November 2006 - K.I.S. theme = The Gift of Giving
Presented by Chelise Stroud Hery
Week One - Background
We are going to work on a fabric and paper collage combo.
For this first week you need:
10 pieces of medium to heavy dute watercolor paper. Not the thickest stuff ever, as later in the workshop I am going to ask you to both SEW and hole punch these cards. They should be about greeting card density. These can be ACEO size, or easily cut to ACEO Size. FYI.
You also need 10 pieces of fabric. The fabric will be cut to a size that is slightly smaller than the background. IE: 3' x 2". You will need ten pieces of this fabric. The fabric is entirely up to you. It does not have to be any particular type, color, or style. It also doesn't have to match - you can use ten different pieces of fabric if you want! The only thing to keep in mind is that you will be gluing your fabric onto your cardstock so you will want at least one piece of fabric to feel to you, as if it matches one piece of cardstock. Does that make sense?
The other supplies you need this week are scissors and glue.
Pinking sheers might be fun for your fabric. If you have them, wonderful. I don't think you really need to go out and purchase pinking sheers if you don't have them though, using a nice sharp pair of scissors to cut your cloth should be fine.
As for glue, this week for your background, you will be gluing some of the cloth to some of the cardstock. If you have fabric glue - perfect! If not, elmers (not watered down quite as much as last month's tissue background glue) will work. You can also try rubber cement or spray adhesive. You may want to experiment a little to see what will actually hold.
Here is your assignment for this week:
Find your cardstock and cut it into at least 10 ACEO sized cards.
Find some cloth/material, and cut it into an equal amount of 3" x 2" pieces.
Glue 5 (that's right, only 5) of the fabric squares to 5 of the cardstock ACEO bases.
Set aside the additional cloth and cardstock - somewhere you can find it later.
Next week we will work on primary image and embellishing together. Third week we'll work on text and on the forth week we'll do our finishing touches to complete this special project.
Woo Hoo!
Go out there and start picking and cutting some fun cloth!
Participant Samples:
and by perpetualplum:
and shabbycottagestudio:
and docjax:
and runnerlori:
and fairywebmother:
and Chel:
Week Two - Primary Image
Our main image is going to be a Tree. Here is where you get creative.
You can make any kind of tree you want, out of any type of materials or supplies that you want. You will also be adding text this week, so your only concern is fitting the text onto the card somewhere as well.
Your text should read:
The Giving Tree.
So now, get creative!!
To get you started:
Tree Technique Suggestions
Consider using a fabric or cloth that coordinates with your background fabric as the tree trunk and using buttons to create the tree top.
Experiment with wire, pipe cleaners or ribbon for the trunk. Again, just have fun.
If you celebrate Christmas you may want to create a tree in the shape of a Christmas tree (but this is not necessary, you can use any tree shape that you want.)
Consider drawing or painting a tree and carefully cutting it out and gluing it to your background. Whether or not you include branches, whether your tree shape is abstract, realistic, simplistic, with leaves or without is completely up to you. Try a few different techniques, create a variety of different styles and trees - or if you find one style you really love, use that style.
You will have to consider glue again for each different item you try out. You will likely need a more dense glue than the white glue wash I recommended last month. Again, experiment based on what you are gluing down.
Text Technique Suggestions
Ok, you are going to find a place on your card to fit the "The Giving Tree" text. Those of you with lovely handwriting (unlike myself) who are adept at writing small, may want to try to hand write it in the margins that some of you left.
You can also use your own writing on different piece of paper, cut it out, and glue it onto your backround.
You could also type your words in a favorite font on your home computer, print and cut them out and likewise glue them down.
If you want to have some fun creating a "label" with The Giving Tree text - check out the Acme Label Maker website:
www.acme.com/labelmaker/
You can type The Giving Tree into the box and select a myriad of fun fonts and text and background colors to create a small banner that you can save to your own computer and then print out to cut out and add to your card.
Whatever you do to create your text - remember that you can place it where you want. Going up the trunk of the tree. Written in or across or even going around the tree top. In the margins of your card or up the side of the card. At the base of the tree, on top of the tree, wherever! Whatever looks and feels right to you.
Finally, do consider how you will create your tree images first, and then your text next. Although (like everything else) this is not a firm rule - in general it is easier to work your text around your images, than images around the text.
HAVE FUN and I can't wait to see what "sprouts" this week, er, uh, what "grows" from your imagination...
Participant results:
and thishasyournameonit:
and runnerlori:
and hacw*bellsouth.net:
and docjax:
Chel:
Week Three - Embellishing!
We aren't going to do anything incredibly complex for embellishments, in fact we are just going to repeat the advice / step from last month. Each of you should embellish to your hearts desire according to what feels right to you. Be brave, don't worry about doing too much or too little. Collage is all about following your heart. If you add one glitter splatter and decide that your card looks right to you, leave it at that! If you end up changing the entire composition of the card with buttons and baubles and glitter and glue - so be it! Just HAVE FUN!
Experiment with colors and textures and dimension. Now's your chance!
Here is the creative jumping point I offered last month - I'll repeat it here:
Time for EMBELLISHMENTS!!!
WOO-HOO!!!
I am going to borrow from ZNE Moderator and Fondante Member Julie (tisjewel) O'Neil's fabulous set of guidelines on embellishments. These guidelines can be used on any collage, not just ACEOs. And remember, they are not the end all, they are just the beginning, but they give us a great starting point for thinking about embellishment creativity.
Julie's Guidelines:
Embellishing can be as simple as adding stickers, rubber
stamping or as intricate as bead fringe or envelopes with tags or fun inserts.
No matter what you choose to add, it makes the collage fun.
Ideas:
Stickers (copyright free)
puff paint
sequins
glitter
lace
shrink art
transparencies
brads
buttons
beads
rhinestones
fringe
fibers
shells
gel medium
flatter page pebbles
cuts lifted with pop dots
scrapbook papers
paper clips
paint
marker
wired on embellishments.. anything you can imagine!!
envelopes
tags
moveable pieces
game pieces
feathers
pom poms
coins
wire
charms
holes
doors
secret openings
pockets
Only limited to your imagination!
runnerlori:
ann*of*bean*lables:
Chel:
Week Four - Finishing Touches - To Be Posted, Sunday November 26!
