Altering a set of drawers

This set of drawers has been sitting in my studio for years waiting for something interesting to happen to it. Actually I have two more similar ones waiting also. I've had a few ideas over the year but never got around to doing it. One of them even has part of it painted but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be going in that direction any more. Well when it was time to move things up into the new studio I knew these guys would need to finally get their make over to fit into my amazing new space. So I finally got started on them this weekend.

 After a lot of leafing through piles of scrapbooking paper I finally decided on these. Everything went pretty fast after that. The process was very similar to last weeks book shelves except I didn't put a layer of gel medium on top this time. Here the paper has been cut and glued to each drawer. I turned the drawers around so the notch is at the back.

 I sanded all the edges of the cabinet and each drawer. The sides look a little boring when I see them now but where it's going it's not really going to be seen much.

Once sanded I got out my favourite Distress ink, Vintage Photo and antiqued all the edges. Now I just need to find some handles for it. I'm thinking of using Tim Holtz label Pulls but I'll have to see if I can get my hand on some more. Or I may try to figure out how to make my own interesting drawer knobs. Any suggestions, have you ever made draw knobs, maybe out of buttons?!!

Keep Creating!

Wendy

Update on Box shelves

Okay so I couldn't leave well enough alone. When I posted this last week I said I wasn't sure if it was done and asked for suggestions and in the comments Sarah said "Quick spritz on some stencils to soften the page edges/blend them in maybe? Or BIG stamps done 'imperfect and soft'? I LOVE them! "  Well when I read BIG stamps I knew I had to do something with stamps on them. The idea tumbled around in my head for a while and the first thought was to do gears but when I went looking for gear stamps I couldn't believe I didn't have any gear stamps that would work for this. I had some that I've carved myself but these are on the chunky side and I was looking for something a little more subtle. So the closest thing was a background stamp with a multitude of clocks. It took me a few more days to decide on the colour of ink and then get the courage up to do the stamping. And then when I'd done it I wasn't sure I liked it but after seeing the picture on the computer I think it's finally grown on me. Well it kind of has to for now because it's irreversible unless I want to start over. So this is how it's finished up.
Thanks Sarah for the suggestion although I'm not sure if this is what you meant.
Now to rectify that no gears stamp issue! Any one know where I can get some great gear stamps?

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Where to go from here, an Art journaling story!

As you know I've been exploring Art Journaling the last year or so. There are so many things to do and types of Art Journaling, that sometimes I just feel overwhelmed by the possibilities, although this is also probably what draws me to it too. I've just realized lately that doing backgrounds is not a problem for me. I seem to accumulate backgrounds but then I get stuck for where to go with it. So I thought I'd share some backgrounds that I have waiting to be played with. If you have suggestions of where to go with them, I'd love to hear about it.

  These are from two books I'm working in right now. The one with the spirals is an 8" by 10" multimedia book and the other one is one that I made from watercolour paper with pages that are 5.5" by 6". The smaller one is my favourite to work in right now. I love the watercolour paper because it will take anything I throw at it. I think I find the smaller size pages less daunting too.

 Many of my pages start with paint that was left over from other projects or students work. I just slap it on and then when it's covered I start to use bubble wrap and other packaging thing to add texture. I find using left over paint specially other peoples challenges me to work outside my usual colour palette. 

 Here I used my book to remind myself how to do this book paper and crackle background technique before doing it in a workshop. The butterflies are bits of tissue tape that didn't work on something else I was working on so instead of throwing it out it got slapped in here.

 This is another one that started with left over paint. The pink kinda flowery looking things at the bottom of the page are from one day when I was cutting up celery and remembered seeing someone use them as a stamp. So I rushed into the studio and tried it out. I think they're kind of neat and with a little more detail added with a marker they could be more interesting.

 I love using sequin scraps(not sure what you call that stuff) for making circles. I have to control myself somewhat though or everything would have these little circles on it.

