We’re thinking about surfaces and substrates in a new way in our Beyond the Paper workshop. Birgit Koopsen and Marsha Valk and I are at it again, teaching together and bringing you 3 different perspectives and styles. And guess what? Class is now in session!
I hope you are joining us in the classroom and if you haven’t signed up just yet, there is still time to get in with the Early Bird price (sale ends today, April 5 at 11:59pm EDT) – Sign up here: http://bit.ly/Beyondthepaper21
You can learn more about how the workshop works and what supplies we will be working with in the Beyond the Paper Live webinar that we recorded last week and posted HERE on the workshop page. Check it out and hope to see you soon in the classroom!
We’re recapping Day 03 and Day 04 of Nat and Sarah’s April ArtFoamies Challenge today! You can follow along on my Instagram daily with videos and photos, and I will post updates here on the blog too from time to time throughout the month.
April 3: Jump – Still timid in my ledger but getting used to the thought of printing right into it -using my Buenos Aires and Mini Toledo stamp both inspired by traveling to those cities (Toledo Spain) I thought having the tilted stamp in the end adds the jump effect. Hey a challenge is a prompt …I do not have to make this literally jumpy!
Here is a look at the April 03 page:
And then April 04: Inspired – The Triple Play stamp is actually a stamp created by my friends Birgit Koopsen, Marsha Valk and me specifically for our Beyond the Paper workshop which starts today. You can sign up any time but it is on Sale right now- so if you want a good deal and get inspired …come and check it out. The stamp is so inspiring to me because it contains designs by my friends and mixing the designs or using each by itself is really a lot of fun. Inspiration is often time found in playing with other people!
And a look at April 04:
Follow along with the challenge on instagram and post your artwork too with the hashtag #artcollabChallengeAccepted
Everyone approaches Challenges differently. This ArtFoamies Challenge that Sarah Matthews and I came up with has had me thinking about how I want to approach it. In the past my Foam Stamplifier Challenge #foamstamplifierchallenge I used all kinds of different media, so I didn’t want to repeat myself. I also thought about how Sarah usually uses ArtFoamies with ink pads, while I use acrylic paints and the first parameter became clear: I will only use ink pads for the challenge. The other challenge is that I purchased an old ledger journal and I want to turn it into a pattern book. I usually make my own pattern books by binding loose printed papers into a book. This method has the advantage that if a print doesn’t turn out too great it can be discarded. By printing directly into this 125 year old ledger I have no out. So using my foam stamp designs to create patterns into a ledger book with ink pads is my challenge for this month.
A Look Back – This time I’m looking at different Challenges I’ve created. On April 1st I started Nat and Sarah’s April ArtFoamies Challenge so I hope you check that out on Instagram and here on the blog too throughout April, but that’s not the only challenge I’ve ever dreamed up. Read on for more!
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 :)
Deck of Cards Challenge – In November 2019 I created a challenge to explore 30 different card making ideas. I focused on different themes: Holiday, Thank You, Just Because etc. and also different design motifs like patterns, lines, shapes and others. I made enough to have a Deck of Cards, ready to go to whenever I needed to reach out to someone with a little note. You can see the posts here on the blog.
Stencilbop Challenge – In August 2019 I came up with a challenge to really push the way I thought about using my stencils. Different paint and markers and pens of course but I also went in some new directions like woodburning and even an ice cream cake! You can check that out here on the website.
Challenges are the perfect fix if you need some inspiration or new ideas. I hope this Look Back inspired you and I hope you join us for Nat and Sarah’s April ArtFoamies Challenge #artcollabchallengeaccepted
We’re on Day 02 of Nat and Sarah’s April ArtFoamies Challenge today! You can follow along on my Instagram feed daily with videos and photos, and I will post updates here on the blog too from time to time throughout the month.
