Category Archives: Art

Creative Blog Tour

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It is always fun to meet new people, make new friends, and find out what people are doing! That’s exactly what the Creative Blog Tour is all about! This is an ongoing blog hop. I’m not sure who first started it, but has been fun visiting new blogs, meeting new creative people, seeing their creations, and hearing about their process. Last week, Lisa Harris, from MyKreativePursuits.com was kind enough to tag me in her blog post. Be sure to check out her blog and meet her if you haven’t already!

At the end of this post I’m tagging other people. Since this blog tour was set up to allow readers to get to know a little more about the bloggers, we were given a list of four questions to answer. So here we go:

1. What am I working on?

School Theme LayoutLately I’ve been working on a series showing how easy it is to do digital scrapbooking with Studio J free, online software from Close to My Heart! It is perfect for anyone who thought they couldn’t learn to do digital scrapbooking, or even for someone who doesn’t want to spend a lot of time learning a software program! Here is a recent video showing how easy it is to make this 2 page layout! Here are also some other layouts using Studio J.

take heart ideas square logoMost recently, I am in the middle of an unexpected project, like I am so often! In the midst of of applying to a design team, as a group, we decided that since it was a new endeavor, we would create a new website and blog. I ended up sharing the back end of building a website with one of my online business friends. There was some basic artwork needed for the website, and I worked on that as well. You can often find me doing techie things along with my more creative projects. This particular site is a challenge site, where there will be creative challenges and winners! It will be launching on July 2nd, and I’ll post the info and link then! So stay tuned.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

This is a difficult question because I find it hard to identify with a single genre. I love creating in general, and don’t like to box myself into a single type of work. Some people may feel like that makes me a jack of all trades and master of none. I can live with that, because I thrive on learning and expanding my knowledge and skills. Even within some of my projects, you’ll find variety. For instance, I do paper scrapbooking as well as digital. In card making I may create in paper and embellishments, or I may do a hybrid version combining digital with paper and embellishments. I’m not sure anyone could identify my art journaling, because it has variety as well! Mixed media – well that’s mixed, too!

Here is a sampling of some of my projects. You can click on the images, they are linked back to the posts they were in. I’m happy to say I have a better camera now, and hope my photography skills will soon improve your view of my work!

sunbonnet girl

Mixed media with paint and paper piecing.

Anchor-3

Mixed media home decor using maps.

Land of the Free

Mixed media with image transfer and masking.

Artful Adventures Kristie Sloan Always Happy Scrapbook Layout

Digital scrapbooking.

kristiesloan_20130716_vintage-seaside

Art journal page with image transfer.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

The main reason I started my website was to really urge others to give new techniques or products a try! You never know what you may really enjoy doing! Often you’ll find me telling a crazy story about myself or my family, because that’s life and who we are! People tend to take themselves too seriously! Lighten up, have some fun. Life can be too short and we should enjoy the special people around us. I firmly believe we should also take time for the creative things we want to do, or our creative soul just withers away and a part of us dies. People who spend time on whatever their creative hearts desire tend to be a little happier. I like to be happy and have fun! How about you?

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

When scrapbooking, it usually is a story that starts a page; or a photo or group of photos which I really want to get on a page and tell the story. Other creative aspects are much more free flowing in the way they come about. Inspiration can come from a color scheme, phrase, word, photo or something random. Inspiration is everywhere!

Now, I’d like you to meet these crafty bloggers and visit them on their websites:

Kelli Panique is creator of Use It Scrapbooking. Her mission is to motivate scrappers to use all the fun products they purchase! Kelli made her first scrapbook at age 14 in a magnetic album with hand drawn rainbow bubble letters for titles. She has been hoarding  collecting crafty supplies ever since. Her style (and handwriting) has improved since then and she enjoys teaching others how to get the most out of their scrapbooking supplies while telling their stories. Kelli has taught at local scrapbook stores and now is teaching scrapbooking techniques on her YouTube channel. You can find Kelli at www.UseItScrapbooking.com. 

Debbie O’Neal is the creator of Scrap Me Quick Designs and is passionate about die cut machine crafting. She shares die cut tips and techniques to inspire your own creativity and expand your die cut machine knowledge. She has been a contributor to the online die cut magazine, Die Cut Crazy; and those of us who know Debbie like to call her the Queen of Die Cutting! Visit Debbie at www.ScrapMeQuickDesigns.com

Thanks for visiting!

KS

 

Sandi Keene Deli Paper Flower Video Tutorial

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I wanted to share a wonderful video tutorial from Sandi Keene. Sandi is one of the members of Art to the 5th, which started the Documented Life Project. The project is wildly popular, and currently has almost 6,500 participants in a Facebook Group.  In this video Sandi shares how to use the popular Gelli plate printing technique, without having that particular plate!  For paper, even if you don’t have deli paper, you can still use this technique. You may want to try parchment paper, heavy vellum, printer paper…  You know that’s the fun of art, it’s an Adventure!

