2016 Product Guide - Art Foamies, Gelli Plate Printing, and More!

Hello friends and happy new year! I'm wishing you the very best for 2016! Today I'm sharing some highlights from this year along with some of my new favorite products...you know, so you can start those 2016 shopping lists!

I can hardly believe that 2015 has already come to a close. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that the older I get the faster that time passes. This has been one of the most interesting, challenging, and unpredictable years for me personally and our family. Here are some highlights (I'm feeling a bit wordy tonight so feel free to scroll past the personal stuff!):

• Selling eclectic Paperie to The Funkie Junkie - This was both a hard and an exciting decision. I loved, loved, loved owning a store...it was a dream come true. The connection you make with people who share a common interest in art combined with the ability to be immersed in creative endeavors each day was an incredibly rewarding experience. However, the toll that being the primary person responsible for every aspect of owning a store was all consuming, which is great if you're a single person, but is a real challenge if you have a family. That aspect, combined with the harsh reality that you spend much more than you make when you own a small business, made the decision to sell one that needed to be made. While I still do fantasize about owning another store, I have no regrets about moving on and am thoroughly enjoying my free time.
• Job Loss - Almost 20 years with one company, half of that time spent working from home, and my sweet husband got laid off. It came as a complete shock. While there were rumblings of layoffs, my husband's group had never been affected by previous layoffs. This time his team was reduced by 30%...basically the people that had the highest salaries and who had been with the company the longest. What's sad, and is still sometimes hard to stomach, is that there were some in his group who probably should have been fired...and they were safe...and then my husband, who had nothing but glowing reviews for 17 years was the one selected. Of course we know that these circumstances don't happen outside of God's providence, but the sting of those decisions can still sometimes be felt. Now we're getting used to an entirely new routine, where my husband is no longer working from home and I'm the main caregiver to my children. It's been a challenging (I miss my hubby) and rewarding (I feel closer to the kids) experience. He loves his new job...but I'd take him working from home again in a NY minute!
• Moving - Wow...that was a biggie and completely unexpected! We've been in CT almost a month now and we're starting to feel a little more settled, but I miss NH like crazy! I LOVE NH and loved living there...I never thought that I'd live anywhere else. What's funny is that my husband and I often talked about moving to a less expensive area (PS - CT isn't it! LOL!), but the reality of moving is far different than having conversations about it over the dinner table. There are a few important things I've learned about myself in this process (and not all of it good!). I'm not as grateful as I should be and I complain far too much. My husband was unemployed for almost seven months and he found a job...a good job...one that he really loves. And instead of being grateful, I've found ways to complain about it too often. I routinely teach my children to be thankful, and yet, in my private thoughts and conversations with my ever patient husband, I grumble. In 2016, I'm going to try very hard to be really, truly grateful for God's blessings...and there are blessings...too many to even name, even when you have to leave everything behind. We don't know what the future holds for us in CT, or if we'll move again, but we are trusting in the One who holds the future...firmly...in His capable hands. 

And, with those three highlights from this year...let's get on with the product enabling for next year.....You're welcome... :-) (These photos also represent some of the goodies I've been playing with during our Christmas vacation...)

Number one on the list...Stamp Carving! I've followed Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's stamp carving adventures for a few years now, but never felt compelled to carve my own stamps until a friend had me over for a stamp carving gathering. One stamp in and I was hooked! I went out and ordered all of the supplies, watched videos, and have jumped in with two feet. It's a super easy process, although can be time consuming, and the results are so much fun! My kids have even created their own stamps!

My nine year old made these stamps! We simple traced a stencil design, from Dina Wakley, Leafy, and he spent a good hour carefully carving out the stamps. He loves them and has even starting to create his own art journal. How cool is that!?

This was a stamp I created while hanging out and drawing with the kids. I wasn't really trying to be super careful or precise, but I still loved the results. I love the look of those lines (basically areas that could still be carved away) around the flowers...so vintage!

How cute is this one?! This is a stamp I carved for my 11 year old...it's a little Yokai (think Pokemon) figure. He was so excited with the finished product and I can just see him stamping this little guy on any outgoing mail!

Want to try stamp carving? Here are some helpful links to the products that you'll need:

-Julie's CarvedDecember Projects (for inspiration!)

-Julie's Book, "Stamp, Carve, Play"

-Speedball Linoleum Cutter

-Speedy Carve Blocks

-Glass Mat

-You'll also need a ruler, ink pads, and ballpoint pens or Sharpies

Next up...Gelli Plate printing!

Gelli printing is so much fun! You can create all kinds of custom background, using just acrylic paint, stencils, and even household items. I finally purchased some deli paper (link below) and spent an evening creating a bunch of prints. The prints below were all made using the exact same color paints and the exact same stencils. Can you even believe how different they look? I can't wait to use these pieces in my art journal and to create cards...love! (The one in the lower and upper right are my favs...)

Want to explore gelli printing? Gelli Arts shares a ton of great videos on their You Tube channel and their Facebook page. Check out the following links:

-Gelli Arts (They just introduced some mini plates that are to die for...I'm giddy!)

-Gelli Arts You Tube Channel

-Gelli Arts Facebook page

-Gelli Plates at Dick Blick

-Brayer (a must have item)

-Deli Paper

-You'll also want to have stencils, acrylic paint, and any other mark making tool on hand

Third on the list...and a new product for me...Art Foamies! Art Foamies are very sturdy foam stamps. Each stamp comes with a stamp buddy, which can be used to create custom ink pads, utilizing acrylic paint. The Art Foamies are great for use in art journals and even on walls! They are super fun! And...Julie Balzer just introduced her own line of Art Foamies...so you know I had to get a few.

This is probably one of my favorite designs and the large size is perfect for art journals. For these pages I started by painting them with black acrylic paint. Once that I was dry, I loaded up my stamp buddy with two colors of Dina Wakley paint. (Tip: You're going to need a lot of paint to fully load the ink pad). Once the pad is loaded with paint, press the Art Foamie stamp onto the ink pad and stamp away! It took a little practice to figure out how much pressure to apply to the stamp....as evidenced by some of my smooshy images. I found that you do not need to press hard, but you need to apply gentle, even pressure to the entire stamp. I think I'll probably add some gel pen doodling to this page...

I also stamped a bunch of the same image on to deli paper. You can see how many impression you can get from the one ink pad. You can even get multiple prints from one application of paint. I did all of the stamping in my journal and on a bunch of pieces of deli paper and I could have kept going! (Tip: Be sure to rinse your stamp and stamp buddy with water before the paint dries!)

Here's another of Julie's new designs. Since I was just playing, I stamped this sweet flower all over two art journal pages. We'll see what I end up doing with these pages in the future...

Want to check out Art Foamies?

-Art Foamies Store

-Julie Balzer Video on using the Art Foamies

This is just a quick little project, featuring paint that was left on my gelli plate and packing tape. This just might be the best and coolest way to clean your gellli plate! You have to check out the video here.

Lastly, I'll leave you with two photos that I just have to share...

First, the art journal covers my youngest created for his art journal. In the past I've mentioned Julie Balzer's Junque Journal class and how much I enjoyed creating my own journal. My youngest liked my journal so much that he wanted to create his own. I took a bunch of left over pages, from when I created my journal, and made one for him. I just love his pictures and his excitement over wanting to create art.

My oldest is all about video games and all things Pokemon. His favorite art form is to trace print outs and then add color. This picture doesn't have color yet, but he has a great collection of this type of art and it's fun to see him engage with drawing and shading.

Whew! You still with me? This was a long post! I wanted to share some of the projects we've been working on during our vacation. We're back to school and work next week...back to our regular routine. I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my favorite things and I hope to be back with a finished project next week!

Best wishes for a very happy new year!

XXOO

Art Journal Every Day

Hello friends! My apologizes for the long silence and lack of blog posts. To say that life has been busy is an understatement. So much has been taking place over the past month that it's been difficult to create much less remember to take photos and post on my blog. Relax...this is going to be a long post.

Today I'm sharing the only art that I've been creating over the past few weeks, along with details on some major changes taking place in our family. First, let's get to the art!

Early last month I ended up signing up for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Junque Journal class, which is offered online. It's $125 for the class, but so worth the price! I think I mentioned this class previously, but I ended up taking close to 100 random pieces of cardstock, paper, half finished art journal pages, and lots of other odds and ends and turning them into two journals. They are spectacular! I can't say enough good things about this class...it was amazing.

Once I finished my journals, I ended up taking Julie's 30 Days in Your Junque Journal class (another online class), which includes 30 individual videos. Each video shows Julie's creating something in her journal each day. To be honest, I wish there was more of Julie creating her beautiful art in her journals (I could sit and watch her videos all day!), however, she does really break down how she uses her journal and how to get the most out of your journal. I felt like I learned a lot of tips and tricks attending both of these classes. (There's a discount if you bundle these two classes together)

Since the majority of my art studio has been packed for our pending move to CT (insert weeping and wailing), I've been only working with paint, some stencils, a whole lotta new pens (Julie has me hooked on Jelly Roll pens and white Sharpies!), and my journal. It's been refreshing...

I have also found that my journal has been a wonderful way for me to work through my many varying emotions about our move. Moving is not something I have desired and so there have been many days filled with a deep sadness and feeling of loss. We are giving up a lot to make this move. Journaling has helped me put those feelings down on paper, it's been a place to capture encouraging words that have been spoken to me by friends, and a location for special Bible verses that I've read. It's been a rewarding and somewhat therapeutic experience. 

