nathalie-kalbach

Motivated in March – Jennifer Gallagher

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we are kicking off a new monthly theme with Jennifer Gallagher in her art journal. She is using my Art Deco Summit stencil, my Jewett foam stamp set and my Floral Tile Large rubber stamps and our theme: Motivated in March – What keeps you motivated to create? Is it a certain material? Your favorite colors that you can’t get enough of? Maybe you get motivated when you see artwork in a museum or out and about? Share with us your creative motivation and then create something inspired by it.

This month we are discussing our creative motivations. It’s Motivation March! I get motivated by experimenting with new products and seeing what I can make them do. A fun product that is pretty new to me is acrylic paint sprays. I have had so much fun learning how to use them that I am motivated to continue to try new color combinations and techniques. This month I am sharing a vintage inspired art journal page using some of my newest n*Studio favorites. Let’s get started.

In my large dylusions journal, I prepped the surface by applying a thick coat of clear gesso. Then I sprayed Aquamarine and Reseda Marabu Art Sprays. 

Moving quickly, I sprayed some Marabu Art Spray in Sienna. Then I spritzed the page with a fine mist of water.

Using a baby wipe, I dabbed up the excess moisture and color.

Using Nat’s Art Deco Summit stencil, I applied vintage photo distress ink through the open sections of the shell designs.

Next, I overlaid the design portions of the stencil back over the previous shell layer. I applied black soot distress ink.

For a vintage design element, I loaded up vintage photo distress ink onto Nat’s Jewett foam stamp and pressed it onto the page. Adding design elements in odd numbers is pleasing to the eye.

To make the right hand page feel more harmonious with the left hand page, also a n*Studio project, I am mirroring the stamped design from that page onto this one. I applied a very thin amount of vintage photo distress ink onto the Versailles positive rubber stamp and pressed it into a few places on my page.

To add to the vintage look, I sprayed Distress Spray Stain in picket fence onto the page. Once dry, I doodled around the shapes with a white gel pen.(Later, I also doodle around them with a black gel pen.)

Using double sided tape, I added a paper doll cut out from Tim Holtz Idea-ology.  Then I finished it off with a sticker from Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker package.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. I hope you have found it – motivational! 

Thank you Jennifer – I love the beautiful colors and blending for the spread!

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

Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share?  I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat

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Linked not Ranked – Art Journal

“We are linked not ranked” – Gloria Steinem  This was neighborhood stroll inspired and a study for a painting. I love putting the the first idea for a painting into my art journal. 

I used markers, spraypaint, and my Hex Set Large rubber stamps. It’s vibrant – just like my hood :) Pretty wild LOL

I will show the paintings I maid on canvas in the next couple days.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Inspired By: Austin & Blanco

At the beginning of the month my girlfriends and I went to Austin to celebrate a special birthday with our friend Heather. It was a super fun and also very inspiring long weekend.

We stayed in an old Union house turned Hotel and I just loved the very slick but warm design of the rooms. Everything about it made me happy. Blue, brown, grey, black …ahhh swoon.

We had an amazing dinner in a private vault in the basement of a restaurant -That was super fun … no other photos “what happens in the vault – stays in the vault”

We went downtown for a little shopping trip on Congress South – of course I didn’t check the weather app again before I left and the temperature dropped significantly from the prediction I had seen- hence the interesting layered look – oh well. I loved the wonderful old signs on the stores

and realized once again that even though I badly want a cool hat- I am jhsut not a hat person.

But I am a Mural person – and that was way cheaper too – LOL

Super fun !

And I want this pizza sign -it is the cutest!

Also — why not- LOL- I like it!

More amazing signs and storefronts

And def. liked how Austin celebrates their “Keep Austin Weird” motto.

which was proven once again in the candy store- Who puts a scale in a candy store? That is soooo weird – LOL.

That Candy store was really cool!!!!

This store window was cooler than the store- but I like the name …I wish it was a real yarn and embroidery store LOL.

This book store had a beautiful set up and book art everywhere – I could have spent hours in there.

Fun – and famous Boot Store – I am not a Cowboy boot person but some of these were pretty pretty cool.

More cool signs – I am a sucker for awesome vintage signs.

Here our “old gang” in the back of a rented bus to bring us to our friend’s party – Don’t be fooled- this is a tame picture from the beginning of the trip and …well what happens in the back of the bus stays in the back of the bus ;)

We stoped in Blanco- what a cute little town. Very picturesque.

And I just fell in love with those city buildings

I want to paint those!

And what do you find when you go to an antique store in Blanco? Spurs – I had no ideas there are so many different designs – these are so cool.

