Three New Stencils from Stencil Girl Products and a Giveaway!

               Coffee Mugs & Love                Happy Birthday Icons                Paisley Floral Repeat!

I'm so excited to announce the release of these 3 new stencils from stencil Girl Products!  

Today, tomorrow and Thursday, I'll be sharing videos and step outs showing how I used each of these stencils.  

Today, I'd like to share some different ways to use the Happy Birthday stencil. 

Here's a short video showing how I made some birthday cards.

You can also watch "Happy Birthday Stencil" on YouTube here.

Tomorrow I'll share step out photos showing how I made an accordion book using the Coffee Mugs & Love Stencil.      4/1/15 Update - The Coffee Mugs and Love post is here.  

And on Thursday, I'll share a a video showing how I designed my own fabric using the Paisley Floral Repeat.    4/2/15 Update - The Paisley floral Post is here.  

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

4/23 Update -The winners of these stencils are: 

The Birthday Stencil: Jean "Wow-this would be a wonderful stencil to own!!"

The Coffee Stencil: Robin Lorraine Williamson "Love the coffee stencil the best but they're all fun, can't wait to see your tutorials- have a great day." 

The Paisley Stencil: n56leiker "I have missed the paisley print! I enjoyed watching you work with the Derwent Inktense pencils. They are so vibrant! Thanks for the great tutorial."

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Repurposed Plastic Eggs and Vintage Spools

Years ago when my oldest daughter Mariel was little, we hosted an Easter egg hung in our backyard.  I never threw away those plastic eggs, but I also never again filled them with candy.  They sat, empty, for the last 16 years, and were moved to two different houses.

When I unpacked them again in September, after our August move, I thought - I have to use them this year or give them away.

In the meantime, I had acquired a bunch of vintage spools...

Looking at them side by side, I remembered the Faberge Eggs and their elaborate stands.     

I decided to make a mixed media version of these classic eggs.

1.  I pierced little holes in the tops of the eggs.I threaded a piece of string inside, so that I could hang them to dry.

2.  I got out my collection of scraps, and randomly adhered the scraps to the eggs with Matte Medium.  Then I dabbed all of them with Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold and Indian Hue Fluid Acrylic paint to unify them a bit.  Here's how they looked:

3.  To give them some individual character, I dabbed them with different colors of craft paint, mixed with glazing medium.

4.  I stenciled different color flowers onto a sheet of deli paper, using the Garden Flowers and Leaves stencil.  It's very springy, don't you think? 

5.  I cut out the flowers and leaves, and adhered them to the eggs.  The parts of the deli paper where I did not add color "melted" into the background, making it look as if I had stenciled directly onto the eggs!

6.  Using Iridescent Gold Paint (Golden Fluid Acrylics), I stenciled the Five Hamsas onto white tissue paper.  I "cut" them up using a thin wet brush, and adhered the bits to the eggs.  I also stenciled some of the borders from the Stitch a Greek Border Stencil in gold as well.

7.  I painted the spools either gold or black, and adhered the borders to them.

(Hint:  This is why stamping or stenciling onto tissue paper is such a cool technique.  I NEVER could have gotten such crisp images on the spools if I tried to stencil directly onto them.  But with the tissue paper, the un-stamped or stenciled parts become translucent as the matte medium dries, leaving a crisp image!)

8.  Using black paint and white tissue paper, I stenciled Now is the Time words.  I adhered the words onto the spools and eggs too.

 (I used Weldbond glue, which eventually became transparent after I took the pictures.  But a glue gun would have worked too!)

I'm in love with these eggs.  I think they look classic and yet fresh and whimsical.  Here's my Pinterest board with other egg-alicious ideas.   Are you doing any spring-inspired art or craft?  Share your links in the comments.

Giveaway:  I made LOTS of these, and would love to give one away.  So leave me your email address in your comment if you're interested.  And check back HERE after Saturday 9AM EST to see the winner!

And the winner is Terri Richardson!  Thanks everyone for commenting.  

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Green Sightings in the Mixed Media World!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all.  Here are some some fabulous "green" projects I've seen around the web.

Marjie Kemper evoked a minimalist feel with this art journal page entitled "Feeling Green."  I so love the sentiment.

Isn't the green burlap in Kay Wallace's Irish Superhero tag fantastic?

All the great texture in Anita Houston's March tag for 12 Tags of 2015 makes me swoon.  I love the way that gold embossing paste shimmers over the lime and teal.

And check out the ethereal beauty of this canvas, created for the new challenge blog, Mixed Media World, by Canadian artist Pamellia Johnson.  Those feathers emerging out of the snowy background make me believe spring is flying our way.

I leave you with a little treat:  the greatest Irishman of 'em all, Jimmy Cagney. And all the while speakin' a little Jewish, if you will. 

 

You can also see "Cagney Speaks Yiddish" on YouTube here!

Erin Go Bragh and a zi gezint, to one and all!
Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Watercolor Painting with Golden's New QoR Watercolors

Mary Beth Shaw kindly sent me a set of Golden's new line of watercolor paints.  They're called QoR (pronounced "core"), and the promo for them says: 

 "The unique QoR formulation accentuates the luminosity and brilliance of pigments even after drying. It provides the subtlety, transparency and flow of a great watercolor, with colors that have as much vibrancy and fire as the best acrylic or oil paint."

Is it true?  Yes it is!  Check out this video and how beautiful these paints are.  If you love watercolor, I highly recommend them!


You can also watch "Watercolor Painting with QoR paints on YouTube here."

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Painting Faces Tutorial

It feels like forever since I posted.  A lot's been going on in my life and I'm sorry I've been out of touch.

I've been painting a lot of faces in my journal lately - some more realistic than others.  I thought I'd share a fast forward video of this mystical lady with her peacock winged headdress using one of my stamps from RubberMoon, and a hint of leaves and branches, from the Three Owls and a Branch stencil from Stencil Girl.  Hope you like it! 

You can also watch Fast Forward Face Painting on YouTube here.

We completed our 10th trip to Guatemala with From Houses to Homes.  Here are a few pics from this past trip.  It was amazing as always.  

dinner with our godson Elmer and his parents Juanita and Edgar

 the "new family" for whom we built a house on this trip. 

I put my art skills to some use, painting a garden on the side of the house!

we had a wonderful day visiting the first family we built for (in 2009).  Aren't the patterns on their clothes amazing?

and we spent time with our "second family" - who we also built for in 2009.  It is so great to see these beautiful people year after year, and watch the children grow!

 No trip is complete without drinks and Nachos at the Sky cafe.  On the left is Oscar Meija - the wonderful Project Director of From Houses to Homes in Guatemala.

We also had a great time at the Choco Museo in Antigua.  YUM!

We came home to the cold and the snow, and a very sick dog who had to have a splenectomy to remove a huge tumor.  She was very sad for a while....

But once the tumor was gone and she began to heal, she was like a puppy again!

I hope spring is coming to your neck of the woods.

Linking to Art Journal Everyday, Art Journal Journey (things with wings) and Paint Party Friday (celebrating its 4 year blogaversary!).  

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

 

Art Journal Page With Acrylics and Stencils

Today I'm on the StencilGirl Talk Blog sharing step out photos showing how I created this art journal spread using Mary Beth Shaw's exclusive designs for March StencilClub!

Here's a sneak peek:

Be sure to go to StencilGirl Talk to see step by step pictures of how this page came to be.

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!