Tag – You're It... StencilGirl® Collaborative

Hello friends! Remember the good old days of Yahoo groups and swapping art through the mail. Well it seems that though the platforms have changed, creating and trading artsy mail with creative friends is still widely popular.

Today I am participating in a special collaborative project hosted by Tina Walker where she challenged 14 artists to some mail art fun.

Each creative was to apply a base of StencilGirl® Stencils to No. 5 tags and send two painted tags via snail mail to each player. The challenge: make a Tag Book using the tags received.

I cut my tags down to size from larger #8 tags which left me small pieces that I included for fun. Base Layer: Liquitex White Gesso pounced with sponge through StencilGirl® Stencils S288 Matus deMeng. Top Layer: Sprayed through StencilGirl® Stencils S532 Borloz with Art Anthology ‘Wild Orchid’ Colorations Spray. This made the face appear like magic.

This was a really fun collab challenge. I waited until I was ready to make my project to open all the envy's and spread out all the contents.

The color and design of each painted tag were so beautiful and unique, the best thing to do was to showcase them by making a mini star book to hold inspirational quotes.

First I edged all the tags with

Tarnished Brass Ranger Distress Paint.

Then I cut, tore and folded all the pages

and pieces to be stitched into the signatures.

 

Each signature is stitched layered with a base stenciled tag, 

torn map, printed vellum and a piece of fabric.

After stitching, each signature is glued back to back forming star base.

Star book base with stitched elements before finishing layers added.

For the outer cover I selected Sara Branson's tags made from an old file folder and acrylic paints with StencilGirl® Stencils S682 Walker and S262 Dube.

"Out of this World Star Book"

This tiny book is out of this world! Full of layers, texture and pattern made from a base tag layer of joined stitched signatures, with scraps of map paper, vellum, and fabric scraps; followed by two floating layers of tags nested above... all tied up with sari ribbon.

On this quote page the tag base had L607 Soulful Scribbles - Let Go (Bautista). I added Ranger Distress Paint Tarnished Brass through S576 Art Deco Peacock Feathers (Lafleur). The other elements were chosen from the extra tidbits and goodies sent from the collab players.

It was a challenge to tie all of these tags together into a completed book and I'm so in love with this tiny tag book!!

CLICK HERE to jump over to see more Tag creations made for the Tag – You're It... StencilGirl® Collaborative.

Thanks for dropping by! Sb

Destiny Found... Cooking with Tina StencilGirl® Stencil Collaboration

Hello friends! It's been a long time since I've played in my art journal and Tina Walker cooked up a FUN art journaling project to challenge me and kept me working on the same page for the past couple of months.

Join me today in the final reveal of the latest StencilGirl® collaborative project, "Cooking with Tina" featuring the art journals of eight artists all following the same RECIPE – a few ingredients being our favorite StencilGirl® Stencils.

For me art journaling isn't something I do on a regular basis. I enjoy working in a journal and this fun collab let me ease into creating an art journaling practice. Also it didn't require a lot of time or the pressure to complete a page in one long session.

Tina kept us on the edge of our seats each week – adding another ingredient (creative twist) to apply over the 12 weeks. This is the final recipe card that includes all 12 ingredients.

I worked in my journal with black paper pages.

Read on to see my steps in order followed by the finished page.

Start by prepping surface page with gesso. I used Liquitex black gesso. This sounds weird, though it makes the dark paper have a nice, rich surface and the colors POP.

 

Add 2 colors of acrylic paint to the surface. I used a green Ranger Adirondack acrylic to draw in swirls and a tube of Heidi Swap yellow straight from tube making striped strokes.

 

Add collage to surface. I set out with more pieces

of collage fodder than I ended up using.

 

Stencil a repeating pattern to surface. I applied Payne's grey acrylic paint through the StencilGirl® L456 - Buenos Aires stencil.

Scribble or doodle on surface.

This was fun! I used three Stabilo woody crayons.

Represent "opposites" in project. For this I added opposing words "LOST" and "FOUND" using StencilGirl® S305 - Text and Texture Transform Stencil using many layers of acrylic paint, markers and pencil so the words could emerge from the background.

This week's recipe presented an interesting twist! Draw a face. First I sketched in with Stabilo pencil, followed by a flesh colored Stabilo woody, then added water to paint in the area. I added features with layers of pencil.

 

Add the color RED. I added red in areas, bringing out some of the florals using a Vicki Boutin water soluable crayon (these are so buttery).

Stencil with a Tina Walker stencil. Using StencilGirl® S822 - Cathedral Floor and a mixture of Payne's grey and white acrylic followed by yellow, I aligned the pattern of cathedral floor join up with the stone path I collaged in earlier.

Add ink. I added four colors of Liquitex inks, two of them metallic -- adding a little bling and contrast to certain areas. The metallic is hard to see, but it really added a lovely glowing effect to the Cathedral.

 

Add words. For this I added the words "Destiny" using StencilGirl® S306 - Text and Texture Explore Stencil peeking in and around the florals and one that stood out to complete the phrase "destiny found".

 

Cover something up. Another plot twist! The face needed some work as it was just floating there. I used a swirled decorative staircase that I had leftover from the collage ingredient to form a head-dress and trees amongst the flowers. This tied the face together nicely with the image of the statue from my Grandmothers garden.

Add finishing touches. Using pencils, Stabilo woody's and markers, I added details, built up contrast and finished up the lettering to complete this moody colorful garden.

