Fabric+Paper beginnings

I bought Kelli Perkins book Stitch Alchemy a few weeks back hoping to experiment with her fabric and paper combinations.  Well today was the day to begin the process.  I scanned the entire book first, taking in all of the beautiful, detailed photos and then went back to actually read the process she uses.

Here is the beginning of my first fabric+paper attempt.  Here is a close up (the whole piece is 17 inch by 17 inch).

I have to wait until this is completely dry before moving on to the next step of coloring.

I am off to see what else is calling me in the art studio.

Cheers!

Art Journal Redo

I have been holding on to an old journal that I used for work a few years ago.  This one captured my daily to-do lists that kept my work humming along.  When I completed all of the pages in the journal, I went on to another one and put this one away knowing that I would someday alter it and reuse it.  Well that someday was last week while we were on vacation.  I packed the journal, a jar of gel medium, gesso, acrylic paints, brushes, a plethora of scrap papers and ephemera, a sanding pad, the heat gun and lots of colored pencils, markers and other writing instruments. 

Some of the pages are ready to be jounaled in and some are still waiting for additions.  There are at least 40 more pages that need to be primed and prepared for journaling.  I’ve decided to use this as a travel journal - next stop is San Francisco in three weeks.

Artful Recycling, Journal

Last October I started my journey in artful recycling by creating a journal out of paper scrap that was in my recycle bin. The idea started when I saw Ingrid Dijkers recycled journal on her blog and challenged myself to do something similar.  I pulled the journal out a few days ago and finished priming all the pages with gesso.   Next was to paint the backgrounds.  Here is what I have done so far.

These two pages are the back of a Kleenex box and a raisin box.  I used some masking tape to mask different layers of paint.  I love this look, it reminds me of graffiti.

This is the front side of a brown manilla envelope.

Here is the backside of that brown manila envelope.

Below is the front side of the half clock face.  You can still see some of the numbers through the pain layers.

Here is the back of that clock face page.

These pages are now ready for collage, journaling and embellishments.

Keep it simple!

Artful Recycling – the beginning

For the past few weeks I have been thinking of how I want to create a recycled journal.  The original idea, an altered notebook came from Ingrid Dijkers.  I have been fascinated by this concept of creating art re-using materials that would end up in my recycle bin or worse, in the trash.  So, today I started my journey on artful recycling (I just coined this term!). 

Here is what the front looks like.  The ribboned piece is an original background paper that I made.

Here is an up close picture of the binding.  I bought a Rubi-Coil machine  earlier this year and it has turned out to be one of my favorite tools.  I added some left over beads as I threaded the coils through the pages.  I will be adding ribbons and yarns to the coils as I work in the journal.

The cover is an old transparancy and the first page is the front of a file folder.

Page 2: A side of a tissue box and a piece of black cardstock.

Page 3: Raisin box front and trip receipt envelope.

Page 4: Half of an old kitchen clock face.

Page 5: Magazine cover.

Page 6: Color bar from the side of a pizza box.

Page 7: Die cut cardstock (I bought a box of these at Goodwill).

Page 8: Another piece of original background paper.

Page 9/10: Miscellaneous ephemera (envelope from Holiday Inn, China and behind that a sheet of tab inserts).

Page 11: Purple cardstock piece and Junk mail

Page 12: Random art book page.

Page 13: An older ledger page that I used to make a list on.

Page 14: One of my moo cards and watercolor paper.

Page 15: Back side of a Hostess cupcake box, another side of a tissue box and a USPS Priority box side.

Page 16: Liquid watercolor sprayed paper.

Page 17:  Ritz cracker box front, cardstock piece and postcard.

Page 18: Front of Hostess cupcake box, junk mail.

Page 19:  Back of Ritz cracker box and old schematic drawing.

Page 20: A Thank You card.

Page 21: Scrap piece of cardboard and a piece of cardstock.

Back cover: Back side of the file folder that was used in the front with another piece of transparancy.

Here lies the beginning of a new journal just waiting to be worked in, altered, drawn upon, painted, stamped, colored and journaled in.  I can’t wait to get started.

Remember to Keep It Simple!