A few bits from Brave Girl Art School

I recently took another class from Brave Girls Club called Art School.  This was a great online format that allowed us to work at our own pace on a variety of projects.  I was not able to do all of them, but I still took a lot from the class and found the inspiration fantastic.  Today I am writing to show off just a few highlights from the class. 



This piece was actually done long ago.  Melody's lesson on sign making inspired me to add the "Be Free" to simply add text this existing piece. I like it even more now.



I almost did not do this lesson at all because I simply had never played with polymer clay.  The world works in mysterious ways though, and some of my local art pals invited me over for a clay play date and I got to put my Art School lesson to work.  It was certainly fun to try, but I am not sure that this is a medium that I will often go too.  Please note, there were several pieces I was not quite brave enough to share.



And this piece....I was so not going to post it, because I think it is horrible.  It is a shame, because it came from one of my favorite lessons from the course.  I decided to be brave and show it off it as we all have mistakes, pieces that are never done and things that just don't turn out sometimes.  This is one of them for me.  I may still play with it a bit.  I cannot tell you how many layers are under this from me trying to save it though...perhaps it was just not meant to be saved. :)

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few little bits from my latest online venture.  I highly recommend any of the courses offered at Brave Girls Camp!  Someday I hope to take them "in real life" out at the camp!

Cheers,

Rhea

My lovers mementos, inspired by Pixie Hill

Recently a wonderful post over on Nichola Battilana's blog,  Pixie Hill inspired me to make my own little lover's memento.  Nichola put together a lovely little "how to" that sprang me right into creative action.  Of course my pieces are not nearly as cool as hers are, but I love them because they are personal to me.

On both of these, both inside and out, I utilized tissue tape.  I found that this easily covered my matchboxes and I could alter the surface further as well.  

Creating the inside was extremely fussy and tiny, I got really irritated when things kept falling apart, but I pressed on.  I suppose I took the time to measure things properly it would help, but I am an ad lib crafter at heart.

Of course each and every little element chosen in these little parcels of love, has special personal meaning.  It was fun to root through my stuff and ponder how they could relate to my life and what they could represent.

Thank you so much to Nichola for sharing her inspiration.  I hope you found some as well.

Cheers,

Rhea

A new art journey

Recently I have made a profound connection in my artistic process.  Sometimes I need a prompt.  Whether it is a challenge, a swap, an article or a blog hop, these triggers really do help me when I am creatively stuck.  With that thought in mind, I luckily joined up in a round robin style art swap in my Kindred Souls group at the last minute.  I am so excited to be participating with a group of such talented artists.

 

I am a sucker for the steampunk look and with Valentines day on the way, I decided to combine the two and create a "Time for Love" journal.  My hope is that participants will add their own take on this unique mashing of classic art book themes. 

My focal here was made from 10 Second Studio sheet metal in Rock Star.  It was embossed with the gear pattern, sanded and then I edged it out in black tape.  A light buffing of copper gilder's paste added another dimension to the focal.  I added some metal bits, being sure to layer and follow the rule of odds.  Odd numbers of embellishments are more pleasing to the eye!

The wings are grungeboard and they were colored with both picket fence and the silver metallic distress stain. I finished them out with a bit more gilders paste as well as some stickels for a bit of sparkle among the grunge.  

The inside pages consist of heavy chipboard and the book was bound with a Cinch.  It really is easy to do and you get such a professional look. Each participant will have thier own page to alter in the chosen theme.  

On the back I repeated the same texture as the front.  Here you can see some of my fatal flaws too.  Because I had so much texture the stamping really did not take and I have really "hard lines" that are not very attractive.  Thus they are on the back of the book!

Here is a close up of my letters and a bit of the delightful texture.  On the letters, you guessed it, gilders paste.  In the background: lots of layers: silver distress stain, stamping, more gilders paste, molding paste, modge podge, tissue tape...

Stay tuned to see the work I do in the books of others.  I see several more creative and helpful art prompts in my future!

Cheers, 

Rhea

Our Love Story

Well I am at it again folks, I could not help but partake in another design challenge sponsored by Vintaj.  With the amazing prize package they just sent me I suspect there will be a few more challenges in my future too.

I just love having a trigger or a prompt for art, I do find that can really inspire me.  The theme this month is "Our Story."  I just happen to have a delightful new story in my life unfolding right now and so I chose to chronicle it through this piece.  Each and every little do dad has a thought or personal meaning behind it.

VOTE HERE (if you want)

#7 Our Love Story

The small blanks I altered from Vintaj are delightful.  I stamped a background with permanent ink and then layered text on top.  Some of them I made domed by thoughtfully adding on the Diamond Glaze, others were kept more even and flush.

You can see below that I added other inclusions to some of the metal blanks as well.  

I was so super excited to find a use for the etched metal tiles that were added.  I happen to be blessed with an amazing clan of local art ladies.  During one of our meetings last year, Beth from Vintage Sweets, taught us how to etch on metal.  When I heard the theme for the challenge I knew I wanted to use these.  I added them to represent sweet nothings, love letters and the secrets new lovers share.  

  

I hope you enjoyed partaking in this little bit of my new story.  Thanks for all of your continued support and readership.  It really does mean the world to me.  Hopefully this piece will also trigger the full on creative mojo return.

Cheers, 

Rhea

Another Junque Journal

So sorry that my posts have been meager of late folks.  I hope that my creative mojo will be back soon and I will be back to regular postings.  In the meantime I thought I would share something I have been working on for quite some time.  It is another junk journal, again totally made from scratch.   Since it is so hard to get a feel for the book through pictures and I have lots of good stuff crammed inside, I also made a video tour at the end if you are inclined to listen to me prattle on about my junk for about seven minutes.

Here is another peek from the side.  As per usual, my books/journals turn out really fat.  I like to stuff them with lots of unusual stuff. This one was created with a Bind it All.  It was super fun and easy and I love how you can embed lots of unusual papers and envelopes.

Things I used a ton of in this project: decorative tapes, found/recycled papers and lots of scraps.  Nothing matches and I am fine with that!

Here are just a few spreads from the inside.  Watch the video below if you want in on some of my ideas.  This book is not quite "done" yet as there are a ton of places to still add everyday ephemera, doodles and notes.

And without further ado, a full on video tour with lots of inspiration.  Enjoy!

Cheers, 

Rhea