I’m running a big blowout sale on some of my products and you can save 50% off! Starting today, just use the coupon code nowsave50 at checkout to save on my CJS22 Limited Edition LOVE Foam Stamp and all of my Mini Cardboard Model kits. This offer will be good as long as supplies last :)
Here is what’s on sale:
The cardboard kits are a blast to make and paint on a rainy day. We did have the Creative Squad play with those one month and look at some of the results:
They would also be a great gift idea for a young or young at heart creative in your life ;)
And then the iconic LOVE stamp. Don’t we all need some more of this in the world?
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a clever post from Judi Kauffman using my Triple Play foam stamps, Broadway stencil, and a mini water tower model (including its envelope AND scrap pieces) and our theme: PrimaryColors: Red, Blue, and Yellow it’s your time to shine. Let’s get back to the basics of color and light and play with primarycolors. It’s elementary my friend!
When I heard that this month’s theme is all about primary colors I knew I was going to want to head in a different direction. Instead of using all three, I’d focus on just one – RED, my favorite color, plus basic black and pure white.
Or perhaps it was because I was thinking of the old children’s riddle: What is black and white and red all over? A newspaper! (Red…Read…) Sorry! I couldn’t help myself.
I thought it would be fun to use not only the pieces from the Water Tower Model kit I received but the negative shapes AND the sturdy envelope in which they were packed. Double the fun.
***TIP: If you are going to decorate the envelope be sure to take a photo of the assembly instructions BEFORE starting to paint and stencil!
Randomly paint the model pieces, envelope, and negative shapes with white paint. It’s okay that some of the original board remains visible.
Randomly add red paint to the model pieces, envelope, and negative shapes.
Center the Broadway stencil on the roof piece and use black paint to stencil the pattern. Use black paint and your choice of triangle stamps from ArtFoamies Triple Play to randomly stamp all remaining pieces of the tower, the negative shapes, plus the envelope.
Assemble the tower per instructions. Add the negative shapes to the roof of the tower.
Option: Instead of securing the roof, don’t use the criss-cross piece of board that acts as a structure to hold it in place; just perch it on top so you can hide candies or jewelry inside the tower!
Thank you Judi – love the idea of using the packaging and leftovers too!!! And look at that great use of pattern and layering!
For more from the Creative Squad check out Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.
Judi:
Hard to believe you only used one of the primary colors! It’s really cool and a great way to give a gift to that someone special. Thanks for sharing your creativity and how to use every piece provided.
Marilyn
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a super cool project from Jordan Hill using a mini billboard model and my Triangle Love rubber stamps. Our theme is: In the City – Although we aren’t traveling much these days, let’s reminisce about a time we traveled to another town or city. Think about the flavor of the place and let that guide your color and design choices.
Hello, everyone! I’m very excited to be back with my project for May 2021. This month I was working with the Billboard Model Kit, which I found to be a lot of fun and an interesting change of pace from the style of work that I usually do.
I decided to begin my project by decorating the flat billboard part of the model. In order to do this, I used some white gesso to prep the chipboard surface, then used CraftSmart craft paints in Pale Blue and Neon Pink to create a background that reminds me of some of the colors of lights you might see in the city at night.
In order to create this particular background, I tried to work quickly and allowed the paint colors to blend together as I applied them to the chipboard. The two colors I chose created a pretty soft purple when mixed, which added a bit more depth to the background colors. After the acrylic paint had dried, I then added a few pieces of collage (some star paper I found at a thrift store and some hand painted neon pink arcs) that reminded me of graffiti.
Next, I knew I wanted to incorporate the theme of “In the City” in the form of some freeform building doodles. Using a Sharpie, I drew squares, rectangles and arches to represent the shapes of houses, windows and doors. I then used some leftover neon pink paint I had on my palette and the tip of my finger to add some dots to the background. I also added some white to the windows of the houses to help them stand out a bit more.
After I had my buildings in place, I knew I wanted to add some more pattern and texture to the background. In order to do this, I chose Nathalie’s “Empire Triangle” rubber stamp to stamp over the entire background. Since there was already a lot going on, after inking up my stamp, I stamped once on a separate scrap of paper before applying it to my background. This gave me a much more muted effect, which I quite like.
