Make Art Blog Hop - Be You

Hi everyone and welcome to our Make Art blog hop featuring art from the eTeam and special guest, Wendy Vecchi! We're delighted to have Wendy joining us today, to not only share her products but also to share in her unique artistic style and to be inspired by each of the hop participants.

During the hop the team is going to be sharing the projects that they created with Studio 490 products but maybe more importantly we'll be sharing our experience of working with the products, how we created our projects, and what inspired us to create our piece.

The eTeam is a wonderful group of talented women, each with their own style. Some of us are clean and simple card makers, others love scrapbooking, and still others are drawn to altered art and mixed media projects. The goal of our hop is bring each of these designers and their favorite mediums together and to share how we've used these products to express our own individual styles through our work.

For my project I started by thinking about what I wanted to include on my piece; what did I want to see, what type of project was I drawn to creating?  I have a wall in my craft studio where I display a number of wall hangings that were created during some of my favorite classes, taught by some of my favorite teachers, such as altered canvases and scrapbook pages.  I decided that I'd like to include a piece of art that I created, something that I imagined.  I started by picking out the items, embellishments, and colors that I love the most...flowers, buttons & twine, winged things, script, text, canvas, vintage, yellow, and rhinestones...to name a few. :-)

I started my piece by attaching a piece of sticky back canvas to chipboard, for more stability.  Then I used Scattered Straw Distress Stain to paint the canvas.  Since I love vintage pieces, I used my Walnut Stain Distress Ink and blending tool to add some color to the edges of the canvas.  Next came decorating the canvas itself.  The first step was lightly stamp the honeycomb stamp, from the Art for You stamp set, on the entire background.  I pressed very gently so that some of the areas would be missing, creating that aged look.  Next I used the Large Heart Stencil from Studio 490.  I placed it in the center of my canvas and again used the Walnut Stain Distress Ink and a blending tool to work the color all around the heart.  Loved the finished result!

Leaving the stencil in place, I layered another stencil, the Dotted Flowers stencil from Dylusions, on top of the heart and colored in the circles with Picket Fence Distress Stain.  The sheer color of this stain is just perfect!  I removed the Dotted Flowers stencil (leaving the heart in place) and stamped a script stamp in a few places in the heart shape.  Swoon....

And then...and then...I got to play with Art Parts!  I am head over heels in love with this product!  Seriously heavy duty pressed chipboard pieces and you can do anything to....paint, ink, stamp on and so heavy duty that you don't have to worry about any breakage.  I had a hard time not opening every package I have in stock!  I used Florals, Bugs & Butterflies, and Sentiment Spots on my project. 

I used Distress Inks to color directly on to the Art Parts.  Once the ink was dry, which was very quick, I used a few background stamps that I had on hand to stamp on the flowers.  The bee, and this is the super fun part, fits perfectly with the Art for You Stamp Set!  How cool is that!  I stamped the bee on the coordinating Art Parts (including an extra body for some serious dimension) and then on vellum.  Cut out the vellum wings and attached with a glue dot.  Love the two-layer look!  I even added a little glitter using a glitter pen!  My flower got a button from the Tim Holtz Accroutements, Classic pack, along with a piece of twine and my bee received a trail of rhinestones.  I used Glossy Accents to glue everything together and to the canvas and frame.  Oh, the frame!  It was a cheap find from my local craft store that I painted black with the Pitch Black Adirondack Paint Dabber and distressed the edges with a sanding block.

Then?  Blossom Bucket embellies!  WooHoo!  I used this darling jar to hold my flower.  And guess what?  The jar come with a little indentation that perfectly fits the flower stem!  The jar is clear but I added a piece of dictionary paper.  Wouldn't the jar be cute covered with any kind of designer paper!

My last piece was the sentiment, which is also from the Art for You stamp set.  I covered the Sentiment Spot Art Part with paper from Echo Park, Documented.  I sanded the edges with a sanding block and aged the edges with my Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  Then I stamped "Be You" in VersaMark ink and embossed with black embossing powder.  The last element was to add two antique brads (cut the prongs off with Kushgrip Scissors and attach with a glue dot).

I had an amazing time creating this piece and I can't wait to add it to my art wall.  It's something that I created...it's part of my story.

So what else is going on during our hop, besides oogling lots of beautiful artwork?  Prizes and specials of course! 

• This week only save 25% on all Studio 490 products, this includes Wendy's stamps, stencils, Art Parts, Book, and Blossom Bucket embellishments.  Use code WENDY25 when checking out.
• During the hop, comment on each blog and you'll be entered into a drawing for a prize package worth $50!  Your package will include a collection of Studio 490 products as well as paper and embellishments from the store. 

Wait...there's more! 

• We want to hear about what inspires you!  Share your thoughts about why you create, what styles you're drawn to, even share a favorite project on our Facebook page.  Next week I'll randomly select a winner from those who have commented on our Make Art Facebook posts and give away a $25 gift certificate to eP!  Now...are you ready for some crafty goodness?  Let's get hopping!

eclectic Paperie - The beginning of the hop

Wendy Vecchi

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Julie Masse

Kim Schofield - You're Here!

Kim Teasdale

Mary-Ann Maldonado

Michelle Hill

Micki Harper

Sherry Cheever

Tammy Hersberger

Tenia Nelson

Starla Nelson

Thank you so much for joining us today and make some time this week to craft your story...