How I used the acrylic skin

I love it (the acrylic skin)! You don't really see it, unless you are looking for it - it just melts into the collage. I found an old painting, cut it in half and used it as a base for my collage. The only remaining visible part is the heart. Everything else is a mixture of different papers I had on the desk.

I often sketch little birdies on anything available. They are quick, simple sketches, but I can't make myself throw them away. The above one was sketched on a napkin, the other one on sticky paper.

 I wanted a little journal with soft covers for a while now, and couldn't find anything "exactly" as I want it in store. Don't know why I didn't think of making it myself in the first place. My stitching is not the best (working in almost complete dark is my excuse)  but it is still good enough to make me happy.

Danielle wrote that acrylic skin looks like a wax painting, and I smiled when I read it because at that moment I was adding an encaustic layer on top of my collage. 

I love how the sketch done on a napkin disappears into the collage...

At the end - a quick answer to Heather (as I don't have her email address, and don't want to seem rude by not answering her question). The crackle I used on my angel is the same or similar crackle to the one you describe - the one you rub a darker color on when it is dry and cracks show up. You can find more information about different products I use in a post I wrote here. Hope this helps!

Acrylic skin (for Julie)

I think I never made acrylic skins before. I often marveled how simple it seems and how fun it must be, but I don't think I actually had that "push" to do it. Until I read Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's post yesterday. She wrote that she saw a technique in THIS video and was desperate to try it, but couldn't because she is traveling. I understood that feeling so well - when you see something and you itch to try it immediately, but can't because you are at work, or have other stuff that must be done... 

I thought I should do it for her, because at that moment I was at home, had the time and the few materials needed for it. You will see it in the video - you need gloss medium (I used Liquitex Gloss Gel), some dimensional paint in a squeeze bottle (I had Scribbles 3D fabric paint), and a page protector.

 After letting it dry overnight, I was able to peal a thin (rather sticky) transparent layer of black scribbles. How fun!

You can put it over anything! Here it is just laid over the bird painting I'm working on. You can see the brush strokes clearly, but they will be lost once they are layered in a finished piece. This is just a quick example, the "I must do it now" kind of thing. I can only imagine how cool can it be with different colors, thought out shapes... 

I used pieces of it already, but am not done yet, so here is just a snippet of it.

Let me know in the comments if you ever used acrylic skins in your art.

How to make a quick sketch/collage combo (real-time video)

Did anyone try to do the 3 minute sketch? As I said, I doesn't have to be good... the looser the lines are, the more interesting the result. I think this is the longest video I posted (13 min). Probably because I did not speed it up. I wanted you to see how quick this is. (OK, I did speed it at the end, but only because I had to thread the needle and it took me forever and because looking at someone sew random patterns on paper really is not interesting.)

 Here is the YouTube link, in case your reader does not show the video (I use Feedly and sometimes I see videos, sometimes I don't).

I hope you'll like it!

Collage and Sketching Mix

Sometimes simple things bring simple, good joy. I sketched several faces, spending maybe 3 minutes on each, then I layered them with paper that was on my table, making a simple collage. 

Crayons, color pencils and casein paint were a fun way to add random patches of color.

Then I just "had to" pull out my sewing machine, dust it off and add more red to my collages. That was the part I didn't have the energy to do yesterday, and they somehow seemed unfinished without it.

I'm so happy when I spend time creating something :-)
The only question now is - what to do with them?  My studio is exploding with stuff I made...

Paper snippets

I started a fun little project, but have no energy to finish it today...

How many times can I use the same image?

I was really happy that so many downloaded my free collage sheet, and was curious to see what can I make using the images from it. 

The challenge I made up for myself was to create 10 different collages.

I used only the collage sheet (actually - several, I printed 3 copies), pages from a book, and materials that are always on hand (paint, markers, stamps, stencils).

This was fun! I loved it!

Painting over the image changed the character of the bird.

Here I added a cutout from another image to give the bird a second wing and used "ornaments" as parts for the tree.

Of course, I didn't throw away the bird that "lost" it's wing... 

Would you believe it - I made one without the birds! Surprised even myself :-)

I hope this gives you some inspiration, and would LOVE to see what you create.

Please share :)

xo

Cyber Monday Inspiration

This is the first day in two weeks that I have as much time as I want to create, and - would you believe it - I spent the good part of the morning not knowing what to do. I pulled out a big canvas, decided I don't have the energy for it, then I cut up some ATC sized cards and opened my watercolors... but it didn't really feel right, so I opened my collage drawer and smiled at the the images that I saw in.

Playing with collage sheets in journals is easy and fun. I looked at all the faces and they seemed to be waiting to be placed on colorful backgrounds.

Birds brighten any page and always make me happy, so I knew it will be fun to use them.

I thought that someone else might be inspired to play with collage sheets, so I'm joining Cyber Monday and putting them on SALE.

If you are a reader of my blog, you will get a collage sheet of your choice free for every $10 spent in my Etsy store. That means that for every two purchased collage sheets you get additional free one.

Even better - for a purchased digital kit I will send two collage sheets for free (not to mention the workshop - 5 free sheets!!!). I never had a sale like this, so if you ever wanted to play with my images - this is the perfect time to stock up.

My Cyber Monday will extend to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Just let me know that you are my blog reader in the etsy convo and pick your free collage sheets.

Happy Creating!