Summer Project

This past summer I did not do a ton of creative projects sadly. I was very busy around my new, old house and jazzing things up. We painted lots and lots. Removed tons of gaudy wallpaper. Wallpaper is EVIL! Put in a new vinyl floor in a bathroom. Replaced a bunch of pieces and parts in said bathroom. Doesn't look like a 150 year old woman with 992 cats lives here anymore. And that is a good thing! 

Started working on jazzing up the kitchen and that, of course, turned into the project that will never end. Another day and another idea. Lots of outdoor work as well....so much yard work! And of course I like to garden and have lots of flowers and plants around. The goal is to turn our front yard into an English cottage garden and look like a park not a golf course. Grass is also evil! Sucks up lots of water...those icky chemicals to keep things under control...the all time consuming mowing. No thank you!

When I wasn't working on all that I did have a little time to play. I finished unpacking my studio. I even unpacked my quilting supplies! I started this crazy organization project which of course led to about 153 other organization projects. All of that leads me to go through everything in my studio and think about whether or not I need it or if I have doubles, triples...YIKES! I really don't need three of the same stamp. This all lead to the massive sale on Inky Hot Mess. 

Aside from that I did find a little time to actually play. Real play. Not oh I'll clean this today play. Since I moved to South Carolina, I had two nephews born. When my first nephew was born, I made his mom a memory box. The box was to keep important things about him growing up - first lost tooth, first lock of hair, first report card, first drawing, a stuffed animal that became worn out but he loved, things like that. The important stuff when one starts out in life.

Well, my sister-in-law let me know that needed the same box for my other nephews. Why I never thought of this, I don't know. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find a similar box. And I did have a hard time. I went to eight - yes eight - stores looking for the right kind of box. I didn't use paper mache because I knew this would need to stand up for years and years to come. I figure eventually she'll pass the boxes onto the boys or she'll keep them until she's 100 years old. Either way, paper wasn't going to work.

So I went with a wood box. I discovered that it's become rather difficult to find large paper mache boxes! I went to Michael's, Joann, AC Moore, and Hobby Lobby. A couple of the chains I went to multiple locations. Thankfully, AC Moore did have the style of box I was looking for in wood! 

Memory Box - Animal Cookies

The first one I made for a monkey boy. J is a crazy little man! He's tons of fun. Being an aunt I'm allowed favorites. right? he's definitely my favorite. Since J is such a crazy kid, I made his a little crazy. I used brighter little kid paper and put the papers on crocked on purpose. There's a little monkey on the box somewhere that his mom found right away.

Memory Box - Animal Cookies

The papers are from Close To My Heart and it's called Animal Cookies. It is retired, but you might be able to find some on eBay or through a consultant with a stash.

Memory Box - Animal Cookies

The box top and inside are painted. I used Dutch Blue from Apple Barrel Colors which is made by Plaid.

T's box is very different. T is a pretty calm baby. So it's looking like he'll have a similar personality to his oldest brother W. These boxes are all W's fault! And that's a good thing. I actually enjoy looking through his box and knowing I made something very special for him and his mom. 

Memory Box - Mixed Papers

T's box is the same wood box from AC Moore. I used a mix of papers. They were all bought when my sister-in-law was pregnant with W...that was seven years ago! Back then many papers didn't have names of patterns or company names printed on them especially if they were a few years old then. So I have no idea who made any of these papers. I used many of them on W's box. So the two calm boys have similar boxes. The actual box is very different. W's is lined with fabric. I learned NOT to do that again! It was so difficult to do and it became difficult to open and close. 

Memory Box - Mixed Papers

The top and inside of T's box is painted Spring Sky from Apple Barrel Colors which is made by Plaid.  The paint is so much better than the fabric. Far less bulky and it doesn't take up space inside the box. It also protects the wood. I used almost an entire two ounce bottle on each box.

How did all those 2" x 2" squares of paper stick? Magic. With lots and lots of Mod Podge. There's several coats and layers. Each box took about 10 hours to make. That includes all of the cutting of the paper, all the layers and coats of Mod Podge, and painting. That doesn't include drying time. The paint has to be 100% dry before you can put a drop of Mod Podge on to else the Mod Podge will no longer be clear! If you want a tinted glaze, then that's fine. Each side had to dry overnight and be elevated since the papers go right to the bottom of the box. I did not cover the bottoms. 

Now who wouldn't want me for an aunt? I make the boys the coolest stuffs. I made the oldest boys quilts one year for Christmas. T doesn't have one yet....he's not old enough for one yet. Once he's a toddler and has favorite things, he'll get one. But he does have his own memory box! I'm trying to think of something fun I could make for each of the boys for their birthdays next year. Since I like paper and fabric, I have lots of options! It has to be something personal for each one. Meaning something that has their favorite thing like stars, baseball, dogs, trucks, dinosaurs, trains, etc. We shall see what I make them for 2014!

Paints and Metal

Paints and Metal. Surely not something you read about every day, right? Hobby Lobby was a dangerous place for me last week. I got two more metal drawer sets. These weren't just unfinished, scuffed up metal. These were spray painted in a paint room somewhere in China.

Originally one was bright white and the other was bright blue. The colors were yucko in my studio. I needed to distress these bad boys! Remember, Tim Holtz and Anna Griffin are my crafty idols. So you've got the vintage, old, worn, tattered, dragged through a hurricane look going on. A great look, right? :)

I started by sanding the finish to roughen it up a bit and remove any shiny coatings they may have had. If you don't rough up the surface a bit, it won't want to take paint or ink. This project is all about the acrylic paint stash. It was so lovely digging them out of the dust.

There are artist acrylic paints. You can purchase some of these in the chain craft stores. Others, you can only get from art supply shops. These are not the acrylic paints you get in bottles on sale at AC Moore for 2 for $1. Just want to clarify. The color names are all from the pigments they are made from.

Here are the paints I used on the white set of drawers:

Liquitex Basics:
Red Oxide
Burnt Siena
Cadmium Red Medium Hue
Raw Siena
Burnt Umber

Martin/F Weber Co - Prima:
Alizarin Crimson

Jo Sonja's:
Indian Red Oxide
Brown Earth

Windsor & Newton - Galleria:
Mars Black

Daler-Rowney:
Copper (MIT)


These are the paints I used on the blue set of drawers:
M Graham & Co:
Quinaoridone Violet

Windsor & Newton - Galleria:
Permanent Magenta
Winsor Blue

Daler-Rowney:
Purple
Deep Violet

Liquitex - Professional Grade High Viscosity:
Dioxazine Purple
Prussian Blue

Martin/F Weber Co - Prima:
Iridescent White

Liquitex - Basics:
Iridescent Silver
Acra Magenta

Jo Sonja's:
Red Violet
Carbon Black
Storm Blue
Colony Blue

There are multiple layers of different paints. I wiped off some paint here and there. I sanded some wherever it looked like it needed it. Mostly, I just dry brushed the different paints on. Each piece doesn't have all the same colors.

I didn't want these to look brand new. The bright colors just aren't my thing. I like old, worn stuff. Dark colors are also my thing....Maybe it's from all of my time in the Adirondack Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains. No hot pink there!

Now if bright colors are your thing, you can still do this! Just use brightly colored paints. Same techniques. No biggie. Anyone can do this!

Oh and a paint clean up tip! I put all of my paints on a styrofoam plate. They hold a lot of colors! And when you're all done, you just throw it away. No clean up! Just make sure you put it in a trash can that is lined with a plastic bag since the paints do stay wet for quite some time.

This week's Inky Hot Mess projects!

Until next time *

Paints and metal can be fun! Try it out.

Permanent

This piece kicks off a series I am in the process of creating. It's about as Mixed Media as you can get!

Let me introduce you to "Permanent." He was inspired by the song, "Permanent" from David Cook who was our American Idol in 2008. He wrote this song with Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace. "Permanent" is about his brother, Adam, and his battle with brain cancer. Adam fought bravely for more than 10 years and sadly lost his battle on May 2, 2009.

What's What? How'd I do that?

This is a combination of inks, acrylic paints, texture gels, Liquid Applique, Swavorski Crystals, and crackle medium. All of that Inky Hot Mess is on a 10" x 20" canvas panel from Dick Blick.

