Flash Cards! Cut 'n Tuck Technique

I'm flashing again--thankfully just making cards in a flash with my new video on the Cut 'n Tuck technique. All you need to get started is sturdy card stock for a base, designer print papers, and items to tuck in your pockets like die cuts, stamped images, tags, tea bags, gift cards, money, stickers, temporary tattoos, etc.

Give it a whirl and let me know how you like this latest episode in the Flash Cards! series.

I'll be putting a new page up on the web site with lots more samples and a written tutorial but it may be a month from now. I never let the computer part get in the way of the fun stuff and I'm traveling to see family for two weeks in August.

New Stick Figure debuts on Paper Temptress Blog and Web Site

 

The back side view.

Stick Figures are paper art dolls on a stick. My ATC from last week spurred me to go full size on the sticks and make a new doll for my collection. This one is called Winnifred and she's a whole new breed of princess.

Check out my post on Paper Temptress blog for more details on how their luscious card stock made this stick figure come to life.

I've been steady rocking the new web site and would love for you to visit me their too.

There's a new Renew This Book! page about more ideas for content in your journal and sample pages. The Stick Figure gallery has been updated to add Winnifred and My Career Coaching page has been revised with links to workshops that are available now.

In the studio this week I have filmed and edited three new videos that will be posted soon so stay tuned.

ATC Time Traveling---A visit to the 20's with Three Muses

Three Muses challenged me to create an Artist Trading Card with a 1920’s inspiration. Like my marvelous friend and talented artist, Annette Dragon, I often stray outside of the boundaries even when the boundaries are self imposed. The challenge was to make any type of art with a 1920’s theme and I chose the ATC as my format before I proceeded to violate one of the first rules of ATC creation by making mine 3-D and putting it on a stick.

Materials:

Paper Temptress Card Stock: Star Dream Opal and Nero
Hero Arts G2812 Woman in Profile Artprints™ series rubber stamp
Designer Paper: K & Company
Old dictionary page, tiny green scrap
Bic Mark It™ coloring pens
Ranger Alcohol blending solution
EK Success water barrel brush (filled with blending solution)
Memories Black Ink
Copper & gold sewing thread
Beaded Fringe
Wooden skewer
Sakura Gel Pens—white, pale blue, and copper
¼” black foam adhesive
Golden gloss gel medium

Process and Artistic Observations:

--I thought of this stamp immediately when I read the challenge. I love the flapper style hair on the model. Since the stamp is smaller than standard ATC size it was fun and easy to just create a backing matte from the gorgeous Nero card stock.



Better view of card stock

 -The Star Dream Opal card stock base is a real dream to work with (yes, I had to go for that pun). The Memories dye ink stamped perfectly on the card stock but I wanted a more vintage effect so I blended the alcohol markers around much of the stamped script portions.

-Speaking of alcohol markersThe Bic Mark it™ pens glided beautifully over the paper and blended perfectly with alcohol blending solution.

-Technique used on the focal image of the design is stamped paper piecing. Stamp the image on several different styles and textures of paper and then cut out portions and glue them to the base stamped image. I used designer prints for the cut portions and colored those with markers as well.

-The paper pieces were applied with gel medium to allow more time for positioning before the adhesive dried. I also covered the image in a layer of the gel medium to give it more of an artsy appearance.

-The paper rose was created during my “blooming” flower obsession and saved for this project. See more about creating paper flowers in this article and on my web site.

-My friend and accomplished artist/instructor, Lynn Barwald and I love to joke about how everything is better on a stick. I used markers and gel pens to paint the wooden skewer in coordinating colors and sandwiched between the layers of the ATC for a fresh presentation.

Learn more about other great things you can do with finished ATC on my web site.
http://www.nachattin.com/artfulspiritATC.html

Gearing up for the Challenges



Slide from my Tenants of Creativity
Gallery on the web site. Digi images
from Deviantscrap.com



As I emerge from my totally amateur status I am discovering some fun new twists in the paper arts world. One of these fun new (to me) twists is the online challenge. Essentially, the web site or blog owner posts a challenge to create a project using a certain theme, product, style, or combination of these and other requirements.

