Butterfly Kisses

I am a couple days behind my scheduled Creative PaperClay post, for that i apologize! Life is VERY busy right now with our 8 wk old puppy. And Yes I am completely in LOVE with her.

But as they say the show must go on....LOL

Today this tutorial is inspired by nature. A few months ago my family and I went to the Butterfly Conservatory here in Niagara Falls. (If you ever get a chance to go to a Butterfly exhibit please do so, its truly magical)

Here are a few gorgeous pictures that inspired me and perhaps inspire you.

They say Mother Nature never lies. How true, colors are perfectly matched and so pretty.

Today I am working with "Delight - AirDry Modeling Clay" Its abit different than "Creative PaperClay" ,
                                       
                                                     1. The color is snow white and it dries white.
                                                     2. Its is very lightweight.
                                                   
Its also similar!

                                                    1. It's an airdry clay. No firing, no baking is needed!
                                                    2. Takes paint, any paint, very well!

I did not take a picture of the beginning, but its rather simple, take a piece of clay and roll it into a ball. (Depends on how big you want your bowl to be will determine the size of the ball of clay)

Begin to mold it into a bowl. I took one of my old bowls to help me mold my clay around the bowl so that I could get the size right.

Once I got the size i wanted I took my favorite rubber stamp of a butterfly and stamp directly into the clay to leave an impression. I then painted it completely black.

I gathered a few fun supplies, some mica pearl ex powders , an old paintbrush. and some acrylic meadium.

I then began to layer the different pearl ex powders by mixing them with the acrylic medium.
****Sidenote - Acrylic medium can really be anything: elmers glue, golden gel medium, mod podge. Mica powders need something to make them stick to whatever you are painting them on, and if you can't afford Mica powders -  Use your old eye shadows! Create your own Mica Powders by mixing them with a little glitter!*****

When doing this kind of layering you either have to work fast or wait for each layer to dry!

And as always i love to embellish, "Delight" is really nice , I was able to put holes in it to hang the little leaves on it and it does not crack.

I initially made this for my workstation to put paperclips in it, to remind me of the beauty of nature, the grace of a butterfly and to remind me Mother Nature never lies! (grins) My mom had other ideas.....she took it home with her. LOL

Art on my friends,
ANg

Back In the Saddle

Artist trading cards - (ATC'S) Have always had a special place in my art world, but to be honest its been a couple of years since i actually participated in a swap. BUT I'mmmmmmmmmmm bacccckkkkkkkkkkkk! LOL Here are a couple i have made over the last day, i have been suffering from some severe nerve pain. It was better yesterday but today its been pretty bad so to take my mind off my woes i created some ATCs.


 

These are Laurel Birch inspired Cat art, created using Promarkers by Letraset and gold gel pen by Pentel and a white gel pen by Sakura, i think the black background one needs a little something so that one may change.

Little Red Riding hood, for my June partner over at iATCs.com. This one was done with Graphtint by Derwent. I have since joined three other swaps. Swaps are so much fun as i created and mail my cards to the host and then at the duedate in a few weeks i receive awesome art from all over the world all for the price of a stamp and creating. Art on sistahs~! L. ANg

Tuesday Tip with ANg and Creative PaperClay

HI everyone! A very easy tip. I hear people ask...how do you keep Creative PaperClay from drying out? So lets break this down abit. What dries something out? Well if you answered AIR you are completely right! So keeping it stored properly is pivotal in keeping the clay soft and pliable. What i do.... I use..... Are you ready..... THIS IS MY SECRET WEAPON! Its a small terra cotta brown sugar disc. IT WORKS~! Soak the disc in water for 15 minutes,take it out of the water and place it in a ziplock bag with your clay (I usually leave the orginial package on the clay) and seal it up. The disc keeps a small amount of moisture in the bag and prevents the clay from drying out! Everytime i take my clay out to work with it, i rehydrate my disc by soaking it in water for 10 minutes. Awesome eh? Art on everyone! L. ANg

SHINE

Painted Messenger Canvas Bags by Me . Interested in your very own???? Lets talk! And remember no matter what SHINE your own creative path Art on sistahs! L. ANg

Capacity to heal and love

Dec 20 2011 we said goodbye to our dear Sasha , our hearts grieved for our dear friend who unconditionally loved my husband for 15 yrs and loved me for 11 yrs.
The days leading up to her death, we knew it was our last days together.
That was really hard.
So for my first art project on the Creative PaperClay Design Team I am posting something VERY simple.
Its a simple project that will continue to touch our hearts for years to come.

