Around the World with 80 Artists
I am proud to announce I am one of the participating artists in the book Around the World with 80 Artists: A Creative Art Academy Arts and Crafts Adventure.
This book is an adventure around the world with 80 artists, 80 plus projects, from 22 countries. All forms of art and craft niches, from mixed media, coloring, cut and create, drawing, card making, scrapbooking and more! Arts and crafts for the beginner to intermediate to the advanced, but most of all you’ll be able to see that creativity is something that holds this earth together and brings us all closer together.
The reason Editor Mahe Zehra Husain came up with this project is an attempt to highlight the theme of creativity around the world. She wanted to counteract the negativity, hate, and terrible things in the news happening all over the world, to remind us of how beautiful this world is if we share our common love for arts and crafts. This book was her way to get so many new artists and creative folk to come together to work on one project with love and creativity flowing in from many different countries of the world.
The Around the World with 80 artists book has reached No. 1 status in Crafts, Hobbies and Home on Amazon! You can download a FREE copy, for today and tomorrow only, even if you don’t own a Kindle. After that the Kindle copy and workbook will become paid and will be priced at $14.99. From the proceeds of the ebook sales and the kickstarter Mahe Zehra Husain will be contributing 20% to the Malala Fund as well.
The book also comes with a downloadable workbook that has all the necessary printable pages. Here is the link for the workbook.
Here is a sneak peak at my tutorial, Adventures in Resin, included in the book.
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Trade Bead #Cre8time and Destash!
Lately I have been in a craft and art supply de-stash mode. Sorting, organizing, giving away and even having art supply swaps with friends and family. Getting all of my supplies in order and finding long forgotten items always gets me in a creative mode.
In the process of cleaning my jewelry supplies I found collections of wire snippets. Whenever working with jewelry wire I always end up with snips of random length, size and style. I collect these pieces in hopes that I can do something creative with these scraps, however they just generally end up in little bags and boxes and forgotten about. This time I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Along with all the wire scraps I started to unearth glass trade beads I had collected over the years. This is just one of many of the storage containers of trade bead I found, mostly containing beads from Africa, Asia and Europe. Using an oh so expensive egg carton I started to sort the beads by shape and color hue.
Using the scraps of wire, needle nose pliers and wire snips I looped the pieces of wire to create eyepin wires for all of the sorted trade beads. I created as many as I could using up all the wire, taking a little bit of time every night for a week to create these beaded links.
In the end I had piles of different colored beads on gold and silver wire, perfect to make beaded link necklaces. So many, in fact, I was able to create 5 necklaces, 18 inch long, perfect to give as gifts to friends and family!
By doing a little bit of crafting de-stash what wonderful crafts will you create?
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Crafty Recuperating Recap!
Hello! I am finally back after having to take a unwanted break thanks to getting the flu, then pneumonia which caused a partial lung collapse. Now that I am in better health it’s time to share all the projects I have been making for Amazing Casting Products while I have been recuperating and getting back on track with arts and crafting goodness!
Starting with the photo above I tried my hand at Resin Paper Jewelry, using imported papers from India. They were simple to make, highlighted the beautifully textured paper and became rather sturdy with the coating of resin.
My next project was born out of necessity. I have a collection of polyurethane Cabochon molds my mother had bought and used 45+ years ago. I now use them regularly to create many of my cabochon pieces. However when the molds get old and used a lot they can slowly become brittle. Well, brittle molds don’t take too well to being flexed and I shattered two of my best cabochon molds. See how I created new Cabochon Molds!
Since I have a fondness for Southwestern art and Celestial patterns, I wanted to try making my own Sun Disk Wall Plaques for my garden.
I had fun with a Tree Bark Texture Plate I made years ago but this time I created polymer clay pendants coated in resin and embellished with crystals in this Tree Bark Jewels Necklace.
Seeing the new home decor trend of blue and white country tiles and pottery, I wondered if I could attempt my own version with everyday craft supplies and without the need of a kiln! My Faux Delft Tile Decor ended up being a fun and new way to use acrylic paint, polymer clay and resin.
I spend a lot of time working out ideas and testing out craft supplies to see what might be possible with future projects. Some don’t work out, some are happy accidents and others a success. Here is a few of my Resin Tips and Tricks.
In the process of sorting my beads recently I noticed the hard plastic containers many small beads come in have perfectly smooth and glossy lids. I was able to make new resin pendant molds and create a selection of Springtime Pendants with dried plants, stickers and resin!
I hope these projects keep you inspired and Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry