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Thursday, December 2, 2021

Fit to be TAGGED... Artesprix® Sublimation Bloghop



Greetings everyone! Today I am here to answer the age-old question... CLEAN or DIRTY?! Today I am joining the creatives with the Designer Crafts Connection for a new fun bloghop featuring projects made with Artesprix® Sublimation Markers and blanks. 


I shared a bookmark project using Artesprix® back in October... and I am so excited to share how I use these tags with iron-on-inks to creatively solve a problem presented by my husband!


What are Artesprix® Sublimation markers? Artesprix® markers have a specially formulated ink that transforms anything colored on plain copy paper into a heat-transferrable iron-on design onto polyester items. With the magical Artesprix® Sublimation Markers and plain paper and some fun type I reversed on the computer I am making a custom tag for my dishwasher.


Materials used: Plain Copy Paper; Pencil; Artesprix® Sublimation Markers; Artesprix® Heat Tape; Artesprix® Protective Paper Roll; Artesprix® Project Mat; Artesprix® Plastic Bag Tags 2ct; Graphite tracing sheet; reversed computer text; Artesprix® Sublimation Stamp ink refill; clear self adhesive hanger; and a Heat source -- Cricut Easy-Press.


First thing I make some reversed type to spell out "clean" and "dirty" using some fun fonts to size and scale of the tag blank and print onto plain paper.


I place tag blank into center of a half sheet of plain copy paper and trace around tag blank using a pencil. This will be for the "clean" side artwork.


For the "clean" art, I made a cloud bubble around the word and lines to make rays. I could have free-handed drawn these, but since I was using the computer, I added them to the text. I placed reverse text over a sheet of graphite tracing paper (same as pencil lead) and transferred the design to prepared sheet with blank outlined. Pencil will not transfer onto Artespix® blanks.


I have fun coloring in the design with Artesprix® Sublimation Markers. I selected a couple of blue colors.


The complete colored design. Inside the cloud I used a watercolor technique to apply the pen ink with a water brush to soften color and add a bit of dimension. I can't wait to see how the color POPs when this is heat transferred!


I followed the same process to trace the word "dirty" onto a pre-prepared colored paper. 



This background took a bit of experimentation and I did not know how this would come out so I did not capture the process. I promise will share process of this in another project post. With some time and patience, I did get a couple papers that looked promising and I traced the tag shape onto one and centered the word within the lines.


Outline and fill in the letters using the Black fine tip Sublimation marker.


Now I'm ready to heat things up and make some magic!


I select a clear plastic hook that works with the size of the hole of the tag and set aside for later.


Set my Cricut Easy Press to 400ยบ for sixty seconds following the Artesprix® directions for tag blanks.


Place tag blank face down onto artwork and secure with Artesprix® heat tape.


Tear two sheets of Artesprix® Protective Paper, prepare a sublimation sandwich on top of the Artesprix® Project Mat. The blank with artwork taped in place are sandwiched between protective paper on top and bottom.


Heat for 60 seconds and then take a peek test to see if transfer is complete. Good to go!


Full reveal of "Dirty" side of tag! I LOVE IT!! I let this cool completely, then repeat the process to transfer "CLEAN" art on the other side.


I place the backside of tag down over the "clean" art, tape in place and repeat the heat transfer process.


After applying heat - take a peek before removing tape.


VOILA!! Look at that - so cool. I've transferred a completely different design onto the backside using the same products and process – just changing up the design and colors.


I place the a clear self-adhesive hook in the center of the dishwasher door. Its the perfect size to hold the sign!


I turn the tag sideways to loop the hook... easy-peasy!

TA-DA!!



This is going to work GREAT! No more accidental double washing LOL!



Now to solve the next burning question... utensils UP or utensils down?! I like my utensils clean so I put them UP.


This is totally FUNctional – my husband and I will now be able to remember if we turned the dishes on or not.

CLICK HERE to jump over to the beginning of the Artesprix® Sublimation Bloghop at the Designer Crafts Connection blog to view more projects using Artesprix®.

For more info on Artesprix® Products, project inspiration and to purchase these magical iron-on-ink pens, visit Artesprix® website HERE.


Thanks so much for visiting! What would create with Artesprix® Sublimation Markers? Sb :)

** This is a sponsored post. Artesprix® provided products for use in this project in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions. My ideas and opinions are my own.

Monday, November 15, 2021

Great News!!! I'm TEACHING at the #collagelabspringfling



Keep calm and put the bacon on! Hello friends! The time is finally here and I am so excited and thrilled to tell you the NEWS!! I've kept this post brief, so please read to the end. This is my first EVER announcement of this kind and I am bringing it to YOU, my blog readers first. XOXOXO


It's a rare occurrence that someone catches me in a photo. This one surely speaks for itself! I have a new workshop that I am teaching... and I invite YOU. Grab some scissors, a glue stick and a pile of your paper scraps, magazine clippings & ephemera and join me!


While in-person engagements are still limited, the magic of technology has made it possible for me to teach online -- and I have been invited to teach at Collage-Lab's SPRING FLING Virtual Retreat!


The BEST part is EVERYONE is invited to join the fun!


Join myself and 14 artists from across the globe at
the Collage-Lab SPRING FLING Virtual Retreat!
It all begins March 1st, 2022. 


Get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday and focus on mixed media collage for a bit. For the entire month of March 2022, Collage-Lab will bring you a variety of online classes, Zoom gatherings, and a whole assortment of collage projects and techniques.

Treat yourself to a gift while supporting
your artist community... a WIN-WIN!

SIGN UP TODAY for the low Early Bird Price of $100 and unlock all of the adventures of this unique Mixed Media Collage Retreat from the comfort of your own home or studio.

For all the details CLICK HERE.


Full Disclosure: the Collage-Lab SPRING FLING Virtual Retreat pays its instructors. By using my affiliate linkbit.ly/SpringFling_withSB to sign up, I will receive a small commission which goes towards continuing my efforts to bring creative inspiration to you for FREE here in webland. I am so grateful to all of you for supporting me and my creative adventures.

I hope you will sign up and join me! It will be the best gift ever!

Sending you all many {{ BIG Crafty HUGS }}
:) Sb

Sunday, November 14, 2021

Missing You... Simply #Cre8time Playtime



Hello friends! I find it hard to believe it's mid-November and it's now dark before dinner here in SoFL. I was rifling through a box of crafty stuff and came across some old collage stuff from way back in the day (or 2012-2013) when I did weekly live-streaming. It was fun and I miss those times and interacting online with all of my creative friends across the globe made through the web. Technology and social media has advanced significantly, some for ease and some making things more complicated. 


Remember Linqto - it was limited but it was the infant of what FB and YT live has become. Why did I stop streaming?? Because the technical issues with the platform became more problematic AND a server failure resulting in loss most everyone's recordings. It was nice to just turn it on and go... they were such FUN times. I had a strenuous job and a lot of DT commitments... then my health started to intervene on my round-the-clock lifestyle, forcing me to change everything. Jobs included.

Recent times have been upside down for all of us. Meanwhile I've taken a LOT of online classes and focused on my love for cooking as I get back in the swing of things. Last month I was a guest designer at Artesprix and I made a few projects for Dia De Los Muertos. It was nice to create just for fun, finish a UFO project and one was a livestream DIY for the annual festival at work. One thing has led to another...
AND... I have some super awesome news
that I have been so excited to share.
It's been so hard to keep a secret.

Check back tomorrow -- 
Monday, November 15th
when I can finally
announce the news!

See you tomorrow! :) Sb

Monday, October 25, 2021

I AM... StencilGirl® Affirmation/Tarot Deck Collaborative



Hello friends! It's a new week and I am excited for you to join me today for the reveal of a new StencilGirl® collaborative project, the "StencilGirl® Affirmation and Tarot Card Collaboration"... a project in which we were challenged to create an inspiration/tarot deck of cards using StencilGirl® Stencils.

This project is a bit different... one that is more reflective and introspective. For a while now I have been investing in refilling my creative well by following The Artist's Way and the accompanying work with a group of fellow creatives in an accountability cluster.

A bit about the process: For the cards I started out with a base black metallic cardstock that I stenciled with 2-3 layers of color using different Plaid FolkArt® Color Shift Acrylics. I have previously swatched all the colors on white, black and chipboard surfaces to see the resulting color magic. If you have these, they are really fun and make for some pretty cool unexpected effects.


On the backside I layered over the first layer with a combination of 3-4 colors of my favorite Ranger Distress Acrylic paint daubers, creating an ombre on my Gel-Press plate to stencil onto. The backgrounds are a result of combining the rubbed stencil and papers created from pulling the leftover after removing stencil. Nothing goes to waste! I mounted fronts to backs using spray adhesive and cut sheets down to create cards (cards are sizes to fit into a recycled altoid tin).


I also upcycled an altoid mint tin as a coordinating home for these cards on my desk.


I left adding the inscriptions to the end. I set out stenciling in letters with a liquid silver pen.


As luck would have it... the ink bled like crazy under the stencil.
Interestingly, this mess up actually looks pretty neat with how distressed it looks.


So I carried on... intentionally doing this on all of them.


I think this may have been kismet... a way of just enjoying the process, regardless the twists and turns.


This forced me to work slowly, adding many layers of marker and pen to fill in and make the letters stand out on the cards.


This project turned out to be very personal and emotional one. This project served as several of my artists' dates and was a free time to just "BE" and let each session evolve without any pressures to make an instructional.



Here are all of my cards before adding stenciled text inscriptions. The colored stencil background overlayed with a black stencil design.

I am sharing the first three of inscriptions here as they were part of the StencilGirl® stencil I used and started me off on a journey of what the rest should/would say.


Front and back side-by-side (sorry the scanner doesn't pick up the shimmer and shine of the metallic paint and pens).


"i am enough"


"i am me"


"i am brave"


All of the fronts are the same. To finish off, I created a chipboard template with a corner rounding punch to add a silver outline.



StencilGirl® Stencils Used on Front/Back of 18 cards:




StencilGirl® Stencils Used on Container Lid:


+ + + + +

I hope you enjoyed this project. CLICK HERE to jump over to see the other cards made for the StencilGirl® Affirmation and Tarot Card Collaboration


Thanks for dropping by! Sb