Day 8 of Christmas a day late!

Yesterday I took a break from Christmas cheer and actually cleaned my work studio! Shocker I know.  But I managed to make a mess this morning with these collage Christmas ornaments.

Fun to get your hands messy because I can't seem to find a way to do this without touching the glue and then struggle to unstick little pieces of deli paper off your fingers.

I went back and forth about adding a quote of these flatten balls.  Maybe tomorrow.

If you were wondering what type of paper I used, I bought a box of deli paper from Costco and use them under every project.  Never let unused paint on the paint pallet get wasted.  These papers are great for Gelliprinting.  I have quite a collection.

I hope you are having a good week. - Judy

Day 7 of Christmas crafts

Today I had plans of cleaning up my studio work space, however it got was cut short.  Why?  Because I am so adhd and little shiny things have me at "hello".  Yes, in the bottom of my rolling storage of beading supplies I found these glass and frame pendants.  I know I must have bought them for a project, but at this point \i can't remember since I bought them at a rubber stamp store in Anchorage, AK.  I haven't lived there for over 5 years.

Anyways, I just love the size...1 1/2" x 1 1/2".  Next thing I know I am pulling out all my scraps and not so good paintings and here are a few that have made so far.

Again I can't tell you how much I like to work on miniatures.  A little glue, tweezers and my reading glasses...oh what a fun afternoon it is going to be.

I pulled out a failed watercolor that I tried to revive with pen and ink.

Not sure if this one will make the cut, but I can see that my studio cleaning has been stalled for another day.

Happy Monday! - Judy

Day 5 & 6 combined

A very busy week-end but I have two projects that I finished, yeah!

Saturday I attend a workshop taught by Ruth Rae.  I knew it was going to be a challenge for me since my dr. has had me on 5mins at a time working on art projects.  This workshop was scheduled for 5 hrs!  Yikes.  The second challenge is Ruth's art style is more vintage than what I do.  Believe me if I could embraced the vintage style I would, but it has always been a struggle.  If you want to look at Ruth's artwork go here.

So being the brave soul, I signed up for the challenge.  The class was a mixed media, plaster and encaustic class creating a box.

The first part of the class was creating a box and plastering it.  Wow!  Talk about messy.  I struggled a bit with that part, who am I kidding I struggled most of the class!  Then way got to play with clay and create hearts.  I never thought I would like playing with clay...that was much easier for me, or less messy...lol.

After the plaster was dry, we painted, I added collage papers, poured wax and waited to see our creations.

When I came home and created a mini canvas for the center of my box and discovered the heart fit perfect.

I love the dimension and layers that you get in this project.

And it looks cute hanging on the wall.  I have to say I have gained confidence to do another!

I also made this heart, which is now an new ornament on my tree.  This heart was constructed out of cardboard, plaster over it, then painted, collaged and then bees was.  I love the texture.

So day 5 and 6, two projects, only one a Christmas ornament but love learning new techniques and sharing.  I hope you enjoyed this week-ends share too.

Judy

Day 4 of 12 days of Christmas

Today I thought I would share a few posts from previous 12 days posts.  I have done this project a few times on my blog and people really liked it.

Here is the number 1 favorite post on Pinterest.

These crocheted glass balls are fun and easy to make.  They look hard but the lightweight yarn is stretchy and very forgiving.  Here is the blog post link to read about them http://scrampalot.blogspot.com/2012/12/4th-day-of-orname
nts.html

Another favorite is these fiber art spools.  peaking of these I need to pull these out and add to my tree this year.

I really liked making these and they do match my personality of abstract and bright!  Here is the link to this post http://scrampalot.blogspot.com/2013/12/happy-friday.html


And for many year I made and taught classes on carding making.  This little card is so adorable.

Here is the link to this card http://scrampalot.blogspot.com/2012/12/i-was-going-through-my-box-of-christmas.html

I hope today, even though short and sweet will inspire you to make and give a little handmade Christmas to someone.

