Mixed Up Art

Friday, September 30, 2016

Art Journaling Therapy With Gel Press®

For our blog hop today we are focusing on health and wellbeing. Make sure to check out all of the talented designers to see how they interpret our theme this month. You will find the links at the end of my post.

Health and Wellness Art Journal Page

Art journaling is my way of figuring things out in more ways than one. It's a place where I play with a new product or technique. But it's also a way of purging or recording thoughts, quotes, ideas and feelings in a visual and creative way. There is something very therapeutic about writing my thoughts and feelings onto a blank page then covering them up with paint, stamps and stencils. Here is an art journal page that I made to remind myself to keep mind, body and spirit in balance for my own health and wellbeing. For this page, I used the large format, 12" x 14" Gel Press Plate.

Balance Art Journal Page

See my process creating this page in the snapguide below.

Check out How to Create an Art Journal Page With Gel Press® by Kathy Adams on Snapguide.

Balance Art Journal Page

Spiral Bound Gel Press® Journal

An easy way to make a quick journal is to use Gel Press® prints and bind them using a Bind-It-All spiral binding machine. If you don't have one, office supply stores like Office Depot have inexpensive spiral binding services. Check out my video showing how I made the covers using Gel Press® Plates.

Sometimes just making backgrounds in my art journal is therapy! I loved making these pages using some of my favorite StencilGirl Stencils. Each one started out as a gel print.

The idea behind an art journal is not to make a masterpiece but to play, work out ideas or use a new product. Here are a few more pages in this art journal doing just that.

Art Journal Page Using Face Stamp

An Exercise in Letting Go of Perfection

Junque Journals

My favorite journals are the ones I learned to make while taking Julie Balzer's "Make Your Own Junque Journal Class". They have a hand-sewn binding so there is no gap between pages like on a spiral bound journal. I made five junque journals, most using gel prints and patterned paper. The covers are created using canvas panels, Gel Press® prints, stencils and stamps.

Here are some of my favorite Junque Journal pages.

Collage Art Journal Page

Thank you for visiting my (long) blog post today! Here are the links to the other designers blogs:

Ann

Cindi

Cynthia

Elena

Kathy <------you are here

Jen

Art Journaling Related Links:
StencilGirl Stencils
Julie Balzer's Make Your Own Junque Journal Class
Inspiration Wednesday
How To Make An Inspiration Journal
Wilna Furstenberg's Art Journaling Videos

Friday, September 23, 2016

Fun With Bleeding Art Tissue

Over on the Gel Press® blog today check out my Bleeding Art Tissue Tutorial. I made a beautiful butterfly canvas by printing on this special tissue paper. I had so many prints left over that I thought I would share some more projects.

The fun thing about bleeding art tissue is that the color bleeds when liquid is applied. You can purchased it here. A search on Pinterest reveals lots of projects, many geared toward children.

The idea was to print on the tissue then add water and let it bleed onto the printed areas. It was such fun that I couldn't stop printing.

Along with the butterfly canvas, I also made a mixed media scrapbook page. First, I glued the printed tissue onto 11 1/2" x 11 1/2" watercolor paper using matte medium.

I sprayed the paper with water.......

....then placed another piece of watercolor paper over it to mop up the colored water. The paper keeps the colors from running together and making mud.

I'll use the extra watercolor paper for another project. Let everything dry before adding any other media or embellishments.

I mounted the paper to a 12" x 12" piece of white cardstock, layered some fibers, paper and tape, and did some sewing around the edges.

The phrase is cut out using my Silhouette Cameo.

My last project is a set of six 4" x 4" canvases using the Stamper's Anonymous Crazy Dogs stamp set, gluing a different color of printed tissue on each canvas background. The canvases are deep enough to set on a self. I love how these turned out!

Lots of fussy cutting! Apparently, they are coming out with die-cuts for this set.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I'd love to hear from you so please leave me a comment below. Don't forget to check out my project on the Gel Press® blog too! For more inspiration, check out my art on Pinterest and follow me on Instagram.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Happy Birthday E-Card With Gel Press

Check out my blog post today over on the Gel Press® blog where I have a tutorial on how I made these E-Cards.

What's an e-card? Well, I've had this idea for a while because I am shamefully bad at sending my family and friends birthday cards despite having dozens of handmade ones on hand. I am, however, very good at making sure to wish them a Happy Birthday on Facebook. So I though I could make a handmade card that I can share over and over again online while still share my art with them.

I often use my art journal to work out ideas for projects and this page was my "warm-up" for my project today.

What I learned by doing this was that I needed more of a focal point. As an artist, it's invaluable to use my art journal in this way. Honestly, I didn't want to show you this page because I didn't think it was good enough to put out there on cyber space for all to critique. But I thought it was important to show my process and how I work through ideas. Many people think that artists are born with talent, and a lucky few are. But most of us learn through trial and error, schooling, or a few classes here and there. How do you work out your artistic struggles and get inspired?

Thanks for visiting the blog today and don't forget to check out the Gel Press Blog for my tutorial.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Back To Basics Blog Hop With Gel Press®

With all of the kids heading back to school, Gel Press® thought we should take you back to the basics! Everything is coming up circles for my Back To Basics blog post! I love this shape for whatever reason and it seems I'm not alone. Did you know that Gel Press® makes four round plate sizes: 8", 6", 4" and 3"(one of 3 shapes in the Petites A Set)? I had such fun making prints with these round plates that I made enough circles for three or four projects! I am sharing two of these projects with you today.

Gel Press® Circle Cards

Gel Press® Circle Layout: Lucy

Supplies

Round Gel Press® Plates: 8", 6" and 4"

Gel Press® Petite Set: 3" Round

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Paints

Stencils and Rubbing Plates

Strathmore Mixed Media Paper

Circle Cutters and Punches

Brayer

Tutorial

Place dots of paint in similar colors onto the round plate and press the rubbing plate into the Gel Press® to make a design. Look at that luscious color!

Pull prints onto mixed media paper and clean the Press in between colors.

The print below is the one I used for the cards.

I pulled several prints using black paper, adding Golden Iridescent white with the fluid acrylics to make the designs really pop.....

.....and stamping the rubbing plates off onto the paper to make even more designs.

Here is how I did the smaller plates with the stencils to get a great print: Mount the two smaller Gel Press® Plates onto acrylic stamping blocks. Place paper down first, then the stencil over the paper. Apply paint to the plate with a brayer then stamp it into the stencil to create the design on the plate. Then stamp the plate onto another piece of paper. This seems to make a really clear impression on the plate, thus making a good print.

Plus you have the initial print from creating the impression. This design is created from the openings in the stencil. (image in the middle) The gel print is the image on the right. I love these stencils designed by Michelle Ward I just ordered from The Ink Pad, a stamping and mixed media art store in NYC. They are designs of city grates, manholes, etc. Are they not the coolest!!!

Talking about "back to basics", do you remember the tool below? If you scrapbooked back in the 90's, you probably owned one. It still comes in handy for creating circles in many different sizes. Do/did you have one?

I told you I had enough for more projects!

Gel Printed Circles

I cut the large circle into quarters then stamped and colored the cards.

Gel Press® Sun Cards

For the scrapbook layout, punch 16-2 1/2" circles and glue them onto 11" x 11" white card stock in a grid-style.

I sewed the circles to add texture, but that made for a really busy background. To quiet it down a bit, I layered book text and drywall tape before adding my photos. I also changed my photos to black and white so that there is contrast between the colorful background and the subject.

There are lots of creative things to do with circles....layer them and making flowers, or sew them and make garland......to name a few. What would you do with them?