A Happy Heart (art journaling, tutorial link and RAK thanks)

Recently, I received a wonderful RAK from Andria of the Drawing Near blog. She sent me a wonderful little mini-book stuffed with ephemera. You can read her tutorial for how to make one at this link. It provided the perfect elements for a happy mixed media art journal page about how happy I was to have my son Henry home for a few days for his mid-term break. I hope you enjoy the page and get a chance to go visit Andria's blog - it's a good one!

Buried Treasure

Seth Apter runs an occasional challenge to unearth an all-time favorite post and repost it for the world to see. He calls it Buried Treasure, and you can read more about it here. I decided to participate this year and came up with this post from 2010. That year, I hosted a blog hop for altered houses. I took sign-ups and then sent all participants an envelope of goodies for them to use to make an altered house. I then hosted a blog circle blog hop (which you can find here, although I'd be surprised if the links all still worked). In preparation for the hop, I wrote this tutorial which I think holds up pretty well to the test of time. This post also contains a link (in the third paragraph) to another tutorial I wrote on "how-to-collage" which is also pretty good. I hope you enjoy these tutorials. 
I'd be curious about how many of you remember (or participated) in the altered house blog hop . . . and wonder whether we should do another one . . . 

Altered House Tutorial (The Beach Shack)

Welcome House Party guests and anyone else interested in altered houses!  Several people asked for a tutorial on making altered houses, so I thought I would walk you through the creative process I used to make this house, which I call my Beach Shack. I hope you find the tutorial useful. I started with an envelope of supplies, which included the following:

I began by looking at the supplies to decide what kind of house they suggested and whether I wanted to go with it or change it entirely.  I thought these supplies suggested a beachy, funpark kind of theme, and I liked that. [If I'm starting from scratch (without a bag of supplies), I usually start with a theme in mind and pull out supplies (images, paper, embellishments) which support that theme.  Or, I might start with an image that calls to me and then choose supporting papers and embellishments.]  The next thing I did was to think about any of my own supplies that I might want to add - things that had a similar feel and color scheme.  I pulled out a few things, including paint, ink, brads and some 1940's pictures of women in swimsuits:

From here, I basically proceeded to follow the three steps that I outlined earlier in my collage tutorial:  create a background; add an image; and add embellishments. You can find that tutorial here.  It's truly not so different than what your probably do in making cards or scrapbook pages.
Step 1:  Background. To create a background for my house, I considered a variety of different ways to use paper and paint to cover my house.  I started with these three papers:

I liked this basic approach, but I really wanted my beach shack to have a rustic feel, so I tried out my two paint colors to see if either would work:

The brown seemed too drab. I liked the blue, so painted the bottom half of the house blue.  I still wanted it more rustic, so I considered using either crackle paint on top of the blue or spritzing brown ink onto the blue.

Since my crackle paint was a little dried out (and also drab), I decided to spritz the bottom with brown ink.  I also used brown ink to ink the edges of all the papers and the edge of the blue. Then I glued the papers in place, and my background was done:

Step 2:  Images. I decided to use two images:  the elephant from the envelope and a 1940's woman doing a handstand.  I double-matted the elephant, single matted the woman, and placed them on the house:

Step 3:  Embellishments. When it's time to decide on embellishments, I usually try a few different variations to see what I like before I glue anything down.  I used a selection of things from the envelope and from my stash for my first pass:

I thought this looked pretty good, but thought it felt a little plain still. I wanted to add something else, and I realized I hadn't used any of the cool gingham ribbon from the envelope. I tried out the idea of putting some under the roof line or maybe some squares in the lower right corner of the house:

I decided I liked it along the roofline, but not so much on the house.  I decided to put some yellow brads in the lower right instead.  I adhered everything to end up with this:

I liked it pretty well, but I felt like it still needed one more element in the upper left hand corner of the house.  I rooted around on my desk and found a cream-colored star button with orange polka dots.  The orange pulled some orange out of the elephant picture.  I adhered the star with yellow brads, and my beach shack was complete! [Just to be sure it was complete, I toyed with the idea of adding something else (small shells, a flag on top, flowers), but they all made it feel cluttered.]

