Lost Art Creations

A2Z Art Journal RR 2019 ~ May

My inspiration for my pages for Peej's book are paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. He built his portraits of people using all natural elements; flowers, vegetables and grains - SO cool!

Peej's theme is 'If The Shoe Fits - Wear it!'

Here are a couple examples of Arcimboldo's work:

For the backgrounds I started by painting the pages with Gold Gesso. Once dry I used two different stencils with two different mediums, Transparent Matte Paste & Grit Paste and set them aside to dry.

For all the foliage and flowers I used Distress Inks, Distress Oxides & Perfect Pearls spray on watercolor paper. Once dry I stamped script randomly over the papers with Archival Inks. Once the papers were thoroughly dry I backed each piece with double sided adhesive sheets (Elizabeth Craft sheets die cut the best) and went to TOWN die cutting tons of foliage, leaves and flowers using Impression Obsession and Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies. The die cutting alone took 2 days!!

Back to the backgrounds, once the pastes were dry I smooshed and smeared Fresco Paints over the pages. Using a slightly dampened paper towel I carefully wiped away the paint over the surface of the transparent paste revealing the gold gesso underneath. The grit paste sucked up the paint so I went over the surface of that medium with an antique brass soft wax to highlight that pattern.

For the shoe base I found photos online to use as my 'models' and drew them out, painted them and cut them out. I used paper scraps for the inside and soul of each shoe.

Next came building each shoe with all the foliage & flower die cuts, cutting and snipping the dies as needed. I wasn't going to do any bling but the flowers were screaming at me for centers - so there ya go!

The vintage image of the wood nymph fit the faerie-like quality of the shoes, plus she is a favorite for me. And I had to give a little nod to Laboutin's shoes, but instead of a red under sole and heel I chose Cerise Pink. I hope Peej likes my contribution to her book!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom as well as all my other friends and family who are moms - including any furbaby moms (like me) out there!

The card I made for my mom this year is very different. Not your typical cardstock folded in the middle card. It is a tunnel card which is 3-D. It was SUPPOSED to be able to be flattened for mailing but I guess I added too many layers - LOL! Oh well! Into a small box it went for mailing!

The card base is a Thinlit die from Sizzix. Pretty much everything else is a Tim Holtz product from the inks (regular & Oxide Distress), cutting dies, paperdolls, ephemera bits & stamps.

A2Z Art Journal RR 2019 ~ March

OK, this is the second time I've had to do this post. After I saved & scheduled it, it went Poof!! So for March I got Diane H's book to work in. The book itself is just gorgeous! Completely made from handmade paper with beautiful, naturally deckled edges. Her theme is Autumn Moments. Basically anything to do with the Fall season goes. Because of the way the pages/artwork fell there were 3 pages together. We are only required to do one 2-page spread. I just couldn't leave that blank page, plus I had two very distinct ideas I wanted to try so I did all three pages.

My theme I chose is Halloween - sort of. It's actually more about Edgar Allen Poe who died in the month of October. First I typed and printed out two different poems by EA Poe, folded and fashioned them onto prepared black tags. They tuck into hidden pockets behind two of the pages once the artworks are in the book.

For the two page spread backgrounds I used deli paper that had been painted & stenciled from a class I took at Art & Soul with Jacqueline Sullivan. I did add a bit more stenciling to the surface of the deli paper once it was attached to a heavy cardstock on the right page. I die cut all the black pieces I would need for all three pages. Several pieces I heat embossed with black embossing powder - The hanger, lantern & scary cat.  All the dies I used are from Tim Holtz/Sizzix. For the vines I used Tim's new Tangled Twigs die, cutting two. It presents itself as a background with a border. I simply snipped and pieced together the twigs to create the vines.

The words are die cut from a black glitter cardstock that is paper backed, so it cuts like a dream! A lot of glitter papers on the market are plastic backed and don't die cut well at all. Trust me on that one! I love how it adds just a bit of sparkle to the page!

