Not only is it National Craft Month, but today is International Women's Day, so it only makes sense to take some time to art today! I played around and used my ScanNCutDX to create a new piece of artwork for my studio. This a fun project to create, and you can customize it to your space. It’s also a great way to use up scraps of paper and fabric you have in your stash and would be fun to do in an art journal.

Supplies:

ScanNCutDX Machine and Accessories

12” x 12” Canvas

Gesso (optional)

Gel Medium

Glue Stick

12” x 12” Black Cardstock

8.5” x 11” Printer Paper

Paper Trimmer

Paper/Fabric Scraps, Book Pages

Foam Brush

Phrase Stickers

Instructions:

NOTE - I used my ScanNCutDX for this project, but other versions of ScanNCut will work too!

1. Apply Gesso to the canvas if desired. 

2. Adhere black cardstock to the standard cutting mat.

3. Load the mat into your ScanNCutDX. Select “Patterns,” then select the lacy icon and then select the lacy lady pattern (AR-O130).

4. Resize the pattern to 10.50” wide. Select “set” and then “ok.”

5. Select “cut” and “start” to begin cutting.

6. Unload the mat from the machine and carefully remove the cut pattern and remaining paper.

7. Select a variety of paper or fabric scraps to use on your project and tear them into small pieces.

8. On the back side of the lady diecut, use a glue stick to adhere scraps of paper, fabric, or magazines to the open sections of the pattern and allow to dry.

9. Cover a piece of printer paper with scraps of paper, fabric or magazines and allow to dry.

10. Cut five ½” x 11” strips of the collated paper.

Use gel medium to adhere the strips along the edge of the canvas about ¼” from the edge.

11. On the lady diecut, trim off any scrap papers that extend beyond the edge of the shape and then use gel medium to adhesive it to the center of the canvas. Allow to dry.

12. Add word sticker phrases to finish off the project.

But wait, there’s more…..

Bonus Project!

You still have some collaged papered left, so let’s turn that into a card.

Supplies:

ScanNCutDX Machine and Accessories

Collaged printer paper

Sentiment Stamp

Instructions:

1. Trim collaged paper to 8.5” x 4.25”

2. Fold your collaged paper in half like a card, noting where the center of the front of the card is. Select “ok.”  Choose a shape that will fit your stamp sentiment. For the example I choose the heart.

3. Adhere the collaged paper to the cutting mat and insert it into the machine. 

4. Press the “scan” icon to scan in the collage paper.

5. Move your shape onto the center of the front of the card. Select “cut” and “start” to begin cutting.

6. Remove the card and stamp the sentiment onto the inside of the card so it shows through the shape you cut out.

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony😉.)

How can we be in March already?  It's crazy.

Well, I cracked open the next month's mini art journal and got finished the first week and put together a quick flip through of it...including my trip to LACMA and a painting of my kitty. 

(Watch it on YouTube) 

You can check out February's art journal here.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

For 2017 I decided to try something a bit different for myself and work in smaller art journals every day. I did this so that I would get back in the habit of art journaling daily, which I got out of doing at the end of last year because I got so busy with work. By having it small (3.5" x 5.5") it's not too hard to squeeze something onto the page each day.  Now of course some days I could actually complete the page, other days I barely got something on, but the the point of creating a habit was a great one.

Here's a bit more about the art journals I'm using and what I did in February:

(click here to see it on YouTube)

Now I know you want to see more about the little journals I used. They are these Moleskine ones and they come in a set of 12, plus the box that keeps them all together...well, until I add my art to them and make them too big to stuff into the box!

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

This week the Gelatos^® Color of the Week is Metallic Blueberry and that beautiful shimmery blue color reminds me of winter so I went through my Gelatos stash and found some great colors that go with it to use for an art journaling page. Besides Metallic Blueberry, I choose Elderberry and Metallic Grape. 

First off, here's how the page turned out:

Supplies: Gelatos - Metallic Blueberry, Elderberry, Metallic Grape; Glass Bead Glitter Gel, Gel Medium, Gesso, PITT Artist Pens - Raw Umber #180, Black #199, Tag, White Cardstock, Patterned Papers, Wreath Diecut (download it for FREE right here), Sewing Machine Stitching, Brush, Pallet Knife, Bird Stamp, Ribbon

Here's what I did to create it.

