Creative Squad

Creative Squad: Good Morning Good Evening – Robin Seiz

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have some funky wrapping paper from Robin Seiz that is a work of art in and of itself using my Brownstone and Powerhouse foam stamps and Manhattan stencil. Our theme is: Good Morning Good Evening – Are you a Morning Person or a Night Owl? Or maybe neither? Create a project inspired by your preferred time of day – when you are in good spirits, doing what you love, and enjoying life.

Hello. This month’s theme, Good Morning, Good Evening, made me ponder the question, “Am I a morning or an evening person?” The answer is, BOTH. For me, it truly depends on the time of year. I am a gardener, so in the summer I love the morning. There is nothing more peaceful than going out to the garden early in the morning when the sun has just come up, and the birds are singing, and the dew is still on the leaves. When it’s hot, I move inside to the studio. In the winter, I tend to rise later and go to bed later. No matter what time of year, I love the glow of the sky when the sun rises and sets.

I used that glow as the inspiration for this project. I have quite a few special celebrations in August, and therefore, presents to wrap. I thought these new artfoamie stamps that Nathalie created would be perfect for making printed wrapping paper.

I dug out my 16 x 20 gelli plate, which I don’t use that often, but it’s a perfect size for larger printing projects like this. If you don’t have this size gelli plate, you can use whatever size plate you have and simply stamp it on your paper.

I cut 2 large pieces of white butcher paper (17” x 21”) or thereabouts, (I’m not much of a measurer) Next I generously applied Liquitex Unbleached Titanium, (which is a very opaque color) to the gelli plate. I used the brayer to spread it evenly, and pulled the first print and then a second print (also known as the ghost print).

I wanted a fun background for this paper and Nathalie’s Manhattan stencil was  perfect. I was looking for something with a great pattern and some open space because I wanted the background colors to show through the open spaces in the stamps. I chose Golden Naphthol Red Light, Yellow Ochre, and Pyrrole Red Light, which when combined, remind me of both sunrise and sunset. I put the stencil down and applied the paint randomly to the plate and used my brayer to completely cover the plate and the stencil. I lifted the stencil and repeated this process 4 times until the plate was completely covered. I did have to work relatively fast so the paint wouldn’t dry too fast. In retrospect, I could have used some Liquitex Slow-dri Blending Medium to help keep the paint open longer. (but I didn’t think of that in the moment) :o) I pulled the first print on the butcher paper. 

There was quite a bit of paint still left on the plate, but by now, it was dry. I spread a very thin coat of Liquitex Titanium White to the entire plate and pulled the ghost print.

I really liked the detail on the first print, but I felt the ghost print needed more color. I applied some Daniel Smith Gold Gesso with an old room key card. A little gold always adds a lot to any project! 

I always go to my color wheel to plan the colors for my projects. I decided on Versa Fine Clair Blue Belle for the ArtFoamies stamp color. Again, I don’t often measure things; I typically just “eyeball” it. I stamped the Brownstone on first print. I was happy with the way the colors came through the spaces in the stamp as I had planned. 

I wanted to use a different ArtFoamies stamp for the ghost print. I used Nathalie’s Powerhouse stamp. This ghost print came out with a grungy feel to it. I really love this distressed effect. 

Home made wrapping paper can be whatever you want it to be; it doesn’t have to be occasion specific. My experience is that the receiver often loves the paper so much they want to keep it. I hope you try this project and that you enjoy it! 

This is awesome wrapping paper Robin! Thanks for sharing and giving us some inspo for the upcoming holiday season too!

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

Like what you see? Follow the Creative Squad on Instagram for weekly posts, artwork, and inspiration.

Nat

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Creative Squad: Good Morning Good Evening – Maura Hibbitts

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a super thoughtful art journal spread from Maura Hibbitts using my new Brownstone foam stamp and my Santiago and her thoughts on our latest theme: Good Morning Good Evening – Are you a Morning Person or a Night Owl? Or maybe neither? Create a project inspired by your preferred time of day – when you are in good spirits, doing what you love, and enjoying life.

Good morning, good evening! Do you ever think about what your favorite time of the day is? Well, I still have to think about it and I realized I don’t really have a favorite time. I like to do certain things in the morning and other things in the evening. This got me to thinking about Yin and Yang and how there’s a duality in the world between light and dark, night and day. When you stop to think about it, there’s no day without night, and there’s no night without day. When it’s daytime on one side of the world, it’s nighttime on the opposite side of the world, so somewhere it’s always day and night. So rather than choosing morning or evening, I decided to work in my art journal to show the idea of the duality of day and night.

