Sharing the Creative Heart-Creativation (Before the show)

Every January, members of the Association for Creative Industries (AFCI) (formerly CHA) get together at "Creativation"  the annual trade show and convention. This is a time of connecting, equipping and learning about new products and opportunities within the creative industry. I have a member of the association (and attending the shows since 2003.)

These last couple of years I have been a part of the designer section of the association. The last couple of years the designer section has held a event called "Sharing the Creative Heart". Designer members are encourage to create an original piece of art to leave someone on the show floor for some random person to find and take home. The only guideline, have a heart someone on the piece.

I participated last year and received such a sweet and encouraging email from the gal that found the canvas I made. She shared how it inspired her to create and share with others.

Since I had such a sweet response last year, naturally I had to participate again! My inspiration came from one of my favorite bible stories found in 1 Samuel 16:1-13, the calling of David. In this story the prophet Samuel is told by the Lord to go anoint the new king of Israel. He is told to go to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons. When he gets there and asks to see his sons, Jesse brings out his oldest son, Samuel first thought was "yes this is surly the one to be king." The Lord "NO" for "Man looks at the outward appearance, but I look to the heart." I wanted what I created to be a reminder to "look to the heart" in all that you do and with all those you meet.

This year since I had some down time, I decided I just needed to play, so I pulled out my Gel Press Mono-printing plate and made some prints on mini canvases. I love mixing the paints, and adding texture with plates, bubble wrap and more, it's so fun (and very relaxing) and each print is unique!

I had so much fun I ended up with 12 mini (3"x3") canvases.  

 

Then I got to have fun embellishing. I found a whole bunch of brass charms and findings at the thrift store (a major score for $1.99) the brass color was too dull for what I wanted to use them for so I used Krylon's 18k gold leafing pen. I then added hearts. To create the darker hearts I used cardstock and "leatherized it" (spritz it with water, and crumple it up several different times and ways, smooth out and blast with a heat gun.) The "leathered paper", really does give the paper the look of leather, and adds a fun texture to enhance with ink vs. smooth cardstock. To finish off I added touches of flowers, gemstones, even some random stamping and washi tape.

I then wrote the phrase "look to the heart"  on strips of vellum and added those to the canvas as well. To finish things off I added a flat piece of magnet to the backs of the canvas, since they are small enough, I figured people could use them as a fridge magnet.

If you are at the 

be sure to look for:

To be able to take home your very own piece of art from a creative heart!

Products used: 3"x 3" mini canvases, Gel Press Monoprinting Gel Plates, Plaid Crafts Folk Arts Acrylic Paints, Krylon 18k Gold Leaving Pen, assorted brass charms, vellum, flowers, glass dots, felt trim, Little B Washi Tape-Gold Collection, assorted gemstones, hot glue, ranger archival ink in black, and strip magnet.

Adorn It Blog Hop!

Hello! Welcome to the ADORN it, blog hop!

If you have been following along the hop, you should have joined us from Susan's blog, if you are new and want to start at the beginning, please visit ADORNit's Blog to start from the beginning.

The wonderful gals from ADORNit sent me a huge box of goodies to play with to feature their new Art Play Paintables line. The Paintable line features wonderful drawings for you to fill in with paint, marker, or even leave as is. The designs are printed on a nice heavy art paper (#80 cardstock weight), to help prevent curling when (if) it gets wet with your chosen medium.

I loved this line. I have always wanted to be able to draw but never inherited the skill of my mom or my sister, this allowed me to be an artist by simply coloring (painting) in the lines ;) Two of the images from the Home Paintable line just spoke to me, I had the perfect people to give them to! I decided to simply paint and frame them. 

After using watercolor pencils and crayons to fill in the images,  I softened the lines with water. I accented the drawings here and there with stickles, glitter glue and smooch inks just to give the piece a bit of shimmer and sparkle. Loosely cutting them out,  I mounted the images on paper from the ADORNit!  Blender Basics collection pack. After framing the pieces I still thought there was something missing,  so to make the images "pop-out" of the frames,  I accented them with some jute twine and matching buttons I had on hand from my stash. I loved how quick these gifts came together!

Next, I created a couple of cards using images from the "Be Awesome" collection.

Again I used watercolor pencils and crayons to fill in the images and softened them with water. To get some of the brighter accents on the piece, I dipped my watercolor pencil directly into the water then dabbed the drips off on paper towel. The wet pencil allowed for a precise line burst of color as seen on the "Be Happy" and the frame around the 2nd card. I mounted the images again using paper from the Blender Basics collection pack, this time punching out a lacy border with a Little B "honeycomb" border punch that was inked with Ranger distress ink in "Vintage Photo".

My final project is a wall hanging.  I used an image from the "Life's Journey" Paintable.

Here the image served as the focal piece for a 12' x 12' canvas. The canvas itself was edged in blue, green and gold Faber Castell gelatos then I off set the background paper ("Chapter Two" from ADORNit's Storybook Collection.) Before mounting, my background paper was zigzag stitched along the edges and stenciled with the gold lines with some watered down gelatos using the Crafter's Workshop "Swirls and Flowers" template. My house paintable was colored with watercolor pencils, and accented with candy red stickles, then framed with an inked paper doily.  The larger hearts were created freehand with some scrap cardstock that were inked and heat embossed. The title consists of random chipboard letters from my stash that were also inked and then accented with white pen stitching. A simple double length of grosgrain ribbon was used as a decorative hanger.

I can't wait to play more with the Paintables line. It was relaxing to put on an old movie,  pull out the watercolor pencils and crayons and color and paint and have something fun to create with when finished. To see the full Paintables line visit the ADORNit!  store. Thanks ADORNit! for allowing me the chance to play with the collection.

Before heading to the next stop on the blog hop...

How would you like to win a complete set of the ADORN it Art Play Paintables collection and an original piece from the artist behind Paintables,  Linsey Ostrom? Well to do so you'll need to collect the all of the clues along the hop and my clue is:

Collect all of the clues along the way and then email your answer to  janet@adornit.com, to be entered to win the prize.

The next stop along the blog hop is my friend, the uber talented Michelle Cummings at Faire Dust Dreams. (http://faeriedustdreams-michelle.blogspot.com/2015/02/craft-room-decorative-wall-plaque.html)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you will subscribe using the box to the right to keep up on all my adventures!
                     and remember...you'll drive towards what you focus on, so AIM HAPPY!