DIY modeling paste

I love to buy art supplies, but I also like to save money on some supplies in order to spend more money on things I love, like stamps!!!  I started making my own modeling paste about 12 years ago, and while the recipe has changed a bit, the homemade modeling paste thing is still working out just great for me.  I keep it in a marshmallow creme glass jar and it will stay good for a long time. I have tinted the paste with paints and I have thickened and thinned it as needed.  Here is not only my recipe but also some samples.  This stuff dries hard and looks a little gritty.  It takes paints or sprays well too!  

I use a 1/8 measuring cup because it is what I have in my craft stash.  I have tried variations so I will list those in the ingredients too.

2 of the 1/8th cups full of school glue (can also use clear glue which is normally what I use)

3 of the 1/8th cups of white paint (I usually use Apple Barrel because it is cheap)

6 of the 1/8th cups of baking soda (I buy this in bulk at Sam's and use if for cleaning, cooking and crafting)

I wrote the recipe a bit odd in case you want to use a different type of cup, you would still use the 2/3/6 measuring of whatever type of cup you use.  I don't remember where I first learned this breakdown, but it has served me well for a long time.  

 Prior to this one, I used this recipe that I did a write-up on years ago, check it out because it worked fabulously too. 

There are literally tons of modeling paste recipes on the internet, don't be afraid to try one and give some dimension to your art journal, cards or cards.  

The entryway table

Since we moved into this house I have been on the lookout for "new to me" furniture that I could turn into a work of art.  My friend, Marcia, and her husband, Bobby had a truckload of furniture.  Some of this furniture needed help.  When Marcia saw this she knew this was something I was looking for and was she ever right!!  I knew instantly what I would do.  Another friend of mine has an Americana entryway table and I wanted to do my own little version because my living room is all about America and travels. The table was a drop leaf table, one side worked perfectly, but the other not at all, I think that is ok because I am using it as an entryway table and not a regular table.  I dreamed of painting the flag on one of the drop-downs and on the other side I planned to do another painting just in case I wanted to change the decor from Americana to something else.  The first thing I did was de-gloss the table and sand it a bit. 

Next was adding a layer of white paint.  My jar of white paint was rather old and while I was opening the jar it just shattered!  I spilled paint all over my carpet and spent about 2 hours cleaning up all that mess.  After that, I painted about 2 layers of white paint on the legs and then brown paint on the leaves and tabletop.  Once all that was dry I free handed a flag. I wanted it rough looking like it was 70 or 80 years old.  Once the flag was dry I dry brushed the whole thing in the same brown paint that I used for the top and I brushed the white legs in the brown too.  On the other side, I freehanded a tree branch and a bird.  Kind of like a cardinal in color, but a completely made-up bird.  Once the bird and the tree were dry I did the same dry brush with brown on top too.  

As I was setting up the table the cat brought me an orange fish which is featured in the photos :)  

Art Journal Prompts

Hello friends!

How many of you have an art journal?  I guess I have always done an art journal because I have always kept a sketch pad of random artwork, I just didn't realize it was called an ART JOURNAL.  I use it to keep artwork that goes with feelings, sometimes that is a rush drawing or quick sketch because I am just needing a creative outlet and sometimes it is a long process because I need a stress reliever.  

Last year I wanted to do an art journal that was more like a memoir, I am not going to show you too much of it, because I want my kids to be the first to read it (you know afterward).  The inspiration for this memoir book were two books called The War Bride's Scrapbook by Caroline Preston and Century Girl: 100 years in the life of Doris Eaton Travis by Lauren Redniss.  To say I love these books would be a gross understatement.  The illustrations are incredible and Lauren's book is EXACTLY what I have always dreamed of a book looking like, and how I make my scrapbooks.  Century Girl is non-fiction and  features a lot of photos from Doris's life and wraps them around illustrations. War Brides is a fiction book and features ephemera and lots of colorful artwork.  Both book are completely worth a gander (also check out all of Caroline's books).

My first illustrated book is my life from "birthish" to present day. 

