My Favorites Friday: Snowmen & Penguin Ornaments!!

Happy Holidays everyone!!  Here in the great white north...where we've gotten a touch of snow...I am in full gear for the holidays.  I'm done with my shopping and have even started to wrap!  I'm proud of myself...this is unheard of to be honest.  I'm not too proud to admit that there have been years where I've been wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve!  Not this year.  I'm head of the curve on this one.

Since I'm in the holiday spirit, I wanted to share with you my love of snowmen and penguins.  I have loved snowmen for years and have them all around my house now.  The penguin fetish is quite new actually.  It's all good...there's always room for more.

Every year, I make some kind of ornament to give as gifts to family and friends.  It's become a tradition.  This year, I wanted to make snowmen and penguin ornaments to make everyone's tree happy...mine included!  I am really pressed for time this year because I have so many things going on professionally (that's a post for another time).
I wanted to do something that wasn't too labor intensive...but I still had to give myself enough time so that they could completely dry.

I was thinking to myself today that these are my favorite ornaments.  So, I wanted to share this great project with you early enough so that you can make some too!  There's still plenty of time.

This is what I started with....clear glass balls...

But before you get started, you'll want to grab a couple of other supplies:

• Black and white acrylic paint (make sure it is fluid acrylic...tube paints won't work unless you mix them with a fluid medium)
• Deco Paint Pens
• Pretty Ribbon

That's it!  I promise...

The first thing you want to do is take the hanger out of the top of the ornament.  These pull right out.  If for some reason, one is being stubborn...just give it a twist like you would a soda bottle.  When it loosens, you can then pull it out.  Like this....

 

Then you want to squeeze some paint inside and start swirling the paint around until the entire inside of the ball is coated.  Then you want to drain them.  To do that, you'll need to put then upside down.  I take the tray that comes with the ornaments and cut a hole in the bottom of each section.  Then I place that over the empty box so that there is  enough space for the paint to drain out.  

 

I usually leave them upside down over night.  Then the next day I turn them over and leave them for a couple of days to dry out.  It's important that they are completely dry inside otherwise they will leak if they get turned upside down.  That's just icky!

This may sound like a lot of work, but it really isn't.  I like to work on several things at once, so while these dry...I'm working on other projects.

When the inside is dry, I put the hangers back in and started to decorate!

 

Using white, black and orange Deco paint pens, I began to draw faces on my ornaments.  I started with the penguin faces first because I wanted to make sure that adorable white face was dry before adding black eyes and an orange beak.  The snowmen took a few minutes.  Just be careful not to smudge any wet paint while you are working.

I actually left the penguin ornaments dry overnight before adding the other details.  When I was done, they came out like this...

Aren't they cute?????  I'm going to attach some thin, black organza ribbon to the hangars in a loop to hang them from instead of using metal hooks.  I think it'll make them pretty.

I would love to see what you all are making for the holidays.  Send a picture of your favorite home made ornament and why you love it...I'd like to post a blog of what everyone is doing.

Artfully yours...as always,
Theresa

My Favorites Friday: Beeswax

Happy Friday everyone!  Today we're going to just get right into it.  Beeswax!  It is truly one of my favorite things.  I really like everything about it...it's warm, it's messy, it makes my studio smell fantastic and it's flexible!!  What do I mean by flexible?  Ah, that is just the beauty of beeswax.  We'll get to that in a minute.



Let's start with the wax itself.  Believe it or not, beeswax comes in two varieties...the natural kind and synthetic.  Synthetic beeswax isn't really beeswax even though you will find it listed that way.  It is a human made substance.  Probably the coolest thing about it, is that it comes in colors.  However, there are drawbacks to synthetic waxes. First of all, they are not as pliable as natural beeswax.  Secondly, there has been an ongoing debate as to how safe they are to use.  When the word "toxic" gets thrown around, I tend to steer clear.  Personally, I prefer natural beeswax and I stay away from synthetics.

You can find natural beeswax in a variety of states...like in a jar and the wax is in small little chips.  That's cute and all...and part of what you'll be paying for is the nice packaging...which you can always save and alter later!  I just run over to my local art supply or craft store (of course, you can buy online!) and I buy a gigantic hunk of it that comes in a plastic baggie.

