Share Your Joy; Mixed Media Shareable Art Book Review

 Title: Share Your Joy; Mixed Media Shareable Art

Author: Sarah J. Gardner

Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group - Walter Foster

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

Length: 128 Pages

About the Author
Sarah J. Gardner is a mother, practicing lawyer, and self-taught artist in Southern California. She works with mixed media and seeks to help others who want to explore their creativity and play with art supplies. 

Shareable Art
Sarah Gardner provides inspiration and instructions for eight art paper projects and nine shareable projects in this colorful mixed-media art book.
The sharable projects include;

• Sewn Collage Postcards
• Printed Layers Postcards
• Watercolor Rainbow Greeting Card
• Abstract Collage Note Card
• Embellished Envelopes

My Thoughts
This is an inspiring and instructional book for mixed-media artists. The focus of the book is creating art that can be shared with others. This is a perfect selection for artists who create handmade greeting cards and mail art.

The step-by-step directions are excellent for both beginners and experienced mixed-media artists. The color photos add great value to the text. The original designs and techniques will motivate the reader to take their creativity to the next level.

The book includes interviews with two artists who have been swapping and sharing art for many years. 

Ms. Gardner (juicy.s.art) shares samples of her work on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

I read a digital copy of this book and hope to order a print copy in the future.  I really love everything about this book.

Highly recommended!!!

MY RATING: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 

Thank you to NetGalley for a wonderful reading opportunity.

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Collage Your Life; Techniques, Prompts and Inspiration - Book Review

 

Title: Collage Your Life; Techniques, Prompts and Inspiration for Creative Self-Expression and Visual Storytelling

Author: Melanie Mowinski

Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC

Publication Date: June 21, 2022

Length: 224 Pages

About the Author
Melanie Mowinski is a professor of art at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and founder of PRESS: Letterpress as a Public Art Project. She has maintained a daily practice of collage and creating with paper for more than 10 years.

Practice Takes Practice
Melanie Mowinski shares basic collage techniques with beautiful color photographs. She includes the selection of tools, materials, and adhesives. The book features 55 prompts to jumpstart your practice. The prompts feature basic projects that inspire you to exercise your creativity and uniqueness. 

There are profiles of collage artists that include their backgrounds and their artistic processes.

The last part of the book features instructions for creating handmade collage books and journals.

My Thoughts
Collage is my favorite kind of art so I tend to gravitate toward books like this. This is a gold mine of inspiration for collage artists at all skill levels.

The author believes a successful art practice takes "commitment, regular preparation and rehearsal, and focused attention on continual skill refinement." You should strive to create a piece of art every day. Practice takes practice.

If you commit to making one collage a day using the techniques and prompts in this book, I guarantee you will see great improvement in your process and the end results of your efforts. 

MY RATING: 5 STARS OUT OF 5

FYI ~ I received a free digital review copy of this book from NetGalley.

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Handmade Tim Holtz Halloween Cards

I made the following Halloween cards with Tim Holtz patterned paper and ephemera. I had fun creating unique and unusual collage cards with the outstanding paper and die cuts that were available from Tim Holtz. I purchased all of these supplies from Michaels. Here are the supplies I used to create these cards:

Patterned Paper
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Halloween Paper Stash

Die Cuts
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Halloween Ephemera Pack
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Dolls
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Botanical 

Sentiments
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Occasions Small Talk
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Clippings Stickers

Stamps
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Halloween Cling Stamps

Here is a video that I made featuring some of the Halloween cards I made.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below or tweet me @JanetteFuller.

Handmade Earth Day Birthday Card

Today is April 22, 2015.

It is the 45th annual Earth Day in the United States.

It is also the birthday of my lovely granddaughter. I made this Earth Day birthday card to celebrate Kaley's 12th birthday.

This is how I made the card:
The base is a pre-made blank kraft cardstock card.

I used a piece of pretty collage-style pattered paper (Jublilee Pink Postage, K&Company) for the background.

I used four pieces of ephemera (ticket, flashcard, bird, butterfly) from a Tim Holtz "Thrift Shop" Ephemera pack. These items are reproductions of vintage print memorabilia.

I used the digital stamp "Tiara" from Mo's Digital Pencil. I colored the image with Copic Sketch markers and cut it out. I used adhesive to attach the ephemera and the colored digital image to the background paper.

I printed the sentiment, "It's my birthday and I will tiara if I want to", on white cardstock. This sentiment comes with the "Tiara" digital stamp. I cut out the sentiment with a Spellbinders die and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink. I attached the sentiment to the top of the card.

I used a Dymo label maker to make the words "Earth Day Birthday". I attached these labels to the front of the card.

I will enter this card in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Due Date.
The "due date" is APRIL 22 - Earth Day and Kaley's birthday!

Thank you for taking a look at my card. Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.