Life is messy....Bible Journal about it.

Good Morning Creatives!

How are you doing on this beautiful Sunday? Here in Arkansas it's super chilly with a chance for snow. BBBRRRR.

Today, I am up on The Crafter's Workshop blog with Part 2 of my "How to use a TCW Stencil to make your own stamp."

Did you miss Part 1?

You can see the full article here: How to Make Your Own Stamp with TCW Stencils.

And the complete Snapguide right here!

Check out How to Use a TCW Stencil to Make Your Own Stamp by Keri Sallee on Snapguide.

For Part 2, I wanted to use my new stamp in a Bible Journaling piece. I used the verse 2 Samuel 22:30 that says "With my God I can jump over any wall." 

I wanted to show the messy life can be with my design, but the scripture is the supports the thought that no matter how messy life gets....with God we can "Leap over walls."

Here is a closeup of the stamp we carved in Part 1. 

Head on over to The Crafter's Workshop Blog for more details AND a complete video!

The Crafter's Workshop: Hand-Carved Stamp Using The Crafter's Workshop-Part 2

Leave me some love! I would love to see your stamps and your bible journaling pages!

XOXO,

Keri Sallee

Round 2!! Graphic 45 Design Team Call

I was so excited (and honestly...a little relieved! LOL!) to see my name on the Top 25 for the Graphic 45 Design Team Call.

I made it through Round 1...{insert big sigh of relief and big girly SQUEL!!}

For round 2, we had to do a video with either a tutorial or a video showcasing 3 of our favorite projects.

I decided to do a tutorial video because I had a new technique I wanted to share and I thought this was the perfect opportunity!

Here is my video for how to make a mini album from just 3 sheets of paper...there's also a little message from me to you!

Enjoy!!

XOXO,
KERI

"This is my Happy Place" Art Journal with Faber-Castell Gelatos

Hello Lifers! 

Today, I wanted to share with you my most recent art journal piece.

I called it "This is my Happy Place."

I was searching through YouTube for something fun and creative to watch and I came across this video that Donna Downy did for Design Memory Craft. It was all out "drip techniques" using Faber Castell Gelatos.

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It was so much messy fun, I had to try it right away.

First, I started by using white gesso on my two pages. Gesso is important because it (1) allow your paper to stand up to all of the moisture you will be putting on it and (2) it allows the paints and water to roll better across the surface. Donna talks about it in the video and shows some examples.

I started with a bright green, med blue, light blue and purple for my background (sorry...the set I bought didn't tell me the colors. {insert frowny face})

When I was done, I felt like it i looked like a forest, with the green being the foreground trees and the blues and purples being the shadowed trees. 

I used a Dear Lizzy Die Cut card with a  chevron pattern and my orange gelato to add a pop of color.

I also added some stamped images using Unity Stamp Company "Dwelling Dots" stamps from their November 2014 "Layers of Life" stamp set, using Heidi Swapp's Archival Ink in Aqua.

2014 was a rough year for me, so there has been a lot of moments of "gloominess", so I added watered-down blue and black acrylic paint, using the same drip technique, to represent that...giving the feel of rain. I also splattered random colors of acrylic paint and gelatos that had been mixed with water. 

My title comes again from another Dear Lizzy Die Cut Card I used as a stencil.

I added the words "stop messing with it" because I sometimes feel like my little forest is my happy place, but there are those outside my forest who want to be the ones to rain down on my happiness.

I added a little bit of drywall tape just to add some texture and filled in some of the squares with a black Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen. 

My butterflies are made from a little thrifty secret...instead of spending money on chipboard or chipboard shapes, I cut these butterflies using a Stampin' Up Butterfly Die...from a cereal box!!

I stamped them with more Unity Stamps and Heidi Swapp Ink, this time in Navy and Aqua before adding gelato straight from the tube to the chipboard and smearing it around with a wet finger. Do add more depth, I went back with the same gelato color just around the edges. 

I edged my butterfly clusters with my water-soluble Scribe-All pencil in black and then added a little water-down gesso around them and some splatters. 

The butterflies, for me, are a sign of being reborn and leaving the old behind. They are in front of the rain and gloom because they choose to leave it behind.

I hope today inspires you to try something new...and to be like these little butterflies and fly beyond the gloom that life sometimes tries to keep you in.

XOXO,

Keri

Trying something NEW!!

I have always LOVED the look of mixed media artist Christy Tomlinson, but my "let's make a plan" brain has always been completely intimidated by the need to "JUST LET GO AND CREATE!" that her style requires. (Anybody else feel that way?)

I tried a few times, playing on canvases, but never made a project that I felt was complete so I got a little disheartened and stopped trying....figuring maybe it just wasn't for me.

Then I got some great advice from an online community. One of the participants said that if you want to start in mixed media, start by watching videos of artists who inspire you. Simple advice right? I was like "DUH!....Why didn't I think of that?"

So I spent some time on good ole' YouTube searching for Mixed Media tutorials and to be honest...I watched some that just totally didn't interest me, but I also found so many that I just "OOed and AAhhed" over. They had me saying things (out loud!) like "That's a great idea!"..."Oh that's why that didn't work for me."....AND "I can do that!"

That last one..."I can do that!"...was freeing because watching other people do projects start to finish took some of the mystery out of the PROCESS...because...if you've ever looked at a mixed media piece (like Christy Tomlinson) there is so much going on and sssoo many layer, it is so hard to figure out where to start. Watching a few masters in action gave me a chance to break the process down into manageable pieces instead of concentrating on the end project as a whole.

Wanna see what I am up with?

I used Authentique Paper's "Curiosity" paper line (aren't the colors fabulous!?) for the background and also my inspiration for the title. The rest was just building layers and trying not to THINK too hard about the end product. After each layer, I would evaluate and think "Is it done?" "No?" "What does it need? More light? More Dark? Does this spot or that area feel vacant?" It's a process.

Here are a few closeups!

Love using Bubble wrap for easy dots!
 I also used a  Tattered Angels Screen with my  Tarnished Silver Glimmer Mist.

I mixed some Black Acrylic paint with some modeling paste
and, using an old credit card, scrapped it across another Tattered Angels Screen.

No project is complete without Washi, right?

I love this little picture from one of the Authentique Papers that peeks through the background.
 I feel like that girl is me because SSOOO many time I sat at my studio table,
 head leaned on my fist, just staring at the canvas. The word hidden under it says "imagination."

This paper was my favorite from the whole line...I think adding the little people  to the project
 gives us the reminder of childhood and how much fun it was to discover and learn NEW things
...back BEFORE we became adults and had so many responsibilities. 

And last, but not least...trying NEW things and having that CURIOSITY requires being FREE...FREE of others expectations...FREE of your own expectation....FREE to MAKE MISTAKES.

I am so excited for all I've learned and the boundaries I feel I've pushed in my creativity.

I challenge each of you to take one thing (creative or otherwise) that is out side of your comfort zone and face it head on and take a  NEW adventure this week in YOUR Creative Life.

Until next time friends.....