Behind the Art with Jen

Hi Artsy friends!  I am back for another month of fun with this amazing kit!  Live Your Dream is perfect for me right now because every August I reflect on why I became a teacher and what I'm going to do this coming school year.  I plan, get excited again and reflect on the past year's lessons.  Being an art educator for elementary aged kids is the BEST job!  It can also be very exhausting, make me feel like I'm an extra (mostly because classroom teacher's don't get what I do), and also be a challenge with all the different grade level projects going on at the same time!   I love every minute...

 How lucky can I be?  I get to teach my favorite artists!  I'm a rock star in the halls and kids can't wait to come to my classroom for 40 minutes every week! I wish I had them longer! 

 Every new school year is a chance to re-evaluate my curriculum and add more excitement to my lessons or just clean up my presentations.  I keep a few of my favorites but add in new lessons each year for all grade levels.  I get just as excited about the 1st week of school as my students do!

 I loved this text paper but I thought the color was a bit busy for this page, so I toned parts down with some tinted Gesso from Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft.  I just added a bit of yellow in the Gesso puddle and spread it in the center and some areas.  Once dry, I scribbled circles with a PITT Artist Pen in Gold (from the kit) and a black one. 
The photo was from our end of the year, district wide art show.  I ran the photo booth and kids made masks to have their photos taken.  That show is a culmination of all of our hard work as art educators and the families love it!  They come with their children and revel in the creativity of the day!  It's amazing!

 Being an art educator AND an artist is a dream come true!  The possibilities and rewards are so great!  I am passionate about the arts and love teaching young artists to realize their potential and abilities.  Seeing them gain confidence each year is such an amazing result of all the hard work put into a year's worth of lessons!  What is your dream?  Are you living it?

 

Pastes and Glues and Mediums, Oh My!!

Hi there peeps!

Lori here and I thought I'd share a bit with you about some of the
 pastes, glues, mediums, etc. we've mentioned in our art journaling posts,
or that you may have heard of and wondered what in the world they were.

Demystify them, if you will.

Here are the products I played with:

I used the patterned paper, stencil,  and Distress Paint found in the

 August Enchantment Kit. 

Let's start with gesso. Gesso (pronounced [jes-oh] like jello) is used as a primer to prepare surfaces for wet mediums and paints. It provides a "tooth" to the surface to help paints stick better and give some added thickness to paper. It comes in clear, white, and black. 

In the top picture below, I have used a paintbrush to dab white gesso through the stencil, mixed white gesso with the blue distress paint and just painted 

some white gesso on the paper. 

You can even see how my pen is a little scratchy on the gesso...it definitely adds texture.

Here's just the distress paint smooshed through the stencil:

Next, let's talk about glues. Gel medium is an acrylic product. It comes in Heavy, Soft, and Regular and has a variety of finishes, Matte, Gloss and Semi-gloss. The basic use for these is to build texture in paintings by mixing them with acrylic paint. If you add a small bit of it to your paint it will also extend the drying time. The Soft gel is the medium that is most often used by paper artists. It can be used as a glue for collage and it is also used to make photocopy transfers. So basically it is a glue, a paint, and decoupage stuff. 

(definition found here.)

Decoupage glue, such as my favorite, Collage Pauge, is used in most of the same ways. 

This picture shows the difference in texture: you can see that gel medium on the left is much thicker.

These are used to stick things to the paper, typically. 

I also wanted you to see the distress paint as a base.

Modeling pastes are often used to add some dimension and texture. 

I used several different kinds. 

Texture Magic is a light paste. 

I left it plain  and smooshed it through the stencil. 

It is very similar in texture to light modeling paste.

Here is light modeling paste both plain and mixed with the distress paint. The top right pic below also shows the light modeling paste and texture paste next to each other. 

Regular modeling paste is thicker than the light modeling paste/texture paste and takes a bit longer to dry. But, you can see the thickness it creates.

The cool part about these is there really is no "right" or "wrong" way to use them. 

Play and experiment and see what you like to use. 

All of these are readily available either at your local craft/hobby stores, or online at amazon.com or dickblick.com.

I'd love to see what you come up with!

Any questions? Leave them in the comments and 

we'll try to get back to you with answers and advice. 

Thanks so much for reading and for your patience as our site is being temperamental. 

Remember, you can still see the August Enchantment kit in our Design Team Gallery, and our message board/forums are still up and running!!

Now, you go get messy!

Mixed Media? Me?! Yes, YOU!

Hi everybody! Lori here to chat a bit about mixed media.

"But, Lori, I can't do mixed media! I'm not artsy!"

I beg to differ!!

Do you ever use stamps and paper on one layout? How about stencils, mist sprays, and markers? Modeling paste and ...gasp...PAINT?! 

Guess what? You are MIXING MEDIA!!!

mixed media

pl.n. (used with a sing. verb)

1. A technique involving the use of two or more artistic media, such as ink and pastel or painting and collage, that are combined in a single composition.

So, literally, all of us who use two or more mediums in our artwork are creating .....drum roll please....mixed media art!!! 

Now, obviously, there are artists who have extensive schooling, training, and experience as mixed media artists and I certainly don't want to minimize their work.  

I simply want to empower those of you who are feeling like this area is

somehow out of reach for you!

Simply put, I love to play with all kinds of media in my artwork: paper, glue, buttons, flowers, ephemera, paint, ink, spray mist, pastes, markers....etc.etc.etc.

In my DT layout this month using our April FORTUNE kit, 

I wanted to play a bit.

I used the Balzer Designs stencil from Crafter's Workshop and mixed some Liquitex Light Modeling Paste with turquoise paint and smooshed it through the number parts of the stencil. Then I dribbled some Deep Violet Liquitex Acrylic Ink, sprayed white mist through some punchinella, and used a scrap of corrugated cardboard to make some lines with white paint. 

Here's another one I did this month and used watercolors:

So, my challenge to you is to try something new...splash some watercolor on your background, use some ink or spray, use markers or paint through a stencil...just try it! 

Link us up on the blog or in our 

GALLERY.

You can do it!

Lovin' Life

It's Sunday evening and we're sitting down to start watching The Next Food Network Star at 7:20 to give the DVR enough time to roll us past all the commercials...still haven't picked a favorite...

I've got most of Scrapbooking From The Inside Out's DT July layouts on my computer, and they are amazing! I can't wait to share these with you. They are everything I could have wished for - beautiful, heartfelt, moving and they showcase the kits phenomenally well. I am blessed to have these ladies in my life.

Just bought this today:

Not loving the color for my office, but I figure I can always refinish it...I had a 30% off coupon at Dick Blick Art Supplies and the table felt perfect for scrapbooking - now I don't have to stand and look over my layouts anymore! Any ideas for customizing?

Next door to Blick is the old school indy Laemmle Royal Theatre, where Brick Lane, is playing:



Looks like it was made for me...has anyone seen it?

Hey, if you're reading this and are planning to join us at Scrapbooking From The Inside Out on launch day, give me a shout out in comments...looking forward to your input, feedback and participation! What do you hope we'll provide?