nathalie-kalbach

A Look Back – The Artful Tabletop – Cool Stuff You May Have Missed

A Look Back – As many of us retreat to our homes again I thought it would be good to look at some projects that can make dining at home feel a bit more festive. This is a collection of posts from the past that can help you think about using stamps and stencils to create an Artful Tabletop. Lets make eating in, even on special occasions, feel like an elevated experience!

Ok first things first, pour yourself a glass of wine :) Then let’s look at this post on making some sweet wine charms with shrink film and my Stroll Through the Hood 1 and 2 stamp sets. You don’t want to mix up that glass with anyone else that may be in your household or bubble, right? This is no time to be sharing germs. And hey, even if you aren’t interacting with anyone else right now, wine charms are just cute accessories to have regardless and shrink film is ALWAYS fun to play with.

So we have the drinks covered. Let’s move on to some napkins…

Cloth napkins are the way to go when it comes to making your table look good at home. Not only are they better for the environment, but they just feel nice when you’re dabbing that homemade lasagna off your mouth. And, when you follow the tutorial in this post you’ll see you can choose the perfect colors to go with your tableware and vibe at home. We used some of my foam stamps for the patterns and fabric paint to make sure they hold up in the laundry. Welcome to Chez Moi.

Next up: let’s give those napkins a ring! Nothing says you tried to gussy up a table like napkin rings :)

This blog post tutorial shows how to turn paper clay, some of my pattern stencils (like Hamilton seen above), and PanPastels into one-of-a-kind rings for those newly stamped napkins. Give it a try and see if dinner doesn’t feel a bit fancier!

No tablescape is complete without a little element of nature – be it real flowers, greenery from your yard, or faux flowers.

In this blog post we turned plain white ceramic vases into artistic scenes by stamping my Stroll Through the Hood 1 and 2 rubber stamp sets. You’ll want to use an ink like StazOn for this project and then you can even color in with paint markers or glass paint markers. If you use the same stamps that you used for your wine charms, you will begin to build a cohesive look for your Artful Tabletop.

Lastly let’s talk about lighting.

To set the mood on any elegant table, candlelight is a must. Everyone looks better by candlelight, candlelight feels festive even when it’s dark and dreary outside, and I don’t know if there is any scientific proof to this but food just tastes better when there are lit candles on a table. Here is an easy tutorial to create candles stamped with my Stroll Around the Block rubber stamps and some tissue paper.

There you go – 5 projects to get you excited about dining at home and making your Artful Tabletop something to admire and enjoy. You may even need to start posting pics of your dinner online if you keep this up. Have fun!!!

I hope you enjoyed this. A Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it will be fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

Here are some of the supplies I used in these projects:

Nat

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Creative Squad: Creating Connections – Maura Hibbitts

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a gorgeous art journal spread from Maura Hibbitts using the CJS22 Limited Edition LOVE foam stamp and my ATC Mixup stencil. Our theme is Creating Connections – We’re playing along with the Creative JumpStart 2022 theme Creating Connections and exploring how our artwork connects us to the world around us, our community, our favorite supplies, or maybe our artmaking choices. Connections are everywhere when we create!

Hello 2022! Wishing each of you a joyous and healthy new year! What a fun month this will be as we play along with Creative Jumpstart. I love the theme of Creating Connections: it opens up so many ideas. Just think about the many connections we each have – family and friends, the cashier at the grocery, coworkers, art muses, neighbors, ancestors… no matter where we live on this planet, we are connected to each other.

I headed to my art journal to work out my idea of hands holding love. I was thinking about how we need to nurture love and keep it safe for it to grow. I chose to work in rainbow colors to symbolize the diversity of humans around the world and how love connects us all.

Begin in your art journal with a few dabs of acrylic paint in blues and greens. Use a dry brush and spread and blend it across the page(s). Add more of a color if the other seems to dominate until you are happy with the background.

Blend one of the blues with white paint to lighten it. Use a cosmetic sponge, a bit of paint, and Nathalie’s ATC Mixup stencil to add another layer to the background. Just add the image here and there on your pages.

Time to make some hands! Sketch out a hand that looks cupped to hold something, onto watercolor paper…don’t worry too much about it, mine are far from perfect, but do give the idea. Cut out the hand, then flip it over and cut a second – this will give you the opposite hand. Paint the hands. (I used oranges and purples for contrast.) Stencil a design onto each hand with the ATC Mixup stencil. I added white to purple paint to lighten the color for the purple hand, and used a darker orange for the stenciling on the other one.

Use black archival ink with the Art Foamies Love stamp, and stamp it directly onto your page. Be sure the paint is dry first. (You can always speed it up with a heat tool if you are impatient like me.)

Adhere the hands so they look like they are holding the word Love. You can use a glue stick or adhesive tape for this. Outline them with a black pen to give them some detail.  Note – one hand went across the center fold, so I cut a bit off, and lined up each piece with a bit of space so the book will close.

Add some journaling to the opposite page.  I like to use a T square to eyeball some lines and sketch them with a pencil. Next, pencil in your words. Now, you can go over them with a black marker or pen. Once you are finished with the lettering and it is completely dry, erase the lines and penciled letters.

I wanted a positive focus for my journaling, and added “Love and kindness connect us together around the world.” As you can see, I varied the type faces and sizes to add interest.

Love is such a powerful connecting force and we can sure use more of it in our lives and around the world.

Let’s support and nurture the connections we have, with love and kindness, and make our world brighter for everyone in 2022. Happy New Year! Maura

Thank you Maura – such a perfect message as we begin the new year and I love how those hands are nurturing that LOVE stamp.

Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils and Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the supplies Maura used:

Looking for more projects? Follow the Creative Squad on Instagram here.

Nat

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Stenciled Papers from my Creative Squad

Last month our Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman shared some stenciled papers she made while going through her stack of ink pads. Here is what she did with my Batik and Amsterdam stencils and the beautiful patterned papers that resulted:

I had started out testing my old ink pads to see which ones were worth keeping. Some of the foam on ancient pigment pads had disintegrated, others were dry and discontinued so re-inkers weren’t possible. (The first photo with lots of sheets show where things started.)

The rest of the photos show sheets that I stenciled and dry-brushed. 

Not shown: I trimmed the sheets, cut them into randomly-sized rectangles, and put the prints onto white and ivory card bases in three sizes ranging from A2 to 5×7. Also kept one scrap for a bookmark and made one card with the tiny slivers that were leftovers from trimming. I left one sheet as-is and made Mark Rothko-style cards, another sheet is waiting for some stamping. And I did use a stencil from another company for one sheet as well. (Last week’s Big Project was organizing ALL of my stencils – egad!)

Thanks for sharing Judi! What a great way to get organized and to make something beautiful from the process. And I love that the sheets then went into other card projects and a bookmark etc.

You can find all of my stencils in my Online Store. Here are some of the supplies that Judi used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Yvonne Marchant

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    Think I need to go through long forgotten ink pads hummm big and juicy ones spring to mind though they might be all mud lol

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Artist Almanac Calendars are HERE – The wait is over!

The page a day 2022 Artist Almanac calendars are here in my shop and ready to ship to you! The wait is finally over after weeks of shipping delays in the LA port and I can happily report that these 2022 calendars are good to go. Supplies are limited as you may know but we have a few while they last.

The 2022 Artist Almanac, if you haven’t already heard, is a page a day style calendar and each page has different artwork by one of the 12 participating artists:

Amanda Spence
Birgit Koopsen
DeeDee Catron
Eleaca Young
Kristin Peterson
Lisa Goddard
Mary Beth Shaw
Megan Whisner-Quinlan
Nathalie Kalbach
Shawn Petite
Tiffany Goff-Smith
Tina Walker

As you tear pages off, they become collage papers, so that means 365 different collage papers for all your mixed media creations. It’s a pretty awesome idea and I was stoked to be one of the artists chosen to participate. Here is a little schedule too to show you what day is by what artist:

Curious what it looks like? Here is a little flip through video of The 2022 Artist Almanac so you can see what it’s all about:

So hurry hurry into the shop and get your 2022 calendar today. Here is the link to the 2022 Artist Almanac. I hope you enjoy using it!

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Brenda

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    I love the art work on your cards.