It all begin with 4 acrylic paints -  Black, Purple, and White from Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint and True Navy from Apple Barrel/Plaid. The Anita's paints are from Hobby Lobby and the Apple Barrel one is from WalMart. Really those are the only paints used! I mixed and mixed and mixed until I had the colors I wanted. There's a few layers of paint also.

In person, you can really see the purple under the crackle medium. I love crackle and the whole distress look so whenever I can use something to make a piece look older, distressed, antiqued, worn, pretty much anything but brand new looking,  I can and do! The base looks blue in the photo, but it's really purple.

There's a very thick layer of Crackle Medium from Folk Art/Plaid. Then there's various blues on top. It crackled very well. The secret to a good crackle is a very thick layer of the crackle medium and let it dry completely. I leave things overnight at a bare minimum. Many times I'll leave things for a day or two. It depends on how crackle medium happy I got.

There's lots and lots and lots and lots of Iridescent Bright Silver Ink from Liquitex. The puffy clouds were created by using 3 tubes of White Liquid Applique and a heat gun. That stuff puffs up like crazy with the heat gun. Be careful not to over heat it or it will burn.

The bottom, as you can see, has a great deal of black. There's a couple layers of black acrylic paint, crackle medium, and more black paint. One thing I did with a few areas was use the heat gun to speed up the paint drying.

I was a bit impatient I'll admit it. I've had this in my head for a few weeks and have been collecting the necessary items so I really needed to get this out of my head and onto canvas. My impatience created a bubbling effect. An effect I do not recommend unless you either outside, have amazing air circulation, the windows open, a fan going, something for ventilation because bubbling paint stinks! It didn't photograph very well unfortunately. I do plan on taking some more photos outside on a really sunny day and am hoping I can get some better shots with natural light.

The black paint was covered with the Black Lava Texture Medium from Liquitex which I purchased from Dick Blick.  The glitter in it shows up very well in photos. There's a ton of hard, rough, black specks all over where you see the glitter.

The "Permanent" lettering was a very difficult thing to do. The inking was the easy part. Finding the stamps and stencils I needed was such a huge challenge with the look I had in mind! The "P" is a stencil from Hobby Lobby. The rest is from Inkadinkado's Coffee House alphabet clear stamp set. It was done with Jet Black StazOn. Coffee House is in a photo below so you can see more of the alphabet. It's a whimsically, cursive inspired set. Something different. I have been looking for uniquely different alphabets. Not an easy thing to find, I tell ya!

Wondering how I used an ink pad with a stencil? Easy! I used a dauber. I left it out overnight to dry and it's still soft and spongy. I wasn't sure if I would be able to use it again since I used StazOn which is a solvent based ink.

The white star is also done with StazOn. I recently purchased a few of the Opaque ink pads. I used Cotton White.

To clean my stamps after using StazOn, I used the StazOn cleaner, baby wipes, and a hand towel. After they were cleaned, I stamped the stamps and blocks on newsprint to dry. It's extremely important to thoroughly clean your stamps - especially clear stamps - immediately when using StazOn. It will damage your stamps if you do not clean them quickly. I left the stamps on the carrier sheet to dry overnight. Then I put them in their packaging. I never put away wet or damp stamps. I live in the South and I always worry about mold with our humidity.

I used the Bingo Alphabet My Acrylix Stamp set from Close To My Heart for the white star. Be sure when you're looking at purchasing an alphabet set to see what else is included. Sometimes there's brackets, dollar sign, ampersand (I learned that word on Wheel of Fortune and it's one of these &), question mark, exclamation point, flourishes, stars, hearts, etc. Extras that match an alphabet are always a good thing!

The final detail is the two teardrop Swarovski crystals coming off the base of the "P." I recently purchased them from ArtBeads. They have tons and tons of Swarovski crystals. You don't need to purchase 100 of them either. If you want one, you can get just one and they don't charge you extra. Their shipping is extremely reasonable - Free on orders $10 or more! They are attached with a tiny amount of Diamond Glaze.

That's all of the pieces and parts I used to create "Permanent." I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I need to order a frame from Dick Blick ASAP! I really want to hang it up in my studio.

Until next time *

"Is this the moment where I look you in the eye?
Forgive my broken promise that you'll never see me cry" ~ "Permanent" ~ David Cook
Want to see the rest of the lyrics or hear the song? Here they both are on YouTube.