The journal spread above was created with red paint (Dina Wakley), a leaf stencil (Crafters Workshop), and some embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi) that I colored with gold paint (also Dina). I put my journaling on two small tags, I love the look of the text against the red pages, and the butterfly was a scrap piece of chipboard left over from a die cut (Sweet 'n Sassy). I just added some paint and stamping (Prima stamps) to the chipboard before attaching it over another manila tag.

This page already had a gelli print on the paper (you can see the print through the bird), and I just added black paint around the bird mask (Donna Downey), poured out my thoughts on the page, using a white Sharpie, and added some red color to the bird. I also did a bit of doodling (love those Jelly Roll pens), and a piece of washi tape. I might add more to this bird, but no rush on making any changes right now. I'm finding that I work in small sections once or twice a day. It's all this mom has time for right now!

The page on the left was one that I created a while ago, you can read the details here, and I simply painted the page on the right to match. I journaled in the circles (fun stuff!), and added a few other elements to make the two pages flow together.

This spread was super, duper fun! The hearts on the right were already on the page and then I started doodling...and I just couldn't stop! I created this giant flower and used some watered down gesso to fade out the background behind the hearts, but left some of the text and design peeking through. The doodling was all done with Jelly Roll pens and Sharpies. The hearts were the perfect focal point for my journaling as my pages included a wonderful note from a friend who encouraged me about the decisions we're making as a family. (All of the date, day, and shape stamps are from Julie Balzer).

I have a few other pages that are in progress and hopefully I'll be able to pop back in sometime soon to share more.

As for our personal news...we are indeed moving to CT. I'm more at peace about the decision now as each day brings more conversations with my hubby, more news about his new position (he LOVES it), and closer to finding a new home. We've been faced with a host of challenges with this move, but we're finding that God is continuing to open doors so we've been encouraged that we're on the right path. We hope to close on our new home this week and we will be out of our beloved NH home right after Thanksgiving. 

This also means that I will no longer be teaching at Michaels in Epping or offering classes in my home. It's a bit sad to be closing this chapter of my life, but I confess that I have been overjoyed with the amount of free time I've had with my children. Being free from the stress of store ownership and creating only for classes, design teams, or my blog vs. creating just for fun and only when I have time has been liberating. I have missed so much with my boys...even though I've been home with them for many years...I haven't been as present as I should have been, and I'm grateful that I'm getting an opportunity to spend more time with them now...it's a tremendous privilege and blessing. 

I'm not sure what all of this means for my blog...I do know that things are going to be very quiet for the next month or so as we pack up the rest of our house and then unpack in our new home. I may share more art on Instagram so please follow me there, if you'd like. My user name is Kimita46. (You'll also see lots of photos of our cat! LOL!) I'd like to think I'll be back to regular blogging in a few months, but we'll see...I've been on design teams and blogging for close to 10 years and a big part of me wants to take a break and just work on my own art. However, I may miss this wonderful community too much to stay away for long! I do hope you'll remain on my mailing list for now and if there are any other big changes (you know, other than that whole moving to another state thing), I'll send out a note. (Maybe I'll share more of our moving journey on the blog...)

Thanks so much! Much love!

Life Book 2015 - Week 30 with Flora Bowley

Hello strangers! I know...it has been ages since I've regularly posted on my blog. There have been some big changes happening over here in the Paperie Petals world, and I'm hoping that those changes will enable me to spend more time making art and more time sharing art.

The biggest change is that I sold my store, eclectic Paperie! In case you haven't heard, the store was acquired by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. You can read all about the news here. I'm super excited about the sale and thrilled that eP's ever loyal customer base still has a wonderful place to shop for their craft supplies. If you've never shopped at The Funkie Junkie, you should check out the store, they have a broad variety of products for paper crafters.

The other big change is that my hubby lost his job a few months ago. He was with his company for 17 years and the sudden lay off was a huge shock. Thankfully, he received a great severance package. However, this means that after almost seven years he will most likely be back in an office each day vs. working from home. This means that my time needs to be even more dedicated to homeschooling and managing our home. (It also means I won't be able to sneak out for coffee breaks with friends during the week...darn...LOL!) The layoff could also mean that we may have to move...hoping that's not the case as we love our location, but we're open to change...

So far...that's the only big changes...and it's enough for 2015...I'm good...**wink**

Let's get chatting about the recent Life Book lesson by Flora Bowley. Oh my...I think was my all time favorite Life Book lesson this year! This lesson was all about letting go and creating with lots and lots of layers. And this was the first time I kept layering. Can I share that I have a free of layering? Seriously, it's a problem! I tend to be ok with a few layers, but then I get stuck...and I did indeed get stuck with this project...so I added another layer! And I love how this turned out...it really was the shape that developed through the layers. Great fun!