I collaged some papers onto the page using Gel Medium. Once it was dry I scribbled my Metallic Blueberry Gelato over it.

 

I sprayed on a spritz of water and used a foam brush to move the Gelatos over the page.

 Next, I mixed together some Glass Bead Glitter Gel and Metallic Blueberry Gelatos.

I applied it with a pallet knife randomly all over the page.

 

Then I mixed the Glass Bead Glitter Gel with Elderberry Gelatos and applied it to the page as well.

 Then I did the same thing with  Glass Bead Glitter Gel and Metallic Grape Gelatos.

Doesn't that look so yummy!! I added a touch of just plain  Glass Bead Glitter Gel and let the whole page dry.

Next, I used my ScanNCut to cut out a wreath (which you can download for free HERE) out of wood veneer paper, white washed it with some diluted Gesso, and then added a bit of  Glass Bead Glitter Gel all over it.

 Next, I took one of my favorite bird stamps and rubbed the Metallic Blueberry Gelatos over it. Then (and this is where the magic happens) I huffed on it a few times.  -You know, the way you do to fog up your glasses or a window. Then I stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock.   I love using the MISTI to stamp with since if the image wasn't dark enough I'd repeat the same process on top of it and it lines up perfectly!

 

I used a Raw Umber #180 PITT Artist Pen to color the bird's legs on the stamp and then stamped them onto the paper.

 

I repeated that process to create 3 birds.

 Next, I took an XS tip Black #199 PITT Artist Pen and made sketch marks around the birds.

And lastly, I printed out a nice wintery saying onto a tag and added the left over  Glass Bead Glitter Gel + Elderberry mixture around the edges.  After everything was dry I assembled it all together, adding some stitching on the bottom of the tag.

Wishing you many creative days this New Year!

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Faber-Castell and Brother ScanNCut to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony). 

Autumn is my favorite time of year, even if in CA it still feels like summer! 

Now, I'm not a big Halloween person, but I do love pumpkins, and cats, and crows, so I decided I'd do an art journal page about that and I used this week's Gelatos^® color of the week: Black Licorice.

I started off by sketching out my design...I wanted to keep it in more of a folk art style than a scary Halloween one.

Next, I chopped off a bit of Mango Gelatos and a tiny bit of the Cinnamon. I mashed those up and combined them with some Glass Bead Glitter Gel. 

I used that to "paint" in my pumpkin, leaving the features unpainted. 

Next I combined the Black Licorice Gelatos and the Glass Bead Glitter Gel and filled in the cat and the crow.

To make the marks on the crow's tail, the cat's whiskers, and mouth I just took a sharp pencil and drew through the Gelatos/Glass Bead Glitter Gel mixture while it was still wet.

I also mixed up a tiny bit of Watermelon Gelatos and Glass Bead Glitter Gel to fill in the ears and nose on the cat  and for the pumpkin stem I used Iced Chai Gelatos and Glass Bead Glitter Gel. Once it was all filled in I then I let the whole page dry completely before starting in on the background. Now I knew I wanted to have a darker background, but I also wanted to be able to see the cat and the crow so for the first layer I used the following Gelatos: Snow Cone, Boysenberry, and Metallic Grape.

I used a baby wipe that I had squeezed out as much of the liquid out of as possible to blend out the Gelatos.

After that was dry I added the Black Licorice Gelatos on top of it and blended it out as well.

I than outlined the cat and crow with a Black #199 PITT Artist Pen, and the pumpkin with a Dark Sepia #175.  I filled in all the details on the crow, cat, and pumpkin. I then got the idea to add some patterns to the background. Now, because of the waxy finish to the Gelatos you're not able to write on top of it with the finer tipped PITT Artist Pens very easily so I brushed on a thin layer of Gel Medium to seal it in so I could add those details.

I wish you could see the glitter and texture on this page "in real life!" It's really neat!

Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received  products from Faber-Castell to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony).