and I'm really excited because it was created using canvas fabric. I wanted you to see how well these products work not only on paper but also fabric. The first thing I did was use HELMAR's Fray Stoppa to reduce the fray on the fabric. LOVE THIS STUFF!

Once dry you can remove any stray strands and be insured that it won't fray anymore. This is how Helmar's Fray-Stoppa looks after it's completely dry...that is a selling point for me that it totally disappears on this fabric. I would suggest that you try this on a sample of any fabric you use to make sure that it is color-fast.

Here is the finished Canvas Corp Canvas Tag using 4 different Faber-Castell products...Gelatos, Pitt Pastel Pencils, Pitt Artisit Pen & Art Grip Aquarelle Pencils.

I used the Gelatos on the small canvas piece that was pre-printed with the frog scene {Basic Grey}.

The Prima Resist Border and handmade leaf was colored with the Art Grip Aquarelles.

The Studio Calico Wood Butterflies were colored with the Pitt Pastel Pencils. 

I traced a border with a Pitt Artist Pen in Black {S}.

The border and frog canvas were attached to the Canvas Corp Tag with HELMAR'S Fabric Glue. After completing the canvas tag I felt like it needed a 2nd leaf so I created another...both leaves were attached at the top only, with Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, so they would float above the frog. The wood butterflies were also attached with Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. I just love this tag and it reminds me of a favorite fairtytale from my chilhood, Thumbelina.

Here is a close-up of the bottom of the tag:

And here is my 2nd project for our FUN with HELMAR and Faber-Castell week. I was in the mood to do something fun & funky after spending all week getting projects ready for CHA. I started with Dylusions Cling Stamps by the most fabulous Dyan Reaveley. After creating my stamped image I then grabbed all differenct colors of the Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen's and got to work. Her funky hair utilized all my favorite colors and I also added them to her incredibly long eyelashes. With adding some Glossy Accents to her lips and eyelashes she was ready to be attached to a Ranger Craft Tag, size #8 in Manilla, that had been painted with various blue and green Faber-Castell GELATOS & misted with water. To create depth I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Gathered Twigs {I love this shade}. I decided that one tag wasn't enough so I created a second to match and again stamped the leaves using Dylusions Stamps and colored the leaves with 2 shades of green with a PITT Artist Stampers BIG BRUSH.
The pleated ribbon was created by using a natural color canvas ribbon from Canvas Corp and the same shades of GELATOS used on the tags. Not sure how this would work I was pleasantly surprised at how well the ribbon took the color when I added a misting of water and started finger painting...for real! Aren't the colors fabulous on the fabric ribbon...great to now that you can match your ribbon to your background using the same Faber-Castell products. Some 7Gypsie Washi tape and the project is complete.


Where does HELMAR come in...all paper was adhered together with Professional Acid Free Glue...my metal beetles attached with Liquid Scrap Dots...the ribbon trim attached with 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. Isn't she just so fun & funky?

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have enjoyed our Fun with Faber-Castell Week...I know I have.