Mixed Media Artist

  Beading Arts Have you seen Maruti beads? They're gorgeous, and they make it really easy to make a one-of-a-kind necklace! Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there is a Holiday Goodness Giveaway full of books, Westcott scissors and holiday Duck Tape, a tutorial on how to fold two directional accordion fold book, a wine aroma wheel and a video on image transferring and embroidery stitches.   Crafty Princess Diaries A shawlette is the perfect accessory when there is a little chill in the air. DIY Bridesmaid Gifts CraftFoxes shares a round-up of elegant and unique bridesmaid gifts you can make yourself.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter Make your Christmas tree sparkle with sequin faceted ornaments.   Felt Ornament Houses Cherie makes cute house ornaments out of felt and beads.   L Thykeson's Uniques A Wonderful life enjoyed...   iPad Sleeve Sewing Pattern Make a quick holiday gift for your

Did you know that the Mixed Media Artist blog   is available for your Kindle ?  Unfortunately, it's not free (Amazon sets the price), but it's only 99¢ a month.  Is technology great, or what? My other two blogs are now there as well: Beading Arts Real Food Fast! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

  Bamboo scarf I don't get very excited when I walk into a booth at a show which is filled with scarves.  But that's because I'd never seen Julie Simpson's work before. I pretty much wanted one of each, but it was really hard to even make my way up to the racks...they were completely surrounded by women who were running loving fingers over them, trying them on, cooing over them. Yes, cooing!! Look at these examples and tell me you wouldn't coo too :-)   Cotton shawl Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Crochet Saved My Life: The Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Crochet by Kathryn Vercillo One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun (One A Day) by Rebecca Krahula Photo Craft: Creative Mixed Media and Digital Approaches to Transforming Your Photographs by Susan Tuttle and Christy Hydeck Free-Form Embroidery with Judith Baker Montano: Transforming Traditional Stitches into Fiber Art by Judith Montano Adobe CS6 Design Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign Illustrated (Adobe Cs6 By Course Technology) by Chris Botello and Ann Fisher All My Thanks and Love to Quilts: Art Quilts Created by Keiko Goke by Keiko Goke Solids, Stripes, Circles, and Squares: 16 Modern Patchwork Quilt Patterns (That Patchwork Place) by Pippa Eccles Armbrester Design, Create, and Quilt: How to Design a Quilt, with Lessons, Techniques, and Patterns by Rose Hughes Journal It!: Perspectives in Creative Journaling by Jenny Doh S

Terrible grammar. Fabulous sentiment.

I told you awhile back that I was looking into making another quilt using the lava photos that I took in Hawai'i.  Well, I got sidetracked for a short while, because it turned out that the best plan I could come up with called for the blocks to be printed out by Spoonflower rather than being printed out on my inkjet printer.  So here's what was going on over the last few weeks! 1. I chose 16 different shots of lava and turned each into a line drawing.  You can refer to my tutorial on digital line art in order to print out your own line drawings for a quilt or other project. 2. I moved the blocks around many times on a Photoshop template I made until I liked the arrangement.  Then I made a higher resolution final pattern to upload to Spoonflower .  I set my final pattern to be 14" x 14" so that it would fit onto a fat quarter. 3. While I am waiting for the fabric to be printed and shipped to me, I've been messing around with colors on my Photosh

  ACreativeDream June's been making tiny glitter houses and is giving one away!    Beading Arts Cyndi has another delicious giveaway book: Shrink! Shrank! Shrunk!   Cherie Burbach's blog Cherie makes a small blue and green glass sculpture because she's obsessed and can't stop. Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy tries out one of the Crochet Dude's new ergonomic crochet hooks as she makes a shawl using some luscious yarn.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter Check out some winter and Christmas craft projects at The Artful Crafter.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Nothing like being so far behind in my work that it takes me all the way to Thanksgiving before I get around to sharing our Halloween costumes with you!  Our wonderful friend Deb invited us to a post-Halloween Masquerade with a Mayan/Steampunk theme.  Something to do with the world ending in December ;-)  We went for a steampunk aviator with her intrepid explorer of Mayan ruins.  That's our story, and we're stickin' to it! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Just in time for the holidays, either for yourself or for someone artsy that you love! I am giving away my copy of Push Print , the volume filled with cutting edge designs that will challenge the boundaries you have in your mind. You can read my review here , and sign up below to win this copy! ***Free Stuff Alert!!!***  If you'd like to win my copy of Push Print , 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: November 28, 2012 Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

