Many of my readers and followers ask me how I build up an art journal page and today is your lucky day: I filmed the whole process for Creative Team Thursday.

So hop on over to Jessica Sporn’s blog to read my post and watch my video tutorial….

… aren’t you there yet?

Oh, wait…
you don’t know where to find it…

HERE is the link

NOW GO!!

I told you last week that I created quite a bit of art over the last weeks… there’s a lot to show you! In this post I concentrate on the index cards. Do you remember I was creating on index cards with the prompts for this year’s ICAD? I didn’t make it ’till the end (that would have been 61 cards!) as other assignments and ideas got in the way, but here’s the last ones I hadn’t published yet.

(PREPARE FOR A LOT OF PICTURES)

Week 5 – Theme: Mark making tools (stamps)
ICAD #34 – Independence day

Week 5 – Theme: Mark making tools (stamps)
ICAD #35 – Portrait

Here’s the series of Week 5 all together

Week 6 – Theme: Different color palette each day of the week
(I didn’t use the theme this week though)

ICAD #36 – Backgammon

ICAD #37 – Chess / Checkers

ICAD #38 – Mah Jong

ICAD #39 – Bingo

ICAD #40 – Yahtzee

ICAD #41 – Bridge / Gin Rummy

ICAD #42 – Scrabble

Here’s the series of Week 6

In the seventh week, ICAD became a burden and making art should be fun, not an obligation! So I stopped creating with the ICAD challenge after prompt 43. Here’s that last index card

Week 7 – Theme: Inspired by Words
ICAD #43 – Definition

This last card clearly gives the impression that I just wanted to relieve myself of a burdensome duty… it is uninspired and a bit of a mess. That’s when I decided to throw in the towel and leave it with 43 cards. You’ve seen them all now (if not, you find all ICAD posts showing former index cards HERE)

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and see you on Monday with the last Quirky Dutch Summer post!

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY

Quirky Dutch Summer Do you have no idea what ‘Quirky Dutch Summer’ is all about? Read this post first. All the posts – newest at the top, oldest down below – can be found here. There is a Facebook group for sharing your QDS work here. QDS wil run from June 15 – August 17; 2015. There will be an inspiring quirky post up on this blog every Monday during the Summer.

Guest blogger: Jessica Sporn

Jessica Sporn, former lawyer and actress – now artist and mother, has been drawing and painting for as long as she can remember.

She is an accomplished, self-taught, mixed media artist whose style is colorful and ranges from whimsical to spiritual with a strong Folk Art influence. She hosts a successful Meet-Up group with monthly classes in her Montclair studio, and also teaches for The Ink Pad in New York City, and Art-Is-You Mixed Media Retreats. Her designs may be found world-wide on greeting cards, fabrics, and tabletop ceramics. Jessica is proud to design stencils for Stencil Girl Products and stamps for Rubbermoon

Jessica keeps an active blog and is represented for licensing by Creative Connection, Inc.

QDS #8. Painterly Effects with Stamps and Stencils

Hi – I am so thrilled to be part of this Quirky Dutch Summer! Thank you so much Marit for inviting me to be part of the wonderful group of artists participating this year.

I design stamps for Rubbermoon, and stencils for Stencil Girl Products. So I thought I would share a tutorial showing some of the ways I use stamps and stencils. I can’t wait to see what you create!

1. Pick out two or three colors close to each other on the color wheel. I used shades of red and yellow. Lay your stencil over your background, and pounce the colors. (Here, I’m using the Dots and Dashes stencil from Stencil Girl Products.) Instead of mixing the colors together on your palette, overlap them as you pounce the colors with your cosmetic sponge. (Stenciling tip: Dab your cosmetic puff into paint, and then dab the paint off onto your palette. Then pounce on your stencil using an up and down motion.)

2. Mix your lighter color (I used yellow), with equal parts glazing medium. (You can also water down your paint, but I prefer using a medium.) Glaze over your background, eliminating any white spots while letting your stencil pattern show through. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with another stencil. (Here, I used my Squares and Circles stencil from Stencil Girl Products.) Continue until you have a background that’s pleasing to you.

3. Stamp your focal and other images onto tissue paper using black archival ink. Don’t worry about getting a great impression; we are going to paint over these images. (I’m using my Peacock Motif and Ornate Leaf  stamps from Rubbermoon.)

4. “Cut out” your stamped images by painting around them with a thin brush dipped in water. Gently separate the images from tissue paper.

