I was aimlessly hanging out in cyberspace the other day, and found myself at one of my fav NING spots, "The Art Colony" (it's where all of the cool kids hang out...) and I was discussing sizes with a couple of my female friends, and we decided that size certainly does make a difference...we all agreed to try making some smaller art than what we were accustomed to making, most notably the 3x3 inch size (known as threebies) and the 4x4 inch size (known as fourbies). This idea between us happened just a couple of weeks ago, and now, we are all hooked on making the smaller size art. It seems to help us grow in our craft, and make use of space that we weren't used to doing in the larger sizes....so, I want to challenge you to try the smaller sized art yourself...email it to me at sheltonlaura28@yahoo.com, and I will add it to my blog and you will become famous overnight...well, maybe not, but some people will enjoy looking at it, I do know that! Besides, I would love to see it myself! So, it is only fair that if you are going to show me yours, I need to show you mine..so without further ado....
here is a sampling of the supplies that I used in making mine. I used rhinestones of various colors, washi tape, sequins and markers of all types...these had to be permanent markers because if not, they would run and mess up when it came time to varnish and seal them. So-please use permanent markers, dyes and inks when you can or it will become a mess...
I also used all kinds of tiny embellishments of all types, plastic, fabric laces, die cuts, stencils
and-YES that is hairspray...it works beautifully as a fixative to keep pastel chalks and other smearable things from smearing too much...On side note...use your own art in your projects like this...go through your old art books, sketchbooks, etc and recycle your own beautiful mess into a new and more beautiful mess! It is amazing what you can come up with from something you thought was horrible to even look at...Now..about adhesives...lightweight paper to paper-Elmers Glue-All or something equal to it, and for heavier pieces and things-E6000...nothing beats E6000 in my books...I have tried so many others, and just keep coming back to it. It's cheap, and easy...who can turn that down??
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ok, we have all of that down...next I had my pieces cut up to the size I needed, then out came the stencils and the dyes, acrylic paints, stencils, Extreme Glitter, and black and white permanent markers. I use the UNI Posca brand markers and just love them, after a rocky start to the relationship, I can say that we are becoming almost inseparable...
OK without any more talking..here is what I did..
All held together with binder rings, it is a 3x3 inch book of mixed media/collage on corrugated cardstock. I used cardstock, embellishments made of paper, metal and plastic, laces and fibers, brads and a leather strap for the closure. and I LOVE the front with the colorful bird! This would make a great gift for your BFF or someone like that!
Also, I made a larger one...4x4 inches or a fourbie book..Here is how it turned out.:
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| this is the back cover |
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| The front reads "Sunshine, Rain, Everything" |
I think it turned out gorgeous, especially after adding some of the laces that I have gotten from Pamela Joy and the scraps of things I have around here. I had several colors of the paper ribbon which I turned into "curliques" using scissors...There is also a "bead tail" attached, along with a silver tone, metal butterfly charm to top it all off!
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| back page of the 4x4 inch "Fourbie" album |
I know this has been a long blog post, but I wanted to show you all of the pretty pages that have become a part of these books...If you have any questions about the process or techniques, please contact me through the comments section, and I will be with you asap! In the meantime, "Happy Creating"!
Happy Creating,
Laura Shelton
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