Workshop Wednesday - Tin & book

A few weeks ago I asked you, my readers, if there was anything that you wanted to see by way of workshops. Donna wondered if I have done videos of work that is in my book, The Artistic Mother. That is a great idea Donna. Thanks. While I didn't get around to doing a video, here is a photo workshop based on an altered tin and handmade mini collage journal that does appear in my book.

Through out my book there are what is called in the publishing business 'beauty shots'. Marissa Bowers, the book's designer, staged art work with props to best show off and illustrate the type of artwork you, the reader, the Artistic Mother, could do. On p 18 is an altered collage tin that houses a little handmade book. Today I am going to show you the steps for making one.

But first, here is a peek inside the one that appears in the beauty shot in my book:

STEP 1

Set up your photos on your computer. I use PhotoShop Elements 8.0. I opened 4 different photos and then choose a new blank document. I moved the 4 photos over into the new document.

Line the photos up, then crop the image in a long strip and save the file as a jpeg.



STEP 2

Open your word processing program. I use Microsoft Word for Mac. Insert your photo onto a new blank document. Re-size your image. Copy and paste it and re-size the 2nd image (smaller), so you have 2 sizes of the image (one will be for the cover of your little book, the other will be art to collage the tin with).

STEP 3

Trim your images. And set the smaller image aside. You will use the larger strip image as the cover of your book.

STEP 4

Fold your strip image loosely in half, this will be your book cover. Find scraps of paper that will fit as pages in the book.

Layer the papers together. The top piece of paper should face the rest of the paper.

STEP 5

Poke a line of holes in the papers. Use an awl to make the holes by holding the point of the awl in place and tapping the back of the awl with a hammer to ensure that the holes go the whole way through the stack of papers. Hold the papers very tightly together before sewing. TIP: Thread your needle before poking the holes, so you are ready to go once the holes are made. Now, sew the papers together. I sewed forward and then back again to make sure the papers were very secure.

STEP 6

Put the book pages (signature) into the cover, fold the front and back signature pages and align them with the cover. Glue the outside of the signature into the book cover. Use your fingers to smooth the signature in place.

To cover up where the fold is, add a little loop of coordinating twine and tie it. Set the book aside.

STEP 7

Next you will want to alter your tin. I used a gift card tin that I got at Michaels, but an Altoid tin will work too. First thing to do is sand the tin. Any grit sandpaper will do, but I used a medium fine grit. Sand everywhere that you want to be painted. You don't have to erase the whole design, but to rough it up enough to receive paint.

STEP 8

Paint your tin with a layer of gesso. Dry it with a craft gun or simply wait 10 minutes for the paint to dry and then paint with acrylic paint. I used Moss Eco-Friendly paint.

STEP 9

 Stamp the tin with Staz On ink. I always use Staz On ink because I end up painting over the stamp. This stamp is called 'Plume' from Linda Schnieder's collection by Stampington & Co.

STEP 10

Over paint the stamps with another color (here I used a little bit of turquoise) and then gesso to soften the color. Rub the paint with a rag to give it that blendy, airy feeling.

STEP 11

Pick out some scraps to collage on the top of the tin, including the smaller printed out version of the book cover photo. Glue them in place.

Put your little book inside your tin and that is it!

I hope you have a go at making one of these. They are quick and simple. Even my kids altered their own tins (of course!!):

If you are a collage artist, why not consider adding your name the collage making directory? As of today there are 95 collage blogs listed! It is a great place to jump from when you need some collage inspiration. Scroll all the way down and leave a comment and you will be added to the list. 

Making the most of it

We all have to do things as Moms that are seemingly 100% for our kids. Like attend soccer practice, kids birthday parties, make kid lunches, go to kid friendly restaurants, correct homework and on and on. On the surface there is nothing in it for Mom. We are sacrificing our time for them. But is that not just a state of mind? Isn't the possibility of art in everything, in every place, in every situation?

As an Artistic Mother I have to believe that to be true.

So when I am doing seemingly kid only things I take my camera, my notebook, my eyes and look and often find the art in the everyday, the mundane, the awful blaring kid places - like the dreaded Chuck E Cheese.

We mamas have to make the most of what we have.

