My First Craft Supply Swap

Hello there! Have you ever been to a craft supply swap? I went to my first one recently.

It took place at the Riverview Fisk Park in Jersey City Heights, New Jersey on a sunny spring day. It was organized by the Riverview Neighborhood Association (RNA) and the Jersey City Crafting Circle.

The call was simple: If you've got craft supplies you are no longer using, bring them to the supply swap at the RNA's art and flea market.

Tables were set up in a corner of the park and each section was clearly labeled. This is the knitting and fiber art area.

This area was for paint, markers, and other coloring materials.

And this area was for books, stickers, paper, adhesives, and miscellaneous stuff like stamps, popsicle sticks, stencils, and DIY ornaments. Everyone was free to browse and take what they needed. Anything left over would be donated to charity. 

I rummaged through my craft stash and found a few items that deserve a new home, including fluffy pipe cleaners/chenille stems, balls of yarn, a jar of glitter, a bundle of paintbrushes, little packets of cards and collage papers that I put neatly in a tin basket...TADA!

This is my haul: rubber stamps, a tiny pair of scissors, a sharpener, Prang watercolors (really good quality for a beginner or student), a few colored pencils, a foam pouncer, a needle-tip glue bottle (just what I really needed), some pearl buttons, and bar pins. 

I am pleased with what I found because I use these often. Here, let me show you what I made:

I used the rubber stamps to make some greeting cards...TADA!

I used the paint, colored pencils, and rubber stamp to decorate this postcard...TADA! 

The foam pouncer came in handy to make these bookmarks. They are just plain cardboard with a repeating star pattern created with paint, stencil, the pouncer, and some ribbon...TADA! 

I decanted all purpose glue into the needle-tip bottle and added a label. This will be useful for precision work. The small size also makes it handy to include in my pencil case, together with the tiny pair of scissors...TADA! 

I'm using the sharpener for my crayons. I love the crayon ribbons and shavings left behind after sharpening. I'll definitely save them for a future project...TADA!

I'll be using the bar pins for DIY brooches made of felt, sequins, beads, crochet, and Shrinky Dinks.

I have yet to use these pearl buttons. Let me know if you have suggestions.

And that was how my first craft supply swap went. I look forward to joining more!

*****

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In My Crafter's Tool Box: Modeling Paste

Howdy creative people!

Are you familiar with modeling paste? I've never heard of it before until I read this book:

"Get Messy Art" is a book about art journaling and is written by the talented Caylee Grey, a South African artist. She pioneered the "Get Messy" community and I admire her approach to making art: "My art journaling adventure began as a way for me to get messy, ditch perfectionism, stay accountable, and consistently create art." 

In the book, Caylee describes modeling paste as "an acrylic medium that feels like thick cake frosting. Pair it with a stencil to create an image that has dimension or mix it with acrylic paint to add texture. Smearing it onto the page really is like putting the frosting on the (art) cake." 

She had me a cake frosting! 

So I went off and bought myself some modeling paste so I could try it out.

One of the projects in the book is a demonstration on how to use modeling paste. As you can see, it does give an embossed finish to the flower...TADA! 

I'm excited to experiment!

To start, we will need the following materials: acrylic paint, modeling paste, and a palette knife

We will also need stencils, low-tack removable tape (like washi tape), and paper. 

Step 1: Make sure you cover your surface with scrap paper. Decide on which part of the paper you want to place the stencil image. Using washi tape, attach the stencil to the paper to keep it in place as you apply the modeling paste. 

Step 2: In a shallow dish, take some modeling paste. This is about 1/2 teaspoon worth.

Add some acrylic paint. This is around the equivalent of 1/8 teaspoon.

Use a palette knife to mix the modeling paste and acrylic paint together until well blended and no streaks are visible. 

Step 3: With the aid of the palette knife, spread the mixture on top of the stencil. Spread this evenly and make sure all gaps are covered. Remove any excess mixture with the palette knife.

Step 4: While the mixture is still wet, carefully peel off the stencil from the paper. Make sure the stencil pattern on the paper is not disturbed and that no part of the paper tears. 

Immediately submerge the stencil in a container of warm water so the modeling paste doesn't permanently harden on the stencil (you will no longer be able to use the stencil if this happens). Caylee's tip: You can place the stencil between two baby wipes to keep it moist until you're able to clean it. 

Step 5: If there is any leftover mixture, don't let it go to waste. Make ephemera with other stencils and sheets of paper and use these for scrapbooking, card making, collage, and more art journaling. 

Playing with modeling paste is so much fun! It takes some practice to get an even coat but the imperfections add to the handmade look.

It helped me turn all my paper remnants from blah to TADA! 

By the way, if you are interested in collage and all things paper, Strawberry Moon Magazine might be right up your alley. Issue 10 is all about collage (tips from A to Z) and there are free collage papers included. 

I also wrote an article (collage organization). If you are curious to know more or would like to purchase a copy (print or digital), you can visit Strawberry Moon Magazine.

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Tinting Paper using Peony Petals

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers! They are bold, bountiful, and really command attention. That's why I've used peonies as a muse for many crafty blah to TADA! transformations:

Handmade paper flowers made from gift tissue...TADA!

Creative gift wrapping where I turned an empty jar from blah to TADA!

A page from my Art journal where I used watercolor and a felt tip pen...TADA! 

And still another page from my art journal where I used rubber stamped-peonies, colored pencils, and collage...TADA!

Even if my peonies have wilted, don't they still look beautiful? Instead of tossing them right away, I'm going to experiment using these peony petals as dye. 

I separated the petals and spread them on top of white paper (this is copy paper) that I trimmed into rectangles (about 4 inches by 6 inches).

I'm using these cake pans to help me stack my paper. This is what I had in my cupboards. You can use saucers, tiles or other objects with a flat surface.  

Flip one of the cake pans so that the bottom faces you. Lay one sheet of paper with petals on top of the cake pan. 

Keep adding another sheet of paper with petals on top until you have six stacks.

Top the stack with another cake pan, this time the inside facing you. The goal is to sandwich the paper with the two cake pans. If you have a few more sheets of paper with petals, put them inside the cake pan and use a smaller cake pan to sandwich this set. 

I gently put my cake pans sandwiched with paper and petals inside a cooking pot. I weighed everything down with a marble mortar bowl (from a mortar and pestle set). They key here is to add a weight so that when boiling water is poured inside the pot, the cake pans do not float and release the sandwiched paper and petals.

I poured freshly boiled water inside the pot, making sure to cover the paper. Then I let this sit for at least two hours. 

Then I removed the cake pans from the pot, took out the paper, and placed the paper on an old t-shirt or towel to absorb the moisture. If you can see, there are hints of the color pink that have stained the paper. 

Wrap the paper in the old t-shirt or towel and put a weight on top of it (like a stack of books, making sure to put a plastic bag between the books and the t-shirt/towel bundle to keep the books from getting wet). Leave this to dry overnight. 

Unwrap the bundle and take out the paper. It will still be a little damp.

Slowly separate the layers. 

Gently peel off the petals and discard them. They have done their job by adding pink tint to the paper...TADA! 

Leave the paper to dry completely.

I can use my peony petal-tinted papers as stationery, for scrapbooking, art journaling, and collage. 

And that is how I turned wilted flowers from blah to TADA!

*****

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More Ephemera Envelopes

Hey everyone, I'm glad you're here!

Last week, we scoured our paper stash to make this ephemera envelope: 

It's a handmade envelope from the book "The Art of the Travel Journal" by Abbey Sy. It is folded in an origami style where the seams are sealed and embellished with washi tape. It's called an ephemera envelope because it's where we can safely store paper souvenirs like tickets and maps that we've collected during our travels. It's also meant to be included in our travel journal, as an analog way of memory keeping.

When I started making one, I just couldn't stop! Here are new versions using different sizes and kinds of paper:

These are made from hand-painted paper.

These are made from brown packaging paper and decorated with fodder and collage.

These are upcycled from a mailing envelope and decorated with stamps.

Make the ephemera envelope part of your travel journal spread.

Find other purposes for it, too: as an envelope for handmade cards or as a flat bag to wrap presents.

This is just one of the ways I transform paper scraps from "blah to TADA!" 

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