creative kits

May

01

a little paperbag studio love. (and blog hop)

creative kits / creative process  Posted by / 8 comments

bloghop banner 580x335 a little paperbag studio love. (and blog hop)

so excited to share all this goodness. (and be sure to read to the end. because. well. it’s a blog hop.)

i have long been an admirer of roben-marie roberts-smith and her amazing work.

i am pretty sure there is isn’t a surface, medium or tool that she doesn’t shine at using or transforming.

her videos are the bomb.

her projects rock.

and her stamps. SIGH. awesomeness.

so get this. i am so excited to be on her design team!

she sent her new mixed media essentials stamp set to me last month to play with and i had SO much fun integrating them into my art.

PROJECT #1

he loves her. my first foray into adding a he-man into my work. love him. and the real life one i married. i water-colored the background and then used the same circle-doodle stamp (with a taupe-colored ink) over and over to create a consistent background then filled in the spaces between them with white ink. i love the subtle and cohesive look it created as a backdrop to my peeps and wording.

dd heandshe web 580x435 a little paperbag studio love. (and blog hop)

PROJECT #2

sketch book love. this was all about using goodies i have had on hand forever. i began with the large flower stamped in black ink on the front and back of the mini journal and added touches of white ink to make them pop and personalize them a bit. next, i stamped some leftover muslin with a repetitive arrow stamp in a complimentary soft rusty color. last, i folded the muslin strip in half and stitched an opening big enough to hold one of my most favorite sketch pencils and added my pretty little feather bundle and fabric flower trim.

dd sketchbook web 580x437 a little paperbag studio love. (and blog hop)

PROJECT #3

always. i have been in this most awesome groove creating my girls with big hair lately. this groove includes a lot of white paint and graphite with touches of color here and there. this stamp set inspired me to let go a bit and just play with paper, stamps and lots of color. super love this girl and what she has to say. you can see bits of almost every stamp in this set in all sorts of bitty details. so, so much fun!

dd woodart web 580x466 a little paperbag studio love. (and blog hop)

PROJECT #4

a display of love. so i had this super old set of stacking plywood frames that were actually supposed to be altered then strung together with ribbon in a row. but i had this idea of creating depth with them to really show off a bitty Instagram picture that is one of my all-time faves. SO. i pulled out a mini stack of patterned paper and stamped several of in the new set over and over again and then cut them out. i took a big ol container of modpodge and just started layering one over the other until all three plywood frames were covered with fun bits of the stamped paper. i stacked the frames (gluing them together with more modmodge and added the words “a display of love” from an old book page. i just used an old mat and frame from a homegoods art piece that i didn’t really like anymore. and there you go! it hangs in the dorm room now and is one of my favorite pieces!

dd layeredframe web 580x435 a little paperbag studio love. (and blog hop)

i seriously loved adding roben-marie’s newest set of stamps into the mix. it gave me a break from the seriousness of my fine-art work and gave me the freedom to just PLAY. if you want to grab your own set (and I know you do!) grab them here.

and now for an extra bit of love – i am giving away my “always” piece to one lucky (at least i think she is) girl! To enter for a chance to win – please do the following:

  1. friend me on fb and leave me a message on my wall – if you are already a friend – just leave a message.
  2. AND share this post on your fb wall mentioning roben-maries new stamp awesomeness.

i will draw a winner on my birthday, sunday, may 5th. good luck! (shipping is limited to the US – if outside the US, you will be charged shipping. Sorry!):

and now to send you on your way to your next blog in the hop!

Blog Hop Participants:

April Cole:  http://aprilmariecole.blogspot.com/

Carissa Paige:  http://carissapaige.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Shaffer: http://cynthiashaffer.typepad.com/

Jen Osborn:  http://identityseven.typepad.com/themessynest/

Kristin Peterson: http://alteredstatesstudio.blogspot.com/

Lorraine Bell: http://serendipitystudios.squarespace.com/

Roben-Marie Smith: http://www.robenmarie.com

Sandi Keene: http://sandi-keene.squarespace.com/

 

And another bit of fun from roben-marie. she is participating in the Stencil Blog Hop beginning on May 2. More about it here!

