Hello from my Creative Squad and a BIG welcome to our newest member Emilie Murphy! Today is her first project with us and we are very excited to share this art journal page with you. Emilie is using my Santiago, Space Age Modern, and Exchange Place stencils and this month’s theme: Weather Report – Let’s talk about the weather! Do you love thunderstorms? The crisp air of Autumn? A good snowstorm? Are you a fan of endless sunshine? Create something inspired by that go-to topic of small talk – the weather!

“To appreciate the Beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” – Aristotle

Hi everyone! This is my very first project for the Creative Squad this month. I’m so happy to be a part of Nathalie’s Design Team.

I have to say that Spring is probably my favorite season of the year, but as I didn’t get any snow this year, at least where I live in Maryland, I decided to make an art journal page about snowstorms to illustrate our “Weather Report” theme this month.

Let me guide you on how I made my journal page!

I started to spray some Dylusions ink on a 140lb. piece of watercolor paper until I was happy with the result.

Then, to add some texture, I sprayed over the “Space Age Modern” stencil with the same dylusions inks. Let it dry.

Then I sprayed again through the same stencil with some ocean glossy acrylic (new product of Dina Wakley) and let it dry.

One thing that I like to do, in almost all of my journal pages is to add some splatters.

Next, I laid down the “Santiago” stencil and applied a thin coat of acrylic gesso with a sponge through only the portion of the stencil that looks like a cross. I saw Nathalie using it that way for one card of her “Deck of Cards” challenge last November 2019. What an awesome idea! Love this coat of gesso that stays transparent and gives a dreamy look to my background. That’s exactly the effect I wanted.

I repeated the same thing adding some circles from the “Exchange Place” stencil.

At that point, as I was satisfied with the background, I added a thick layer of texture paste to create some snow covering the ground. After I let it dry, I noticed that the ink stained my texture paste too much, so I kept adding some of this paste (about 3 coats) until I was satisfied with the sort of slight bluish whiteness of my snow.

Again, I used the “Santiago” stencil to apply some white embossing powder. I used a VersaMarker watermark pen so that I got a more precise crossed shape from the stencil.

With a white Posca pen, I drew some details to complete the crossed shapes into some snowflakes. Adding some details is my favorite part.

At that stage my journal page was looking nice, but staring at it a little bit longer, I thought that something was missing. I expected you to see the movement of the snow falling on the ground with a feel of cold and/or chill.  Therefore, I applied some IZINK Diamond glitter paint with my finger through the circles of the “Exchange Place” stencil, which again, to give me that feel. Hope I succeeded and gave you the exact same feeling!

Also, I added a final coat of white gesso over my texture paste because even with the 3 coats I had applied, the ink was still tinting it too much and I didn’t like the look of it.

To finish my art journal page, I rubbed my finger with some white gesso around the edges of my paper, added more splatters with the white glossy acrylic, and then added this beautiful winter quote from Aristotle: “To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold”.

I hope you have enjoyed my process in making this journal page about snowstorms and perhaps you have been inspired to make your own.

Have a great day and see you next month! – Emilie

Thank you Emilie! What a magical representation of snow :)

Want to give Emilie’s project a try? You can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop. Here are some of the other supplies she used:

Nat

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a series of cards from Maura Hibbitts that are sure to brighten your day even in these difficult times. Maura is using my Amsterdam 6×6, Mesa Verde, Art Deco Wallpaper, Signals, and Art Deco Empire stencils. The theme this month is: Weather Report – Let’s talk about the weather! Do you love thunderstorms? The crisp air of Autumn? A good snowstorm? Are you a fan of endless sunshine? Create something inspired by that go-to topic of small talk – the weather!

April certainly is a month of changeable weather! One day it can feel like a beautiful spring day full of sunshine and warmth (and I certainly want more of these kind of days!). The next can bring in snow and cold, but luckily these storms don’t last too long and the snow melts away quickly. And of course, there is the saying about April showers bringing May flowers, but be sure to check for rainbows too! So, check the weather report before you head out!

I’ve been making and sending out cards to let people know I am thinking about them during these difficult times, so I knew I wanted to use this month’s theme to make some more cards.

 I started off with an array of rainbow colors, my gel plate, and several of Nathalie’s stencils to create some papers to use for the project. I used a brayer and a mix of red, orange and yellow along with a stencil, like the Amsterdam stencil here. First time the stencil goes on the plate and the paper on top; then put the painty stencil on paper, and third take another print off the plate. I used watercolor paper to do this.

I also keep some deli paper handy when I am printing to use for excess paint. Quite by accident, I happened to have the deli paper sitting on a stencil, and when I rolled the brayer over it, it picked up the pattern.

