This is nutz!!

Ugh! Still can't upload pics! My blog sista Lia is moving to typepad....think I might check it out too! Monkey see monkey do lol ....I would love to share pics with you all but blogger wont allow me to! :P Off I go to take a look see!

Happy Creating!

Nance

*Update!! This blog will stay up for reference...but I've moved on to Typepad... you can see my new blog at : http://www.somethingtwocrowabout.typepad.com Sorry for any incovienence!! :)

Moi

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

%^*)(&$$$ Blogger!!! Still won't let me post any pic's!!!! Dag nammit!!!

Anywho!

I have some of my latest art on eBay!! Since I can't show you whats in store take a peek here:
http://stores.ebay.com/Nancys-Art-and-Supplies

I have marked down a few selected items on buy it now prices! Also, on other selected items I have reduced the starting auction bid to just .99 cents! Call me crazy! Hey the shoe fits LOL ..Oh wait I don't wear shoes! hehe

Oh how I wish I could show you some pics....I got the goodie swap back just the other day..and OMG lots of fun stuff and I can't even show you :(((

Mom and Dad have a bunch of my stuff in storage and went through and repacked everything in rubbermaid tubs! They are so sweet!! They found alot of my craft supplies and sent me my tin of Grandmas buttons she had left to me...and lacey trims! They also sent, feathers and all the fabrics I had....Yay!! Now I just have to find places to put all this stuff lol.

Hubby brought home for me a small desk lamp, so I can see what the heck I am doing hehe....and a storage box with plastic drawers for me to put all my unmounted rubber stamps in! It's perfect! Now we are contemplating shelving of some sort to put all my stuff in....I was thinking about some sort of wall mounted cubbies...so I can see all my fabrics, papers, and collage supplies and maybe adding a small table by my desk to put my paints, crayons and such on to give me more work space....ahem...to make bigger messes on LOL

At the moment I am thinking of a new technique for you all to try! It looks like fun! I gotta try it out first and take pictures as I go so that I can share it with you!!!

Happy Creating!

Nance

Someone needs our help!

I was just informed of some news that is not easy for me to take.....My dear friend in Tennessee...her daughter woke up one morning blind in both eyes....they rushed her to the hospital for testing.....This lovely little girl of 6 yrs old was diagnosed with the early stages of MS.
They are running more tests and will know more on the 18th of August...as she may possibly also have Blood Cancer.....as of a few days ago her left eye has cleared up and doctors have told her that her eyes should clear up in 6 to 8 months...God willing....Her daughters name is Ariel Boswell....her mother is finding me a photo of her to post....What I want to do is gather a community of artists to pull together and create art to sell to help fund the hospital bills for little Ariel....Her mother has stated that the insurance they have will not cover everything. If any of you could help with this...please say so! I hate it when children get sick...I would gladly take their place if God would allow.

I know I have had my trials this year but nothing in comparison to what this little girl is going through. So, please if you are able to help in any way please contact me here or you may email me at mrmrsfritz@comporium.net

Thank You!

Nance

IMT~Open Challenge ~To Just Paint

For IMT Open Challenge....I challenged myself to just paint....Never done this sort of painting in my life....I call this piece...."A Day At The Lake"....It is done in watercolors on a 5 x 7 gesso'd canvas. I had quite a good time with this! I think I will keep this up....It is very much enjoyable and calming to paint with watercolors.

NancyB

IMT ~ Open challenge

Open challenge eh? Well alright! IMT is taking a short break and gave us an open challenge!

For myself the challenge would be to attempt to paint on canvas...just paint nothing more...no paper, no collage pieces, no glue! Just paint! It has been a long put off thing for me....I am intimidated by just painting...so I am going to give it a whirl!

These are the questions asked of us on IMT.

Favorite source of inspiration? Well, for me inspiration comes from many places, but if I would have to choose a fav.....boy thats a tough one! I guess I would have to choose my artsy pals...when they get excited about art !! Just gets me revved up to create!

