Free tutorial Altered book art journal

  Here is the process; I start with an old book that I thin out every 3rd page. Then I glue 3 pages of the book together to make a strong base for the art work. I use white gesso to paint every page and let them dry. Finally comes the fun part. I paint each page with metallic  (lumiere paints)and glitter paints making a book with a rainbow of colors.I added a hand made pocket with a tag here.

Then I put pieces of my art work, Graphic 45 paper, envelops, tags, stamps, clips and other items on the inside pages of the altered book. This is one of my handmade tags.

The cover is made by cutting an oval and placing the photo in the inside cover.  The back  cover is also  texturized  ( with glue and tissue paper) , gesso, stained and painted. The gears, the clock and the key are added with gesso.  I touched up with distress inks and gold foil swirls. There are 8 Swarovski AB crystals. I have added a ribbon closure to keep all your art work safely inside. The Image of the Moon Goddess is one of my original metallic photo composites.

Hope you enjoy the photos and the altered book.   I make about one of these a month and sell them when they are done in my Etsy store; https://www.etsy.com/shop/LDphotography

This book was sold right away.

 

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will answer them.  Happy creating!

Free , quick and easy tutorial; Christmas art journal page

Last night I was inspired by a tutorial I found on Pinterest.  It was from the Somerset studio’s, Stampington Place with guest artist  Ivy Newport ( https://stampington.com/blog/2015/08/28/guest-artist-ivy-newport/)  This was an inspiring tutorial that involved many steps to create an art journal page.  I just wanted to do something in the hour or so I had available last night.After looking at Ivy’s work my fingers and mind needed a creative spree.

So I got out my art journal and glued some pages together.  Painted on a thin layer of  gesso  ( dried with my hand dryer). Then I  dug through my stash of Christmas stuff that was sitting on the floor next to me ( I am a messy artist).  I saw some old Christmas cards  that were so beautiful I could not throw them out and started to arrange them on the page.  Then I saw some glittered tinsel stuff ( also on the floor) and put some of it under the cards.

I liked that , and glue everything down with some heavy medium gel and dried it.  Ivy’s tutorial had her using white paint to blur the edges of the images so…out came the white paint.  I love to paint with my fingers so I had fun.

After I put thin layer of white paint diluted with water over most of the images I got my wash cloth up from the floor and wiped off the faces I wanted to see.

Then I glued some snowflakes that I had ( no not on the floor) but in the drawers on my craft desk all around the images.  I felt quite good about the page but it need more.  I added gold crowns for Mary and Jesus and put dots of gold glitter in the middle of all of the snowflakes.

There an art journal page done in one hour!  Left out to completely dry over night and here it is; Now this simple page is not in a league with Ivy’s stunning journal page , but I was quite happy with my quick creative fix.  Sometimes you just need to have a little inspiration and then make something quick and easy.  Thanks Pinterest, Ivy and Stampington Place!  Enjoy!

free tutorial DIY ; Playing with Pebeo Prisme paints

this is my etsy shop where I sell my handmade journal

 

I am in the middle of deciding what to keep from my craft studio and what will not still be good after a year ( we hope to go back to Europe early next year) .   I came across some Pebeo Prisme paints that I bought at Micheals last year.  Since I do not think they will last a year in a storage place I decided to try them out.  I took some mini composition books and a brush and had fun painting and dropping different colors on the covers.  Then I held them at different angles and let the colors mixed.  It made a thick marbling effect.  I took a toothpick and swirled them around a bit and left them to dry. It takes 72 hours for the paint to completely dry and I think you should dry them in a well ventilated room. 

When the covers dry, the thick paint makes a honey comb design ( you have to have a thick layer of paint to get this effect).  The paint dries glossy and the colors are brilliant.  In person, it has a 3D effect, that is not captured well in the photos.  I put it on paper and tags too.    From the first photo you can see the thick dripping effect.  You are supposed to clean the brush with mineral spirits but I had none.  I just rinsed by brush in water and wiped it clean on a cloth between colors.

I really like the effects and the way you cannot predict how it will look when it dries.  I thought I would share my experiences with you.  If you have experimented with this paint please share your experiences in the comment section.  When we return from our trip I will purchase some more of these paints to play with.  Happy creating.

Pocket Letters, link free tutorial; see my DIY kits to get you started; thrill your penpal !

What are they?  Here is a link that explains them.

http://janettelane.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-are-pocket-letters.html

Now that you know about them….they are so much fun to get and receive.  Your art friends and even your non art friends will be thrilled to open the mail box and find a stuffed #10 envelop with their name on it.  When they open it up and see all the clever things you have enclosed for them to enjoy and use in their own pocket letters they will love you.  There is also the letter that is tucked into one of the pockets , that expresses your personal greetings.

I have been doing swaps like these fb pages;

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pocketletterpals/902454986503639/?notif_t=group_comment_reply

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PocketLetterInspirationAndIdeas/

thee are closed group but just request joining and they will let you in.

