How to make a Super sized die cut letter book cover

If you like experimenting with colorants, adhesives and coatings in you art making and crafting I have a few fun tips and tutorials for you today. I was given a Smash Pocket Folio for Christmas and I thought I'd start altering it by working on the cover.

Being that my name starts with "S" that was going to be my giant 6 inch die cut letter to embellish the big cover.

I posted a while back a tutorial on how to make watercolor paint with eye shadow and I was wondering how it would be to use the eye shadow directly on paper.

I wanted to get a twofer out of this eye shadow edging technique so I placed the diecut on another piece of paper and held it still so that as I applied the eye shadow along the edge with a Q-tip I would get another letter S.

I chose the pink outline letter S with a recycled dictionary page featuring words that begin with the letter S behind it to embellish the junk journal cover.

I first spritzed a light coating of the new spray on Matt Mod Podge onto the cover and placed the recycled dictionary page on it.

Then I spritzed another coat over the page and placed the die cut window outline of the letter S.

Finally I spritzed a final coat of Spray on Mod Podge onto the eye shadow embellished letter S.
It worked great and didn't smudge the eye shadow at all!

Postal art, altered cards and collage art

I wanted to share with you a few pieces of art I have been making. This first piece above is a Christmas card that I then added all sorts of other bits of art and washi tape. The envelope is embellished with washi tape and rubber stamped and I used a collection of vintage postage for mailing.

This art card I also used a bunny paper punch for some negative space.

This is another mail art envelope that I had so much fun collaging the vintage postage and rubber stamping. I highly recommend sending out paper mail and you just might get some back in your mailbox! Bring back the art pen pal in 2019!

Movable Blocks -Embroidered Quotes Art Installation - By Stefanie Girard

 Today I want to share with you an art installation piece that I recently exhibited. It's made up of over 150 fabric covered (recycled) wood blocks.

About half of them have embroidered quotes and words on them. They are mounted on coated galvanized metal and I move them around to create different arrangements. Here are 5 arrangements and some close-ups of a few of the blocks. If you want to see all the embroidery you can pop over to the hashtag #stefanieembroiders on my Instagram @stefanielgirard. I am constantly making more and creating new arrangements so feel free to follow them!

In each photo I held my fingers indicating what number the arrangement was.

Let me know which one is your favorite!

Or if you have a good quote or word you think deserves to be embroidered.

Close-ups:

More embroidered quote block close-ups:

Lots of colors:

Groups of colors:

Greys:

Medium shot:

I even made the Glendale News Press and Burbank Leader!

Altered book page silhouette inspired by the new book Journal It!

The new book Journal It! Perspectives in Creative Journaling by Jenny Doh is so filled with inspiration I just had a blast flipping through and getting excited about making something. This page from Journal It! is all about creating a reverse silhouette but I wanted to do a little work in one of my altered books so I took the idea of a large silhouette and simply did it more on the traditional style but with a similar cool glitter pink print paper.

 Here is my final page with my pink glitter silhouette.

 First I took down a photo of me that just happened to look a lot like the one in Journal It!. I imagine most of us sported little pig tails at one point or another...right?

 I traced the photo and then scanned in the tracing.

I enlarged it as big as I could and printed it out. Then cut out the large outline. I then traced the outline on the backside of the pink glitter paper (I flipped over the outline too).
Then I cut out the pink glitter paper and found a page in the book I was altering that I thought looked good and the writing worked. I have to say I love the large scale of the silhouette, they tend to be little.

If you like experimenting with different styles in your journaling, mixed-media, or altered books I bet you will love:

 Journal It! Perspectives in Creative Journaling
by
Jenny Doh

More about the book from the publisher Lark Crafts:

"Book arts, journaling, and collage come together in Journal It!, where 19 mixed-media artists showcase their signature techniques, tips, and creativity boosters. The featured work ranges from lettering expert Jill K. Berry's beautifully calligraphied travel journals to Jeannette Sclar's whimsical gardening books, and the techniques include everything from toner-based transfer to stitching with fabric and paper. With over 200 inspirational photos to guide them, even beginners can create works of art right from the start."

Creating with inspiration from the book The Collage Workbook

I love creating things that take a minute to figure out. Today I stuck with one of my favorite "slightly off" themes and used a bit of inspiration from the book The Collage Workbook: How to Get Started and Stay Inspired to create my latest mix-media altered book page. If you know your Roman numerals and police codes you will get it. If you scroll down I will tell you if you don't know these two topics.

 Have you figured it out????

OK I'll tell you. the roman numerals are 5150 which is the police code for 72 hour psychiatric hold (AKA-crazy!)

As you can see I have used this as a cross stitch and as the prompt in The Collage Workbook: How to Get Started and Stay Inspired suggests using numbers in creating, what better number...or is it letters really? Letters representing numbers? Another layer in the mystery.....

All I did was go through magazines and cut the letters out "ransom" style and glue them on a page that also contains an interesting idea all be it a little "off" shall I say and maybe even appropriate for the number designation????? Hmmmmmm.

If you too like creative prompts to help guide you I bet you will like The Collage Workbook: How to Get Started and Stay Inspired as much as I do!

More about the book from the publisher Lark Crafts:
The Collage Workbook: How to Get Started and Stay Inspired
by
Randel Plowman

"Both a popular hobby and a recognized art form, collage encompasses a wide range of creative styles and techniques--explored here by the creator of the popular A Collage a Day blog. Offering step-by-step instruction, visual inspiration, and even a library of copyright-free images, this hands-on guide covers all the necessary materials, tools, and know-how, from adding color and transferring images, to décollage (tearing away layers). And to spark the reader's imagination, there are 52 creativity prompts, such as a collage using the letters of a single word.

Randel Plowman is the founder of the popular blog A Collage A Day (http://acollageaday.blogspot.com). His art has been exhibited in solo and juried exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad; cited in The New York Times and USA Today; featured in How Design, Artist Magazine, and Somerset Studio; and graced the covers of numerous books. Randel resides in Madison, Wisconsin."

Sequin Singeing technique from the cool book Dusty Diablos: Folklore, Iconography, Assemblage, Ole!

You know when the caption says "Don't try this at home." I of course have to and since it involves FIRE it is ironic that I am choosing to test drive this technique on a day that is going to be 104 degrees with heat warnings all over the news! I am going to try a singeing of sequins technique from the book Dusty Diablos: Folklore, Iconography, Assemblage, Ole! .

I didn't have the suggested creme brulee torch so a lighter will have to do. This also meant that I would have to pick up my swatch of sequins that I planned to singe so I grabbed a pair of pliers and a wet rag and a bucket of water since I had no idea the flammability of the fabric, beads, thread and sequins.

If you try this be SUPER careful!!!
Here it is. The right side is what I singed. Well to me looks more melted really. Very cool effect. I am not quite sure how I will use this but I am betting with Halloween coming up there might just be something that could use a bit of aging/deforming. I don't tend to think of the flame as a tool but clearly it is! If you like altering and aging your art you will really enjoy Dusty Diablos.

More about the book from the publisher North Light Books:

Dusty Diablos: Folklore, Iconography, Assemblage, Ole!
By
Michael deMeng

"Assemblage ole!

Bring your artistic yearnings and sense of adventure along on a journey to the land of Dusty Diablos. Inspiration seeps from every page, and inside here you’ll find: a tasty mix of ancient folklore (from the ancient metropolis of Teotihuacán to the miracle witnessed by Juan Diego); colorful pop culture (who knew that Western-Horror was its own film genre or that there’s an entire island overrun with misfit dolls?) and informative art-making how-tos (like the Tricky Burnt Paper Routine and crafting your own Nicho). Join author Michael deMeng on an artist’s pilgrimage south of the border and experience a culture as rich as it is beautiful and as genuine and down-to-earth as it is humorous and fascinating. While being mesmerized by all the amazing assemblage pieces, you also learn such nifty things as:

• Mixing up Michael’s favorite paint washes to achieve “rusty” results in your own work

• Crafting your own slithering serpent

• Creating miniature story boxes

• Aging bottle caps with beer and so much more!

Indulge your senses and come along for a trip through crowded marketplaces, a thrilling taxicab ride and the intoxicating festivities of Dia de los Muertos and discover the allure of Dusty Diablos. You might not want to leave.

About the Author

Michael deMeng is the author of Secrets of Rusty Things and an accomplished assemblage artist in the mixed-media world. His commissioned works span the globe and Michael teaches sold-out workshops across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Italy and Australia. "

Ten Two Studios Free Holiday Clip art

I just found out about this website Ten Two Studios while looking for St. Patrick's Day craft projects!
You simply must check it out!