Queen Bee Shadow Box by Nancy Sheads

GOOD MORNING FRIENDS! As some of you know, I manage this blog for Kae Pea, so I'm usually behind the scenes. However, this week I'm the guest artist and I have a mixed media project that I hope you'll love. It features the Queen Bee Foam stamp as well as several others in supporting roles. 

I'm usually a card maker and my main medium is Copic markers so this was really out of my comfort zone. But I was inspired by the clay work projects by Jenn White and Wendy Taylor-Aspinall so I decided to give this shadow box project a try.

Today's project features:

• Gypsy Soul | Queen Bee | Foam Stamp by ArtFoamies
• Emmie Roelofse | Lavender | Foam Stamp by ArtFoamies
• Balzer Designs | Dino Skin | Foam Stamp by ArtFoamies
• Kae Pea – Microcosms by ArtFoamies
• Honeycomb Texture Background by 100 Proof Press
• Stamp Buddy by ArtFoamies
• Assorted Liquitex Acrylic Paints
• Creative Paperclay Modeling Material

STEP BY STEP

Clay Medallion

• Tape a piece of Glad Press 'N Seal (sticky side down) on your work mat to prevent the plastic from moving while working with the Creative Paperclay.

• Rolled out a small amount of Creative Paperclay so that it is larger the Queen Bee stamp and about 1/4" thick.
• Cut the Paperclay in a circular shape slightly larger than the stamp. I used a plastic drink cup to cut a circle out of the Paperclay.
• Carefully lifted the circle from the plastic and lightly rolled any frayed edges to the back of the circle. Lightly rub the surface with a tiny amount of water to smooth out any imperfections.

• Press the Queen Bee stamp into the Paperclay with even pressure. Lift the stamp and clean immediately to remove any residue from the clay.
• Make a small hole at the top of the clay medallion using a plastic drinking straw.
• Allow clay to thoroughly dry. This may take a few days. You can also bake the clay in an oven at 250 degrees for 30 minutes or until dry. See Craft Tips for Creative with Paperclay Products for additional information.

• Apply two light coats of white gesso to front and back of the clay medallion. Allow gesso to dry thoroughly between coats.
• Select acrylic paints in desired colors. I used Liquitex Basics in Brilliant Yellow Green, Light Green Permanent, Primary Yellow, Primary Blue, Primary Red, and Titanium White. You can mix color to get desired shades. I added white to create paler colors.
• Apply first coat of paint as a light wash (I mixed each color with a small amount of water).
• Apply second coat, deepening colors as desired.
• Apply two lights coats of Gloss Gel Medium. Allow medium to dry between coats.
• Create a brown wash (water + paint) and lightly coat the medallion. Lightly wipe off the paint, allowing the color to remain in the indentations and crevices of the medallion.
• Complete any additional painting and apply another light coat of Gloss Gel Medium to seal.
• Set aside and allow medallion to dry thoroughly.

Background

• Apply two light coats of white gesso to a 6"x6" canvas panel. Allow gesso to dry thoroughly between coats.
• Randomly brush a couple of acrylic paint colors onto the panel. I used the same colors as the medallion, applying patches of Brilliant Yellow Green, Primary Yellow, and Primary Blue (mixed with Titanium White). Allow paint to dry.
• Apply a light coat of Gloss Gel Medium to seal the first layer of color.
• Apply acrylic paint to Stamp Buddy to use as an stamping pad. Use the Stamp Buddy to apply paint to the ArtFoamies of your choice and stamp randomly on the canvas panel. I used Microcosms, Lavender, Dino Skin, by ArtFoamies.
• Apply a light coat of Gloss Gel Medium to seal the second layer of color.
• Stamp Honeycomb Texture Background with Archival Ink in black.
• Set aside to dry.

Finishing

• Thread a small piece of rawhide through hole in clay medallion and tie.
• Glue medallion to canvas panel.
• Frame in shadow box if desired.

That's all for me today! Hope you enjoyed this week's project. See you again soon!

Nancy

Mary Englebreit's Wishing Upon A Star by Nancy Sheads

GOOD MORNING RUBBERMOON FANS! Today's project was actually inspired by our own Jenn White who recently posted her rainbow colored tiles, tassels & tuffets using stamps from ArtFoamies. If you missed her blog post, take a look at it here! 

In a recent conversation, Jenn revealed that she often stamps out mass quantities of things and sends them out to friends. I was a happy recent recipient of some of her colorful Moonglo Bright Rainbow HeArtFoamies featured in her January post. What I love about Jenn's artwork is that she just goes with the flow, enjoying the journey rather than worrying about the destination. She plunges right in and figures it out (or not) as she goes. Either way, she just plays and finds her inspiration along the way.

