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Imagine Embroidered Garland

June 3, 2017 / / 4 Comments

Hello Everyone!

Do you feel like your creative space is always neglected, like it is a just a cluttered room that has no real style? I do, all the time. I go and work in my craft room and then leave. There is constant disorganization and no real style in my room.

So, I decided to make this embroidered garland to hang over my window. (I am not showing you my window because I don’t even have a window treatment covering it, just a Transformers sheet that was my son’s. Pretty sad, right?) I am putting the skills I learned in my embroidery class to good use.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

 

The first thing I did was cut out my word out of felted wool. (I found a font I liked and printed the word I wanted to embroider). Then I did a different embroidery stitch on each letter. I really liked how it was all a little different, yet unified.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Then I started adding ribbon and lace and bits and bobs to a piece of burlap. I was going for a shabby chic look, that was monochromatic, and I think I came pretty close. Hot glue is your friend in this step, everything is hot glued down.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Next I added all the words to a string, leaving space between each letter. In the space I added ribbon, and charms and anything else I could find. I think it turned out really cute, perfect for the blank, boring spot above my window.

 

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Here is a close up of all the letters. Each letter is a little different, but similar enough to belong together.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

I am in love with this embroidered garland, and it is the perfect start to decorating my craft room. I am looking forward to creating not only a creative, crafty space, but a welcoming one as well.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

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Mixed Media Class with Tara Pappas

May 20, 2017 / / 2 Comments

Hello Everyone!

If you ever get the chance to take a class from a professional artist, you should jump at the chance! You will learn so many new tips, tricks, and techniques.

BTW This is not a paid or sponsored post, all opinions are my own. I paid for the class with my own money.

During my weekend at Mojito Creek (you can see my post about the retreat here: Mojito Creek) I was able to take a class from Tara Pappas! If you don’t know of her work you should check her out on her website: Tara Pappas. She is an amazing mixed media artist that creates these beautiful, whimsical, fun paintings.  I have admired her for a while and when I found out that she was teaching at Mojito Creek I had to jump at the chance to learn from her!

I purchased this print and I love it! Penguins playing with the Narwal, it is fantastic! I think I need a few more prints for all my walls!

The first step is prepping the canvas board. She uses ripped up old books or magazines and Mod Podges them to the canvas.  I love how this creates texture and interest in the first layer.

Mixed media art

For the rocky cliff that my lighthouse is standing on I ripped up old magazines and attached them with Mod Podge.   The ripping of magazines and books is awesome. I love how it enhances the paintings. This is something that I don’t in my paintings.

But before I added the rocks I first painted the sky blue. I didn’t want to cover all the book pages so I lightly swirled on a couple of colors in acrylic paint and wiped off some with a paper towel.  Then I added the rocks.

I drew the lighthouse! I am actually pretty excited about that. It isn’t perfect, but it was my first time drawing one! Tara was very encouraging and supportive when I told her I was going to draw the lighthouse!

Then I painted the lighthouse and then added the light coming from the lighthouse. That is just cut up magazines. The swirls were added with a paint marker. The bear the boat is one of Tara’s characters. She had some fantastic characters that we were able to use in our paintings, I love how generous she is with her work and time. After painted the bear he was the perfect addition.  I really love how this turned out.

Mixed media art

Ahh the ship, let me tell you a little story about this painting, haha. This was actually my first painting. She taught us about the ripping of book pages, then she mentioned that we can make texture and water, then I was off, haha. I just went to town making this ship. This is the only in progress pic I took, sorry about that.

The water is made from the tissue paper in old patterns, and I just painted over it. The sky is painted with acrylic paint and blended. The ship is drawn on old books (my first time drawing a ship!) and painted with metallic paints. In fact the whole drawing is done with metallic paints.

Even though it looks nothing like what Tara was teaching us, she was so supportive and encouraging for me to just keep on doing my thing! 

I added the quote and I am very happy with how it turned out. Such a great class and I love how all the paintings (not just my paintings, but all the students) turned out a little different.

So if you get a chance to take a class from Tara I highly encourage it! I learned a lot and I can’t wait to incorporate some of the new techniques into my art. 
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Metallic Mixed Media Box

April 29, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Metallic Mixed Media Box

A mixed media box is great for storage and display. Using basic mixed media techniques you can have a beautiful and useful box.

Hello Everyone!

In case you missed my class at my local creative reuse center, Who Gives a Scrap, I thought I would share with you one of the project I did. It was a beginning mixed media class that was tons of fun to teach and the participants were awesome! I loved seeing the creativity and individually of all the projects.

mixed media box

One of the challenges of teaching at a creative reuse center is trying to use items that you can find, which makes a mixed media project perfect. I prepped my box ahead of the class, but I used items that I found there. The sky is the limit with a box like this.

mixed media box

The first thing I did is find a small canvas for everyone to work with. I found these boxes that had old film canisters in it, these came from a university that was just going to throw them away. I am glad that that they didn’t pitch them. The box is about 6×6 and is a perfect size for beginners to work on, not to big to be intimidating, but not too small to be frustrating.

For the background I took tissue paper from old patters (I must really love old patterns I seem to use them all the time, lol. You can see the rose I made for my mom here: Tissue Paper Rose). I used Mod Podge and crinkled everything up and glued it down. Once it is all dry cover the background with black gesso.
mixed media box

Then I found buttons, and beads, and a knob that I really liked. So I hot glued it all the the box. You could use a gel to glue it down, but I wanted it to dry fast so I used hot glue.  Once I got it all down I painted clear gesso over everything so I could paint the smooth surfaces.
mixed media box

I love metallic paints! I used them all the time. For this project I just dry brushed the metallic paints on, highlighting the peaks and the valleys stayed black. If you don’t gesso then the paint won’t stick to the smooth buttons and beads. mixed media box

After dry brushing the paints i was done. The project was easy enough for beginners, but more advanced crafters could really go to town. I had a great time and I can’t wait to teach my next class!
mixed media box
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Tissue Paper Rose

April 21, 2017 / / 5 Comments

Tissue Paper Rose

Use the tissue paper in old patterns to create a beautiful tissue paper rose. 

Hello Everyone!

Last weekend was my beautiful mother’s birthday! She is such an important part of my life and I wanted to express that with a handmade gift.

I created this tissue paper rose for her and gave it to her last weekend when we went to lunch and shopping to celebrate!

diy tissue paper rose

I created a video to go along with the tutorial, you can see that here:  You Tube Tissue Paper Rose Tutorial

This was so much fun to create, and it was my first time doing something like this and I am happy with how it turned out.

Materials:

BTW this list contains affiliate links.

Instructions: 

First prep the canvas board with gesso. I chose black gesso to give me a clean slate.

Get the tissue paper ready by ripping the tissue paper and rolling it into a tight strip.

diy tissue paper rose

Roll the strips into a tight circle and glue it down in a spiral. Try and keep it all tight and keep going until you get the size you like.

Make the stems by using the strips in a swirl motion. The leaves were made from a short strip with one end slightly trimmed in a rounded shape.

diy tissue paper rose

Next I put a layer of black gesso on everything.

No photo here: Then I decided that the black was too dark for the center of my rose so I painted over the black with white gesso

Then I added glass bead texture to the outside of the rose.

diy tissue paper rose

Here is where I got really bad at taking photos, lol. But you can see the process in the video

I painted the rose with 2 colors of pink and the background is a light blue to a dark blue to a purple.

I tried to stamp the background with some images but I didn’t love that so I mostly covered that back up.

Then add mod podge and adhere the mica flakes. The mica flakes add so much dimension and sparkle!

diy tissue paper rose

Dry brush a light shimmery white over everything and spray a sealer on when you are done.

It makes a wonderfully sparkly gift that was tons of fun to make. 

diy tissue paper rose

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This post contains affiliate links.

You Tube Channel and Yarn Bowl

April 1, 2017 / / 2 Comments

YouTube Channel and Yarn Bowl

Creating a yarn bowl is a great way to use up all you scraps of yarn. 

Hello Everyone!

I am so excited to tell you that I have just started my You Tube Channel! As of today there is only one video, lol, but I will be adding more as the days go by. It is so fun to show you more with my videos and it will help my explain some of my processes better! I will also be videoing some of my art journals and hauls and all kinds of other things.

I would love for you to subscribe to my channel here: Take Time To Create You Tube Channel

Now on to the craft of the week.

Yarn Bowl

This is a pretty easy project that is similar to the leaf bowl that I made a few months ago. You can see that video here: Leaf bowl

Take any bowl with a shape that you like and wrap it with plastic wrap.