Since I have gone about as far as I can go right now, I have started a second illustrated book.  This one has the theme of Michelle's Musings (that may be the title).  The "brand" is all about being random,  FBSP (fly by the seat of pants) and completely off the wall, this book will be full of that type of stuff. I have started with a "Strange Alphabet".  I call it that because each letter is an odd topic and not your typical "A stands for Apple" kind of book.  Sometimes the topic makes sense and other times you may think I am a lunatic (wait, you may already think that of me). I am more willing to share this one with the world in it's entirety where I am keeping the other one for my kids.  

If you art journal I would so love to see some of your work.  Remember there is no right way so if you don't journal, why don't you?  This is a non-judging, don't show anyone unless you want area where you can be free, creative and honest. If you are struggling with an issue, draw or paint it!  If you are excited about that promotion, draw it.  If you love that song and want to create about it, do it!!! You can use as little or a much supplies as you want.  You really only need to start with a pencil and a piece of paper...let your imagination take you from there. 

 

Cigar Box Tutorial

At the Trace Creek Crop yard sale, I found a $1 cigar box.  I HAD to have it!  I opened it and it did indeed smell of cigar (have to figure out how to fix that).  Now it was time to decorate the box.

I measured everything first.  I didn't like the way it was measuring so I went back to the technique I use all the time.....eyeballing. My eyeballing skills are WAY better than my measuring skills.  I must say they were much more accurate as well.

After I eyeballed the paper size and cut the papers to that size. I inked the pieces of paper with Walnut Stain, Worn Lipstick and Black Soot.  All by Tim Holtz (Distress Inks).  Then I misted with water.

 I didn't think the paper had enough depth so I wadded up the papers, opened them and inked again. Once again I misted with water.

The box was an ugly yellow and the paper I was using by Lost and Found by MME which was colored in pinks and browns with a smidgen of green.  For sure yellow would not work. I had brought my gouache paints with me to Trace Creek so I mixed some crimson red, dark brown, and a bit of white together. I got the perfect dirty pink color.  I painted all the edges of the box in this dirty pink.

Gouache dries quickly, so I was ready for the next step in just a minute or so.  I used Aleene's tacky glue, because frankly I think it is the best.  I put the glue onto the box and paper. I wanted a good hold.  then I started putting it on.  I am one of those folks that could are less if I get glue/paint/ink on my hands so I really rubbed the paper into the cracks and the edges and even molded the paper to fit the corners. My hands were a wreck, but the effect is well worth it.  Give it a try. You can always clean up with soap and water.

Once the paper was adhered I added ribbon onto the edges for one more dimension.   The box is starting to take shape. I knew that I could not finish it here at Trace Creek, because I would need some bling....but I did try to get as much decoration on the box as possible.  Here is what the box looked like when I left Trace Creek.

Now, once I got home I had to add to the box......I misted the box with Michelle's Musings Sterling Silver shimmer paint and allowed that to dry.  I did not want to use a heat gun because I did not want to risk damaging the box.  The next step was to paint the box with modge podge.  I used a matte finish, this will provide a more durable surface...if there is one thing I hate it is when someone makes something and doesn't protect it so it lasts.  All that hard work gets bent up/dirtied up and falls apart.  It's a shame in the fact that the work goes down the drain and that you lost the great object you made or made for someone.  Protect your work!!!!


Here is the finished product....enjoy GET CREATIVE!!!  What do you have lying around the house that you can repurpose?

Woodrow's Place

Today I am talking about this "ugly" little statue that greeted us the first time we looked at our new house.  He was sitting on the sidewalk as you approached the front door.  He was NOT in good shape, but I liked him.  He had character, and his presence was welcoming.  When we looked at the house the second time, I felt of him and notice he was solid concrete.  A good sturdy dog.  In my mind, I started referring to the houses we saw as names to help remember things about them, this one I called "The Dog House".  I honestly never dreamed he would still be there once we closed on the house, but he WAS!  My husband didn't like him (and still does not), but I loved him and I am not even a dog person.  I was excited to let him stay and I wanted to name the house after him because he was his place.  Since I have this obsession with all things Presidential, I started calling him "Woodrow" instead of "dog" and this because "Woodrow's Place" to me.  I really want to keep him so I had to make him look good so he did not disappear while I was at work (I am still worried that will happen).  Here is a little before and after of what Woodrow looked like when we purchased to what he looks like today.

