Craft Amor

Sam's Love Glasses

2012-01-13T15:13:00.001-08:00

I love Valentine's Day. Actually that is untrue. I love the time after New Years leading up to Valentine's Day. I have trouble with the actual day itself BUT all the days leading up to it can be filled with an abundance of cuteness: pink, white, or red. Deeelightful.

Sam (to the left) he loves it too!

Holiday Paint Out Week 3: Joy

2011-12-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

Here's my final image for this week's Holiday Paint Out with Creative Catalyst Productions. This week's prompt was "Joy," and for me there is something incredibly joyful about a fresh bouquet of flowers. Especially at this time of year in Oregon.

I have mixed feelings about the piece's outcome. I have to remind myself that I'm still struggling with basic things like color mixing, design, and composition. It's easy to get critical at a point in the learning process where really I should keep my criticisms quiet and just keep creating. The thing between me now and where I want to be is probably a couple hundred hours of practice so that is what I will keep doing.

Here is where I started. I gathered the papers that I felt were the brightest and found a piece of foam core I'd created textures on a few weeks ago. I then drew my flowers (each flower on a different color keeping it in the warm family) and arranged them before laying them down.

When I put them on the blue I knew very quickly that the background was way too intense (left image) so I made a pile of white, titan buff and matte medium and glazed it back (right image). Then I glued everything down.

Once I had everything down I liked it but I was at the place where I always stop. The piece feels too spacious. But not in the roomy wonderful sense. In the "Hmmm.... something is missing sense."

I decided to try and push myself, and so I cut out more flowers and glued them down. The image on the left was a test of where things should go. The final laying down (right) looked a bit different. Sorry about the darkness of the left image. I had a really hard time color matching things in Photoshop.

What I like: I think I'm begging to get the bulk I want.
What I don't like: I find the lines very distracting. I have a layer of gel matte between the two flower layers and I think that's what those lines are. I need to get some self leveling gel!

Holiday Paint Out Week 2: Peace

2011-12-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

I'm just coming in under the wire on this week's Holiday Paint Out with Creative Catalyst Productions. I have mixed feelings about it. I know I want to use this type of stenciling, but I'm not yet sure if I want the value to go light to dark or dark to light. I'm also not completely clear in my head about how to do that.

I do know thought that if you put too much matte medium in your fluid acrylics, yes, it makes a very subtle glaze, but oh goodness you may spend 3 hours trying to get anything dark.

This was originally just sort of the throw away piece, but then it developed better than the rest. Due to the time crunch, it has the darkest section smack dab in the middle. That creates a good challenge to work through!

I need to keep working with the silhouette idea. I also probably need to learn how to draw. Oh *sigh.*
Originally I wanted to focus on inner peace or something with flowers. (Still thinking about bouquets from last week's challenge.) But then I really became drawn to the idea of how peace develops and is established. I wanted it to be about how peace takes generations of slow change, but in reality, it became more about the sad side of peace. By the end I was thinking about how peace in one place is often at the cost of peace in another place.

Holiday Paint Out: Community

2011-11-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

I'm doing the Holiday Paint Out over at Creative Catalyst Productions, and this is my first entry. The prompt was the word "community" and I thought about Thanksgiving. I was trying to evoke a sense of being around a table but your perspective is up through the flowers. As I learn to draw better hopefully I'll do a better job at capturing gesture and all of that. But until then, basic human shapes it is!

I used a mix of Anne Bagby 2 (Pattern & Form: Advanced Collage Techniques) and Jane Davies (DVD release set 2012) for the papers.

To see the steps, click "read more" down at the bottom.

I started in a totally different direction and when I laid it out something felt really wrong (1). I have trouble with color and values. All the papers I make are in value range 3-5. Good pieces use the whole 9 part value scale. So I did what Donna Zagotta does and created a value thumbnail (2).

With that thumbnail in mind I went to work. I cut up a piece of deli paper into squares and glued it down (3).

Next I cut out my figures, glued them down, and added a lot of white glaze. As I added white glaze, I added a blue glaze over the figures to make them darker (4).

Once I had the background more or less to where I wanted it, I added the foreground (5). In my mind the bouquet was going to be a lot more complicated, but as in real life, I am terrible at arranging flowers. I left it fairly simple.

The point of the Holiday Paint Out is to get what you can in. Thanksgiving was this week, and my husband and I were traveling a fair amount. I wanted to spend more time but in the end couldn't. That is totally fine. I will go back though and try this exactly design again. Play around with values, color, and pattern.

What I learned:
-I make all my Bagby papers the same value. When I sit down to make deli paper, I need to work in value families. For example, I may pull out my tiles and make a bunch of light papers...because I don't have any.

-Thumbnails are great. Even if I don't end up using them, they teach me a lot about value and design.

-I love creating paper bouquets. I'll try more in the weeks ahead.

Weekend Wax, "First Rain"

2011-09-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here's my weekend's attempt at beeswax collage. I always forget how slow beeswax collage is compared to collage where there's paint and mediums flying. So yes, there was a little fight with the new skill set but it was completely worth it and I'm hooked.

Click read more at the bottom to see the step by step.

So my wax has been collecting dust since Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch left our studios but with a damp paper towel and a little electricity, I was back in business. Outside, a constant curtain of rain. Inside, a sweater and a stack of Anne Bagby-style deli papers.