Next it was time to add the figure. I played around with the idea of collaging a face onto this piece, but ultimately decided to draw a new one from scratch. I did this in much the same way as I typically do, by first blocking in the shape of a face with acrylic paint, then sketching over the top in colored pencil. This time however, I did opt to use an Aquamarine Prismacolor pencil for my sketching as opposed to my typical navy or deep purple. I then inked the illustration and sketched in some hair.
The next step was to add color to the hair I sketched in previously. I chose to go with CraftSmart Aqua for this step; I recently discovered I have three bottles of this paint in my possession, and I wanted to use some of it up! It also just so happened to coordinate with the colored pencil I had already used to draw the face and it had a nice contrast with the pre-existing colors of the background.
As I reached this point in the project, I knew I wanted to add a quote. This particular model feels very much like a display piece, so I felt that some motivational words would work well. In order to add the words to the piece, I chose a thin ink pen and wrote my quote in a large cursive font. This is the first part of the typical style of lettering that I recreate frequently in my artwork.
The second part of this lettering style is to simply thicken one edge of the cursive writing. You can use the same thin ink pen to do do this, or you can choose to go for a brush pen in order to fill more space more quickly (this is what I chose to do on this particular project). Once I was happy with the lettering, I then used a white gel pen to outline the text in order to make sure it stood out from the background enough to be legible.
Finally, it was time to actually put the model together! I painted all of my chipboard pieces white before I started assembly, since I felt that the color would fit my project better. Then, I simply followed the instructions to create this fun display piece that I’m definitely going to enjoy using as a part of my studio decor!
I hope you all enjoyed following the process of creating this project!
Thank you Jordan! I just love your color palette on this and watching you build your composition – it works great for the billboard!
Give it a try: you can find all my Rubber Stamps and those cool Cardboard Models in my Online Shop and in addition to some collage papers, here are some of the supplies Jordan used:
For more from the Creative Squad check out Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.
A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon these cardboard water towers on an instagram feed by Boundless Brooklyn. They come blank, are made out of 100% recycled material and you can paint and decorate them as you wish. I was super excited as I love those iconic water towers around NYC and Jersey City. I ordered them right away and 12 hours later I had them in my hand. Nice flat envelopes with scored chipboard pieces and glue dots inside, easy to assemble.
I had ordered two different sizes – The Medium Water Tower comes in 10 3/4” H x 5” . I spray painted the chipboard using my Elephant and What’s The Point Stencil and added the text on the water tower roof.
while adding layers to the chipboard I made sure that I would move the folds so that the cardboard would not become stiff. It was really easy peasy and the whole design made it to simple to put together in a very short time once it was painted.
For the small water tower which comes in 5 1/4″ H x 2 5/8″ W x 2 5/8″ D, I used Spray Paint and marbled it on the background by spraying wet in wet and then moving the pieces around. Then I added parts of the Batik and the Lilly Stencil with some acrylic paint.
I sealed off the water towers with some Pouring Medium which gives them a nice shiny glass finish. You can take of the top and put some small stuff in there. Loved this. I have one more water tower and a billboard sign to play with – cannot wait for it.
OH MY, Nathalie, these are just adorable… I think they might be a MUST BUY item! And it looks so real and perfect on your balcony! Finally, the act of spray painting them for that graffiti thrill without the crime is just perfect! What a terrific project!
Awe- thank you! LOL- love your analogy of graffiti thrill without doing something illegal- I would probably though not do it because I am not the right person to climb up high ;)
Thanks so much for the amazing writeup and support, Nathalie. The towers looks incredible, and they’re all so different. Especially love the supplies’ list; makes it so much easier to see what’s needed to make this magic.
LOVE that quote and love LOVE love the water towers as well.
I would use them as centerpieces for tables for an event.
Names could go on them such as “friends”, “family”, “bride’s side”, etc…
They are such fun!
Judi:
Hard to believe you only used one of the primary colors! It’s really cool and a great way to give a gift to that someone special. Thanks for sharing your creativity and how to use every piece provided.
Marilyn
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