If you have done a blog post about finding art in your life as a mom will you leave me a link in the comments?


***************

Talking about making the most of it.... Maximus is, as I told you last week, learning to walk. I just had to share this little video of him being so proud, so proud of his own little self.


Maximus James learing to walk from Shona Cole on Vimeo.

Art Finds Friday - November 12, 2010

1) BLOGGER MEET UP

I met Mindy from the Wishstudio last week in San Antonio and it was so fun to put a face and live personality to all of our online interaction. I thought 'you know I could meet more fellow bloggers and like minds', so I am going to get the ball rolling!

I would like to invite bloggers who live in the Houston and North Houston area to come to a Blogger Meet Up. 

Why not join me?

Visit this blog post for the details and to leave a comment specifically about this meet up. 

2) MUSIC

We had a music concert at our house the other week. Marcus Mucha, Shannon's husband sang a number of his latest original songs. He performed five that day, this one, 'Nails' was my favorite. I filmed it with my new camera, without a tripod, so forgive me for the terrible camera work. Just enjoy the music.


Nails from Shona Cole on Vimeo.


3) FOLLOWER LOVE
This week I have enjoyed visiting the blog of Sloane, Sunny's Smile. Her blog has few words, but many snapshots of her life as a creative mama. I love the straightforward simplicity of her vision. Her blog nails her purpose "This is the blog of a creative mama who seeks to capture beauty and inspiration in everyday moments." Sloane also shares her mixed media designs on her new art blog Sunny's Smile Design. I love her blog banner!

4) GIVEAWAY - winner
The results are in: For visitors to this blog space mixed media is overwhelmingly the favorite art form:
Mixed Media 29
Photography 17
Poetry 4


Interestingly many noted that mixed media is so great because it can include both photography and poetic words. I second that. I like how Shelley of Single Stone Studio put it "For me everything is rooted in mixed media - it might contain photos or poetry but the roots are always mixed media. I love paints and papers and fabrics. I love building layers and talking to God while I create. It's always a time when I get quiet and he speaks. It's why I create."
  
Well, there can only be one winner of Liz Lamorex's book 'Inner Excavations' and that is....

Elizabeth C of A Creative Beginning. 

Congrats. Let's talk via email, I will get your physical address and get your book in the mail.



5) WHAT I MADE THIS WEEK

An Etsy Store! Yep, I opened 'The Artistic Mother' Etsy store.

I thought about Christmas coming and gift giving and thought that the perfect gift for The Artistic Mother would be my book and some supplies to get her going. So I put together some craft kits:

1) Kits for making the paper bag card, which is the project on p117 in my book.
2) Kits for making the balsa wood 'Butterfly Reminder', which is the project on p87.
3) Basic supply kits
You can buy the kits alone (not the basic kit, yet) or the kit plus a signed copy of my book.

So if you are looking for an inspiring crafty gift for your sister, new mother or best friend please consider visiting my brand new store!

Alternatively, buy a copy of my book (cheaper) on Amazon, go to your local craft supply store and purchase some of the 'Essential Tool Kit' listed on p67 of the book. If you want I can send you a signed sticker to place inside the cover of the book, it is the next best thing to having a truly signed copy of a book! Email me and I will mail you one, no charge to you at all. 

I am telling you, having the right supplies on hand makes creating so much easier. That is especially true for the busy mother.


6) PHOTOGRAPHY

I was a 'character' model for Shannon Mucha's narrative art three times these past few weeks. You may remember I blogged about it here. Well, Shannon has posted some of the photos on her Flickr. Here is her finished narrative, you can scroll up and down for other images in this brilliant series. Thanks Shannon for letting me be a part of your art, me and my kids are looking forward to the next shoot!

Blogger Meet up - Houston, Texas

I would like to invite bloggers who live in the Houston and North Houston area to come to a Blogger Meet Up. 

When: December 8, 2010

Time: 7-9pm

Where: La Madeleine in The Woodlands,
9595 Six Pines Drive, Suite 100, The Woodlands TX, 77380

Who: bloggers who would like to put a face and voice to a blog/name

What: a relaxed evening to chat and eat some yummy food with wine or coffee

RSVP: You can leave a comment on this post and/or send me an email at theartisticmother@gmail.com. 

