BLOG HOP (Love Theme) Jessica Sporn Kristin Van Valkenburgh Marit Barentsen, Denise Alloca, Sherry Canino, Karen Gaunt

Hi all!  I'm so excited because today,  I'm hopping  along with members of the my Creative Team.  

We've used Deco Art Media products to make fabulous creations around the theme of LOVE. 

I hope you've been enjoying the Creative Team posts - I know I have! Here's a chance to see five of these amazing artists all at once,  because today I'm hopping along with:

Kristin Van Valkenburgh
Karen Gaunt
Sherry Canino

Marit Barentsen

and 

Denise Alloca

And... we have a great giveaway - one lucky commenter will win my 7 Hearts Stencil from Stencil Girl Products.

All comments on all the blog hop posts count - so make sure to visit everyone and leave some kind words for a chance to win!

Now on to my project. 

My team is such an inspiration to me.  With each of their posts, I want to run and try one of the techniques they showed so beautifully.  These Valentine's Day Affirmation Blocks were inspired by Denise Alloca's December post all about turning Dollar Store finds into treasure.  Here's a "beauty shot" of my three finished blocks!

And here's a fast forward video of my process.  Enjoy!  

You can also watch Valentine's Day Blocks on YouTube here.   

I hope this gave you some ideas to kickstart your Valentine's Day crafting. 

Now, hop over to 

Kristin Van Valkenburgh
Karen Gaunt
Sherry Canino

Marit Barentsen

and 
Denise Alloca

to see their LOVE-ly creations! 

(See what I did there?)

Remember, all comments on all the blog hop posts count!    Comments close at 9PM EST on Monday, February 13, and I'll announce the winners in my Tuesday blog post on February 14. 

         Visit Stencil Girl Products and RubberMoon Stamps to see all my designs!

If you haven't already - please connect with me here:

InLinkz.com

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event I need to contact you.

To avoid SPAM, please write it like this: jessicasporndesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank You!

Valentine Tag Tutorial and Giveaway

I'm hitting a personal record this year with Valentine creations.  (To see some more, click Valentine) 

Make sure to leave a comment to be in the running for one of these tags!

These started when I was playing on book paper with the February Stencil Club Stencils designed by Carolyn Dube.  They are so fun.  Check out Carolyn's reveal video on the Stencil Girl Talk blog today.

 I used Golden Fluorescent Heavy Body paint to create these bright patterns.  

I ripped the pages into strips, and then wove them together on another page.

I coated both sides of my "weave" with matte medium so it would all stay together.

I free-handed a heart, traced it and cut it out of the center of several 3 x 6 manila tags.  I stamped the tags using text and music notes, and then inked up the tags using distress inks.

 I cut out rectangles of my woven paper large enough to fit behind the heart opening.

Then I adhered the rectangle to a blank tag, and stitched the two tags together.  (You could use glue.)

I embellished the tags with more stitchingand Viva Decor modeling creme dragged through various stencils, including Hearts, Flowers and More,  Traci Bautista's Tropical Floral Stencil,  and Joanne Sharpe's designs for November 2013 Stencil Club.

I added the word "Love" from my Teapots and Teacups stencil.  (Tip: Look at your stencils for little bits and pieces you can use in different projects!)

GIVEAWAY! I will giveaway one of these tags to one commenter.  Make sure to leave me your email address if you want to be considered for the giveaway.  

The giveaway for these tags is closed, and the winner is Kay Wallace! Thank you Kay.  The tag is on its way to you!

I am so grateful for the reception my RubberMoon stamps have received.  Thank you all so much for commenting on the post and telling me your three favorites.  The winner of 3 of my new stamps from RubberMoon is:

Congratulations Linda!  Email your snail mail address to me at jessicasporndesigns at gmail dot com and I will have them on their way to you!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Pocket Heart Valentines with Stencil Girl Stencils

I am determined to be ahead of the game this Valentine's Day.  So... I've been studiously making Valentines.  This post is inspired by a terrific project by The Frugal Crafter.   Lindsay made cute little Valentine pockets to hold lollipops.

I immediately wanted to try this project.  Of course, I had to put an artsy, mixed media spin on them.  Here's how I made mine:

Using the "Hearts Flowers & More" stencil, I created this page using color copy paper.  (Mary Beth Shaw turned me on to this paper and I really like the weight of it.)  I have to say that I LOVE this stencil, and the Alice in Wonderland feel it has.

Using Golden Fluid Acrylic paint in Quinacridone Red and Glazing Medium, I reduced the contrast on the page, while keeping the design peeking through.

While this was drying, I carved a heart stamp, using my Speedball carving tool and carving block, and stamped up an entire page.  (To learn how to carve your own stamps, check out Julie Balzer's great online class.)

Next, I took plain 3 x 6 manilla tags and folded them almost in 1/2 to make pockets.

Using different shades of distress inks and a blending tool, and the Hearts, Flowers and More stencil, I inked up the fronts and backs of the pockets, and the sides.

I punched hearts out of my stenciled and glazed paper, and then cut out my stamped hearts.  I also stamped some other sentiments, and used a mini-tag punch to cut them out.  I layered them onto the punched hearts, and adhered everything with my UHU glue stick.

I thought about sewing up the sides, but instead sealed the sides with wash tape from my stash, and punched a hole in the bottom of each one with my Crop-a-Dile .   Now, all I need are the lollipops!

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Jar of Love with Stencils and Craft Attitude

This week, StencilGirl Products is blog hopping using Craft Attitude Art Film.  I'm so excited to be on day one with Mary Nasser!

You can find many exciting ideas for using this versatile film and digital art on Pinterest.  Since I don't often work with third-party collage imagery in my artwork, I decided to use my stencils without paint... in photoshop.

I created this label for a jar of hearts for Valentine's Day, but you can use this tutorial for other projects too.








To begin, I created a background using pink pastels.  This was just a little square that I repeated over and over until it filled out an 8 x 10 area.  I saved it into a file I keep on my computer, and then opened it.

I stenciled my "Hearts, Flowers and More" Design in black onto a white piece of paper to get a crisp imprint, and then scanned it into photoshop.



I digitally placed it onto my background, and inverted the design, so that the stenciled images became white against a black background.

I selected the black and deleted it, leaving only the white pattern.  I reduced the opacity a lot, until I was happy with it.  I made the design smaller, and then repeated it, flipping it in the middle.  It looked like this - pretty right?

I went through the same process with elements of the Seven Hearts Stencil.

I left the white area of the hearts much more opaque, however, and saturated the background more.

I was able to create two strips in the size I wanted for my jar, and lay them out on the dimensions of the Craft Attitude paper.  I reversed the image with the sentiment, as it will reverse again when you adhere it.

I printed out my design, trimmed it, and adhered it to a clean jar using spray adhesive.  I stenciled the Hearts, Flowers, and More onto a fabric scrap, and used another fabric scrap to tie my "bonnet" onto my jar.  It's ready to be filled with candies!

I hope this project tickled your creative fancy.  Be sure to stop by Mary Nasser's blog, and check in with Stencil Girl every day this week for links to more inspiration!

And... of course, there's an awesome giveaway!  One package of Craft Attitude film AND a $25 Stencil Girl Gift Certificate!

Make sure to comment here and on all the blogs hopping along.  All comments on each post during the hop will be entered in the giveaway. One comment per post please. The time for commenting for the giveaway ends Monday, January 26th @ 11:59PM Central Time. The winner will be posted on Stencil Girl Talk on 27th.

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Love Always

 

Like everyone else, I was profoundly touched by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Next to keeping our children safe at home, we expect them to be safe at school.  What happened was unimaginable.  

 

Shortly after, I started working on a painting.  I knew I wanted it to have a house or a school house.  I knew I wanted it to have a heart for every person lost that day.  I wanted it to have a sense of time - time passing, time running out, time standing still.  I wanted it to to have bright, primary colors, like children would use.  And finally, I wanted it to convey a sense of re-birth and renewal, because death and birth are intertwined; one does not exist without the other. 

As I worked on it, I kept hearing the song "A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Miserables in my head:

 A little fall of rain

Can hardly hurt me now

You're here, that's all I need to know

And you will keep me safe

And you will keep me close 

And rain will make the flowers grow. 

Here is what emerged:

Made with acrylics, polymer clay, gelli plate paper collaged house and hearts, stamping, scribbling, love.

Linking to Creative Everyday,  Create With Joy, Mandarin Orange Monday, Make it on Monday, and Monday Mantras.

My older daughter Mariel and two of her cousins have always been extremely close -- like sisters.  I've held onto an extra copy of this photo of the three of them (from 1998) for years, thinking I'd do something special with it.  When I bought this old book at a book sale, I knew its destiny!

I cut an opening in the front of the book roughly the size of the photo.  I removed some of the first few pages too, and used them to make a matte for the photo.  I used the pieces I cut away to decoupage around the opening on the book cover to smooth out the edges.

I added many layers of paint, lace, stenciling, stamping, and embellishments, to created a frame for this sweet photo.  I glued the cover together with all of the remaining pages, leaving the back cover to create a stand.

I do believe that they will love each other always.

Linking to Eclectic Paperie (altered book), Happy Daze (Love is All Around), Inspiration Emporium (LOVE), Frilly & Funkie (lace and hearts) and One Little Word (Always).

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.