'Art Journal Workshop - and OTF Mixed Media Classes!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Here are some photos from the art journal workshop I attended in mid-June. This event was hosted by the organizer of our Art Journal Enthusiasts group at her art-filled home. In addition to working on my current art project, I taught several, quick, little mini-classes, all on-the-fly(OTF):

1. Aging/Distressing paper
2. Oil paper
3. Acrylic glazes
4. Gesso tinting
5. Gesso Frottage
6. Under-writing
7. Collage composition

 MaryLee and Linda

 

 

 a palette - and a piece of my embossed and painted

 metal tape (upper right corner)

 

 

 Gelli plate (left)  with pulled packing tape prints (right)

 

 

 The kitchen island-worktable was also my makeshift OTF 'classroom'

 

 

I loved the textures and colors of dried up paint on this stamp (right)

 

 

Harriet and Debbie and Dahlia

 

 

MaryLee was a delightful hostess. We were all incredibly inspired during our play day. I was pooped by the time I got home, but I had a won-der-ful time!

 

Next month, I officially teach my DIY Washi Tape class to our AJE members!!!

 

 

 

YOUR TURN

Do you make art journals? Have you ever attended an art journal class, workshop or mixed-media class? What are your 3-fave mixed-media or art journaling techniques?

 

Thanks for stopping by today. Please leave a comment - and come back soon!

 

Peace,

LuLu

 

 

 

'WOYWW - 28 Aug 2013 - Tidy, Tinkering and Tips!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

I've been enjoying the summer weather here in Chicago, but now I'm hoping to post more regularly. This week for WOYWW, I thought I'd give you a peek at my desk when it was tidy. This was just before my hubby and I went on vacation/holiday to visit his relatives in NY state last week. 

I was tinkering around - because I needed to reorganize some of my supplies -  and cobbled together some storage containers for my Stickles, Distress Stickles refills, Studio medium and more. I did not want to pay moola for a solution.

STORAGE TIP
So the trick I used was to take the caps off of my spray ink/Glimmer Mist/Dylusions bottles, turn the caps upside down and glue them into some plastic trays from my stash.

FROM FAILURE TO SUCCESS
My 1st attempt, was not 100% successful...I had glued (E6000) the caps too close together so when I inserted the upside down bottles they didn't quite fit. No worries - I popped out most of the caps and spaced them a wee bit further apart.


These trays now sit on my work table in shelves within arms reach - they were too far away before I discovered this solution.

These pix show my second attempt - success!

 The black tray shows a few empty caps, just begging for new supplies!

 

 

 The clear bead box stores some Lumiere metallic fabric paints.

 

 

 

YOUR TURN

How do you store your Stickles and small bottles? Do you use a store bought solution? Or do you like to cobble together solutions from your stash and stuff found around the house?

 

Thanks for stopping by - I'd love for you to comment on this post, or any of my other posts. And please become a Follower if you aren't already - goodies for Followers coming this Autumn!

 

 

For a peak at other fun workspaces, click here for WOYWW!

 

Peace,

LuLu

'Two Sisters - Then & Now!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

Have you been enjoying the summer? It sure is zipping by for me!

I just got back home from a long weekend road trip -  visiting my youngest sister and her brood near Door County in Wisconsin.

Marly and Mary Lou -1980's
Chicago, IL
 (when I was leading my pop-rock band!)

Marly and Mary Lou - July 2013
Wisconsin

Isn't it amazing how much our appearance changes over the years?!
Thanks for stopping by - I would love for you to comment on this post, or any of my other posts. Please become a Follower, if you're not already....

Stay tuned! I plan to post a tutorial soon PLUS some more freebies PLUS..............

Another GIVEAWAY is coming this Autumn for Followers - to celebrate my 4th BlogOversary! If you love mixed-media, altered books, scrapbooking, assemblage or art journaling, this is the GIVEAWAY you will want to enter!

Peace,
LuLu

'Art Journal - Slideshow!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and Welcome,

I've been enjoying our spring and summer weather. Finally here is the Fathers Day art journal I made for my father in 2012 - and STILL adding to it in 2013.

This is the Brag Book by Fancy Pants - love this scrapbook. Makes scrapbooking fast, easy and FUN! The book on the left is a blank book so you can see the Before and After...

 

Front cover

 

Top Fan

Front fan

 

Back Cover

 

 



Thanks for stopping by to visit - and please leave a comment about this post - or any of my other posts.

 

Peace,

LuLu

 

 

 

'WOYWW - Jan 16 2013 - Clean Sweep for A Fresh Start with Art Journal Projects!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes
 
Howdy and welcome,

Hope you all had a lovely holiday season.
 
For the New Year, I finally cleaned off my table in the craft studio. Now I can have a fresh start to create more great art journal projects in the coming year! We'll see how long this neat and tidy work space will last - he, he!

 Straight Ahead - Directly Forward

 Left

 Right - seated view

 Close-up right standing

Cart at right of table,

with new holder for Stickles and Claudine Hellmuth Studio products!

 

 

More artist studios are here this week at Julia's WOYWW!

 

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out my Giveaway. If you're a mixed-media artist, you don't want to miss these goodies!

 

Peace,

LuLu

'A Day of Tatoos and Tapes'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

Well you know the saying about 'best laid plans'....This morning hubby and I realised that walking around the Art museum all day would be murder on my sprained ankle and his bum knee since he just had surgery. What were we thinking?!

So while hubby took a nap I worked on my job search. When he awoke we decided to drive in the opposite direction of downtown Chicago. We went shopping at the Michaels craft store in Tinley Park, IL. Hubby bought all the lovely goodies below for me!
Thank you, Hubble!

Goodies from Tinley Park's Michaels!

• 2 jars of matte gel medium (regular and heavy) by Golden,
• matte medium and glazing medium by Liquitex,
• 3 packs of tatoos/decals,
• 2 packs of tape runner refills,
• 4 self-adhesive wallpaper borders (on sale for $1.99 each) - I'll use these as tape,
• a roll of pattern Duck tape,
• 2 great art books (one about collage and the other about mixed-media).

After the shopping spree, we drove through Tinley Park's quaint downtown and found a great restaurant for lunch.

We hope to get back to the Art Institute of Chicago again - eventually. And no, I'm not going to CHA. I've had invitations - but CHA doesn't seem like my cup of tea. Too crowded for my tastes!

YOUR TURN!
Have you ever used Golden's gel medium in your artwork? How did you use it? What about Liquitex's glazing medium? or Liquitex's matte medium? What's your fave glue for adhering tissue paper or napkins? What's your fave glue for adhering fabric? Do you every use fusible web? Misty Fuse? Have you used fusible web or Misty fuse on paper?!

Thanks for stopping by to visit - would love for you to comment - and please come back often. My '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming  later this summer!

Peace,
LuLu

'Treasure Hunt!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

Artist Seth Apter at The Altered Page is hosting his annual bloghop of Buried Treasure!

Click here for a peek at some of my blog's Buried Treasure!

Have you ever gone a real Treasure Hunt? When? Where? What did you find?

Thanks for visiting. Please come back soon. My '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming this summer!

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW - 07/11/2012 - Goodies Galore!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

For WOYWW this week, I've got a little treat.

Hubby and I had an adventure this past Saturday. After going on a short roadtrip to an antiques market (and buying some cheap items for collage fodder), we stopped on the way home for sushi lunch. Ymmm-mmmm. Afterwards I bought a few items at the thrift store in the same plaza.

Found an old round chinese checkers tin, a couple of packages of stickers with embellishments and die cuts and chipoboard, a kids stamp pad and plastic stamps in a plastic toolbox, and a few other assorted goodies.

On my table below are the contents of the stickers packages that I picked up for a song. I put them in a plastic bin temporarily until they go to their proper 'homes. We had quite an adventure that day!

Thrift store finds!

Do you ever go 'antiquing'? What about hunting for collage fodder at thrift shops or flea markets? What are your favorite things to look for?

Thanks for stopping by - and please come back often. My '100 Followers Giveaway' is coming this summer!

Wanna see more artist ateliers? Go visit Julia's WOYWW blog here.

Peace,
LuLu

"FREE TUTORIAL - Embossed Metal Tape: Edited"

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

I was surfing my own blog and found a short tutorial I totally forgot that I wrote on my technique for embossed metal tape. Thought you might enjoy this post from June of 2010.
 LuLu's Embossed Metal Tape Tute!

'Swirly Girly Challenge'

Have you ever used TH grungeboard? Have you ever used embossed metal tape? Have you played with my tutorials?

Would love for you to comment - and become a Follower too. Thanks for stopping by. Please come back soon!

Peace,
LuLu

'EXTREME Close Ups: Steampunk Smash Book / Art Journal / Scrapbook!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and Welcome,

You asked for it!

These are Extreme Close Ups of the book I posted yesterday. I'm making this book for Daddy for this Sunday Father's day!

Back Cover ECU

Front Cover ECU 1

Front Cover ECU 2

Front Cover ECU 3

Have you ever used hardware in your art work? What about chains? Have you ever tried to make a charm out of a wooden game piece?

Thanks for stopping by - and please leave a comment. Come back soon.

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW - 06/13/2012 - TUTORIAL: Steampunk Art Journal / Smash Book / Scrapbook!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and Welcome,

For WOYWW this week, thought I'd show you the book I'm presenting to Daddy on Sunday Father's Day. This week is also his 80th birthday! Daddy goes scrapbooking with me once a month at Aunt Alma's house. She's 95 years old!

This is sold as a BRAG BOOK (by Fancy Pants) that I found at Archivers during their long weekend crop last week. It's designed like a combo Smash book and scrapbook - with clear plastic page protectors for photos, lined pages for journaling and 15 sections divded by thick cardstock pockets. It looked very sturdy - now I want to buy more! Update: It is sturday. I made the book SO FAST! I bought another BRAG BOOK for more vintage heritge ephemera I recently was given. I hope to have the 2nd book completed in time for our annual August 2012 family reunion. Ha! Ha!