The background on the left came from wiping my craft mat after using glimmer mist and the doodled heart was done one night while watching TV. Not sure if it's done yet or not. The page on the right I tried something new for me. I've just finished reading Journal Junkies Workshop and one thing they suggest is doing stream of consciousness writing. This is where you just write without much thought and give yourself a time or space limitation.  So I did this here on the background with a graphite pencil and then used my new Derwent Artbars to add some colour and mess up the words a bit. I've added some stamping here and there but this page is definitely not finished. I don't expect to see much of the writing when I'm done! 

And finally a page that I finished recently, well I'm not actually sure if it's finished or not. I'm still wondering if I should add words or not. Words are another challenge for me. I think I'd like to use more words but not sure yet how I want to do that.

So what's your favourite part about Art Journaling?

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Box shelves make over.

 I remember seeing these in stores a few years ago and thinking that I'd like some, but I wasn't sure where I wanted to hang them so I didn't buy them. I wasn't even thinking about changing the look of them at the time. I just liked them the way they were. Well last year when we were moving the studio I found these at Value Village and for $5 I figured I could find a spot for them in the studio and I knew they were going to get altered. I really don't like the darkness of the wood any more. Funny how your taste changes. I wanted them to be lighter so I decided to use some old book pages on them.

To get started I cut the book pages to the same width of the shelves. Them I used gel medium to adhere them. I like to put the gel medium on the object I'm gluing to and the back of the pages sparingly so it doesn't ooze out when I burnish it with a bones folder. I let this dry and them I put a coat of gel medium on top also. I've sometimes done the top layer before drying and it works too but I usually have to deal with more bubbling of the paper that way. Although the bubbles bother me when I'm working they seem to more or less all disappear once it's dry no matter how I do it. The odd one that doesn't usually just adds to that lovely grungy look that I want anyway.

Once the paper was on, the edges were looking really dark so I put a few coats of Gesso on to eliminate that.

Then it was time to distress. So I sanded all the edges and left them for a day to see how they looked and then I sanded them some more. You can hardly have too much distressing right!? They were still looking pretty white at this point so I decided to antique them with some Vintage Distress ink and a few days later decided they needed some more antiquing. And that is where they are at now. I'm still debating if they need a little more antiquing with some paint instead of just ink.
What do you think, more antiquing or leave well enough alone?

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Winter at the feeder.

I like to put out bird seeds in the winter. I never get tired of seeing all the birds that come to feed. This year I was a little late at getting seed out so I'm not getting as many varieties of birds that I usually do. But I'm also not getting as many squirrels as in the past. This guy seems to have the feeder to himself. He's the cutest little red squirrel. He likes to sit perched above the feeders for the longest time just studying, I'm not sure what.

Do you have a feeder? If you do what kind of birds or creatures do you have visiting it this winter?

Happy Bird Watching!
 Wendy

January ATC meeting

Although here in the Ottawa area we under a thick layer of snow, the theme for this months ATC meeting was 'garden'. Definitely something enjoyable to think about this time of year. As usual the variations were wonderful to see.

Olive

Lucie

Maggie

Virginia

Wendy

Louise

Michelle

Nancy

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Happy New Year!!

Wow it's 2013! I do know I'm a little slow with my wishes to you but such is life right!!? It's always hard to get back on track after the holidays and these cold snowy January days don't help me want to do anything. 

So how is your new year starting out so far. I don't really believe in New Years resolutions but I do like to make plans and maybe a few goals for the year and look back on last years plans to see how I did. I also like to pick a word for the year which I've been working on the last week or so. I think I've almost figured it out but not absolutely sure so I'll have to wait to share it with you.

I did manage to do a little creating over the holiday and try out some new artsy gifts. Above is my last 2012 art journal page. How about you? Did you get some creative time recently? Have any creative goals this year? 

Share your creative projects and goals in the comment and a link so I can see them.

Keep Creating.

Wendy