Take a ball of Creative PaperClay , flatten out into a circle, Mine is about 2inches , take your little furry friend paw and press into the PaperClay. EASY! I then washed Sasha's paw really well with warm water and doggie shampoo, as i don't fully know the properties of the PaperClay and wanted to make sure Sasha was safe.
See i told you it was going to be simple. <3

I can honestly say my husband and i love this imprint of our friend who so strongly left a huge imprint on our hearts.

And just because our hearts have the capacity to heal and to love again I want to formally introduce
Bella, our new puppy, only 10 days old and SO much a part of hearts already.

Art does not have to be complicated, it only has to come from the heart!

L. ANg

The Balanced Heart Project

I have a collaboration happening with 4 amazing artist. I do hope you visit!

HEART ART !

 L.
ANg

Bling It up

I have recently fallen in love with a company.
CHEERY LANE DESIGNS , to make a long story short, let me just say this!
THEY HAVE AWESOME CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know this first hand!
So i decided to take part in a fun challenge, Bling it up!

SO here is the card i created. Using one of their embossing diecuts. D130

Isn't that a pretty diecut? I used CHEERY LANE DIES, SARAH LUGG SCRAPBOOK PAPER , CICELY MARY BAKER VELLUM FAIRY,  STAMPENDOUS OUTLINE STICKERS, BRADS, STAMPS, CRYSTALS BY PRIMA, INK PADS, BUTTERFLY DIE CUT OUT OF MYLAR.

I just love layers.

And here is one more cards i did, again inspired by the challenge.

 Another pretty one eh?

Art on sistahs!

L.
ANg

Is there a Mothers Day in Heaven

Measures approx 6x6 on foam board

Fairy Images, focal image a print of my own art

Today a close friend of our family said "Hope  there a Mothers Day in Heaven." His mother died not too long ago. My heart really was touched and his words brought tears to my eyes.
Vince i believe mothers are especially loved and honored in heaven.
I sure do and I know without a doubt your mama is loved and honoured.
I am sure our little Andrew has already met and made friends with your mom.
Tonight I created a piece of art from those words from your heart.
"I wonder is thereHope there is a Mothers Day is heaven."
This piece is in honour of your mom.

I am also entering this in the Altered Pages Mixed Elements Challenge- Use 1. Metal 2. Paper 3. Ink  to make a collage.

The main image is an angel i painted a few years ago, there is a flocked paper that it is adhered to, i used Metal for the embossed butterfly that was embossed and cut out by me along with the heart and star brads are metal.
The ink is the blue and purples that I stamped the little tiny butterflies with.
Layer upon layer.

Take care

Art on,
L. ANg

Flutters- The Robin's Nest- PaperArtist Design Team Call

PaperArtist ......DESIGN TEAM CALL..... PAPERARTISTE , Does that not describe me???? The company is called  The Robin's Nest. The blog is HERE.
YEAH!!!!!!!!!! I am a mixed media artist that loves, i mean really loves Paper. I love making cards and books and anything mini.
So without further ...hmmmm....further adieu! Let me begin!
In about 5 minutes it will officially be Mothers Day. Money is tight. I have alot of supplies SO for the very first time ever i created a very special card for my husbands mom.
ITS SO ELEGANT AND BEAUTIFUL. It has a matching butterfly sleeve envelope and card.

First lets gather our supplies

YOUR favorite scrapbook paper ( I used Stella Ruby by Basic Grey and Vintage Valentine by fancy pants), ribbons, blank card , and a envelope/card template (Anna Griffith) and your Artiste toolbox (tape,scissors,pencils etc.



Rubber Stamps of your choosing. I used a Butterfly set from Hampton Arts

 Working with Waterbased markers are alot of fun.  Most of them come with a brush end, and you start coloring on your rubber stamp, choosing colors that compliment whatever paper you have chosen. I worked with Bamboo by Letraset and the set of Grunge by Tim Holtz. Once i colored the image i had a small spray misting bottle and i misted the stamp and stamp on WC paper. Pretty eh?

Letting them dry, I then cut my paper to fit my card. The thing about any art project , whether it be scrapbooking or card making, its all about layering. Play around with composition, you will begin to feel the right way, and by right way I mean your right way, your true inner self.

I went back to my stamp images, my favorite part was the butterfly, i layered the markers and used a brush with a little water to blend the image, i then used my Sakura Stardust Pen to give it some glimmer. I just love my bling and glimmer.  This particular butterfly image has been heat embossed (i  will go into that another time however if you need for me to explain the right away, leave me a comment) I then used some gloss medium to go over the Sakura Stardust and it gives it more depth and really blings that glitter

See how pretty and shiny it looks, SO gorgeous! I arted two of them and then layered them popping one off another making them 3-D. I then put it all together, one piece of paper on top of another, added a piece of pretty ribbon and 3 little flower brads .