Don't drive yourself nuts by trying to cut a small piece of beeswax!  You'll only strain your muscles and get frustrated.  The easiest thing to do is keep that block of wax in it's bag and chuck it in the freezer for about a half hour to an hour.  Here comes the fun part.....when you take it out, whack that puppy with a hammer and the wax will break apart easily.  Then you'll have smaller chunks.

Melting wax....there are several little melting pots out there.  They work wonderfully and are really great to have if you use them for other things besides wax.  Usually the trays that come with those are removable and you would, again, stick the tray in the freezer and the old wax will pop out once it's frozen.  The drawback of using those with beeswax is that they don't hold much wax.  I tend to work on large canvases when I'm using wax and I don't want to constantly have to add wax that I then have to wait to melt.  I use a small crock pot that I leave the wax in at all times.  It has a lid so my wax doesn't get dusty.  When I want to work with it, I simply take it out, plug it in and turn it on.  Then I gather the rest of my supplies while the wax melts.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Once you use a household item (like a crock pot or a toaster oven) for craft or art materials (like clay or wax) you NEVER EVER want to use that appliance again for food!  

Getting back to what makes beeswax so flexible...in my collages, the beeswax acts as the adhesive.  This means that if I have placed an element somewhere and I change my mind about it's placement, I can simply reheat that area and lift the element out.

There are a few tools you'll need besides a vehicle to melt your wax.:

• some kind of brush that you will dedicate to wax only.  I use that same brush each time I work with wax.  Once you put it in the hot wax, the bristles will loosen right up.  If you go the crock pot route for your wax, I suggest a long handled brush.
• a heat tool!  wax sets quickly, so you'll want to have that tool handy.  it's also helpful for heating areas that you want to remove an element from, creating drips with crayons or blowing those crayon drips to make neat textural elements
• a mini iron.  you'll need this to smooth areas out.  "But I don't wanna!", you may say....that's totally cool to leave a rustic, rough surface.  However, if you are going to put any photo images you'll want a smooth surface underneath it.

This is the basics of wax.  I really like using it so much better than glues sometimes, just because I have the ability to change things up if I don't like something.  There are several techniques for working with wax AND it will really hold just about anything.

Below are a couple of beeswax collages.  I hope you enjoy them.  Let me know if you give beeswax a try.  I would love to hear about it and see what you've made!

This collage incorporates dress pattern, a photo (which is printed

on copy paper), buttons and ribbon.  It also has crayon drips 

and smudges.

This collage incorporates an image transfer right onto

the wax.  It is super simple!

Artfully yours....

Theresa

My Favorites Friday: ATCs

Happy Friday! I hope this post finds everyone well and gearing up for a fun and exciting weekend. The weekends always seem to fly by so fast. This week I want to share with you one of my favorite art forms...Artist Trading Cards or more affectionately known as ATCs.

What is an ATC? An Artist Trading Card is similar to Baseball Cards. ATCs are miniature works of art. There is really only one strict rule to creating an ATC...size! All ATCs measure 2.5" x 3.5" in size. After that, you are only limited to your imagination.

The ATC above was created using scrap book paper, dye ink, rubber stamps and a miniature tag. It is a mini collage that incorporates several elements. It has many layers which gives it a texture. You can be as simple or elaborate as you wish.

You can purchase blank ATCs just about anywhere. Dick Blick is a very popular site for purchasing such materials. However, you can use simple playing cards or you can cut your own. I like to use card stock or old post cards...as is used in the sample above. I have even created them out of fabric, but I usually use some type of one sided fusible interfacing to give them a little more stability.

On this ATC I punched the image into the top layer of paper. I used gold pigment ink around the edges and image to make them stand out.

This ATC incorporates a decorative brad and a slide. I don't generally worry about things sticking off the edge of the card. I trim them later by turning the card over and trimming off the excess with an Xacto knife.

What do you do with an ATC? That's simple! You trade them, of course!! There are all sorts of swap groups out there. As a matter of fact, if you belong to any of the groups that are out there you should check to see if there are any for Artist Trading Cards. I bet they do! There is a really cool site called ATCsforAll that has been around for quite a while. They are constantly running swaps. You should really check out all the swaps they ran so far this year! These guys are obviously passionate about ATCs!!

If your interest is piqued...here is another fantastic site with some outstanding eye candy: Art-e-zine Trading Card Swap. This takes place in the UK...which just goes to show you...ATCs are global!