Do I feel the need to shake things up in my art?

I plan on rockin' the world with art! LOL

Am I in the mood to try a new technique?

Oh, most definately!! The more I try and learn the more I grow as an artist and gives me more options when I create a piece! Bring it on!!!

A new color palette! Hmmm what color haven't I used is the question! I suppose that would fall in the pinks category! Not fond of pink!

A new medium? I am kind of limited over here for new mediums...I am what you call the poor starving artist...who uses what is on hand! But I would have to say if it is affordable, I am more than willing!!!!

What is my passion? Cheesecake! Ok, kidding! My passion is to be as versitile as possible when it comes to art.....My passion for art started in my early childhood and has always been a part of me! My passion is to learn as much as possible and teach art when and where possible...and to encourage those who wish to become an artist!

What are my fears? That my arthritis will take over my ability to create! But I am not about to let that get in my way!

What are my favorite things about creating? The process! You can find out so much about yourself in the creative process! Then of course there is glue hehe Nothing more satisfying about a hard days work and peeling the glue from your fingertips LOL

What is my least favorite thing about creating? Oh I am sure everyone will agree on this one is the cleanup from the aftermath!

Why do I create? I create because .....I can! I create because it is in me to do so! I create because it helps me get through some of the toughest times life throws at you! If I went a day without creating something...I would feel I was not living up to my potential!

Why are you an artist? Why? Because of all the influential people that have come into my life...and as so the non-influential people in my life. My mother taught me how to color and encouraged me! I think artists are born with some sort of art gene lol...it is a part of who we are and take that gift and do wonderous things with it! It is a gift from God and I am so thankful that I received such a special gift from him!

How would you describe your art? Oh my! here we go! I have so many different ways for creating art...but to best describe it.....Colorful, whimsy, odd, sometimes serious, but mostly odd with a touch of humor! Best described as "Quirky". That is just my sense of humor showing through and why not use art to show who I am!!! :P I am not to crazy about giving a title to things....like "Outsider artist". I suppose that "Quirky" "Outsider art" and I suppose if I must add "Abstract" to the list!

What are my goals? If we are talking art here, well....To put away my fears and just create without hesitation, to be more free with my art. To leave behind my mark in this world to say, "I am Nancy Baumiller and I created this". My main goal is to teach art to others and excite them with art and help them get through tough times with art! Art heals! To help as many people as I can, to encourage as many people as I can, and make as many people as I can smile and laugh at life! I want my art to teach others and see my art as me...to understand who I really am!!!!

What are my dreams? Hmmm well I think this comes before goals...dreams were given to us to make them come true....good ones ahem! Dreams are something to give life to! Without them we wouldn't be able to make goals. I dream of many things...mostly daydreaming...I don't remember my dreams...I kinda tend to sleep like a rock lol....I would pretty much have to say that my dreams are set into my goals that I stated above^. "We are never given dreams without the power to make them happen". I dream of so many things...but it is up to me to decipher which of those dreams can actually be a reality! My dreams are to be the best that I can be without regrets! To take this gift that God has given me and give it back to the world! :)

So, with this, I challenge myself to just paint! No planning, no thinking, no hesitations....JUST PAINT.

NancyB

Last of the tutorial for Altered book covers

I believe we left off at cutting out your text and adhering it to your book cover...if I left something out, please don't hesitate to ask, I will be more than happy to help you out! :)

Here is my image and text adhered to my book cover!

Let's move on to some texture!






Step 12(i think lol): Adding texture.

Here I have one of those infamous starbucks coffee sleeves that my hubby brings me...minus the coffee ahem! lol ....tear into smaller pieces and arrange them on your background...once your happy with the arrangement go ahead and glue them down.





Step 13: With the same paints we used earlier for the background....brush on a dab of turquoise and let dry...then use your antiquing gel medium over top and wipe off excess.












