My craft today is a bit corky. Yes, I made craft out of corks. I made a business card holder and picture holder out of corks. I like to occasionally go the Virginia Vineyards. We have over 225 vineyards and they are great, watch out California!! This summer at one of the vineyards, I asked for corks...Wow! Ask and you shall receive. They gave a big bag full of them. So I decided to make art out of it. There are so many cool things you can do with corks. I have so many more ideas for the cork, but my grand plan in the future is to make a huge wine bottle pouring wine into a glass.
How it's made
I used a hot glue gun to fastened the corks together. For the business card holder I wanted to hide the hot glue between the corks, so strung hemp string between the cork pieces. I really like how it looks with the hemp string. I felt that added an artistic, nautical type look. For the picture holder I also wrapped the corks with hemp string to make it looked like it's tied together. I used 22 gauge wire to make picture holder. I glued wooden embellishment letters with word "Family". The cork that is in the center, is a cork I cut into fourths with serrated bread knife, which by the way is the only cutting device I found that cuts through corks. Just in case, the pictures are not of my family, they stock photos. Enjoy my corky art.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
Queen B - Shadowbox Mixed Media
Women who believe they should be treated like queens…they
are right. Then there are women who are thought of as the ultimate queen…a Queen
Bee. A term that could be taken negatively or positively. I like to think of it
in positive terms. I like to think of a Queen Bee as a woman who is empowered,
who is a leader, who has going on and does all backwards in high heels (kind of
like Ginger Rogers). Ok, ok high heels not required, I personally don’t like
them, but nonetheless, a Queen Bee simply kicks butt. I decided to make a mixed media shadow box art
honoring the Queen Bee.
Besides being passionate about arts and craft, period, I really
enjoy creating shadow box art. I like to
alter deep stretched canvas, and deep picture frames and make them into a
shadow box. So far I have not used a real shadow box. For the canvas I do more of a reverse canvas technique
to make it look like a shadow box. The front of the canvas becomes the backing
of the shadow box, and the back opening is wood frame that the canvas is stretched
over. I use that opening to hold the various artistic pieces and embellishments.
How it’s made
This is a reverse canvas. In this case I cut the backing
(originally the front of the canvas) and folded over and painted it with gold
metallic paint. I painted the box with Martha Stewart purple pearl paint. I stenciled
the "faded dot" design by Tim Holtz with textured paint. I decorated a woodchip board
with scrapbooking designer paper and used various embellishments and used as backing
for the box. I painted the chipboard purple, used glitter and stenciled a
honeycomb shapes using textured paint. I added Prima swirl bling and pearls
throughout the box. I made the “B” out
of clay and spray painted with glitter gold paint.
The crown is a pendant from the Landing Bead. The crown is a
semi-circle shape, which was perfect for this piece, since I am only displaying
the front. The pillow that the crown is sitting on made out clay and I painted
with purple and gold paint and glued gold trim around it. The little platform
that the pillow sits on is also made out clay. I wrapped a purple ribbon to give it
a regal look. I printed a picture of Queen Mary, just love the image, the vintage look, her pose.
On the outside of the box, I used various embellishments.
The flowers that are not made out of metal are from Prima, Recollections and
Spare Parts. The key is made out wood and painted gold. The clock, cameo, dress
form, fleur de lis is made out metal. The top of box is covered with lace and
used a pearl trim throughout the front of the box. The queen bee image located on the top right was printed from the internet on card stock paper. I glued a glass pebble over the image using Modge Podge Dimension Glue. I decorated lace around the glass. Hope you enjoy my Queen B piece.Monday, October 6, 2014
And a New Chapter Begins - Mixed Media
We all like the idea of beginning a new chapter of our life. We can't undo our life, but we can try to have better next time in the next moment, hour, day or year...and that's the cool thing about life. So this idea of new chapters in our lives inspired this piece.
I used CK and Company scrapbooking paper as the background. I like the paper's design because it has a fictional looking map and it went perfect with my intention of traveling, hence, moving on to different place in our lives. The hot air ballons and butterflies are made of different patterned paper. The basket is made out braided hemp string glued together. The flowers are from Prima and Recollections.