Ever since I started the latest Great Clean I'd been staring at the wax materials really wanting to do something. But it was summer and the little heat we had didn't cause me to feel like handling the hot. But then I joined a Yahoo group called Beeswax Collage and that was the final push I needed to actually *do* something.

(1) Here was my idea of how I'd put the beeswax collage together. I hadn't played with beeswax in a long time so I'd clearly forgotten some of Patricia Seggebruch's most important lessons about testing materials so you can be prepared for when they DARKEN a ton. (Oops)

(2) Down goes the first layer of wax. I think I gasped at how quickly it dried. I almost gave up right then and pulled out my matte medium.

(3) Here's the background piece of deli paper half waxed down. The deli paper is in the style of Anne Bagby's second DVD with us. I love how well it combined with the wax. I'd hoped it would work this well and boy did it. (Yay!)

(4) And darken! I almost peeled the brown paper up but decided to go forward.
(5) I love the effect of the stamped tissue paper. This is something I learned from Claudine Hellmuth's beeswax collage. Tissue paper disappears so whatever is on that tissue paper is left. It has the feel of a transfer without all the transfer madness.

(6) Speaking of transparency, the first bird (upper) completely disappeared when I waxed it down. I experimented off to the side with some grid paper underneath the deli paper and it helped keep the bird from completely getting lost into the background. So I pulled up the top bird and layered in the grid (7) paper. (I love how you can peel mistakes up in beeswax collage.)

(8) This is just a close up of the final birds and (9) is the final piece. I used dotted lines on tissue paper to better define the bird silhouette. I waxed down only the tissue paper with the line on it. I made sure not to cover the body of the bird with tissue because it dulled the colors too much.

Thanks for reading!!

Love Story

2011-07-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

I have been somewhat absent from CraftAmor, but there is a glimmer of hope that I can return. Work and weddings and all things merry. BUT I finished a project long in the making. And by long I mean, I mean I did 99% of it together and then sat on the final 1% debating music until LAST NIGHT I finally said, "Oh wait, this could be finished." And alas. There it was.

2011-05-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday I introduced you to Yarn Engagement Buds. Here are those beauties in action. Here they are as part of the flowers at my sister's engagement party. Most people didn't even realize they were yarn and it was great to see them realize that they weren't what they expected.

(Also, seeing all these pictures of donuts just makes me want to wander down the street and buy a donut!)

Week 5: Engagement Buds or Yarn Buds

2011-05-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

Photo tutorial after the jump.

Ingredients:
-yarn (different yarns will have different bud effects.)
-hot glue gun
-hot glue
-round punch
-something to wrap the yarn around. I use a nail polish bottle.
-green paint
-green felt
-paint brush
-scissors
-card stock. Paint white or use one with a pattern or glitz
-stem wire (not pictured)

1. Cut out your circle and paint the underneath side green. (Not shown :)

2. Leave yourself a few inches length and then wrap yarn around neck of nail polish bottle. I wrapped 25 times. Finish your wrapping on the side where you started.

3. Cut your yarn and tie the two ends together.

4. Carefully pull off the bottle. Adjust the knot so that it at the bottom of the nest. Wrap one of the ends around that edge of the nest and then tie with the other end again at the bottom. With a separate piece of string, tie the other side. Have the knot at the bottom.

5. Put a rim of hot glue around the edge of your punched card stock. Push nest down. Then trim the strings from tying.

STEM

6. Cut a rectangle of felt. Fold in half. Down the middle, about half way down, run a strip of hot glue and then press in your stem wire. Press the felt in half. It's kind of like a felt and stem hotdog where your bun obscures the dog.

7. You want to make a ledge with the excess felt. Press it open. Add some hot glue and press it into cardstock.

8. And there you have your first bud. Now make a bunch. Cat's love these things and they look great shoved into baby's breath.

Happy Birthday Card

2011-05-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

I love the happy birthday card.

Felt Monograms

2011-05-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the crafts I did for my sister's (and husband-to-be's) engagement party. I think if I were to do it again, I would make the felt leaves even smaller although, that would be even more work. *Phew!*

I cut a bunch of felt leaves and then hot glued them down to poster board. I then glued those letters down onto a larger sheet of poster board I painted grey. There is soooo much hot glue gun action some days in my house.

I then taped the back of it (yes classy right?) to a wire coat hanger. This was so that I could hang it up on a wreath wrack on the door.

Week 4: Felt Circle Flowers

2011-04-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Fabric flowers don't have to complicated. They don't need a lot of complicated twists and folds. Sometimes all you need are a bunch of circles to bright someone's day.

Ingredients:
Felt
Any fabric, etc (Great use for small scraps!)
Floral Wire
Hot Glue
Pliers

Recipe:
1. Cut the bottom circle out of felt. The felt gives it support. You're base could be fabric but it might droop a bit if the circle is too large. (I'm rewatching the TV series Numb3rs right now so I almost made a surface area and gravity joke.)

2. Then cut small circles out of all your other fabrics and make a fabric sandwich. Mix and match. I went with analogous warm tones because I wanted the flowers to all work together. Carrie Burns Brown taught me that if you want that to happen, work in a color family.

3. Hand sew (or machine if you have that skill :) everything but the bottom felt circle together. I used a thread that matched my bottom felt. Again this was simply tie the flower together a bit better.

4. Heat up that hot glue gun and glue the top sewn stack with your base. You don't want it sopping with glue because it might discolor the felt or fabric on top.

