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Showing posts from March, 2012

More artsy links!

  Laura Thykeson - Taz's Corner Laura offers a link to some free stencils, journal prompts and vintage photos for collage, atc's or mixed media art!   Beading Arts Cyndi wraps up "Seed Bead Month" with a look back at tutorials in the Beading Arts archives, from easy beginner projects to more challenging ones! Creative Dreamer Easter's around the corner, come see a quick treat June's doing with Peeps!   Eileen - The Artful Crafter One of The Artful Crafter's readers has developed a new, improved recipe for homemade polymer clay. Be sure to check out Eva's recipe, as well as the darling gingerbread house she made with it. Gold Glass Sculpture for the Home Cherie makes a sculpture for her hearth. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

  Aileen's Musings Aileen shows you how she turned trash to treasure with a re-purposed whisk, ribbon spool, felt and a little ingenuity.   Carmi's Art/Life World The spring ring. So easy to make and wear! Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there are tutorials on how to make an Easter egg pop art decoration, a recycled leather Steampunk style cuff, embroider multicolored yarn "X" shapes on your knitting and a recipe for bacon butter.   Crafty Princess Diaries The Crafty Princess takes a road trip and visits an amazing yarn shop in Florida.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter You can make any size envelope with the Crafter's Companion Ultimate crafting tool. Look at how easy it is to "push the envelope"! Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to applique a "Zzz" pillowcase.     Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , al

Recent publications: March 2012

Mixed Media Workshop: A multifaceted approach to creating unique works of art-step by step by Isaac Anderson, Joe Martino, Mark Mendez and Bette McIntire The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists Revealed by Seth Apter Digital Art Technique Manual for Illustrators and Artists: The Essential Guide to Creating Digital Illustration and Artworks Using Photoshop, Illustrator, and Other Software by Joel Lardner and Paul Roberts Modern Minimal: 20 Bold & Graphic Quilts by Alissa Haight Carlton Siegliende's Quilting Bee: Applique Projects Inspired by Mother Earth and Her Children by Sieglinde Schoen Smith Shadow Trapunto Quilts: Simple Steps, Remarkable Results, 30 Elegant Projects by Geta Grama Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Quote of the week

Lost in Thought - part two

Lost in Thought Last week I shared part one of my design process in creating this abstracted male figure quilt.  This week I'm picking up with the construction process. I began my hand stitching by attaching the background fabric pieces to the batting.  The first ones I stitched were the pieces that would be underneath the sheer figure.  He was painted onto a piece of China silk, and the rest of the background pieces are the heavier habotai and dupioni silk.  I used a simple running stitch in a floss color closely matched to the fabric so that it wouldn't show through the figure. Pieces of background fabric that were not going to be hidden by the figure were stitched down using blanket stitch. I pinned the figure down on top of the background and stitched him into place, along with the piece of background fabric that overlapped him. Again I used blanket stitch to attach a backing piece of fabric to the top and batting, trimming all the edges ev

More artsy links!

Mo(o)re Whimsies Trying New Techniques with Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers   The Uncommon Artist-Laura Thykeson Laura describes two new workshops and gives you a look at one of her other blogs! Beading Arts Cyndi has gotten inspired by Spring Fever! Has that ever happened to you? Do you have some work you'd like to share?   Creative Dreamer Spring is definitely in the air... and June has gone a little "green" to celebrate... come see!   Easter Bunny Cupcake Craft With Nutter Butter "bunny" ears. This would be a fun Easter treat to make with the kids!   Eileen - The Artful Crafter Sew a cute pin cushion bracelet to keep your pins (literally) on hand.   Green Glass Garden Sculptures It's Spring! Which means Cherie is gluing glass together again! This time she's got green glass (in honor of St. Patty's Day).   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , a

Artsy blogging round-up!

  The Card Album Blog How to make a "Keep Calm and Cut On" Recycled art card . About Family Crafts Play along with the new Make-It-Over craft challenge. This challenge is all about making crafts using Easter Peeps candy. Aileen's Musings Aileen offers you a re post of a fun magnetic Easter or Mother's Day project!  Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi makes some pop up cards using some beloved vintage imagery! Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there tutorials on how to make tube rivets, recycled envelope stamped mail art, use an ironing board to adjust drape, info on Crafted at The Port of Los Angeles and a recipe for peanut butter bread. Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy shows off a new work in progress, a beautiful ripple shawl using self-striping yarn.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter One of The Artful Crafter's readers has developed a new, improved recipe for homemade polymer clay.

Yay for Liz!

Liz, aka KipperCat , has won the copy of with Creative Quilting with Beads that Lark Publishing gave us for the giveaway!  Congratulations!

Workshops with Jonathan Talbot

Fandango Patrin by Jonathan Talbot If you're not familiar with Jonathan Talbot's method of collage, which enables you to use even the most delicate of papers, you really need to come out from under your rock and buy his book !  Even better, take a class with him!  This lovely man is going to be doing a series of workshops all over the West Coast, starting in May.  I just might have to go visit my daughter in Portland OR around May 24th.  I wonder if she'll catch on that I'm just using her... :-)  Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Quote of the week

Lost in Thought - part one

Recently I got it into my head that I wanted to do a small quilt that featured an abstracted nude.  Since my drawing skills are totally limited to doodling (and I'm not even very good at that), I decided to go really abstract and just design him with ovals and circles, adding only the barest minimum of details.  I finally came up with a pencil sketch that I thought would work, and went over it with a black marker so that it would be visible through a previously painted piece of China silk. Using the outline as a guide, I added washes of color to the different areas until I was happy with the results.  Happy = you can probably tell it's a nude male figure.  That's as close as I'll probably ever be able to get to representational work! In looking for background fabrics, I came across the left over glue gel resist fabrics that I painted several months ago.  I moved these around behind the figure until I was satisfied. I ripped the fabrics i

More artsy links!

  Laura - Taz's Corner Winning, Painting and Writing. Mixed Media: I Love How You Love Me Cherie works on a picture inspired by a music lyric.   Beading Arts Cyndi finishes up her tutorial for a seed bead rope that features some beautiful lampwork glass beads.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter Looking for spring and Easter craft projects? The Artful Crafter has something for everyone!     Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

  Eileen - The Artful Crafter Looking for spring and Easter craft projects? The Artful Crafter has something for everyone! Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to sew a scrap fabric and recycled tank top dress.   Aileen's Musings It's citrus season here in California and Aileen has turned into the Bubba Gump of Lemons! Check out the easy recipe she found for making lemon marmalade and download her free printable label. Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there is a Double Giveaway filled with books and Westcott cutting tools, transparency versus opaque technique from Suzi Blu's new book, a wild scissor holder made from a doll head and a healthy shepherd's pie recipe.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Book giveaway: Creative Quilting with Beads

Do you remember yesterday when I gushed about this wonderful new book sent to me by Lark Publishing ?  Well, I have to confess that I couldn't bear to part with Creative Quilting with Beads .  Lucky me and you...I begged, and Lark sent me another copy specifically to give away! ***Free Stuff Alert!!!***  Would you like a copy of  Creative Quilting with Beads ?  Just leave me a comment below and you'll automatically be entered to win.  If you tweet or post on Facebook or other social spots about the contest, you can leave a second comment and be entered twice! Please make sure that your link will lead me to an email address, or else I won't be able to contact you.  No contact, no win, and I simply have to go on to the next person.  Deadline: March 22, 2012 Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Book review: Creative Quilting with Beads

Whether you are a beader who is hoping to get into art quilting, or an art quilter who is hoping to get more into beading, you will love the inspiration and advice in Creative Quilting with Beads . Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader , a senior editor at Lark Publishing , has compiled this wonderful resource for the fiber artist.  The Basics section covers not only various ways to affix beads to fabrics, but it also covers the basics of quilting, so this is a great first book for the mixed media artist who wants to expand her repertoire. The bulk of the book consists of 24 projects created by designers whose names you will recognize.  Beautiful beautiful projects by the likes of Sherrie Spangler and Larkin Jean Van Horn grace the pages, and will introduce you to techniques that you'll be itching to try out in your future projects.  Whether you choose to make these pieces step-by-step along with the designers, or you just want to browse for some new ideas for your own work, there

Quote of the week

via my friend William Meyer

Examples from TAST

For something completely different, I decided to join the stitching challenge run by Sharon Boggon , called Take a Stitch Tuesday .  The stitches that seem appropriate are being added to the manipulated fabric quilt that I've been working on.  Stitches that don't seem to fit will just end up on some scrap cloth.  So now you can see why I said it will probably take me a year to finish up this quilt :-) In the meantime, I am not going to post pictures of the entire quilt with the evolving embellishment...only little close-ups of each stitch.  That way, at least something will be a surprise! Fly stitch Blanket stitch, used for couching Feather stitch with added shells Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , p

More artsy links!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter Come join the Card Party at The Artful Crafter and create cards for people with cancer. Mixed Media: Superhero Glasses Cherie paints a girl that looks like a secret superhero.   Mo(o)re Whimsies My First Post with Sakura Hobby Craft and Terri Sproul Mixers!   Beading Arts Every March, Cyndi celebrates "Seed Bead Month". Do you have some seed bead work you'd like to share?   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

  Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy has discovered some super duper soft yarn for baby afghans. Eileen - The Artful Crafter Come join the Card Party at The Artful Crafter and create cards for people with cancer.   Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to make a recycled leather shamrock St Patrick's Day cuff . About Family Crafts The current craft challenge might make you crave chocolate! Do you have a craft to share that is made using a Nesquik container?   Aileen's Musings Aileen offers you an Easter cocktail idea, a gift idea, and a freebie recipe card all wrapped up into one colorful DIY project! Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there are tutorials on how to make a watercolor and plastic wrap painting along with one of Lisa Engelbrecht's fun lettering techniques used to decorate an Easter egg, a recipe for flourless banana breakfast bars and info on a bunch of SoCal events this weekend we

Artist profile: JJ Jacobs

Personal Graffiti Artist: Judy "JJ" Jacobs Websites: Coming Abstractions Coming Abstractions blog Coming Abstractions etsy shop Note: additional links and galleries that carry JJ's work are listed at the end Splash JJ, tell us a little about yourself and what you do. I’m an abstract painter and glass artist living in Sacramento, California. In my past life I was in commercial real estate development and property management. Who (or what) inspires you to do what you love in your own creative business? When I see a blank wall I feel the need to mentally decorate it in my mind. Shapes, color and texture are used in my work and I enjoy using various tools to make these staples “come alive” in my work. I have been known to use lids from deodorant bottles, caps from toothpaste tubes, brayers, leaves, pine needles, saw blades, chopsticks, and other handy tools that happen to be lying around at a particular moment. Playground 3 Where do you get

Calls for entries and submissions

Somerset Digital Studio Deadline: 04/15/12       What If challenge Deadline: 04/30/12       500 Teapots Deadline: 04/30/12       Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Quote of the week

Rubbing Plate Roundup - a book review and fabric examples

A number of years ago - more years than I'd care to admit - I wrote a short series on Things to do with texture plates , part one and part two Boy, there were a lot of things I did wrong, and there were even more possibilities that I missed.  But now, thanks to Shelly Stokes , you don't have to flounder around like I did.  Shelly, also the author of Paintstiks on Fabric and Design Magic , has now published Rubbing Plate Roundup , a brilliant book that will take you far beyond the obvious uses of these wonderful tools.  I've already picked out five of the twelve techniques that are MUST tries, including the sample fabric pieces that I'll show you below that used my water soluable oil pastels. Shelly starts with her beloved paintstiks, and then moves on through crayon transfers, water media, adding foil, screen printing, masks, gelatin prints, discharged prints, embossed metal, paper castings, clay texturing, and acrylic sculptures.  Once the fabric pieces that