For the third, stand alone page I created a background using Canva Paper from Canson (it has a fabulous linen texture!) I used painting, stenciling and heat embossing techniques I recently learned from Seth Apter's online class through Stencilgirl. It was SO out of my comfort zone but I LOVED it and I learned SO much! After painting & stenciling the paper I cut out a circle slightly larger than the Moonlit Owl die, Which I had cut out of black cardstock. I finished it by backing with more painted Deli paper, added Boo cut out of gold glitter paper and a bit of white Stabilo pencil to add highlights and - Voila! Done! Next I glued the scary cat to a branch on the page.

Now for the leaves. Oh! The leaves! I had so much fun creating these! Not only did I use regular alcohol inks and coated cardstock I also used Rangers new Pearl Alcohol Inks and Sparkle cardstock for alcohol inks.  OMG! The pearl effects are SO lovely and completely different from the Mixatives.  I die cut all those leaves (and then some) and edged them with Ground Espresso Archival Ink. Next I built up the bottom of the page with all the prepared leaves, bending and forming some as I went for texture & interest. The goal was to have the bottom of the page look like the forest floor in October.

Hopefully goal achieved and Diane likes what I did for her book. Now for April's book!

A2Z Art Journal RR 2019 ~ January

Long time, no see! Since I've been out recovering from knee replacement surgery I've been trying to catch up on stuff. Art projects, Netflix, reading and, yes, blog posts. Right after Christmas we started up another year long round robin of art journals. A couple new players. All great themes and journal structures - not all are typical books which certainly adds to the challenge.

The first book I worked in was the last book I worked in for the last round; Deborah K's book. She decided to continue the theme of Art & Wisdom. Her challenge is to work in whatever medium is striking one's fancy at the moment and include at least one quote, poem, bible verse or words of wisdom on your spread.

I was playing with gelliprints and stencils at the time so that what I did. Pulling prints from the gelliplate, but also using the small shaped gelliplates like a stamp for additional layers, patterns and colors. I might have gotten a bit carried away but overall I'm happy with the results. You know I have to add that collage element and because the backgrounds were so busy I went with really large images so they wouldn't get lost in the overall design. Then added a bit of bling with gold, German dresden and some antique lace from my stash to finish off the pages.

The Last Tiny House Swap ~ Haunted Houses!

A year of Tiny House Swaps has come to an end. Tomorrow is the last swap for these babies. And while I enjoyed creating them, I'll be glad to get back to the ATC format with the next swap. Personally I couldn't WAIT to do the September swap. I KNEW I had to do a Haunted Houses kit and that's what I did. I mostly used the kit to create these, but I did add A LOT of Tim Holtz products (papers, Ideology, Sizzix & Ranger). I also used several of Seth Apter's Baked Textures Embossing Powders. I especially LOVE Vintage Beeswax!

Several people have asked how I build these little houses, so here's how: Tim Holtz's Tiny House die from Sizzix. It's a Bigz die and has both sizes on it. For the openings and bases I used Tim's Sized Ovals & Sized Circle dies (these are Mover & Shaker dies). Attaching the roofs was a bit of a challenge so I developed a system of tabs to make it SOOOOO much easier - and it works for the bases too! Here is a link to the blog post with all the details: Tiny Roofs.

Larger Houses

Smaller Tiny Houses

Her image is especially spooky thanks to a bit of mica in the frame

The ultimate bone collector and master of the genre; Edgar Allen Poe

A little toxic potion?

Nothing like a little Vampire Blood to stay young!

That's it for now! I can't wait to see what everybody created with this theme!

Happy Creating!

T

 

A2Z3 Art Journal RR ~ Deborah K

Deborah's is the last book I work in for this Round Robin. Her theme is to create a spread using current techniques/products that you are working on/with. Oh! And include at least one quote that 'speaks to you'. She also wanted each artist to do one page including photos of our work space and a selfie (eek!). It's funny I thought that would be the most difficult page to do. I hate doing things that feature ME so in typical Terrie fashion I worked on the Selfie page first - to get it over with. Turns out it wasn't that bad and came together pretty easily. I just used a couple Stencil Girl stencils with black metallic paint on black paper. The photos are matted onto 2-sided patterned paper as some of the photos flip up. I added a few hand written notes. I don't have 'font worthy' writing, but it's mine.

The other three pages are done using techniques I learned in Gwen LaFleur's class that I took at The Papercraft Clubhouse in June. Love all the layers it creates - some more obvious, some kinda hidden. I also did a see-through shaker window with frames I fashioned to look like Daguerreotype frames using Metallic cardstock, stamped images and gold & copper Dresden 'aged' with black paint. Most of the stencils I used are from the monthly Stencil Girl Club. You can only get these stencils if you belong to the club. I used a combo of the June & July sets. The paints I used are a Matte finish. I also used Tim Holtz collage papers (Botanical is turning out to be a favorite!) and Distress Oxide Inks and Distress Paints. I also used rubber stamps from both Stamp Camp & Tim Holtz.

This quote speaks to me so much I've said it over and over. Not sure who said it first but it's generally credited to Audrey Hepburn.

That's it for this round! Can't wait to get my own book back. Now to think about the next Round Robin! What kind of book to use? What will my theme be? Will it be a narrow or broad theme? Hmmmm....

Thanks for stopping by!

T

 

 

Art Catch-Up Post

It's been quite awhile since I have posted to this blog. Last post was in March! It's been a crazy few months (in good and not so good ways), but I was creating throughout. I've been tending to post more and more to Instagram so if you want to see what I've been making (both in the studio and in the kitchen) in a more timely fashion you can follow me on Instagram. Just search my name: Terrie Lightfoot.

So this is going to be a very long, photo heavy post so if you make it all the way to the end - Congratulations and THANK YOU!

Mother & Father's Day cards and Jackie's birthday card

My pages for Peej's A2Z journal. Her theme is the Artful Quotation

My pages for Lisa's A2Z journal. Her theme is Friendly Monsters

My pages for Carolyn's Book. Her theme is Christmas

July Tiny House Trades

May Tiny House Trades

That's All she wrote - for now! Thanks for visiting!

A2Z3 Art Journal RR ~ Diane H

This month I had Diane H's book to work in. Her theme is Celestial/Angels. For her pages I tried a new technique and revisited an old technique using a new product. I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks to create the backgrounds for the first spread: It's called a Galaxy Background and it's from Jennifer McGuire. She has a video on her YouTube on how to do it.

The moons & stars are die cut from Grungebord using a Bigz die from Sizzix/Tim Holtz. I painted them then coated them. The stars with Glossy Accents. The moons with Tim's Crazing Medium.  The quote base is also die cut and painted to look like enameling. After stamping the quote I applied 3 layers of UTEE, but found that it was cracking so I coated that with Glossy Accents as well so none of the 'bits' would fall off. I added a few more tiny silver star stickers to the pages all around the bigger stars to (hopefully) give some depth.

For the second spread I used German scrap that I bought in Barcelona Spain last year. As soon as I knew Diane's theme I put them aside to use in her book! For the background I collaged vintage foreign text with Matte Medium. The images are stamped on Tim Holtz's new collage paper using archival inks. The problem in the past with this technique is finding tissue paper thin enough so it won't create a 'ghost edge'. This paper worked BEAUTIFULLY! No ghosting here!  I finished the spread with gold German Dresden trims.

The stamps are from Red Lead Paperworks, Impression Obsession and the church I'm not sure who it's by but it reminded me of Notre Dame in Paris. Oh! And I did rub some metallic Distress Crayons around a bit so the background wouldn't be so Beige!

That's it for this month. The next book I get to work in is Diane S's and her theme is Trees! Hmmmmm.....

 

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Tutorial: Tiny House Roofs

My friends and I have loved working with the Tiny House die from Sizzix/ Tim Holtz - so much that my local ATC Swap group decided to do a year of Tiny House swaps instead of ATCs. But those pesky roofs! Short of using a TON of tacky glue there didn't seem to be a way to securely attach them! Recently I decided to make my houses from fabric and I was afraid that a ton of glue would bleed into the fabric, making them not so pretty. So I had to come up with a plan to attach the roof to each house without using glue on the fabric/Peltex sandwich. And I did. It works so well in fact that this is how I will attach the roofs going forward! It also works great with cardstock, chipboard and matboard.

 

Tiny Houses made from fabric

 

 

In my previous post a spoke a bit about it. Now I have pictures that will hopefully make the technique a bit clearer. It also works great to attach the tiny house to a base if you choose to put them on bases - just attach that tab first and attach house to the base with glue or strong doublestick tape BEFORE attaching the roof tabs and roof.

