Decoupage A Mannequin - Here's How!

Mannequin Art is one of my favorite mediums, and I had a blast when I got to decoupage this one at a trade show.

Watch now, and get some fun ideas on how to turn old magazines into decoupage papers for your next art project.

Enjoy!

Pattiewack

DIY Junk Drawer Collage

This DIY Junk Drawer Collage is super easy for you to do in an afternoon, and it's a great opportunity to go thru those drawers with the weird things you think you'll need 'someday'.  One of my most favorite things to do is mixed media and collage. And this new Aleene's Rapid Dry adhesive really got my attention because it's perfect for my favorite kind of project.  It dries fast, it's a gel consistency, and it holds like a super strong magnet.  

Wanna see how I did it?  

Here's what you'll need:

First, grab a drawer that's running over with junk.  You know the drawer.  It's the one that you have to get a kitchen knife to open it, and you get your finger stuck in it when you try to close it!  Then you'll need something to glue everything to.  I chose this ampersand symbol I found at Michael's that's a heavy chipboard.  And you're going to need a fabulous glue.  The Aleene's Rapid Dry Mixed Media Adhesive is perfect.

Spray paint your letter or symbol with black spray paint, or whatever color you want for your background.  Be sure it's a matte finish because if it's glossy, the adhesive has to work a lot harder to stick.

Next, lay out all your junky bits on the painted chipboard.  I used tons of buttons to fill all the gaps.  Now's the fun part....pick up on piece at a time and apply glue to the back, then press it back onto the board to adhere.  It's okay to work slowly, because the adhesive works best when it's allowed to set a minute or two before you press the two pieces together.  That's all there is to it!

Of course, I just had to add a tassel.  I used the PattieWack™ Tassel Maker to make a 5-inch tassel with four colors of yarn.

Then I made a 3-inch pom-pom and tied it to the top of the tassel.

The pom-pom has 3 colors of yarn, so it really adds to the eclectic look of the finished collage.

I hope you like it!  Now you have a reason for keeping those weird and wonderful bits of junk, and can turn it into a fun and funky junk drawer collage.  If you have ANY questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comment section below!

—See you in the next post! 

Visit me, PattieWack...

 on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogger, 

YouTube and Instagram!

Playing with Image Transfers by Courtney Cerruti

Image Transfer Art

One of my favorite things is COLLAGE, and of course as anyone who's been on Pinterest or Craftgawker knows, one of the most popular crafts right now is QUOTE ART.

So, when my friend Stefanie Gerard asked me to review the book, "Playing with Image Transfers" by Courtney Cerruti, I was super excited, because it's all about creating mixed media designs.

The book is very informative, and a brilliant go-to book for referencing how to create image transfers, using 5 transfer techniques, complete with supplies and photos of the steps in Chapter 1.  My favorite part of the book is Chapter 2, which she entitled "Purposeful Play" and it totally inspire me to open up my studio and PLAY!

The technique that stood out to me is "Photo on Canvas" because she points out that not only can you use copies of photos, but you can also use glossy magazine pages to transfer images onto canvas.  If you know anything about me, you know I'm nuts about altering magazines into crafts, fashion, and collage.  

I quickly gathered 4 stretched canvases and started tearing out magazine pages into strips.  Mostly pages of fashion with no words on them, were perfect for what I had in mind.

Just look at this sofa with all the fun flowers!  This print would make a great background for the next layer of the collage.

The first step was to arrange all the torn magazine pages  on the canvas until I liked the way they looked.

Then I flipped the torn pieces over (face down) to get them ready to stick to the canvas.

I grabbed my Aleene's Collagepauge gel medium for the image transfer technique.  I've done this technique before, but it's been probably 15 years, and I was eager to try my hand at it again.

According to the author Courtney Cerruti, it's best to apply the gel medium to the canvas, and then lay your image face down into the gel.  Then press firmly with your fingers or a library card to burnish the paper into the gel.  I'm sure that's where the magic is!  The ink in the magazine pages were being transferred into the fibers of the canvas.

Now the hardest part...leaving it alone to let it dry!

Once it was dry, I gently removed the paper with a damp sponge, using circular motions.  This was so fun, that I had a hard time stopping from rubbing it too much.  Be careful, because you don't want to remove the ink from the canvas.... just the paper!

Voila!  The canvases were so cool looking, and were the perfect base for a layered collage with paint and decoupage.  I was ready to grab my Tulip For Your Home stencil, paint, and a roller for the next layer.

I pushed the canvases together and laid the stencil over all of them, then painted a lime green chevron pattern over all of them.

I used a Dahlia motif stencil and tomato red paint to add a burst of color, and build a broader palette of hues.

I decided to turn the canvas around and mix them up to break up the pattern for a true collage feel.

Then I put on my creative thinking cap for the best Quote Art I could think of.  I had plenty of ideas from cruising on Pinterest, but there was one that stood out the most.  I cut magazines up for the letters, so that they would really stand out from the background.

I brushed Aleene's Collagepauge gel medium to the backs of the letters and then placed them on the canvas, and added a coat over the top to seal it.