First step to create the page is to draw a large circle on a sheet of watercolor paper, and two smaller circles within it. Then draw a line that comes down in between the two, to create the shape of Yin and Yang. Cut these out.

Next step is to add some color to the shapes using inks. Swipe the inks onto a craft sheet, and mist them with a little bit of water.  Press the paper into the ink and repeat as necessary. Let dry completely. Repeat the same process on a piece of scrap paper.

Using the ArtFoamies Brownstone stamp and several paints, stamp the image of the brownstone onto each of the shapes. I like to use a gel plate and a brayer to spread the paint out on and then stamp on this to pick up the paint. I used red and copper for the daytime brownstone, and a couple of greys for the nighttime brownstone.

Using the scrap paper that you made, along with the Santiago stencil, stencil in a bit of color with a contrasting ink.

In the black art journal, use a compass and draw a large circle that the Yin Yang symbols will fit within. Around the edges of this add your journaling with a white pen. Cut out small circles from your stenciled pieces, and add those above and below the brownstones. Fit the pieces together and adhere to the journal.

Yin and Yang symbols are used in many dualities, from male to female, and bright to dark. Just think about mythology and the Sun god and Moon goddess and these ideas begin to merge. I also use it to symbolize that I need both morning and evening in my day.  For example, I enjoy meditating in the morning, doing a little reading, enjoying a cup of coffee, and then I get to my creative work. In the evenings, I love to watch the sunset and maybe take some photos of it, do some reading or perhaps watch a show, and wind down with some music.  Since I enjoy both these times of the day, I could not decide on just a morning or evening as my favorite.

Have you thought about a favorite time of the day, or are you like me and you enjoy both the morning in the evening? Whatever time of day you love, enjoy the remaining mornings and evenings of summer and take care!

– Maura

Thank you Maura! I always love to learn more about our artists as they share their thoughts with these posts and the resulting art journal page here is simply lovely.

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps and Stencils 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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Creative Squad: Dear Mother Earth – Jordan Hill

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a journal spread from Jordan Hill working in a junk journal and using my Mini Santa Fe Foam Stamp and our theme: Dear Mother Earth – Our planet Earth is an amazing and beautiful gift to all of us. Let’s write her a letter, telling her just how we feel. This could be an actual letter/mail art, an art journal page, or some other mixed media project.

Hello, everyone! I’m very excited to be back with my project for July! This month’s theme of “Dear Mother Earth” resonated with me quite strongly, since I tend to draw a lot of inspiration from nature for my artwork. I hope you enjoy following the process!

For this month’s project, I decided to work in a new little journal I made semi-recently; this is actually the first official finished spread.

I started things off by prepping my background. I selected a photograph from an old book, consisting of some beautiful pink flowers, which reminded me of this month’s theme of “Dear Mother Earth”. After tearing that photograph to size and gluing it down, I added some CraftSmart acrylic paint in Coral Pink and White (to create a color reminiscent of the flowers) and a printed image of a postage stamp that also featured pink flowers.

Next, I reached for Nathalie’s Mini Santa Fe Foam Stamp and some black ink, adding it over most of my spread. I’ve tried several different methods of applying ink and paint to these foam stamps in the past, but for this project I wanted to experiment with a stamp pad re-inker. I wasn’t sure if this would work or not, but the roll-on nature of the re-inker actually made it quite simple to cover most of the stamp and get a good, solid impression. I also found that the effect of using this type of ink was different than if I had simply used an ink pad.

Usually, words are the last thing that I add to my art journal spreads, but for this month’s project, I got the urge to add them in earlier. I wanted to incorporate this quote (which again, reminded me of this month’s theme) in white gel pen over the photograph. However, because of the glossy finish of the photograph, the pen didn’t really want to adhere. In order to mend this issue, I used some clear gesso to paint over the photograph. The pen was a lot more willing to cooperate with me after that.

In addition to the white gel pen, I also outlined the words with some black ink to help it stand out that extra little bit.

At this point, I was ready to add my focal point. I started out drawing a face, but I found myself wanting to spice up the clothing a bit. Instead of the tank top style shirts I typically dress my figures in, I used a turtleneck style for this character. After painting the top pink, I then added some little patches of white, which I later drew petals on top of, in order to give the shirt a pattern!