___Advantages of playing along____

Challenges are working well right now for many reasons. I love how they are just one more way to make the world a little smaller by allowing participants from all over the globe and all levels of experience to join in and have fun with the paper art. Some of the other advantages of challenges are:

o ability to surf and blog hop through links to challenges

o promote products

o inspire technique and process experimentation

o most are open to all levels of artists and crafters allowing the joy of creating to be shared

o allow creation of one unique project as opposed to creating time consuming multiples for swaps

o focus the artist’s efforts to a particular theme



Using my favorite products for upcoming challenges

As part of my designer work with Paper Temptress I will be using the PT products to enter some online challenges. Patricia, the amazing Temptress of Paper herself and host of the Paper Temptress Community Blog, has given the designers creative freedom to enter their choice of online challenges. Deciding which challenge to enter is a challenge in itself. Deb Felts has made the selection process easier by publishing a blog called The Daily Dare http://dailydare4u.blogspot.com  where she lists links to all the new blog challenges she can find as they open each day.

While I appreciate focus, I like to create more of the quirky, artsy style projects. In my quest to fiind challenge blogs that would feel comfortable for me and show off the Paper Temptress card stocks in the process—I found these favorites:

1. The Three Muses http://thethreemuseschallenge.blogspot.com/
2. Theme Thursday http://themethursday.wordpress.com/
3. Tag You are It http://tagartchallenge.blogspot.com/
4. Collage Obsession http://collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com/
5. Fun with ATCs http://funwithatcs.blogspot.com/
6. Sunday Post Card Art http://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/
7. A year in the life of an art journal http://oneyearartjournal.blogspot.com/ (naturally I cannot wait to roll with this one in my journal—wicked grin)

__Show and Tell__
I'll be playing along with the favorites I've listed here and I'd love to hear about your blog experiences too. If you have a a project on a challenge blog any time in July, please post a link to it on the comments or send me an email. Share your favorite challenges and why you like them here too. I'm totally fascinated by the folks I've seen entering one art  piece in 5 or more challenges at the same time. Do tell your secrets for getting all that done.

Artful Tourist Tenants of Creativity



Background from Designer Digitals, image from Deviant Scrap.

 By releasing the cumbersome burden of my old web site I am inspired to create new projects and pages. Today I took an extra hour of my Thursday morning scheduled renewal time (yes, I schedule renewal) to create imagery for my Tenants of Creativity. These nine tenants represent my personal philosophy of creativity. I made an art journal page in May that I've wanted to express digitally for weeks. I'm so refreshed by this process.




The art journal spread that inspired the Tenants of Creativity


Explore your own tenants of creativity the next time you visit your studio space or consider an Artful Tourist workshop to guide you in this process.

Look for individual tenants of creativity to be posted on the Artful Tourist Facebook page in the coming days. You are welcome to tag them or print them for your personal use and inspiration.

Launched Renewed Web Site today------- www.NAChattin.com

This is so exciting for me--I've redesigned my web site to reflect my current focus and priorities. Check it out at http://www.nachattin.com

The journals, the artful spirit, and the recycled projects are now prominently featured on the home page and the site.

Now that the basics are published I will go back in and flush out more of the topics and links. I've been working on this for almost a month and I just couldn't keep it under wraps any longer.

Release and Receive
In my personal life and career, I have been practicing this affirmation for almost two years now. I simplified my studio and my goals. The whole process is cathartic and so nourishing. Last month I realized that my efforts to apply this to my whole life means I must also fine tune and scale down the web site. Before I started this process I'm not even sure I realized how the old site was weighing me down. Ah, the glory of simplicity.

Consulting & Teaching
After three years of "amateur status" I am available again as a professional artist, instructor, and consultant. Check out the HIRE ME page on the site as well as the Artful Spirit section for new programs and ideas that are more aligned with my current life goals. You will see even more information in the weeks to come. Thank you so much for your support and interest over the last ten years with my web site--I'm looking forward to bringing you wonderful new ideas and projects.

The StowAway Book Returns with Paper Temptress

The StowAway book is one of my favorite projects to make and teach. This month I decided to try one with Paper Temptress card stock and the results were fabulous for me. You can check it out in all it's glory here:
StowAway Book on Paper Temptress Blog




The Tim Holtz Tribute StowAway Book Opened


Tips for creating StowAway book:

• Have a theme and color scheme laid out
• Use papers with lots of texture since everything on the project is "touch-able"
• Fiber is your friend :-)
• Include a gift card for a special delivery present
• Use the FREE class tutorial I posted on PT blog



Tim Holtz tribute StowAway closed


Samples of other StowAway Books--One is a Florida theme and the other is Women