So here goes!

Start by cutting heavy cardstock (I used 110lb watercolor paper) into 1" x 2" pieces. You'll need two for each house, plus one more if you want to put your house on a base.

Next, make two score marks 1/2" in as shown above. Bend them at the score marks and attach 3/8" strong doublestick tape (I like Elizabeth Crafts or Sookwang) to each folded end of the tab as shown below.

Remove the carrier paper from one side only and attach to the edge of the top of the house so that the tab is flush or SLIGHTLY above the roofline of the house.

Attach the other side of the tab, reaching in with a finger to make sure it's firmly attached. Repeat on the other side of the roofline.

Once both tabs are attached you can either use a 1" wide doublestick tape or Tacky Glue (my preference) on the tabs and press the roof into place. If using glue just hold in place for a minute. NOTE: With the smaller tiny house you will need to trim off the corners of the tabs so it fits properly.

That's it! So now, when making these tiny houses you won't dread attaching the roof. Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions about the process and I will try to help you.

 

 

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March Village

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This past weekend I finished up my Tiny Houses for the next swap later this month. This month's theme is Early Spring, Easter and St Patrick's Day. All of these houses are created using the Tiny House Bigz die from Tim Holtz. These were a bit of an experiment and it mostly worked - Woohoo! Typically the houses are made of paper and board, but for this month I decided to try it with fabric. I found heavy duty Peltex at Hobby Lobby in Warwick RI. It's a very stiff, thick decorator's interfacing. The Peltex I found happened to be a two sided fusible - perfect! I simply ironed my fabric of choice to one side and plain muslin to the other. Then I ran it through the Vagabond using a regular cutting pad under the die and a crease pad on top. I did find that I had to use an xacto knife to finish the cutting. This was preferable to when I used two regular cutting pads - the crease lines ended up getting cut about half way through the sandwich - not good!

The white edges of the house pieces didn't matter but it bothered me on the roof pieces so I inked the edges of the roofs with Archival Ink. For the images I did gel transfers onto muslin as they were originally printed on paper. I really wanted to do more hand stitching but stitching through the gel transfers did a job on my fingers. They were very difficult to stitch through. This was probably the only fail of the whole project. I did machine stitch all the images to the house bases. Then I machine stitched the house bases together on one side using a modified zig zag stitch. I alternately stitched all the other edges with straight & zig zag stitches. This made stitching the other long edge of the house easier, which has to be done by hand. This completes the house part. Then I was able to go to town decorating and finishing each house. Most of the elements were included in the kit. I try to make full use of every kit for each swap.

 

Fronts of the larger houses

 

Backs of the larger houses

  The bases for each house were die cut using the Sized Ovals from Tim Holtz then I used Transparent Matte Texture Paste (Ranger Industries) and Tim's stencils. Once dry I colored the bases with Archival Inks. The reason I chose Archival over Distress Inks is because I was afraid that the Distress Inks would 'wick' into the fabrics if they got wet or in a humid environment.

 

I stopped at this point because I needed to figure out a way to attach the roofs to the houses and the houses to the bases securely. After lots of thought, and working it out in my head I decided that tabs were the way to go. I used 110lb watercolor paper because I wanted the tabs to be stiff and sturdy. I cut three tabs for each house that measured 1" x 1 1/2". Then using a scoreboard, score 1/4" tabs on each end of the 1 1/2" length - so when folded you end up with a 1" square that has two 1/4" tabs. Clear as mud? I hope I explained that OK because this method will also work great with the paper & board houses!  So two of the tabs were glued onto the roofline - one on each side of the peak and the 1" square part flat and level with the roofline. The third tab is placed on the bottom of the house in a similar way. I did the base tabs first and glued the houses to the bases by applying tacky glue to the tab and then pressing the tab and base together. Once that set up after a few minutes I applied tacky glue to the roofline bases and pressed the roof in place, making sure the roof was in contact with the tabs. Simply hold in place for a minute or two to make sure the roof is glued to the tabs. With the next swap I try to remember to take pictures and then share a real tutorial of my method. It worked perfectly!

 

Fronts of smaller houses

 

Backs of smaller houses

That's it for now! Happy Creating!

 

T

 

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