via Riptapparel

"I wish crochet had immediately solved all of my problems but of course it didn’t happen that way. What did happen was that crochet slowly became a positive replacement for some of my most destructive downtime." Do you think the title Crochet Saved My Life is absurd?  Kathryn Vercillo assures us that in a very real way, crochet played a crucial role in moving her through a period of deep depression. "Of course, crochet alone could never have taken me out of that desperate place. It is a craft, not a cure-­-all for serious illness. And yet I am also fairly certain that I could never have loosened myself from the grip of that depression without crochet. I was stuck in between that proverbial rock and a hard place and my crochet hook served as a crowbar to begin prying me out of that difficult space. I hardly knew that it was happening and yet that hook dug deep down into the core of my being and lifted me into a space where I could once again begin to breathe. In

  Eileen - The Artful Crafter   Crafters are easy to shop for.     LThykeson's Uniques Fall Projects in Mixed Media Lindsay Sews For holiday entertaining, whip up one of these aprons with built-in hot pads. Genius! Lindsay reviews the sewing pattern.   Old Solar Light? Use It in a Glass Sculpture Cherie uses an old solar light as part of a new glass sculpture for the garden.   Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery See how to make a felt Thanksgiving "Be Thankful" banner.   ACreativeDream June is going back into her archives to get the holiday season started. Come see how to alter a book to make a photo frame. It's a great gift for those holidays rushing at us!   Beading Arts Cyndi is celebrating a month of books! The newest book up for grabs is "Simply Stylish Crystal Jewelry", so head on over and get in on all the great giveaways! CraftFoxes Looking for a new sweater knitting pattern? Here's a roun

Free-Form Embroidery with Judith Baker Montano is a beautiful thing.  I wasn't completely sure if I was going to want it since I already own Elegant Stitches and have read her other two books.  But I'm definitely in love with this book.  Yes, there is some information that you will find in the other books, but this volume goes far beyond the others with the artful addition of paints and dyes, felting, and what I'd have to call mixed media stitching.  Not just ribbons, not just floss, not just yarn...everything!   I love the organic designs that Judith features, the landscapes and seascapes.  She begins with an exhaustive list of fabrics, threads, yarns, and ribbons, and moves into 60 beautifully illustrated stitches that will add texture to your own -scapes. Judith explains her process and shows how she makes on-site drawings and notes her observations in a small watercolor journal.  Later in the studio, she draws detailed images with Pigma Micron pens and fills t

I know of Jenny Doh from her years a Somerset Studios , and now she has brought her editing talents and her eye to Lark Publishing .  Journal It! is Jenny's latest edited volume, featuring nineteen art journaling stars.  If you've wanted to go take a class and immerse yourself in mixed media techniques, creativity boosters, and art exercises, this book might be the next best thing to having an instructor in the room with you! In paging through the book, I had some favorites.  I loved Belinda Fireman's merger of words with doodle art.  Since doodling is currently so popular, I took note that quite a few of the artists featured here incorporate some form of it.  I also loved Debra Cooper's scraped paint backgrounds with added doodles.  But my very favorite was Melanie Mowinski's tree rubbings!  Yup.  That's right.  Like grave rubbings only with those tall textured things. Occasionally people want to know why they should bother to do art journaling.  T

