WINNER and May Art Group!

It's time to announce the winner of our Favorite Tool Tuesday...Just a Bed of Roses!!!  Thanks for all your comments and make sure you email me your info so I can send you a Sharpie Meanstreak!  Let us know what you use it for.  We'd love to even see pictures!

Last Thursday was our May Art Group.  Cheryl was very generous and let us meet at her house (house is a relative term here....her house is more like a French Chateau).  Food is always a big part of our meeting, so we thought we'd have a tea party!  None of us actually drink tea, so it was more like lemonade and strawberries and fondue and cupcakes party....YUM!

Julie, Candice, and Cheryl

 

  
Here is a look at our project (unfinished):

We made books out of watercolor paper using old vintage children's books for images and book paper for text.  Mine is a nursery rhymes book.  


The method we used is a kind of tunnel book.  Here's how:

 fold a 21 1/2" X 14 1/2" piece of watercolor paper in fourths (mine is marked so you can see the folds)

fold into eighths

 cut up the middle to last fold

 keep folding until your book looks like this

Next, cut out your tunnels on pages B, D, and F.  Your tunnel shapes will vary according to what you want on your page.

After folding and cutting out our pages, we painted our backgrounds and glued images inside the books.  If you don't like using real images,  take Marilyn's copying idea from the previous post and you can reuse and resize whatever you have.

 I painted backgrounds with watercolor on a few pages and used papers on others

Here's what the first page ended up looking like (without text)

a couple of other pages (unfinished)

We didn't have time to finish off our books, so next month we are binding them.  Be sure to check back for instructions on how to finish your book!


Have you ever made a book?  What materials did you use?  Leave us a comment!


Happy Monday to you!

Amanda

Time to Plant?

Ancient Chinese Proverb Says:

“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. 

The second best time is now.” 

I have thought about this quote in relation to creating. A lot.

You know, sometimes life just gets in the way, doesn't it? The demands of work, family, responsibilities, and community can sometimes leave the balance in my creativity completely out of whack! As a result, I find that weeks (and sometimes months) have passed without creating a single thing.  


Nothing. Nada. Zilch! 

How can you get the creative juices flowing again when you only have a small amount of time or feel burned out from the heavy load of the day? 

Good question. And it’s a question I attempt to answer when I find my art heart wilting. Here are some ideas:

Some people enjoy doodling.

(Source: shellybeauch.blogspot.com)

Others discover that simply pawing through their art supplies 

helps jump start their creativity. 

While others find browsing inspirational sites helps awaken their muse.

(Can you say, "Pinterest pajama party, here I come?!")

As for me, I love to warm up by throwing some paint on a pristine piece of paper or canvas. Inevitably, when I am done, those splashes of paint end up becoming a painting of a face. (My favorite subject.)

Here are the results of a couple of those warm-up painting exercises:

Add a little plaster and beeswax to the mix 

(thanks to Stephanie Lee’s techniques) and you will discover messy bliss! 

I have found that simply hanging out in my studio and cranking up the music can awaken the desire to create something. And I find that no matter how depleted I felt before I began, the time spent creating always energizes me.

So, when is the best time to plant a tree? 

Today, you say? I agree. 

Let's get planting!

So come on, let's plant those creative seeds deep in the earth. Go get your paint brushes, glue, collage fodder, glitter, fabric, scissors, jewelry bling -- or whatever strikes your fancy -- and let the fun begin. 

I'm Rena Peterson, mother of two, printer, author, and artist. 

I love to create in a variety of mediums. 

And today...I'm gonna plant a tree! :) 

Paper Flower May Wreath Tutorial

Last week at art group we brought unfinished projects to work on.  I am the joke of art group lately because I always bring my paper flower wreath!  Everyone will be thrilled to learn that I've finally finished it!  

This beautiful wreath is fun to make (it just takes some time).  To make one, you will need: 

a styrofoam wreath form (mine is 14") 
3 old books (make sure they are the same size and not thin.  The three books will have different patinas on their pages and that will make your wreath more visually interesting)
scissors
glue gun
ribbon for hanging (optional)

When I started making my wreath, Sherri was making one too and it was interesting to see how different they turned out.  Sherri's flowers were all the same size and color and hers turned out SO beautifully symmetrical and mine is more organic because all my flowers are different sizes and I used different papers.  Whatever suits your taste and personality.  

1.  Pull out 2 or 3 pages in one of the books.  Cut out 2 ovalish shapes.  This will make two flowers.  My ovals are NOT perfect!  If you want your wreath more like Sherri's, use an oval pattern for every time you cut out a flower so they'll all be the same.  You should also make sure you use the same number of papers every time if you want it more uniform.  My flowers are bigger and smaller because of the amount of paper I was using (more paper=bigger flower; less paper=smaller flower).

2.  Now cut a spiral pattern in your oval.  It should look like this when you're done.

3.  This part is a little tricky so pay attention!  Just kidding.  No really--pay attention because I did this wrong a million times before I figured out the magic way.  Taking the outside of your spiral, start winding it toward the outside and to the left and as it gets bigger, use your right thumb and pointy finger to hold it on the top and bottom (to keep it's shape).  Now, I'm assuming if you're left-handed you do the opposite (anyone left-handed leave a comment if that works or not please!).  

4.  Keep winding until you just have that curly-q tail at the end and put some hot glue in the center.  Let it dry for a few seconds, then put a little glue on the tail to finish the flower off.

5.  Next, glue the flower in place on your wreath.  I found that if you work in clumps all over the wreath it turns out better.  Also, remember you are using three different papers so don't put them all in just one place.  It will look stripey (is that a word?).

6.  When you are finished, tie a beautiful ribbon around your wreath and hang it on your door, over your fireplace, or somewhere on your walls!

Thanks for hanging out with us at art group today.  I would love to hear how your wreath works out and love even more to see pictures! 


Happy May Day


Amanda