I'm the exact opposite. I can't seem to start unless I can see it in my head from start to finish and visualize the end result. As a result, I spend a lot of time staring at my empty craft mat ....

So Jenn encouraged me to just play with my art, pretending that I'm once again in preschool, experimenting, discovering, and playing. So brings us to today's project.

I pulled out my favorite Mary Englebreit stamps from RubberMoon -- Wishing Upon A Star (Small). Did you click on that link to take a look? As some of you know, RubberMoon Stamps aren't available just anywhere! You have a couple of options. The entire catalog is available to subscribers to Kae Pea's Patron Group where for as little as $2.00 a month you can:

• Access the RubberMoon Catalog for all of your RubberMoon purchases, including thousands of art stamps.
• Access the Private Fb comMOONity
• Access the morning heART daily mix media videos.

You can also purchase RubberMoon stamps through local craft stores such as The Queen's Ink. If your store doesn't carry them, be sure to ask them to contact Kae Pea for details.

Since I'm going to use my Copic markers, I stamp the image on Hammermill cardstock with a Copic friendly ink. Next, I pull out a range of Copic markers and laid them out on my desk in rainbow order. I knew that I wouldn't use all of them, but had them handy so that I could easily jump between colors without a lot of thought. Then I started blocking in areas of the background with color. 

I kept working until I had the entire background filled. At this point, I wasn't concerned about getting a smooth blend between colors. I just wanted to get the colors placed on the background.

I added a second coat of each color improving the blending and color depth as I went along. I also used tip to tip blending to help with the transitions between colors.

If you are not familiar with this Copic technique, select two markers in your blend (dark/medium or medium/light) and hold the lighter marker in your dominant hand (i.e. the hand you write with). Using the light marker, pick up some of the ink from the tip of the darker marker. When you color, you will have a tone that is a blend of the two markers that will make it easier to transition from dark to light.

At this point, the colors are beginning to meld together a little better. I allowed the inks to dry thoroughly since I knew that they would continue to blend on their own as they cured. 

I decided that I wanted to create some sort of galaxy in the background. To add texture, I dampened a small piece of terry cloth with Copic colorless blender and gentle dabbed the cloth over the background. The colorless blender lifts the Copic ink, leaving behind the imprint of the nap of the cloth.

Here I should note a few things:

• Your inked background needs to be complete dry before you start dabbing, else the dots will just blend together. 
• This technique also causes some movement of the ink so it helps to further blend transitions from one color to the next.
• Since the ink can move, you need to be careful that the ink doesn't bleed into the uncolored parts of the stamp. If that happens, use your 0 blender marker to push the ink back where it belongs.

Once the ink was dry, I started coloring the stamped image.

Once the coloring was complete, I added a starry galaxy with white and gold gel pens. And here's the finished image! I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I may mount it on a card or I might frame it.

That's it for me today! Hope you've enjoyed this week's inspiration.

Until next time --

Nancy

Clean and Simple: Birdie Girlie with Botanical ArtFoamie Background

GOOD MORNING ARTFOAMIES FRIENDS! I'm Nancy Sheads and I'm back as this week's guest artist. I needed a card to send to a friend who has been ill so I did a quick look through my ArtFoamies to see what I could use for a quick background.

Now as many of you know, my style is really clean and simple. I love the randomness of mixed media where lots of colors, textures, layers, and patterns come together to create a beautifully organic design. And I love to experiment with my inks and paints. But when I'm short on time, I just keep it simple. 

Today's project features:

• Jone Hallmark | Birdie Girlie by RubberMoon
• Balzer Designs | Botanical by ArtFoamies

I started by inking the Botanical Foam stamp with Versafine Clare in Verdant and Bluebell on with a piece of white cardstock trimmed to 3-3/8" x 4-5/8". I did a few trial runs with Distress Oxides, but I wanted the stamped image to be fairly crisp so I switched to a pigment ink. After stamping, I set it aside to let the ink thoroughly dry.

In the meantime, I stamped the Birdie Girlie stamp white cardstock with Hero Arts Intense Black. The image was colored with Copic markers (marker list shown below). 

Since my stamped image was now dry, I used an oval picture frame die to cut an opening in the center of the image. I cut the frame three more times from white cardstock so that I could stack them on the oval opening. I positioned my Copic colored image behind the opening and adhered it in place. 

The rest is pretty straightforward. I cut green and dark blue cardstock, each layer being 1/4" larger than the next. Once the cardstock was cut, I adhered all of the layers together and then to a card base. My finished card is A2 in size (4-1/4" x 5-1/2"). 

Hope you enjoyed today's project! See you again soon!

Nancy

SUPPLIES

• Jone Hallmark | Birdie Girlie by RubberMoon
• Balzer Designs | Botanical by ArtFoamies
• Copics: E50, E51, E21, E11, V20 (skin); E53, E55, E57 (hair); B000, B12, B24, B26 (sweater); RV 32, RV34 (flower)

Mixed Media Journal Cover with Art Foamies

Hey Art Foamies Fans! I'm Nancy Sheads and I'm this week's guest artist. Today I'm featuring a project that was actually a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law. She has always kept a journal so I decided to get her a journal and a nice fountain pen. Since the cover was plain, I decided to jazz it up a bit so I pulled out some Art Foamies stamps and acrylic paint and got to work.

Today's project features:

• Sarah Matthews | Kente Cloth | Foam Stamps - Set of 2 by Art Foamies
• Gypsy Soul | Harlequin Backdrop by Art Foamies
• Gypsy Soul | Honeycomb | Foam Stamp by Art Foamies
• Kae Pea | Microcosms | Foam Stamps - Set of 5 by Art Foamies
• Balzer Designs | Dino Skin | Foam Stamp by Art Foamies
• Einat Kessler | Woman Power | Foam Stamps - Set of 2 by Art Foamies
• Gale Nation | Dream, Believe, Create | Foam Stamps - Set of 3 by Art Foamies
• Assorted acrylic paints (colors listed below)

Since my SIL will be writing in the journal, I wanted to keep the cover flat so I had to design something without multiple layers or embellishments that might make writing inside the journal cumbersome. In addition, the journal was soft-bound so I decided against any sort of texture paste, embossing paste, etc. for fear that it would break off from the cover with use.

I cut a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper to be slightly smaller than the cover size and rounded the corners on one side to match the journal cover. I chose watercolor paper because I wasn't quite sure where I was going with the design and wanted something that would hold up to paints as well as ink. The texture of the watercolor paper was an added benefit.

I decided to use acrylic paints instead of inks. I had several tubes of Liquitex Basic Acrylics on hand so I started with a color palette of pink (Medium Magenta), turquoise (Light Blue), and lime green (Brilliant Yellow Green). All of the paints were too bright and/or dark out of the tube so I mixed each color with Titanium White to make them more pastel. Using a wide brush, I applied each color randomly to the paper, creating blocks of color that covered most of the page. It looked pretty bad at this point, but I've learned that the secret to mixed media is to keep adding layers of color and texture so I just kept going. 

For the next layer, I used various Art Foamies stamps and additional acrylic paint colors. I squeezed a small amount of paint onto my inking palette and used a brayer to spread it out. Then I patted the stamp into the paint and stamped as usual. I started with one of the stamps in Sarah Matthew's Kente Cloth set in Light Blue (full color, no white), followed by Gypsy Soul | Harlequin Backdrop in Brilliant Purple; Gypsy Soul's Honeycomb Foam Stamp in Primary Yellow; one of the stamps in Kae Pea's Microcosms Set in Brilliant Yellow Green (full color, no white); and Balzer Designs' Dino Skin in Titanium White. I applied the stamps randomly and allowed the colors an designs to overlap.

For the focal stamps, I used one of the stamps from Einat Kessler' Woman Power and the "Create" sentiment from Gale Nation's Dream, Believe, Create by Art Foamies. I stamped both using Liquitex Acrylics in Mars Black.

Originally, I was going to use a Posca Pen to doodle a border, but decided instead to dip the edge of an old credit card into the black paint and add various lines as shown.

Once everything was dry, I glued the watercolor panel to the front of the cover to complete the project.

I'm happy to say that she loved it!

That's all for me today! Hope you found some crafty inspiration!

Nancy

Magical Wish Card featuring Jone Hallmark Daisy Fae - By Nancy Sheads

MORNING EVERYONE! I’m back today with my project for the 100 Moons Creative Design team. I've been working on holiday cards, but decided to take a break today to show you a project with a magical feel.

Today's project features: 

• Jone Hallmark - Daisy Fae by RubberMoon
• Claudia Rose - Wish by RubberMoon
• Copic coloring (see marker list below)
• Additional basic supplies linked in thumbnails below

STEP BY STEP FOR DAISY FAE

• Cut card base from a heavy weight card stock to 4.25″ x 11″ and score at 5.5″ for a top fold card.
• Cut a piece of white card stock to 4" x 5.25" 
• Cut a strip of white card stock to 1/4" x 1.25" for sentiment
• Cut a piece of polka dot design paper to 1" x 4"
• Cut a piece of striped paper to 1/4" x 4"
• Create a die cut tag from coordinating solid card stock.
• Create a die cut circle from white card stock.
• Cut a piece of craft foam to 3.75" x 5"
• Stamp Daisy Fae image on a Copic friendly paper with a Copic compatible ink.
• Color image with Copic markers (marker colors shown below).
• Fussy cut image. 
• Stamp Wish sentiment on 1/4" x 1.25" strip. Trim edge to create fishtail. Apply foam squares to back.
• Apply foam adhesive squares to back of image and set aside.
• Adhere craft foam to back of 4" x 5.25" white card stock.
• Adhere design paper strips and die cuts to front as shown.
• Position and adhere Daisy Fae image.
• Position and adhere sentiment.
• Adhere card front to card base.