I am also cleaning out my craft studio and I have lots of art cards ( 2.5 x 3.5 inches) and pocket holders that I am selling in my etsy store.  I decided to put together DIY kits for beginners with everything you need to get started for only $5.99.  I would like to share the fun and make it easy to play.  Here is the link;

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LDphotography?section_id=17672510&ref=shopsection_leftnav_1

  Happy creating and mailing!

Retirement equals time to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop elements program for my photographs

I love doing photography and art.  These two combine when you can be creative using a photo editing program like Adobe Photoshop elements . When I was working there was not much extra time to learn and experiment with this program but now…retirement means time! So here is an artistic photo that I created by blending a photo I took here in Popotla fishing village and a textured paper that I had in my photo stash.     Here are the 2 photos I used;  This is the photograph of a boat on the shore.  Not the greatest photo ; over exposed on the top.This is the paper I used to layer over the photo of the boat.  Then I used the Overlay blending tool in the elements program and adjusted the opacity to make  this photograph.This is the result; a subtle but interesting textured photograph.  I love retirement.  Blending layers is the lesson for tonight.

Flip journal tutorial and Going to Mexico and Europe for a year!

The big news , we are retiring and going to Mexico ( for 2 months ) to plan the year vagabonding trip to Europe for a year.  Why just retire?  We are taking a senior gap year.  The year of exploration between working and retirement! We are traveling with only one bag each and a backpack so only minimal art supplies and my art journal.   So my posts here will be more about photography and whatever art presents itself as we travel.  Oh my I am soooo excited.

So here is my last project before starting to pack ( will miss my studio ).  This is a flip up journal with tags.  I saw one somewhere and I thought it would be a good last project. It turned out to be pretty easy to do and I think it looks good.  I cut out the cover and tag pages from heavy card stock and then made plain card stock pages and Graphic 45 paper pages. The cover is made from Spellbinders die cuts and they are painted with metallic paints.  There are lots of pockets and tags made from scrap papers.  The book rings open to rearrange or add pages to the journal.  And I hung a black key on the cover with Swarvorki crystals ( they are my signature item that I use on all of my art work).  Enjoy!  Oh If you want to follow along on our adventures and how we are doing it ; my blog is seniorgapyear.wordpress.com ( follow) because there will only be posts occasionally before Europe and that is in April.

diy never have a glue lid get stuck again, so easy, so cheap

I hate it when I go to use my E6000 glue and I cannot get the top off the tube. I resort to pliers and then the top comes off in pieces and the glue is ruined.  Does this sound familiar to you crafters?  I also make my own modpodge and that lid gets stuck too.

I found a really easy way to never have a lid glued to its own glue jar –petroleum jelly == this baby jelly is from the dollar store and smells nice.  Just take a bit of it and line the rings where the lid screws into the jar and no more getting stuck.  No more bad words, just smiles when I go to use my glue containers.  You do have to renew the jelly once in a while to keep it working.

Hope the helps.  Linda

life is fragile revisited thoughts about our connections with each other

I wrote a blog entry a couple of weeks ago called Life is fragile.  It was about my friend who had  stomach cancer being in hospice.  Julie died last Friday evening. I cried. Such a loss of a gentle spirit and a stunning talent.  Her husband made the announcement on Facebook and I was surprised to read  all the comments from people all over the world who loved Julie and her work.  It made me realize how we impact one another on a global scale now with the internet and social media.  I wonder if Julie would have been surprised to see how many people took the time to write something beautiful and comforting to her family.  I wonder if she would be surprised to see how deeply her presence and her work affected people she only knew through her Etsy shop or the internet.

Then I began to wonder how many people know about me and my work.  Does my work leave a lasting impact on other people’s lives?  I know that my work as a psychotherapist has impacted many people and I hope for the good.  But does my artistic work also leave a footprint in the life of others?  I suppose that seeing one of my photographs in my Etsy shop or on Facebook or Fickr sends a fleeting impression to the viewer’s mind about some remembered moment in their lives.  And that is probably enough, to offer that moment of pleasure, wonder or reminiscence to a person that I know or that I have never met.  We all seem to be influencing each other all the time with our shared experiences and images in this time of instant communication.   The world is changing and becoming more inclusive.  The stunning amount of comments about Julie on the internet is a concrete example of how we are all changing and becoming more connected in ways that I could not have imagined even 15 year ago.

how fragile is life

Today I found out that one of my artist friends who is about my age who was dx with cancer 8 months ago is in hospice.

  She is a bright and energetic artist and I have always have admired her  work.  She kept us informed about her progress.  She went to the best cancer specialist in the country and had several rounds of chemo.  At first it was shrinking the tumors.  I was quite hopeful for her.  After all she was not old and she led a healthy life.  Today I read that she is in hospice.

My stomach sank and I started to feel sick.  How could this be?  I still feel sick.  I am sorry that her life will be cut short.  I am made aware again of how life can turn in a moment or a few months.  It pulls me up to be aware that there are no guarantees, that you must live each moment fully.  I hope I can hold this in my mind when my busy world swirls around me,  And I hope that my friend will make a safe and peaceful transition.