She Who Stamps & Scraps

Guest Blogger for Sizzix

Today it's my pleasure to be Guest Blogger on the Sizzix blog! I've been using Sizzix dies for nearly a decade, and it was a thrill to be asked. The hard part came in choosing which dies to use... in the end I used eight different dies with my Vagabond machine to create this accordion flip album. It folds flat for mailing/storage, but I like it like this, upright on a shelf.  It's tough to photograph a flip album, but I have loads up close-up shots over on the Sizzix site.

I used a 6X6 pack of Basic Grey Serenade papers from Eclectic Paperie to diecut the individual pages. I love using those paper pads for projects like this, not just because everything coordinates so well, but also because the small pad has patterned papers that have been scaled to size for a smaller surface. It wouldn't be the same to cut a large piece of patterned paper to fit these small (roughly 3" in diameter) pages.  

Here's a close up of the six pages:

I used loads of Tim Holtz's Idea-ology, made custom embellishments for five of the six pages, embossed, layered, punched, and of course... used my Sizzix dies!  

I've shared lots more photos including the how-to's over on the Sizzix blog... I'd so appreciate your popping over there to leave a comment and let them know you saw my project.  

And if you're on Facebook, please 'like' my page and add me to your Interest Lists to see when my blog is updated.

As my U.K. friends say, mahoosive thanks!

Marjie

Basic Grey - Serenade 6x6 Paper Pad

Dylusions Cling Stamps - The Right Words

Unity Stamp Company - Art & Possibility (Donna Downey)

Unity Stamp Company - Empowered Words (Donna Downey)

Distress Ink Pad - Black Soot

Favorite Projects of 2012

Thanks to all who visit for your comments and support over the past year. I appreciate each of you and wish you all the best in the coming year. It's been a delight getting together with many of you in 'real life' this past year, and I can't wait to see who I'll have the pleasure to meet in 2013!

Here are some of my favorite projects from 2012. First, some art journal pages and canvases:

And some favorite tags:

     

        

     

   

           

       

I wish you a wonderful New Year, filled with much health, happiness, and creativity!

Marjie

Tutorial: Gelli Plate Prints

Thanks for stopping by!  Earlier this week I had an article published at Unruly Paper Arts showing a variety of prints I made with my Gel Arts Printing Plate.  I learned how to use it when Julie Fei-Fen Balzer demonstrated it during a class in October. Seriously? I went into that class thinking I do not need a Gelli Plate.  I have enough stuff.  I didn't even want to watch the Gelli Plate demo. However! Julie did such a good job, I had to buy it in both sizes!  Rude not to.  

The plate is best stored in the plastic packaging it arrives with. You can print with it on paper, fabric, etc.  I used deli paper (also known as waxed paper) which I buy in 500-sheet boxes and use for a variety of things.  This is what it looks like clean:

Set the plate down on your work space and spread a layer of paint on it. I like the inexpensive paints from Dick Blick.  Personal preference determines whether you use liquid acrylics or heavy body paints... just know that the thin layer will dry quickly so you do need to move fairly quickly.

                

You will get better results if you make a thin layer as in Photo #1, but I'm showing you two versions so you get a feel for how you can mix and play with your colors.

Lay a stencil on top of the wet paint and put a sheet of deli paper on top.

  

Press down on the paper with a brayer, or simply smooth it out with your hands.

                 

 Lift up to reveal the print:

I've done it again with a darker paint to make it easier to see.  Note you get the positive and the negative impressions, depending on how you flip the stencil:

The fun comes with layering.  I used a lot of different stencils (Stencil Girl, Prima, The Crafters Workshop) and a lot of different paints.  Here's a bold solid one:

And here's a more muted, softer print:

The sky's the limit with this plate! There are a dozen prints on the UPA article.  I think these last two images show how versatile the Gelli Plate is... no matter what your style.  I used the Sizzix Tag & Bookplates die to create my tags. 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Enabler Alert:  Dick Blick has them on sale right now!  Click the picture below to see.

 Marjie 

Collaged Magnets

I had so much fun making these little magnets for Unruly Paper Arts!  All three ladies are stamps (Teesha Moore and Lynne Perrella) colored with Ranger Distress Markers. I have a short article up at UPA today... hope you'll pop over and say hello.  

Did you recognize what I used as my three magnet bases?  Love recyling my lids:

I'll also enter these at Fashionable Stamping Challenge, where the theme is "Alter Something."

Thanks for the visit!

Marjie

 

Art Journal Cafe: Save Your Page

 

I'm so happy to be joining Art Journal Cafe as their Guest Designer this month! A new challenge starts today, and it's to Save a Page... as in returning to one you abandoned because you didn't like the way it turned out.  It's a good challenge.