I decided to use it as a scrapbook / art journal including photos of Daddy through the years with captions for the photos as my journaling. This book makes it super, duper fast to do scrapbooking - and I'm always on the lookout to scrapbook faster! Aren't we all?

Here are the steps I used. You're welcome to use my steps as a pseudo -  tutorial.

SUPPLIES

·        Acrylic  paint - gold

      ·        Brag book or Smash book
      ·        Bubble wrap
      ·        chain
      ·        dimensional items – your choice
      ·        fishing lure holders
      ·        Gold paints to ‘gild’ cover edges (test and experiment first)
      ·        Heat tool
      ·        Heavy gel medium
      ·        jump rings
      ·        Old hotel keycard or putty/spackle knife – 2”
      ·        Paint brush -  ¼” round
      ·        Pattern scrapbook paper/cardstock
      ·        pliers - chain nose, round nose
      ·        ribbons (7"-8")
      ·        Spray ink
      ·        Table cloth or craft mat
      ·        Tape runner (permanent)
      ·        Tim Holtz distress charms
      ·        Tim Holtz Tonic Scissors
      ·        Vinyl gloves (opt)
      ·        Water container



PSEUDO TUTORIAL

First, I removed some of the lined pages (as usual), because it was already FAT when I bought it. So I knew that adding more would make it gi-normous!

Next, while still at the weekend crop, I started adhering pattern scrapbook paper to each lined page, the inside covers, and the pocket pages. Easy peasy! Then I added ribbons to the wire binding. Also added, tabs I made to the edges of each section divider pocket.

When I returned home, I started playing with the covers. Adhered torn pattern scrapbook cardstock, gilded the edges with various gold paints, spray painted the covers with blue and green spray ink found at Archivers. Very messy, but good thing I used my 'spray box'. Great investment.

Then, for the front cover, I adhered foam letters and spray painted them with spray ink. I randomly stamped both covers with gold acrylic paint using bubble wrap  that I'd wrapped around my hand. Then I gathered a bunch of dimensional items and glued them on using generous amounts of 'heavy gel medium' (Golden). I did a layout on freezer paper to test the composition first.

Some items I adhered were washers, springs, foreign and domestic coins, dice, watch parts, vintage CTA tokens, Monopoly game tokens, bingo tokens, flattened bottle caps, keys and calculator parts.

Compostion test

After I was satisfied with the test, I started gluing down the various items. I glued items over a few days - letting the cover dry overnight. I've been adding some photos in the page protectors.

Added chains, fishing lure holders, keyring, skeleton key and Tim Holtz distress charms to the wire binding.

Also, I found Daddy's 1932 christening dress and slip with Granny's handwritten notes, which I added in an archival ziplock bag. I punched holes in the bag first using my Bind It All (BIA).Then cut a slit in each hole with Tim Holtz Tonic scissors. Luckily, the placement of the BIA holes matched the wire binding!

Front Cover

 Back Cover

The book got fat again, and I'm not even half finsihed!

 Front fan

Top fan

What do you think of the front cover? Have you ever used dimensional objects in your art work? If so, what is your favorite glue for heavy objects?

Thanks for stopping by -  and don't forget to comment. Please come back soon.

More artist studios for WOYWW are here.

Peace,
LuLu

'FREEBIES! Art Journal Page Backgrounds / Textures - celebrating 100 Followers in 2012!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

 

Howdy and welcome,

 

As part of the celebration for attaining 100 Followers of my blog , I'm offering this mixed-media collection of  backgrounds - FREE! FREE! FREE!

 

These FREE backgrounds are from my art journal (a giveaway prize) that I created using custom designer tape, custom labels, custom stamps, patterned scrapbook papers, die cuts frames, tissue  papers, painted wax paper, deli papers, custom embossed metal tape, copyright free images, Rollagraph stamps, Stampin' around stamps, printed tissue paper, Tim Holtz tissue paper, ink, acrylic paints, custom glazes and gessos (clear, black, white, custom tinted) using a wide variety of mixed-media techniques.

 

Yep! You read it right - these backgrounds are FREE for you to use in your artwork!

 

So...
how will you use these FREEBIES?

 

• Will you create textures by printing a page for your art journals, altered books, visual journals and assemblages?
• Or will you make image transfers by inkjet printing onto deli paper, copy paper or transparencies - and adhering with soft gel medium?
• Or how about dishing up some digital layers by using these FREEBIES in Adobe Photoshop or in Microsoft Digital Image Editor?!

 

All I ask is that you:

1. please give credit to  'www.lulu-too-beaucoup.blogspot.com' when you use these in your art work.
2. please send me a link to your blog post of any work you create using these  FREE FREE FREE backgrounds. I'd love to see what specatacular stuff you come up with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Small journal from Staples Office supply store - lined paper.
• Pages glue laminated together for strength.
• Pages 'under journaled' (a Pam Carriker term) with pencil resists (graphite and colored pencils).

 

Thanks for visiting - please leave a comment while you're here - and come back soon....My GIVEAWAY for 100 Followers Giveaway will start this summer 2012 - with fun and artsy prizes for one lucky Follower's creating pleasure!

Peace,
LuLu