I repeated the printing process with the green, blue and purple blend on watercolor paper and deli paper. First print here is off the plate with the Art Deco Empire stencil, and the second is printing with the stencil.

I decided to add in more color with a rainbow mixture of fluid acrylics. Here, I blended in the opposite group of colors with a baby wipe. Since the heavy body acrylic was dry, it acted like a resist, so all colors now show.

On some of the printed papers, I used a splatter brush and fluid acrylics to add a subtle layer of color.

Gold accents always take it up a notch, so I used the Signals stencil with gold paint to add a shimmery layer to some printed papers.

Now I have a mix of rainbow painted watercolor sheets and deli papers to use for my cards. Plus, a quick look at some of the rainbow assortment of supplies I used.

Now, the fun begins! I cut out all kinds of shapes related to weather and pieced them together to make my images….sun, clouds, an umbrella, snowflakes, raindrops, and a rainbow. I did use a pencil to sketch out a few. I adhered the heavier paper with tacky glue, and the deli paper with matte gel medium. Oh, and I had previously used the paper trimmer to cut white card stock for the base, and yellow for the background, which I edged with black ink. 

Once the cards were dry, since it was such a beautiful day, I headed out to the deck to do the doodling on the cards. I am using a carbon ink pen, but any black permanent pen will work. I also added in thoughts about the weather.

Softly falling snow (well, I hope not, lol!)…The sun shines behind the clouds…Singing in the rain…Look for the Silver lining…Bringing some sunshine…and Look for rainbows! I hope these thoughts and the rainbow colored cards will bring some much needed encouragement into our lives right now. Be well, be healthy, and find joy in April’s weather! – Maura

Thank you Maura for lifting our spirits today!!! These cards are so happy and beautiful.

Want to give Maura’s project a try? You can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop. Here are some of the other supplies Maura 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

Hello from my Creative Squad. Today we have a beautiful collage and stencil project from Linda Edkins Wyatt to inspire you. Linda is using my Manhattan, Ornament Wallpaper, and Versailles stencils and this month’s theme: Mirror Mirror – A mirror can be a reflection of many things. We look into them every day and can see who we are outside and in. But they can also just be a fun visual tool to play with as we flip and reverse images and patterns. Play with reflection this month.

I adore playing with mirror images! But, when I pulled out my Nat Kalbach stencils, I had a Homer Simpson “D’oh!” moment. They were all geometric and already in a mirror image layout! I freaked out a little. I had to move my orderly Virgo mind outside the box to tackle the mirror image theme in a new way.

I didn’t really have any idea of how to create a mirror image with stencils that were already in a mirror image, so I calmed myself by gelli printing in a rainbow of colors, plus black and white.

An interesting aspect of the gelli plate is that after you pull the first print, the image left on the plate is the exact opposite. I got a bit excited when I saw my pile of printed deli paper growing and started thinking about the mirror image using both color and the reverse images.

I love portraits, so I decided to try a face…after all, that’s what you usually see in the mirror, right? I sketched out a face shape, slightly off center, and added marks for the features and hair.

I decided to make her clothing a mirror image. I used both the positive and negative gelli prints and cut them to fit the space I had sketched in pencil.

Next, the background. I again used a positive/negative, but this time one on the left and one on the right.

My concept was that society often sees things in black and white, but inside my head there is usually an explosion of colors and shapes and ideas. To convey that, I decided to have the hair made up of a rainbow of deli paper gelli prints.

When the hair was done, it was time for a face. First, I painted a skin tone. Next, I chose some Jane Davenport washi tape with eyes and a mouth. I added extra paints, colored pencils and posca pens until the face was complete and the washi tape sections blended with my own colors. I tend to subconsciously make my women look like me, so I tried to do a “not Linda face” and went for a deeper, multicultural skin tone.

Once the gelli prints were all on the canvas (I used both a glue stick and Golden heavy gel gloss to adhere the cut paper to the canvas), I wanted to add words, lines and dots. The words were printed on Avery clear mailing labels; I carefully cut them to fit in the white swirls running through her hair. (Be sure to have very clean hands when handling the printed words. Also, using tweezers helps get the words exactly where you want them.)

I also added colored deli paper circles floating in the hair to add visual interest and to spot the colors around the canvas. Since deli paper is sheer and I wanted the circles to pop, I glued the printed deli paper to white cardstock first, then cut the circles and placed them around the canvas.

For the center of the body, I added a pink “button” with the words of encouragement for both the soul and the world: peace, hope and courage.

Thank you Linda! Love that you were able to interpret the theme in a way that inspired you to create such a striking canvas – looks awesome!

Want to give Linda’s project a try? You can find all my Stencils in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies she 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 or tag me #natkalbach how you used my stencils and stamps – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat