How to: Upcycle Cardboard into Inspirational Art - Creative Thursday with Sherry Canino

Hi Creative friends! Sherry Canino here today for the Creative Team and I have a fun tutorial on how I used some amazing stencils from Jessica Sporn Designs and some cardboard from my recycle bin to create some mixed media houses.

This is a fantastic way to use up lots of bits and pieces in your stash or things you may have laying around so grab your coffee and enjoy the video!

Here is a close up of the house completed in the video

And here are some other houses I completed using the same stencils as well as one additional stencil not used in the video.  (You'll see the complete list of stencils used below.

So now what to do with all these adorable houses you have created???  Well I decided to turn mine into a piece of home décor which is why all of my houses have a positive or inspirational saying on them that I cut out from magazines.

The steps to create a simple home décor piece out of your mixed media houses are super simple:

• Take a canvas and turn it over so you are using the back side, cover it in book pages, old sheet music, scrapbook or patterned paper or whatever you like the look of, I used dictionary paper.  
• Use a decoupage process to adhere your papers on and be sure to cover up all the wood on the back side of the canvas as well as wrap it around the edges.  
• Once dry I added just a tiny bit of color using a dry brush and paints in similar colors used on my houses to keep the look cohesive.  
• Then take your houses and arrange them on your canvas to your liking and glue on with a gel medium or E6000 glue.  (you want a glue that is going to be strong once it's dry so they don’t pop off. ) 

And that’s it, let it dry and display.  Below is a photo of my completed canvas.  I chose to write a little saying at the top using a black sharpie and then added some hearts and swirls from the Coffee Mugs and Love Stencil.

Here is a list of, and links to, the stencils I used in the video:

Borders 9J Stencil 

Coffee Mugs and Love Stencil 

Doors and Windows Stencil

Namaste Stencil

I hope you'll make your own houses and share them with us!

Sherry Canino, a former accountant, is a self taught mixed media artist and owner of Canino’s Artistic Café. She also works as an art therapist for a local organization.  Her style is whimsical, colorful and inspirational and has been featured in Syracuse Women’s Magazine.  She offers local as well as private art classes in her Liverpool Studio, and art journal or art therapy classes on location for businesses and schools.  Find Sherry on Facebook , Instagram, Etsy and on her blog.

THANK YOU SHERRY!  To see all of the Creative Team posts, click here! 

         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.

How to: Stamps & Stencils in Altered Book Art Journal - Creative Team Thursday with Karen Gaunt

Before getting to Karen's fantastic post,  click here to leave comments on our awesome holiday blog hop before comments close on Tuesday,

To participate in Jessica's art fundraiser for the Southern Poverty Law Center, click here!

Hello everyone, Karen here again with another post full of inspiration for you! I have made a video this month of me working in my altered book this time using the frames stencil from Stencilgirl and the Heart in Star and Renew stamp from Rubbermoon.

I love to work in my altered book as it stops me from feeling the panic that we all get from looking at a blank white page! I also don’t prep my pages before hand with gesso, I just throw the paint straight onto the page. Once you let the layers dry in between I’ve never had a problem with them tearing or bubbling.

Without further ado I hope that you enjoy the video! (click here to watch on YouTube)

Karen Gaunt is a mixed media artist with a passion for color and a soft spot for paint. She works in a regular job full time and daydreams all day about the moment she can let loose in her journals in the evening. She's a mother as well and loves nothing more than creating with her daughter in their matching art journals. Karen believes that making Art is for everyone and loves to encourage and inspire others to make. She enjoys trying new techniques and colors and believes that there is no such thing as too many art journals.  Visit her at her blog and on Instagram.

THANK YOU KAREN for an awesome post! 

Click here to check out all of the Creative Team's wonderful creations and inspiration.

         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.

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Thank You!

How to Create Dias de Los Muertos Hanging Artwork - Creative Team Thursday with Karen Gaunt

Hello everyone! It’s Karen Gaunt here again for another creative team post for Jessica! Since we're still in October, and after seeing all the amazing projects for the Frightful Fall bloghop I decided to work with the Halloween theme.

I’m a little obsessed with skulls and embroidery right now so I wanted to create a project that combines these loves. 

