DIY Hot Glue Stencils

I've been seeing some articles and YouTube videos on making your own stencils from hot glue and I was excited to try it out. This is a picture of using my new glue stencils and spraying ink over them.

I made flowers and doodles from my hot glue gun on top of a non-stick surface. Let it cool before you peel them off.

It's really fun and easy! These are all the different shapes I made.

Then you just take a few of them on place them in your journal and use some spray ink.

It's amazing, how easy it is to use and the results are some great patterns on your page.

Pictured below are some pages I sprayed with my new stencils. It makes a great first layer.

Below is a picture where I used the residue of the ink on the stencils to make an image and then added water colors to the page.

I added some acrylic paint for the next layer.

The next step was to add some doodles with black and white pens and it really comes to life. These will be great pages to scan and then use on other projects.

I also used my new glue stencils on one of my pages in my latest journal I made in Roben's class.

And after adding doodles, stamps and paper, this is how the finished page looked, 

I used some of Roben Marie's stamps to finish the page. The girl stamp is from Ashley Goldberg. Using the hot glue stencils are a great first layer to your art journal pages. I hope you give it a try!

On another note, I'm so happy to be published in the latest issue of Somerset Studio (Winter Issue),

My stuffed Paige dolls and a little journal I made were published in this issue.

I also saw some of my work mentioned in an ad for a future issue of Somerset Studio Gallery...how cool!

And, if you seen the latest issue of Somerset Life, I have an article published for some envelope art. I don't have the actual issue yet, but it's there :-)

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week!

My Craft Room 2.0

I'm fortunate to have a room in our home dedicated to my crafts. But unfortunately, visiting crafts stores every weekend, subscribing to monthly kits, discovering East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse and going to too many company samples sales, has gotten it out of hand!

My craft room didn't look like this picture below two weeks ago.

My craft table was piled high...

each shelf was busting with stuff...

 

and I could barely see the floor.

But then my amazing sisters came over and for my bday helped me clean it out and organize it. Plus, they bought me this great big new white shelving unit. 

 It was an all-day project to clear everything out,

Sort it...

 and then put it all back together again.

I couldn't have done this with out their help. I tried, but there was just too much stuff and I didn't know where to start.

Thanks also to Melanie and Kacia for helping me get rid of my surplus items.

Now, I have this amazing, organized and clean craft room.

 

I'm still working on purging and organizing each shelf and drawer, but now I have a place to spread out and sort items out on the table. 

 

I look at my new craft room every day, just admiring how much cleaner it is, I just love it now!

I owe a huge thank you to my sisters, I know it wasn't as fun as having a craft class, but now I can hold a craft class in my own craft room and they'll be the first to be invited!

My sisters are the best - I love you all!

Roben Marie Smith Art Journal Class

A couple weeks ago, I attended an amazing class taught by one of my favorite artists: Roben Marie Smith. I've taken so many of her on-line classes and loved every one one of them - to actually take a class from her in person was a dream come true!

Below is a picture of my journal cover. It's actually a classification folder turned into an art journal portfolio - so clever!

The class was actually held in Los Angeles at Jenny Doh's studio, Cresendo. It's a wonderful studio full of Jenny's work all over the walls.

Below are pictures of my journal, along with some class photos...

I haven't finished all my pages yet, but thought I'd show you the work in progress.

I've been having so much fun working on this journal. When it's done, I'll make a video and do a flip-through.

It was a great class. Roben is so talented, generous, organized and such a sweet person. Jenny was a great host as well and her studio was the perfect environment for creating. 

It was a dream weekend for me. I owe a huge thank you to my sister, Lana, who treated me to the entire trip for my birthday! We shopped till we dropped, ate delicious food and crafted with one of my favorite artists - I couldn't think of a better bday gift! Except right up there with this trip is what my sisters helped me with...stay tuned for next blog post.