The envie was made from a template, I then rubberstamp the same images randomly on the inside and outside. Again everything compliments each other, Repeat Repeat and Repeat, it brings it all together.

Back

Front
The card itself looks like a precious gift waiting to be opened!

And Indeed it is a gift, words of love for Mutti.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and will come back to visit!

Art on sistahs~!

L.ANg









Tuesday Tip by Angie

Creative PaperClay is such a fun product to work with! Its easy,fun, and requires NO baking. It has minimal smell.

It reminds me of my childhood time, when Clay was my best friend. Creative Paperclay takes it UP a notch ! Its fun for grownups and kids alike to play with. Release that inner child I say!

Let your heart and soul soar with some FUN!

So my tip........Keep a little spritizer bottle filled with WARM water in it. Paperclay does crack at times, what i found helps is when you feel it drying out, give it a little spritz with warm water and work it into the clay. If it should crack, spritiz it and create something called "slip" (slip is a fancy name when the clay takes on a watery consistency.) Once the clay is a bit watery take your finger and smooth it out, creating a seamless look.
Drying times.......Let it dry slowly. It helps with the cracking. The process going from a moldable clay to a hard clay too quickly causes more cracks. The lucky thing...the cracks are easily fixed if they should happen.

Art on my friends,
ANg

Creative PaperClay Design Team

Imagine a lonely soul. tears streaming down her face, needing a voice.

11 years ago that is what i felt like. Deep within my soul i believed in the power of healing.

Through the tears i became an artist. I am really proud of this. I am proud of ME!

I can get all sentimental, thats just who i am. So Yes i am really proud of being selected for the

Creative PaperClay Design Team.  I sorta stumbled on this great product by accident. You know clicking here, leads you to there, etc etc etc. Well last summer i clicked on a Facebook Like Page which lead me to a contest of who could get the most likes for their page, SO i asked my dear art friends to help me win free product and guess what.... I WON by a landslide! I love my art friends.

Thank you cuz see where that accidental stumble led me?

Art on Sistahs!

L

ANg



Exploration

Well over a year ago i won a set of Shiva Paintstiks. And in a lonely drawer they set.
Until today. I am home sick from work with a back that just won't stop hurting. So to get my mind off my woes i cut out a messenger bag from a pattern. Instead of sewing it together right away i painted the front part.
I dusted off those Shiva Paintstiks. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!
They are creamy and dreamy and beautiful and they blend!!!!!!
I am SO going to use these more!

Art on Sistahs,
L.
ANg

WHAT if I???

See thats the question I am always asking myself when creating art. What if i added this? What if i did this? Always pushing myself to learn and explore. For me, that is art, the essence of making art.

So this tutorial is all about that. My question first started out as, How can I use my Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink on Creative PaperClay. Creative PaperClay is porous and the inks are made for Non-porous surfaces. The blog was sending out a design team call, so I thought well lets even take this one step further for me.

So without further ado here is the more awesome Creative PaperClay and Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks treasures i created!

1. Roll and Cut out different shapes of Creative PaperClay, there are even a few in there that are the size of an Artist trading Card!!!!!! I then used some Hand Carved Rubber Stamps and a few commercial stamps to imprint into the clay (if you want an imprint do this before it dries).





2. Let it dry! Now some put a light book or something on top so that it dries flat.
I found out something new, I just let it dry normally and then I ironed them. YES ironed them flat, on the silk temp, and i ironed right on top!

3. Once dry I used some Triple Thick Embossing Glaze and brushed a layer on the PaperClay. Not too thick but enough that it is shiny on top, its really really important you let this dry.

4. Here is a picture of the supplies I used.
A. Creative PaperClay
B. Triple Thick Embossing Glaze
C. Tim Holtz Alcohol inks
D. Sakura Glaze Pens
E. Krylon Gold Leafing pen (not shown)
F. Handcarved Rubber stamps, commercial stamps
G. A black permanent marker (not shown)



5. Its time to have FUN! Drip, splatter, paint and scribble the inks all over the Creative Paperclay. Since you are not needing to stay in the lines, have fun! Let the painting become intuitive! The Triple thick embossing Glaze makes the Clay NON-porous so alcohol inks and the Sakura Glaze pens are perfect for this technique.
I used the Krylon Gold Leafing to accentuate different parts of the imprinted stamps. I used the permanent marker also in this way.







Ultimately i probably will put a hole in the Creative PaperClay and attach a pretty ribbon. I love to give so these will be given out to family or friends or if you see one you love, leave me a comment and lets trade art for art.

And don't forget to ask WHAT IF I? You never know whats just around your souls corner.

Take care everyone!
Art on sistahs!
L.
ANg