"Sometimes I sits and thinks...and sometimes I just sits"

And here it is....finished!!! You can add other bits and pieces to your altered book cover...the possibilities are endless!!

Ok! I want to see those Altered book covers...hehehe


Wooohooo! Blogger let me finish the tutorial! Yay!!!

Tomorrows blog will be low key...but I will need for all of you to read it....it will mean alot to me!!

Happy Creating!

Nance

Part 3 Altered book cover

As I said yesterday Blogger would not let me add anymore photos to my blog for this tutorial..so here we go again...hopefully I can finish this up for you and quit teasing y'all lol...

Continued from Step 8:

After using the antiquing gel medium...this is how your book cover should look...or close to it!

Step 9: Choosing your image(s) and font...

Here I choose an older woman and her dog(you can use any image out there available..there are many collage sheets available or find you an image in a magazine that suits your interest) and for my font I went into Microsoft word (or you can use Microsoft paint) or whatever other text program you have....choose what type of font you would like to use for this project. The font type I used for this project was, "Poor Richard"...one of my favs!

Step 10: I put this step in for those of you who are beginners....Here is where you cut out your image and then set aside.

*Tip ...when cutting out images and you will find some images have some pretty tight spots to use regular scissors...for those little spots..cuticle scissors (you know the tiny scissors you use to remove unwanted cuticles from your nails) these work wonders and can get into those small places your other scissors will not!

Step 11: A lesson I learned from an artsy friend ArtbyChrysti....Add interest to your text...don't just leave it a plain white...especially if you have an art piece with an antique background...never leave your text unfinished....you can do many things to your text to add color...here I used antiquing gel medium...I applied it directly with my fingers and just rub it across ...or you can use a dry brush technique with water colors or colored pencils.....most of the time I use a ball point pen to outline the words before cutting them out.

Ok! Here we go with blogger again....this is all they will let me add for today...so sorry to tease y'all like this! We will get thru this sooner or later lol....So go ahead and cut out your text and arrange them on your book cover to suit you! We will go on tomorrow about adding more texture and interest to your altered book cover! :)

Oh! if anyone is interested I am trying to get other artsy folks who would like to do a challenge of Zetti dolls in Flickr's Zettiology group ...if you are in this group and interested go

Here AH HA I finally figured out how to link LMAO writing html code is easy once you get the hang of it...anywho....

and post your interest in this challenge! :) In this Zetti doll challenge you can use anything to create your doll...paper, clay, hmmm paperclay hehe, cloth and other fibers, beads...you name it, it is game as long as it has the Zetti feel to it!! Pssst I thought of something last night on this topic...If you choose to use paper for this doll.....it is a great way to learn how to make your own Zetti characters for your art!!! I don't know why I didn't think of this before!!! I started one doll last night to get the group started on this challenge and will have it posted later in the day on that sight and possibly here too!

I gots to go for now! Happy Creating! Oh and when we are done with this Altered book cover I would love to see your finished art!

Nance

Part 2 of the Altered book cover collage

Oh yay! It let me post a pic hehehehe....Now lets see how far blogger will let me get with the tutorial today! LOL

Step 6: For this project I used a turquoise color (it is actually a Caribbean Green..close enough lol) and antiquing gel medium....if you don't have this you can use a bit of brown paint....keep in mind brown paint does not wipe off as well as the antiquing gel med. For the turquoise part...Get your brush wet and then dab off as much water on a towel then dip brush into the turquoise paint and dab off again on a towel.....we are doing a dry brush technique as to not get the paper background too wet...to avoid bubbling your paper... see step 7

Step 7: Here is a photo of where I am randomly dry brushing the turquoise paint on....just do this in spot where you think you might like to see the color peek thru...

Step 8: Now we are going to antique our background....Using the antiquing gel medium or brownish paint we are going to do about the same thing as we did with our paint color...you might want your brush just a tad bit more wet than in the last step....now brush on small sections of antiquing gel med. to your background and grab a rag or paper towel and wipe the excess off....you can rub this around a bit to get more coverage (the gel does spread around pretty well) continue this step till your piece is all antiqued...just play with it till you are satisfied with the look.