"In this Garden... Destiny Found"

This art journal page is full of luscious layers and texture. It was a challenge to let the ingredients lead the direction of where the art wanted to go. I'm in love with how it turned out. This page helped heal my heart I have spent much time away from home during this challenge -- sitting in my Grandmothers home, and her garden, reflecting on all the wonderful memories spent together.

It was fun to add a new ingredient each week and I enjoyed leisurely playing along!! I look forward to using this recipe style on new pages -- next time starting with surface prepared with white gesso.

StencilGirl® Stencils Used:

S822 - Cathedral Floor : Tina Walker

S305 - Text and Texture Transform Stencil : Seth Apter

S306 - Text and Texture Explore Stencil : Seth Apter

L456 - Buenos Aires : Nathalie Kalbach

CLICK HERE to jump over to see the other fabulous journals made for the Cooking with Tina... StencilGirl® Collaborative. Did you play along? I'd love to see -- leave me a comment with a link to your art journal page created using the recipe card above.

Thanks for dropping by! Sb

Small things Bright and Beautiful... StencilGirl® Zine Challenge

Hello friends! It's a new season and though it's been awhile... I'm still creating! This has been a year of putting family and home first, and getting back to painting. I have lots to catch up on in the coming days and weeks.

Today I am excited to share the "StencilGirl® Zine Challenge"... a new collaboration project in which Tina Walker posed the challenge to create a one-sheet ZINE using StencilGirl® Stencils. These collab projects are fun and really stretch my creative muscles!!

For this challenge I used things that end up in my purse and pockets... the tags with quotes from my daily cup of tea. My ZINE is fashioned from a recycled ledger paper folded to ATC size (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"), which is the perfect size and scale to properly showcase these tags. My ZINE of "Wise Words from the Tea Leaves" is made using my stash of StencilGirl® ATC stencils.

This is the inspiration we were provided for this Zine Challenge. With a simple sheet of letter size paper folded following the illustration, a mini book is created. Size it up or down, this format can be arted up in a zillion ways!

I think this will be really interesting out of a large sheet of painted up watercolor paper, but for this challenge I am working small so I can use some of my stash of StencilGirl® ATC stencils that I've never used. I love to make "Artist Trading Cards" (ATCs) for trading with artsy friends. This small art is sized at 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and making a book using this sizing proved to be quite fun!

I let the muse rule here and she always goes for the "one touch rule"... using things that I have picked up on search for other things. My base is a sheet of ledger paper on the table leftover from an altered composition book project. An interesting choice – OK why not?!

The paper is slightly larger than letter size. I want my end result to yield  ATC size pages so I do a few measurements and tear edges down to size. I want to stencil black on this greenish paper, though it is a bit thin. I'm concerned about bleed-through on this old paper. The way the paper folds to create the zine I won't be utilizing the back of sheet when folded down. I applied a light coat of black gesso to the back with an old hotel key card. Sorry no photo, I spilled my black gesso and had a mopup painting emergency. I'm happy to report that no paint went to waste! LOL!

With paper dry and reinforced, I followed the zine folding steps and went over folds with a bone folder to make them nice and sharp. Since my outer edges were torn, I also tore the center where the diagram says to cut. Fold down a quick and easy book!

Follow along as I share how I built up the layers on this spread in my Zine...

Overall I stenciled with Vicky Boutin Gold stencil paste using StencilGirl® L763 -- ATC Mixup NASSER

Wow!!! I love the shine and contrast on the ledger paper. 

Next I pounce blue acrylic through this wonky squares pattern on StencilGirl® stencil L543 -- ATC MIxup 1

Now we're getting somewhere! 

Loving this but I'm about to go crazy...

Grabbing what is on the table, I used a cheap office store brand glue stick through the star pattern on StencilGirl® L657 -- ATC Mixup DUBE

I am using a fun and messy technique – a glue stick resist. First, I apply glue stick through stencil, let dry. Then I apply a layer of black acrylic over the top. While wet, gently wipe paint away in a circular fashion to remove the glue stick with the excess paint to reveal the lovely layers below. 

This glue stick didn't mask everything like I had expected but the effect is pretty exciting! I go back with some pens and markers to complete and add some more stars. Next time I will get out my "art project" assigned glue stick, not the cheap gooey one for sealing envelopes.

I attach the tag, finish the final details with scribbles and pens. This page is the perfect backdrop for this tea tag wisdom.

"BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL"

Completed spread.

Detail of tea bag tag quote...
"The universe is withing you. Bright and beautiful."

An inspiration worthy of being a mantra.

I love the size and scale of my Zine and it fits nice in the pocket of my purse. I am enjoying making additional volumes of this to use more of my tea bag tag quotes. I have a whole baggie of them that need a home.

StencilGirl® Stencils Used :

L763 -- ATC Mixup NASSER

https://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-ATC-Mixup-Mary-c-Nasser-p/l763.htm

L657 -- ATC Mixup DUBE

https://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-ATC-Mixup-Dube-Carolyn-Dube-p/l657.htm

L543 -- ATC MIxup 1

https://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-ATC-Mixup-1-Mary-Beth-Shaw-p/l543.htm

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I hope you enjoyed this project. How would you create your own ZINE? CLICK HERE to jump over to see the other zines made for the "StencilGirl® Zine Challenge".

Thanks for dropping by! :) Sb