A few things about the design that I think work well.  The color scheme followed the gallon-quart-pint formula (where you use approximately 70% of your main color - blue; approximately 25% of your supporting color - brown; and approximately 5% of your third color - yellow) which often works for me. The vertical line of the brads reflect and balance the vertical image of the woman doing the handstand (she's a friend of my Aunt's, by the way), the star with the circular brads reflect and balance the picture of the elephant on the round ball.  Like many of my collages (or scrapbook pages or cards), there's a background, a title (live simply) and then three embellishments (tickets, star and brads).  Everything (color, images, embellies) supports the theme of a Beach Shack. I've never studied design, but I think this is why the house works for me to feel balanced and complete. Usually when I'm creating, I don't think consciously about any of these design principles, but I can look at the completed product and describe them (and I find it an interesting exercise).  If I'm struggling with a project, then I usually try to think about design principles to find out what is or is not working.
I didn't use everything that came in the envelope or that I pulled out.  Here's what I had left over (it's probably enough for another house - LOL!):

A few additional thoughts. There were other directions to go with the background and embellishments. For instance, I considered painting the roof brown or using a brown paper on the roof piece and then cutting some of the flowers out of the patterned paper to decorate it.  I also thought about cutting out some of the compass designs and using those as part of the background on the house or cutting little triangular flags out of the yellow paper. Any of these could have worked.  Second, if the theme suggested by the supplies in the envelope doesn't speak to you, feel free to substitute for any or all of the supplies.  Third, just play with the embellishments until you find something you like. As Paul Gardner said, "A painting is never finished.  It simply stops in interesting places."  I love my beach shack.  I think it's an interesting place to stop and spend a few moments. It might even be a fun place to have a house party . . .
I hope you found this tutorial useful.  If so, I'd love feedback as to what was helpful.  If not, polite suggestions as to what to add or delete are always welcome.  Party on!
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To see the full list of Buried Treasure participants from this year, click over to Seth's blog here.

Want to give handmade cards as a holiday gift?

I love the convenience of giving gift cards at Christmas.  But I never feel like I'm giving a real gift when I give one  . . . you know, a real gift - a package with wrapping and ribbon.  So, what I've taken to doing is to give a handful of homemade cards with the gift cards.  I have A LOT of cards in my stash, so I choose a nice assortment and bundle them up with the gift card.  Most people really seem to appreciate them (because people always need cards but many people don't have the time or know-how to make cards). A few years ago, for my brothers and sisters, I took collage sheets I made with family heritage photos and used them to make simple note cards.  They were a big hit.

What if you want to give handmade cards but don't have any on hand? 

Here's an easy recipe for using collage  images in cards:  patterned paper + image + ribbon + embellishment.  Need more detailed instructions?

1.  Choose a collage image. It can be vintage, fun, grungey, whatever.  Mat if desired.

2.  Choose a patterned paper for the background - coordinate color and mood, but a small and fairly busy pattern works best. 

3.  Choose an embellishment (or set of embellishments) that captures the same color and mood of the card.  I like to use small embellishments in groups of three.

4.  Choose a coordinating ribbon.

5.  Arrange the image and embellishments.  Adhere.

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Acknowledgement and Variation

I got this idea from a pair of cards I received in a card swap.  The cards were created by Debbie B, and her original card (with the Dubai postage stamp) is below.  If you would like more layers on your card (or if your patterned paper background is not busy enough), you can add some stenciling on the patterned paper and stamped script, like I did in the "Daddy's Girl" card below.

You may be wondering - what is a collage sheet?  It's basically a collection of images that you can cut up and use in your art.  You can buy them at places like artchix, or you can find lots of free downloadable collage sheets by googling free downloadable collage sheets.  Here's a link that's a nice start (you just click on her image and it will give you a screen that you can print out).  

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p.s. This post is a combination of a couple of posts from 2009. I got the idea to freshen them up and repost from Sian's "Blog cos you want to" Suggestion #2: Play on the Popular. You can read her great idea here.

Thanksgiving Tutorial Repost: Collage ATC

I'm reposting a few tutorials this Thanksgiving weekend - enjoy!!

Since I started blogging, I've had a couple of different requests from people for some information on "how to" collage. So, I'm posting this tutorial with a very simple 3-step method for making a collage.  For my "canvas"or size, I chose to make ATC's.  An ATC  is a 2.5x3.5" piece of artwork. You can read more about ATC's in this blog post. You can choose any size of  "canvas" on which to collage.  I've collaged on dominoes, and you can see some of mine in this photo.  Or you can go larger.  I chose to work on two different themes for my collage ATC's - chosen from two of my favorite challenge blogs.  The Scrappy Tree is looking for "steam punk" ATC's.  Steam punk is a style that blends Victorian age images with explorers and marvelous machines.  You can read about their ATC swap here.  The Something Completely Different blog is featuring artwork associated with different letters this month, and this week's challenge, posted here, is to create something based on the letter "B." Once you've decided on your canvas and theme, you can start the three steps.

Step 1:  Background

You can choose almost anything as a background:  patterned paper, paint, cardstock, etc.  I started with these four backgrounds - two patterned paper (map), one spritzed with glimmer mist and one painted background:

Step 2:  Image

Since I was thinking "steam punk" and "the letter B," I chose two stamps that fit these themes: a Victorian Boy and a Victorian Hot Air Balloon.  Both stamps are by Club Scrap:

I then cut the images out and placed them on the backgrounds:

I decided to mat a couple of the backgrounds to give them a little more weight. The boy on the yellow painted background wasn't really working for me, so I decided to mat him:

Better, but it still wasn't working for me.  So, I decided to add more to the background.  Since Steam Punk incorporates a lot of gears and clocks, I grabbed a Tim Holtz gears & clocks mask and masked the background with black ink.  Much better!

