Infused Creativity : March 2016

Friday, March 11, 2016

Happy Accident Art # 2 - Circle Punch Tags

When I play with my art supplies things magically happen. Today's accident was provoked by the use to scrap paper, a circle punch and a tag. Yup that's it. When I send a swap I usually stick to the basics. Adding too much increases the postage and time I have to use to keep up to date. . A Circle themed ATC inspired the creation of Circle Tags. Such a fun easy geometric tag! Can also use for an ATC :)

Circle punch 2 holes from a tag. As many as you want keeping the circles intact.

Choose another color paper for the next layer. Punch two circles in different places than on the tag. They don't have to be whole circles.

Find a third color or style paper. I like this stamped piece. Cut two partial circles from 2 different spots than the previous papers.

Find a final contrasting piece of paper cut to the shape of the tag. This piece will be the bad of the tag. No circles are cut from this piece. Leave it whole.

Flip your tag over and glue all around the circles. I just used a glue stick here. Make sure you get glue on those little thin strips as well.

Add the first layer of cut circles to the back the tag so the colors show through. Look at the placement from the front before adhering permanently.

Flip over the tag and all glue to the entire back once again.

Flip the tag over to check placement of the 2nd piece of paper. In this tag the 2nd paper layer is the stamped words.
Make sure you leave small spaces for your next color to show through. You can flip the papers any way you want to see the color through the tag.

Once again, flip to the back and add more glue to the entire tag.

You can still see the edges around the tags. Now cut all the excess off at one time. You can undercut a little so no paper shows through except through the circles. I had gluey fingers with this one. Make sure you have clean hands or let the glue dry between.

Here are the final tags. You can also draw doodles on the front with black or white pens to hi light the circles or add petals like flowers. Geometric. Colorful. Fun. Easy :) Happy with this accident for sure!

Note: My circle punch is a beast to use. I DO NOT love it. It catches edges and tears them EVERY time. However, I do have extra circles for journal pages, swaps, numbers on a calendar...

Hope you have fun creating some circle tags yourself!

Monday, March 7, 2016

Play

Play with your art supplies that make you happy. Scrape paint for no reason. Choose colors for the fact that you have them, and by all means fingerprint to your hearts content. It's been awhile between swaps and creating. My family thinks I have all this time to make art, and while I am creating a swap I am having fun.... however, there is a difference between creating something with intent and just playing. I haven't allowed myself to play for sometime and that's where things in my mind get messy. I don't have time to create and breathe. Really all I want to do is play and all is right in the world again. Here is my piece of play from last night.

Paint dots and smudge marks first ..THEN added the background over it. Added bright stringent dark purple sharpie around the pink dots on the left..didn't care for that. So I gessoed them, added punchinella stenciled marks added more light green with my fingers.

I did not take process pictures because it's not about the process its about playing. What you can't see is that I had 2 different pages made when I started. They were both blank, but one got dots and the other received a generous smearing of orange and yellow paints. Added a half circle on the upper right of the spine that was all alone. I then added a half circle on the left which was obviously lower but there was an obvious "disconnect".

A few swirls of blue stabile and wa-la! What you see here is a start to a journaling page.

Disconnect for me means this:

1) I have a disconnect in my life with who I am supposed to or want to be

2) I am not connected in my art so there is a disconnect with the circles

3) I want to keep all electronics aside from art and blogging to a minimal. Disconnect from the routine of nothing.

4) Nature and disconnect. I have fallen away from photography in a way that has me very narrow minded in seeing the beauty of art and nature in an organic form. I took my camera out into the woods in the rain and caught a few moments that allowed me to reconnect with my art and fresh air. Much needed.