Heart Art RAK

Making Art is essential to the well-being of my Heart.  Nothing brings greater pleasure to a Maker than to create joy for someone else.  During the Creativation Trade Show, which took place in Phoenix Arizona January 21-23, Designers participated in the Heart Art RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) event on a Sunday morning.  I, along with many fellow Designers volunteered to create some pieces of art with Hearts as the theme, which we then left in the public spaces on the Trade Shown floor for others to find.  Our hope and intention were just to bring some joy to random people.

I created these two pieces:

I know that one of my pieces which were found and claimed by individuals who then shared it on social media. It warmed my heart to know that some small piece of art that I made could bring happiness even if only for a brief moment to someone.  We have since become friends on Facebook, and I hope to retain that friendship for a long time.

To make these small Heart Canvasses I used some bright acrylic paints, and utilized a variety of techniques.  Here is a glimpse of that process: https://youtu.be/sLgQxdsPHG8

While the paintings were drying, I added some sprays of colors onto the white based wicker hearts.  A tip I have for you is to remove the lace before spraying, so it maintains its whiteness.  I also added some glitter to make the hearts sparkle.  Once everything was dry, I used hot glue to adhere the hearts to the canvas.

Supplies:
2 x 3inch square canvas
Fluid Acrylic Paints (DecoArt)
Wicker woven Heart (Dollar Store)
Ink Sprays (Tattered Angels)
Hot Glue (Ad Tech)

Here are links to purchase similar products online.  I am affiliated with these sites and will receive just a lil' bit of money if you purchase from these links. Thanks.

How to Hoot

Hello, today the Design Team (including myself) over at the Linnie Blooms Blog are doing a cooperative Blog Hop with Faber Castell.  We are pleased to team up with a company that makes such wonderful art and craft products.  Here is the project I made:

It is a canvas ATC (Artist Trading Card) with an owl.  It would also make a cute tag.  To start off here is a list of the products I used to make this project.

From Faber Castell:  Glass Bead Glitter Gel, Mixed Media Stencils Collection 101, Gelatos                ( Margarita Mix, Orange Soda,Limoncello, Snow Cone, and Bubble Gum), and Pitt Artist Pens "Big Brush" in "Orange Glaze", and "Black"
 From Linnie Blooms:  Owl, ATC,Stamp "Stitched Doodles",  Stencil"Flutter"
Other Products: Square Sequin (Art Minds), Rhinestones (Dollarama), Aleene's Tacky Glue, Ranger Black Archival Ink, and DYMO Label Maker.

To begin, I chose three complimentary colours of Gelatos to prepare the background of the ATC.  I love using the Gelatos from Faber Castell as they are the creamiest pastels ever!  The colours are beautiful and I really like the NEW Bright Colours.  I used my finger and a few drops of water to spread the colour over and into the canvas.

By the way the ATC is a Linnie Blooms canvas layered ATC.  It consists of a sandwich of two layers of raw canvas with a recycled paper in the middle.  The layers are stitched together so the creator has no actual sewing to do!

I chose two colours to create the funky happy Owl by using the same method I used previously in colouring the ATC.  I then used the Stitched Stamp (Linnie Blooms) and a Black Pit Big Brush Pen (Faber Castell) to add the feathers to the owl.

For the ATC, I used a stencil from Faber Castell , and the Glass Bead Glitter Gel also from Faber Castell.  The paste is easy to spread with a palette knife.

The picture below shows the paste when it is still wet.

 I did try to show what the dry paste looks like in the other picture, however it is difficult to see the sparkling beads as the camera blurs the image due to the shine.

Another step involved using a Linnie Blooms stencil called  "Flutter" and some more Brush Pens by Faber Castell to add the branch to the ATC.

To make the Owl's beak I used a square shaped sequin which I folded in half on the diagonal.

The Owl's eyes are self adhering faux rhinestones.

To adhere the owl to the ATC I used some good tacky crafting glue.  I used the same glue for adhering the rhinestone eyes, the beak, and the words (made with the DYMO Label Maker).

This was a fun project to make and I hope that you too find working and playing with the Faber Castell Products and the Linnie Blooms products enjoyable.

Please get "Hoppin'" by going here: http://linnieblooms.blogspot.com/2015/09/linnie-blooms-and-faber-castell-blog-hop.html
And just in case, here is the list of Designers taking part in this Hop:

Ann Strecko Koemen (That's where you are now)

Gail Green

Rochelle Spears

Karen Sessions

Noelia Inglesias Gonzalez

Mayoori Jain

Dawn Marie Mattson

Faber-Castell Design Team

Thank you for stopping by!