5. Using matte medium, adhere your tissue paper images onto your background. Make sure to put a layer of matte medium under the images, and then brush over them with the matte medium. The white parts of the tissue paper will “disappear” as the matte medium dries, giving the illusion that you stamped directly onto your background.

6. Using contrasting colors, paint over the stamped images. Don’t worry about following the outlines exactly. This is about adding your personal touch and making the stamped images your own. Adjust your background as desired.

7. Use a cap from a tube of toothpaste or a glue stick, bubble wrap, or other household items to add some white and/or black marks over and around your images. Splatter with some paint, add dots, have fun!

8. Enjoy your creation – which will now look uniquely your own!

Here’s a fast forward video of my process making this piece. I have narrated it in English, but it follows the steps laid out here.

Supply List:

• A blank canvas, cardstock or art journal page
• Palette paper or a plastic palette
• Two or more stencils
• A stamp for your focal image, and smaller stamps or stencils for other images
• White tissue paper
• Cosmetic sponges or stencil brushes
• Assorted brushes
• Acrylic paint – I used Golden Fluid Acrylics
• Glazing Medium – I used Liquitex
• Items for mark making – toothpaste or glue stick caps, toilet paper rolls, bubble wrap, a toothbrush for splatters, etc.

Did you create something inspired by this blogpost?
Use the InLinkz list at the end of this post to leave a link to your artwork/blogpost.

Nederlands

Quirky Dutch Summer Heb je geen idee waar ‘Quirky Dutch Summer’ (Grillige, Hollandse zomer) over gaat? Lees dan eerst deze post. Alle ‘Quirky posts’ kun je hier op een rijtje vinden (de laatste post staat altijd bovenaan.) Quirky Dutch Summer heeft ook een eigen Facebook groep, die vind je hier. QDS duurt van 15 juni tot 17 augustus. Gedurende deze zomer zal er elke maandag een inspirerende, ‘Quirky post’ worden gepubliceerd op mijn blog.

Gast blogger: Jessica Sporn

Jessica Sporn,  voormalig advocaat en actrice – nu kunstenaar en moeder, tekent en schildert al zolang zij zich kan herinneren.

Ze is een ervaren autodidact; een mixed-media kunstenaar met een kleurrijke stijl die varieerd van sprookjesachtig tot spiritueel met sterke folk-invloeden. Ze is de host/gastvrouw van een groep kunstenaars die maandelijks bij elkaar komen om creatieve ideeën uit te wisselen en klassen te volgen in haar atelier in Montclair. Ze verzorgt ook lessen voor The Ink Pad in New York City en Art-Is-You Mixed Media Retreats. Haar ontwerpen zijn wereldwijd uitgebracht op kaarten, stoffen, tafelbladen en keramiek. Jessica is tevens de trotse ontwerpster van stencils voor Stencil Girl Products en stempels for Rubbermoon.

Jessica houd een levendig blog bij. Haar werk wordt zakelijk vertegenwoordigd door Creative Connection, Inc.

QDS #8. Schilderachtige effecten met behulp van stencils en stempels

Hallo allemaal – ik ben helemaal verrukt dat ik deel mag uitmaken van deze Quirky Dutch Summer serie. Dank je, Marit, voor je uitnodiging. Het is geweldig om als gastblogger in het rijtje te staan van de groep fantastische kunstenaars die dit jaar deel nemen.

Omdat ik stempels ontwerp voor Rubbermoon en stencils voor Stencil Girl Products, leek het me leuk om jullie te vergasten op een tutorial die een aantal manieren laat zien waarop je stempels en stencils kunt gebruiken. Ik kan haast niet wachten om te zien wat jullie naar aanleiding hiervan gaan maken!

1. Kies twee of drie kleuren uit die dicht bij elkaar liggen op de kleurenschijf. Ik gebruikte tinten rood en geel. Leg je stencil op je achtergrond en tamponeer de kleuren door je stencil. (Ik gebruik hier het stencil  Dots and Dashes stencil van Stencil Girl Products.) In plaats van de kleuren te mengen op je palet, overlap je de kleuren tijdens het tamponeren. Je gebruikt hiervoor het beste een sponsje. (Stencil tip: dep je sponsje in de verf, deb het vervolgens een paar keer op je palet voordat je met snelle op-en-neer bewegingen de verf door je stencil tamponeert.)