5. Finally twist a stem (like I showed near the end of this video here) and glue the stem onto the flower.

These would also be pretty in a child's hair. Originally I had intended to make these the week of Easter but apparently Easter is a week earlier than I thought! Woot!

Heart Ring

2011-04-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Wedding cards have caused me trouble in the past. Up until a few years ago, I had gone to zero weddings so I had little to no experience with the genre. The first few I made were *awful.* Aaaaand then two years ago the weddings began and this year we're attending four so I need to get on my game. I really love cards and I want to be able to create something from the heart for these people I care deeply about. Here is try #1. I think it's a pretty good first effort. The values are all a bit too similar (a common problem of mine) but otherwise, I like the super simple design. Maybe I could add another circle so it's less Happy Engagement! and more Happy Life Together!

Vase + Facelift = Vaselift!

2011-04-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!

Easter has come and gone already. Can you believe it? From a craft stand point, that means we're in bit of a dry spell...except if you love weddings. Then this is like the super holiday season of weddings. And there are also birthdays. Birthdays are mini holidays sprinkled throughout the year to keep us going. I'm always a day or week late on those celebrations including this year when I made a bouquet of flowers for a friend (photos and tutorial will arrive in a few months for that one :) and needed a vase.
Z (<-- husband) and I have a bunch of just off white spray painted vases from our wedding and I try and use them when I give away flowers real or paper. The off white didn't work with the white flowers so I filled it with happy birthdays and then glazed it with white paint. First off, sharpie pen turns purple when hit with liquid sometimes. So my black plan became purple plan. Secondly, if you put white glaze on a non porous surface, it will take forever to dry. FOREVER. So plan accordingly.

I did not plan accordingly and it meant I looked incredibly ridiculous in the passenger's seat driving across Portland with a set vase balanced up right with my two fingers in the opening while the real bouquet sat in a second bottle teetering between my knees.

Due to bad camera work the second image looks whiter than the third, but I can assure you it was *mostly* a white vase by the time it got to the friend.

Also, I love how handwriting looks amassed in a single place. It just becomes this neat pattern of its own.

Week 3: Cone Flowers

2011-04-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to Week 3 of 52 Weeks of Paper/Fabric Flowers. This week let's try some Cone Flowers. I call these Cone Flowers b/c they are made up of a bunch of tiny little cones. These were a big hit in my husband's and my wedding flowers. These gold ones here would be very elegant as single flowers in a black and gold wedding or you could make festive pink and white for a bridal shower.

What I love about these is that they work as accents. You don't have to make a ton for them to be effective. Let's say you have a live flower bouquet and you need to add an accent of a chartreuse or a pink (or whatever.) Make some of these out of card stock, hit them with appropriately colored spray paint and there you go. Done and done.

This week comes with a video! After the jump:

Easter Egg Card (Tutorial)

2011-04-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Easter is this coming weekend! It snuck up unexpectedly but there is still time for the crafty aspects of the holiday.
One thing I did this year was pull out my watercolor paper, paints and combined them with some new skills with masking fluid. Cards are a great way to learn new art techniques without the scary expectations of Creating Art.

I put the tutorial up at my work blog. Check it out!

PS- Everything I learned about masking I learned from the wonderful Linda Baker.

Happy Birthday

2011-04-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

I love birthday cards. They can be sweet or funny, quiet or loud. They often have themes like cupcakes and flowers. Who doesn't love cupcakes and flowers? They are also a great excuse to get creative with what you already have laying around your studio. I made this card with a scrap piece of felt I just discovered and paint and paper I had on the desk. I almost couldn't bring myself to add anything over the green and pink background combination. But now I have that tested and approved for something else!

Week 2: Painted Stems

2011-04-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

I use brown floral wire for almost all of the fabric flowers I make. When I made flower arrangements for my husband's and my wedding, I kept feeling like something was missing. Originally I thought it was the bulk that leaves make. And while, yes, there was some of that, I think a fair amount was the fact that the stems were brown.

There's an easy solution no further than the 99 cent paint isle of your local craft store. Paint. If it's summer and you've got a lot of stems to make, pull out the spray paint. If you don't have a million to make, use paint and a brush.

You can twist the stems either before or after you paint them. I got this color with Delta Creative's Ceramcoat, Santas Flesh, which suddenly sounds very creepy. The painting really adds to the personal touch. You can make poms (any flower) with the season and holiday in mind. These gray and pink flowers would be lovely for a bridal shower, a baby shower or an Easter Brunch.

Half Pom Boutonniere

2011-04-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

Last week we learned (or reviewed) a Half Tied Pom. Instead of a stem, I've added two felt leaves, a circle of what could be glitter paper and a pin to make it a boutonniere. This could also be made into a hair clip. Perfect for Easter basket gifts!

Soft Cards

2011-04-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

There was a new edition to my extended family this last week and so this little guy is heading to her in the next couple of days. I love the ideas of cards for baby showers and other baby/kid things but rarely have the occasion! These will be showing up in the shop in the next week or so.

Week 1: Pom Flower and Half Tied Pom

2011-04-08T00:54:00.000-07:00

Poms have been everywhere on the internet. They are magical. They are furry and cute and you can make them with a ball of yarn, a pair of scissors and a couple of fingers. Pretty magical.

So starting out this 52 weeks of fabric flowers; let's revisit the delightful little pom and hang out with her little sister the half tied pom.

If you find yourself saying, "What's a pom?" Well, watch the video after the jump.

If you know the pom, let me introduce you to the half tied pom. The half tied gets its name because it's a pom but you stop earlier in the process.

Note: In the video I show you how to put a stem on after you've clipped the flower. After making dozens of these, I learned a very useful tip. Glue the stem on when the flower is in a half tied pom stage. Cut after the glue has dried. This makes adding the stem infinitely more easy.

Video after the jump!

Bunny Circle Cuts- Tutorial

2011-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

Why do more work than you need if you can get a basic start? This is why I love the bunny head from circle. Yes, you could just cut out the head shape, but the punch gives you a great place to start.

I'm using an 1 1/2" punch and then trimming out the ears and face shape. You can then use a second circle (same punch) to create the body. The tail is from a heart punch cut in half. And wallah! Bunny!

This final card (I call him Wilson) is a slight variation on the above cuts. The only change is that I cut a slight scoop out of the second body circle. I also added a dashed line.

Bunny Paste Cards (Tutorial)

2011-04-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have a tendency to be inspired by products in a store. When we were filming Sherrill Kahn, she mentioned that product inspires her creativity. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that I am the same way. I walk through a craft store and say Sherrill's fantastic phrase, "What if?" Sound familiar?

But sometimes I look around my studio and am aware of how much stuff I own. Also sound familiar? I bought light molding paste when I was learning the techniques in Ann Baldwin's second DVD, "Text & Texture in Mixed Media Collage," which I love. But then the light molding paste sort of sat until I looked at a stack of Goodwill bound craft supplies. I heard Sherrill's phrase, "What if?" again. This is how Paste Cards were born. They are wonderfully filled with texture and the graphic silhouette that is in so much of my work. The light molding paste is fun to use and the possibilities are limitless. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Light Molding Paste • Palette Knife • Basswood Sheet (found in the wood section of craft supplies. I used one 1/18"x4"x24") • Blue Tape (for holding things in place) • Card Stock • Pencil • Scissors

Recipe:
1. Draw a shape onto your card stock. Make sure it fits on your basswood sheet. Cut out the shape to create a stencil.

2. Tape your basswood down to your work surface and then tape your stencil down over it. I do this to reducing the slipping and sliding that can occur with stencils.

3. Take a glob of light molding paste with your palette knife and spread from your stencil down onto the basswood. Move outside in. You want to try and avoid getting molding paste up under your stencil.

4. After you've covered the surface, carefully pull back the stencil. Allow to dry.

5. Write your Easter greetings on a second piece of card stock and then glue it to the opposite side of the basswood. Slip into and envelope and mail! (May need additional postage due to card weight.)

Happy Love Day

2011-02-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

Speaking of a Love Day: this is the invite I've been sending out to my sister's and future brother-in-law's friends and family for an engagement party.

Glitter Paper Tutorial

2011-02-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

I always buy glitter when it's on sale. The result is that I have a lot of glitter just lying about. I love glitter but I hate that it gets everywhere so while I have a ton of it, I'm reticent to use it. Enter glitter paper. It's like a glitter sandwich with gel medium as the bread. This year I'm using it to make hair clips and valentines day pins.

1. Paint your paper with an acrylic color similar to your glitter color. Cover with gel medium. I use a palette knife for all gel medium work in this project.

2. While gel medium is still wet, add glitter. Wait a few minutes and then gently press the glitter into the gel. After an hour or so, tap off the extra glitter and put the paper to the side to dry.

3. Once the gel has dried completely, add your second layer of gel medium.

4. With a palette knife spread the the gel across the glitter until you have an even layer. Let dry completely and then cut with scissors.

CraftAmor Etsy Shop

2011-01-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

craftamor.etsy.com

Last Minute Christmas Card

2010-12-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

How can Christmas take me by surprise every year? Does this happen to you? I mean, it comes *EVERY* year. Next year I'm planning for Christmas in June. Or maybe July 4th will be when my shelves begin to fill with green and red.

This card is really simple. I made the paper (1) when I was painting something else various greens and it was my brush clean sheet. After I was done with the project I saw the paper and thought, "This could be used for something." Or you could make it purposefully, just have a couple greens on hand and start playing. Cut it up into simple triangles and add some Stickles (or not) and you've got a holiday card or tag.

Anne Bagby inspired Christmas Card

2010-11-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

Anne Bagby was just at our studios filming her second DVD workshop, and while she showed us a bunch of really cool new techniques, I began thinking about what I could do with the ones she taught in her first DVD at Creative Catalyst Productions, "Paper, Patterns, and Glazing." This is a take on her complicated paper. The technique is fantastic within serious collage work and also excellent for an afternoon of holiday fun.

Snowflake Card1

2010-11-24T13:35:00.001-08:00

Fun with paper scraps!

2010-11-22T08:41:00.000-08:00

Caroline Jasper has new work just in time for the holidays. I learned a lot from her time here with us at Creative Catalyst Productions and even more while I edited her video, "Color Moves: Painting Water with Oil." Her DVD was the first one that introduced me to colored grounds. Caroline will start her oil paintings on a bright red or bright orange gessoed background. She then builds her color from there. You can see traces of the original background in the luminescent lines around trees or edges of boats in water. I really love her work.

Painting starting in top left, clockwise: Little Beach, Hidden, Little Shelter, Wait

So...

2010-11-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

when an artist hands you a drawing she's just filmed and tells you to put spray fixative on it b/c, "Oh it's easy," and then you fast forward a day and she paints on that drawing and all the pencil lines disappear b/c you did not in fact do a very good job with fixative? That's what we call totally not awesome.*

*But thank goodness Anne was TOTALLY (totally) nice about it.