Everyone approaches Challenges differently. This ArtFoamies Challenge that Sarah Matthews and I came up with has had me thinking about how I want to approach it. In the past my Foam Stamplifier Challenge #foamstamplifierchallenge I used all kinds of different media, so I didn’t want to repeat myself. I also thought about how Sarah usually uses ArtFoamies with ink pads, while I use acrylic paints and the first parameter became clear: I will only use ink pads for the challenge. The other challenge is that I purchased an old ledger journal and I want to turn it into a pattern book. I usually make my own pattern books by binding loose printed papers into a book. This method has the advantage that if a print doesn’t turn out too great it can be discarded. By printing directly into this 125 year old ledger I have no out. So using my foam stamp designs to create patterns into a ledger book with ink pads is my challenge for this month.
Here is a look at that page too:
Follow along with the challenge on instagram and post your artwork too with the hashtag #artcollabChallengeAccepted
We’re kicking off Nat and Sarah’s April ArtFoamies Challenge today! You can follow along on my Instagram daily with videos and photos, and I will post updates here on the blog too from time to time throughout the month.
Everyone approaches Challenges differently. This ArtFoamies Challenge that Sarah Matthews and I came up with has had me thinking about how I want to approach it. In the past my Foam Stamplifier Challenge #foamstamplifierchallenge I used all kinds of different media, so I didn’t want to repeat myself. I also thought about how Sarah usually uses ArtFoamies with ink pads, while I use acrylic paints and the first parameter became clear: I will only use ink pads for the challenge. The other challenge is that I purchased an old ledger journal and I want to turn it into a pattern book. I usually make my own pattern books by binding loose printed papers into a book. This method has the advantage that if a print doesn’t turn out too great it can be discarded. By printing directly into this 125 year old ledger I have no out. So using my foam stamp designs to create patterns into a ledger book with ink pads is my challenge for this month.
Well here we go – the moment of truth and that shall be the name of the pattern …first one using my Broadway Fan positive and negative stamps in my ledger. Love using the solid back of my foam stamps as well – which basically in this case gives you three different options.
Here is a look at that page too:
Follow along with the challenge on instagram and post your artwork too with the hashtag #artcollabChallengeAccepted
Hello my friends – today we have some exciting news: we have a new Creative Squad member! Riikka Kovasin is joining our team of talented artists and we are so happy to welcome her to the group.
Well now we are honored to call her a member of the Creative Squad and see some more of her creativity in action.
Here is a little bit about Riikka: “Heippa! My name is Riikka Kovasin and I am a mixed media crafter from Finland. I live in Helsinki with my darling husband and our two sweet daughters. Creating is my passion and a way of self-care. Besides family and crafts, my weeks are filled with a full-time job.
I have been doing all sorts of crafts my whole life. I really got into papercrafts after I found scrapbooking when my older daughter was about 6 months old – that’s over 10 years ago. Since then my style has evolved to more and more mixed media direction and nowadays, I tend to go dimensional and do more altered and mixed media pieces than regular layouts.
I absolutely adore getting my hands into paints and mediums! To me the process of creating is equally important than the finished project.”
Nat’s Creative Squad
Learn about all our Creative Squad members (current and past) on the Creative Squad page here. You can read their bios, check out their links, and see every project they have created so far as squad members. Here is the current squad:
Also be sure to follow the Creative Squad on Instagram. We post a few times a week: current projects, technique tips, and inspiring peeks at the squad members’ methods and style. It’s a lot of fun to see what this talented group is up to!
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have some gorgeous tote bags from Judi Kauffman using my Amsterdam and Hamilton stencils and this month’s theme: Life in Bloom – It’s been a long winter where we are and I’m dreaming of flowers and gardens and spring. Indulge us all in a project that focuses on one of Mother Nature’s most exuberant symbols of life: flowers flowers flowers!
I completed my “Life In Bloom” theme projects in late February, a week after getting my first covid vaccine shot. I will have been home for a full year as of March 18, but by the time you read these words I will have had my second shot and will be able to double-mask and head back out into the world – just in time to greet the new season. Spring!