Yarn Bowl

Get your yarn ready by cutting it into smaller pieces if you want, I used pieces that were about a foot or more long. This is really up to you how you want your bowl to look. Then I used a lot of Mod Podge to glue it all down. In the future I won’t be using Mod Podge, I don’t think it holds the finished bowl stiff enough.

I think I am going to try Aleene’s Tacky Glue for my next bowl. I have seen on Pinterest where people heat up a glue mixture for their yarn bowl but since I don’t get along with my oven I am trying to stay away from that process, lol.  I will let you know hw my experiments go.

Yarn Bowl

Let it dry completely and carefully remove it from the bowl. Reshape as necessary. So very cute! 
 Yarn Bowl

What other ways do you use up your yarn scraps?

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Teacup Embroidery Kindle Cover

February 25, 2017 / / 1 Comment

Teacup Embroidery Kindle Cover

Embellishing your Kindle cover with an embroidered teacup motif is a great way to personalize your cover 

Hello Everyone!

I think almost everyone has a favorite item, something that goes with them everywhere they go. For me it is my Kindle. I have had many Kindles and I love everyone one (I will say that there needs to be some improvement to the reader app, but that is a discussion for another day) I take my Kindle everywhere I go and any time I have a minute I open it up and read.

With something that I enjoy so much I thought it needed a better cover than just  a plain black one.

teacup embroidery

If you remember from a previous post I am taking an embroidery class at the Loopy Ewe. You can see my other project here: Embroidery Elephant. I am loving this class and I am learning a ton of things. For this practice project I wanted to do something a little different so I decided to embellish my Kindle cover. 

I found these great patterns at Urban Threads! I have to say they have the best patterns, so creative and they seem to have something for almost every project I need to do. For this project I actually used 2 patterns and combined them to what you see here.

teacup embroidery

The tentacles needed to have a little more detail added so I stitched on these beads. I think they were the perfect touch for this project.

teacup embroidery

I have been really enjoying creating new thing and learning a new skill. This has been a great class to help me expand my horizons and explore a new hobby. I can’t wait to show you what I make in the next class!

The post Teacup Embroidery Kindle Cover appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Galaxy Mixed Media Canvas

February 16, 2017 / / 5 Comments

Galaxy Mixed Media Canvas

Mixed media is perfect to showcase a galaxy. With found objects, and paint you too can create your own galaxy.

Hello Everyone!

It has been a while since I last posted, and I am sorry for the long absence, I was traveling for work.

But now I am back and  want to show you a mixed media project that I have been working on for a while. It didn’t turn out how I anticipated, but I love the final results! I just went with the flow and this is what I ended up with.

galaxy mixed media canvas

Start with a black canvas and add all your goodies. I added an old educational film, some plastic bits I had laying around, large plastic gems, metal pieces, bottle caps, there is an old record on the very bottom, plastic coins. For interest and texture I stenciled some stars and swirls in the background and added some tea from a tea bag.

 

galaxy mixed media canvas

Cover everything in black gesso to get the canvas ready to become a galaxy

galaxy mixed media canvas

Before I even started painting I watched tons of videos on You Tube on how to paint a galaxy. I incorporated a variety of techniques, and I kept working on it until I was happy.

Then I went to town painting. I added layers and layers of  acrylic paint and used some DIY acrylic sprays. When I was finally happy I splattered white paint all over to make it look like stars. And I added some metal shavings and old necklace pieces to bring in some more metal elements.

I am not sure it looks like a galaxy, about half the people I have shown it to thinks it looks like the moon. I am good with both views, in the end I am happy with how it turned out.

galaxy mixed media canvas

galaxy mixed media

What do you think Galaxy or Moon? Now I have been thinking about doing an underwater mixed media, I think what will look awesome!

The post Galaxy Mixed Media Canvas appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Project has been entered into the following design challenges:

 

Create Mixed Media Canvas

January 28, 2017 / / 3 Comments

Create Mixed Media Canvas

Old paint brushes are given a new lift with this Create Mixed Media Canvas

Hello Everyone!

Have you ever been so involved with a project that you forget to take pictures as you care creating? I think that is a good thing, it means that you are enjoying the creating process and not worried about how it will look in a photo.

