Friday, January 28, 2011

CHA CHA CHA!


It's that time of year again... CHA or Craft and Hobby Association show.  It's in Anaheim, Calif. and I really wish I was there in person.  Although I can't be, some of my artwork is there representing some of my favorite manufacturers. I was given the go ahead to share some of my creations that will be featuring some new products!

First up is Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker's new lines!  I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE her new papers, stickers and there are so many of them!!!  I had so much fun creating these projects with them.  Here is my birdhouse with 2 birdies that are holding a cute banner (from her papers!).   It's using the new Summer line.




Up next is my kite made of "We Are Family" line.  The little kites inspired me to try to make a kite out of the papers!



Finally, it took me awhile to figure this out but I made rain boots completely out of paper!  I used the "It's Raining, It's Pouring" line to make the boots.  The soles are cardboard but the rest is paper and glue!



I love this release so much!  Nikki's gonna be a busy girl at CHA!

The other manufacturer that I design for is Faber- Castell's new Design Memory Create lines.  The products are amazing!  The watercolor pencils, pastel pencils, markers, and gelato sticks are just some of my favorites!  I created the following projects for their booth #547:





 This is a canvas and cardboard banner that I used a ton of techniques with all the new mixed media lines in blue and greens. I'm making 3 more with other color lines too!  I'm so excited that this one will be featured in new ads in magazines for their new product and in their catalog!  What an honor!
Here are 2 scrapbook pages that I made with the products in new ways:

 Gelatos, Pitt Pens, and more!
 I made some sprays out of the Gelatos (that I will be making a tutorial for on the DMC blog later) and also used Aquarelle pencils for the banner and the Pitt Pens to doodle.

That's it for today bloggers... I am home with a sick little one (and his 2nd birthday is tomorrow!) and have a bit of time to blog while he naps.  I'll be back over the weekend to share a few more pages I've been working on lately.

XOXO
Jen

Friday, January 7, 2011

Grab a Badge

For a chance to win a complete collection of one of these new Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker Spring 2011 CHA releases! 
Here they are... 
"Summer"
"Its Raining, It's Pouring"
"Max & Mollie"
"We are Family"
"Its Your Day"
and last but not least...
"Beatrice"
The Design Team Divas will be searching blogs for one of these badges, if
spotted you could be the lucky winner of one of the new 
paper collections! 


Without further ado, Connie wins my little giveaway!

connie said...
beautiful LO's! My New Year's Eve is quiet. Just checking the blogs I follow. Will spend New Years Day with my mom and kids.

Thanks girlfriend and hope your day was fabulous!  Send me your addy and I'll get it out to you next week!

I was out all week with Strep and am finally feeling better!  It's always something!  Tomorrow I'm going to make art all day with my girls!  I can't wait.  I'll post some of the results when I blog again!  Have a great one.

xoxo
Jen

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Sketchbook Project sneaky peek

Well, I've finished!  It's complete!  I think.... is a journal ever done?  Truly?  I am declaring that I am done with mine!  If you don't know what The Sketchbook Project is, it's a little like a concert tour but with sketchbooks.  Each artist pays a fee and gets a sketchbook and a theme.  I had them pick a random theme for me because I couldn't choose.  I liked so many.  I figured that it would push me creatively anyways.  I got "Mystery Maps" which is funny because I've been saving all these map papers and atlases.  So it was perfect to get me started!  I started by gathering a bunch of stuff.  Maps, atlas pages, stamps, favorite images, world themed ephemera, and all sorts of art materials (paints, pens, brushes, inks, watercolor pencils, and such). I sat down one day and glued two pages together.  I decided to do that with the entire book because the papers were thin and there were so many of them that it was daunting.  After using gel medium to glue the pages together, I jumped right in and started making backgrounds.  I just painted, stamped, collaged, and made a general mess!  It was so wonderful!  I felt alive... like a journey.  Excited and scared all at once. 

Here are a few of my finished pages:

My cover

Soar... a bit of a zendoodle in wing outline over maps

X marks the spot... a fun pirate map page
Some fun fonts 
Textured birds with map houses (There's No Place Like Home)




I truly LOVE my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils!  YUM!
As the crow flies- I see a bird theme here... I can't seem to stay away from it!

There are many more but I am waiting on some matte medium to dry and then I'll photograph those to share.  I can't wait to see the show and to see everyone else's interpretations.  This was a great project and I'll definitely do it again next year!