A New Blog Friend and a giveaway!

Greetings friends! 

Long time no blog - oops! If anyone is still out there, I wanted to let you know about a new friend I made and a giveaway (by me!) on her blog!
Recently, at a boutique near my home I sold some of my artwork and a sweet lady named Bevy purchased this cutie for her laundry room:

She bragged about it *here* on her sweet blog, we messaged back and forth, and discovered we live near one another and have a mutual friend! Small world!
Anyway, she requested a small piece of my work for a giveaway on her blog and today's the day to go comment and enter for an opportunity to win this:

It is just a wee little 4"x4"x 1 1/2" piece of mixed media fun for decor.
Comment on this post and then pop on over *here* to enter. Be sure to spend some time browsing through her blog - it is just lovely, and there is a link to her Etsy shop with her beautiful handmade items!
Before you go, be sure to click on the "Mixed Media Art for Sale" tab above and pick out a piece to purchase for yourself or someone you love!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Pretty Girl CCH class project

Greetings!

Today I'm sharing with you the last of the three projects I taught 

at the Mixed Media Weekend at Cozy Crop House

We learned techniques for making a girl on canvas starting with a collaged paper base.
Here she is!

This is how the process begins with torn paper. We used scrapbooking paper by K and Co.

Start building layers with bits of tissue, book paper, misc ephemera.

And then completely forget to take any pictures till you are finished!
Suffice it to say we added lots of layers of paint, ink, ephemera, rub-ons, and Mod Podge! We used household items, stamps, and stencils to apply our mediums.
The girl is free hand cut by me. I traced her and made a pattern for the students to use.

I printed 4 pages of miscellaneous quotes and bible verses I have collected for each of them to choose their own words for their pieces. It was fun to see how differently each one came out.

Here are a bunch of close ups for you. These birds are cut from a piece of scrapbook paper by Prima.

We had a very fun weekend creating at Cozy Crop House. The other 2 projects I taught are in previous posts so if you missed them, scroll on down and have a look!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I truly appreciate your comments!

project bags

Greetings!

Here are the project bags I decorated for the girls who came to the

Cozy Crop House Mixed Media Weekend.

Everything they needed to make their altered book and their girl on canvas was in the bag along with some take home goodies.

These started out as plain white handle bags I purchased in a pack of a dozen at Michaels. I used Mod Podge to layer on dictionary paper, napkin, music paper, doily, and ledger paper on which I stamped each of their names. A pretty layered flower with a brad in the middle finished it off. It was a fun way to put together the project supplies and a pretty take home for them to use as is or cut up and put on a new project of their own!

The current challenge at Eclectic Paperie is to "do something with a bag" so I am entering this post there.

Thanks for stopping by!

altered book for tags

Greetings!

Today I am sharing the altered book project I taught 

at the Cozy Crop House Mixed Media Weekend.

We altered an old Readers Digest Condensed book to hold 4x6 photo sleeves which are perfect for holding #8 sized technique tags!

We started by deconstructing the book then coating the outside with Golden Gesso. We played with stamping into the wet gesso to add texture. While it's nearly impossible to catch this with the camera, here I've tried to show you. It is a nice subtle effect. (click on photo to enlarge)

After our gesso was dry we applied Distress Paint in "mowed lawn", "broken china", and "mustard seed" using a makeup sponge. We proceeded to layer various background stamps and more paint using bubble wrap and other household applicators. On the front a mask made with a Spellbinders die was used to mask off the center section while Staz-on gray ink was rubbed against the edges to form the frame. Further ink was applied through punchenella to fade out to the edges. 

The bird is cut from chipboard with a Spellbinders die, inked with a nondescript script stamp in brown then coated with Inkssentials Crackle Accents. The word "create" is chipboard I ordered from Want2scrap and is painted with Silks Acrylic Glaze in Sky Blue. The fern is Distress Stain in "peeled paint" mixed with Golden Extra Heavy Gel and applied through the "3 flourishes" stencil by Wendy Vecchi.

On the inside we used a sheet of washi paper by We R Memory Keepers applied with Mod Podge over and under to strengthen the spine. I left the inside covers of my book blank but the girls were having so much fun with the stamps and paints that they proceeded to decorate the inside too!