I hope you enjoyed this little preview on Artist Trading Cards. Whether you create these precious gems already or are going to give it a try...feel free to share! I'd love to see what you are creating. Plus, if I get enough feedback, I'd love to post some pictures of other artists' cards.

Artfully yours,

Theresa

My Favorites Friday: Technology

Welcome to this week's installment of My Favorite Things! Now sometimes I will be blogging about some of my very favorite projects whether they be mine or a colleagues (with their expressed permission of course!!). Other times, like today, I will share with you some of my very favorite tools or ideas. As you may be able to surmise from today's segment title, we are going to talk about one of my most very favorite things....TECHNOLOGY!! So here we go...

Let me start by saying...I am absolutely NOT a hater! Of PCs, that is. Quite to the contrary...I am a lover of Apples. More specifically, my Mac Book Pro. Now I have always been a technojunkie, so to speak. I've been using computers since it was not fashionable to do so. Interestingly enough, my very first home computer was given to me by an old friend of mine who was upgrading...and it was, in fact, an Apple computer. When it was time to replace that computer, I switched to a PC. I really didn't know a lot about computers back then and everyone I knew was saying how I HAD to have a PC with Windows.

I will spare you the gory details except to say that I found myself replacing my computer every two years and I absolutely despised the "customer service" I received. My final straw came when I decided to circumvent the first level technicians by asking for a supervisor only to be told (after 45 minutes on hold) that there weren't any supervisors in! In a very seething tone I said to this poor man, "Don't tell me they left you peons there alone!" It was then that I knew if was for everyone's safety that I make the switch.

So, within the week, I had my new Mac Book Pro. That was back in March of 2007 and I haven't looked back. As a matter of fact, everyone in my household is a Mac user. I'm not saying that it was an easy transition. As a matter of fact, it took me quite a while to stop over thinking how to accomplish things. Once I got over it, I was in my glory. I find that all the programs are phenomenal and I haven't been happier.

Some of the perks of a Mac for me are:

• No viruses
• Simplicity of use
• One to One sessions available (you won't find better education anywhere)
• iWeb which comes standard and enables me to create and maintain my websites
• Time Machine - Apple's back up system
• it enables me to save time as I don't have to restart and it is more user friendly
• it enables me to save money as I can create my own marketing materials right in Pages and Keynote

Anyway, I feel it necessary to say that I am not receiving any type of endorsements from Apple!

LOL I just really believe in the product. If you are a creative crafty business owner or not...I highly recommend this product.

Artfully yours,

Theresa

Ahem...may I have your attention please?

Now for those of you who don't know me personally, I am...if I may borrow from Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman...a "fly by the seat of your pants kinda gal". It really is with every fiber of my being that I resist a schedule of any kind. I must say, however, that there are times when I have found it beneficial to have some kind of structure. For example, the open house I just recently hosted....I had a very strict time table for that and as a result I wasn't up til all hours of the wee morning trying to get last minute things done. I would go so far as to say that it was even ... relaxing!

It may surprise you to know that I don't find blogging easy. It is always most difficult to get started. So, on the advice of Diane Gilleland of Crafty Pod, I have done some things to help me organize. I've made a list of topics, but now I am going to take that even a bit further. In the effort to be more consistent I have decided to do two special segments a week that I hope will be of value to you all. Of course this doesn't mean that I won't be blogging about other things. There is always something to show and share. AND let us not forget that beginning Thursday, November 4th is Sizzix's TriplePlay Blog Hop! That will be going on for seven glorious weeks.

Now to the nitty gritty...

Here is the first segment indicator above. Don't get too attached to that pic up there...I'm already not loving it which means.....there will be a new one coming. For now, though, you get the idea. On Tuesdays, I will share with you some sort of crafting tip, technique or a useful tool. I like tools! Anyway...my hope is to offer something that will make your crafting experiences easier or more exciting.

Then...

On Fridays....I'll be selfish and share my favorite things with you. Whether old or new, I always have favorite things that I use in my artwork.

I really do hope to get dialogue going with everyone. People...this is not all about me! At least not today. I'd love for you to share your tips and favorites as well. I'm really interested to know what's out there that I haven't found yet.

Just as an aside...please keep in mind that if you comment on my blog from Creating the Hive, those comments do not show up here on blogger. However, I will be checking both places so that I don't miss an opportunity to chat!

Artfully yours,

Theresa