My Year 1

2010-11-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

Anne Bagby Sketches in a Brow

Anne Bagby has taken a lot of workshops from great artists. One, Alex Powers, told her class that it takes 10 years of painting to start creating original work. Most of the class found it discouraging but not Anne. I'm with Anne. To be able to start creating original work in only 10 years, well, that sounds like a cosmic deal. Ten years we can do.

Anne Bagby is On Her Way

2010-11-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

We leave Creative Catalyst Productions in about an hour to drive to the airport and meet Anne Bagby. The studio is prepped. The cameras are ready. The cats can't wait to meet a new human and we're all really excited.

I've been in love with Anne's work since we have the opportunity to film her last DVD workshop, "Paper, Patterns, and Glazing"and am unbelievably happy that we have the opportunity to spend even more time with her for this second DVD.

Cards!

2010-11-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have always been a serious fan of card making. Not only do you get to do something creative but you get to send that piece to someone you love. All around fantastic.

At work, Creative Catalyst Productions, we're asking our newsletter subscribers and blog readers to send us images of the cards they make. My Halloween cards fell apart this year so I'm excited to try and create something for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

If you have a card you'd like to share, please send a high resolution jpg and a brief description on how you made the card to lynn@ccpvideos.com

Happy card making!

Atriums (via Country Living)

2010-10-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

These jar atriums are really creepy. Imagine a line of them on a bookshelf during a casual Halloween movie night. So great!

See how to by Dane Holwager over at Country Living.

Modern Halloween Invite

2010-10-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm playing around with modern wedding invitation design and came up with something that could just as well be used for Halloween. A hypothetical Halloween party of course. :)

Sea Garden

2010-10-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Change...how I distrust thee

2010-10-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

I grew up with this notion that artists have wild lives full of adventure and intrigue. Almost a prerequisite for making good art. Yet, I feel like I didn't really discover my own artistic leanings until the world around me settled into a known calm. And ironically, it was leaving a city brimming with creativity did I find my own creative voice. Or really even realize I have one.

These are the things I'm thinking about as my husband and I pack our belongings and move back to that creative city.
Blocks from art galleries and coffee shops being run by off hour artists. We are keeping our (wonderful) jobs with Creative Catalyst Productions but will be able to spend evenings with our peers. Something lacking in the small cities we both grew up in and have lived in until, well, tomorrow.

But what does it take to make an artist? Big A. Little a. Art happens in the smallest, rural towns and the largest cities in the world. Each of us needs something different to feel like we can extend our souls onto paper or into song. I am curious, and yes more than a little scared, what this new city will mean for my own endeavors. Wait and see, I suppose. Wait and see.

Trick or Treating Ghosts

2010-10-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

2010-10-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

2010-10-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hurrah Cards on Store Bought Cards

2010-09-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Most of the thank you cards I stenciled onto trimmed, 12x12 craft paper. However, when I was cleaning out my card file I realized what I really should be doing is stenciling onto pretty store bought cards I already owned. I have a bad (good?) habit of picking up sale items in craft and stationary stores. I have more than I need. This is a great way to use them! I must remember this for upcoming holiday cards.

After these messages

2010-08-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

I am getting married (hurrah!) and will be back in a few weeks after we've returned from the honeymoon. (<--That still feels strange to say.) So thank you for your patience and see you soon!

Welcome Linda Baker

2010-06-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

We are finishing up our first full day of filming transparent watercolorist Linda Baker.

Linda is a phenomenal layerist and also a great teacher. She's been taking our criticisms in stride and been flexible in all ways. If the filming weren't so fun, I'd skip tomorrow, go buy some Pebeo masking fluid and start practicing all the cool techniques I'm learning.

We have two full more days of filming and I can't wait to see what Linda creates.

These are the times I love my job. :)

PS- Linda has been really nice about letting me take photos of her working with my macro lens. The photo on the left is of Linda working with her pipette. Just one of the many techniques she uses to create textures and layers in her paintings.

Linda's site, gallery.

Machine Stitched Fabric Card

2010-06-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

During the studio clean last weekend, I threw a lot of fabric into the Goodwill bin. The top and bottom blue are two of them. As I glanced over and saw them laying next to each other and thought, "Damnit. That's kind of a cool color combination." Aaaand the ever so dangerous out-of-the-recycle-pile began.

About 5 minutes later, I had this. I'm very excited about it. I've been saving machine stitched fabric for awhile now wanting to try this very technique. Finally.

Side note: It's amazing how many ideas come out of cleaning. Maybe this is why cleaning takes so long- the derailment of ideas.

New Brush Clean

2010-06-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

I spent the whole weekend cleaning (post to come) and finally I treated myself with some painting time. Just throwing colors around...that's about all I know how to do.

BUT I did figure out the way I'm going to work my water jars. Keep one jar for brushes immediately as they come off the page. Try and clean them as much as possible in that first jar. Then, dip them into the second jar for the final clean. I spent an hour and half with paint and the second jar barely got dirty at all. Small steps. Small but super useful steps.

Creative Catalyst Art Show Winner: Congratulations Mary Rochelle Burnham!

2010-06-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

We had a portrait art show at work and Jean Pederson was the juror. Jean chose Mary Rochelle Burnham's piece, "Richard."