Making Christmas Cards During a Heat Wave

How do I keep cool during a heat wave?  I make crafts down in my air conditioned craft room!  I keep cool and get a head start on the pre -holiday season preparations.  I know that sounds zany to some of you but in the world of Design and Crafting it is how we work.  Although it is hard to get into the frame of mind of December when The August heat is upon us, it helps to have AC!

So for today's post over at the Linnie Blooms Blog where I am on the Design Team I made this card:

As you may already know I do love nature and birds.  We have so much wild life including lots of birds where we live, so it is easy to be inspired by all these critters.  I don't see many Blue Jays during the summer months but I do see them a lot during the winter, they like to munch on left over dried up berries, crab apples, and rose hips.  Yummy!   So that is where I got my inspiration.

Working and playing with basic surfaces and products made by Linnie Blooms is a joy especially when a lot of the guess work has been done for me.  I save time by using already die cut canvas shapes and the shapes themselves help to inspire me.


Here is a list of the supplies I used:

Linnie Blooms Bird
Linnie Blooms Stencil "Flutter"
White pre-folded card Recollections (Michaels)
Card stock in Dark Blue (scrap from my stash)
Metallic Scrapbook paper scraps in Light Blue, and White (From my stash)
Little B™ Die "Party"
Snowflake punch
Red Glass Beads (MultiCraft)
Puffy Fabric Paint in Black (Craft Medley--MultiCraft)
Black Rhinestone (Dollarama)
Gales by Faber Castell (White, Teal, Blue, Green)
Double sided Adhesive Tape (3m)
Aleene's Tacky Glue

To read how I put together this card all you have to do is jump on over to the Linnie Blooms Blog over here.

I sincerely hope that you too are inspired to create something spectacular out of such simple materials too.   Be inspired.

Thanks for stopping by.

How to Canvas Art Journal Pages for Summer

Hi there!  Thanks for stopping by today as I share with you my latest pages done in my Linnie Blooms Mixed Stitched book.  You can see the full posting I did here (post) for The Linnie Blooms Design Team.

I work in several journals and each one has a different surface or surfaces to create on.  In the LB book the pages are made of two layers of raw canvas with recycled paper in between, like a sandwich.  These pages are a joy for me to paint and do all sorts of mixed media things with.  This week I show a couple of pages I completed using paints and stencils.  Here are a few pictures:

                                                             2 pages in my journal

                                                             some yummy colours I used

                                                                        left page

                                                             right page (notice the kitty!)


For more ideas and laughs please check out my YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/annmakes and subscribe.  Also, please leave some comments below and follow my blog by clicking in the box in the left sidebar.

Thanks again for your visit today, and come back soon.

Supplies:
Linnie Blooms Mini Mixed-Stitched Book
Page 1:
DecoArt® Media™Misters in: Primary Magenta, Primary Cyan, and Primary Yellow
DecoArt® Crafter's Acrylic ™Paint  in Black
DecoArt® Stencil Andy Skinnner 6"x6" "Vogue"
Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz stamp "City-Central"
Page2:
DecoArt® Media Fluid Acrylics™in:  Cobalt Teal Hue, Quinacridone Magenta, Hansa Yellow Light
Stamp (my stash)
Ranger's Archival Black Ink(used ion both pages)
Faber Castell Black Pitt Pen
DecoArt®Americana stencil 6"x8" "Daisy Chain
Quote Sticker (my stash)
Respect Green Metallic pen
Decoupage by DecoArt® glue-Sealer-finish (used on both pages)

How to Make Cute Pages in a Journal Made of Canvas

A few weeks ago I shared how I made a canvas journal cover, today I am sharing a couple pages inside that journal.

Hi, I am still working in the Linnie Blooms canvas Mini Mixed Stitched Book and posting my pages over at the LB blog and here as well.  For these two pages I used a lot of paints and spritzing to make the bright and colourful background on the untreated canvas pages.  That way I could maintain the texture of the raw canvas.
I used two stencils, one(DecoArt)  to create the background and the other (LB)to make the feathers which I collaged onto the surface.  The complete list of the supplies I used are below and I am including links just in case you are interested in knowing how you too can get those same products.

I hope that you are inspired to look at raw canvas as a possible surface to do some art journaling as well.

Thanks a lot for stopping by and please if you have any comments or questions don't be shy and include them in the comment section below.  Keep on Crafting!



Supplies:
Mini Mixed Stitched Book from Linnie Blooms
Feather Stencil Mask from Linnie Blooms
Gold Stag DecouPage paper from DecoArt®
Daisy Chain Stencil from DecoArt
DecouPage™ Sealer-Glue-Finish from DecoArt®
Media Fluid Acrylics from DecoArt® (Cadmium Red Hue, Hansa Yellow Medium, and Metallic Gold)
StazOn Jet Black Solvent Ink from Tsukineko
Stamp  "What I'm Looking For Is a Blessing In Disguise" from Hampton Art--7Gypsies
Black Permanent pen from Sharpie
Archival Seeds in Pistachio and Cherry Kisses from The Robin's Nest
Media Misters from DecoArt® (Orange, Yellow Primary, and Yellow Green)

**THANKyou to Linnie Blooms, DecoArt, and The Robin's Nest for the wonderful products used in today's post.

similar products available at Amazon (every click goes to support this Blog's FREE content) :)

How To Make Luggage Tag #Lovesummerart Sneak Peak

#lovesummerart is on from July 15th- 20th this summer!

What is that?  It is .....
A great collaboration between hundreds of artists and crafters and all around creative geniuses who make YouTube Videos.  Enjoy fantastic how to's and much more over the four days by visiting YouTube and looking for videos with the hashtag(#) love summer art!

You won't wan't to miss this event.  BONUS!  all the videos will be available after the event for your viewing privilege at any time forever!!!!

All we ask is that you check us out, maybe give us some love in the comments and a Thumbs up!  Oh, and subscribe to our channel(s) all for FREE!

So save the dates.  Tell your friends.  Tell anyone!

If you want to know how I made this you will have to go check out the video when it goes live on Friday! (link will be here on Friday)
                      LIVE LINK :     http://youtu.be/Jr6cvJWa4i4

Supplies provided by:

Kelly Panacci  Inc. "Little Flyers" fabric for Riley Blake
Linnie Blooms
DecoArt®
Westcott®O

How to Make a Cute Journal Cover

How to Change a plain cover of a new book or journal with some love and a little paint.  That is what I  want to share with you today.

Hi, thanks for stopping by and checking out how I took an unfinished canvas journal and made it my own.  Today over at the Linnie Blooms Blog where I am one of the Designers I posted this project that I made for them.  I truly enjoy working with LB  and their products, so this is not a chore for me!
One of the reasons I like Linnie Blooms in addition to the great products is the fact that they donate 1% of their sales to charity  to help in the Mental Health Awareness campaign, a cause I am totally in support of.

Here is the journal cover I decorated with some other fabulous products made by the DecoArt® Company.  Now this company also has a wonderful program: the Helping Artist program which actually helps to support the creativity of artists such as myself and a whole big lot of them!  It is worth checking out.

Supplies:
"Mini Mixed Stitch Book" by Linnie Blooms
"Bloom" stencils/Masks by Linnie Blooms
Glass seed beads from my stash
Pigma Micron  Micro Pigment Ink pen in black by Sakura
"Cling Hydrangea Garden" cling rubber stamps with template by Stampendous®
"Gesso" by DecoArt® media™
"DecoArt® media Fluid Acrylics™" in (Cobalt Teal Hue, Dioxazine Purple, Hansa Yellow Medium, Primary Magenta, and Titanium White")
"DecoArt® media™ Liquid Glass" (Clear)
"DecoArt® One Step Crackling Medium"

Thanks for checking in today, and come back soon!

Flowery Note Keeper

Here is my Flowery Note Keeper project that I made for the Linnie Blooms/ Stampendous Blog Hop, I hope you like it.

This started out as a simple block of wood, and with the help of some fabulous supplies I transformed it into this really practical and cute (if I do say so) piece.

You too can make this by doing the following.

Step1. Paint the block and clothes pin. Let dry.

Step 2. Paint canvas flowers and butterfly.  Let dry.

Step 3.  Stamp with embossing or pigment ink using Stampendous stamps (Cling Hydrangea) and Stampendous powder (Crystal) on a piece of card stock.  Heat set.

Step 4.  Stamp again with just ink.

Step 5.  Stamp painted canvas flowers with Flower stamp and Black ink.  Also stamp the painted canvas butterfly with the butterfly stamp and black ink (Both sides)

Step 6.  Cut out flower images from card stock and create depth with a stylus.

Step 7.  Cut canvas flowers. Cut Butterfly in half.

Step 8.  Begin assembling the pieces with glue (I used Aleene's Tacky Glue) and some dimensional foam tape.

Step 9.  Add some detail (seed beads for flower centres.) Twist a piece of green trim for the butterfly's body and glue in place. on top of the clothes pin.  Use a black pen to add high lights.

Step 10.  Attach pink ribbon and clothes pin with more glue.

Supplies used:
Wood Block 3 x 5: Linnie Blooms
Card Stock: Lilac (Staples)
Pigment Stamp Ink: Stampin' Up! in Orchid Opulence
Black Ink pad: Staz-on by Imagine Crafts
Black marker: Faber Castell
Embossing Powder: Stampendous Encrusted Jewel Kit (Crystal Embossing Powder)
Stamps: Stampendous "Cling Hydrangea Garden", and Birthday Wish
Jumbo Stamp Handle: Stampendous
Ribbon: Linnie Blooms
Canvas Petal Flowers:  Linnie Blooms
Canvas Butterfly: Linnie Blooms
Clothes pin: Linnie Blooms
Beads: from my stash
Adhesive: Aleene's Tacky Glue
Dimensional foam tape: Multicrafts
Acrylic Craft Paints: DecoArt in Bright Yellow, Lavender, and Soft Green

Thank you for stopping by.  Please leave me some comments, and follow me on social media.  All links are in the side bars.

Our Designers Links:

Ann Strecko Koeman (you are here)

Gail Green

Karen Sessions

Noelia Iglesias Gonzalez 

Mayoori Jain

Trish Cortez

Dawn Mattson

And here are the links to the Stampendous Blog Hoppers:

Monday: http://wp.me/psmPc-3xZ

Tuesday: http://wp.me/psmPc-3ys

Wednesday: http://wp.me/psmPc-3yu

Thursday: http://wp.me/psmPc-3yw

Friday: http://wp.me/psmPc-3yy

At the end of the blog hop, Linnie Blooms will be giving away a FREE All New DIY Home Decor Kit!  So be sure to leave a comment on our Designer's blog to be entered to win!

Flowers in my Art Journal

Hey!  Today I have more than one project or tip to share with you.  I recently felt inspired to make the following page in my Canson Mix Media art journal.  I share this project also over at the Linnie Blooms blog (over here).

Supplies:
Carson Mix Media 90 lbs, 7 x 10 journal
Linnie Blooms canvas Petal Flower
Linnie Blooms Flower Blooms Stencil and Mask set
Colorbox stamp inks
Sakura Pigma Micron pens
Colourarte Shimmering H2O in Vanilla

Thanks for stopping by!

Flowers in Canvas

Spring time = Flowers!  Which I love to buy and plant, grow from seed and receive as a gift.

Hi, and happy spring everyone.  Welcome to my blog and have a look at this card I made in the spirit of Spring for the Linnie Blooms Design Blog.  I really enjoy working on canvas on a larger scale and it is so much fun to work with smaller pieces of plain canvas as well.  Here I used one of the Flowers from The Linnie Blooms collection, which by the way is coming out with a whole new line of Home Decor products. (check it out here)

Here is my card for today.

Products used:
Canvas Flower from Linnie Blooms
Shabby Trim in Green from Linnie Blooms
Cardstocks in Blue Glitter, and Brick Fat Plaid from The Robin's Nest
Shimmering Water Colour in "Poppy Red" from Colourarte
Stamp , VS4911 series 7 from Studio G
Ink from Ranger Archival in Jet Black
Dies "Hello Sunshine" from Sizzix
Button from Dollar Tree
Embroidery floss in Black from DMC


Thank you for stopping by.

Tip time

Creative Paperclay® as a paste?  It can be done.  Here is another way to use your air drying creative Paperclay® modelling material.  I have not tested this method on other air drying clays, but I assume the results may be similar.

Hi, today I have a quick tip to share with the viewers of the Creative Paperclay ®Modelling Material blog.  As a Designer on their Team I made a canvas a while back and I used the clay as a paste with a stencil to create some relief on my canvas.  It was a bit of a sticky situation!  However, the results were amazing.  I like how the piece I was working on came out feeling like a plaster but it is so light weight.  Anyways, I share projects and how to's along with other fellow Designers over at the Creative Paperclay® blog, just in case you are looking for ideas.

I just wanted to share with my viewers here the idea of looking at and using your own craft supplies in new ways.  It is fun, and economical.

Thanks for stopping by.

Art from the Heart

A week full of inspiration!!  What fun!  AND, if you participate you will be entered into our random drawing for $50 in FREE Linnie Blooms product!!  That's a LOT of product!!  

So, mark your calender, set your phone reminder, do whatever it takes not to miss out!!

Hello, and welcome to MY first ever Linnie Blooms Design Team Blog Hop. Today is the first day!  I made this tag for the occasion which I will either use as a piece of home decor, a mini album or perhaps even a key chain.  I have yet to decide.  :)  I do love to work with canvas and I had so much fun designing and assembling this project.  It may be small but a lot of work went into making this.

