End of the Tag A Day challenge

I'm at the end of another monthly challenge. I realized I've learned a few things from these challenges that I thought I'd share with you.  

Day 27- Perspective

Firstly, there is a reason they are called challenges and each month there has been a point where it really was a challenge although not always in the same way. Usually there comes a point in the month where I struggle to keep going. Wondering where all the ideas have gone and why did I think I could do a whole month of these!

Day 28- Art is...

And then at some point during the month I realized I'd gone a little off track from my original idea. With this months tags I did keep with the tag and stencil idea part but I also had some other things that I thought the tags would be that didn't entirely happen. I had hoped to use a larger variety of products on the tags so they could be reference samples in the future and this did happen on some of them, and it did give me an idea for a project more devoted for that purpose. 

Day 29- Calm

I also had planned for the tags to be inspirations creations that I could enjoy in the future which for the most part I think that happened. 

Day 30 Abundance

I learned that working on one tag(or project for that matter) at a time doesn't work for me. So it wasn't really one tag a day but I did get a tag done for each day of the month. And most days there was some time spent on tags. It is always good when I become more away of how I work best creatively.

Day 31- Past/Present/Future

And last but not  least, I learned that challenging myself is a good thing. I found each challenge made me focus more on the theme of the month and as a result I learned more about it.

Now with August's challenge done It's time to work on September. It's going to be a busy month for me so I think I'll make this next one a little easier. I'll share it will you very soon.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Tag a Day with Stencils

I'm not sure about it actually being A tag a day but they did get done and that's what counts, right!? Here is the next patch.

Day 21- What if...

Day 22- Choose

Day 23- Another time

Day 24- In the moment

Day 25- Happy Layers

Day 26 Peace

Getting near the end I had to push it to get all of them done and I learned a few things along the way that I will share with you on the next post.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Gelli Plate Workshop

One of my favourite things to do these days is play with my Gelli Plate. So it was great fun to spend the day teaching these ladies the ins and outs of using a Gelli Plate yesterday. As you can see they made lots of prints and at the end of the day I showed them how to make a small book with one of their prints.

Deb

Deb

Janice

Janice

Kathy

Kathy

Have you tried print making on a Gelli Plate yet. If you haven't I will warn you it's very addictive and loads of fun.

Wendy

More fun with texture paste.

Have I mentioned that the Textured Grid Canvas workshop is my favourite workshop right now. Well if I haven't, now you know. I had a great little group of ladies in the studio today with so much creative power. Again some amazing results from this workshop.

Kathy

Lesley

Nancy

I just can't get enough of all these texture pastes. I'm in the process of trying out some more brands of texture paste because apparently if I see it have to buy it. I have a few more coming my way in the near future so I see some new projects happening in my future.

Keep Creating!

Wendy

All about the texture paste...

Last weekends workshop was the Grid Canvas. It's all about texture paste. I think it's my favourite workshop to teach this year. I love playing with texture paste and it's so interesting to see the creative variations that my students do. And you know how I'm always saying my students inspire me so much. Well this time was no exception and the canvas above is one I finished a few days later from some of the sample grids I did during class. It's called 'Longing for summer' because that's how I'm feeling right now.
Here are the canvas' of my students that day.

Joanne

Josee

Katherine

Laurie

Linda

Tracy

Didn't they do a great job? Just looking at them makes me want to get more paste out and play. But not today, I'm getting ready to teach a Memory Frame necklace workshop at the Goulbourn Museum tomorrow.

Now that you're inspired, the new spring/summer workshop is up on the workshop page. Take a look and let me know what you think. Anything you were hoping to do but is not on the schedule? Let me know. Also I'd love to hear from you about when you like to take workshops. Do you like weekends(Saturday or Sunday), weekday, evenings? Do you like full days, half days or just a few hours for workshops? I've been doing mostly Saturday full days but would really like to hear what you would like most. Thanks ahead for the feedback.

Keep Creating!

Wendy

Last studio workshop for the year

Tags inspired by my students.

I can't believe we've come to the last workshop in the studio for this year. It's been a great year here in the studio for lots of creating. This past Sunday was a really fun day of doing some Christmas Mega Tags. These tags are something I've been playing with for a few years. sometimes getting a few friends together for a play day of making Christmas tags, so when one of my students asked if I was going to be doing a workshop with them I was delighted to accommodate. This is really just about playing with Distress inks, Glimmer Mists, stencils and embellishments. My hope was that each person would get about 5 tags finished so I think we did pretty good and the results speak for themselves.