2. Meng nu een lichte kleur verf (ik gebruikte geel) met gelijke delen ‘glazing medium’. (Je kunt ook je verf met water verdunnen, maar ik verkies het gebruik van dit medium.) Breng de verdunde kleur over op je achtergrond en werk daarbij de witte plekken op de pagina weg terwijl het patroon van het stencil zichtbaar blijft. Herhaal nu stap 1 en 2 met een ander stencil. (Ik gebruik Squares and Circles van Stencil Girl Products.) Werk op deze manier door tot de achtergrond naar je zin is.

3. Stempel nu met zwarte Archival inkt de afbeelding(en) die je wilt gaan gebruiken op tissue papier. Maak je geen zorgen als de afdruk niet perfect is; we gaan namelijk toch over de afbeelding heen schilderen. (Ik gebruik de stempels Peacock Motif en Ornate Leaf van Rubbermoon.)

4. Neem nu een dun penseeltje en ‘schilder’ met water rondom de gestempelde afbeelding. Je kunt de afbeelding nu heel gemakkelijk los scheuren.

5. Bevestig de tissue-afbeelding nu met behulp van een mat medium (b.v. Mod Podge of Gel Medium) op de achtergrond. Breng een laagje medium aan op je achtergrond, leg je afbeelding erop en breng ook een laagje medium op de bovenkant aan. De witte gedeelten van het tissue papier ‘verdwijnen’ als de medium is gedroogd. Zo krijg je de illusie dat de afbeelding rechtstreeks op je achtergrond gestempeld is.

6. Schilder nu over je gestempelde afbeelding heen. Gebruik hiervoor contrasterende kleuren en maak je geen zorgen of je wel ‘binnen de lijntjes’ blijft. Door er overheen te schilderen geef je de afbeelding namelijk een geheel eigen draai en een persoonlijke ‘touch.’ Pas het beeld en de achtergrond aan zoals jij dat wilt.

7. Gebruik een dop van een tube tandpasta, de achterkant van je kwast, bubbeltjes folie of andere huishoudelijke artikelen om witte en zwarte afdrukken te maken rondom de hoofd-afbeelding. Spetter ook eens met verf of teken stippeltjes… voel je vrij!

8. Tenslotte: geniet van je creatie, die er nu helemaal uniek en eigen uit ziet!

Ik maakte ook een versnelde video van het werkproces. Ik praat natuurlijk in het Engels, maar de videobeelden laten helder en duidelijk alle hierboven vermelde stappen zien.

Materiaal lijst:

• Een canvas, een vel cardstock of een blanco art journal pagina
• Een palet om je verf op te mengen
• Twee of meer stencils
• Een grotere stempel voor je ‘hoofdbeeld’ en kleinere stempels of stencils voor de andere afbeeldingen.
• Wit tissue papier (bv. witte servetten of zakdoekjes)
• Sponsjes (bv. make-up sponsjes of speciale ‘stencil brushes’)
• Een aantal grote en kleinere penselen en kwasten
• Acryl verf – Ik gebruik Golden Fluid Acrylics
• Glazing Medium – Ik gebruik Liquitex
• Diverse objecten om mee te stempelen: dopjes, toilet rollen, bubbeltjes plastic, een tandeborstel om mee te spetteren etc.

Heb je, geinspireerd door deze blogpost, iets gemaakt dat je wilt laten zien?
Gebruik dan de InLinkz lijst hieronder om een link naar je werk / blogpost achter te laten.

[inlinkz id = 46]

Week 4 – Theme: Abstract & Geometric Patterns
ICAD #26 – Exotic

A simple pattern from water soluble crayons and water.

Week 4 – Theme: Abstract & Geometric Patterns
ICAD #27 – Academic

Numbers written with different sized black pens and markers. I published this card in the ICAD Facebook-group last week and although I received a lot of (positive!) comments, nobody noticed what I’d written… do you?

Week 4 – Theme: Abstract & Geometric Patterns
ICAD #28 – Dramatic

This is my less favorite index card until now… I just don’t like it much. Is it the swirls? The gold? Anyway, it’s dramatic… I used a stamp {eye}, gold ‘stickles’ and black and gold markers.

Here’s the series of Week 4 all together

For week 5 I decided to use a stamp on each card this week and add funny comments/dialogue, inspired by Glenda Tkalac – who creates the most funny ATCs

Week 5 – Theme: Mark-making tools, stamps, stickers & tape
ICAD #29 – Iced Cream

The background photo (desert) is cut out from a picture book. I stamped the Amble Lady On Bicycle on white paper, colored her with crayons, cut out and glued onto the card. Text with alphabet stamps.

Week 5 – Theme: Mark-making tools, stamps, stickers & tape
ICAD #30 – Telephone

A small stamp and rub-ons. Do you recognize the text?