Space is limited to the first 20 bloggers who give me a firm commitment that they will be there, so let me know soon if you can make it. I will post a list of who is coming as the RSVP's roll in.

You can spread the word using this badge image. Email me if you want a jpeg copy of it.

Take a walk with the Cole girls

Take a walk with the Cole girls from Shona Cole on Vimeo.

Learning to walk

My life as I knew it is over, at least for a little while. Max turned one last week and is moving about more and more and even beginning to walk. I can no longer put him down and know I can do a quick blog post or eat my lunch. No, he is all boy, opening the back door, longing to go outside, batting away books, preferring to crawl quickly to cupboards or drawers to empty the contents. I am this close to giving up putting everything back in place at least until he is older!

This may sound like a complaint, but really what a privilege to help launch this child into the world, to give him stronger legs, to be there as the world comes rushing towards him! Lord, help me be a good Momma.

and so where does it come from,
this drive to rise up?

he came to my arms lying down
he has been carried
he has been worn

I did not tell him to walk
I only cheer
when he pulls to a stand
I lean in
lending my hand
a finger hold
the last thread of security

this is his world to discover
these are his legs to strengthen
his pine cones to navigate
to pick up and be pricked by.

how he faces it, wobbling today,
running tomorrow, is his business

I can blow breath in the direction
I think is right
but he will learn the hard way
like every other boy before him

Shona Cole

Art Finds Friday - November 5, 2010 & giveaway

1) POETRY

I am reading B.H. Fairchild's latest book and so far it is excellent. He is a master at long sentences that somehow don't lose the reader's attention and narratives of strange characters' momentary events, steeped in unusual histories. I love how he sees the deeper character in those people he comes in brief contact with or imagines. His poetic voice is very American, independent and confident. Good stuff, interesting. (Not for kids).

There is a very powerful poem 'Madonna and Child, Perryton, Texas 1967 about a screaming baby who calms down only when the momma nurses her baby, his description is so spot on. It is such a poignant moment that 'forty years later this scene still hangs in my mind'.

2) WHAT I MADE THIS WEEK

A junk mail journal with painted junk mail for the paper and cover, my own photography, and rubber stamps - these Fanciful Outline Lowercase Alphabet. I received these stamps in my capacity as an Artist On Call for Stampington. Every few months I get some new stamps to work with, some of this work then appears in Stampers' Sampler magazine.

3) THE ARTISTIC MOTHER

I spotted my book in my local Hobby Lobby. This photo is of my dad looking at his daughter's book and his grandkids' photos!

4) FOLLOWER LOVE

This week I would love you to go check out the blog of Kelly Thiel. She is a very talented sculpture artist, art journaler and mother. She gives her readers a very interesting look at the process involved in creating her bronze sculptures. She also blogs about being a mom and posts some recipes. Worth a look.

5) GIVEAWAY

I came across this book 'Inner Excavation' on Liz Lamoreux's blog about 6 months ago. The subtitle is 'Explore your self through Photography, Poetry, and Mixed Media'!!!!!!! As those are the same arts that I am involved in I immediately went to Amazon and hit 'pre-order'. About 2 months ago I was again on Liz's blog and I read more about her book and, completely forgetting that I had already done so, I pre-ordered it again! Imagine my surprise one day, when the book was released, that 2 copies of the book arrived to me!  I guess I really was meant to have this book.


Well, as I have 2 copies I am going to give one of them away. To you, or one of you!

So leave me a comment and tell me which is your favorite of these 3 arts: Photography, poetry and mixed media. I will announce the winner next Friday (11-12-10).

Workshop Wednesday 11-3-10

I have a question for you:

What video tutorials would you like to see in the future? It can be anything within the mixed media/collage/photography world, even something in my book. I would appreciate your input, I am open to all ideas.