Cindy

Josee

Kim

Nancy

Sharon

It was a great way to get me into a creative Christmas mood. As usual after class the creative vibes continued and I got a few more tags and some cards made.

What's your favourite go to Christmas creations?

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Projects in progress.

Book swap backgrounds

If you don't already know this about me, I must tell you, that I rarely only work on one project at a time. Sometimes one gets put away to work on another but often they just start piling up here and there until I'm forced to clean to have space to work again. It's just how I roll. I don't question it any more. But some days I look around and wonder how the studio got to this point of disarray. I'm sure I couldn't have done it all on my own but there doesn't seem to be anyone else around to blame. That's when I know that I share my space with fairies who keep working on things when I'm out of the studio. They're usually pretty helpful at fixing creative blunders or blocks but they are very messy workers.
Well today is one of those days when I walked in the studio and am sure the fairies have been at it again. First of all above you can see the pages in progress for a book swap that's due in April. If I leave them on the table, every once in a while some new things just happens to them. 

Hmm...where to go from here!

 And then their is the painting projects I started. A few weeks ago while visiting Laura Daub's new studio, across the road I discovered another wonderful new shop, Malenka where Katrina transforms or as she likes to put it 'refreshes' old tired furniture. Well the wheels just started turning and I had to try out this inspiring new paint she sells by Annie Sloan called Chalk paint. First I bought a small jar of Duck Egg to try out on my last Ikea drawer set. This is as far as it's gotten. I'm thinking texture paste and lots of antiquing but you can never be too sure how these thing work out so who knows really.

Oh my that's orange!!

And then I had to go back to get some Barcelona Orange for this bedroom bookshelf and possibly a dresser. I have to admit I'm kind of stuck now with this one. I know it's not done but I haven't decided just how antiqued and/or distressed I want it. Also the dark wax isn't working exactly how I expected to so some experimenting is in order. I think it's going to go back into the room to contemplate on it some more. Also I've run out of time and need to clean the studio for Easter weekend. 

If you have some time this weekend, I highly recommend these wonderful shops in the Britannia area of Ottawa. Go Saturday afternoon and do some doodling with Laura. I went last Saturday and had great fun and learned some new doodling designs.

Have a Great Easter weekend.

Get creative!

Wendy

Distress ink bookmarks.

I think this is my favourite thing to do with Distress Inks... make backgrounds for cards and bookmarks.

Have you tried this before? You just dab 3-4 colours of ink right onto the craft mat, spritz with any liquid, I used glimmer mist and then swish your paper in it. Instant colour splashes. The Tin Man thought a little wine would help while I was creating that night. Well it didn't seem to hurt!

I then used my ink dabbers and stencils to add some more colour and designs here and there.  The most difficult part is choosing which stamps to use to finish it off. I used  black Versafine for the stamping. Once dried I mounted them on coloured card stock for a little extra support and to hide the mess I usually make on the back of them. 

What's your favourite thing to do with Distress Inks?

Happy Creating

Wendy

Art journaling

This fall I started an Art Journaling group that meets once a month. My motives were purely selfish. I wanted to do more art journaling and thought if I had a regular time set aside for it that I would hopefully make more time during the month also. Our first meeting I showed everyone how to make a journal from one sheet of 22"x 30" 120lb watercolour paper like the ones I did here. This month we discussed and worked on backgrounds. There are so many ways to do backgrounds that it was hard to know where to start. After much thought before the meeting, I realized the method I use the most these days is the left over paint method. This just means that any paint left over from a project either my own or a students gets slopped into the art journal to be pondered over later. This method has been great to challenge myself with colour combinations that I wouldn't usually use. I tend to stick to my comfortable warm browns, oranges and copper. 
   So that is how this page started out. Another favourite technique lately is using stencils or masks. On this page I used paint with the stencils but sometimes I use inks or glimmer mists. I also used markers on this with the stencils. Just making some random shapes here and there instead of using the whole stencil. It got me thinking, how else can I use stencils other than the obvious!
   Once the background was complete I thought it had an airy feel to it, hence the 'how to fly' idea. 
   I completed the background during the meeting and left it out on my work table so I could play with it every once in a while over the next few days. So I guess the art journaling group really did work to get me going!
   Do you do some art journaling? What's your favourite background technique? Share it with me in the comments below.

Have you left your comment here to win this weeks tag yet?

Happy Creating!

Wendy