Week 5 – Theme: Mark-making tools, stamps, stickers & tape
ICAD #31 – Trivia

One of my favorite stamps: Cowgirl With Smoking Gun colored with crayons. Rub on alphabet letters and a frame with washi tape.

Week 5 – Theme: Mark-making tools, stamps, stickers & tape
ICAD #32 – Weather

This actually happened to me yesterday… I defied the heath and walked to the market to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. On my way back a ‘Summer storm’ surprised me… I was soaking wet but for the first time I didn’t mind at all, glad to have cooled a bit!

Stamp Running Lady and stamp of clouds colored with crayons, alphabet and raindrop stickers.

Week 5 – Theme: Mark-making tools, stamps, stickers & tape
ICAD #33 – Mad Men

For the ‘Mad Men’ I combined my Astonished Boy and the face of another guy (cannot find the name of that laughing boy stamp) with the stamp of a a mannequin. Stickers of text balloons. A litle bit of distress ink around the edges to finish it of.

All linked stamps come from VivaLasVegaStamps (my fave on line store to buy stamps – I am especially fond of the stamps in the ‘naughty section’) and I submit these index cards to their July Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend (for the ones that follow the Tour de France bicycle race, enjoy ‘La Grande Depart’) and see you on Monday with a Quirky Dutch Summer post written by guest-blogger Roben-Marie Smith.

Weird things happened this week. Strange vibes were in the air.
I didn’t really feel it, but when I visited a few blogs after finishing
some (art)work I tumbled from one surprise into another!

Nothing strange happened with this page (but you never know,
I became cautious!) I made this last weekend…

(21 x 29,7 cm - 8.3 x 11.7 inch)

‘Wees een onafhankelijke denker. Wees de schaker, niet het schaakstuk’
~ Ralph Charell ~

‘Be an independent thinker. Be the chess player, not the chess piece’
~ Ralph Charell ~

It has been ages since I used my embossing tools, but I did on this page.
I had fun with Tim Holtz distress embossing powder!
A close up:

The above page was made in my Miscellaneous art journal.
I had not worked in this journal for a while, and when I flipped through the
pages I came across this page I made a few Months earlier.

(21 x 29,7 cm - 8.3 x 11.7 inch)

I made this as an example for one of the prompts in Summercamp.
The booktitles form a poem…

‘My mother and I
Two women
thinking about love and power’

An idea was born: why not combine titles to form a haiku
for Haiku my Heart? Aaah, that was way too difficult!

I changed my self-imposed challenge into
‘form a haiku from words on a bookpage’…

… and I did manage to do that!

(13 x 21 cm - 5.1 x 8.3 inch)

..

(I couldn’t get the syllables right in the Dutch translation without loosing
the meaning, so the Dutch one is not a haiku.)

(*** This page is made on the wings of a ‘stange vibe’ … see later on)

I made this page at the beginning of the week.
After that, I started working on something I’d planned to do the minute
I bought carving tools: make my own alphabet stamps!

I drew the alphabet, copied it onto erasers and started curving.
It took me two evenings to complete the whole alphabet.
On the paper, you can see I drew the ‘holes’ in the letters (the O for example)
I ruined two pieces of eraser trying to get that little peace out, so I decided
to leave it alone. I kinda like the effect of the ‘closed alphabet’ though!

(*** Strange vibes were still hanging in the air)

*** Here’s what happened when I visited some blogs.

Rosie had been working on a page with a technique called ‘found poetry’…
She shows a lovely page with cut out words and sentences that form a poem.
I must have picked up her ‘vibes’.

Julie Fei-Fan showed her hand carved alphabet she cut out a long time ago.
She even left the ‘holes in the letters’ closed, she must have had the same
problem with that as I faced! Julie’s vibes were in the air too I guess…

Can you imagine I hardly dare to start a new page?!
Who’s vibes will accompany me this time?

There might even someone stand up right now and say:
‘Hey, I made a page about chess last week! You copy-cat!’

I better clean the house.
Do the laundry.
Work in the garden.

🙁

Any cleaning vibes in the air, maybe?

Hope to see you next week.

The last three weeks, I’ve been working my butt off writing articles – facing
one deadline after another – but there’s an end to it and it’s getting near!
One more busy week ahead but after that, I will have more time to create.

I did have some spare time last weekend though, so let’s see how I used it!

For starters, I worked on an assignment for ‘A Year in the Life
of an Art Journal’.

The new prompt will be on
the blog on June 15th, so I
won’t show you the page yet.
But I can show you what I
made to use on my page!

