Always Practice First!

Thought I'd share this as I was cleaning out my studio space last month. I found this little wooden cabinet from probably the 80's that I had sponge painted blue. You remember the first sponge painting, right? Blue on white, not blended in at all...very country. Well that's what this baby looked like, complete with mauve trim and black and white checks. Cute in it's day. Yep, must've been the 80"s, maybe early 90's. I took it out of the closet and immediately thought stencils and color. I've been wanting to do paint a piece of furniture like this so I thought this would be a great piece to practice on.
I kept the black and white checks for some definition. I primed the rest of it and then went crazy with stencils and doilies. I used Claudine Hellmuth paints because of their translucent quality. I added some Graphic 45 letter stickers that are newsprint which you all know I love. At the very top of the cabinet is a very 80's cut out heart where I place a little hand painted shrinky-dink girl. it turned out so pretty and it's the perfect size for Stickle storage. So happy to have this little cabinet out again after all these years!

More Stencil Madness!

Still going crazy with stencils! Once I get started on these little tags, I can't stop! I've been only using paint, so I decided to try the Distressed Stains by Ranger to see how they would look. They came out somewhat hazy, however I love the look. The stencils are from Crafter's Workshop.Using tiny scraps of paper, I then cut their outfits, getting into my paper doll zen-like state. The little hot pink jacket to the left is made of Ranger's sticky back canvas and dabbed over with their Worn Lipstick stain. Although it's hard to see, I embellished the ribbons with some of the Tim Holtz Ideology items. I then took the color, Picket Fence and put it on a brown tag and it came out looking like gingerbread snowflakes. I had purchased the new Graphic 45 Christmas line and thought the black hollies would look amazing on the stenciled background. The little pierrot inspired me to buy this paper (more on that project later) and thought he would look adorable in the corner and was I right? Cute, cute paper! Now to figure out, who will receive these little tags on their gifts this year?

A Sneak Peek...

Just a little sneak peek of my idea board I did using all Ranger products for my upcoming event in September. As you know I am so used to doing candy colors or shabby chic because I love the colors and that's who buys my art. So this little project took me out of my little world and I loved creating what I call Industrial Chic Girls! The Tim Holtz paper I used was so much fun. It's like it was created just for me! Patterns in varied sizes, perfect for my dresses. I used the medium sizes for my 11x14 canvas and the teeny sizes for my tags. I loved using the browns and bronzes for my backgrounds. They contrast so nicely with my latest obsession - doilies!

I will post the finished samples after the event. The Grunge Girl tags are adorable!

Just a note...I finally updated my sidebar with classes and shows. I'm working on a few more. Look out east coast, Florida and local LA people!

Ranger Goodness

This came in the mail on Monday. A box of every color, every medium of Claudine Hellmuth products. And brushes, and distress stains, and sticky back canvas, and...... ! I have been immersed in this goodness for 3 days now creating backgrounds for a presentation I will be doing at an event in Long Beach in September.
Back in April, I was in a store in Sacramento shopping and happened to be in the right place at the right time. While I was shopping this wonderful little stamp store, my friend Sylvia was chatting it up with  a rep that was there. Well, this rep happened to own the rep company that services California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada for 34 scrabooking companies. She asked about my work and when I showed her some pieces that were in my car, she asked if I would demo what I do using Ranger products at an event she's doing for all her stores.
Of course I said yes and Ranger contacted me and sent me all this product! I've been busy, busy, busy for 3 days now creating. It's so much fun trying new products and of course my mind is going in so many different directions. I've never been much of a grunge person, love it, but I'm into pretty! So I'm working on a sort of Tim Holtz meet Ralph Lauren type look. Industrial vintage meet pretty! I can't wait to finish and will post pictures after the event!