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Creative Squad: Celebrate the Season – Jordan Hill

Happy Holidays from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post from Jordan Hill who is sharing a mixed media piece that she turns into the cover of a mini journal. She is using my Hydrant and Powerhouse foam stamps and our theme: Celebrate the Season – Many cultures celebrate in December so let’s do some celebrating ourselves with our favorite art supplies and the holidays that make this season so festive.

When confronted with this month’s theme of “Celebrate the Season”, I found myself really wanting to try to encapsulate the holiday season as a whole. Here in the United States where I am located, January 1st marks the start of the new year. Since that day falls so near to other holidays, that is personally where I mark the end of the season. With the new year comes the idea of reflections, and so I wanted to create a little journal that I could use to reflect on the past year as well as prepare for the new! With that explanation out of the way, let’s get into it!

Recently, I created a handful of little journals, but one of the covers backfired on me. The wrapping paper I had originally used to try to glue to it wrinkled and tore, so I ended up removing as much of it as I could. I decided to try to use this as my base for this project, so none of this chipboard went to waste!

Once I had selected my base, I then tore a piece of floral paper and glued it to one of the edges of my chipboard piece using a glue stick. This piece of paper is from a 2021 wall calendar; it seemed like a good choice for a project revolving around the idea of reflecting! Once the paper had been glued to my chipboard, I trimmed the excess and then used a small piece of sandpaper to smooth out the edges.

Next, I used some light pink acrylic paint to cover the remainder of the chipboard. While I was adding the paint, I also used a bit of clear gesso over top of the floral paper. Since the paper was originally from a wall calendar and wasn’t intended to be used as collage fodder, it had a bit of a slick surface. The clear gesso dealt with this and gave me a great surface to work on top of.

I then used Nathalie’s Hydrant Foam Stamp and some watered down black acrylic paint to add some patterning and texture to the left side of my page. I love reimagining stamps and finding new ways to incorporate them; I thought this one would be a great way to add some interesting detail to my background. I also placed the stamp upside down to further disguise the nature of the original image.

It was then time to add my focal image. When painting this particular figure, I tried to keep the background stamping visible by placing my image a little more towards the center of my page. I also tried to incorporate the flowers from the background paper into my character by painting the hair around the flowers as opposed to on top of them. At this point I also decided to add a few words in the lower right to further incorporate the idea of reflecting on the past year.

Next, I wanted to create a paper to use for my figure’s shirt. I started off by selecting a piece of Japanese book paper that I had previously cleaned some of my brushes off on. Then, using Nathalie’s Powerhouse Foam Stamp and a gray colored paint, I added it over top of my painted paper. I again stamped the image upside down, in order to get some interesting bits of the stamp where I wanted them.

I then cut a piece from my stamped patterned paper, making sure to choose an area where the stamping was visible, and adhered it to my page. Using the same colored pencil I used to sketch in the face, I went over the edges of the shirt in order to further blend them in.

Finally, I punched some holes along the side of my chipboard panel and stitched it onto the front of a little coptic stitched journal. I’m very excited to start working in this little journal and I hope you enjoyed following the process of making it with me!

Thanks Jordan – love the idea of using these stamps as pattern elements and especially that Powerhouse turned blouse!

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and in addition to collage papers, here are some of the supplies Jordan used:

Looking for more inspiration from the Creative Squad? Follow them on Instagram here.

Nat

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Stroll Through the Hood – December 2021

Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.

What can I say..come on in I guess :) This is the place I have spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks. It is our new home to be. An 1890s townhouse. And yes, some people might ask “Didn’t you guys do a renovation a couple years ago and move?” Yes …we did and we would have not been doing this again if it wasn’t for this particular house, which we have been dreaming of forever, in fact…I painted the house and it’s sister houses and there even is a foam stamp out there which shows it. So now if you believe in manifestation …there you go. And if you don’t , well tough … I am convinced now. We are still pinching ourselves.

The house comes with a dumb waiter …I have never seen one in real live before and this puppy works – it is pretty screechy but it gives me so much joy. None of the other 4 identical houses have the dumb waiter anymore- so we are very determined to keep it. After all we believe we are just guardians of this old house and we want to keep as many of it’s original features as possible. It is pretty rare to find a house that has not either been stripped of everything or painted excessively.

I love this tile in the vestibule – it needs some love and deep cleaning and I need to read up on how to do that best. But it makes me happy to just see it whenever we walk into the house.

This 1920s Fan Slip Shade Chandelier has been in the house probably since that time – as a former owner of the house who bought it in 1978 told us. I love this chandelier so much – I could lay under it forever, but alas …I have to swing the paint brush and pull another five million nails off old carpets from the staircase.

I don’t want to bore you with a million photos of the new home- we are still renovating and I might throw a pic into the Strolls here and there- but if you are interested in how it looks like and how it is going -you can see more and follow it’s own Instagram account . But before I move on…above is a picture of the one bathroom that is awesome in the house (the other one …oh boy …let’s not talk about it). This bathroom is also from the 20s/30s and I just love love love it – the green tile and the tub- swoon!

Our cats couldn’t be less impressed by our renovation efforts …well they don’t know yet that they will be moving in a couple months, so bless them and their ability to sleep on the smallest scrap of packaging LOL. Bobby Pretzel cracks me up.

Mingus is doing his best to blend into the background but we all know that his true focus is on this:

Pizza Rat …you probably have to be from NYC or live in the NYC Metropolitan Area to find humor in this ornament LOL- it makes me laugh.

And here it is, this year’s tree- the most pokey tree ever- we cut it with our friends and we had to wear gloves putting ornaments into it …I guess it kind of fits to the whole year …I am laughing about it.

I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season, some quality time and lots of love and rest! See you all soon as I am taking a couple days off to get ready for the big bang in the new year and start of Creative JumpStart 2022! Thank you for joining me on my Strolls through the Hood in 2021.

Nat

Comments (7)

  • Rebecca

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    That is so exciting! What a beautiful house😍

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  • AnnetteD

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    I am thrilled to bits to hear your news. What a perfect way to start 2022!! Frolicher Weinacht!!

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  • Sue Clarke

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    I think I see a new stamp coming soon…Fan Slip Shade Chandelier!
    I love the vintage house and the idea that you are caretakers. We have a dumbwaiter at work but it works with the push of a button and is only 20 years old. I keep saying that we need a more politically correct name for it. LOL
    Hope you have a Merry & a Happy Nat.

    Reply

  • Andrea+R+Huelsenbeck

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    Congratulations, Nathalie! Wishing you many years of pleasure in your new (old) home. May it be your forever home. Love you.

    Reply

  • Barbara

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    Wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing. Loved your captions too.

    Reply

  • Seiz Robin

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    Congratulations Nat. I love your comment about being stewards of this old house. I so believe we need to do that. And this is manifestation at its finest!!!! I hope you have years of enjoyment in this old home. It’s lucky to have you two as the buyers! Merry Christmas!

    Reply

  • Vee/beachwalker

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    CONGATULATION on that ‘dreamy’ new/old house. The beautiful wood will only continue to charm you and greet you every time you walk through those doors.
    Thank you for sharing ‘your dream home’ with us. It will be an adventure following your renovations and seeing a new studio. HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and your husband.

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Creative Squad: Celebrate the Season – Riikka Kovasin

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post and video from Riikka Kovasin who is sharing some lovely cards with us using my Church, Hydrant, and Grove Street foam stamps and our theme: Celebrate the Season – Many cultures celebrate in December so let’s do some celebrating ourselves with our favorite art supplies and the holidays that make this season so festive.

Peaceful Holidays

Hello there everyone! Can you believe it’s already December? I think I say this at least once every month, but it really seems that time is flying. 2021 seems to have passed in a blink of an eye. It was just weeks ago when it was summer, and I was filming my CJS22 video!

This month we’re “Celebrating the Season”. Winter is my favourite season. I would take minus degrees Celsius over hot temperatures any day as then I can just layer clothing and snuggle with my cup of tea. With sub-zero temperatures I can cope, with blazing hot, not that much! In my mind winters are cold and white. I don’t like the warm winters which are dark and gloomy, with sun barely visible, but the white snow and brisk temperatures are the thing!

