Our friend and Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman shared some inspiring extras with us this month: an upcycled calendar collage and some beautiful envelopes.
Last year Judi created a calendar for the year ahead that we shared with you here in this post.
And then Judi totally surprised us this month with a reimagining of the calendar. She saved her stenciled calendar pages from 2020 and for most of the months she turned them into bookmarks and card fronts. But for this one she decided to cut the whole piece into 1” squares and reassemble it into a mosaic. She said it’s her way of giving visual form to this horrible year when everything felt like it had crumbled into tiny pieces by making it into something interesting and cohesive. It’s going to become the first calendar page for 2021! Turning over a new page, as it were.
Judi also created a fantastic wall hanging from another calendar page redo.
She writes, “I made mosaics out of another of the stenciled calendar pages, adding some dimensional bird, tree, and mini buttons for embellishments.”
What a fantastic idea for those old calendars.
Judi also shared with us some envelopes she created using my Mini Motifs rubber stamp set. She writes, “The method: My go-to “Stamp & Drag” where there’s the look of motion.” Love the look and the softer lines.
Envelopes definitely deserve just as much love as the cards that go inside them and we think these are beautiful!
Are you sending snail mail these days? Follow Judi’s lead and try stamping some of your envelopes too.
Hello from my Creative Squad! We are kicking off January 2021 with a gorgeous “Color Story” piece from Maura Hibbitts, who is using my CJS21 limited edition foam stamp Love Story, my New Orleans stencil, and our theme: Storyteller – This month we’re playing along with Creative JumpStart 2021 and the theme Storyteller. We’re using our artwork, our color and material choices, and our personal style to tell a Love Story.
Wishing you a new year of health and joy (and yes, the little joys count)! I am so glad to see the door closed on 2020, and am hopeful this year will bring better changes to us all. One of those changes is Creative Jumpstart which I look forward to each year in January to get my creative mojo revved up. This year, the 10th anniversary of CJS, promises to be amazing! Nathalie, you have outdone yourself organizing a wonderful 45 days of creativity with an awesome array of artists. I’m having fun so far, thank you!
The theme of CJS21 is Storyteller. I love being able to tell a story with my art, and my story today is all about my love of color. I am “fatally” attracted to color…I seek it out around me, I have to wear it, I am compelled to buy it…one bottle of green paint is not enough, I have to have ten shades of it! I love observing the myriads of color in the natural world around me. I love playing with color, dressing myself in bold colors and patterns, photographing it, seeking it out in my travels, and even dreaming in color.
So, with my love of color in mind, I looked at the beautiful Love Story Art Foamie stamp Nathalie designed for CJS21, and envisioned it in all its colorful glory. I began by stamping the image onto watercolor paper with my gel plate and black paint for a bold frame.
I pulled out an array of watercolor papers I’d made with my watercolor paints, gouache, and salt for another project. (You could easily substitute colored card stock.) I stamped different areas of the Art Foamie image onto each color.
I wanted to add more texture to my pieces, so added another layer with the New Orleans stencil and a variety of paints. I really like using a cosmetic sponge to apply my paint through the stencil. Let dry. (Be sure to tap off excess paint from the sponge first, so you will get a nice crisp image).
Next up, cut out the colorful pieces, and fit them into place on the original stamped image. I used a tacky glue to hold them in place, since they are heavier papers.
I purposefully left some spaces white, so I could also add in some watercolor…after all, I hadn’t yet used every color!
I headed to my square black journal, and created a frame with the New Orleans stencil, pink and a bit of green paint.
I trimmed my Color Story piece, adhered it to the center of the page in the journal, and my final step was to journal around it with a white pen.
When I step back and look at my image, it reminds me of stained glass, with its bright array of colors. If you look closely, you can see the stenciled texture, as it is very subtle on some pieces. I like how it stands out on the black background in my journal.
“Color Story…I love color in all its shades and tints of glory…I look for it everywhere in my life” I hope this year is a colorful year for you, filled with stories. Maura
Thank you Maura – we love the bold stained glass effect you created with your Color Story!
Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps and Stencils in my Online Shop and in addition to watercolor papers from her stash, here are some of the supplies Maura 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.
Maura, I love how you used this stamp! The texture in this project is sooo yummy! The color on black… and the variety of colors…. it all just fits together so beautifully! What a great start to our squad posts! Bravo!
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have some standard size composition books and 7×5″ flip cards from Judi Kauffman using my Hamilton, Amsterdam, and Crackle stencils and this month’s theme: Light & Shadow – In art and maybe also in life, the balance between light and shadow is an important consideration. Play with this equilibrium in your art and show us how the two sides work together.
Light Wins!
This was an awful year. My first thought when I heard this month’s theme, “Light & Shadow,” was to design something in black-on-black with just a tiny hint of white or yellow – a very direct interpretation of how awful the last ten months have seemed. Dark. Very, very dark. I have been home since March and have no idea when I’ll be able to go out into the world again.
And yet, when I think back through these challenging times and look toward the unknowns still in front of us, it turns out that light wins, not darkness or shadow. After all, we solid, upright human beings cast shadows only when there is light. So I switched direction and decided to give some composition books a new look with a mix of stencils on black and white mulberry paper using sparkling metallic paint – one to give and one to keep. And, of course, I made cards while I was at it – one to match the notebook.
For the books –
1. Adhere mulberry paper to the front and back of a composition book, using predominantly black for the covers of one of the books and predominantly ivory for the other. Tear papers and layer as shown or as you prefer. Trim at the edges and avoid the black tape binding of the books. Design strategy: Choose one stencil that has a bolder, simpler allover pattern and another that is intricate for contrast.
2. Stencil Hamilton in Gold and Amsterdam in Patina on the covers, alternating patterns in random vertical stripes and overlapping paints to blend.
3. Stencil Crackle in Black randomly at the edges of the covers. Edge the covers with a bit of black paint. Design Strategy: Crackle is symbolic of the fragility of life, and yet when the pattern is used at the edges of the rectangles it acts to unify.
For the card –
1. Adhere two sheets of ivory mulberry paper back to back with textured sides facing out. Adhere torn pieces of ivory and black paper. Mulberry paper is floppy, layering adds stability. For extra stability add a piece of cardstock between layers.
2. Hand- or die-cut a horizontal flip card from the sheet. (Shown: AccuCut A7 flip die)
3. Stencil both sides of the card with Hamilton and Amsterdam patterns (same Gold and Patina paints as on notebooks). Optional: Add a bit of Crackle pattern in Black. Edge with smudged-on Black.
4. Embellish with canceled stamps that pick up the colors of the paints.
Bonus cards –
1. Instead of mulberry paper, make cards from heavyweight cardstock. Use only one of the stencils or a combination of several.
2. Embellish with canceled stamps that pick up the colors of the cardstock and coordinate with the paints.
Thank you Judi! Just love the ideas behind these designs – something that we can all relate to this year.
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and in addition to canceled stamps, here are some of the other 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.
Hello from the Creative Squad! Today we have Jordan Hill sharing with us a nice little book that she’s made using my Art Deco Empire stencil and this month’s theme: Light & Shadow – In art and maybe also in life, the balance between light and shadow is an important consideration. Play with this equilibrium in your art and show us how the two sides work together.
Hello, everyone! As a person who is quite fond of the concept of duality and contrasts, I really enjoyed creating this month’s project using the theme “Light and Shadow”! I decided to bind a little book this month, and the actual pages also play off of the prompt. Let’s get into it!
To start things off, I chose a 3″x5″ index card as my surface. I love working on index cards because they are extremely low pressure. This particular card was one I had leftover from an instance where I cleaned off one of my brushes that still had paint on it. It also ended up with a few specks of blue paint and a small section of machine stitching from where I was testing my sewing machine, which added some fun details!
Next up, I used a makeup sponge, white paint and Nathalie’s Art Deco Empire stencil to add some interest to the purple area of the card.