I can’t wait… I can’t wait to see the iris, peonies, begonias, and other hearty perennials peeking up, ready to put in an appearance. And I can’t wait to go to Costco to buy some annuals to fill in the empty spaces. And a rotisserie chicken for dinner…I can almost smell the aroma of that aisle. Gee, I think I missed those trips to Costco more than almost anything else during my time at home.
Meanwhile, like many of you I have spent many hours cleaning closets and going through supplies. I found a trio of simple denim totes, two with flawed spots, and thought they’d be a great surface for a stencils-only project. Here’s how they looked when I started:
My concept was to create a flower pot/vase on one of the totes for a literal interpretation of the theme but stenciling the other two with more wonky shapes for a more abstract approach.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Using torn strips of newsprint, mask around the areas earmarked for painting and stenciling.
Using gold metallic or other light color acrylic paint and a wide brush fill the area to be stenciled. Optional: Mix paint with fabric medium.
Using a mix of stencils (I used Nat’s Amsterdam and Hamilton stencils) and two darker paints (shown: red and metallic teal) add pattern to the gold areas. Overlap stencils here and there. Allow paint to dry for distinct patterns, work wet-on-wet for less distinct designs (smudge paint at edges to add dimension – note right side of flower pot).
Embellish stenciled totes with knitted, crocheted, and/or frayed fabric flowers. Pleated hem tape makes an interesting stem for a single blossom. Sew in place or use fabric glue to adhere.
NOTE: Embellishments shown are positioned for photography and are being ‘auditioned’ – nothing finalized yet! I plan on adding beads, embroidery, charms and more.
Thank you Judi – absolutely love the idea of bringing these totes to the farmer’s market or garden center!
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and in addition to various beads and embellishments, here are some of the supplies Judi used:
Don’t forget to check out Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.
Join us for the next ArtCollab LIVE zoomcast with artists Nathalie Kalbach and Sarah Matthews on Tuesday, April 6 at 12noon EDT (NYC time).Register to attend.
ArtCollab Episode 2: Challenge Accepted – In this second episode we will focus our conversation on the topic of challenges.
Tune in for the live zoomcast as we discuss why we do challenges and all the benefits we get out of them as artists. We’ll share our latest collaboration – our April ArtFoamies Challenge that we designed and are each participating in for the month of April. We’ll show you our artwork so far, explain some of our creative choices, and talk about why we wanted to collaborate on a challenge in the first place.
We would love to have you collaborate with us too with questions or by adding to our conversation – register here to attend. If you cannot make the live event, a recording will be available for viewing HERE afterwards.
ArtCollab is a monthly zoomcast with the two of us: Sarah Matthews and Nathalie Kalbach (and occasionally other special guests too). Each episode we get together, collaborate on all sorts of unique artsy projects, share our process and offer updates and sneak peeks along the way, and of course we chat about all stuff art-related (and topics that go way beyond that too). ArtCollab is a real life look into the process of creating, collaborating, and the ins and outs of living an artistic life that is touched by others.
New ArtCollab zoomcasts will be live and happen every first Tuesday of the month. Sign up for my newsletter HERE or Sarah’s newsletter HERE to get all the details for upcoming zoomcasts.
Join in for an entertaining and inspiring interlude into the world of two artists who are working together in conversation and practice!
Birgit Koopsen, Marsha Valk, and I have released a new online workshop that begins April 4 and it’s all about exploring mixed media surfaces. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with art making, so we wanted to push you (and ourselves too) to think Beyond the Paper and create on other substrates. For more information and how to sign up for the Beyond the Paper online workshop, go here.
Before the workshop kicks off, the Beyond the Paper Live webinar will let us chat a bit more about why we designed this workshop, what techniques and supplies we’re using, and then it will also give us a chance to take some audience questions too.
These are so cool, love the designs!?
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