Let's make our new chapters in out lives a good one.
I used CK and Company scrapbooking paper as the background. I like the paper's design because it has a fictional looking map and it went perfect with my intention of traveling, hence, moving on to different place in our lives. The hot air ballons and butterflies are made of different patterned paper. The basket is made out braided hemp string glued together. The flowers are from Prima and Recollections.
Let's make our new chapters in out lives a good one.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Be Free. Be Free. Be Happy - Mixed Media
In my last post, I created a True Beauty Lies Within mixed media piece where I used a
vintage woman. In this mixed media I used the same vintage woman, clock idea
and vintage theme, using a different inspirational phrase. Couldn't help myself
just like the vintage woman and phrase.
This time I used a real canvas. I painted Gesso over a painting that I made and ended not liking it (leave to us, to be our worst critic, right). I used a vintage looking scrapbooking paper as the background, to which I adhere Prima spiral bling. I also added an acrylic birdhouse and chandelier from Spare Parts (that's the brand name of the product). The vintage woman has a different lace design dress and headdress. Her necklace is painted using gold Stickles. I also used Stickles throughout her outfit and headdress, to accentuate her fabulous-ness.
Now for the clock. This time (no pun intended) I made the numbers out of polymer Sculpey clay. For the clock's background I used a red card stock paper and lace underneath the red paper. The center is a painted paper doily. I used several types of Prima flowers. The tan flowers on the top side are made out fabric. The flowers on the bottom right are metal flowers from Spare Parts. I just love that contrast of metal, paper and fabric flowers surrounding the clock.
The phrase. I printed the phrase on paper made to look like linen (it really does, look closely). As for the frame, it made out lace. I surrounded the frame with miniature flowers from Spare Parts. The crown is a bronze necklace charm.
This time I used a real canvas. I painted Gesso over a painting that I made and ended not liking it (leave to us, to be our worst critic, right). I used a vintage looking scrapbooking paper as the background, to which I adhere Prima spiral bling. I also added an acrylic birdhouse and chandelier from Spare Parts (that's the brand name of the product). The vintage woman has a different lace design dress and headdress. Her necklace is painted using gold Stickles. I also used Stickles throughout her outfit and headdress, to accentuate her fabulous-ness.
Now for the clock. This time (no pun intended) I made the numbers out of polymer Sculpey clay. For the clock's background I used a red card stock paper and lace underneath the red paper. The center is a painted paper doily. I used several types of Prima flowers. The tan flowers on the top side are made out fabric. The flowers on the bottom right are metal flowers from Spare Parts. I just love that contrast of metal, paper and fabric flowers surrounding the clock.
The phrase. I printed the phrase on paper made to look like linen (it really does, look closely). As for the frame, it made out lace. I surrounded the frame with miniature flowers from Spare Parts. The crown is a bronze necklace charm.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
True Beauty Lies Within - Mixed Media
So I decided to go a little vintage, not so much shabby, but mostly vintage. I like vintage photographs of women; there is some so forever beautiful about the women in these photographs. All I knew is I wanted to do something creative around a vintage photograph. As I looked for photographs, a photograph of Lupe Velez caught my attention. She was a Mexican American spit fire movie star during the 1920s and 30s. This pose inspired the words for this piece. Lupe looks like she's posing for us, but thinking about something else...perhaps she’s thinking how she's more than just a movie star, but a real person who dreams, feels, hurts, laughs or that her true beauty really does lie within.
Now about the piece. I used a piece of cardboard as the canvas. For the background I used a vintage looking scrapbooking paper. It looked like wall paper. I used homemade texture paint with Tim Holtz Faded Dots stencil for the background. I also used swirly bling to decorate the background as well. Since I wanted to portray a room, I added a resin chandelier. I used real photo paper, then cut out the image. I used a resin frame a part of the room’s décor. In the frame is another vintage photo of a woman (don’t know who she is). This whole piece is a sort of self-examination of the self, the photograph of in the frame represent of the layers of the self. I wanted to add a little bit of 3D to the image, so I used lace for her bra, mini skirt, and hat. I used pearls as a decorative accoutrement for her outfit. I used bling for her shoe buckles.