 

 

 

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Mar

04

she is a lucky girl.

creative kits / creative process / the dorm room  Posted by / 7 comments
PicMonkey Collage 580x580 she is a lucky girl.

she is a lucky girl (copyright-2013 danielle donaldson)

she is a lucky girl is a small but mighty mixed media piece that was inspired by clovers and bingo. my first offering in a series (hopefully) of mixed media kits with online insights into my creative process.

the learning curve was steep given that i had some serious doubts that i could even set up the tripod to capture it. that i couldn’t figure out how to get rid of my hand shadows. that i don’t like waiting for my one-and-only camera battery to recharge.

but here it is. i decided to create a fast-motion video to be sure that 1)you didn’t fall asleep half way through and 2) i could give you a taste-test of my creative ways.  (and it was almost two-hours of video).

and a suggestion. the music is corny. not a good way around it. i strongly suggest that you mute it and turn on your fave pandora station. i played my Madness station while creating it. that will really give you insight.

it includes the whole thing. good and bad. it is really important to me that i share not only the pretty parts but the ugly too. i screw up all the time. and sometimes my screw-ups totally mess with my head. and i work through it. or over it. or around it. we all have a picture in our head going in. just remember no one can match the picture in their head of what they want on the other end. no one can copy what i do exactly. that, my friends is what makes the creative process so frickin AWESOME.

you work through it and get better. and happier. and more confident in your ability to live creative. (and. BONUS POINTS here. it spills into your everyday. you are more open to sharing. learning. letting go of perfect. eyes wide open for brilliant little flashes of GOOD that surround you)

if you decide to play after watching the video – i have 2 kits left. i promise to send them out today – i am only making a dozen for each kit at this time to be sure that they have the love and care that I want to give them. so hurry! you can purchase one HERE.

a quick list of supplies that are MUST-HAVES in my world.

  • liquitex clear gesso
  • liquitex heavy body acrylic (titanium white and buff)
  • golden liquid acrylic (titanium white)
  • golden acrylic glazing liquied (satin)
  • general’s graphite pencils (sketch and wash & layout)

i use all of these in almost every single painting i create. the remainder of the supplies can be found in my clovers and bingo kit.

after watching you will have questions. please feel free to send me a note and i will do my very best to give some additional direction if i can. and be sure to share your art with me. it makes me ok with spending a whole weekend on making this thing.

 

 

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Feb

24

clovers and bingo. a creative kit. no. 1

creative kits / the dorm room  Posted by / 3 comments

cloversbingo 580x580 clovers and bingo. a creative kit. no. 1It seems like forever since I made the decision to share my version of a creative kit. it really hasn’t been. it just seems like it.

so here is the deal and my biggest hope for my kits.

i want to share without all the overthinking. i want to share with the intention of not only putting together pretty things, but creating creative friendships that are tied together with the notion that we all do things a bit differently and we should embrace and share that. (and not spend time hating on peeps for doing it better – or more – or with more confidence – or even talent-and by “hating” – if you know what I mean you are in the right place-i don’t actually mean it in the literal sense-i am a pretty nice person in general) 

so my thought is that I will (allow myself the time to and) have fun putting together something the creates the opportunity for just that. and I am anal and weird and I like organizing and thinking through the possibilities of my version of creative. it gets me going. makes me smile. and I sigh when I am done because it is so stinkin. cute. and. awesome. i LOVE making kits.

so if you want to join in on my version of creative. buy clover and bingo – my first kit from the dorm room. and once you do, we shall play. i plan to share my process, thoughts, materials, and of course frustrations and final pieces. i plan to share using the following (so even if you don’t buy a kit – i hope you will come along for the ride):

pinterest. you can follow my board for this kit.

instagram. i share steps of the process a lot. a lot. (you will probs have to friend me.)

facebook. my blog posts will always show up here. plus little bits of my life.

twitter. not such a fan but i am trying. follow me. that might help. pretty much am talking to myself here.

website. please take a minute to sign up for the feed. email feeds are awesome. front page on bottom of sidebar.

buy clovers and bingo here!

i will be sharing pics, words and even videos. i hope you will join me. you can never have too many kindreds. sharing the good and the bad. everything creative.

and i may not use all of it on one thing. i may not create a masterpiece. i may just create something fun and crafty. that is how this is gonna roll. ok?

 

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