Stencil Portraits

They're far from perfect, but here are my first attempts and turning a photo of a person's face into a stencil. These are my sister and niece and nephew, and I mailed off the envelope and file folders to them earlier this week. Hope they get a kick out of them!

Mom's Mother's Day Book

I finished this altered board book just in time to give it to my mom yesterday. It's interesting that I started out with the intention of working only in neutral colors and using just one or two photos on each page. I guess that just not ME!



(Can you believe that photo was taken near 50 YEARS ago!?!)













I had a lot of fun going through old photos, and I'm really glad I pulled these together here. As gifts go, I think it was a hit. ;-)

Scrabble Journals

I've been scouring thrift stores for old Scrabble games for a while now because we use the tiles in some of my classes. As a result, I have a pile of Scrabble boards, and I've been thinking for months about making journals with them.

Well, here they are!











They are for sale at Made in Ojai, $28.50 for the large ones, $23.50 for the small ones. Aren't they cool?

Stencilry Class

Whoooo, baby! I'm having so much fun with spray paint and stencils! I signed up for an online class with Mary Ann Moss, both because I wanted to learn more about stenciling and because I wanted to see what the online class thing was all about. I have to say, Mary Ann sets the bar very high, with a 15-20 page booklet for every lesson, a number of online videos, a class blog with samples, links to supplies, and lots of inspiration.

The first lesson was all about using "found" (as opposed to commercial or cut) stencils. I cheated a bit, and as usual I had to do thousands of these once I got started. The colors are quite a bit more vibrant than they look here, at lease on my monitor.

























These use a lot of silver paint, which doesn't photograph well. just imagine much of the white as silver. It's quite cool!











These are done using painter's tape as a mask:



I'm still working on my portfolio cover for the class. Photos coming soon!

Ojai Artisans Space us UP!

Jean and I spent a couple of hours yesterday setting up our space at Made in Ojai, with the help of her husband Bob. I'm pretty happy with how it looks. I think it might be a little too crowded, but we have a lot of stuff to sell in a small space. What do you think?

Here are Jean and Bob early in the setup process:



Here's the entire space:



And here are a bunch of detail photos!















Please send us lots of SELLING Karma!

Altered Mondays: Session Two

Announcing the second six-week session of Altered Mondays at Vita Art Center in Ventura!


Altered Mondays
Mondays, 4/6-5/18, No class May 4
6:30-9 pm



Week 1: Altered Papers
We’ll alter sheet music, maps, book pages and other papers using gesso resist, acrylic glazes, stamping, dry-brushing, distressing and more to create our own collage papers.

Week 2: Photo Transfers
We’ll enhance our photos using markers, crayons and colored pencils and transfer them to paper and fabric, which creates an incredible painterly effect.

Week 3: Metal Magic
With metal sheeting we’ll create stunning panels and embellishments using wet and dry embossing, paint, alcohol inks, molding paste, beads, metallic pastes, rubber stamps, and craft punches.

Week 4: Fabric, Lace and Fibers
These items are not just for sewing any more! We’ll glue, paint, and embellish fabric scraps to make beautiful, textural art fragments.

Weeks 5 and 6: Put it all together!
In the final two sessions, we’ll combine the papers, photos, metal embellishments and fabric art fragments you’ve created into a beautiful wall decoration using collage and machine stitching techniques.

Mosaic Mirrors

I had a great time this week with my sister Jen and her kids (Ryan 12 and Alexa 5) making mosaic mirrors. The grouting was a challenge for the kids, but I love the way theirs turned out looking like a bunch of stuff dropped in the sand!

Here's Ryan's:



And Lexi's:



And here's Jen's:



I made two, one of them for a class I taught at Vita the past couple of weekends. Photos of that class coming soon!