COPICS: E000, E00, E11, BV000 (skin); E43 (hair); B0000, B000, BG10, BG11, BG13, BV000 (dress); RV10, RV11 (wings); BV000, Y35, Y38 (flower); G20, G21 (leaves)

100 Moons Creative - Fun with Art Foamies

GOOD MORNING FRIENDS! This is Nancy Sheads and I'm back today with another project for 100 Moons Creative. For today's project, I wanted to create a simple card that was quick and easy to make but had a WOW factor. 

My project features the following stamps from RubberMoon and ArtFoamies:

• Kae Pea | Creative Concentrics - Celestial Rings | Foam Stamps - Set of 3 by Art Foamies
• Balzer Designs | Inner Struggle | Foam Stamp by Art Foamies
• Ma Vinci | BLP504G - Cursive "Imagine" - Rubber Art Stamp by Rubber Moon
• Additional basic supplies listed below.

Now I have to admit that before joining the 100 Moons Creative team, I hadn't tried any of the ArtFoamies stamps, but now that I have, can I just say how much I love using them?!? I'm a cardmaker and I love making my own backgrounds. I have a LOT of design paper in my stash, but I hardly ever use it anymore, opting instead for stenciled or ink blended backgrounds. So these ArtFoamies stamps really spark my creativity. 

To be honest, I started this project in a completely different direction, using a different image for the focal point. But then I created the background and the two didn't go together. I loved the background more than what I did with the original image so I ended up in a completely different direction. Funny how that happens!

CREATING THE BACKGROUND

I started with a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock cut to 4.25 inches x 5.5 inches. I flipped the cardstock so that the textured side was face down. For the background, I used the Inner Struggle foam stamp. I randomly applied two colors of Distress Oxide Ink to the stamp - Shabby Shutters and Mowed Lawn - so that the stamped image would have a variegated appearance. Since size of the Inner Struggle stamp was less than 5.5 inches, I turned the stamp so that it was perpendicular to the cardstock. I stamped the image in the middle and then worked each side to the edge.

STAMPING SUN IMAGE

Using the largest die in the Spellbinders Standard Circles Large set, I cut a circle from a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock. For the sun image, I used the Celestial Rings stamp. Since this stamp is in three parts, I applied a couple of pieces of low tack tape on the back to hold them together while I stamp. Starting from the center, I applied three colors of Distress Oxide Ink - Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, and Candied Apple. I stamped the image on the smooth side of the circle die cut. Afterwards, I used a water brush to lightly blend the colors where necessary. 

Once the ink was dry, I used a black Copic multiliner to add details to the face. I used Copic markers (R20, R22) to further enhance the facial features. I normally would not use Copic markers on top of Oxide ink, but to be honest, I forgot that I hadn't used regular Distress Ink. It didn't seem to damage the marker nibs, but you might want to use a water-based marker instead. I used my Copic multiliner and a blue gel pen to add more details to the sun rays. I'm not much of a doodler, so I kept the pattern simple.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

All that's left is assembling the card. I stamped the sentiment on the background using Versafine Clare ink and then adhered it to my cardbase. To add dimension, I cut a piece of craft foam slightly smaller than the sun image and glued it to the back. You could use foam tape instead, but I prefer craft foam because it supports the entire layer. I applied glue to the other side of the craft foam and positioned the sun image on the card.

That's it for today! Hope you found some inspiration and will give these fun foam stamps a try. See you soon!

SUPPLIES

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110#; Distress Watercolor Cardstock by Ranger - Tim Holtz

Stamps: Kae Pea Creative Concentrics - Celestial Rings by ArtFoamies; Balzer Designs - Inner Struggle by ArtFoamies; Ma Vinci | BLP504G - Cursive "Imagine" by RubberMoon 

Inks: Versafine Clare in Nocturne by Tsukineko; Distress Oxides in Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, and Candied Apple by Ranger - Tim Holtz

Dies: Standard Circles Large by Spellbinders

Embellishments: Copic Multiliner SP Pen - 0.5 mm; 

Copics: R20, R22