I also used a small piece of a paper napkin and some Mod Podge to collage another little interesting element into the background.

In order to finish off this spread, I gave the character some hair (which I’m actually quite fond of, and would love to have myself) using Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic in Prussian Blue Hue mixed with white, and added a small little collage cluster in the lower right hand corner of the page. When creating this collage cluster, I took care to choose colors and imagery that I felt fit with the left hand page, in order to tie the two together.

Overall, I’m very happy with the way this spread turned out, and I definitely think I’m going to be reaching for my stamp pad re-inker for use with my foam stamps again in the future!

Thank you Jordan – love that you worked in a junk journal for this one – great way to repurpose scrap papers!!!

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and in addition to some collage elements, 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.

Nat

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Creative Squad: Dear Mother Earth – Robin Seiz

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a lovely letter to Mother Earth from Robin Seiz using my Triple Play and Funky foam stamps and our theme: Dear Mother Earth – Our planet Earth is an amazing and beautiful gift to all of us. Let’s write her a letter, telling her just how we feel. This could be an actual letter/mail art, an art journal page, or some other mixed media project.

The theme this month is Mother Earth; she has a strong pull on me. From an early age, I was happiest swimming in streams, looking for tadpoles, and exploring the woods. Now my appreciation for Mother Earth is more about spending time doing things that bring quiet and peace. Vegetable gardening, pulling weeds, hiking, strolls on the beach, all feed my soul.

For my project this month, I have written a letter to Mother Earth to tell her what she means to me and to thank her for all that she provides. The last few months have been difficult caring for my sick mom; I have been reminded how much being in nature is important to my well-being.I have written this letter to document this time in my life and my refections. I plan to put my letter in an envelope, seal it and put it away for a later time. It wasn’t important that it be legible in the end, I’ll remember this time.

Using recycled material was important to me; after all, taking care of Mother Earth is important. I knew I want to use some collage elements so I chose papers I had in my stash which reminded me of the elements of nature. I didn’t use it all, but it gave me a place to start. I also used brown recycled package wrapping as the base for the project. I cut it to an 8” x 11 sheet.

Next, I wrote my letter in black pen; the words flowed easily.

I wanted the writing to fade into the background. After I put my feelings down, it was no longer important for them to be legible. I used gesso to cover some of the writing. I applied it carefully so  that some words would show. 

Next I used diluted PVA to apply the collage elements. I chose green textured paper, blue gelli printed paper that was in my scrap box, and a natural tan paper with fibers that reminded me of leaves. I wanted the elements of Mother Earth to be represented.

After the collage elements were adhered to the paper, I used Nathalie’s Funky Foam Stamp which reminded me of twigs and Versa Fine Clair Ink. This stamp is so versatile. I also used one of the foam stamps from the Triple Play foam stamp set. Both of these were perfect for this project.

Having this prompt of Mother Earth came at the perfect time for me. I felt compelled to write a letter and express my sincere thanks for the peace and soulfulness that she has given me throughout my life. If you do art journaling, this would make a great journal page idea. I love the idea of writing a letter, sealing it, and putting it away for someday in the future. 

Thank you for sharing your story and inspiration behind this beautiful piece Robin. I love the idea of putting it in an envelope to revisit in the future too!

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

 

Like what you see? Follow the Creative Squad on Instagram for weekly posts, artwork, and inspiration.

Nat

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Envelope Transformation from my Creative Squad

I’m sharing a gorgeous envelope transformation from Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman today. Instead of just recycling the shipping envelope her new stencils arrived in, Judi decided to give it new life and we love the results!

Judi received my new StencilClub mash-up stencils in the mail -the stencils are exclusive for StencilClub members, and you can learn more about that here and get the new 3 stencil set.

She shared her process with us:

“I cut the shipping envelope from the stencils along two sides and rounded one corner to turn it into a storage folder for the new release. I painted the edges and trimmed down a piece of gift wrap  to fit between the two raised strips at the sides (cut edges at left, right and bottom but left it torn across the top). Then more stenciling with the pattens (but no more elephants…). I had the words “to keep” among my found poetry snippets and that seemed like the right text to add at the top edge.”

“I always keep the StencilGirl shipping envelopes to use as storage folders for my stencils, just hadn’t decorated any of them till now. I like being able to see the contents without digging inside.”

Fantastic idea Judi! Thank you for sharing.

Here is a link to the StencilClub so you can get a hold of these exclusive July 2021 stencils and begin decorating your own StencilGirl envelopes too :) 

Nat

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Seaside Inspiration from my Creative Squad

Today we have a series of cards from Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman. Is anyone else out there dreaming of the sea???

Judi is mixing up a lovely palette of colors and using a gelli plate along with my new StencilClub mash-up stencils for these cards and I’m really digging the subtle layers of pattern and color that she’s created. The stencils are exclusive for StencilClub members, and you can learn more about that here and get the new 3 stencil set.

In the meantime, let’s look at some of these cards:

Judi used clear stickers for the words and phrases and it creates a seamless unity between the card’s sentiment and background.

She did her gelli prints on navy blue cardstock – giving them a nice depth of color.

One last look:

Here is a link to the StencilClub so you can find those exclusive July 2021 stencils. 

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Denise M. Krueger

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    Judi, these cards are stunning and speak to me of a beach visit!! Love the color combos too!

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Creative Squad: Dear Mother Earth – Riikka Kovasin

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post and video from Riikka Kovasin who is sharing her mail art project and guess what??? You have a chance to receive one of these lovely envelopes from Riikka herself – read on to find out how :) They are a fantastic bunch, using my Grove Street foam stamp set and our theme this month: Dear Mother Earth – Our planet Earth is an amazing and beautiful gift to all of us. Let’s write her a letter, telling her just how we feel. This could be an actual letter/mail art, an art journal page, or some other mixed media project.

Bee Nice to Mother Earth

Heippa! It’s Riikka here with my project for this month’s theme of “Dear Mother Earth”. The theme mentions mail art so I jumped to this idea and decided to do a set of decorated envelopes to be sent out.

Mail art is an art movement with the idea of sending small works of art through postal services. The movement started in the 1950s and 60s. Mail art can take various forms such as postcards, envelopes or parcels. Some artists concentrate more on the envelope than the piece inside. Artists also can create their own postal stamps, called artistamps. 

As I plan to send the envelopes out, I needed to create flat layers. I’m usually drawn to dimensional pieces and assemblages, but that kind of work wouldn’t hold through the mailing process without the protection of a parcel. According to some, mail art becomes mail art only after it is dispatched. Even though I actually am looking forward to seeing how the envelopes change in the mailing process, what kind of wear and tear they get, totally losing the added elements isn’t the thing. So, I made small, flat collages on the envelopes with the help of last month’s goodie – Grafix Double Tack Mounting Film.

I first added a paint layer to the envelopes, masking off the placement of the address. I also made a separate collage sheet which I die cut to bees. I also die cut some leafy stems and a piece looking like dry wall tape. I collaged a piece of book paper underneath the die cut elements and added some stamping in there, too. If you wish to see how the envelopes came into being, please see the video underneath.

When thinking about the theme of Mother Earth, I had no option but to choose the “Grove Street” stamp set. I really like the pattern, but more important, the stamp was round and thus reminded me of Earth. As there’s been a lot of talk about the declining numbers of bees and insects, I felt that a honey bee would be a nice focal point in the layering. It somehow resonated with the nurturing Mother Earth theme, maybe partly because of the importance to the ecosystem as pollinators, but also through the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. There a honey bee flies to the heavens to bring a drop of golden honey to mother of Lemminkäinen so she can heal her son. I recently made an assemblage piece with that theme, you can see it here if you like.

And now comes the fun part! I’m sending these envelopes out and you could receive one. It’s first come, first served styled thing so if you wish to receive an envelope from me, please send me your mail address in an email. My email is rkovasin (a) gmail (dot) com. There’s a catch though – you need to send me a photo of the envelope when it has reached you as I want to see how it traveled! To make it worthwhile, I’ll pop something inside the envelope, too – a little note from me on a postcard picturing Finnish nature.

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a beautiful July!  Xoxo Riikka

Thank you Riikka – these are such lovely little artworks and I love that you will send them out into the world!

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and in addition to vintage book paper and postage stamps, here are some of the supplies Riikka used:

Follow Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Riikka Kovasin

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    Thank you for your emails! All the envelopes are now called for. :)

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Stencil Inspiration from my Creative Squad

I’m sharing a suite of tags made by Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman today. With some stencils and just a few other supplies, Judi mixes big juicy texture, delicate layering, and bold pattern in these beauties.

