Arm Knitting

Good Evening!

Today I was on the search for some more old used cookbooks or metal spiral bound books at the second-hand store to make some mixed media journals.  I came up empty handed but that is ok!  I was searching some YouTube videos and found a great idea for an art journal on YouTube from Mickie's Niche.  Take some card stock, fold it in half and then decorate the one side of it.  When you are ready, do the same thing over again.  Then take the back of the half page that was not decorated and glue them together.  When you are done, you can wrap the book with decorated paper.  The video for this inspiration is below.

I recently had an interest in arm knitting and think it looks really fun.  Have you tried it?  I found a YouTube video that makes it look fun and easy and a great project for the winter and a quick weekend project.  You can make a cowl or a scarf for yourself.  The video is below.  

Have a wonderful night!

Naomi

Preparing for Valentine's Day

Good Afternoon!

Valentine's day is always such a happy fun day for me.  I love all the warm colors that this day brings, all the love in the air, the glitter, lacey doilies, and the anticipation of the day.

I am going to pull out all my valentine themed stamps and start making some cards and projects.  I have doilies, glitter glue, all different sorts of solid and patterned paper to work with.  This year, as much as I want to, I am going to resist the temptation to use glitter because it makes such a mess.  Notice I said resist!  I used embossing powder that had some glitter in it for my project that will be featured on Monday and now it is all over the house! 

I came across this beautiful mixed media piece on the Ranger Ink Blog and thought I would share with you.  You can view it by going to http://rangerink.com/bloom-by-tracy-scott/.  There is a wonderful tutorial also on how to do this project.  Maybe I will try my hand at that this weekend using my Valentine inspiration.  This would be a wonderful gift idea.

Here is a wonderful video on the Dylusions Paints and FAQ's.  I personally have never used them but I see them used in many projects and am looking to add them to my materials at some point.  Click on this link to view some more information, http://rangerink.com/?product=dylusions-paint.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Naomi

Mixed Media

Good Morning!

So I mentioned the possibility of a sneak peak at one of my projects that will be featured next week on my blog and the Unity Facebook page and I will deliver!  Here is an itty bitty peak, and I mean a very small section.  I will tell you that it is a mixed media journal and I am so excited to share it with you all!  I truly had fun creating this and learning some new things.

I have found mixed media is so much fun!  You can try new techniques and try out all your tools and stamps.  It may not turn out the way you thought but it doesn't matter!  You can put paint over it or stamp again.  I will say that one project that I will be showing you next week was actually difficult but when it didn't work out like I thought it would, I loved it!  Let's just say it was a very slippery surface to stamp on!  

Something I have been recently working on is a beginner art class on the tools which would explain the different mediums, surfaces, applicators, and general information.  This is still in the works but please let me know if you are interested!  It will be informal and hosted over zoom so you can see me and you can allow your camera so I can see you.  I am going to offer the class for $19 in the evening on Friday, January 27.  I will post the event link shortly!  you can go to https://zoom.us/, click on join a meeting and put in the number that I will send you.  This is a free application.

I want to encourage you all to do something crafty today and let me know what you did.

All right!  Here is the link to my class.  It will be on Friday, January 27th at 7 pm central time.  Click on the link to register.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beginner-art-mediums-tools-and-surfaces-workshop-tickets-31464370780 

Have a great day!

Naomi

Creativation

Creativation is put on by CHA or the Craft & Hobby Association.  I will definitely get to go and hopefully next year!  You can check out all the details by going to http://www.creativationshow.org/.  Today is the last day of this event but you can like their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AFCI.Global/.  They just announced yesterday that they are changing their name, CHA, to Association for Creative Industries.  Here is their website, http://afci.global/.  

I am a huge fan of Tim Holtz and he has done some live demos from Creativation.  There is a new ink that came out, Distress Oxide.  This creates some beautiful marbling effects and softens the colors also.  I am excited to try them out!  Here is a live video of Tim demoing the inks on his Facebook page.  He also has some other live videos and demos from the week, https://www.facebook.com/timholtzdesigns/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED

Here is a video of a new tool called The Stamp Platform from Tonic Studios that just came out and debuted at Creativation.  This tool is amazing!  If you are looking for a tool to help you stamp custom layouts and at most 8.5" x 8.5".  You can place the stamp on the paper and see where you would like the stamp to be and pick it up.  The video is below.

Next Monday is my day to showcase Unity Stamps so tonight I will be finishing them up!  I am so excited to share my 5 projects with you and maybe I will show a little sneak peak of what I am doing!

Hope you have a great day!

Naomi