The image transfers look amazing as a background.  I'm thinking I need to do another one, and use photos of my kids when they were little, maybe with their favorite sayings...

I'm so happy with the way it turned out! Now, I just have to find the perfect spot to hang it on a wall : )

Thanks to Courtney Cerruti, author of "Playing with Image Transfers" for your beautiful book, and for the inspiration to PLAY, connect with images, and to create more image transfer art!

Here's how to see what Stefanie's up to:

Stefanie Girard

http://thecardalbum.blogspot.com/ 

http://sweatersurgery.blogspot.com/ 

http://craftside.typepad.com/ 

http://recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com/ 

Facebook facebook.com/StefanieL.Girard

Crazy Fun with Mixed Media

I love #Tulip #PuffyPaint, and have been painting with them since the 90s, but this is different than painting on sweatshirts and T-shirts. I decided to take it one step further with stencils and a black canvas. We had a fun time experimenting with dimensional paints yesterday @ilovetocreate and I had a blast! Here's how to do canvas art with stencils:

I used the Lips Motif Stencil from the new #Tulip For Your Home products. First I sprayed the back of the stencil with repositionable adhesive. Then I pressed the stencil onto the canvas, which was already black.

I squeezed red tulip dimensional paint over the stencil and started spreading it with the palette knife. I use lots of paint so it would have deeper dimension. 

I added several more colors and kept spreading it with the palette knife.

Then the next step was the hardest (giggle) because I waited for 10 minutes to let the paint set up enough so that it didn't smear when I peeled off the stencil. I'm really lucky that we have a drying space with lamps so the drying process works faster. 

That's me and Stacy peeling off our stencils. 

It was so cool to see how it turned out!

I really like how that all the paint has so much texture. 

The last step was just to grab a tube of bright neon yellow and write "kiss this!"

I love how it turned out so much that I did another one. This time I used an animal print stencil, polkadot stencil, and a butterfly stencil. You might say I'm addicted to this new idea for using Puffy #Tulip dimensional paints!

Stacy, our Tulip Brand Manager, was having just as much fun as me!  And Miranda was taking quick pics to capture the giddiness.

And of course Miranda had to put it on Instagram. We truly had a fun and creative day here @ilovetocreate!

Hot Summer Jazz and Art

I'm busy as a bumble bee, getting ready for my booth at the Art and Jazz show tomorrow night.
Here's the scoop from the
Santa Paula Times:

Experience an al fresco evening of classic jazz in tandem with local art Friday, August 17, 2007 from 5 pm - 8 pm in Downtown Santa Paula in front of the South Paseo at 926 E. Main Street. The Santa Paula Downtown Merchants Association is sponsoring “Hot Summer Jazz and Art” featuring Bryan McCann’s The GrooveHead Band and a select myriad of local artists with resident celebrity and artist, Pattie Wack. All art will be for sale through the Santa Paula Society of Art. Each artist will be on hand for commentary. The event is free to the public.

Main Street in front of the South Paseo will be closed and transformed into a courtyard environment. Linen covered tables with umbrellas will be available for dinning and surrounded by art. Patrons are encouraged to bring a boxed dinner from the participating downtown restaurants: Chili Hut, Vince’s, Santa Paula Coffee Company, Mupu Grill, Los Arcos, La Terraza, The Grove, Pamela’s, and Tlaquepaque.For more information, please contact Debbie Johnson - (805) 525-1890 or Rochelle Margolin - (805) 525-2873.




The canopy arrived last night and I could hardly wait to get it up this morning and start working. Here’s Scott after he put up the canopy. Pretty funny. He’s between a double Pattie. I got so tickled I almost dropped the camera. I think the art walk is gonna be tons of fun! I hope there are lots of people there.



My letters turned out so WACKY! I covered them with silver glitter after spraying them with glue, then hot glued old jewelry and junk to them.



I got glitter EVERYWHERE. I might have to invest in a better vacuum cleaner, just because of glitter. Yikes! But I love the Wrights appliqués, and used a ton of them on the letters, and just hot glued them on. Plus, I had to add pompoms to the bottoms of the letters with dangles. Woohoo!



I hung the letters on the front of the canopy with heavy upholstery trim. I was going for a kitschy kewl look, and I think I got it. Now, it’s back to pricing pieces and figuring out where I’m going to display everything. I'll see you all there tomorrow!

Altered Clip Boards

My altered clip boards turned out preeeeety cute, I think. These are the make-it-take-it projects that I will be designing at the CHA trade show coming up in Anaheim, California. Buyers from all over the world will be there, purchasing and checking out new arts and crafts and scrapbooking products.

They started out as smoky see-thru clip boards. First I added iron-on rhinestones to the ribbons and tied tons of them to the top. Next I cut out paisley and damask scrapbook papers and decoupaged them onto the clipboards. Then I put iron-ons onto cute fabric and decoupaged it over the paper. Last, I ironed more rhinestones to ribbons and glued them over the designs. Whaddayathink?