Here we are, playing in the studio...

..banging on the pots and pans!

No really- today I decided it was time to do some playing or as my daughter Kelsey would say-

"Mom, I think we need to experiment"

(of course she pronounced it esperiment and was only 5 and it was super cute)

And this is what I did. I have been going through my Pinterest pins and reorganizing some of them because I have so many I can't FIND anything! (I really thought this was just a filing cabinet issue turns out I am chaotically organized-or filing challenged - whatever)

So one of the pins I tried today was making my own alcohol ink. I ADORE Tim Holtz and all of his wonderful products - but I can't justify spending close to $10 on a three pack of his alcohol inks - each bottle is .5 fl oz.  I want to use them for a project I have my students doing and .5fl oz won't go very far when you have 16+ students using it. Plus I only have three colors because I bought the ink on clearance and got a really good price for it. But I digress- I wanted more ink and more colors. So I used this recipe I found on Brigit's Daily Bytes . I bought 10 bottles of liquid Rit Dye, 91% Isopropyl alcohol and some spill proof plastic containers with snap on lids.  Then I carefully measured the dye and the alcohol into the container, labeled the lid and put it on and shook it.

OK I lied- I only carefully measured the first two. After that I eyeballed dye to alcohol and called it good. But I DID label the lid and put it on and shook it.

Now I have 10 colors of alcohol ink. TEN! And I paid less than buying three packs of Tim's inks plus I can make TONS more ink. I can't wait for my students to get here so we can play with them.

I was on a roll today so I went back to my Pinterest board and  looked for something else to make- and I found this pin for making my own shimmer mist. I LOVE this stuff too but it's very pricey - it's $4.00 for a .5fl oz spritzer. And the spritzer nozzle clogs halfway through use. very annoying- but I got the upper hand and poured the remaining shimmer mist into an empty spritz bottle I had so no more problem - anyway- I again followed Brigit's recipe and made my own mist. I used Petal Pink Rit Dye and Flamingo Pink Pearl-Ex Powders.  I am very pleased with the results. Brigit suggested putting a small glass bead in the bottom of the bottle so you get better mixing- so I did- and that makes so much sense because the stuff wants to settle on the bottom of the expensive stuff all the time. I am now looking for other recipes for making my own art supplies to use in the studio- especially the stuff we use a lot of- like gel medium and Mod Podge.  

when we last left our hero....

she was surrounded by stacks and stacks of paper and stickers and all sorts of scrap booking chaos.

I am happy to report that everything- well almost everything there's still that one little pile that I haven't figured out what to do with yet- has been organized and displayed. Customers are following the paper trail from the old location to the new one.

And we head to the next chapter....

Will I be offering classes and workshops for adults?
Yes.

I am working on some ideas even as I type.

The first thing I thought of was hosting a scrap night in the studio- you know bring your projects and sit in the company of other like minded people and work on those books. Ok- that's a start. What if I tell them I will provide some snacks to munch on while they work? Sounds good......... and what about some wine?

How does this sound- Liquid Paper Ladies Night- from 7:00PM until 10:00PM? Ladies can have a glass of wine, snacks and scrap with friends in the studio. I'll be on hand for creative input and problem solving plus I have quite the stash of rubber stamps from the Tim Holtz collection as well as tons of bits and pieces of not your average scrapbook paper - handmade papers from India, Nepal, Italy and Japan that I can share.  Due to the size of my class room and knowing that scrappers need room to spread out the evening will have to be limited to 5 people. Not to worry- I am pretty sure I will do this at least once a month if not twice a month.

Another idea I have been working on for the past 6 months is an art retreat. My sister Cecelia and my friend Shari and I have done this the past two years over president's weekend. We do a wonderful and intensive total immersion into collage and mixed media and gelatin printing and image transfer. Last year I produced two wonderful canvas pieces and a cello.  I have blogged about the retreat before and posted albums on my facebook page and each year I get more people asking how they can be a a part of this retreat. The retreat would start at 7PM on Thursday evening. then again at 6PM on Friday evening and then all day Saturday like 10 AM until 5PM. Still working out the details....I'll get back to you on this one. I am always open to suggestions and ideas.

What about an evening of creative doodling. Yes I said doodling. Do you have any idea how important doodling is? It's like exercises for the right side of your brain so you can turn on the creative side of you. Check out the Zentangle website. Amazing stuff!

Art journals? Hand bound books? Gelatin printing? Image transfer? Hand colored images on old sheet music or dictionary pages? goodness the ideas are swirling around in my head so fast it makes me dizzy!

Altered Altoids Tins?

Altered books?

Next Friday morning I am hosting 7 ladies in the studio and we are going to make Artist Trading Cards. I am so looking forward to sharing this mini-collage with them. I have making these for years and love doing them! I give them away to people all the time. I use old photographs and burned out matchbooks and words cut form books and wax and...well pretty much anything I have in the studio as long as it fits on a 2.5 x 3.5 card. 

Pssst..........................

Artworks Studio

....it's gonna be BIG!