Being Creative #8 -Tools, Tips and Technology

This week over at the "Being Creative" Blog Party at  Gorgeous and Fun Things, the topic is "Tools, Tips and Technology!" What are you favorite tools? Do you ever feel like you are cheating because you are using some tool?

I don't often think of what I use as "tools" but more as "supplies", of which I have way too many! The tools that I use most often include my scissors, my paper cutter and little foam paint brushes. Those are things I use over and over. I have a pair of Cutter Bee scissors that I use all the time. I love them because they are small enough to cut fine lines and they have a coating that doesn't get sticky. That is very important, since I am constantly using glues, tapes and gel medium in my art and I hate it when scissors get gunked up and don't work well. I use my paper cutter when I need to make straight cuts. It is a life saver for that sort of thing. And those little foam brushes are great for laying down gesso, acrylic paint and washes and are disposable. (I do reuse them until they fall apart - but they work really well for what I do with altering books and journals.)

Another important tool that I use quite often is my rubber stamp supply. I find that there are so many wonderful stamps that make great additions to the pages I create and it is hard to duplicate that effect. They work so well for layering and adding interest. I use all sorts of images and have many alphabet sets that are wonderful for adding words or sentiments.

Altered Board Book in Progress

 This is a picture of a project in progress on my desk and you can see many of my tools around. Here I am altering a board book. I first sand the pages, then apply gesso and then apply any color I like using acrylic paints. I am not sure what my theme will be for this book. All I know is I want it to be happy!

Below I will share an altered book 2-page creation that I completed a few months ago.

In the first step, I used gesso to apply some tissue paper that came in a Fossil purse that I had purchased. I just loved all the keys.

Next I used acrylic gel paints and an ink pad to apply color. I used my trusty foam brush to apply the gel paint and then used a direct-to-paper technique just rubbing the ink pad directly onto the paper. I like to use this method because it highlights the wrinkles in the tissue and add great texture and dimension.

I applied a torn piece of scrapbook paper across both pages to add a horizon line. I then cut out random circles of various papers, using my Cutter Bee scissors and glued them to the pages. I added a circle of acrylic paint in the center and a line of paint to represent the flower stems. I also dry brushed some additional colors onto the page in pink and turquoise. Finally, I outlined the circles and added the stems using a black Sharpie marker.

I may go back later and add some words when the mood strikes me. But this is the final product at this point.

Many thanks to Amisha over at Gorgeous and Fun Things for keeping us motivated to do something creative and encouraging us each week. Stop by her blog and enjoy her wonderful posts.

Gorgeous and Fun Things