Using the same stencil and the purple paint I had used as a base, I then stenciled over the white areas of the card. This played into the idea of “light and shadow”. I then selected a small piece of ephemera to glue to the lower left hand corner of the card.
At this point, I was comfortable calling this background done enough to add a face! As is the case with most of the figures that I draw, I blocked in her face roughly in acrylic paint first, then sketched and drew on top of that base. To further emphasize the idea of “light and shadow”, I decided to make her hair two-toned; black and white!
Once I was happy with my painting, I cut down two pieces of chipboard to the size of the card and glued the completed index card to one of them. I then selected some paper to use as the pages. I decided to use Canson watercolor paper for the white pages and some basic black cardstock for the black pages.
Before I actually bound the book, I decided to pull out the Art Deco Empire stencil again! Using the same stencil I did for the cover, I used white paint to stencil on a sheet of the black cardstock and white paint to stencil on a sheet of the watercolor paper.
Using the stenciled pages as cover sheets, I then bound my book using a coptic stitch and black embroidery floss before calling it done! The fun thing about using both black and white pages is that throughout the book there is an interesting contrast effect that I think will be incredibly enjoyable to create on!
I hope you had fun creating this little book with me and I hope you are inspired to create something of your own!
Thank you Jordan – love the bold graphic quality of this little book’s cover!
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and in addition to a small piece of ephemera, here are some of the other supplies Jordan 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.
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have Robin Seiz sharing with us a project inspired by a journey far away and resulting in the more familiar journey of making art. Robin is using my Elephant Parade and Ornament Wallpaper stencils and our theme: Light & Shadow – In art and maybe also in life, the balance between light and shadow is an important consideration. Play with this equilibrium in your art and show us how the two sides work together.
Light and Dark – Playing with Color
One of the things I remember most about my visit to India is the beautiful patterns and colors of the Saree; the traditional drape that women wear. I remember a friend taking me into a shop and there were hundreds of fabrics laid out.The contrast of light and dark was present in all of them. I just wanted to touch each and every one and drape them over me. It’s with these patterns and color in mind that I chose Nat’s Elephant Parade stencil and mask. It’s the perfect stencil to use for layering colors and pattern. I wanted to try the elephant both with a dark background and light pattern and a light background and a dark pattern to compare the images.
At the beginning of the pandemic I was making masks and I have quite a bit of “featherweight interfacing” left. I have been thinking it would be fun to try and print on this fabric. It has a great texture! So this seemed like the perfect project to combine the two and make a journal cover.
I cut a piece of interfacing 20 inches by 12 1/2 inches and applied White Gesso. I wasn’t worried about covering the entire piece. I just wanted some extra texture and “tooth” to the surface.
The journal cover was going to cover a used book that I had on my shelf, so I measured and placed a piece of paper in the middle of the interfacing so I would know where the front stopped and the back began. I did the same for the top and the bottom of the journal. I’m not a perfectionist by any stretch of the imagination, so when I say, “I measured,” — I mean I eyeballed it!
I applied Liquitex Basic Gold acrylic paint with a makeup sponge to the background and then used Golden Quinacridone Magenta to apply the Elephant Parade stencil.
Since I wanted to see the light on dark, I applied the gold paint with the patterned stencil over the dark elephant. I absolutely loved the result.
The background definitely needed something, so I applied Nat’s Ornament Wallpaper stencil which also reminds me of an Indian print. I did this in the dark Golden Quinaacridone Magenta. The problem with using the same color, was the elephant faded into the background rather than appearing in the foreground as I had planned.
In order for the elephant to stand out from the background I applied white gesso around the edges of the elephant and then added some gold back. This technique brought the elephant to the foreground.
It was time to move on to the back of the journal cover and to experiment with dark on light. Let’s just say this took a lot of work to get anywhere close to the same effect as the front of the journal. Sometimes, what I have in my head just doesn’t turn out the same way on paper (or fabric in this case!) The dark on light paint just didn’t have the same “pop” as the light on dark.
