I made something cool! (And once I started, I couldn't stop!) These are bowls made from my leftover fabric scraps. Because I do so much hand painting, stamping, screenprinting, etc. with my fabric, I end up with lots of teeny tiny pieces that I don't want to throw away. But they're too small for most sewing projects. So, they go into a big plastic bag. Well, this project is a scrap buster! I plowed through my bag of scraps while making these vessels. And I looove that I get to keep all my little scraps and make them into something... Read more →

My son says he wants to be a garbage man when he grows up. I think it's mostly because of the cool robot arm that the garbage trucks around here use. But, sometimes I think it might be my influence. I do looooove garbage. It has so many uses for art! In this week's Studio Snippet, I'm waxing poetic about the magic a bit of corrugated plastic packaging can do when combined with the gelatin plate. Watch the video for more: Here are the papers I made in the video: Lots of delicious texture! Here are the key takeaways from... Read more →

As you know, I have a tendency to pull canvases off their frames. This leaves me with some empty frames. I have stretched new canvas over a few of them, but I had this little one and it was calling out to become something brand new, like this earring holder: To begin, I cut an old patterned transparency into a decorative background. I wanted to use a transparency because I was afraid paper would rip. I figured plastic wouldn't. I slightly altered a free cut file from birdscards.com. You can get the instructions on altering it in this quick video:... Read more →

One of the things I often share with students is how to create your own tools. I recently showed my students in Montreal how to cut a tag into a paint wedge tool. One of my students then showed me an even better idea! Her name is Angelle and she shared a ring of room keys/credit cards/gift cards that she had made. She used decorative scissors to cut the edges of her plastic cards. Brilliant! I only own one pair of decorative scissors, a pair of pinking shears, so I cut one card with the pinking shears and the rest... Read more →

Like most people, I've got a decent collection of t-shirts that I don't wear because (a) they don't fit or (b) they're stained (especially true for white t-shirts). Instead of tossing them away, you can make super cute boot cuffs with them! Boot cuffs give you the look of socks or leg warmers, but without all of the bulk in your boots! First, you'll need a t-shirt. Cut a strip as tall as you want your cuffs to be. Now, cut the ring you've cut off into a long strip. Wrap the strip around your calf and pull a bit... Read more →

So you know that I love empty toilet paper tubes. I use them all the time. But you don't have to leave them "as is." The soft cardboard is easy to form into lots of different shapes! I was super thrifty and cut my toilet paper tubes into smaller chunks in order to create six unique stamps. Well, the plain old circle probably isn't that unique...but let's keep that our little secret, okay? Once I made my stamps, I got to stamping... As you can see, I used acrylic paint on top of black tags. It's kind of a cool... Read more →

I'm starting a new blog series today. You can guess from the title that it's all about keeping your garbage. I use tons of stuff that I've rescued from the trash. Today I'm using an Altoid tin and Dentyne gum packaging... ...to create a portable miniature watercolor palette. The first step is to eat the Altoids and chew the gum. Once your packaging is empty, you need to clean it out and remove any food residue. You should be left with a clean empty tin and two little plastic trays. Be sure you've picked all of the plastic off of... Read more →