Ok, so I got a bit sidetracked... I had intended to follow up immediately on my inkjet and Inktense experiments , but reality came crashing down!  Once I worked out the design that I wanted to print out, it became apparent that it would make more sense to order it from Spoonflower than to print it all out myself.  So, I'll be back to that topic in a few weeks! While waiting, I decided to mess around with using Inktense Pencils on fabric batting.  I use a thin natural cotton batting in most of my quilts, and sometimes the batting ends up exposed and painted.  I quickly found out that the batting soaks up a LOT of color.  What looks like it will be bright color fades away as the batting dries. So let's try gesso. 1. I cut four postcard sized pieces of batting and painted them with strong acrylic paint colors .   2. Without even waiting for them to dry, I saturated each with white gesso , and then I let them dry overnight. 3. Using the  Ink

  Crafty Princess Diaries November's give away has just been announced. Get your chance to win a year subscription to Pick-A-Stitch.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter Check out The Artful Crafter's fall and Thanksgiving craft projects.  L Thykeson's Uniques Bracelet Giveaway and Workshop News   Beading Arts Cyndi is soooo excited to let you know that Chapter three of her new book is completed and ready for download. The name? "Bridging the Gap." Are you curious...?   Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery See how to make a large scale silhouette in an altered book. ACreativeDream Part two of the stamped salt clay ornament.   Art and Poetry Cherie talks about the link between her poetry and how she creates mixed media art.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Gary Knapp is an extraordinary clockmaker, who works in a recognizable Arts and Crafts style, but with a twist.  Each clock is unique, using natural stone, fired ceramic tiles, textured metal, or anything else that catches Gary's eye.  I enjoyed meeting him and talking with him about his clocks at the Art in the Pearl Show (Portland OR).  If you can't get to one of his shows, see his beautiful work on Cats Eye Craftsman .  Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Down to sleep, work inspired by the bed Down to Sleep Deadline: 12/01/12       Art Supply Doodle challenge Deadline: 12/14/12       Altered Couture: Frightful to Delightful Deadline: 12/15/12       Art Doll Quarterly: Bride Doll challenge Deadline: 12/15/12        Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Pahoehoe , 2012 I've been experimenting quite a bit with the Inktense Pencils that my sweetie gave me this fall.  I know that one project I want to do will again involve the pictures that I took of lava when we visited Hawai'i early this year.  Since I already have some files available of lava texture that I used in the quilt Pahoehoe (shown above), I thought I'd print out a few of them on some cotton inkjet panels and try some different coloring patterns on them.   You can refer to my tutorial on digital line art in order to print out your own line drawings.  Coloring them was a lot of fun: I used at least a dozen colors for each panel, stroking them on dry and then wetting and blending them with a small watercolor brush to watch them burst into colorful life..  The nature of Inktense Pencils is that once they are dry, they are permanent.  Blend away while they're wet, because later on you're committed!  Someday I will figure out what exa

  Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there is a pattern for crochet granny square earrings, a jigsaw puzzle animal drawing exercise, a tutorial on how to curl your eyelashes and a recipe for dark chocolate chip multigrain cookies.   Crafty Princess Diaries Money talks, or in this case, it folds and bends into extreme origami.   Cthulhu Ski Mask and Mittens for Halloween Cherie crochted a ski mask and mittens for a Cthulhu costume.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter Preserving memories with My Memories software is easy as 1-2-3.   ACreativeDream Oh look, June is starting the Christmas ornaments... here's the first part of a two part tutorial making a stamped salt clay ornament.   About Family Crafts Check out these scarecrow crafts and also submit your crafts made using Scrabble game tiles.       Beading Arts "Metal Month" comes to an end on Beading Arts, but it leaves with a BANG!   Te

Spirus Robert Wilhelm is the creative genius behind RAW Designs .  I saw his work when I last visited Portland OR (which seems to be his home base!), and I was delighted by many of his items.  Visit his website to see not only more of these wicked cool sculptures, but also his functional work, like wooden bowls, grinder and shaker sets, and tables. Sculpture Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals