Some More New Products for You!

Sorry--I  know  there are  a  lot  of  you  out  there  like  me--when  you  here  of  something  new  or  not  even  new,  but  you  hear  about  it--you  need  to  go  buy  it.   But  I  just  had  to  share  my  new  finds.  The  first  one  is  this 7  Gypsies  paper  pad--

This  is  the  Lille  line,  and  of  course  there's  a  lot  more  Lille  products  that  you  can  find  at  http://www.scrapbook.com/.   I  try  very  hard  to  stay  away  from  this  place.   They  have  anything  and  everything  under  the  sun.  Once  you're  in  there,  it's  hard  to  get  out.   So  with  the  help  of  these  papers,  I  made  my  rooster--

I  wanted  to  change  up  my  color  palette,  and  these  papers  were  perfect  for  it.   I'm  making  all  of  these  pieces  for  my   upcoming  summer  shows,  so  I  like  to  have  a  good  variety of  color  to  offer.  And  I  also  used  Golden's  soft  molding  paste  for  the  flowers--

I  wanted  to  make  a  fun  colorful  piece--and  roosters  are  always  very  popular.

And  the  other  new  thing  I've  just  discovered  is  from  Christy  Tomlinson's  Scarlet  Lime  shop.  She  introduced  these  to  us  during  her  She-art  class--these  roller  stamps--

There's  a  pretty  good  selection  of  these  roller  stamps  at  her  shop  that  are  interchangeable  with  the  wheel.   She  said  that  it  really  isn't  necessary  to  use  the  wheel--you  can  do  it  manually--but  no,  it's  alot  easier  with  the  wheel.   Anyway,  these  are  my  favorite  new  way  of  stamping  on  my  surface--

This  is  the  side  of  the  canvas--I  LOVE  these  stamps--you  just  roll  it  all  the  way  down!

And  here's  the  finished  piece  on  another  6 x 18  canvas  (I  can't  seem  to  stay  away  from  these)

I  really  like  how  this  turned  out!

So  I'm  getting  pretty  busy  in  my  art  room  now,  but  I  am  taking  time  for  my  class  with  Grittyjane.  She's  having  us  make  portraits  with  charcoal.  I've  never  used  charcoal  like  this  before,  so  it's  a  real  learning  experience  for  me.  And  the  facial  features  are  more  on  the  realistic  side.  I've  been  practicing,  and  not  crazy  about  the  outcome,  but  I'm  going  to  keep  practicing  until  I  feel  more  comfortable  with  doing  the  faces  this  way  before  I  move on  with  the  rest  of  the  class.  Thank  goodness  it's  a  work  at  your  own  pace  class,  cause  I  need  a  LOT  of  time.

And--hey--it  was  in  the  70's  yesterday--windy  and  rainy--but  still  the  70's!   Today--highs  in  the  40's--back  to  reality  : )

A Metal Embossing Tutorial--My Way

I don't know if there is a right way to emboss metal, but this is the way that I emboss metal.  And let me tell you, it's SOOO easy, and you probably have most  everything you need for it already, including the metal. The picture inside of the frame is all embossed metal--

I've shown metal embossing before, but it's been a while, so I decided to show you with a little more detail on how I go about doing it.  I use the aluminum  metal foil (36 gauge) that I get at Dick Blick, but  you can also use the aluminun pie tins or any aluminum tray that you can get at the grocery store.  You can  just wash the ones that you bought  that had food in them--they're just as good.  And I've purchased a few embossing tools, but the one I always go back to is either the other end of a paint brush or a dull sharpened pencil.  The metal usually rips for me when I use a stylus.  The foil is pretty durable, but you do have to be careful, and it can be cut with regular household scissors.  After I sketch my design lightly with a pencil, I start embossing (you can emboss on either side)--

I knew that I wanted a rooster, heart, and sun on this, so I sketched it on. After that I just doodled with my paint brush tip or whatever my choice of embossing tool that I'm using at the time.  You don't even have to sketch anything on--you can make a zentangle--or just emboss whatever comes to mind.

After that, I always put some alcohol inks on it first and when the inks are dry, I apply a black craft acrylic paint quickly, and then wipe if back off again.  Just don't wipe too hard, because you'll get right back down to the metal.

Then when that's all dry, I just paint in my design with acrylics, but I recommend the artist's acrylics, because they're much more vibrant.  The craft paints are too thin and it's hard to cover the metal.  So when all of the paint is dry, I always spray a couple of coats of a workable fixative on it--the paint will come off if you don't.  And then when the fixative is dry, I put a gloss varnish on it, so it has a nice shiny look to it.

It's very hard to get a good photo of the finished piece--it's much better in real life.  So the frame--well a couple of  months ago, I went to the wholesale show in Columbus, Ohio, and I showed everyone these barnwood frames that I purchased there--

These frames had glass inserts in them.  So I kept the glass in it, and just adhered the metal piece with extra heavy gel medium right on the glass--it always works!  And I hadn't cut the metal just right to fit inside the frame, so I camouflaged the side with textured wallpaper--

I hope I covered everything, but if you have any questions--just ask.  So next time you bring one of those trays home from the grocery store, don't throw it out--try this--it's fun.

And here's some  more rooster love--

FUN!

I also wanted to show you what I treated myself too.  When I saw these earrings on Sharon's blog

Livewire Jewelry

I knew that I had to have them--these are me, and I just got them yesterday (very quick service!) I love them Sharon--these particular earrings were published in the magazine Bead Trends, but this isn't the first time that she's been published.  Go check out her blog--she's also a very talented mixed media artist.

I hope that everyone has a great holiday weekend here in the U.S.--I know I will--the weather is looking beautiful!!!

There's Something About Roosters

I love to collect them and I love to paint them.  So I knew that I wanted to paint on another cupboard door for my show next week, and what better choice?!

My newest love--Rangers Distress Crackle Paint--in every distress ink color!

And you HAVE to have the layers!

And while I'm on the subject--this is one my favorite roosters from my collection. And guess where I found him?--Yep, that's right--a garage sale!

I love him--he's nice and tall too--about 12 inches.  See, you never know what you'll find at a garage sale.

I forgot how much I enjoy painting roosters.  I hope everyone liked my rooster , because there's more on the way.