Products needed:

Linnie Blooms Canvas Arrow-House
Linnie Blooms Luggage Tag
Linnie Blooms Shabby trim (Pink & Green)
Linnie Blooms Flutter Stencil and Mask

Micron Black Pen (Sakura)
Brown Craft Paint (Dollarama)
White Gesso  (Daler Rowney)
Vintage book page (My collection)
Gold seed bead (Multi-Crafts)
Glue (Tombow)
Glue (Aleene's)
Creative Medium in Iridescent Green (Imagine Crafts)
Label Maker and Labels (Dymo)
Permanent Green Ink Marker (Sharpie)
Scraps of printed paper from my stash
Pink Glitter Glue (Elmers)

Here's the list of participating designers and their direct links:

Beth Watson

Mayoori Jain

Ann Strecko Koeman (You are Here)

(Next stop)Karen Sessions

Gail Green

Noelia Inglesias Gonzolez

Dawn Mattson

Trish Cortez

Don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog so you can be entered into our giveaway! Please share some love by Liking our Facebooks, sharing, pinning, etc....

Back to Linnie Blooms Design Team Blog

Remember to visit each one, leave a comment and get entered for a chance to win win win!  Thanks for hopping along.

Some of the Best Things...

Hi, today I have a sneak peak of the project I made for the Robin's Nest Design Team blog.  Below the picture I have included a list of supplies I used.

Supplies:

The Robin's Nest scrapbook papers:(Flame Swirls,Honeycomb fleur, Glitter Numbers, Red, Grey)
The Robin's Nest dew drops:( Mini Dew Drops, Tear Drops, Dew Drops)
The Robin's Nest dew dew glue
Square canvas 5" x 5" (altered canvas purchased from Value Village)
Crafter's acrylic Paint in Light antique white by Decoart
Mod Podge in matte by Plaid
Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage photo by Ranger
Liquid glue Mono Multi by Tombow
Sanding block (Dollar Tree)
Double sided adhesive and Sticker Maker by Xyron
Semi-hard pastels by Gallery Mungvo
Embossing tools by EK Success
Cutting blade/knife by Fiskars
StazOn® solvent ink in black by Tsukineko
Punches/ Die makers Hearts, small 5 petal flower, and puzzle shape by Creative Memories;  Butterfly by Martha Stewart, 8 petal bloom by Fishers, Large 5 petal flower Blossom by EK Success for Stamping'  Up!
Stamp: What do you see Donna Downey Studios by Unity Stamp co.
Scotch 3M Glue Dots--/extra large

Over at the Robin's Nest blog you can find the instructions.

Thanks for stopping by and subscribe to my blog and my youtube channel to keep up with my craftiness.

Mixed Media Monday: Beauty is truth... canvas

 Over at the All that Stickles blog I have posted my project for this week's link party: Anything Goes.
I made this 7x7" canvas by trying different and new to me techniques.  I had a blast.  I hope you like it.

Here is my long list of what it took to make this (just in case you are wondering):

1 7"x7" ugly canvas from a liquidation sale at a discount store that was closing

1 very big box of used acrylic paints bought at a Church rummage sale

1 stack of card stock(Staples)  bought for the purpose of stamping on but the paper turned out to be unsuitable for the inks but fine for the paint

1 gel (aka Gelli) plate made from scratch (8 boxes of gelatine, some water, alcohol and glycerin)

1 brayer

2 Flower border die cutters from Ek Success

Stickles by Ranger in colours; Copper, and Diamond

Distress ink by Ranger in Vintage Photo

Goosebumps by Tsukineko

Dry wall tape

Masking tape

1 plastic berry basket from the recyling bin

1 piece of plastic mesh from the recyling bin

Heavy Gel Medium by Liquitex

Mat Gel Medium by Golden

Gesso from Omer deSerres

Aleene's Tacky glue

Tombow glue

Lepage Super Gel glue

3 feathers bought at Dollarama

1 cocktail pin stick from Dollarama

1wooden snowflake die cut (Michaels)

2 vintage bingo chips from my stash of ephemera

1 brass label holder (Dollar Tree)

Natural air drying clay (Crayola)

1 Dymo label maker and black tape (Village des Valeurs)

vintage beads and jewelry bits from various thrift stores

a variety of paints were used in the making of this project:  Golden, Americana, Deco Art, Plaid, Lumin'arte

acrylic glazes: Silks (Dreaming Colours)

Gold Leaf Rub'nBuff

Java Walnut Ink (Tsukineko).

Thanks for viewing.