I’m working with the Flowers, Pomegranates and Leaves stencil from Stencilgirl and the Heart in Star stamp from Rubbermoon Stamps. The stamp was just the perfect edition for this Dias de los Muertos inspired hoop!

So first of all I wanted to create my fabric to work my design onto. The stencil already has such a great “Mexican” vibe and the geometric shapes of the flowers works so well to create a great pattern. I went with nice bold colors and carefully stencilled them over my fabric. I just used acrylic paint for this. If you have fabric paint that would also work well. As the fabric is unlikely to require washing this is not essential.

I traced around my hoop size on paper and sketched out a skull shape. If your drawing skills are not up to this, grab one of the many free printables out there.

I stamped the “eyes” onto my paper using the Heart in Star stamp. I wanted to make sure that I had my eyes the correct size to fit the stamp inside of them.

I cut my skull out of my black felt using the template I made. The black felt I picked had a bit of glitter on it; I thought it was much more fun than just plain black.

I added some teal paint to a strip of fabric and drew very lightly around the eye holes of my skull. This meant I knew exactly where to stamp to get my “eyes” in the correct place.

I centred the eye patch on the skull and adhered with some fabric glue. I then glued my skull down lightly into the fabric already in the hoop so I could make sure that it was centred.

I then picked out some nice contrasting orange embroidery floss. I’ve gone around the outside of the skull and the eye holes using a buttonhole stitch to further secure the felt and to add a decorative border. If you’re not up to tackling this stitch it would look just as good with a border of running stitch or backstitch.

I’ve then added in more details in different colors to the skull face. Again this is optional; I could just as easily have left it with only the outlines. I really love how the skull turned out! The bright threads really pop against the background of the skull. The design can easily be something that is on display all year round, not just for Halloween.

I hope you enjoyed the project and it encourages you to get working on something lovely that you can display at home as well.

Karen Gaunt is a mixed media artist with a passion for color and a soft spot for paint. She works in a regular job full time and daydreams all day about the moment she can let loose in her journals in the evening. She's a mother as well and loves nothing more than creating with her daughter in their matching art journals. Karen believes that making Art is for everyone and loves to encourage and inspire others to make. She enjoys trying new techniques and colors and believes that there is no such thing as too many art journals.  Visit her at her blog and on Instagram.

________________________________________________________________________________

THANK YOU KAREN for an awesome post! 

Click here to check out all of the Creative Team's wonderful creations and inspiration.

         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!

DIY How to Repurpose a Glass Bottle into Fall Decor - Creative Team Thursday featuring Sherry Canino

Hi everyone, Sherry Canino here for Jessica Sporn Designs Creative Team.  SOOOOO … summer is ultimately my favorite season but a very very close second is AUTUMN!  

I just love everything to do with fall, the crisp falling leaves, apple festivals and apple picking, pumpkin spice everything and all of those sights and smells are just so nostalgic to me.  

So the minute Labor Day is over, I kick into high-gear FALL!  I start creating and turning my home into a fall wonderland ... HAHA - yes, I know I’m a nut :)

Today I have for you my first fall project of the season in which I will show you how I repurposed a glass bottle into a fun, Fall decoration that would make a fabulous table center piece.  So grab your pumpkin spice coffee or apple cider and prepare to get your autumness on with me in this fun video tutorial.  Hope you enjoy!!

How to Repurpose a Glass Bottle into Fall Decor - Video

You can also watch my video on YouTube https://youtu.be/ipDNSOlHYFg 

Stencils used:  Cascading Leaves, Herbs, 3 Owls and a Branch, Sacred Words and Marks, Judy's Trees

Thanks so much for joining me here for Jessica Sporn Designs and a HUGE HAPPY FALL SEASON to all!

Sherry Canino, a former accountant, is a self taught mixed media artist and owner of Canino’s Artistic Café. She also works as an art therapist for a local organization.  Her style is whimsical, colorful and inspirational and has been featured in Syracuse Women’s Magazine.  She offers local as well as private art classes in her Liverpool Studio, and art journal or art therapy classes on location for businesses and schools.  Find Sherry on Facebook ,  Instagram, Etsy and on her blog.

THANK YOU SHERRY!  To see all of the Creative Team posts, click here! 

         Visit Stencil Girl Products and RubberMoon Stamps 

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!