The Odyssey

The Odyssey is a nod to the journey that every artist takes as he/she creates a new piece.  

This started with a handmade book that I made several years ago and that was just sitting on a shelf, perhaps waiting for its turn to be embellished.

Part of my journey this past year has been my new role on the blog team at Spellbinders and I wanted that reflected in this book. Using a die from their A2 Curved Matting Basics B set and decorative paper, I cut out a shape just smaller than my book cover.

Loving texture as I do, I used the letter side of Spellbinders Numbers and Letters M-Bossabilities Folder to deeply emboss the paper.

I next rubbed the surface of the paper with metallic gold pigment ink to add more contrast and to make the depth of the embossed letters stand out.

I tore some found paper and adhered it to the embossed letters.

My art is rarely without metal and I dug through my stash, first to add this piece that I got in Vancouver over 10 years ago...

...and then to add three small pieces of stacked metal for more dimension.

For added interest and texture I then added to the edges of the paper some frayed fabric...

....some inked vintage paper...

...and finally a bit of (very) rusty, found metal.

I headed back to my Spellbinders collection and cut a piece of hand painted paper using a die from their A2 Distressed Edges set. I added some ink for dimension and adhered some ancient text from a very old book that I got at a flea market in NYC.

One last element from Spellbinders. I used the same hand painted paper and a die from their Creative Page Tabs set to create a tab, to which I added some ink and a rub on.

And then I went to mixed media heaven, adding found rusty metal objects, a vintage key, altered paper, and other embellishments. I continued until I felt my journey was complete. My souvenir from my travels in art was The Odyssey...

----------------------------

Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 Spellbinders^TM Grand Calibur® Machine

EL-027 Spellbinders^TM Numbers and Letters M-Bossabilities^TM Folder

S5-172 Spellbinders^TM Nestabilities® A2 Curved Matting Basics B

S5-052 Spellbinders^TM Shapeabilities® Creative Page Tabs

S5-174 Spellbinders^TM Nestabilities® A2 Distressed Edges

Preferred Promotional Partners: Tsukineko®  StazOn Ink Pad, Tsukineko®  Delicata Ink Pad, Imagine®  Crafts Inkblushers Sponge

Cross Promotional Partners: 7 Gypsies® Curiosities Rubbings

Other: handmade book, paper, metal embellishments metal snips, fabric bits, ink, adhesive

From Here to There...

Artist Darlene K Campbell recently put up a series of posts on her blog showing step-by-step how she created an artwork that started like this...

became this...

and ended up like this...

I always love to see the artist's process but I was especially stoked by this transformation because Darlene created this by following along on my workshop DVD Easy Mixed Media Surface Techniques.

If you would like to follow Darlene step-by-step, you can work backwards through her blog. Or you can click through the following numbered links to see the postings from start to finish: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

I love how she put her own twist on the method and was able to use what she already had on hand by creatively substituting some tools and supplies. Thanks so much Darlene -- this is the first time I have gotten to see how another artist applied this process.

Look Inside "The Mixed-Media Artist"

Happy to share the news that the 'Look Inside' feature on Amazon has just gone live for my soon-to-be-released book The Mixed-Media Artist. Click here to see a small sample of what is on its pages...

(Click to enlarge and grab your glasses to read)

ATC Ring Book

Today's project and tutorial was inspired by a pile. Actually, by two piles. I have saved every sheet of artist paper that comes inside my copies of magazines published by Stampington & Company. If you have ever bought a copy of Somerset Studio or Somerset Memories, you know exactly what I mean. So today was the day to dig into my selection and make use of these beautiful papers.

My second inspirational pile was my stack of ATCs - Artist Trading Cards. These are playing card sized works of art that are traditionally made to trade with other artists. I have quite a few that I have received and many that I have made that I still own. I decided that they deserve a better home.

After choosing a piece of artist paper, I used a die from Spellbinders A2 Curved Matting Basics B set to cut and emboss 2 sections.

Using a die from Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles Small set, I cut a window into one of these pieces.

I flipped over this piece and added double-stick tape to three sides, leaving the top-most section untaped.

I adhered the two curved rectangles together, creating a pocket with a window. This will hold my ATC.

I added some ink to the edges on both front and back, both bringing in some additional dimension and color as well as highlighting the embossed edge. At the open end at the top, I punched a hole in the center.

This pocket was now complete and ready to hold an ATC.

I went ahead and repeated these steps using different artist papers until I had a total of 10 pockets, each filled with a different ATC.

To make the book, I attached all the pockets together by slipping a loose leaf ring through the hole at the top. Now these ATCs have a proper home and I love the fact that I can add or remove pockets as well as switch out the ATCs.

--------------------------

Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 Spellbinders® Grand Calibur® Machine

S5-172 Spellbinders® Nestabilities® A2 Curved Matting Basics B

S4-201 Spellbinders® Nestabilities® Deckled Rectangles Small

Preferred Promotional Partners: Tsukineko Momento dye ink pad

Other: Artist Trading Cards, artist paper, double-stick tape, scissors, hole punch, loose leaf ring 

Stencils in Action

Sending out congratulations to Debbie from A Stitch of my Time, who is the winner of Content to Be, an original art piece that I created from my stencils and gave away as part of the StencilGirl Products blog hop. If you didn't win and would like to order my stencils, you can either get them directly from me or at StencilGirl Products.

One of the most exciting things about designing stencils is seeing how other artists choose to use them to create art. That was evident from all the varied art that was created by the artists participating in the blog hop.  Here are a few more examples from...you! 

MB Shaw...the original StencilGirl

One more from Mary Beth Shaw

Sherry Cheever

Corrine Gilman

Joy Lowell

Linda Cain

Karenliz Henderson

---------------------

And if you use any of these stencils to create your own artwork, please send me a picture so I can highlight it on my blog in a future post.