Yep – I carved stamps!
Since I started with this
technique, I’m totally in
love with making stamps.
I find it very relaxing to
sit at the table with my
tools and carefully cut
the small pieces out of
the eraser. It’s fun to do
and you know what the
best part of it is? When
I’m done my collection
is increased with one stamp!
(In this case: two!)

..

Uhhmmm…

THREE stamps,
actually.

Here’s what
I made
of a small
left-over
piece of
eraser.

Never
throw
anything
away

😉

After making the stamps and finishing the page I was working on,
I also used the circle stamp on my ‘Chronicles’ page.

The Chronicles of Marit 2011 – Week 23
(You can click on the picture to enlarge)

Still, I hadn’t had enough of the stamping business.
I decided to freak out!

Aaaahhhh….

My first attempt on making a portrait!
(The eye didn’t come out that good and  it was pretty difficult to cut this one.
I still recognize myself in the stamped image though. Isn’t that cool?!)

See you back on Friday dear ones!
Enjoy your week!

(Oh, and, my lip is doing well!
Lipstick = reddish-orange today…)

I asked around and looked for store solutions,
but nothing seemed very fitting to me.
In DVD-boxes?
Those are too small, and I don’t have room to store a whole row of boxes.
Special boxes to store stamps?
They look like DVD-boxes – same problem.

BUT… when I saw some store systems, an idea came to mind.
Using those knowledge, I made my own system,
and it works very well! YEAY!!!

So here it is. My own stamp-store-system…

(You can click on the images to enlarge, for a better view.)

I bought two large binders.

Using cardboard and duct tape, I made ‘folding sides’
An elastic band keeps the binder neatly together.

The bottom and the side are protected by the cardboard sides.
When the clear stamps don’t stick too well and come off,
they will be kept from falling out of the binder.

The side folds over the bottom.
To look at my stamps, I spread out the side…

Then I spread out the bottom… and tadaaa!

… now I can flip through my stamps!
On the left, the stamped images in a plastic pocket.
On the right, the stamps sticking to a thick transparency.

Last Sunday, I went to the scrapbook store in Heesch to shop
and meet Jenneke, Jeanet and Petra! It was such a great day!
We talked, we laughed and we did some major shopping.
I hadn’t met Jeanet before, and it was really cool to finally meet her!
Thanks girls for a wonderful day!!

We only thought about taking a few pictures after Petra was gone
(she left earlier) and I’m sorry I didn’t think about it before…
Next time, you will be in the picture too Petra!

Jeanet, me and Jenneke. Photo taken with Jenneke’s cell phone.

Last week, I took notes of the things that I wanted to memorize on
my ‘chronicles’ page of the week.
Because I knew I was going to shop on Sunday, I didn’t start working
on the page until yesterday, and combined my notes with new goodies.

Week 7

I wrote some very personal and private journaling on the page.
After that, I covered it with gesso and mist. (You can still see
some text shimmering on the right, under the note card.)
I just had to jot it down and now it is there, and I know what it says…
(I will spend a post on this subject soon!)

New ‘goodies’ on this page:

• Bright and colourful paper, pieces used for the border.
• Tattered Angels glimmer mist – ‘harvest orange’
• Journaling (lines) stamps – and yes Jeanet, I wrote ‘straight’!!!
  (*teehee* when Jeanet saw me putting these stamps into my chart,
  she cried out ‘Oh no Marit, are you going to write in straight lines?’
• Coloured pearl pen (the blue circles and dots)
• Kraft journaling card
• Teeny alphabet stickers (name of the Month)
• The fat lady on the bicycle is one of my new stamps from
  VivaLasVegaStamps.

This is becoming a long post… are you still with me?
Then let me show you the project I’m working on right now.

This is a book I bought a few years ago. It holds blank recipe cards but I
didn’t buy it to take cooking notes… I’m planning something more fun!

(Sorry to all the ladies who like baking and cooking… I’m a lousy cook
and I don’t like cooking either… so yes, I can think of something more fun
to do with a book like this. In fact, EVERYTHING is more fun then recipes!)

First, I have to fill up the hole that is in the cover (it’s in the shape
of a spoon, you can still see it.) It needs yet another layer of gesso!

And this is how the pages look.

I’ve only just begun with altering this book, I will have to cover up
the tab-pages (they show pics of food now) and the recipe card-pages
inside, but I’m not there yet.
I hope to tell ánd show you what this is all about next time.

Enjoy your week and see you on Friday!