Tim Holtz Configuration box for my dear friend

I had this configurations box and I wanted to make it for my friend DiAnna. I wasn't really sure what to do.  I first found some paper that I loved and covered it in that paper. I used the Blue Awning by K&Co.  I completely covered each little box, then the big box as well.

 I thought about her personality and she loves BOOKS. I mean she loves them like I love them.  I thought it would be nice to make her some books. I covered the books in Pocket Full of Posies paper by DCWV.  It was sturdy and also colorful.  The inside of each book has a paper with words, actually, each one has its pages made from an old Bible that fell apart (again that is perfect for DiAnna).  I put the books together, did the binding, then inked the outside with Walnut Stain by Tim Holtz.  I glued the books in a couple of the cubes.

When I asked DiAnna what she would like, she wanted a chair and a sofa to go in her library.  I had nothing in miniature, so I had to make it.  I started with a sheet of cardboard.  I cut out the sides, the chair seat, the rungs and the back of a wooden chair.
I put it all together using Aleene's glue, hot glue, and mod podge.  It took a long time to make it all work but it did.  The couch was going to be a challenge, but I was up to the challenge.  I once again used cardboard for the back, the legs and the body of the couch.  The seat of the couch was made by rolling up paper for the cushion and using thin paper for the fabric.  I fixed it into place with mod podge.  Once it was dry, I gave it a little walnut stain inking.

I added some spools because DiAnna likes to sew, a canvas covered in paper because she likes to do mixed media canvas art and some "art" for the back of some boxes.

I "framed" a portrait of a lady to hang on the "walls" and Dianna asked for a dress form and a globe.  The globe is made from a button and a stand I created from cardboard.  Like everything else, it was inked with walnut stain.  I created the land on the globe from green scrap paper.  The dress form was cut from a sizzix die that I own.  I cut 6 layers of the dress form and glue them together to make this stand up.  I created a stand for it as well.  I added some basic grey pennants and more ink and it was finished.

Hope DiAnna likes it half as much as I enjoyed making it.

The chair

A month or so ago, my friend had a chair for sale.  Another friend of mine bought it and gave it to me to paint for her office.  I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. I made a couple of sketches and  did some internet research but in the end I thought about the personality of my friend.  She likes owls, her school colors are green, she is a child of God, and she's pretty awesome.  She needed a chair to fit her uniqueness. I scrapped all previous ideas and painted it in her school colors first.

I had made a bird and an owl for this friend but wasn't sure how or why to give it to her.  This chair was going to be perfect.  With the way the chair was made I thought I could fashion a tree from it.  A tree with branches to hold the bird and the owl.

Here is the finished product:

The bird and owl are made from plastic grocery bags. I took the bags and fashioned them into the shape I needed but using duct tape.  This was a very long process.  They were flimsy, but I wasn't done.  The next step was to make a paper mache with mod podge.  I used many many many layers of newspaper and glue.  I let dry for a week.  Then I made a texture paste and covered the outside of each animal in a thick layer.  I used my fingers to make bumps along each animal body to make it look more real.  This dried for two weeks because I went on vacation....when I came back to them they were hard as rocks.  Very lightweight but very hard.  PERFECT!!!

The chair was painted first with gesso to give the surface a bit of tooth.  I then painted the whole thing green to match my friend's office and school colors.  After that dried I painted on a background of a tree branch.   Next, I took a stencil and wood icing (both purchased from Ephemera Paducah www.ephemerapaducah.com) and added some tree bark and texture.  Once that dried I started painting on leaves.  I added the bird and viola we have a painted chair.