Grrrrrrrrrr blogger will not let me post no more pics at this time! What a pain! This will keep y'all on your toes lol....I suppose I will have to try later with the rest of the steps! Again! Sorry all...you will get the whole tutorial eventually lol.... :P*rasberries* to blogger!

I guess I will get some art done while we are all waiting lol....and get some of it listed on eBay...

We have a new blog sista! Terri Stegmiller! Also goes by Stegart! She is new to this type of art! So please welcome Terri to the our little altered world! You can find her on my list along with other artsy folks I visit regularly! Who knows maybe she will end up addicted to junk art along with the rest of us hehehe!

Happy Creating!

Nance

Altered book cover tutorial Part 2

Well for heavens sakes....it wont let me post pic's ...I will try again tomorrow for part 2 of the tutorial....blogger has been saying scheduled outage at 4 pm for the last 2 days...so I have no clue what is going on...

Altered book cover collage tutorial...for Lia and my Blog Sista's Part 1

Lia asked for an altered book cover collage tutorial...so here you go sweetie!

Step 1: Choose the book cover size you would like to use for this project. You can leave the cover on the book for an altered book project or you can go on as follows in the tutorial.







Step 2: If you would like to use just the cover for this project (works as a canvas board of sorts) then you will need to remove the cover from the book using a craft knife as shown in photo.











We are going to use this inside cover for the base of your collage. Lets move onto step 3.














Step 3: Choosing your papers for your background. I used painted magazine papers and old scrap book pages...Use up those scraps girls!!!









Step 4: Tear up your papers into smaller pieces. Use a good variety of papers to give your art piece more interest.



















Step 5: Arrange your torn papers in a pleasing matter. Arrange them till you are happy with it, then adhere to the your base using glue stick or gel medium.




Ok I gotta stop here....and do another post....blogger isn't letting me put any more pic's on this one for some darn reason! ugh! See the rest of the steps in the next blog post.... :P

I did a Lia too ....again!

Hmmmm another bad pic LOL....eh well! Goodmorning to all my blog sista's!!! I spent a few hours last night just de-stressing by painting backgrounds...I did this while everyone else in the house was sleeping....helps me relax so I can sleep better....I manged to get four backgrounds done and I like the bottom left greenish one...it is so cool in person and I like the top right redish one.....they are all done on mag paper of course...a cheap resourceful art supply for me!

Yesterday Lia had mentioned on my Flickr that, she would like to see my process on bookcover collages.....I am thinking of a step by step with pictures...I will work on this, this afternoon.

Hub brought home some envies and some bubble wrap for my packaging situation...this is all he could get ahold of at the time....there is a Fed Ex/kinkos (sp) downtown in Charlotte where he works...walks by the place everyday...but always too busy with work to stop in and get the scoop on what I need....since they do prints I have a couple of questions to ask of them....cost on per prints...so I can get my new collage sheets listed in eBay and also my colored collage sheets....the new collage sheets are black and white and are mostly old photos I have found or family vintage photos and also has some useful words to cut out and use in collages. I also made a word collage sheet that I would like to have printed too!

Finding faces for collages is not easy...I have always wondered where on earth Teesha Moore comes up with her face images....they are so cool....I search and search for cool and interesting faces to not only use in my collages but also for making collage sheets for others to use....Legs and feet and arms are another difficult one to come up with....I have put off buying TM's limbs rubber stamp sheet for quite some time now...trying to come up with my own images....I will continue to work on this....my prob is when I do find something I get too excited and incorporate them into a collage and often forget to scan the separate images to my computer.. lol

I am off now to get a cup of coffee and get busy on the book cover collages to show Lia and the rest of my blog sista's....and get something for the IF challenge~capture done...I am thinking an ACEO.

Much love and hugs and Happy Creating!

Nance