Here's Mary's assessment of the painting.
What is your favorite part of this painting?
How the light models the face and brings out the warmth of the subject, both in color and personality.

What was a challenge and how did you find a solution?
The challenge is that I managed to get Rich to agree to sit for our portrait group that meets every week! Working from a live model can be difficult with distractions, model breaks and changing light from outdoor windows. The solution for me is to stay focused on my goal of what I'm trying to achieve by giving myself permission to express myself artistically and not try to be a camera.

Mary's final comment is really lovely. She wrote:
Richard...is my wonderful husband, the love of my life. I hope that through the use of light and color that I have captured my feelings for him and his sweet, glowing disposition. We have been married over twenty years and I have cherished every moment with him!

See all of the Creative Catalyst Productions Portrait Show entrants here.
See more of Mary's work at her website.

Links for the Week plus Robert Joyner Painting (!)

2010-06-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

First original painting purchase ever! I'm so excited! The cow on the left is from artist Robert Joyner. Run, don't walk, to his blog, site, and etsy.

Great interview with Donna Zagotta over at Ruth Armitage's blog. Question #9, "What other interests do you have? Do they contribute or take away from your art?" Oooooh interesting! See what Donna has to say.

Claudine Hellmuth's husband, Paul, is turning 36. Happy Birthday!

Thanks (card)

2010-06-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

Thank you card I made from random scraps:
T-inside envelope
H-Part of an advertisement
A-Martha Stewart paper line
N-Goodwill found shelf liner
K-Scrap of gold paper
S-Front of a card I started to write for my Grandmother but then after I spelled about a million words wrong, I decided to start again.

Table Try 1 Million

2010-06-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Here's an image from the table design I'm trying for our wedding. You can kind of see some of the fabric flowers I'm working on.

Ellbee Equation

2010-06-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

Vector art of a friend's dog.

Sherrill Kahn interview

2010-06-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Judi Hurwitt over at Approachable Art has a great interview with Sherrill Kahn! She also gave the DVD a really nice review. It's reviews like that that makes my job (editing) all worthwhile.

Also, and I learned this from Judi's interview, Sherill is now selling some of her work. Some lovely pieces at her website!

Couch Card (by Me)

2010-05-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here's the card I made for Marc and Lin's wedding. I have a bad tendency to panic in the face of wedding cards. But slowly (slowly) I'm getting better at this. In this case with Z's help because he lovingly reminded me that I normally panic a day before we leave. Plus Marc and Lin made it easy b/c as soon as I saw their registry couch I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

Orange Felt

2010-04-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

I've always loved felt but I become more and more impressed with it daily. I love how easy it is to work with and how solid a texture it is. Felt is sturdy. And comes in great colors like burnt orange.

This box of goodies is going into invitations. Yay!

Bunny

2010-04-20T14:54:00.001-07:00

Paper and Tulle Flower

2010-04-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Flower made of cupcake wrappers and tulle. And a stapler. The stapler really makes the difference.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T21:34:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter!

2010-03-31T15:16:00.001-07:00

bunny in disguise

2010-03-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

So, this week may be brought to you by bunnies.

Easter

2010-03-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

My fiance really likes a certain type of cartooned animal. I made this with him in mind.

(Click on the image for a larger view.)

Brave (Illustration Friday)

2010-03-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

I missed Illustration Friday again! I am on a roll.

OK, so for this I learned a few things:

1. Wall paper is hard to stick to paper.

2. Vellum buckles under glue. When I paint it, it doesn't buckle, but when I try to stick it down on gloss medium, it buckles away.

I like the general concept of this but the flashlight isn't distinguished enough from the monster behind. I am happy though that I finally used Japanese tape. Her shirt is made of a strip of tape over the inside of an envelope.

Palette for Perspective

2010-03-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited about this system for learning color. I generally don't work super fast so I'm going to try and take the time to label what colors I used for mixing.

Perspective (Illustration Friday..or not)

2010-03-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

(Update: So. Apparently Perspective was not this week's Illustration Friday. Ha! I clearly totally made it up. Nice work. Well, here is my Kelly's Brain submission for this week. Ahem. Continue on.)

Analysis and process after the break.

So this was my first attempt and it felt very very off. I brought it to my Mom, whose art I respect immensely. She pointed out the following issues:
1. Values are too similar. (See the first BW.) There is nothing to separate the background and foreground. She suggested darkening the bug. Also giving him a shadow to connect him with the shelf he's sitting on.

2. Bug's right side lines up too much with the left side of the mirror. Oops. Forgot to change that.

3. It's confusing to have the pattern around the mirror and the shelf.

So I went to work with a plan. I played around with the design in Illustrator and came up with more of a color scheme I liked.

I didn't bring that image in with me to the studio but I tried to remember the feel of it. The result is the final Illustration Friday submission. I definitely succeeded in getting better contrast between for and back ground. Next I'll work on getting more contrast between values with people in a given plane. (The wall, the reflection and the girl are the same value, while the bug and the shelf are nearly the same value.)

Final Assessment:
I think the bug reads better in the final version but I miss the texture on that left wall.

The red outter frame seems strange. I'm not sure what to do with it or the mirror frame color. The brown shelf is strange. Also I need to be careful to not cut the space directly in half. Bad design. Really this painting has four distinct quadrants with cross overs between 2 and 4 (the figure) and 3 and 4 (the bug.) I could have gone with this and put something in quad 1 that runs off the page to the left.

