Watch this tutorial on youtube!
Going to Pluto Collage

You’ll need:
Mod podge
Acrylic folkart paint
Glitter
Stampboard box, wood substrate or canvas
Ephemera – candy wrapper, strofoam ball, collage paper bits
Newspaper, scrap lined paper
Wooden Indian stamps
Pencil
Micron pen
Gel pen
Gesso

Directions:
• Basecoat your surface (box, canvas, wood piece) with gesso. Glue candwrapper, newspaper scraps (which have been tinted with paint),strofoam ball and collage paper in a pleasing random fashion.
• Paint over some parts with gesso.
• Sketch your design in pencil
• Paint your background in pleasing colors (or garish colors –whatever floats your boat). Block in the color of your image then begin to work on the details.
• Paint Styrofoam ball, add some mod podge and glitter.
• Apply acrylic paint to stamps and stamp on your piece
• Doodle designs with micron pen and gel pen
• Write your phrase on a piece of lined paper, glue to board and color around the edges with paint.
• Remember to paint and collage the sides of your piece if you’ve used a stampboard or canvas. This will finish the piece off and make it ready for hanging!

I chose a photo that i like and converted it to grayscale

The image filled in with adjectives and words/phrases that describe me.

Word Portrait
Here is a fun challenge that i came up with yesterday. Take a photo of yourself and either blow it up in photoshop or similar program or go to your copy centre and blow up a photo to fit an 8 1/2" x 11" page. Convert it to grayscale to save your colour ink. Place a blank sheet of paper over your photo copy and trace with pencil. I just came back from the coffee shop where i put the photo and blank sheet of paper on a window to trace the image. This worked out great. If you have a lightbox even better yet! Now fill in the blank area with words that describe you. Don't be afraid to use contradictory adjectives like i did! I'm a bit of a contradiction! Vary the shape of the letters for interest. You can use symbols such as stars, spirals, hearts and flowers to fill in the gaps. When you've completely filled the image with words then go over it with a fine tipped felt pen. I used my micron pens......this is the slow, zen meditative part :). Erase your pencil lines and voila....you have a cool outline of yourself filled with juicy adjectives. I think this would be a fun scrapbook page. You could include the original blowup and slightly overlap the "word image". Both of the images would be cut out and pasted ontop of a patterned paper or a painted page. What a fun layout this could be! Maybe if you do participate in this challenge you can post a link on the messageboard so we can view your interpretation? Have fun!

I created this mermaid yesterday which i'll be turning into a bookmark. She'll be painted with twinkling H2O's and then laminated. The tail is going to be added to the mermaid with a brad so that it can swivel. If you like you can download this image but i highly recommend that you make your own version and turn it into a bookmark or a piece of art which you can hang up or dangle from a string of juicy beads. If you don't have access to a laminating machine (Office Depot and Staples can do this for you) you can always use packing tape on the back and front of the mermaid to protect it. After painting your illustration you can sprinkle with "fine glitter" and then laminate. Once the laminating is finished carefully cut out your image, poke a hole with an awl at the bottom of the mermaids body and at the top of the tail and attach together with a brad. You can skip the laminating process too and simply add a layer of mod podge for protection. If you're making this mermaid for a gift you can write the recipient's name on the tail or a message! FUN!!!

The Cuff Tutorial
I made this cute fabric cuff at the Walnut Hollow Booth at the Craft and Hobby Convention in Anaheim. We used a tool i believe which is the Creative textile tool. There was a tiny iron-like attachment which ironed the fabric that was backed with iron on pelon. Now i think you could create this entire project without the tool......you could use a regular iron. Cut a piece of fabric approximately 2 or more inches wide. Use some quilting backing (i think that's what it's called......it sort of feels like thick felt)to add dimension to your cuff. Cut the backing into a long skinny strip about 1 1/2" long. Cut a piece of felt about 2" inches wide and as long as your cuff. Make all of your pieces to measure the size of your wrist plus about 2" (you'll have to play with this). Iron on pelon onto the back of your fabric strip, then fold around the fluffy quilt batting and iron to adhere. Note this could be done with Aleene's tacky glue instead of the iron on pelon. Cut your felt piece with decorative scissors so that a tiny bit of it shows beyond the now-wrapped fabric quilt batting. Glue your fabric strip to the felt with either Aleene's tacky glue or the new Fabric Fusion glue. Now for the fun part......the embellishment...woo hoo! You can pretty much do anything you like.....add jewelry or silk flowers etc. In this case we cut a small flower shape from felt, glued a small piece of coloured netting to the back, adhered it to the cuff. Three crystals were hot fixed to the centre of the flower. Use self-adhesive velcro dots for the closure.

A reader of this blog, Lorraine asked me for some techniques outlining how i make art and which supplies i use......so here is a little run down on how i created this collage.

Last nite i began doodling on scrap pieces of cardstock with the thought that if things worked out well i would have the makings of a collage. What you see here is the outcome of that session. I don't even know what the collage means........but probably like most of the things i do it's about following your bliss, creating your reality, listening to the muse who is forever whispering in your ear inspiration. I used micron pens, pencil, twinkling H2O's, sharpie, caran d'ache neocolor water soluable painting crayons (for the shading)and gel pens for the little icons on the list. The face, heart, eye, bird, the list and border were all cut out from separate pieces of cardstock then adhered to a background with words written in pencil and overpainted with Twinkling H2O's. If ever my descriptions are not very clear please don't hesitate to ask me for clarification on the messageboard.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Twinkling H2O's they are wonderful little pots of watercolours. They have an incredible luminescence to them that i really love! All you do is add a couple of drops of water to soften the colours, wait a few minutes then paint away to your hearts desire! In the above photo you can see the micron pens i use to create my illustrations. I love the fact that the ink flows easily and also that it is waterproof since i go over the lines with watercolours. Sometimes i use watercolour pencil crayons instead of or along with the Twinkling H2O's for variety.

I drew this image in response to one of my friends weekly challenge. She challenged everyone to draw their favourite mug. This is what i came up with. The mug was drawn with my micron pen 05 to be exact. It was then coloured with my Twinkling H2O's. It was pretty simple and fun to do. If you don't know what to draw just draw what is in front of you.......your mug, your sandwich your feet, your shoes......your medicine cabinet, a chair, your favourite outfit.........speaking of which.........here is a pic of my fav outfit from last year...

I drew the illustration with my micron pen and then coloured it digitally in photoshop. It could have been coloured with watercolours or pencil crayons!

You'll love creating your own Unique Shadowbox...start out simply by making a papier mache heart like i did!

Materials:
tissue paper
Mod Podge
wooden box
Glitter, sequins
Acrylic paints
Oil pastels
Micron pens or fine tipped Sharpie
Cardboard (heavy)
Masking tape
Glue gun

Instructions:
Paint shadow box with desired acrylic colours. Write words with your felt pen on white tissue paper. Tear gently around the words and mod podge to the back of your shadowbox. Make swirls and squiggles with your oil pastels.....smudge with your finger. Cut out heart shape from cardboard or foamcore board. Scrunch up some tissue paper and tape to heart cutout to give the piece a 3-D effect. Mod podge torn pieces of tissue over the entire heart.....let dry then paint with acrylic paints. Paint a layer of mod podge over heart, sprinkle on glitter and sequins. Hot glue a scrap piece of foamcore board to the back of the shadowbox then glue heart on top of that so it stands slightly away from the back of the box. Attach a hanger to the back with hot glue. Voila! You now have a unique, personalized shadowbox!

Funky Journal Cover

If you are at all like me and like to Journal on loose pages of cardstock then you’re going to love creating this Journal Cover to hold your pages. A large bullclip neatly organizes your creations. Using simple materials such as foamcore board, industry discards and garage sale finds you’ll be able to transform mundane items into a fun, funky and fabulous cover!!

Materials
• Foamcore board
• Tissue paper
• Acrylic paint
• Doll head
• Funky fibres or yarns
• Slide mount
• Small jar lid
• Cardstock
• Maruba boa
• Acrylic paints
• Bullclip
• Industry discards ie. Metal discs, number, laminate samples, puzzle pieces etc.
• Glitter
• Fine tip Sharpie felt pen
• Mod Podge
• Water color pencil crayons

Project Instructions

1. Cut a piece of foamcore slightly larger than your pages.
2. Brush Mod Podge over board and place a piece of tissue paper over it wrinkling it until you get the effect you are looking for.
3. Randomly paint the surface of the board adding a touch of metallic paint for a bit of brilliance.
4. Draw an eye or some other symbol onto cardstock, color with watercolor pencil crayons. Glue inside a painted lid, cover with layer of mod podge, add some glitter to the rim with bit of mod podge.
5. Paint slide mount, glue eye or other symbol behind it. Glue both the lid and slide mount to your board.
6. Paint the sides of a number or letter, glue some tissue paper to the top, wrinkle it then paint. Spread on a thin layer of mod podge and sprinkle glitter over it. Glue to board.
7. Draw a column with your pen cut out and adhere to board. Write out words onto cardstock and glue to board.
8. Hot glue a doll’s head to board and encircle it with a piece of maruba boa.
9. Paint industry discards such as metal disks, laminate samples and puzzle pieces, string onto yarn and hang from the bullclip.