The clock has meaning, not sure if it’s artistically okay, but nonetheless it has meaning for me. It represents that beauty is timeless. Is composed of layers, the bottom layer is made of red cardstock paper, then a paper doily which painted to be beige, and an image cutout of the clock numbers. I embellished the clock with fabric, natural color flowers from Prima (I love these flowers) and a fleur de lis. I used a vintage pearl chad as the clock’s center.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Be Yourself - Mixed Media
One of my many favorite quotes is from Oscar
Wilde..."Be Yourself Everyone is Already Taken". Growing up, didn’t it
seem like all the adults seemed to tell you to be "oh honey just be yourself" and somehow that
would make our world much better...ah the pressures of being a kid and fitting in. Somehow if Oscar would have told me that as a
kid, I would have definitely done it with confidence because he dared to be
himself. He was so much himself that it led him to many trials
and tribulations in his life, as well as moments of great inspiration that
resulted in him writing great plays, stories and poems. My favorite being ‘The
Importance of Being Earnest”. He was a great writer born ahead of his
time. Now about this Oscar Wilde inspired piece.
I used a piece of cardboard box as the canvas. The background
is made out scrapbooking paper, lace, drywall tape, paint and textured
honeycomb shapes. I used homemade textured paint and honeycomb stencil. Also as
part of the background, I peeled back some of the cardboard revealing the corrugated
center that all boxes have to create a cushion. I like the corrugated look
because it give this tattered wall look. Furthermore, I like to contrast the
tattered wall look with lace, which I added to the torn edges. I stamped the
text. I decided to create faceless woman out of paper, which I believe one
could interpret their own emotions. Her dress is a mini collage made out of
different pieces of scrapbooking paper and lace. I used a little flower with a pearl in the
center as a sort of buckle for her sash.
I used pearl trim to make her necklace. I used Prima and Recollections flowers. The
ribbons is made out hemp string.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Dwell in Possibilities - Mixed Media
Hi Everyone! One of my favorite quotes is from Emily
Dickinson's poem titled "I Dwell in Possibility". This phrase always
inspires me. There are many interpretation to this poem. It sounds like she is comparing
two houses to poetry. The two houses
could be thought of her real life (uneventful and powerless for a woman in the 1800s), and
her dream life (where anything is possible). The two houses could also be thought
of Poetry versus other type of prose. Some think it's a sad poem, some think
it's a happy poem. I think it's a positive poem. I did a mix media to honor
this motivational phrase. However, I chose to say "possibilities"
instead, not sure why, but just liked the way it sounded.
I used cardboard back from a used up notebook as the canvas.
I used K and Company scrapbooking designer paper and some bling as the
background. I love ribbons…so I felt compelled to use for the lettering. I
stamped the words on a blue ribbon. Wrapping the ribbon is a hemp string with a
lock and key. The lock and key is meant to be symbolic that you hold the key and lock to your
dreams. I added some flowers from Recollections with some pearls embellishments
as the center. I also added some K and Company puffy sticker butterflies. As
the layers I have an antique clock, more scrapbooking paper and burlap. Here is
to you Emily….
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Imagine - Believe - Discover - Mixed Media
Hi Everyone! I was in daydreaming mood when creating this piece. Don't know why I felt inspired by these words. My thought is that one has to begin the making of a dream by imagining, then believe that what you imagine is possible, so that you can ultimately discover for yourself what your mind created. It's possible that one might discover other things on your way to one dream. I like it when this happens to me, it just means that the universe is communicating telling you something. Okay, Okay I'll stop getting too philosophical about this piece and explain how I made it. I used a cardboard box as the canvas. I used K and Company scrapbooking paper. The words were stamped on cardstock paper. I also stamped some images as part of the background. These stamps include the key, the vintage calendar and letter postmarks. The flowers are from Recollection, and added some pearls as the center. The bows are made from hemp string. The layers underneath the words consist of corrugated cardboard, burlap, gauze, drywall tape and lace. The butterflies were cut from the K and Company scrapbooking paper using a Martha Stewart butterfly puncher. The clocks were printed from the internet on cardstock paper and used Mod Podge Dimensional magic to give it a glossy look.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)