This happened to me with this canvas. I know this is not perfect when I am trying to teach you how I created something, but it was good for me to spend time with my art.

I used my favorite mixed media techniques. You can view my other Mixed Media projects here:

create mixed media canvas

I painted the blank canvas with black gesso then stenciled the swirls in the background.

For the Doily I sprayed it with different colors of spray ink to create this look.

The paint brushes were old ones that I had in my craft room, to prep them paint them with black gesso and then dry brush metallic colors.

I added flowers, jems and butterflies, (the butterflies are actually plastic bows from the dollar store that I cut off the ends and added beads)

create mixed media canvas

I added the glitter word Create and outlined it in black. Then I dry brushed everything in a few metallic colors.

I love this mixed media, it inspires me in my craft room. What have  you made for your craft room that inspires you?

create mixed media canvas

 

The post Create Mixed Media Canvas appeared first on Take Time To Create

 

 

 

DIY Harry Potter Drawstring Backpack

January 25, 2017 / / 0 Comments

DIY Harry Potter Drawstring Backpack

A trip to Universal Studios isn’t complete with out this DIY Harry Potter Drawstring Backpack!

Hello Everyone!

Next month we will have the opportunity to go to Universal Studios Hollywood!!!  I am so excited! In great anticipation I decided to make a Harry Potter drawstring backpack that will be perfect to carry my wallet, camera, and sunglasses.  I decided to use this simple design that I found on the internet. Everyone know what book this is in reference to without being to obvious, lol

I have made drawstring backpacks before, you can see that post here: Cinderella backpack

My son is such a good sport being my model, lol.

 

 

 

diy harry potter drawstring backpack

Materials:

  • backpack (you can find a similar one here: bag)
  • Gold Sharpie (you can find it here: sharpie)
  • Graphite paper (you can find it here: paper)
  • Clip art from internet

Instructions:

The first thing you do is find an image that you would like to trace (just about any image will do) and print it in the size you need.

Spread out your bag and decide where you want your design.

 

diy harry potter drawstring backpack

Place the graphite paper on the bag then place the image over the graphite. Trace the image with a pencil so that the image will show up on the bag. Press hard and do over it a few times if needed.

diy harry potter drawstring backpack

Once you like the image take the papers off and set them aside.

Put a piece of cardboard in the bag to prevent the sharpie from bleeding to the other side

Now it is time to start drawing the image with a sharpie.

diy harry potter drawstring backpack

Fill it all in  and clean up the edges. Now you are ready to rock your new bag, and you don’t have to wait to wear it at Universal, this is a bag that can be worn all the time!


 diy harry potter drawstring backpack

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DIY Chess Clock

January 17, 2017 / / 4 Comments

DIY Chess Clock

A  DIY chess clock is a great gift to give your chess loving kid, or keep it for yourself, it will look great in any room.

Hello Everyone!

My son had his 16th birthday on Sat! Where did that time go? I am sure that all moms ask that same question, but it is so true. Time just goes too fast and when they hit 16 you know that they are almost grown.  *tears* He will always be my baby, even though he is taller than me. lol.

This year I wanted to make him a gift that he would really enjoy.  He loves to play chess! It is one of his favorite hobbies, so I thought a Chess Clock would be right up his alley.

DIY Chess Clock

Materials

  • Chess pieces
  • canvas board, paint
  • clock kit
  • glue

Instructions:

First thing I did was paint the canvase board in a gradient, with it being lighter in the center. I used a few of the cheap acrylic colors from the craft store. My son tends to like things on the simpler side, so I didn’t do my usual bling and mixed media. (he was grateful that I restrained, lol)

Once everything was dried add the clock kit to the center of the canvas.

paint the canvas board on DIY Chess Clock

For the chess pieces I added a circle of paper to the whole in the bottom. The pieces I used were just random ones that I had, no I didn’t steal any from my son, lol.

seal the bottom of the game pieces on DIY Chess Clock

Then you glue the chess pieces to the canvas board. Try and do it in a circle. I did the best I could, but I think next time I will make a template to make it easier. But overall I think it looks great.

glue chess pieces to DIY chess clock

He loved it! I am glad that he enjoyed his gift! This would be cute with other game pieces like dominoes or checkers! Let your imagination go wild.

DIY Chess Clock

the post DIY Chess Clock appeared first on Take Time To Create.

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