Step 3:  Embellishments

Now you'e ready to finish off your collage with a few well-chosen embellishments.  Three is usually a good number to use.  If you look at my finished Steam Punk Boys, you'll see that for the one on the left, I added a spinner to his hat (1), the title "punk" (2), and a pair of photo turns (3).  Even though these are technically more than three embellishments (the title is four letters and there are two photo turns), the eye perceives them as three elements.  For the finished collage on the right, I added a hat (1), a strip of words (2) and a pair of circles (3).  My finished balloon collages are below.  The one on the left has a yellow brad, a spinner and a title.  The one on the right has a strip of tickets, a small Victorian conductor and a title.

There you have it! Three easy steps that can be followed to make a collage. If you go back and look at the photo of my collage dominoes or at any of the ATC's in my old post, you should be able to identify the background, the image and the embellishments. For those attending the house party, these steps can also apply to your house (I'll post more about that later).  I also wanted to let you know that the house party is getting rather loud and noisy.  The neighbors are threatening to call the cops.  So I'm going to cut off sign-ups pretty soon. There's only room for a few more before we blow the doors off this joint!

Travel Journal Tutorial (June Counterfeit Kit)

I learned how to make a Travel Journal out of manila envelopes and cardstock from an article in the now defunct Scrapbook Answers magazine.  The author is Vicki Chrisman, who is definitely not defunct! She has a wonderful blog called "This Art That Makes Me Happy." I emailed her, and she said I was welcome to share instructions on how to make her travel journal.
I started by gathering the following supplies (all, except the envelopes and chipboard from my June Counterfeit Kit):
1. 3 manila envelopes (9x12 inches)
2. 8 pieces of paper (Cut one to 9x12 inches for the outside cover; cut one into two pieces 8.75x5.5 inches for the inside covers; cut two pieces down to 8.5x11 inches for two inside pages; take two pieces and cut each into two 8.5x5.5 to cover manila envelopes; take last two pieces and cut each into two pieces, one 8.5x5.5 and one 8.5x4.5).
3. 2 pieces of chipboard 5.5x8.5 inches each
4. two pieces of twine (24 inches each)
5. one piece of ribbon (32 inches long)
6. themed embellishments and letter stickers
7. tools: bone folder; tape; hole punch; adhesive
Before I go further, let me show you a few views of one of my completed travel journals, so you can see where this tutorial is going and how I use mine.  I love these because I can fill the envelopes with memorabilia, and there's lots of room to jot down important arrangements before the trip and journal about our adventures along the way.

Now, on to the tutorial. . . Start by folding all three of the manila envelopes and the two 8.5x11 interior pages in half.  Next, insert the two chipboard pieces, side by side into one of the envelopes (there should be about an inch between the two). Seal up the envelope. This will be your cover.

Cover one side with the 9x12 piece of paper for the outside cover (I used a dark blue). Take the two 8.75x5.5 pieces (inside covers; I used the butterfly paper) and adhere them to the other side. Glue them along the outside edges, not along the spine. Next, stack the two interior pages and envelopes, on top of the cover (alternating them):

Take the eight pieces of paper that you have left. You will use these to cover the eight sides of the manila envelope. I like to decide where to place these, so that the patterns and colors coordinate with the opposite page and also with the places I will go. So, I put papers appropriate for London up front, those appropriate for the Cotswolds in the middle and papers for Cambridge/London at the end. The two thinner papers (8.5x4.5) go on the side of the manila envelope with the flap. Once you've decided on the order, adhere the papers, again aligning them with the outside edge of the envelopes, not the spine:

Next, take you hole punch and punch two holes along the spine of the cover. I punch the holes the full length of my hole punch:

Punch holes along the spine of the envelope pages in the same position. Line the 8.5x11 interior pages up inside the cover (note, they will be smaller than the envelope pages) and punch holes in them. Line all your pages up and thread the two lengths of twine through the holes:

Tie the twine securely on the outside to complete the binding.  Slide the ribbon under the twine and wrap around the journal horizontally around the middle.  Tie it in the front.  Flip the journal over, and secure the ribbon to the back with stickers:

Flip the journal back over and decorate the front:

Finally, decorate the interior pages.  I like to leave some room to adhere postcards and definitely room for writing down our itinerary, important numbers and journaling about our trip. I also tend label our destinations.  Here's some of my pages:

So, there you have it! Thanks again to Vicki for allowing me to share her process. Feedback on the tutorial definitely welcome. Do you create travel journals before a trip?  Do they look anything like this? 

