Handmade paper rocks!

There is no surprise for all my blog friends because they know I love to make my own paper. It's very easy too with a Papermill Kit from Arnold Grummer. Other than the base card stock, the remaining paper is handmade. I love the mottled look of the background paper that I got from splashing in a different colored pulp and the little bird is made out of a multi colored paper with just the tiniest bit of shimmer in it. The different colors comes from blending different colored scraps of paper together, but not over blending...and the shimmer is the result of metallic wrapping paper added to the mix.

Entering this card in
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - No Ordinary paper

I used my new stamp that I just got from Simon Stamps and the little sizzlex dies to cut him out. I just love that I don't have to fussy cut anything! While I am waiting for the accessory stamps I ordered I decided to use a chipboard crown for his little party hat and then penned in the chin strap with my Micron...I think he is just adorable!

And you can save some money when you buy your own paper making kit too!

Artist Studio Expo

I thought I would post a few pictures on my blog about the show Saturday for those who don't follow me on FB. It was a lot of fun, we had a pretty good turn out of people stopping by.

I particularly enjoyed wearing my shirt that I had painted for DecoArt. I got tons of compliments on it and have been encouraged to make a canvas painting from it. It hasn't been posted in the DecoArt Project and Tutorial page yet but when it does it will have all the instructions and materials that you will need to make one of your own.

After the art show I was able to scoot down to see my friend playing onstage at a local coffee shop. It was fun to finally see him perform, his wife is a fabulous painter and we are getting together tomorrow for a sketch date.

And oh my...pictures are coming out on the BlueRidge Times and supposedly I'm in the printed paper too... I hope the paper isn't worse than the one's they posted of me online...BIG SIGH...
Go ahead....laugh....it's OK.....::hangs head::

****update***
I so forgot to look for a paper on Sunday but was lucky to have the owner of the Black Bear Cafe dig through her paper recyling bin for me. Now that is a sweet person! lol At least it wasn't in a waste receptacle with food or anything smelly! Anyway, not hating the picture anymore, I'm getting use to it I think, lmao!

Fishy sneak peek

I am giving you a sneak peek at the whimsical handmade paper fish I created for my next canvas. You'll have to wait for my next Arnold Grummer blog post to see the completed project. Arnold Grummer ROCKS by the way, they are such an awesome company to design for, I just love them!

So back to the sneak peek....I created some fish out of paper pulp and I am going to enter them in ColourArte's monthly challenge #2 which is all about texture. I love this banner they used...

So my little fish are all about texture, first off they are individually created from handmade paper and then they are embellished with stick pins, beading, fibers, and of course, Twinkling H20's.

Each fish has a set of stick pin fins which I added some extra beads to with the help of my other ROCKING company I design for, Helmar Adhesives! I added a little tiny dollop of the 450 to the pin before sliding the beads onto it so I didn't have to worry about them sliding off. 

Each fish has fibers glued and tied onto their tails with seed beads glued on with Helmar's Super Tac glue and then for extra sparkle, a layer of stickles is added over the front half of the beads.

The eyes were so much fun to create, the big blue disks were given to me by a friend a couple of years ago and I never knew what I was going to use them for until now, lol Yes, this is why crafters hoard so many things, you just have to wait until they "speak" to you! I also added seed beads, fibers, stickles, all sorts of goodies around each eye.

I painted the colors - Snap Dragon, Orange Peel, Ginger Peach, Mediterranean Blue and Mustard Green Twinkling H20's on top of each fish which created some wonderful depth and shimmer along with the handmade paper's natural textures!

And one last shout out to Helmar for their awesome, awesome, can't say enough about this product, Liquid Scrap Dots. Not only does the middle stick pin in each set of fins stand out a little more because a dot of LSD was added under the pin's head, but also because each fish is adhered to the canvas with it. The entire canvas has an uneven surface because of the paper pulp so this type of adhesive gets down into the bumps and cracks and fills in the layers allowing for an even surface in which to glue the fish on top of.

The big canvas reveal will be on August 12th for Arnold Grummer and that's also the same week that I will be entering it in our BIG juried art show called Bring Us Your Best. This will be my second year entering it and it's always nerve wrecking just to see if they will accept it into the show itself.

Sparkling Bookmarks

I give away a bookmark for every card I sell at the Art MoB, so I am constantly looking for new ones to make. It dawned on me that The Buckle Boutique Rhinestone Self Adhesive Sticker Sheets would make an excellent bookmark.

The perfect bookmark, and super easy to make. I think I will need to make a lot of them!

Each one is adhered to some material, and I love how well it sticks to the fabric! Aren't they pretty? Just look at all those beautiful colors!

the cutest Garden Art Owl ever! (Wendy Dalton)

I made a garden owl out of a little of this and that...please pop on over to the Helmar blog so you can check it out. It's very cute if I say so myself....lol

I used Earth Safe Finishes to paint his wings, eyes and beak....I love how the chalky paint just adheres to all kinds of surfaces with ease and is safe for the environment.

Judging the 19th Annual chalk it up contest

Boy, was it hot, in the 80's and it was only the morning. Other than that, I have to say how much I enjoyed judging the 7-12 year old group. They are so polite, sweet and great artists too! This was my top 5 pick, in no particular order...

I hope I get to be a judge again next year!

it's gonna' get busy...

Let's start with tomorrow, I've asked to be a judge for the Chalk it Up contests that our downtown area has each year, not sure which age group I will be musing over but it will be fun. Then off to the studio to work on my upcoming piece for the Artists Studio Expo next weekend.

Yesterday they put up the window display in the gallery, it seems I have all my design teams exhibited here, lol The large canvas was done all in paper pulp, and yes, even the black lines are paper ( Arnold Grummer Paper Making ), the kissing dove journal was painted in DecoArts Multi Surface paints, the sparkly heart box was created using The Buckle Boutique Self Adhesive Rhinestone sheets, and the Bless You tissue box was a project I created for Helmar Worldwide Adhesives using Liquid Scrap Dots.

Here's a shot of the window with all 4 artists represented.

Next week before the show I will be going around to all the B&B's to distribute flyers. I'm also going to hand out a magazine where they did a write up about me and invites to the show to my neighbors, although they rarely come to any...lol But it at least lets them know why I am as weird as I am...snort....

And on top of everything going on I have 2 little older ladies who consider me the "young" thing. They use to live next door to each other, but one had to move to a more affordable housing so now, every time she cannot get ahold of her friend via the phone, she calls me to go check on her. I admit I actually starting sniffing the air as I walked down the hall...oh my....that's so bad, it's funny...OK, no, it's just bad. One day someone will be smelling me rotting away in my apartment, it's probably the only way they will discover my passing away.

Well, that's just an upbeat way to end this blog post, now isn't it?

lol