Mixed Media Artist

  Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there is a pattern for a knit hat with a cable ribbed edge, a tutorial on how to draw the grim reaper, a link to Carla Sonheim's blog tour filled with all sorts of fabulousness and a recipe for a grilled steak salad with creamy cowboy ranch dressing.   Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy takes a look at Knitmare on Elm Street. Eileen - The Artful Crafter Do you know the 3 best ways to sew hidden seams with panne velvet or any thick fabric?   Resin Crafts! Carmi is happily surprised to make plaster art in her resin molds!   Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to use home made rubber stamps to customize a Freak Flag   Beading Arts Cyndi believes that you can never have too many ideas for how to use your lampwork beads...   Cherie Burbach: Yellow and Blue and Birdies Cherie is on a yellow and birdie kick with her paintings. Technorati Tags: mixed media ,

Kittykill   (aka Pam) shares the easiest peasiest way to make your own journals from old hardcover books.  Not exactly the most professional way to do it, but fast, fun, and kid-friendly...as long as you help out with the cutting. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop with Carla Sonheim by Carla Sonheim Alternative Art Journals: Explore Innovative Approaches to Collecting Your Creativity by Margaret Peot Hand-Appliqued Quilts: Beautiful Designs & Simple Techniques by Tonye Belinda Phillips Exploring Dimension in Quilt Art by C. J. Barnes Artful Halloween: 31 Frightfully Elegant Projects by Susan Wasinger Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

I found a delightful blog last week that I know my homeschooling friends will love.  It's called Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers , and today's entry is a carnival that happens to include one of my projects!  Give Kris a visit. 

I realized that I've been accumulating an awful lot of sample papers and fabrics, and occasionally I have even had a difficult time remembering what techniques a given piece is supposed to be an example of.  That could be very inconvenient if I decided to use one of them in the future for another project!  I don't really want to have to look back through all my files to find pictures of the piece. So I decided to use an old photo album that I had bought years ago and turn it into a journal of sorts.  First I took it apart and cleaned it up, removing some of the pages for (maybe) later use. I used double-stick tape to tack the pieces into the journal loosely. The best part?  I printed out the date and outline of instructions for each piece and taped it into the journal under the example piece.    Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed elect

  Cherie Burbach Cherie makes a blue glass sculpture with bud vases and beads.    Beading Arts Fabric art and beads? Of course! Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there are tutorials on transfer dying with stencils and how to make a Duct tape skull shower curtain decoration for Halloween along with a call for entries for a new book 1000 Food Styling Ideas and a recipe for low-cal cocoa tapioca.   Crafty Princess Diaries Just in time for Halloween, download this free zombie paper project.  Eileen - The Artful Crafter World Cardmaking Day is right around the corner. Are you ready for BIG prizes and GOOD causes? Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery The Crochet Dude's coaster pattern maikes a great Halloween mini doily.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Kara , an extraordinary cake maker, is the winner of our Artful Halloween giveaway!  Congratulations, Kara!! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

  Mosaic Wall, 7 x 20 feet Pick up stuff that's been thrown out, turn it into something wonderful.  How could I not like Heather Vollans ?!  Besides making amazing pieces, Heather also teaches workshops. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

  Push Print You may remember that last year I introduced you to the first two members of this new Lark series: Push Paper and Push Stitchery (see my review here ).  Now the next two books are set to be released, including Push Print .  This volume became available in the beginning of September 2012, along with Push Jewelry .  [Note: the review for Push Jewelry will be posted on Beading Arts ]. I don't know really what to say about this volume.  I've liked all of them, but I know soooo little about printing (other than my vague forays into monotypes and stamping).  My daughter taught me a little about some of the terminology when she was doing a printmaking course in college, but I've never done any of it.  So I feel totally out of my depth to remark on any of the work in this book.  I like some of it, other pieces fail to move me, which is typical of boundary-edge work in any medium.  But here I have only the editors' word for it that the work is cutting edg

Quite some time ago, I shared a three part post with you on my adventures with Soy Silk Roving .  The sheets of "fabric" that I made sat around until I finally came up with an idea to use at least one of them.  They are surprisingly strong, and if handled carefully, they make a great support fabric for embroidery and bead embroidery. 1. Follow the directions that I've already provided to make yourself some pieces of soy silk roving fabric .   You can add acrylic paints to it or back it with interfacing if you want (both will help to make it more stable), but I just left this piece plain.       2. Sketch the outline of the design you want to use, if desired.  Transfer to a piece of tracing paper or some other thin paper it will be easy to tear away later. 3. Pin the design in place on the soy silk roving fabric, stitch, and tear away the tracing paper as you go.  Use tweezers to remove pieces that get stuck in the stitches. 4. I added sma

  Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to make a recycled champagne cork acorn.   About Family Crafts Browse through this list of unique, homemade Halloween costume ideas and then share yours! Aileen's Musings Aileen shows you how to turn a washing machine lid into a chalk/magnetic board!   Beading Arts Did you know that you can bead a bezel for...get this...a large BEAD? Yup! And it's really easy!   Cherie Burbach's blog Cherie makes a sculpture using green and gold glasses.   Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there is a pattern and tutorial on how to sew an acorn, two cat cross stitch patterns, an interview with Lisa Solomon author of Knit Thread Stitch, and some fiber nutrition tips.   Crafty Princess Diaries Download a free book excerpt from the adorable new title How to Make Stuffed Animals published by Quarry.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter This week, The Artful Crafter te

I can't remember where I first saw Jason Laferrera's work, but I bookmarked the site immediately.  I love how he takes the imagery from old maps and digitally manipulates it to form these fabulous birds and beasts!  Visit him...you won't be sorry! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Please don't hate me, but I'm not particularly a fan of Halloween.  I know that puts me in the minority, because according to recent statistics, Halloween has become the second biggest retail sales holiday in the US.  But I don't do anything for it other than to put together a costume and pass out candy. However, I know a lot of you like to go all out, and if I were going to make a big deal out of Halloween, Artful Halloween is the book I'd use for my ideas!  Author Susan Wasinger writes: [Halloween]...had become so frightfully commercialized, overwrought with cringe-worthy plastic decorations, tart-y getups, and high-fructose junk foods.  Halloween had begun to lose me, and I suspect was becoming uncomfortably tawdry for many of us.  Americans will spend billions (yes, with a "b") on Halloween this year alone, and both the pragmatic and the creative sides of me think we deserve a whole lot more aesthetic whiz bang for all those big bucks. So Susan

I really enjoyed reading through Kerry Bogert's new book Rustic Wrappings , which I shared about on Beading Arts (my review is here ).  I made a very simplified version of one of Kerry's pieces, actually leaving off the beads that she added (GASP!!) and just letting the patina be featured.  It was a great opportunity to get out my basic Coiling Gizmo that I haven't used in, like, forever.  I actually started to do the 20 gauge wire wrappings by hand, but I realized that I wasn't going to get the smooth perfect coils that I wanted until my wrists were screaming in pain.     The Gizmo is soooo easy to use.  I just clamped it to the table and began cranking! I used ammonia and salt to add the wonderful turquoise-ish blue patina to the wire.  It took about four hours. That's netting that you see taped to the tupperware container, which suspends the piece in the fumes while you have it closed up. I used a very heavy 12 gauge wire (heavier than wha

  Eileen - The Artful Crafter Wood and copper combine for a casual blue jeans themed bracelet. Instructions included. Beading Arts Beading Arts takes a look at lampwork and glass fusing all this month!   Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi has been experimenting with t-shirt fabric all week. Who knew it could be used like yarn?   Cherie Burbach Cherie makes a glass sculpture using candy dishes, ashtrays, and a tea light holder.   Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there is a fun mixed-media card tutorial and the graphics and techniques it was inspired by along with a recipe for edamame hummus.   Crafty Princess Diaries The Crafty Princess is giving away a book about chain jewelry this month. Enter for your chance to win.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

This image is making the rounds all over the internet, but I haven't been able to figure out exactly where it first appeared.  I hate to post something like this without proper credit, but it's too good not to share.  The earliest post I've been able to find is Pianissimo .  Great piece of recycled art, huh? Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Infinite Possibilities: Science, Math, Book Arts Infinite Possibilities: Science, Math, Book Arts Deadline: 09/28/12       Staycation reader challenge Deadline: 10/01/12      Art in Fiber 2013 Deadline: 10/13/12        Somerset Digital Studio Deadline: 10/15/12       America's Parks Through the Beauty of Art Deadline: 10/15/12        Small Tapestry International 3: Outside the Line Deadline: 10/31/12       Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

  Back when I was happily leafing through Stash Happy Felt by Amanda Carestia in order to review it , I came across an idea that made me start thinking.  Yup, just simple felt flowers.  But I had to add some spins and twists to the project presented in the book until it became truly mine.  There's nothing wrong with Amanda's directions...I just wanted to do them differently. The biggest change I made was to substitute cotton fabric backed with interfacing for the center of each flower.  Another change was adding leaves to the stems.  I also added a layer of sticky-backed felt to the back of each flower to give it extra stiffness (large flowers will tend to flop, even with several layers of felt).  And last, I added some circular mirrored pieces to a few centers, stitching them on with shisha-style embroidery.  This meant having to attach the stems differently too, but it worked out well. Materials & Tools Cotton fabric and shirtweight interfacing Felt Stic