Inspiration from Freida

Hi Friends!

I'm Robin and I'm excited to share my art and a little of me with you today.

I get inspiration from a variety of places. Fierce women like Freida. Nature, with all its beauty and wonder. People who are brave and stand up for what they believe in. Children who see the world with fresh eyes and excitement. As I thought about my first project for #100moonscollab, it seemed fitting to start with Freida. I love her quote used on this piece; to me, it speaks to this pandemic time and to life in general. It reminds me that life is short, that things change, and I need to make the best of those changes; to use them as inspiration rather than to be bound by them. The quote reminds me to be more gentle with myself, because time is limited and it's up to us to make the very most of every moment we are given. 

Where do you get your inspiration?

I love to combine fabric and paper and use an old fashion typewriter to give something a vintage feel. This project only requires a few supplies. Paint, brushes, ink pads, a stencil and one stamp from and mixed media chip from  Rubbermoon, one stamp from 100ProofPress, and one Artfoamie. It shows that you don't need a lot of supplies to create something fun and meaningful. 

I chose a piece of muslin fabric as my substrate. It's thin and takes paint and ink well. I cut the fabric into greeting card size 5 1/4" x 4". I used this size because I felt it fit well with the stamp and I wasn't sure in the beginning how I would use the finished piece. This size provided versatility if I decided on a greeting card. 

I stamped Freida, from 100ProofPress, on the muslin using my stamp platform. This is a handy tool especially for stamping  on fabric. By using this tool, I could re-stamp several times to get a dark image and a perfectly aligned image as well. 

I drew Freida's shoulders and then painted her hair and dress using acrylic paints and my posca paint pens. I stamped the word "muse" on Freida's dress, using the Rubbermoon stamp. That's how I think of her, as my muse. She has quite a life story!

Next came the background. For this I used the Mini Tiles Artfoamie and distressed ink. I made a mask of Freida, including her shoulders, so she would be in the foreground once I laid down the background. As I used the mask, the Artfoamie stamped over my mask and created a really cool effect on the mask. I will definitely keep it for some other card or collage for the future . I love it when those little surprises show up when you are working, and there again, inspiration comes for another project. 

Once the background was laid down, I took the piece to my typewriter and typed the quote making sure to space out the words so they flowed and didn't run into the image. You could easily write words or use stamped words if a typewriter isn't available to you. 

The final touch was to add a few birds to the piece. I used the Flock Mixed Media Chip and a Moonlight Duo Ink pad in Eclipse Black from Rubbermoon. These birds symbolize the free flowing nature of life and serve to further enhance the composition of the piece. 

I didn't start this piece with any purpose in mind. When it was finished, I came up with several ways to use it. The one I chose, for ease, was attaching it to a greeting card. I like the idea of staples. It's organic and no fuss, but it could have been sewn onto the card, or applied with Matte Medium. 

As for other uses, it could be sewn to a pair of jeans or t-shirt, (if you needed to wash it you should probably use GAC900 mixed in your acrylic paint); it could be stretched over an art bite and used as a small picture of sorts; it could be sewn to a gift bag, or used as a topper for a gift. I'm sure you can think of lots of other uses.

I hope you have enjoyed this project, learned a little about what inspires me, and that it served as a jumping off point for your own inspiration. 

What inspires you? Leave me a comment and let me know. 

Supplies used:

Muslin Fabric

Acrylic Paint (I used Amsterdam)

Posca Paint Pens

Moonlight Duo Tint and Hue Ink Pad - Total Eclipse Black and White

100ProofPress Stamp - Freida Kahlo 6428

Rubbermoon Planet Earth Mixed Media Chip by Kae Pae - Flock PE104KP

Artfoamie - Natalie Kalbach - Mini Tiles Foam Stamp (set of 3)

Detail paint brush

#10 Paint brush

Refurbished Olympia Typewriter

Stamp Platform

Distressed Ink - Wild Honey

Makeup pad (for blotting on the birds)

Please feel free to share your creations using #rubbermoon #100proofpress #artfoamies #100moonscollab on your social media. We will be so happy to see what you make with Rubbermoon,  100 Proof Press, and  Artfoamies products.

Feel free to visit and follow me on Facebook and Instagram. 

Robin

Whimsical Bookmarks by Martice Smith II

Hi friends! Martice here to show you a few simple ways to jazz up some scrap pieces of cardstock and transform them into whimsically fun and expressive bookmarks.

Today, I'll be showing you techniques on how to:

1 • mix RubberMoon art stamps with modeling paste,
2 • incorporate image transfers and use numbers as symbols,
3 • use a stencil for a cut-out,
4 • and finally, I'll reveal how I combined these techniques into a mixed-media collage bookmark, inspired by Frida Khalo!


Let's get started...Here are the stamps I used for creating these whimsical bookmarks:

(from left to right): 

Frida

RubberMoon Alphabet Stamp
Large Fern
Save the Date stamp
Kae Pea-New Moon-Art Stamp

For the first two bookmarks, I monoprinted backgrounds using a gelli plate. You can see pink and yellow flowers have been drawn in a scribbly, expressive fashion.

Image on left: Using the Kae Pea-New Moon-Art Stamp, I stamped a scalloped pattern. (I only applied ink to the circular portion of the stamp.)



Next, I applied modeling paste through the Faith stencil (from ArtistCellar's Pocket stencils) and topped it off with gold glitter before it dried.



Image on right: An image transfer of a bird's nest is featured.  Using the number 8 from the RubberMoon Alphabet Stamp, I stamped it sideways to make it look like an infinity symbol -  representing the continuation of life.



The background is very cheerful with the yellow gelli printed flowers, isn't it? Since the yellow paint is water-soluble, it interacted with the blue Large Fern to create a beautiful, deep green, which I think adds much more interest to the image.



((Here's a neat, crafty tip! Place a piece of scotch tape directly onto the storybook page, rub for a couple of seconds, then gently peel back the tape. This lift-off technique gives a nice, faded look to the words.)) Click on the image for a larger view.


I added some journaling along the edges of the bookmark to create a border and embellished with a gold leaf pen.


 

For the third bookmark,  I did a stencil cut-out technique.

I love how the key appears to be sunken into the bookmark while the word 'seeker' pops out as a dimensional element.

I traced the inside of the Vintage Key (Mini Steampunk set of ArtistCellar's Pocket stencils) with a craft knife, painted red acrylic paint on a piece of paper, and glued to the back of bookmark.



Background created with:


Save the Date stamp  - I only inked the word 'the' in white and stamped on bookmark.
Next, the word 'seeker' was handwritten with black Micron 03 pen on scrap paper and glued onto foam dot (for dimension).

DecoArt black gesso
DecoArt Multi-Surface Satin - School Bus 
Gold glitter


 

Last but not least, here's the fourth bookmark, inspired by Frida Khalo! 

This bookmark showcases all of the elements combined, plus more!

Techniques include: image transfer, journaling, collage, stamping, plus, applying modeling paste through stencils. I think the addition of embellishments really make the Frida stamp pop!

I wanted Frida to look like a tall, angel-like figure so, I elongated the stamp by drawing her shirt longer. Now, it looks like she's wearing a dress...simple, right?!


For the top portion of the bookmark, I applied green tinted modeling paste through the Mini Chakra Crown stencil and white modeling paste for the Mini Steampunk Wing stencil on storybook pages and attached them with gel medium. (Both stencils from ArtistCellar)

Letters from the RubberMoon Alphabet Stamp create the word 'Passion' at the bottom of Frida's dress (DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics- Phthalo Blue). I cut out and glued the word 'queen' from my storybook and finished the bookmark with some journaling and gift wrapping ribbon.

Background created with:
Storybook pages, collaged

DecoArt Black gesso
DecoArt Gloss Enamel - Yellow
DecoArt Neon fluorescent in Fiery Red
watercolors
acrylics (white paint splatters)

To prevent the water-soluble media (and glitter) from smudging off, I sealed everything with a light spray of matte varnish.

What a fun and simple way to practice these techniques! Here's a final look at all four whimsical bookmarks...

Do you like to make your own bookmarks? If yes, are they plain or decorated?

Enjoy your weekend!