First I tried the same technique of applying the white gesso with a cosmetic sponge. I was in a hurry and didn’t wait long enough for the paint to dry before I applied the gesso and it turned the magenta to a light pink. ICK! The technique that worked on the front, really didn’t work the same for the back. Next, I outlined the elephant with a black marker thinking it would bring it forward; that didn’t work either! I tried adding the dark magenta color around the elephant and didn’t like that.
When all else fails, I usually go back to covering everything with gesso. (again!) This time I let it dry completely. This time I went over the white gesso with gold paint leaving a little edge of white. I also outlined the elephant in gold gel pen. I added the same background stencil. The elephant did come to the foreground, but I’m definitely not as happy with the back of the journal. I did learn an important lesson — the contrast of light on dark is much more striking and pleasing to my eye than dark on light.
This project is an example of why I love mixed media. When things don’t work out the way I have planned, I let go of what I thought would happen, keep adding layers and trying different techniques until I’m satisfied with the end result.
Thank you Robin – loved hearing how you worked through your process to achieve a rich, beautiful result!
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies Robin 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.
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a magical nighttime winter scene from Emilie Murphy to share with you. Emilie is using my Art Deco Wallpaper and Toledo 4×4 stencils for this one and our theme: Light & Shadow – In art and maybe also in life, the balance between light and shadow is an important consideration. Play with this equilibrium in your art and show us how the two sides work together.
Hi there! Hope you are doing well.
As the theme of the month is “Light and Shadow”, it made me think right away of a winter scene during a snowy night in the forest, where we can see the shadows of trees and some light coming from the moon.
I started with a light wash of “Turquoise green” watercolors from bottom to top.
I laid down my “Art Deco Wallpaper” and applied some “Tumbled Glass” distress ink to keep a tone-on-tone effect.
I added more watercolors slightly darker than the first layer. As a result, I mixed some “Turquoise green” with a little bit of “Phthalocyanine Turquoise”.
Again, I laid down my stencil and applied some “Peacock Feathers” distress Ink.
Working in layers, I repeated the previous two steps at the top again, but this time by darkening my watercolors using only “Phthaocyanine Turquoise” and “Stormy Sky” distress ink.
I started to apply on the top some “Indigo” watercolor to make the sky visible finishing my bluish gradient from bottom to top.
Then, I darkened the sky with some “Prussian Blue” acrylic ink and created some mountains. Next, I wiped off some paint with a rag just before it dried to make it appear as a full moon.
To finish the background I laid down the “Toledo 4×4” stencil and applied some “Prussian Blue” acrylic ink only on the sky part. It gives a subtle glow effect.
I applied again some “Prussian Blue” acrylic ink through the “Art Deco Wallpaper” stencil to make a tree in the foreground.
To finish up my painting, I applied some modeling paste on the summit of the mountains and on the tree with a plastic knife. I also applied some glitter glue on top and some splatters to get more interest.
Hope it gets you inspired. I always try to use my stencils in different ways. I think this is a very simple painting project that gives a WOW look. You can leave it like it is or frame it and hang it out on your wall. Have fun!
Thank you Emilie! Love how you used the stencil to create the mountains and tree!
Give it a try: you can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies Emilie 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.
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we are kicking off a new monthly theme with Maura Hibbitts. She is bringing us some lovely holiday cards in some perhaps untraditional colors, shaking things up to finish up 2020 with my Star Struck, Toledo, and Santiago 4×4 stencils, my Small Circle Jumble rubber stamps, and our theme: Light & Shadow – In art and maybe also in life, the balance between light and shadow is an important consideration. Play with this equilibrium in your art and show us how the two sides work together.
Light and Shadow, dark and light…as the days get shorter and the shadows longer I’m feeling the need for more light in my life. I watch the strip of sunlight on my deck railing in the morning outside of my work window (It was all lit in the summer), and then the shadows as they expand across the yard during the day. Each day will get shorter until the Winter Solstice on December 21. This year, more than ever, I am looking forward to our shift again to more daylight. These thoughts also prompted me to challenge myself to work with bright colors that I would not normally choose – yellow and pink. So, I’ve ended up making eight holiday cards in very non-traditional colors, check it out.
