Cardboard Stained Glass Window Upcycle

My husband works from home and his office has a cut out space above the door. While I'm sure it serves some unknowable purpose as a design element in an otherwise unremarkable hallway, it is not conducive to privacy in the least. He has video meetings so our options were to be quiet during work hours, be inconsiderate, or fill up that space.

Here is a pic of the hallway so you have a visual.

I looked into ways to fill the space - stained glass, a window... but they all cost a ton of money. 

When you've just bought a new home, a pile of money is not exactly on hand. But what I did have was a pile of cardboard; and to this industrious crafter, it was sort of the same thing.

So I painted and stenciled, mod-podged, spray-painted and doodled.

*HAPPY*

And once it was a big, ole mess of colorful jubilance I blocked out my cathedral windows with a Payne's Gray sort of color. Did you know to make the best grays you mix equal parts black and primary blue and then add white to the color you are looking for. It's so rich and lovely. I go through scads of it. 

I love arched windows. Seriously. I could stare at them forever. 

Cardboard is a terrific sound barrier (especially as there is a piece on each side) and it adds a glorious pop of color in that long, dark hallway.

The way the moulding frames the art really works for me.

Here are some close ups of the office side. I went  little more organic with the 'leading' and I adore it!

The office is still a cherry tomato red. It's certainly a vivacious color but it leans garish. 

Here's a IRL pic - with the paint swatch on the wall, the mess. Reality. 

The art really holds it's own in the space and gives his office that little touch of art it needs.

One more quick shot. Top is the hall way side, bottom is the office side. 

Mail Friendly Thank you Cards

My eldest graduated from high school this month

click to embiggen and see my dear, sweet boy.

With this joyous occasion came the need for thank you cards. 

I wanted to make something personal, simple, good for either gender and most of all, mailable.

Mailability in a card is very important as I hate getting them returned for extra postage when I've thoughtlessly added a button or other equally dimensional embellishment. 

This one is the lumpiest as I made a glitzy one for the relatives that will expect a little pizazz. A little bit of Gelli print does so much heavy lifting on a design like this. 

Simple. Classic.

This one I thought was clean, crisp and would be great for male recipients.

Er... this one I got a big thumb smudge of ink on so... GLITZY! 

I tell you, more design choices are made to camouflage my clumsiness than you'd ever believe.

Clean and Simple.

As you've read here before. Even when making a whole bunch of the same card (say for Christmas) I can never make them exactly the same. Mixing it up keeps it fun.

Gosh, this bird stamp is getting a work out. You can see more here

Mixed Media Daisy Canvas

I've been painting over old canvases again. Some of these are starting to crack and tear from age but a little gesso and some book paper is just the thing to make repairs. 

This time the book paper came from a very, very old completely beyond repair copy of Harry Potter we had lying around. At one point at the height of Potter Mania I think we had three copies of each book. This one had been well-loved to the point of destruction. 

The funny thing is that as I was cutting and gluing down the circles I started reading and was a solid chapter through before I realized I'd quit crafting. Now that's the sign of a great book!

For this I tried Golden fluid acrylics for the first time. I only bought neon pink as I thought even if I hate the stuff, it's a color I'll use up. It's awesome. I can't believe something so thin and ... well... fluid, covers so well. The opacity over darker colors is really impressive.

I had to leave it to dry overnight though as the open time is long.

Thanks so much for visiting. 

Warmly,

~~~Nicole

Put a Bird on It: Hand Carved Stamp

I adore carving stamps. Seriously, it's so relaxing and it really zones me out in the best way possible. So when I was coveting a very popular bird stamp I decided to make one instead. 

Of course it's completely different in look and feel from the purchased kind with their smooth, thin lines; but I love the rough, hand-of-the-artist look of them. 

As I am prone to do, I made a second stamp to 'color' my birds. This is a tremendous time saver and I always feel so clever when I make a stamp to fill in the colored parts. 

This could have easily been a three-step stamp if I wanted to add another for shading but I really like the look of the single color.

Making a card was easy as can be - a little Basic Gray, a PL journal card and my bird. 

This tag is a mix of collaged gelli-prints (deli paper), paint, stenciling, my stamp (on a manilla tag for heft), torn ledger paper and some sequins. I really like how the strips of gelli-prints imply trees without being too literal. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Bald Face: Art Journal Page

Meet the latest, and by far the most androgynous, addition to my art journal. 

At home I refer to this as my palace eunuch - been reading a little too much Game of Thrones. LOL.

Aside: still have not watched any of the HBO series. I've read the book and they do nasty, horrible things that I never, ever, ever want to see. I already need mind-bleach due to some of the ickier bits so I've refrained from watching it in HD.  Whenever someone tells me they've read it I always think their a bit of a perv. Having read it myself…    I know! 

Anyhow, before I offend, back to crafting.

Meet Bald Face. 

In Pam Carriker's Art Journal Live workshop, Pam mixes acrylics with tons of water making a soft, pleasant watercolor-like wash. I've never done that before so my end result ended up being very acrylic and not light like the example. 

If you want to see some of the other work from the class, Julie Balzer posted some on her blog. You can really tell which one is hers, which is Dina's, which is Traci's. Their style comes through so clearly. 

It's going to take a lot of practice to approach a project like this with any sort of competence but I'm looking forward to figuring out the lines and planes of the face - if only so I can mess with them egregiously later :-)

My kids art journaled with me and made some terrific pages. Here is T.'s:

And this one is B.'s

Thanks for visiting. 

Note: Found this in my drafts folder from January, never posted. Sorry!

Skull Canvas Bag

I've been totally obsessed with painting canvas and sewing it up into totes and bags. 

This fabric was spray painted through a hand-cut stencil and then  decorated with loads of fabric paint. 

I'm so smitten.

Tip: If you see a trashed purse at a garage sale or second hand store that has cute handles, buy it. You can 'harvest' them (and sometimes other decorative/useful elements like zippers and snaps too) for use in your own projects.

I love how the sides look on this one.

What color of tote would you like to see me make? 

I'll whip one up from the comments.

Warmly,

~~~Nicole