What I like: I feel like I mixed some colors successfully. Before I started the bug, I asked myself what I wanted and how I thought I'd get there. Then I tried it and was successful. I also came up with a system for labeling my mixes so that I have them as reference later. This is part of the conscious color study I'd like to keep trying. So the bug was a color mixing success and so was that brown shelf. I darkened the brown with Paynes Grey instead of black. To me that's a total victory and makes this whole thing a win.

Teeny tiny short animation

2010-03-01T14:22:00.001-08:00

I made this as a thank you to someone. It's nothing fancy.
*Note: It's taking just a moment to load.

Deathtrap poster

2010-02-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

This is a poster I'm working on for the local community theater. I did not do the main design but am rather working from a concept sketch someone else gave me. I added the line up and down of the t and p and I'm hoping it passes muster. I'd like to really play around with it more but in all things life, probably don't have the time. Originally I was hoping this would be a chance to try some poster ideas I've seen popping up on various design blogs I read. Maybe next time. :)

OwlStamp

2010-02-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

I don't think I ever published our owl stamp. It must be because I'm waiting to send off all the little guys.

You know, every time I carve a stamp (and I'm carving a lot of them lately) I have to say thank you to Gloria Page. She came to our work and after watching her film her workshop and then while I edited her workshop, I knew that stamp carving really had a place in what I do creatively.

Birthday Card

2010-02-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

This was my first foray into the awesomeness that is Happy Tape. There will be more. Maybe next year's valentine's day cards will be Happy Tape accessorized.

This was a birthday card (a hoooorrrribly late birthday card) for my friend whose name starts with N.

Happy Birthday Monster

2010-02-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

I made this card for a friend who was thinking about boycotting her own birthday. I share the birthday mixed feelings thing (ooooh and I'm coming up on one!) so I felt that it was appropriate that the little monster was eating the Happy Birthday.

I was really excited about this design and may use it again. Little birthday monsters may be going out to all my friends for years.

Clumsy- Illustration Friday

2010-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

I searched Clumsy and found a story of an art student who tripped and ripped a Picasso. You can't help but have empathy for her. Originally I was going to try and have people with Picasso-like bodies walking around on a street with a stray ear here, stray nose there, but I don't really have those drawing skills. So I started constructing bodies out of rectangles. After I placed the five people, I began laying body components elsewhere. The idea is that any of those other pieces could be rectangle people. We are all very fragile whether we are made of right edges or not.

I'd like to try this at home with acrylic paint and fabric.

Have I mentioned that I need to learn to draw? Yeeah.

Hello Again

2010-01-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

Part of what I love about blogs is that they can act as a file cabinet for what we've felt and what we've done over a given time. Despite my best efforts, my daily life isn't as organized as it could be. I have notebooks sprawled with notes, thumbnail sketches and lists. Inevitably, one notebook is replaced by another and soon I have a whole bookshelf full of notebooks of half formed ideas. (Sound familiar?) A blog, on the other hand, keeps it organized. Thank you Google.

So in my own personal efforts to grow as an artist (little 'a' for the time being :), I'm going to try and become more focused in my CraftAmor postings. I'm not saying the posts will be any more focused, but I'm going to try and consciously use this space to log where I am and what I'm doing be it wedding crafts, work progress, weekly challenges (I hope everyone at InspireMeThursday is OK) or fighting the long fight of learning to draw. So yes. Hello again.

Man Painting

2010-01-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

This is a painting (drawing?) I did recently. I played around with background options in Photoshop. Another thing I'd like to try is to take stamps and stamp in words in a horizontal line behind him. Fill almost the entire space with this stamped word.

Show Cards

2010-01-15T08:42:00.000-08:00

2010-01-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

2010-01-13T08:42:00.000-08:00

2010-01-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Show Cards

2010-01-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

These are the cards I made for my castmates for my most recent show. The show was called "String of Pearls," and I thought about trying to use pearls as a motif but couldn't quite figure out something I liked. Instead I went with chairs. We each brought a different chair and spent the entire show on stage (even when we weren't playing any characters.)

Painting/Collage Practice

2010-01-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

Here's something I worked on last night. I like it better on the computer than I do in real life. In real life it seems too light. I need to make it darker but I'm not exactly sure how.

I think in my next try on a different piece I will try to create texture all across the page (face and background) and then mask out the background or then hit it with more colors and texture. On this piece I painted in the face and then worked up the background texture but after adding to the background, the face looked completely mismatched with the activity going on behind it.

Also, I should say that it was great being able to use things I'd learned in Ann Baldwin's 2nd DVD ("Text and Texture in Mixed Media Collage") in a way that wasn't necessarily exactly what she was teaching. That's a big step for me. Also made me realize I need to review the individual techniques in that b/c I was having trouble remembering the different times Ann suggests using molding paste vs heavy gel gloss.

Candy Boxes (by me)

2010-01-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

I made these as thank yous for a show I was recently in. It was called "String of Pearls" so each candy box is wearing felt pearls. These were part of crew gifts. I also made photo magnets, which are sooooo easy. I love love love them. We had someone take a picture of us holding large paper "pearls" I made out of construction paper. I had to fiddle with it a bit in Photoshop but I made the "Thank you so much!" legible and then just printed them out on somewhat expensive magnet paper. It's truly magical.

These would be great for a Mother's day, Father's day, or even Valentine's Day for friends. Dress them up as favors at a bridal shower? All sorts of box possibilities!