She is using my StencilClub mash-up stencils that I designed with Mary Beth Shaw at StencilGirl Products. The 3 piece mash-up set is available exclusively to StencilClub members through this link.

Here are some of Judi’s tags using acrylic paint, a gelli plate, the stencils, and some word and phrase stickers:

I love how the patterns and colors blend and wash over each other. Here’s a closeup:

Judi is using black, vanilla, and bronze metallic paint.

Thank you Judi for sharing this grouping and for showing us how just a few stencils and colors of paint can yield so many lovely results.

Here is a link to the StencilClub so you can find those exclusive July 2021 stencils. 

Nat

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Creative Squad: Dear Mother Earth – Maura Hibbitts

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a really beautiful art journal spread from Maura Hibbitts that shares her thoughts on our planet using my Far Out, Groovy, and Batik Pattern 2  foam stamps and our theme: Dear Mother Earth – Our planet Earth is an amazing and beautiful gift to all of us. Let’s write her a letter, telling her just how we feel. This could be an actual letter/mail art, an art journal page, or some other mixed media project.

I feel like I have always been a child of nature. I grew up playing outside, roaming the woods, climbing trees, making art creations with whatever was at hand, leaves, twigs, nuts, and even making my own “ink” from charcoal and berries. Earth Day 1970 (yes, I know you are getting an idea about my age, lol) was a pivotal event in my life. I remember being in high school, and marching through the village in support of the earth. I had many arguments with my father, me being on the side of the environment, while he was on the side of industry. I don’t know that we ever resolved it, but one thing we had in common was gardening and growing our own food.

I came out of high school at the very beginning of the environmental movement. I studied forestry and worked in the field for a while, but quickly realized I enjoyed teaching about the environment more, so went back to school to teach science, earth sciences being my main focus. The paths in my life have curved and varied from those early days, but I still hold the earth close to my heart, and believe I have passed that love on to my sons.

I decided to work in watercolor for this month’s project, the earth is covered in lots of water after all. I started by misting water onto the pages of the art journal, then blending layers of color across the pages, letting them bleed into each other.

While the watercolor was still wet, I used a pipette and rubbing alcohol (over 90%) and dripped it onto the wet paint. It is really neat to watch it move the paint out like a resist. Let dry completely. Tip: you can speed it up with a heat tool if you want. When I do that, I heat both sides of the paper to remove the moisture.

I played around with adding inks, but decided to continue with watercolor, so brushed on some orange and red to the Batik 2 circle area of the ArtFoamie. I stamped this into the yellow area of the page.

I added visual texture across the bottom of the page with the Far Out ArtFoamie and purple watercolor. Watercolor works very well with the ArtFoamies.

On the far right, I wanted to create the illusion of plants, so I use the Groovy ArtFoamie and a mix of green watercolors. The first stamping is boldest, then the second and third are lighter, which gives a bit of depth.

I love to doodle over watercolor. Be sure everything is completely dry, or you can mess up your pens. I like to use a carbon ink pen for a nice bold black.

My final step was to journal ideas I have about Mother Earth. I went with whatever came into my mind and just wrote them in my own handwriting. Don’t be afraid to use your own handwriting in your work, it adds such a personal element, unlike typed or stamped words. It’s not perfect, but neither are we, and that’s ok.

Step back from your work, and you begin to see things in it that were unplanned, for example, on the very left at the bottom, a figure seems to be emerging from the base. Maybe my mind was thinking about life emerging from the Earth’s oceans so long ago. Our Earth is precious and deserves our respect, it is after all, our only home. Happy Earth Day, everyday! – Maura

Thank you Maura! The beauty of this page is a real testament to your passion for the Earth – love how you handled the materials and incorporated the stamp designs in such a naturalistic way.

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

Nat

Comments (3)

  • Jo - Let's Art Journal

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    Wow, such stunning pages! Your painting looks amazing, so beautifully executed and I loved seeing how it came together too ?. Happy August and creative wishes! Hugs, Jo x

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    What a fun page and what a delightful story about your first Earth Day Maura!
    I remember mine as well. I was in elementary school at the time, but I must say that you look much younger than I do.
    My son has always enjoyed his earth sciences and is headed to college to study environmental sustainability.

    Reply

    • Maura Hibbitts

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      Sue, so nice to hear your thoughts! Thank you! Sounds like Earth Day had an impact on you and your family. I am glad we can pass that along to our children. hugs, Maura

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