Handmade Holidays Day 3 - Ornaments and Embellishments

Welcome to Day 3 of Handmade Holidays!  Today, I'm sharing handmade ornaments and embellishments.  Remember that every post has a giveaway, and all the comments for all the days count!  So if you haven't commented on the previous posts, go back and do it before Saturday!

I made my ornaments and embellishments using the Build a Villa stamps from Rubbermoon, as well as the Hamsa and Text Stamps from my line.

You can also do all these techniques with stamps from your stash.

Make sure to scroll down for the giveaway!

For the first set of embellishments, I followed these Paper Casting instructions by Judy Shea.  Basically, you separate the plies of tissue or toilet paper, and lay them one at a time over your stamp, brushing matte medium between each layer.  I used six layers and it worked pretty well.  Here's how two of the houses and one of the Hamsas looked after they dried.

I gave them a coat of off white paint, and then painted two of them teal and two Quinacridone Gold.  When they were dry, I used my finger to brush gold and silver metallic paint on them.

I added some dimensional dots and swirls with glitter glue to the Hamsas...

and glued one of them onto the top of a previously decorated box.  What a fun, quick and easy technique!













Next, I decided to make some ornaments using polymer clay.  (Air dry clay would work too.) While my dedicated clay oven was preheating, I rolled out some clay.  I happened to only have orange, blue and green, but since I'd be painting them anyway, that was fine.

I stamped the images into the clay, then cut them out with an exacto knife, poked holes using a bamboo skewer, and baked them for 30 minutes at 300 degrees.  Here's how they look all painted up!   In addition to glitter glue, I embellished these with my Pearl Pen.  I think these will make nice hostess gifts for friends, and ornaments for our tree.

They were so sweet, that I decided to make some more clay ornaments for mini canvases.  These two are on 3 x 3" Black Art Minis, like the ones I used in a RubberMoon tutorial here.    The compass is a stamp by Mary Nasser.  

I created the background using the Six Point Starry Night stencil from stencil Girl.  I used silver metallic paint and then glazed over the square with Pthalo Turquoise Fluid Acrylics mixed with Glazing Medium. 

 For this one, I created the landscape background using the Teapot and Teacup stencil upside down!

Remember to always look at parts of your stencils, and don't be afraid to turn them!

The substrate for this one is corrugated Cardboard leftover from a project I did for Valentine's Day (!).   I really like how the cardboard added texture behind the clay pieces.

So... I hope this post gave you some fun ideas.  I will give away one of the ornaments to a lucky commenter.  Remember, for extra chances to win, make sure to comment on all the Handmade Holiday posts!  I will pick all of the winners on Saturday morning, 11AM EST.

Please leave your email address in your comment (like this: jessicasporndesigns at gmail dot com) to be considered for the giveaway!

And the winners are:

Corrine Gilman’s Brooch:  Lou Lou in Texas!  

Art is you Trade:  Suzie Q 23!  

Clay Ornament:  Karen!  

Hamsa Stamp:  Lisa Meyers! 

Three Trees Stencil:  Lu 

our 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!  

 

It All Begins at Home

What does, you may ask?  Love.

I was saving a beautiful polymer clay heart that my friend Judy Shea gave me last year at an Art is You retreat.   I wanted to make something special with it.

I had an old book that was falling apart.  It was too fragile for a journal.  So I decided to alter it to be a home for Judy's heart.

I used my new doors and windows stencil to trace the opening for a door. I cut out the opening, and then spread molding paste through the stencil openings to create the door frame. 

I covered the front with the pages I cut from the book, and then used my random squares stencil with gesso to give some texture.  (For more examples of this stencil, visit this post!)

I created a glaze with parts acrylic glazing liquid and a few squirts of orange and magenta fluid acrylics, and dragged the colors around the door with a paint chip to create an uneven surface.  The glaze adhered to the gesso differently than to the book pages, so that the random squares stencil peeked through.

I used a wood grain stamp on a gelli print to created a bark-like texture, and then glazed it with a mix of glazing medium and burnt umber paint.

I dragged fiber paste through my cascading leaves stencil on the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper.  When it was dry, I painted them with various shades of green paint, and gently pulled them off of the paper.

I cut up my gelli print to make a tree trunk and branches, and glued it down with matte medium.  I added my fiber paste leaves to make a tree.  I added the phrase - "Home is where love begins." 

Even if someone is poor, or living in challenging circumstances, they will feel whole if they know love.  I have seen this first hand in our service work in Guatemala, and even in my husband.  He grew up in circumstances that might have made him bitter and angry.  But because he always felt loved, he was able to grow into a warm, compassionate man who freely gives love to others.

The word up at One Little Word this month is HOME.  Look for me there in June -- I'm honored to be guest designing!

Also, stay tuned for a special stencil test drive on March 28, featuring the doors and windows stencil, and the art of Carolyn Dube, Corrine Gilman, Maria McGuire and Judy Shea!

Linking to One Little Word (home), Mandarin Orange Monday, Monday Mantras, Create With Joy, Creative Every Day, Make it on Monday,  One Stop Craft Challenge (anything goes), and Paper Issues (crafting with flair).