You see I got this new point and shoot camera. It takes video in HD. Great, I videoed my latest tutorial. But I have a Mac and the Panasonic software doesn't work with Mac!!! I called Panasonic and they said I can upload direct to iMovie... but I need to buy the latest iLife software. Okay, but to upload that I have to have Snow Leopard, which I don't have. So, I have a number of steps before I can access my videos. So, no video this week. Instead....

here are a few of the tutorials (mostly photo steps) I have done so far:
Ornaments (video)
Background papers (video)
Homemade gallery
ATC cards
Frayed Flowers (to decorate a bag)
Little book to make with kids
Bind it All notebook
Sticky 2 Foil (photos by me and video of Christine Adolph)
Altered board book
Altered board game
Coffee cup holder book
Collage card
Altered photo wall hanging
Re-purposed onsie

Let me know if you have anything you would particularly like to watch.

And, check in on Friday as I am doing a giveaway for Liz Lamoreux's new book 'Inner Excavations'.

How one Mom does it all (& gets me to play dress up)

Shannon Mucha is a testimony to everything that is wonderful about the Artistic Mother life. For those of you that have my book you can see an introduction to her life on p16-17.

She is such an inspiration to me.

She homeschools her kids in a stylishly decorated (always clean) home, she does arts and crafts with her kids, she is married to an artist/musician, Marcus Mucha, she free lances as a graphic designer/illustrator and she photographs everything about her lovely life, posting daily on her blog regardless of how busy she is. 

And she is my confidant, accountability partner, professional listener! She makes time for my long-winded phone calls almost everyday and she always has something smart and helpful to say.

To top this all off Shannon is driven as an artist to seek ideas and skills and projects. I have never seen someone work so hard on any given project. And, if you didn’t thing that was enough, she is humble (and is probably horrified right now at me going on and on about her), and wants to learn more. So last month Shannon started a degree in digital photography online with The Academy of Art in San Francisco (online classes).  I can just imagine how awesome her photos will be at the end of her schooling!

So how does she do it all? Well I asked her and was not at all surprised at her answer, what she says is pretty much an affirmation of the central thesis of my book.

Her focus is on vision & priorities, deadlines and schedule. All bathed in a love for family.

Vision & priorities: Mom duties first. As a Christian, she believes in the high calling of motherhood. Family time and kid’s school come first. Shannon keep firm to the idea that each hour of the day counts and will never come again. This vision keeps her productive and constantly appreciating the importance of doing her best every day.

Even her downtime is productive – at 5:00pm everyday, when the kids are occupied with after school activities, she does a workout and watches a movie (usually some kind of Indie flick). She finds the exercise gives her energy for the evening and the movie relaxes her mind.


Deadlines: Shannon has quarterly deadlines – for iStock photo, stock illustration, PACES and some ongoing deadlines with Mortal Muses and our photo collaborations. Now, as I mentioned, she also has her own art college classes! These deadlines dictate what she needs to get done and by when. They are short term goals that keep her motivated to keep on working.

Schedule: Shannon’s whole day follows a tight schedule, for herself and her kids. Every hour of her day is accounted for. So, yes it seems rigorous indeed, but it works. Art gets done in the Mucha home. School gets done – and I am telling you those are smart, well adjusted kids she is raising. 

One side note worth sharing is that in light of her commitment to her family, she even involves her kids in choosing their schedule - each of her 3 children has a hand in designing when they do the subjects & chores that they have to do in any given week. It is so cute that Nomi, who is 5 this week, added trampoline time to her schedule – and Shannon finds that she does better at her K work after a few minutes of jumping. Zeb, 8, added bacon and egg breakfast Monday, Wednesday and Friday to his schedule! Such a boy! And as a testimony to her commitment to family - each of the kids made sure there was family time built into their day besides their subjects and chores. By involving the kids Shannon finds that they are more committed and productive, this in turn helps her get through the day without resistance thereby freeing her to do art in the evenings.

---------------

I love seeing Shannon in action. She has to do many photoshoots for her digital photography classes. On Friday she came over to my house as she needed some models to bring to life a narrative she wanted to shoot. She had come up with the theme of a child growing through literature. So we did a photo shoot loosely based on Alice In Wonderland.

Shannon brought the wig, a ladder and a boat load of ideas. I took some photos with my new point and shoot as we went along. It was SO fun. Here are some of my out takes. Matthew, 10 took some of the photos.

Me and my girls are looking forward to doing more photoshoots with Shannon.

Shan has posted a couple of photos from this shoot here and here.