Happy Friday! Judy

Day 3 of 12 Christmas

I started physical therapy on my knees and shoulder yesterday and it made it impossible for me to paint or be creative so I thought I would share what I am working on...my Christmas tree.  I am not ready to reveal the finished decorated tree, but I can show what I am doing with my miniature paintings.

On my Etsy shop, I have several mini paintings for sale but I just hated the thought of them sitting in a box waiting for a new home.  Thought they would look great hanging on my tree, so I added a little wire on the back to give them a new use.

 These are just a few of my new works added to the shop, but you can see many more HERE, there is also a link on the left hand side for my Etsy and my Society6 shop.  Browse my shops.

I have to keep this short for today to let my neck get some rest, but I will be back tomorrow.  Hope you enjoy.

Judy

Day 2 of 12 day of Christmas

Day 2...feels good to share or talk.  Since I have been absent from my blog for about 6 months, you don't know what I have been experimenting with.  I have been trying all sorts of collage techniques, reading books about it and trying to take classes.  Since September, I have really just been reading books due to the car accident, but anyways last night I created some fun ornaments.

The first step was to create a background sheet of collage papers.  I created this WILD page of reds, pinks and oranges.

The paper was adhered but I thought stitching would give another dimension to the collage, plus bonus with there were any loose papers it would catch them too.  Some people think I am nuts when I start sewing paper.  It is ok, it won't break you sewing machine.  It will dull your needles!  I keep a jar of my used needles next to my machine and use them when sewing paper.  The needles are too dull to sew fabric, but great on paper.

Next step was to cut my collage into ornament shapes.  Wow! It has been along time since I used my die cutter and these shape are Nestabilities dies.  Anyways, once they were cut I glue two back to back.

I quickly strung them on to yarn, but these would be great on cards, tags or on the tree.  You might notice I used a paint pen to add a little dots and along the edges.

Super simple project and adds a POP of color to my tree.  This project would be great to do with your children.  I hope you have fun with it and post pictures.

Judy

December is here - day 1 of 12 days of Christmas

The past December's I have share 12 days of Christmas, with Christmas crafts.  This past week-end I decided to bring it back.  I needed a little joy in my life since the past year has been hell.  So here is the definition of December.

 

Make amends, tie loose ends, finish what you started.  Last year I was hopeful to be furthering my art career by art journaling, getting published (which I did TWICE!), get in a gallery, teach classes and so forth all good goals and a did meet a few.  I am very proud how far I have come.  This year was filled many good things but the past few months I could not see them.  

As of now, I am starting to see the light, coming out of my tunnel and ready to be back.  First thing is to get me back to creating and blogging.  My goal is this 12 day of Christmas crafts.  I want to share pinterest pins (sucess & fails), ornaments, cards, wrapping ideas and may thing in between.  I am learning how to bake so there might be a few of those experiments in there too. 

So hold on to the reindeer reins and let's go!

First share is some ornaments that I have shared on Facebook, but I thought they would be a great place to start.

 

I have seen so many ways to paint holiday balls, but these are the flatten discs.  Many people pour inks or paints on the inside but being a lover of abstract art I wanted to have the textures on the outside.

 

The first one had to have orange on it since I just love the happy color.  I first painted this with acrylic paint and I was not 100% happy with it as it left paint brush strokes, then added red and gold Pebo paint which gives is a demision and texture. By the end I was in love with it.

Next try my second favorite color, teal.

 Same thing paint with acrylic on the outside, added Pebo paints and fluid acrylic BUT the best effect happened when I misted it with alcohol.  Cool feathering effects happened.  Very pretty and vibrant - Yeah!

Third try was purple.

This time I did pour a little purple alcohol ink inside, with acrylic, Pebo and alcohol mist.  Still great feathering effects.  Then I got stumped on what other colors I should do!

I would love ideas on other colors, except green.  Green never shows up on my tree.

So this is my day 1 and tomorrow I have a short tutorial to share.  Hope to see you here.

Judy

******If interested in the ornaments they are listed on my ETSY shop.*******