Imagine all the things you could use these flowers on: scrapbook pages, cards, tags, journal pages, mixed media pieces…  They lend themselves to all kinds of fun projects!

Enjoy the video and let us know what you make!

Next time, I’ll share a quick way to create these without even getting messy!

KS

Jaunt into Gelatos for Paper Crafting!

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It’s time to jump on-board for a jaunt into Gelatos®! If you aren’t familiar with Gelatos®, I think you’ll love their versatility.  They are a Faber Castell® product which was developed as a result of their children’s Gel Sticks® product.  They are pigment sticks in tubes about the size of lipstick. Since I love lipstick, you know I love using these! It’s like using lipstick on art. However, clean-up is much easier than lipstick would be!  Watch the video or read below!

Although they are similar to the children’s products, the formula was developed for paper crafters. Both are easy and feel just about the same to use. You probably would never know the difference, but  two of the main differences between the two, are that Gelatos are lightfast, and they come in so many more colors.  Here’s the scoop on Gelatos:

  • Odorless
  • Acid-free
  • Archival Safe
  • Lightfast! They will not fade over time.
  • Gellatos come 28 colors, plus black and white, plus 6 metallics, which include a yummy set called “Metallic Mellon.” That brings the total to 36 options! The Gel Sticks are available in a set of primary colors and a set of a few metallics.
  • Gelatos coordinate with other products in the Faber Castell line. Not only do they coordinate with their own line, but they did a great deal of study on color trends in the papercraft industry and selected colors accordingly!
  • Water-soluble
  • Blendable
  • Work on many surfaces!

You will most often find Gelato’s sold in sets of 4, in a color family, such as blues, greens, etc. Recently I found a set of assorted colors at one of the large craft stores near me! I grabbed a set and thought you might like to see what kinds of things you can do with them!

Gelatos are a very versatile product, and there are several ways to use them. This Artful Adventure series is going to look at some of the different ways they can be used.  We will look at using them in scrapbooking, art journaling, and card-making.  You know you have found a great mixed media product when you can use it in so many ways! Plus, if you want to take them with you, it’s so easy and non-messy to transport them. It’s like throwing your lipstick in your purse!

Today, we’ll start by looking at using them dry, right out of the tube. Just take off the cap and apply! Being able to use them dry is good news when it comes to projects that would be either ruined or warped by using water-based products. You can either leave as is for the most intense look or rub for a more blended look. The smooth, creamy consistency is enjoyable to work with.

You can use them together and they still blend well in their “dry” state.  Use one tube over the top of another, and your tubes will not even become cross-contaminated with color! I love that quality! You can either blend them with your finger tip, or use a cotton swab, or blending stump. I like using my fingers, because they of their smooth, creamy consistency!

Have you tried Gelatos? What did you like best about them?  Don’t forget, you are always invited to share your projects in our Artful Adventures Facebook group!

This information is based purely on products I have purchased and used, and am freely sharing my thoughts and ideas about.

Until our next Artful Adventure together, have some of your own!

KS

 

 

Art Journaling Basics – Sample Page

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While creating the Art Journaling Basics series, it seemed like there was not much time for much art journaling.  Ironic, right?  There are several backgrounds ready to go from the video on creating backgrounds, so I decided to grab one and use one of the vintage images from yesterday’s post.

kristiesloan_20130716_vintage-seaside

Here’s how it this art journal page was created:

  • Applied gesso to a book page
  • Applied a light watercolor wash to page
  • Printed vintage image and did image transfer using a gel medium. You could easily just print it, cut it out and use it as is.
  • Stamped sea shells in the corner of image
  • Spritzed a bit of ink from markers to make specks of color
  • Printed quote; cut out; used matte medium to adhere
  • Used matte medium over image to seal and brushed a bit over the stamped shells
  • Used waterproof, black fine-point pen to do rough, sketchy line under quote sections
  • Randomly dabbed a bit of white on the page

As the vintage image was getting a light layer of matte medium to seal it, I noticed that the first sea shell it touched was beginning to bleed.  I liked the way it softened the edges of the stamped images, and I continued to lightly brush the medium over the other stamped shells.  Then I realized it was causing the ink to look totally different.  You could see more of the red in the brown!  If I had wanted to make sure the water based ink did not begin to bleed with other layers added, I would have needed to use a workable fixative before using any other waterbased products in layering.

Grab your art journal and make a page before the Artful Adventures’ train leaves this station!  Then come over and share it on the Facebook Group page!

Wishing your Artful Adventures!

KS