Altered House Tutorial (The Beach Shack)

Welcome House Party guests and anyone else interested in altered houses!  Several people asked for a tutorial on making altered houses, so I thought I would walk you through the creative process I used to make this house, which I call my Beach Shack. I hope you find the tutorial useful. I started with an envelope of supplies, which included the following:

I began by looking at the supplies to decide what kind of house they suggested and whether I wanted to go with it or change it entirely.  I thought these supplies suggested a beachy, funpark kind of theme, and I liked that. [If I'm starting from scratch (without a bag of supplies), I usually start with a theme in mind and pull out supplies (images, paper, embellishments) which support that theme.  Or, I might start with an image that calls to me and then choose supporting papers and embellishments.]  The next thing I did was to think about any of my own supplies that I might want to add - things that had a similar feel and color scheme.  I pulled out a few things, including paint, ink, brads and some 1940's pictures of women in swimsuits:

From here, I basically proceeded to follow the three steps that I outlined earlier in my collage tutorial:  create a background; add an image; and add embellishments. You can find that tutorial here.  It's truly not so different than what your probably do in making cards or scrapbook pages.
Step 1:  Background. To create a background for my house, I considered a variety of different ways to use paper and paint to cover my house.  I started with these three papers:

I liked this basic approach, but I really wanted my beach shack to have a rustic feel, so I tried out my two paint colors to see if either would work:

The brown seemed too drab. I liked the blue, so painted the bottom half of the house blue.  I still wanted it more rustic, so I considered using either crackle paint on top of the blue or spritzing brown ink onto the blue.

Since my crackle paint was a little dried out (and also drab), I decided to spritz the bottom with brown ink.  I also used brown ink to ink the edges of all the papers and the edge of the blue. Then I glued the papers in place, and my background was done:

Step 2:  Images. I decided to use two images:  the elephant from the envelope and a 1940's woman doing a handstand.  I double-matted the elephant, single matted the woman, and placed them on the house:

Step 3:  Embellishments. When it's time to decide on embellishments, I usually try a few different variations to see what I like before I glue anything down.  I used a selection of things from the envelope and from my stash for my first pass:

I thought this looked pretty good, but thought it felt a little plain still. I wanted to add something else, and I realized I hadn't used any of the cool gingham ribbon from the envelope. I tried out the idea of putting some under the roof line or maybe some squares in the lower right corner of the house:

I decided I liked it along the roofline, but not so much on the house.  I decided to put some yellow brads in the lower right instead.  I adhered everything to end up with this:

I liked it pretty well, but I felt like it still needed one more element in the upper left hand corner of the house.  I rooted around on my desk and found a cream-colored star button with orange polka dots.  The orange pulled some orange out of the elephant picture.  I adhered the star with yellow brads, and my beach shack was complete! [Just to be sure it was complete, I toyed with the idea of adding something else (small shells, a flag on top, flowers), but they all made it feel cluttered.]

A few things about the design that I think work well.  The color scheme followed the gallon-quart-pint formula (where you use approximately 70% of your main color - blue; approximately 25% of your supporting color - brown; and approximately 5% of your third color - yellow) which often works for me. The vertical line of the brads reflect and balance the vertical image of the woman doing the handstand (she's a friend of my Aunt's, by the way), the star with the circular brads reflect and balance the picture of the elephant on the round ball.  Like many of my collages (or scrapbook pages or cards), there's a background, a title (live simply) and then three embellishments (tickets, star and brads).  Everything (color, images, embellies) supports the theme of a Beach Shack. I've never studied design, but I think this is why the house works for me to feel balanced and complete. Usually when I'm creating, I don't think consciously about any of these design principles, but I can look at the completed product and describe them (and I find it an interesting exercise).  If I'm struggling with a project, then I usually try to think about design principles to find out what is or is not working.
I didn't use everything that came in the envelope or that I pulled out.  Here's what I had left over (it's probably enough for another house - LOL!):

A few additional thoughts. There were other directions to go with the background and embellishments. For instance, I considered painting the roof brown or using a brown paper on the roof piece and then cutting some of the flowers out of the patterned paper to decorate it.  I also thought about cutting out some of the compass designs and using those as part of the background on the house or cutting little triangular flags out of the yellow paper. Any of these could have worked.  Second, if the theme suggested by the supplies in the envelope doesn't speak to you, feel free to substitute for any or all of the supplies.  Third, just play with the embellishments until you find something you like. As Paul Gardner said, "A painting is never finished.  It simply stops in interesting places."  I love my beach shack.  I think it's an interesting place to stop and spend a few moments. It might even be a fun place to have a house party . . .
I hope you found this tutorial useful.  If so, I'd love feedback as to what was helpful.  If not, polite suggestions as to what to add or delete are always welcome.  Party on!