After punching holes in the back cover we installed album posts to hold the pages. Initially I was going to use rings to hold the pages and I had punched holes in the front of mine as well. Since I decided not to use this method I just put ribbon in the holes of my book. The books the students made do not have the holes in the front.

Now I have a pretty place to keep my technique tags I make and will be able to quickly reference them.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

I'll be sharing the third project I taught in a few days - hope you'll stop back!

Ready to share!

Greetings!

Well, the first Mixed Media Weekend at Cozy Crop House was lovely! Lots of creative, fun time! Now I can share the three projects I taught. Today I am giving you this little sneaky peaky at all three piled up together. We created an ATC, a girl on canvas, and an altered book. I'll share the ATC project today and the other two over the next few days! 

We started with this quick warm up ATC project just to get those creative juices flowing and build the excitement:

We took playing cards coated on one side with gesso, added Tim Holtz Distress Paint to them, spritzed with a little water and moved the paint around using bubble wrap as our painting tool. Next came stamping with background stamps then stenciling with punchenella using Archival and Staz-On Inks. We stamped a fern on then trimmed a butterfly out of a paper napkin and decoupaged it on. After drying came shadowing with the Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in Cold Grey and highlighting with the Scarlet Lime Permaball Pen. Documentation of the event was adhered to the back of the card and all edges were inked in coordinating Staz-On ink. It was a fun warm up and great little token to remember the weekend by!
Here are some of my altered playing cards that were the inspiration for this project. 

On the backs I share an inspirational Bible verse and my blog address.
Eclectic Paperie is having an altered playing card challenge this month so I am entering these there!

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll post the other two projects from the weekend over the next few days so I hope you'll stop back.

Mixed Media Weekend

Greetings!

I wanted to let you all know about a Mixed Media Weekend that I will be teaching at. Have you heard of Cozy Crop House in Lititz Pennsylvania? It's an adorable retreat house set up for crafting in an amazing space complete with yummy meals and cozy sleeping accommodations. 

The weekend of February 14-16, 2014 they will hold a 

jam packed Mixed Media Weekend. 

We'll jump right in on Friday with a little ATC project just to warm up, then after dinner will be the first workshop! Saturday there will be three workshops and one on Sunday. If you are able to stay a little later on Sunday a bonus workshop is being planned. I told you it was jam packed, right? You will learn a lot of techniques and go home with finished projects.

The first workshop I'll be teaching will be an altered book:
DESCRIPTION: In this workshop we’ll deconstruct a vintage hard cover book then decorate the cover with paint, gesso, and ink using masks, stencils, stamps, and household items. We will then re-constructing the book placing sleeves in it that hold #8 sized tags. (bonus - you get to keep the vintage book paper!) Now you will have a place to store the technique tags you create when taking online courses!

The second workshop I'll be teaching will be a collaged canvas: 

DESCRIPTION: Let’s make a beautiful 8x10 canvas to keep for yourself or give as a one of a kind gift! Create the background using ephemera, patterned paper, paint, and ink. Learn to create layers with stamps, texture mediums, stencils and rub-ons. We’ll add a girl and a phrase to make your canvas unique. 

Kate Rothacker will be teaching a Mixed Media and Metal Elements workshop.

Tami Howse will hold a Gelli Plate workshop:

DESCRIPTION: Have fun learning how to use a Gelli Plate, which is all the rage in mixed media and paper crafting. Make your own one-of-a-kind monoprints with custom colors using acrylic paints, stencils, masks, and a variety of other texture tools. We will learn a variety of techniques with the plate and use them to make altered tags. You will go home with a 6x6 Gelli Plate, several prints, and a stencil.

Tami will also be teaching a Canvas Banner workshop. Here is a link to Tami's blog where you can check out her amazing work.

Sounds like fun, huh? 

If you'd like to join us, please email Kate at  
 cozycrophouse@gmail.com 

for more information.

 Contact her soon as we are keeping it "cozy" at just ten students 

and the weekend is filling up fast! 

You can check out Cozy Crop House at this link.

Hope to create with you there!