art stuff: 15 minutes of mixed media

- wait, make that 10. Ten minutes of mixed media. Today I chose to make the challenge a bit harder. I set the timer for ten minutes instead of 15. I am still working in my small Dylusion Creative Journal.

I began today on an un-prepped page. I did have a few supplies laid out.

My supplies for this shorter challenge included some paint, inks, pastels,  and a permanent pen. I dried layers with a heat embosser and finished the layout off with a sealer. Start to finish - ten minutes. This just keeps getting better and better!

This all started here! You can see a few other examples of 15 minutes of mixed media here.

art stuff: 15 minutes of mixed media

I started this a few weeks ago and it has really made a difference at how I look at a few minutes of art time.

Just choose a medium, set the timer and go to work!

I am more inspired than ever to take that time and make it mine! Today I am working in the small (5" x 8") Dylusions Creative Journal.

I created this page from start to finish with the timer set to 15 minutes. I had a few supplies laid out and ready to use, but nothing precut. I also used a heat embosser to help speed up the drying time in between layers.

Not only am I working on a journal layout, I am finishing it. This is the best idea I ever came up with! Enjoy!

15 minutes of mixed media: an exercise in art and time management

You might remember reading here that I have to sometimes give myself small amounts of time in the studio, as opposed to none. I'll take it.

Some days are great and I get in there for hours on end. Others, not so much. I have been debating on how I could make those few moments more productive. This is what I came up with. - set a timer. That's it. Nothing monumental, nothing life altering. Just simple time management.

It works for violin practice. It works for silent reading. It works for time out. Why couldn't it work for art journaling? painting? project planning?

And so I bought a cute timer and I set it. This is what I got on day one. A beautiful art journal page. I worked quickly and diligently, but with no pressure to finish. After all, I get to set the timer again tomorrow.

For those inquiring minds- I set the timer for 15 minutes for this layout and I completed it in that time frame. I worked on foundation page that already had a base print that I created using the gelli plate. (my favorite tool of all time) Sorta like beat the clock only better, and prettier.

art stuff: gelli plate play

I like to use a colorful background as a starting point in most of my journal work and Gelli Plates are an awesome way to work with color and texture. For basic colored backgrounds just squeeze on a few different colored paints and roll them around with your brayer. Lay your page down and pick up the color. Repeat until most or all of the color has been picked up. It is cool to see what your next print will look like when it picks up some of the previous prints color.

Here are a few backgrounds I created this week.

Making these backgrounds is repetitive in nature and therefore soothing to me. I could do this all day. The bonus? I have pages at the ready when I go to work in my journal. Win win.

on the worktable: art journaling

Working on this  ----->

live the repurposed life: paper towel ruffles

W H O  S A Y S  R E C Y C L E D  &  R E P U R P O S E D  C A N ' T  B E  P R E T T Y ?

These pretty blank note cards are my latest creation using repurposed burlap and yes! recycled  paper towels ... HAND DYED  and  LOVELY of course. A coordinating hand dyed silky posie is the perfect embellishment. These are available in sets of two HERE and HERE.                  

live the repurposed life: pretty paper

Whenever I am working on a project that requires dyes or inks, or even paints, I always use a piece of newsprint or watercolor paper as "underpaper." A favorite tip I learned from my very talented friend, Roben-Marie. It saves cleaning up a big mess, but it also leaves me with a great piece of colorful paper to use for other projects. Last week I used some watercolor paper under a dye project. The week before I had used the same piece of paper to catch drips of paint and gesso. This week I cut sweet little hearts out of this paper and used them to make some notecards for Vintage Hip in Springfield, Alabama. Available in my Etsy Shoppe soon!