Our Favorites Mixed Media YouTube Hop - #ArtJournaling Edition

 

Hello friends! Where has summer gone?! I have just returned from a getaway with my hubs and I am part of an artful adventure... and all are invited to join me! 

It's been awhile and I'm so excited that I am participating in another YouTube hop -- "Our Favorites Mixed Media YouTube Hop - Art Journaling Edition", featuring twenty-two artists from around the world! If you missed my first adventure via YouTube CLICK HERE.

For the "Our Favorites Mixed Media YouTube Hop – Art Journaling Edition" I create an art journal page inspired by a quote from David Tennant of Doctor Who. This page is full of color, texture and timey-wimey techniques - I hope you enjoy! 

This hop would not be complete without prizes from our fabulous sponsors! See below for hop list and prize details! Don't wait to get hopping... The Our Favorites YouTube Hop Giveaway will have winners drawn on August 26th and announced on August 31st. Each video's description box will contain the list of artists and a link to your next stop... sit back, grab a snack and enjoy the Hop as you watch the videos! 

🔹️🔹️ To enter to win one of our amazing prizes you must  🔹️🔹️ 

1 - subscribe to each YouTube Channel 

2 -  like and leave a comment on each video (note: some have location restrictions for shipping, so please leave your country in your comments).

Spend the weekend on a creative binge and enter to win -- just view, subscribe, LIKE and comment on the each of the videos as you hop along!

 ** HOP LIST **

Laura Dame - Laura Mixed Media: https://youtu.be/QWyYaIl7rS8 

Susan M. Brown {sbartist}: https://youtu.be/ZG9MO5f5CR4 

Heather at the Kraaft Shaak: https://youtu.be/EJkjA5bfdXQ 

Aleksandra Mihelič: https://youtu.be/s2NTOmpO9IY 

Susana Magenheimer aka Randomartist222: https://youtu.be/X5MptcmXxds 

Denise Lush: https://youtu.be/koYodR08VsU 

Ilse Kleijer - IKmetliefde: https://youtu.be/qTY2hkDfMZs 

Nicole Watson: https://youtu.be/02_WDgr5NYY 

Melina Dahl - Minas kreativa: https://youtu.be/705vm6hbZAM 

Danielle Mack at A Painted Page: https://youtu.be/0iVyqK9g-iA 

Tania Ahmed: https://youtu.be/uDhX0F0unjo 

Kristin Van Valkenburgh: https://youtu.be/h0anDeLe7Tg 

Susanne Rose: https://youtu.be/C1DNUn9fNVU 

Alexa Doebler - Blue Woods Design: https://youtu.be/eAIPmKyopjQ 

Erin DeCoste - Happily We Go:https://youtu.be/9GilUrW1sxI 

Michelle Liptak-Mickelnay: https://youtu.be/ILRe3cVp7Q0 

Cat Kerr: https://youtu.be/Tyo4vU-1Khw 

Nuneka: https://youtu.be/onVQD4ACa14 

Tusia Lech: https://youtu.be/HVQOQCARCuU 

TandiArt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yNin... 

Connie Shaw - Sparksgirl Mixed Media: https://youtu.be/--KKbtZp6xY 

Studio Marielle Stolp: https://youtu.be/UbVV7aZmW0c 

** Our Favorites YouTube Hop Sponsors and Prizes ** 

• Blue Woods Design/That's Crafty UK - 2 sets of stamps designed by Blue Woods Design for That's Crafty UK 

• Joggles- 1 $25 gift certificate Grafix - 1 pack of clear and 1 pack of matte computer Grafix paper 

• Retro Cafe Art - $75 gift certificate 

• Susana Magenheimer - prize package ($25 value) 

• TCW - Stencil gift pack of (10) 6x6 NEW stencils retails for $60. 

• Pronty Crafts - A set of foam stamps and stencils by Dutch artist Julia Woning 

• Rubber Dance Stamps - €25 Grabbag of Stamps 

• Shawn Petite - 5 stencils of winners choice ($50 value) 

• Marabu Creative - prize pack 

• Michelle Liptak-Mickelnay - journal DecoArt - 2 prize packs 

• Kristin Van Valkenburgh - prize package 

• Kraaft Shaak - Mixed Media creation bundle - US only 

• Gelli Arts - $50 gift certificate 

• Nicole Watson - prize pack 

• Ilse Kleijer - prize pack (includes 2 AB studio stamps) 

• AB Studio - 3 stencil pack designed by Nuneka 

• Little Birdie - $25 gift voucher + shipping 

• TandiArt - DIY Fairy Art Kit 

• Susan M. Brown {sbartist} - prize package 

• ArtFoamies - 2 VOUCHERS FOR $50 EACH 

• Red Lead Paperworks - 3 prize packages - stamps, stencils, collage sheets 

• iStencils - $25 gift card to website 

• Brush Magazine - 2 winners: two ’bundles’ of 5 issues of the magazine - digital copies 

• 7 Dots Studio - prize pack 

SUPPLIES USED in my project for the "Our Favorites Mixed Media YouTube Hop - Art Journaling Edition": art journal • vintage book paper or color copy of book page • gesso/acrylic paint/glazing medium mixture • sticker letters • Stabilo Woody pencils {black, white, gold, silver, & purple} • Stabilo aqua pencils {black, white, red, yellow, blue} • Stencil Girl Stencils • The Crafter's Workshop stencil {Rebekkah Meier Designs} • Clear embossing powder • Blue Pigment ink • Faber Castell Black Pitt Brush pen • White Gelly Roll pen • EK Success Cutterbee scissors • Police Box Stamp {from vlvstamps.com} • glue stick • Punchinella {from Gauche Alchemy} • Ranger Distress Paints {Salty ocean, cracked pistachio, wilted violet, twisted citron, tarnished brass & salty ocean} • Golden Fluid Acrylic & High Flow Acrylic Paints {Green Gold & Indigo} • makeup sponge • pencils {black, white, red, yellow, blue • EK Success Honey Bee scissors • Ranger Dina Wakley White gesso with detail tip • paper towel • DIY mono printing plate made of Amazing Mold Rubber • water brush. 

**Giveaway is not endorsed by or affiliated with YouTube. All prizes are provided by individual artists or companies. No purchase necessary to win.

I hope you have a creative weekend and enjoy my WHOvian adventure in art journaling! :) Sb

Add Some Light to your #Cre8time with Chibitronics and Designers Craft Connection

Hello friends! I have watching the night skies for my Man in Blue Box to arrive and meanwhile getting in a little Cre8time. This month the Designer Crafts Connection was challenged to work with Chibitronics... only one word can describe these – AMAZING!!! CLICK HERE to hop on over to the Designer Crafts Connection blog to see all the creations that with illuminate your crafting!

Today I'm using the Chibitronics Chibi Lights LED Circuit Stickers STEM Starter Kit – which has everything you need in one super cute kit to add electronics to any sticker-friendly surface: paper, fabric, plastic, the sky's the limit! 

Chibitronics Chibi Lights Circuit Stickers are a creative and fun way to learn electronics. Circuit stickers are LED circuits on peel-and-stick stickers. Build circuits without soldering, plugging wires, or clips. Instead, use the stickers with conductive tapes to draw circuits on paper and other crafts. Learn to build circuits while make interactive artworks. It's easy, fun, safe and creative.

Included in the kit is everything you need to add light to virtually anything you can imagine. The Circuit Sticker Sketchbook gives you step-by-step instructions, with pictures to build upon, for several variations of circuits. Chibitronics would be great for kids projects - as everything needed to make circuits is sticker based... no mess and no tools necessary.

On the Chibitronics website, there are videos of each process and more advanced circuit ideas. I decided to go with the parallel circuit as I wanted to line up a few lights to illuminate the windows of my resin cast Blue Police Box {made from my VLVS stamp design, Amazing Mold Rubber, Alumidust and Amazing Clear Cast Resin}.

The first thing I did was read the instructions and trace my pendant shape onto a piece of paper so that I could make a test run of planning the circuit trail. After a first try, I made another, using the full width of copper tape.

I initially planned on running 3 white lights at the windows and a yellow light at the top - but these little babies are really BRIGHT! 

So I decided to go with only two lights which gives just the right amount of pop.

Now that my circuit is prepared, I removed the excess copper tape for the circuits not being used and trimmed my paper to fit behind my resin pendant. I added double layer of black 3D foam adhesive squares around border and in empty areas which will adhere this to backside.

Before sticking down, I lightly brushed my paper front and back with blue spray mist - quickly drying off any excess that puddled around my circuits. My battery can slip in and out of a pocket I left open to insert it when I want to wear and illuminate. Almost a perfect match and the mottled texture was an interesting surprise.

Quick and easy! Lights off...

Lights ON!!!

I drilled a hole in the top and wire-wrapped a hanger on to attach to a rustic necklace which has a solder stamped charm and a the key that will open my "T.A.R.D.I.S.". My pendant now has a proper home ready to wear at the next Timelord Fest.

The Chibitronics lights bring a whole new dimension to crafting and it was fun as I learned about electronics too!! I can't wait to use these in my papercrafts and handmade cards... watch out Hallmark... I have special effects too!

Follow Your Whovian Heart!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! CLICK HERE to hop on over to the Designer Crafts Connection blog for more fun projects using Chibitronics... and find out how some blog candy to be won too! :) Sb

An OUT of THIS WORLD #Cre8time Pillow Fight with Fairfield World... a Designer Crafts Connection Challenge #DoctorWHO #Fandom

Welcome to another special Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop... and we are having a good old fashioned pillow fight! We have been challenged to create fabulous pillows using products from Fairfield World.

I am a MADwoman with a sewing machine and the perfect color blue oly*fun™! My pillow is of the intergalatic fashion - perfect for any Timelord. It's no secret that I'm a Doctor Who fanatic {and perhaps I'm a bit obsessed at this point}, so my pillow is of the total Sci-Fi NERD variety... a T-A-R-D-I-S. My very own plushy blue box standing about 3 feet tall.

In today's project I have used oly*fun™ {in Twilight, Blueberry, Snow White and Jet Black} and Nature-Fil™ Blended Fiberfill from Fairfield World. Other supplies used: Sewing Machine; Tonic guillotine trimmer; loads of blue thread and clear poly thread; Fiskars Scissors; recycled packing cloth; and a variety of cording/sequin edging from Decorative Trimmings.

I've created a few projects using oly*fun™ and this has to be my favorite so far. Oly*fun™ is one of the the easiest, most versatile materials you will ever find {CLICK HERE to jump over to all the info I shared in a previous post}. I love creating with this stuff! It gives you creative freedom, because it's not like standard fabric - so you can skip a lot of the traditional methods of sewing... AND it doesn't fray.

I'm fortunate that my mother loved sewing and that she taught me how to sew when I was young. I can make anything I want - today a pillow... at Christmas an Elf Shelf Sitter. I love sewing, but sometimes following patterns can be a bit tedious and take the fun out of making stuff, though the end result is always worth the work invested. In this project straight pins were my friend and my magnetic bangle came in handy.

But oly*fun™ is FUN for me, because I like to create on the fly... cut shapes and sew them together into something amazing - like my Blue Box pillow. 

My pillow is bigger on the outside LOL! This is all about shapes, layers and details in stitching. I actually ran out of blue thread twice!  The Twilight blue oly*fun™ is the perfect Police Box Blue.

I won't bore you with all the details as this was a wild fantastic Cre8time ride, though I will share some stops along the way. I planned out a basic paper pattern based off enlarging an embroidery pattern I found online about 600%. This was just so I have some scale to go by for placing my 5"+ squares that I had already cut and sewn FIRST. 

**A TIP** You can cut oly*fun™ on your crafting guillotine cutter to get nice square cuts! This is the main reason all my details were cut first.

I try to include something recycled in every project, so behind the door paneling and windows is some recycled packing cloth. This was about a 1/4" thick, but was sort of a two-ply material so I used half of the layer to get a little extra dimension behind my squares. With all the stitching I did, they poofed up quite nicely - this just saved me a step of stuffing each and every one by hand.

You can never PIN too much when sewing your pillow closed!! I have some detailed cutting at the edges and I didn't want them to shift around from the pressure foot pulling the fabric along.

  

I actually have three layers here - two blue layers make the front of the pillow and one black layer of olyfun for the backside to hold in the Nature-Fil™. I chose this filling because it's a blend made of 50% bamboo and also for its ECO initiatives {always THINKing GREEN}.

  

As the layers build up, pinning helps keep things where I plan as this involved making a lot of twists and turns.

I really love the charm created by all the free-form stitching to add details without adding bulk of another layer. Even the few strips/scraps were used here and there and I'll save the Decorative Trimmings for the finishing touches.

Right before I stitched on the backside so I could stuff my pillow - I had a lightbulb moment! I quickly fashioned two loops on the back and stitched them down to hang my pillow on the wall {I have a feeling there's a mural coming soon to a room nearby}. Right before sewing on backing, I did sew down the couple of the trims across the width using clear thread - the rest will be hand sewn at the end.

Now with everything sewn up and stuffing secured... it's time to embellish with some braid and bling from Decorative Trimmings! 

I dabbed all the trimmed edges with a small amount of Diamond Glaze to prevent fraying. The blues all matched perfectly to each other and give a nice contrast and pop to the sewn pillow form. These trims really make this handmade plushy out of this world!

Plushy-Wushy Timey Wimey Fun!

Receive 20% off orders

through June 30th

at www.fairfieldworld.com

using coupon " AMYCOUP "

Connect with Fairfield World on your favorite Social Sites...

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FairfieldWorld

Blog: http://fairfieldworld.com/blog

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/fairfieldworld/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fairfieldworld

Shop for oly*fun™ here: http://shop.fairfieldworld.com/c/oly-fun

oly*fun™ is available from Hancock Fabric, Fabric.com, the shop at FairfieldWorld.com and NOW at your local JoAnn Fabric {mine had it for $2.99/yd}.

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Thanks so much for visiting! For more ideas and inspiration follow the Designer Crafts Connection "Fairfield World Pillow Fight Challenge" by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below to enjoy all of the wonderful creations. Sb :)

Designer Craft Connection

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Art is the Key to Happiness... and the #BlueBox

Hello everyone! I'm off on a whirlwind weekend attending my first official artist workshop and just wanted to share a little recap. If it wasn't for ARTing... I would be at home glued to all the Doctor Who regalia and fandom of the new twelfth incarnation.

Friday after work I packed up the MINI and set off to Central FL for a creative weekend away to learn from the amazing Cat Kerr.

The workshop was being held at Art More Place in Melbourne, Florida... a magical place that I plan to be visiting again. I met a wonderful group of creative ladies who share love for jewelry making.

There was plenty of space to work and loads of inspiration all around.

I learned the art of soldering - something completely NEW and alien to me. It was a challenge and it took me all the way until the last jump ring to realize I needed to hold the tools in opposite hands {being ambidextrous sometimes makes being creative a little trying when learning new things}.

We had a wonderful home cooked lunch indoor picnic style. Good thing this was all indoors - is was about 100 degrees outside.

Lunch was healthy and divine! Vegetarian style buttersquash coconut chili over rice, fresh fruit salad, sliced watermelon and macroons. Delicious, comforting and fuel to power us through the afternoon of creating.

Hammering inspirational words and sentiments into my charms.

Everyone's finished work from the day's learning. Mine are the three capsules that are alone. I'm making special keepsake gifts with them so I won't be sharing these until later.

Here is my completed official "Tardis Key" necklace complete with inspiring solder charm that I created in the class {the key is a find on one of my artful junque-ing expeditions}. It was refreshing to take a break and go off the grid to learn some new things. Now it's time to pack up and go back home... my DVR is calling "...oooh WE oooh!" :) Sb

Countdown to #Doctor Twelve... Blue Police Box in Amazing Clear Cast Resin

Hello Everyone! I'm so excited that the long wait is almost over and the new season of Doctor Who begins in just 5 days. I have a several projects of WHOvian nature just for this week as the excitement builds.

Remember a while back I created a pendant from a rubber stamp using Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin??? Today, I am sharing another mold that I've created to show the AMAZING detail captured by Amazing Mold Rubber... except this is a FANDOM favorite – the Blue Police Box from Doctor Who.

**PLEASE NOTE** I am the illustrator of this stamp and have obtained permission from the manufacturer, Viva Las VegaStamps! in order to do this {and for the pendant done previously}. Before doing a project such as this - please check with each stamp company's ANGEL POLICY to make sure you aren't in violation.

This mold I created along with several others prepared when mixing an entire container of Amazing Mold Rubber {please CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. When the mold was cured, I painted a variety of blue, gold and pearl Alumidust directly to the mold using a fine paintbrush, and poured a layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin. I could have used this "AS IS" but I wanted it to have the glowing bright blue color of a proper vessel for time travel.

This is easily remedied! I placed resin piece back into mold and I prepared a small batch of Amazing Clear Cast Resin by mixing equal parts of "A" and "B" {CLICK HERE to view preparation}. To that I added a couple dabs of Blue Alumidust using a recycled coffee stir stick from Starbucks. I just picked a bit up on the end of the stick about 3 times.

I stirred completely, then poured

on top of the cured resin piece.

I used the stick to spread evenly

and fill the remaining space in the mold.

After curing overnight – my Blue Police Box is truly GLOWING! I trimmed off the flashing with scissors and gently filed the edges with an emory board. Now I have a companion embellishment to go with my "Ode to the Raggety Man {Doctor 11}" Mini Book. CLICK HERE to jump over see my "Companion" Doctor WHO Mini Book.

A glowing BLUE BOX

for my Time Traveler!

I need to make a little trip to the hardware store... an then I have some special plans for my resin blue box.

Stay tuned... I will be sharing more WHOvian creations throughout the week! :) Sb