You can see some of the marks under the orange paint. Oh, and this was the first time I understood the joys of transparent paint! The orange over the top, a Golden paint, was perfect for allowing all of the other layers to peek through. Most of the paints I used on this project were Golden, Paper Artsy, and Dina Wakley..my three top favorites.

And check out the texture! Ohhh!!  That was created by using dimensional paints from Art Anthology. I added the paint and then created a design by using a brush handle. Art Anthology paints are super thick and perfect for creating dimension. I also used stencils from Donna Downey and stamps from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Dina Wakley. I'll post links to the supplies I used, at the end of my post.

I have one more project to share from this lesson, as Flora encouraged us to work on two pieces at once, another great piece of artistic advise, and I'll share that in the coming days.

Thanks for taking peek, leave me a note to let me know what you think and to share your tips for finishing pieces when you get stuck (it's seriously the hardest part for me!) Looking forward to sharing more in the coming days...

Supplies:

Paints - PaperArtsy, Dina Wakley, Golden

Stamps - Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Dina Wakley

Stencils - Donna Downey

Travel Album - Yes, I Scrapbooked

I have a photo heavy post for you today...sharing a mini album that I created using supplies from a kit club.  I'm not much of a scrapbooker (I've been working on one album for about six years...I don't think it's going to ever be finished! LOL!), but I'm a sucker for mini albums.  They're easy to create and you can finish one up in no time flat!  And I love documenting one moment in time, such as a trip, a holiday, or only travel photos, such as the theme of this album.

This is a fun folded album, which I learned how to make in a Julie Balzer class.  Seriously easy to make, using just a few sheets of 12x12 paper.  The cover is folded in and I opted to create a larger front cover spread that is partially hidden when the album is closed.  Here's the open view:

I just couldn't part with the "life is a daring adventure" sentiment...love that!  This is a tough album to photograph because it accordion folds and is about three feet long when unfolded...it rocks!  One entire side has pockets, which I'll show you below, and the other side is just plain paper, which you could use for journaling or more photos.  Here's a shot of one side...

On the right hand side of the photo, you can see where the cover folds.  Each page is held together with special painted masking tape...another Julie technique.  (If you haven't taken one of her classes...you must!)  I'll keep commentary to a minimum from here on out and just let you enjoy the inside pages.  Most of the embellishments are from the kit and coordinate with the paper collection, all from My Minds Eye.  The stamps you'll see are old Ali Edwards designs that I believe I purchased through Technique Tuesday.  Mini letters seen throughout are sticker sheets from Authentique.  I buy every Authentique letter and word sticker sheet I can get my hands on...they are an amazing tool and I use their stickers in everything from cards to scrapbooking to mixed media projects.  Enjoy the show!  (Leave a comment if you have any other questions!)

Forgive the glare on some of these pages...Photographing pictures in my studio at night is a bear! LOL!

The end of the pocket pages...Here's a look at a completed insert.  Each of the photos were mounted on cardstock.

I adore stamping right on to a photo... (And what's that?  A text circle on almost every page...you better believe it!)

I kept the non-pocket pages pretty simple.  Just mounted the photos and added some decoration and/or text and stamping.  All of my photos are printed to 5"x7".

I have one empty page left in the album and that's where I'll be putting more of the stories of our trips this year.  My plan is to use my old typewriter for the journaling...fabulous!

That's my completed album!  Super fun to make and a great keepsake.  My next album, the one I created in Julie's class, is going to focus on photos of all the amazing designers and teachers I've had met over the past few years.  I can't wait to get started!

 

Bloom

Sometime last year I registered for an online Donna Downey class, to create the above painting.  I loved how Donna used a stencil to create the face...seriously, so much easier than drawing by hand, and how her hair was primarily constructed of flowers...me, faces, and flowers?  Why, yes, that's a fabulous combination!  (You can sign up for this same class here)  This stencil is called Three Quarter is was designed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  You can see a video of Julie demonstrating how to use these stencils here.

 

 While I was really happy with my final results, a year later, I can see so many areas where I would have done things differently.  However, the one area that I adore is actually the canvas background, which was created by first randomly applying Wendy Vecchi's white embossing paste.  I love how the paste looks once you apply paint (after the paste is dry)...like a chipped wall in an old building...be still my heart!  I also added some stenciling using another Wendy Vecchi item, the Classic Words stencil (one of my favs!)  The Bloom is from the Artful Thoughts stencil.  I'm also really partial to all of the dots on the flowers...adds such a fun element.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class and am looking forward to finding a place to display my blooming lady...