Now you have a jazzy place to hold your funky pages which you’ve embellished with loads of treasures. You have no more excuses for being unable to locate your pages since they will be contained behind this magical cover!

Creative Spirit Doll

Create a delightful spirit doll to help you connect with the divine in you and bring more creativity into your life. Use these dolls to evoke a sense of the sacred in your home, altar or office. Each doll has a crystal and piece of sweetgrass embedded within imbuing it with positive energy.

Materials:
Cotton muslin
Fimo
Watercolor paper
Acrylic paints
Composition gold leaf
Feathers
Beads
Copper wire
Fiberfill
Glitter
White glue
Mod podge
Fine tip Sharpie felt pen

Directions:
Step 1. Create a paper pattern of a simple shaped doll. Cut two identical pieces from fabric.
Step 2. Sew the two pieces together leaving an opening for stuffing. Turn inside out and stuff remembering to insert a piece of sweet grass and a special crystal. Stitch opening closed.
Step 3. Randomly paint your doll with acrylic paints. Brush mod podge over entire surface and embellish with gold leaf. Randomly sprinkle glitter on the doll.
Step 4. Cut circle from muslin and paint a face using acrylics and accenting with sharpie felt pens.
Step 5. Glue feathers onto doll shape. Glue face on top of the feathers.
Step 6. Shape a tiny doll, vegetable or whatever is appropriate out of fimo, bake according to package directions. Paint with acrylic paints. Seal with a coating of Mod Podge. Adhere to doll.
Step 7. On a scrap piece of torn water color paper randomly paint a design, add gold leaf and cut out gold star or heart which has been embellished with glitter. Attach a tiny feather. Glue to doll.
Step 8. Outline the face with white glue and sprinkle glitter on. You can also finish the face off with black dimensional paint if you prefer it over glitter.
Step 9. Further embellish the face by gluing on a string of beads.
Step 10. Spiral a length of wire and string on a few beads. Attach to the doll body with a couple of sewing stitches.

Now meditate on your doll and envision imbuing it with certain attributes whether it be greater creativity, abundance, good health or love. Place the doll in an area of honor that will remind you daily of what you are attracting into your life!!!

Altered Purse

This is a fun project if you want to resurrect an old purse and exercise your creative juices! You can put almost anything onto your purse as long as you use the proper adhesive and numerous coats of modge podge and varnish.

Materials
Old leather or vinyl purse
Collage items (Scrapbooking supplies)
sandpaper
Photocopied words or quotes
Gems, sequins, stars
Glitter
Stickers
Paper doily
White glue
Modge Podge
Varnish
Acrylic paints

Directions
1. Scuff purse with sandpaper
2. randomly paint acrylics over surface
3. choose your images that you have cut-words, faces, alphabets and patterns
4. Modge Podge on the surface of the purse in a pleasing fashion
5. Glue on sequins, Stickers, gems, stars and glitter
6. When dry modge podge several coats over entire design
7. For extra protection coat with varnish

This little bathroom organizer will surely make it easier for you to locate that glittery hair clip or jangly fish necklace. You can use this for your jewelery but also to display tiny stuffed animals, plastic toy characters or even photos! To display those items you would have to wrap a piece of string or wire around the item in order to facilitate hanging.

THis is what you'll need to create the organizer:

-A wooden picture frame from a thrift store or garage sale
-a piece of Chicken wire
-latex paints in assorted colours
-S hooks or copper wire to make your own hooks
-Long piece of wire

Directions:

Disassemble the frame. Paint the board or canvas in a colour you like. You'll most likely have to coat it twice. Sand the wooden frame and paint with another colour of latex paint. Feel free to add any patterns at this point to the frame or leave plain. Place chicken wire over the board and bend the ends over the edges. With a long piece of wire fasten the edges together so that the back looks neat and the chicken wire lays flat. Put the back onto the frame and secure in place. Hang in your bathroom. Use S-hooks or fashion your own from thick copper wire to hang your treasures from!