Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Creating Prayer Flags, Bags and Bookcovers

On a cold Saturday, five creatives came over and we stenciled our own fabrics and made amazing creations.   Here's a re-cap - with lots and lots of eye candy!


This class was inspired by a workshop I took at Art is You in 2014, taught by Kecia Deveney and Linda Willis and called Flags of Affirmation.  You can read more about my experience in Flags of Affirmation here.  Kecia and Linda gave me permission to pass on their techniques and add my own spin.

We started off stenciling white and solid color fabrics with all sorts of beautiful colors from Deco Arts Fabric Paints.  


Here is Isolina Perez's gorgeous work - how many Stencil Girl Stencils can you spot?  Isolina is a jeweler and will be teaching at Art is You this fall.  I am always so honored when other teacher's take my classes.


Sandy Grezzi used gorgeous colors to create front and back journal covers.  Sandy is a former VP with the Craft and Hobby Association turned full-time marketing consultant.  I'm happy to give her opportunities to get her hands painty. 




Tery Favo concentrated on sea colored fabrics for a purse she's making.  She's a former doll maker and jeweler.  She brings the best snacks and always has the best creative ideas.  


Jodi Oster created a beautiful cover for her art journal.  You can see more of Jodi's beautiful folk art on Etsy


 Here I am sewing up Isolina's beautiful prayer flag banner.  My daughter Samy peeked in.


 Here's how Isolina's banner looked all stitched up.  So beautiful!


Brigitte ended up with a beautiful bag, and lots of stenciled fabric to play with at home.

and I finally finished sewing a mat for hot platters.  I've been working on it forever!  We had a wonderful time together!



The deadline to apply to my Design Team is May 1!  I hope you'll check out the requirements and apply.  

Visit Stencil Girl Products and RubberMoon Stamps to see all my designs!



If you haven't already - please connect with me here:
Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

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To avoid SPAM, please write it like this: jessicasporndesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank You!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Mucking Around in my Art Journal

Today, I'm introducing a feature called "Mucking Around in my Art Journal."


What does it mean to "Muck Around?"

In my case, it means playing in my art journal with no particular goal in mind.  I'm not trying to demo a particular stencil, stamp or technique.  I'm just puttering around and being led by the process.    Here's the art journal page:


And here's the process!



You can also watch "Mucking Around in Your Art Journal" on YouTube here.   

What do you think of this as the start of a new series?  Let me know in your comments!







         Visit Stencil Girl Products and RubberMoon Stamps to see all my designs!


If you haven't already - please connect with me here:
Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event I need to contact you.

To avoid SPAM, please write it like this: jessicasporndesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank You!

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Five Ways to Rescue an Art Journal Page

We all have pages in our journals that we hate.  Either the page didn't turn out as we planned, or we had an "accident" on it - something spilled or a product was expired and didn't react as it was supposed to.  Here are five ways you can take such a page and turn it around. 


1.  Make your background your foreground.  Use gel medium through a stencil, let it dry, and then gesso over the rest of the page.  Wipe the gesso from the gel'd areas with a baby wipe, leaving your background peeking through.  You can add journaling over the gesso, or just keep going with another technique.   You can watch a video of this process here by Peerless Designs.

Stencil used: Eastern Lotus and Leaf Repeat
 2.  Add lots of layers using the same stencil or stamp.  Using the same stamp or stencil, first do a layer of really dark color.  Then use a lighter or neutral color.  Finally, use a very light color, like a Titan Buff or white.  You will get lots of depth using one tool.  Then add a sentiment or embellishment, and voila!

Stencil used:  Herbs and Doors & Windows

3.  Tease out hidden elements.  Hold your page far away from you and squint.  Are any hidden shapes peeking through?  Bring them out.   Here, I saw a face peeking through the leaves and brought her to the front.

Stencil Used:  Curvy Stems by Terri Stegmiller
4.  Push your page to the background by adding elements in complimentary colors.  See how the orange flowers seem to jump forward?  You can do this with paint, ink or collage.  (This page is a demo from one of my online classes.)


5.   Just keep going.  Keep adding layers.  Remind yourself that no effort you make in your artwork is ever wasted.  Something you initially dislike may hold the kernels of something you may eventually love.   That's what happened for me with this 2013 journal page.  



Here's a video of how it happened. 



You can also watch Rescuing a Journal Page on YouTube.

Here's what my worktable looked like as I experimented with all these techniques!


I leave you with these words from one of my favorite books - The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster:
“You may not see it now," said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo's puzzled face, "but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in the pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.”
Words to live by! 

The deadline to applying to my Design Team is May 1!  I hope you'll check out the requirements and apply.  

If you haven't already - please connect with me here:
Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event I need to contact you.

To avoid SPAM, please write it like this: jessicasporndesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank You!