Our friend making drinks for us. She is the Greene in Milam&Greene Whiskey and the party was at the Distillery. We are so proud of her even though that means she moved away from us :(

We had a great time seeing the distillery and spending time with old and new friends

I love this oak tree right outside of the tasting room

It is a great place to visit -if you are ever in the area take a spin and visit the tasting room! And if you see my friend Heather -say hello from her friend Nat in Jersey ;)

I cannot wait to go back some time later this year- it was a lot of fun and there is so much more to see. Next time I make sure to bring my sketch book …for before the tasting of course ;)

Nat

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Inspired by my Creative Squad

We have some very yummy creations from Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman to share with you today: cards, ATCs, and bookmarks! You know I love the brown and teal color combination – makes me happy. And there are so many other touches in these that catch my eye too: the handmade paper for texture and visual interest underneath the stenciling (so cool), the mesh she put in there (again- soo cool!), and the white mark making. 

Where did these projects originate? When Judi planned her 2020 calendar project her goal was to use each month’s page for other projects. What you see above was made with the January page!

So here we go from Judi: 2 bookmarks, 3 ATCs, and 4 cards for you today.

Bookmarks with stitching and some of my artfoamies stamps.

ATCs with postal stamps, my batik design, and lots of excellent markmaking.

More Batik pattern, mesh fabric, and postage stamps on a card…

Batik pattern, stitched elements, and handmade paper on this card…

A square card with lots of wonderful stitching…

And a card with some embellishments that makes me think of sunshine :)

Thank you so much for sharing Judi!!! 

Here are some of the supplies that Judi used:

Nat

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In Need of Zen – Art Journal

“In these crazy times I need to create my own zen!” I was listening to the news and needed to create a calming art journal spread.

I cut out some shapes from tyvek and then stenciled with acrylic paint.

I added in my Kyoto stencil with pink gouache. All happy colors, trying to find some zen :)

I embraced the calm of open white space and then used a Dewent watersoluable pencil for the journaling.

How do you find zen in your art journal?

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Simply wonderful Nat.
    I find zen when I play with texture and layers in my art journal or on canvas.

    Reply

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Whole Lotta Love – Linda Edkins Wyatt

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a unique project from Linda Edkins Wyatt – a triptych that holds 3 cards on display. Check out the video below to watch it come together. Linda uses my Floral Tile Large rubber stamps and this month’s theme: Whole Lotta Love – Who or what sets your heart aflutter this time of year? Let’s pay tribute this month to those warm fuzzy feelings of love and create something that celebrates that universal emotion.

In November 2019, I participated in Nat’s “Deck of Cards” challenge. By the end of the month, I had 30 pretty cool pieces of artwork that were just the right size for greeting cards. I felt a little too attached to some of them to actually use as cards and send off in the mail to friends and family, so I bundled them up and propped them up on my display shelf. Here’s a few of them:

But…I wanted a prettier way to display the cards, so I hit on the idea of creating a free-standing triptych to showcase them. I had too many to display all at once, so I decided to attach little pieces of Velcro to my favorites so the display could easily be changed.

Here’s my video of the process:

I started by mixing up my favorite shades of pink and yellow and painting some 140 lb. watercolor paper. In addition to the painted paper, I also used a piece of recycled brown paper bag. Next, I spread white acrylic onto my geli plate and picked up paint with Nat’s positive/negative Hamilton rubber stamps, then stamped all over the three surfaces. (Once the geli plate was full of marks, I also pulled prints off it with deli paper.)

Once I had plenty of printed paper, I auditioned different cards and lace to see what would work best for my triptych. I folded and cut a fresh piece of watercolor paper to the triptych shape.

Next, I glued the printed papers on and cut them to size. With a glue stick, I added some gorgeous thick lace.

The final step was attaching the Velcro dots to both the triptych and the cards.

The hardest part was finding a space in my small apartment to display my new creation!

Thank you Linda! This is such a cool way to display any number of small works on paper! Great idea :)

Want to give Linda’s project a try? You can find all my Rubber Stamps in my Online Shop and in addition to her cards and a brown paper bag, here are some of the other supplies Linda used:

Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share?  I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat

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Whistling – Art Journal

“Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush!” It hasn’t been much of a winter yet here but I am always more excited for warm Spring weather than the cold :)

For my background I used gouache paint and a cosmetic sponge with my Art Deco Summit stencil. 

I went back and forth with the two colors. I like this stencil because it combines some fine detail with larger areas of color.

My Fan-tastic rubber stamps fit in there quite nicely. Here I used one of the small Fairview stamps.

For my quote I used a Derwent watersoluable pencil and then went in with a wet brush to oomph up the lettering.

I added some dots with the back of my pencil.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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