I also love Christmas time – the preparations, anticipation and hustle to get everything done and then the lovely peace when the Turku Cathedral chimes twelve times, and the Christmas Peace is declared from the old capital of Finland. I grew up in Turku, so this tradition is important to me, it marks the transition from the preparing to the enjoying. The Christmas Peace has been declared from Turku since the 14th century. The wording of the current document is from 1827, though, when a secretary of the magistrate wrote it from memory after the Great Fire of Turku.

I chose to do a little Christmas scene for my cards to celebrate the inky blue skies of winter and the Christmas time. I chose to use the “Church” foam stamp, probably inspired by Turku Cathedral. To add a little something to the background, I added a halo or a rose window kind of pattern using “Grove Street” foam stamp. And to decorate the church for the winter, I stamped a huge wreath using a part of the “Hydrant” design. If you wish to see how I made the cards, please see the video below!

I use acrylic paints as my “go-to” medium so this time I wanted to use another medium instead. As you could see from the video, I chose inks this time. One reason was the way dye inks react to water – I knew I could use that to my advantage to make a starry sky! Just apply a layer of ink and then lift it up with water splashes. I then emphasized the look more by adding some white paint marker doodles on top. I placed the bigger stars on top of the splashes so that the lighter area makes kind of a halo to the star.

With these cards I’m wishing you all Peaceful Holidays and a warm, heartfelt times with your loved ones whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Christmas or any other Holiday! 

I’ll see you next year with another project for Nat’s Creative Squad!

Xoxo Riikka

Thank you Riikka – love how you used the Hydrant stamp to make your wreath! And hearing about your traditions was such a treat.

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the supplies Riikka used:

Looking for more inspiration from the Creative Squad? Follow them on Instagram here.

Nat

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NEW Stencil Release! ATC Mixup

New stencil is dropping today in the shop: ATC Mixup – a 9×12 stencil that features 9 different ATC sized patterns. It’s a mix of radial and allover designs for backgrounds, focal points, and layering fun :)

I made a whole bunch of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) with just a couple sheets of paper and the stencil:

Do you trade ATCs with your artist friends? Even if you don’t, the ATC Mixup stencil is also excellent for churning out cards (tis the season, right?) and in your art journal when you want just a hint of pattern here and there. I was playing with it and liked the versatility all in one sheet:

You can pick up one of these new ATC Mixup stencils here in my shop and I hope you share what you’ve created online with me – just tag #natkalbach!

Nat

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Creative Squad: Celebrate the Season – Maura Hibbitts

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a gorgeous card idea from Maura Hibbitts using my Church foam stamp and getting us into the season with our theme: Celebrate the Season – Many cultures celebrate in December so let’s do some celebrating ourselves with our favorite art supplies and the holidays that make this season so festive.

May I wish you a joyous and blessed holiday season. We share diverse beliefs and ideas, and celebrate in a multitude of ways, but for many of us, this time of year is special. Share the season with family and friends and enjoy the celebrations!

I like to make cards for Christmas and send them out with a note to friends and family. I’ve made a simple set of cards with Nathalie’s ArtFoamies Church stamp.

Start by stamping the church image onto A7 cards with black ink and let dry. Of course, you can use any color ink you wish for the image.

Add gold details to the image with a water brush and gold gouache. I squeeze out a bit of the gouache onto a craft sheet and pick up a bit with a detailed water brush.

Set up an area to add some sprays. I like to use a paper bag, or packing paper for this. Spritz on the mica stains around the church image and let dry.

Once the mica stains have dried, use your water brush and silver gouache to add in some “stars”. I make these by painting a longer line, then an x shape across the line near the top.

Sometimes it is really nice to create simple cards with just a few products. I’ve been struggling with vision problems this year which has made it more difficult for me to work on complex or detailed projects. I’ve also had difficulty keeping my creative flow these past couple of years, so it helps to keep work simple and just enjoy what you can do. Maybe you have struggled with health issues and creativity too, and I hope you find keeping things simple helpful.

I have a set of cards ready to add notes and greetings and mail out. I wish you each a wonderful holiday season!

– Maura

Thank you Maura for this beautiful project idea and you are so right – sometimes we have things in our lives that can make creating more difficult, and a great way to handle that is to just do what you can. That way you still get to do what you love and feed your creative spirit :)

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the supplies Maura used:

Looking for more inspiration from the Creative Squad? Follow them on Instagram here.

Nat

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