My page in need started out with a partially painted background topped with stenciling. It wasn't working one bit. I added more paint but didn't want to cover the whole thing, in hopes some of that bottom layer would work.  Here's how it looked before I had a better idea:

Hideous! I decided to liven it up with Dylusions Ink Sprays on some parts of the page, let them dry, then covered the page with Tim's tissue wrap:

I smooshed it on roughly, intentionally causing wrinkles as I adhered it to the page with gel medium. Then I colored with water soluble oil pastels and gelatos.  It started looking better. I like the way the colors appear to be blending above and below the tissue wrap:

I added some stenciling, stamped the arrow (Stampers Anonymous) repeatedly, and stamped the lady (Stampland) onto plain white tissue paper:

 

The tissue always looks better when it has a torn edge rather than scissor cut. I adhered it with gel medium and used water color crayons to color it, the heart, and some outlines here and there:

         

So that's my Save Your Page contribution for Art Journal Cafe. I won't go into all the details on why I made it this way, but it's meaningful to me.  

Thanks so much for the visit.  See you at AJC!

Marjie 

 

Unruly Paper Arts Reader Art Quest

The September issue of Unruly Paper Arts focuses on collage.  We have loads of great articles up already and more are scheduled throughout the month.  

This is part of a Reader Art Quest challenge, featuring a 4"X4" collage format.  That's a very small space!  I made my collage with scraps of patterned paper and a map, alpha stickers, a magazine clipping, fibers, inks, stamps, stencil, flower, brad, and a diecut Sizzix heart.  

Hope you'll come over to UPA and join us this month!  There are loads of ideas waiting...

Marjie

Art Journal Cafe Challenge: 30 Minute Page

I'm so happy to share that I am the Guest Artist for the month at The Art Journal Cafe! The AJC has art journaling challenges on the 1st and 15th of each month and articles/ideas/inspiration throughout the month as well.  The artists who run it are based in Belgium, and the blog is written in French and English, with a Google Translate option for others.

When I learned the theme for today's challenge, I found it a bit daunting.  I tend to work in my art journals in many sittings, 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, that sort of thing. I work in many journals at once and rarely complete a page in one sitting. This challenge is to make a 30 minute page. Period. Set the timer, too!

I didn't want to overthink it but I also didn't want to send in something unpleasing. Then I remembered something I read on Carolyn Dube's blog a few weeks ago. That particular post is titled "Don't Take a Canvas Too Seriously" and I encourage you to pop over and read it.  As Carolyn says, it's not like lives are in the balance. I believe you can transfer that thought to any happy art making you may do. It's just a journal page. Have fun with it.

My main thought on a 30-minute page was I couldn't use a lot of wet medium as I don't have much drying time.  So I did a verrrry thin layer of blue paint first, leaving some of the page itself showing in places, heat dried it, and then built up the rest of the colors with gelatos, distress inks, and archival inks.

I used distress ink through several stencils and stamped the letters and vines in jet black archival ink. I had a fairly decent stamping mishap after building up my base. When I stamped the female image on the page it smeared badly. Is there a good smear?

I just restamped her on manila cardstock and colored her in with colored pencils and distress markers. I wanted to carry that yellow out off the colored image so I stamped some of Dyan Reaveley's circle border and cut out a few of the circles for random placement.

So, to wrap up... some of the stamping isn't perfect but it was true to the challenge, a 30-minute page.  No lives were harmed in the creation of this page.  (Thanks, Carolyn, for the perspective!) I made it with nearly a minute to spare:

I hope you'll pop on over to The Art Journal Cafe and join us in this challenge.  Also, poke around their blog for lots of inspiration!

Marjie

Artistic Stamper Sneak Peek

The end of August, already???  It's been a fantastic summer but I'm not ready for Fall. I have my last project up today as August Guest Designer at The Artistic Stamper and you know the rules:  I can only put a sneak peek here to hopefully encourage you to pop on over there.

Thanks for all the support on this... I really do appreciate your taking the time, and it's been wonderful meeting new blog friends as a result of the comments/contact from my UK spots.

Marjie

 

 

Guest Designer at The Artistic Stamper

Today it's my turn to share another project at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog. Rule is, I can only share a sneak peek here.

I think you'll be surprised to see what I used to make the border on this project. Hope you'll pop on over to The Artistic Stamper and check it out.

Thanks for the visit!

Marjie 

Unruly Paper Arts: A Dozen Layouts

Today my article is up at Unruly Paper Arts with our August theme being Journaling. Though I'm doing more art journaling lately than scrapbooking, I've focused on my scrapbook layouts for the article because of the variety of journaling I can show.

I've shared a dozen layouts and provided samples of:

- hidden journaling

- top ten lists

- journaling on strips

- oversized journaling

- handwritten entries

- repetitive journaling

- the kitchen sink

Hope you'll pop by for the full and check out the whole August issue.  Thanks for visiting!

Marjie