Building Art Boxes

My love-affair with cardboard of all kinds has continued to grow over time. Finding new ways to use it is a delight. Adding painted papers to it, is even better. 

These boxes I've started making didn't come to me in a dream or anything magical but I was fortunate enough to see something on YouTube by a few creative souls who have done something similar.

Here's box number one of what may end up being many hundreds by the time I've moved on to something new.

Don't worry if you're making waves just by being yourself. The Moon does it all the time. ~Scott Stabile

Measures 6 x 4-1/2 inches

Here's the top, bottom and sides using a new "stitch" ink stamp added to the scrap papers. I've never been able to sew stitches on my cards and journals successfully and I don't have a sewing machine. Finding these stamps is the next best thing except there's no strings which I'm still trying to figure out how to add to make me happy but that's for another day and another blog post.

I've just finished a second box and this one was a bit of a challenge because it is smaller.

 

The papers used for this box has a little history to it. These are some scrap painted papers glued to black card stock paper and doodles added. When I'm uninspired to work in my journal or create a collage, I often grab a lot of the scraps I have laying around, especially the ones used on watercolor paper (it's thicker than other paper) and create these sheets. This scrap sheet was perfect for a small box! 

"Shine like the whole universe is yours" has an earring hanging inside and a beautiful butterfly on top

"Live Simply" on the back of the butterfly

"be your beautiful self"

Measures 3-3/4 x 3 inches

I have to cut the next box a bit to make it suitable. I will share the way it looks once completed no doubt on social media and here.

Measuring the next box using the 2nd one as a guide.

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey 

Wednesday - Art Table Fun

Actually, truthfully, there isn't a whole lot on the art table this week. Well, there IS, but there isn't. I should clarify that a bit.

I'm in organizing mode, something I do often, about three times a month, to keep my space(s) from getting overly cluttered. I like some clutter, I actually don't like it when everything is put away. I have to see things and then use them. So there IS a whole lot going on, on that table. I do this when I start to organize, putting everything on the table to sort later. And sometimes I stop organizing, make a card or an art journal page or the beginning of one, and then continue.

So, here's why I said that above ... this is the art table as of yesterday ... messy? Maybe. I see lots of creating happening here from painted papers to doodles to making cards. AND I see much needs to be sorted. That shows I've been busy!

A few cards were made. Shown here are two sides of one card.

Here's a WIP.

I have been cutting up cardboard, using some for words, alpha letters, photos for stickers. Some for collage cards. The rest are cut up to be used to paint on with acrylics and probably some of those will be used for collage as well. It takes time and lots of cutting to do this and it's very worth it because I just need to keep myself in paint and not buy canvases right now. I will again at some point purchase canvases but right now I want to use what I have, as I've said often. I have a LOT of cardboard and bags.

All sizes and thicknesses which means some will be great to paint on, some not so much. Those I'll use in some way because I don't throw much away. All free to use and experiment with.

I made some book covers and will fill them with handmade signatures using packaging mostly from Amazon.

 

To show what I mean, I made a book using the brown packaging a while ago. It's not yet finished but this is what it looks like so far.

Only a few more pages to go to get it finished. The size is a little under 5 x 6 inches. The order is wrong, but all pages made so far are there.

 

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

If you'd like to support the artist go to BuyMeACoffee and buy me a cuppa. It's always greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. 👄💝 

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

World Art Day, April 15th - My Favorite Day

Monday, April 15th was World Art Day! Held each year on the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci – World Art Day provides an opportunity to affirm the role of the visual arts in our world. 

 

I love an excuse to be creative (although I don't need one) and this week is as good as any to do some new art pieces.

 

I'm still working with cardboard; cutting it into shapes and then dot painting. I found, for some odd reason, the crescent moon I cut out was hard to get exactly right. Perhaps it was the angle in which I had cut it. It was the first attempt and something I will definitely work on.

 

 

Here's where the moon and sun have been placed on the walls in my room.

 

 

Some adjustments will be made with the art on the wall in the first photo. More small art will get placed in a few gaps I see here.

I've been doodling regularly but only a few made it to the end. At some point, many get lost in thought. Those get cut out and saved for future use. Maybe for a canvas.

One practice doodle this week turned out fairly nicely. I'm getting better with petals (photo above shows them as well) but I still need to work on my free handed circles.

 

More mugs, pillows and tote bags will be added to my website and all prices throughout the site have been changed. These reflect the materials and shipping increases plus my 19 years of experience.

 

Here's a new one called "Hippie Flowers". I think it's groovy.

 

Until next week ... ☮

Enjoy the journey.

 Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!~Cindy, EarthMotherMosaics

Website News

Yes, that's right! Website News!

I don't usually do a lot of long days working on the site. I don't even share it much on FB and Instagram. I would love to find a new social media spot that really looks at content. However, until I find what I'm looking for, those two will do just fine.

And so after taking a small course on business, I realized I needed to have everything the customer needs on the website; not send them away from my site toward another one or two or three.

I have finally decided to sell mugs, pillows and tote bags again directly on my website. It will take some time to get them set up but I'm anticipating about 6 weeks from right now. So stay tuned!

Here's what you'll see to get into that area on my website:

Then, for each design, you'll see a similar collage but of all the products (see below). Then within that area, there's a photo of each item, description and price.

 

The designs will be doodles, photography and some mosaics I've done.

Exciting, isn't it?! Please share any thoughts you have on items I could create that you don't see here. These three are what I did a long time ago through the big E and thought it was a good place to start.

There have been a few doodles done and I've been cutting cardboard to make shapes, putting decoupage on them and then some will get painted a solid color and dot painted. Other's will stay as they are. At some point, if I feel they are worthy, I'll put a few for sale on the website as well. Time will tell.

Doodles (last photo is a work-in-progress):

Cardboard cutouts (butterfly using thin newspaper and sun using recycled computer paper and scraps):

Until next week ... ☮

Enjoy the journey.

 Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!~Cindy, EarthMotherMosaics

Art Exploding Everywhere!

 It really does feel like an art explosion happened within the last few weeks. It's almost time to unroll the blanket and get under it for a week or so. Until then, here's how it's been going.

I purchased some pretty mirror shapes small enough for accent pieces. I added them to the latest dot painting and really love the way it all came together.

There's room for improvement with my dot painting but part of that is due to my hands and fingers getting tired. Instead of pushing through the pain, I should stop and rest. I'm trying to be more patient with myself as I am getting older. It's not always easy.

Valentine's Day was celebrated with real tie dye roses this year from my daughter. Of course I had the perfect vase!

The last set of coasters in grey are shown here before grout. A set of four in this design is now waiting in the "to be grouted" pile.

Believe it or not, I finally got the coasters made for the Norway family. The other set will probably go into the shop. Time will tell. I might just hold onto them and the ones above and gift them at some point to someone. It's hard to say.

Had some fun with air-dry clay too. I made some cool flowers. Eventually I'll get better at making them the same thickness and get a few more acrylics for different color choices.

Funky dot painted flowers in clay. Fun to do!

Practice board #2 in progress. I had no real plan for it other than to try something in clay. Upper left is a circle of clay with a piece from a lamp (I think) used as a stamp. I also think it might be aluminum but I'm not sure. It's really pretty, though, so I have kept it handy to use as a template.

I used mica powders over a few different colors of paint. Tried dots around it but didn't like that. Painted over it but there may be some beads glued down over that area. Practice boards are exactly for this purpose, to experiment and see what works.

Some of the detail of the aluminum piece came through really well in the clay. Mica was fun to play with as well.

This one is still a WIP. I don't like the black. It makes the whole thing a little too dark and doesn't convey the message very well. It WAS painted brown but for some reason I decided to cover that up with black. You can see the brown in the word "PEACE". I might have to play with this a lot before I get it right.

 

I made a frame using cardboard and brown craft paper. I'm not thrilled with the stand but I did this all in one day and by the time I got to the stand part of it, my hands wanted to stop. I did continue (see note above mentioning this very stubborn trait) and got a stand but it doesn't lean, it sits upright. That's fine for a first effort.

Now it'll be painted in black and the doodle can slide into place. More of these are going to get made, especially to learn how best to get a stand to hold it at a tilt.

I did a mosaic on a wine bottle too using a broken mug and parts of a bowl and glass circles or gems as I call them. It was made using thinset and although I always grout, this one I'm not. For some odd reason, I like the way the thinset looks coming up out of the corners of the dish tiles. It's not done the "right way" of course; using thinset with a trowel and getting it layered so whatever goes on top lays flat. You can't do that with a 3D bottle. Let me rephrase that ... I can't do that with a 3D bottle.

The stopper is a lava lamp light bulb I put a mosaic on for another bottle but I like this one better for it, so it's staying. Not yet glued into place but will be. Ribbon and twine were added to the top and my own little peace sign signature added to the back by the handle. I think it's awesome.

Here is a bottle I made years ago.

I made a stopper for it and it too is in the grout pile.

I'll share another photo of the bottle with the stopper once it is all together.

Enjoy the journey.

 Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

 

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!~Cindy, EarthMotherMosaics