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

You've Got to Have a Dream

   "Dreams are like the paints of a great artist. Your dreams are your paints, the world is your canvas. Believing is the brush that converts your dreams into a masterpiece of reality."

Anonymous

 

My canvas started with a collage of book paper, marks with warm colors and then cool colors, a sketch of a woman in flight, and the words "dream" and "believe," which I'd made out of polymer clay.  My thoughts traveled to Antigua, Guatemala, where we sponsor three families and are the liaisons between two schools in New Jersey and two schools outside of Antigua that are trying to educate the poorest of the poor.  (Here's a prior post about our connections there.)

When I do assembly presentations in New Jersey about children in Guatemala, I ask kids to think about what it would be like to grow up and never dream about the future; to grow up with only one dream -- survival.

First, I ask all the kids to stand up.  Education in Guatemala is only free through grade 6.  So I have 1/2 of them sit down to represent kids who don't go middle and high school because they can't afford the tuition.  Then I explain that children in primary school still have to pay for their own uniforms, transportation, school supplies, pencils, books, paper, erasers, etc.  This costs on average $25 a month per child -- well beyond the means of most poor families in a country where the average annual income of an indigenous worker is $1600 a year.  Only 30% of the children who begin primary school in Guatemala actually continue through grade 6.  So I ask 2/3 of the children who are still standing sit down.  Finally, I tell them that many poor families need the sons to go to work in the coffee plantations with the fathers (to augment the $2 a day that the father makes), and the girls to stay home with the mothers and watch the younger children.  So I have 1/2 of the remaining children sit down.

Now there are only a few kids standing.  Only a handful of kids in the poor communities can dream of doing anything except having babies, cooking over a fire, and washing clothes by hand if they are girls, or picking coffee beans or doing unskilled labor if they are boys.  Unlike American children, the children we see in Guatemala don't dream of becoming teachers or doctors or lawyers.  Dreams are luxuries.

In the musical South Pacific, the character Bloody Mary sings a song called "Happy Talk."  The lyrics are:  "You've got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true." 

On Tuesday, we are going back to Guatemala for the week, to see our families and the beautiful children in the two schools, and try to do just a little bit to help these children dare to dream, and believe that their dreams can come true.

The process:  I mixed mica powder and glass bead gel to make a textured paste to scrape through my border's stencil to create the metallic texture on the right and left of the canvas.  The words and heart are made with polymer clay, thanks to Judy Shea's amazing Buttons n'Bellishments class.  Her curls are made with twine, and embellished with fluid acrylic Iridescent Gold paint.

Linking to challenges at Paper Issues (twine),  Simon Says Stamp & Show (metallic); Frilly & Funkie (layers and words). 

She is also my face # 16.  Here are faces 17 -21!

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

See you at Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day!

An Artsy Valentine's Day and Faces 13 - 15

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope that every day, you wake up and remember that you are loved! 

Face #13:

 

 Face #14

 and Face #15

 

These pencil drawings are inspired by photos of our "families" in Guatemala.  We leave February 26 for our next visit and I can't wait to see everyone!  I am definitely seeing progress in my faces!

Here's a sneak peak at some clay pieces I made in Judy Shea's online workshop, Buttons n'Bellishments.  It's been so much fun!  Stay tuned Monday for a look at the canvas they are embellishing.

And finally, this journal page was inspired by Carolyn Dube's online class, Use Your Words!

It is in an old encyclopedia I am altering; I was inspired by the text that was on the page: "Great Outlet to the Sea." 

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

Linking up to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day.  

Thank You!

We had a beautiful holiday.

My daughters loved their gifts.  Mariel especially enjoyed the beautiful Dance painting by Marjie Kemper that I purchased through Marjie's Etsy shop.

One of my Hanukkah gifts (we celebrate everything!) was an Amoco polymer clay oven, which I used to make this starfish plaque for Mariel.  (When she was born, the delivery nurse told me she had "starfish hands," because she was born with them spread wide, not clenched in fists.)

Samy finished her run in "A Christmas Carol" (15 shows over three weekends -- whew!) and thought it was a gift to just stay in her pajamas all day.  But then, she opened a bunch of new clothes, which she immediately put on all at once,

She also really loved the Secret Garden inspired plaque I made for her. 

(I'm having so much fun with clay, getting ready for Judy Shea's online class, Beads & 'Bellishments, which starts February 7.  Here's the link.  I'm psyched!)

Freddie loved his new gym membership, drill, and a collage Samy made for him celebrating three of his loves:  a comfy couch, watches and cookies.

Then we all went to see Les Miserables -- it was amazing!!  Here are the girls with their popcorn BEFORE the movie started, and before we all cried and cried.  The movie is gorgeous and so moving.  I definitely recommend seeing it on a big screen if you can.

As for me, I got registration for Life Book 2013, which I can't wait to start, as well as the gelli plate I've been coveting, just in time to join Carolyn Dube's Gelli Plate party which starts next week!


I made this design in my art journal with a collage of my first gelli plate experiments.  I tied bits and pieces together with gesso, oil pastels, and then added the text in photoshop.

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

Linking up to Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day, and Creative Every Day - links in the sidebar, Anything But a Card, and Moving Along With the Times (thank you challenge).

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• Tutorial: Gelli Plate Prints