Gift Wrapping

2009-12-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

This will probably be the only Christmas present I give or wrap this year. (We aren't doing Christmas presents in our family this year. Instead we are baking together. I love it!)

However, I'm trying to get better at wrapping. I'm kind of awful at it. Here's this year's attempt. This was for our always super fun Christmas office dinner.

It turned out better than usual. The one change I'd make is wrap the yarn so that the knot is at the bottom.

Illustration Friday: Crunchy

2009-12-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

This still isn't exactly the feel I had in my brain but I decided to get it up anyway.

Here are the changes I'd like to make:

The colors aren't quite right. She disappears into the background.

Maybe the problem is that I'm using too similar of values for the whole thing.

Second problem is scale. Something just feels off about it at this point. Like she needs to be smaller but clearer. Is that possible?

(This is for Illustration Friday)

2009-12-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

Card 2

Thanksgiving

2009-12-04T15:53:00.001-08:00

Little Thanksgiving gifts for my castmates.

2009-12-04T15:52:00.001-08:00

Birthday card

Chinese Batik pattern

2009-11-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

I go in and out of being interested in patterns. OK, scratch that. I am ALWAYS interested in patterns. I go in and out of feeling some sort of desire to play around with designing them. I kind of think it's a holiday thing. Something about the holidays makes me want to hang out in Illustrator and Photoshop.

(click image for bigger version)

Pattern Play

2009-11-02T15:57:00.001-08:00

I made this in photoshop with one of the free dover clips (sign up here) of the week and a free download from Mae.

Owls

2009-10-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

These are part of our Save the Dates...which I still haven't finished but seriously just need one more weekend. I just need to actually do it!

This is a shot of all the owls before I paired them with their background paper. You can see that I still have their feet to cut out. Cutging out their feet probably took twice as long as the rest of the owl in entirety.

Welcome Home Sign

2009-10-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's hard to read in this picture, but this was the sign I had hanging in my cousin's apt for when she and her (new) husband got home from their honeymoon.

This was another really simple project. All you need is paper, yarn (or string whatever), scissors, tape and a pen.

Welcome Home Boxes

2009-10-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

My fiance and I recently house sat for my cousin while she was on her honeymoon. When she left her apartment, she had all these vases filled with flowers from the wedding. By the time she got back they would have all been really quite dead so we cleaned them. It seemed sad to just have these empty vases welcoming them home, so I filled the largest one with little welcome home messages. I used the left over paper from the banner I made. It wasn't fancy, but it was fun, and most importantly she loved it.

I should try and remember to do things like this more often. Random acts of crafts...or something like that. :)

Woot

2009-10-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Take THAT Halloween!

*cough*

Just say'n.

Also:

What's inside: here.

How I made the outside: here.

Work mast

2009-10-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

I made this mast for the this week's newsletter. (I do a weekly newsletter for work.) I'm not sure we're going to get to use it due to some last minute changes so here it is! (Click to see the larger version :)

Peacock Feathers

2009-10-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

I'm just playing around with a few if the tiger's eye ColorBox ink pads and fun pens from PaperSource. This could be neat on basic brown paper as a pattern for wrapping paper. Also maybe one as a card.

Cartoon Art Museum

2009-10-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in SanFran and visited the Cartoon Art Museum. I have to admit, besides seeing Sargent's and members of the Bay Area Figurative's work, this has been my favorite douse of art. It also is a great example of the merits of line. So on the left is my CAM-inspired drawing. There will hopefully be more.

Save the Dates

2009-10-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

These are our ultra home made Save the Dates. I was up until almost 2 working on them. Tonight will be another late night but we'll have basically all the inside-envelope work finished. Woohoo!

Happy Happy Happy

2009-09-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

I've been having a hard time with birthday cards of late. Normally birthdays are where I excel. Weddings are the killer for me. I am yet (barring one) to make a wedding card I really really like. It's like the pressure gets to me or something.

I need to go back through my blog and find examples of cards that I've done and really liked and use those ideas for birthdays and weddings. I have to remind myself it's not terrible to use a design I've already used. It sounds silly to say out loud but there you have it :)

Oh happy day (indeed!)

2009-09-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

This was from a friend's birthday months ago. Sometimes I get sizing wrong. Cupcake should have been larger. It's a fine example of how idea and execution are two different things.

Aug 14th Stamp

2009-09-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is for our Save the Dates. Stamp made from rubber 3M adhesive stuck on a large tile. I made this for a test but then we really liked it. Our Save the Dates aren't very formal. OK actually nothing at our wedding is going to be very formal.

Thank You Card

2009-09-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

These are the thank you cards I made for the surprise engagement party. (I'm engaged!)

I took an already really pretty card (I will find the name of these later in that I can't remember) and I cut a circle at one side. On the inside, I glued down a pretty piece of paper that coordinated with the outside (like the purple polkadots.)

Then I glued in a string. On the string I had another tiny piece of card stock that read "thank you."

One note: Originally I was going to use a punch to make a super clean circle but I ended up having to cut them by hand because the punches only go in so far. Also, next time instead of thread to hold the "thank you."

Oh hello there

2009-09-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

So I have been absent for awhile, but while away my hands have been busy. Crafts await!

Yay Card

2009-06-10T16:59:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Laurel!

2009-06-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is my sister-in-law's birthday card. It's suppose to be a chihuahua. Her and my brother have two chihuahuas and they really do think of them as children.

Collage Journal 10

2009-06-08T10:24:00.000-07:00