Creative Team Roundup and Giveaway Winner

Today marks the "one month from the end point" of the 10 month term of the members of my Creative Team.   I am so in love with these women and their creations.  I thought I'd flash back to some of my favorites of each of their posts.  Each post has a video or step out tutorial, and the caption under each photo takes you straight to that artist's blog.  Enjoy!

Marit Barentsen

As many of you know, the journey of immigrants, and especially refugees and the undocumented, is near and dear to my heart.  So I absolutely loved Marit's beautiful fold out card, with immigration as its theme.  

Karen Gaunt

I used to work in old books all the time.  I was reminded of that by this gorgeous post and tutorial by Karen Gaunt.  

Sherry Canino

Sherry Canino used lots of different stencils to create these positive affirmation tags.  What a great idea to make them and have a bunch handy for giveaways, gifts, and happy mail!

Denise Alloca

Check out this beautiful canvas that Denise created, using different stenciling techniques and lots of love for her daughter.  

Lizzy Wurmann

I love the way Lizzy Wurmann assembles her collages.  She used Citra Solv to great effect in this beautiful creation. 

Kristin Van Valkenburgh

And last but not least, see how Kristin created this very quick and easy tank top -- simple yet stunning.  

###

Please have fun checking out the wonderful videos and tutorials by these 6 amazing creatives!  #ilovemycreativeteam!  Click here to see all the Creative Team posts!

GIVEAWAY WINNER!  The winner of the Dog Stencil and Masks from this post is: 

 I will reach out to you for your snail mail address and get you your stencil right away!

         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!

Lemonade Out of Lemons

Pain in my thumb joints has recently necessitated using these *lovely* gloves most of the time.  This got me kind of down, but stenciling always makes things better!  

When life hands you lemons, stencil them!

Stencils used:

Flowers Pomegranates and More

Garden Flowers and Leaves

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!  

 

Repurposed Plastic Eggs and Vintage Spools

Years ago when my oldest daughter Mariel was little, we hosted an Easter egg hung in our backyard.  I never threw away those plastic eggs, but I also never again filled them with candy.  They sat, empty, for the last 16 years, and were moved to two different houses.

When I unpacked them again in September, after our August move, I thought - I have to use them this year or give them away.

In the meantime, I had acquired a bunch of vintage spools...

Looking at them side by side, I remembered the Faberge Eggs and their elaborate stands.     

I decided to make a mixed media version of these classic eggs.

1.  I pierced little holes in the tops of the eggs.I threaded a piece of string inside, so that I could hang them to dry.

2.  I got out my collection of scraps, and randomly adhered the scraps to the eggs with Matte Medium.  Then I dabbed all of them with Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold and Indian Hue Fluid Acrylic paint to unify them a bit.  Here's how they looked:

3.  To give them some individual character, I dabbed them with different colors of craft paint, mixed with glazing medium.

4.  I stenciled different color flowers onto a sheet of deli paper, using the Garden Flowers and Leaves stencil.  It's very springy, don't you think? 

5.  I cut out the flowers and leaves, and adhered them to the eggs.  The parts of the deli paper where I did not add color "melted" into the background, making it look as if I had stenciled directly onto the eggs!

6.  Using Iridescent Gold Paint (Golden Fluid Acrylics), I stenciled the Five Hamsas onto white tissue paper.  I "cut" them up using a thin wet brush, and adhered the bits to the eggs.  I also stenciled some of the borders from the Stitch a Greek Border Stencil in gold as well.

7.  I painted the spools either gold or black, and adhered the borders to them.

(Hint:  This is why stamping or stenciling onto tissue paper is such a cool technique.  I NEVER could have gotten such crisp images on the spools if I tried to stencil directly onto them.  But with the tissue paper, the un-stamped or stenciled parts become translucent as the matte medium dries, leaving a crisp image!)

8.  Using black paint and white tissue paper, I stenciled Now is the Time words.  I adhered the words onto the spools and eggs too.

 (I used Weldbond glue, which eventually became transparent after I took the pictures.  But a glue gun would have worked too!)

I'm in love with these eggs.  I think they look classic and yet fresh and whimsical.  Here's my Pinterest board with other egg-alicious ideas.   Are you doing any spring-inspired art or craft?  Share your links in the comments.

Giveaway:  I made LOTS of these, and would love to give one away.  So leave me your email address in your comment if you're interested.  And check back HERE after Saturday 9AM EST to see the winner!

And the winner is Terri Richardson!  Thanks everyone for commenting.  

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!  

 

January Stencil Club

I'm on the Stencil Girl Talk blog today with lots of step out photos showing how I made this little shrine using stencils from January Stencil Club.  

The substrate is an old drawer that I purchased at Art is You two years ago.   I love how it looks as part of my home altar. 

I hope you'll hop over and take a look at how the January Stencil Club Stencils inspired me.

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!  

 

A Journey Begins With a Single Step

If the shoe doesn't fit, transform it.  That's what I did with  a set of pumps that have, somehow, grown too small for me.  Funny how that happens.

I wrapped one of the pumps in Blick Plaster Cloth and let it dry for a few days.  Then I covered the gauze with Golden Fluorescent Acrylics in yellow and orange.

I pulled out the Hearts, Flowers and More Stencil, and used a cosmetic sponge to stencil fluorescent pinks and reds onto tissue paper.  I wanted to use bright colors because this is a gift for one of my teenage nieces.

It was easy to "cut" the tissue paper into strips and adhere it to the shoe with matte medium.  I got much cleaner imprints than if I had tried to stencil directly onto the shoe.  (I put "cut" in quotes because there are no scissors involved.  Instead, I paint a thin strip of water where I want to separate the paper, and it easily tears apart without a sharp hard edge.  You can see a video of the technique here.)

I love this quote by Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, and thought it was a good one for a teenage girl,preparing for adulthood.  I used these golden beads from my stash to represent a ladder or staircase and arranged the words.  I thought about having them in reverse order, so the eye would have to climb the steps to read it, but in the end arranged them traditionally.

Then my muse took over, as I adhered items from my stash, pulled the background together with glazing medium and Quinacridone Magenta Golden Fluid Acrylic paint, and used Jaquard dimensional fabric paint to create dots and the white heart jewel.  I used black paint through tissue paper with Pam Carriker's Border stencil to create the zig zags around the shoe.  I thought it provided the perfect accent!

I'm posting this shoe to my niece today.  I hope she enjoys it and that it inspires her.

Here are a few pics from my families recent Hanukkah celebration.  I hope, whatever you celebrate, that you are enjoying this season!

And, in this season may we all remember:

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!