I started by going through my stash and pulling out paints in varying shades of pink and yellow, so I would have a blend from dark to light.
Nat’s Star Struck stencil seemed to call for the yellows, so I dabbed the colors in with a cosmetic sponge onto white cardstock, starting with the lightest in the top left, and working my way to the darkest in the lower right. Light and shadow, along with a bit of ombre.
Next up are the pinks. where I repeated the previous step, only this time I used Nat’s Toledo stencil.
I decided I wanted to create a focal point, so I mixed varying shades of peach and orange, by blending the yellows and pinks, and used Nat’s Santiago 4×4 stencil. My goal was to have a mix of light and dark (shadow) shades.
Now that everything is painted and stenciled, it’s time to start building the cards. I cut the large sheets of stenciled yellows and pinks into fourths to use as the card background. Next, I cut out the Santiago mini squares, and cut them diagonally in half. I laid the two parts together, decided I wanted more of the background to show, so cut out parts of the smaller stenciled papers. I glued the papers onto the cards using a PVA glue.
I felt that I needed one more pop of color, so I stamped Nat’s Circle Drive Positive small stamp onto watercolor paper with blue ink. I cut these out and popped them up on the center.
Now for the final touches – a bit of sparkle with a gold pen, where I outlined the star shape, and hand lettered words “Shine Brightly!” I love to use a Platinum Carbon ink pen over dry paint, but any permanent black pen will work.
I aimed to use the colors to give a feel of light and shadow, so I worked both the background and focal piece from lightest on the top left, to darkest on the bottom right. What do you think, did it work?
And there you have it, a set of eight cards in a bright array of yellows and pinks. These might be very non-traditional Christmas cards, or maybe Solstice cards. Another thought is to save them, and randomly send them out in the dark days of winter to bring a ray of light to someone. I hope this inspires you to observe the light and shadow in your life and let it guide your creative endeavors. Wishing you health, joy, and light this holiday season! – Maura
Thank you Maura! We love how your colors make these patterns pop. And nontraditional holiday colors seem perfect for this crazy year :)
Give it a try: you can find all my Rubber Stamps and Stencils in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies Maura 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.
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we are at the end of our month with Jordan Hill and a set of really cool envelopes using my #keepyouposted stamp set and our theme: Mail Art – During these times of social distancing, old fashioned mail is a fun way to keep in touch and lift someone’s spirits. Create some mail art, and then actually send it off! Address it, put a stamp on it, and put it in the mailbox. You will make someone’s day :)
Hello everyone, I’m excited to be back with my second project for the Creative Squad!
As someone who is quite fond of finding different ways of exploring mixed media, this month’s theme of “Mail Art” was particularly intriguing! For my project, I decided to work on some blank white envelopes, using them as a surface in much the same way as I might an art journal page.
Without dragging this out any further, let’s get into it!
The first thing I did to get this project started was lay out some blank envelopes on my work surface. Then I scraped some neon yellow paint across the surface using an old debit card. This is one of my personal favorite methods of adding paint to pages, as it is quick and adds the color thinly and evenly.
Once the paint had dried, I used the blank postage stamp design from Nathalie’s #keepyouposted stamp set in the upper right hand corner of all of the envelopes I had prepped. When I get around to mailing these, it will make the perfect border for the stamps! I then glued some polka dot tissue paper down to the envelopes using Mod Podge.
Next, as I do with most of my projects, I decided to add a face (I used CraftSmart Natural Beige here). For this particular figure, I gave her a long, flowing hairstyle that covered the entire middle part of the envelope. This gives me a place to write the address later. At the same time I was adding the color Light Blue to the hair, I also added the same color to this girl’s shirt, and created an additional rectangular shape in the upper left for the return address.
Using a Pentel Hybrid Technica pen in size 06, I then started to add line art to my figure. Her features weren’t standing out nearly as much as I wanted them to, so some thick black lines did the trick perfectly! I also made sure to leave plenty of space inside the hair for addressing the envelope.
For the finishing touches on the front side of the envelope, I added some additional lines (reminiscent of the hair strands) to the outside of the space for the return address, some more neon yellow paint around the edges of the figure, and some little doodled stars. I also added a bit of Martha Stewart Multi-Surface Coarse Glitter to the cheeks and shoulders of this girl for a little extra sparkle.
For the back side of the envelope, I decided to keep it a bit more on the simple side. When I scraped the front side of the envelopes with neon yellow, I had some leftover on my debit card, so I scraped the leftover onto the backs. Then, using the same Light Blue paint from the front and a paintbrush, I made some simple marks along the right side. Lastly, as the final finishing touch, I used the #savetheusps stamp from Nathalie’s #keepyouposted stamp set to add a fun little bonus detail to the flap of the envelope!
And there you have it; a simple way to create beautiful envelopes for any of your mail art needs! I had a lot of fun working with this particular stamp set, although it was a bit out of my comfort zone. I hope you liked this project and try decorating some envelopes of your own!
Thank you Jordan! These are so fresh and fun – would love to receive an envelope like this in the mail :)
Give it a try: you can find all my Rubber Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies Jordan 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.
Hello from the Creative Squad! Today we are continuing on our Mail Art month with Robin Seiz. She brings us “happy mail” that will brighten anyone’s day. She’s using my #keepyouposted stamps and our theme: Mail Art – During these times of social distancing, old fashioned mail is a fun way to keep in touch and lift someone’s spirits. Create some mail art, and then actually send it off! Address it, put a stamp on it, and put it in the mailbox. You will make someone’s day :)
I absolutely love this new collection of #keepyouposted stamps by Nathalie; it’s so versatile. Although we are past voting day, this stamp collection has some great messages about LOVE. Honestly what could be more important than LOVE right now. (or anytime for that matter!) When I started playing with this idea of LOVE, I thought about rainbows. I don’t know about you, but whenever I see a rainbow, I stop and admire it. It gives me a warm, peaceful feeling, which feels like LOVE.
I have been sending lots of Happy Mail out to friends and family since the pandemic began. It’s been a wonderful way to keep in touch and I love making cards. The combination of a great stamp collection and the desire to make Happy Mail was perfect for this project.
I began with some watercolor paper, (5″ x 3/34″) a brush, Nat’s stamp collection, Golden Qor watercolors, and my acrylic block.
Next, I painted the rainbow. Painted rainbows always look so child-like to me, but I like the simplistic symbol of LOVE.
Since there was quite a bit of white space at the top — the message, “You are my #1 priority” was perfect to fill the space and support the message of LOVE.
I immediately thought the message of LOVE should be crossing the rainbow and what better way than to have it flying behind a small plane. I drew the plane free-hand, again in that rudimentary style to mirror the rainbow. I splattered it with paint. This is a technique I often use to add a little pazazz to something, whether it’s a card or a project.
I stamped the LOVE stamp and also splattered the LOVE image with paint for consistency.
I wanted these pieces to be out in front of the rainbow so I used some dimensional tape and adhered two small pieces of black string so it would look like the plane was pulling the LOVE sign. Lastly, I did some more splatter to the entire card to make it celebratory. I cut the border out of yellow construction paper (5 1/4″ x 4”) and adhered it to the card and then put the watercolor paper on top of the construction paper for a layer card look. While this card has lots of steps; it’s easy to accomplish.
Thank you Robin! I love the idea of a plane pulling the LOVE sign all over the skies :)
Give it a try: you can find all my Rubber Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies Robin 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“.
Maura, I love how you used this stamp! The texture in this project is sooo yummy! The color on black… and the variety of colors…. it all just fits together so beautifully! What a great start to our squad posts! Bravo!
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