Linda Israel

Multi-Media Artist

I have been embossing for years and it is annoying to get the stray specks of embossing powder on your project.. I had a purchased anti static bag, but I knew there was a cheaper way to make my own.. I started looking around at the supplies I had on hand and also on the web.. Here is what I came up with…

Supplies used:

One leg from a clean pair of pantyhose ( one side had a runner in the leg, so I usually wash these and keep them, never know when I might need one for a project! lol)

baby powder

Scissors

I glass or wide mouth jar

Method:

I cut one leg from the clean pantyhose close to the very top.

Then I pushed the toe of the hose into a glass and pulled the top over the lip of the glass. This made it very easy to then dump baby powder into the hose. I put about a 1/4 cup of baby powder into the hose. Could put more or less. It depends on how much baby powder you have, and if you want to make more than one anti static bag. I made two so that when I’m teaching a workshop or if my friends come over I have extras and we don’t have to wait for someone to be finished…

I pulled the hose out of the glass and tied a knot close to the powder. Just one knot, as there will be three layers of hose to protect the powder from spilling out of the hose…

Next I pushed the whole thing back through the leg of the hose and tied another knot, repeated one more time and tied a final or third knot. This kind of reminded me of a hacky sack that we used to play with back in the 80′s.. lol I guess if you changed out the powder for little beans of some kind you could make your own hacky sack to play with. lol…

Once the final knot was tied I cut off the excess hose and the anti static bag was ready to use. Pretty clever huh…

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I hope this helps you in saving money. Because I know that I would rather spend my money on an item that I couldn’t make myself!

If you have questions regarding how to make your own anti static bag, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by my website.

Linda Israel

I was asked how to use embossing powder with rubber stamps via my youtube channel. There are so many supplies out there that can be used. It took me a little time to decide how I was going to choose which supplies to spotlight in my instructions…

Things you will want to have:

Embossing powder – any brand, but consider the project at hand. You may want detailed embossing powder if you are doing a fine detailed stamp, or you may want ultra thick embossing powder if you are doing a solid stamp that is large.

Heat tool – Not a hair dryer. Back when I first started stamping, we tired all kinds of things to heat up the powder so it would melt. Trust me, the best investment is a heat tool. It doesn’t matter which brand. Just pick the one that fits your budget. I even have a commercial heat gun, that is used for removing paint, just have to be careful and not use that one on high, it will burn the paper! lol…

Pigment ink – a juicy pigment ink will hold the powder in place. If you have an old pad, consider getting the reinker for it so that you can reapply the ink to the pad before you use it in your project. I do this for most of my common ink pads.

Anti static helper – could be a dryer sheet or an Anti Static bag. This you will rub on the paper, before you stamp and apply the powder. It helps to keep the powder from sticking where you don’t want it to stick…  (instructions on how to make your own anti static bag)

Item to be embossed – paper, canvas, or just about anything that can stand the heat…

Basic instructions: prepare the surface with the anti static product of your choice. Ink stamp with pigment ink, stamp on item. Coat with generous amount of embossing powder, tap off excess powder onto / into a container so you can reuse powder. Turn on heat tool (if you let the heat tool run for a moment before you apply it to your project the powder will melt faster.) Point heat tool towards project. When you start to see that the dull powder look changes to a shiny surface move the gun to a new location. Don’t keep the gun too close to the project or it will burn or discolor the project. If you keep the gun on the project too long the powder will melt down into a porous surface and will look dull. Which could be a look you are going for, but most of the time people want the shiny raised look of embossing. Keep moving around the project until all of the powder has changed. Turn off the gun and let the project cool. The powder will be very hot and you will get a nasty burn if you touch it before it cools off! Now look at your embossed project and pat yourself on the back! You did it! Great job!

Want to see embossing in action check out the video:

Have questions regarding embossing, please feel free to ask, just make sure to give all the details you can in your inquiry…

Thanks for stopping by my website.

Linda Israel

I used a technique learned from Gary Reef to create the following Bubble Art pieces.. The shapes are wood, two inches thick, the base is about 8 inches wide and about 10 to 11 inches tall. My neighbor got a new front porch and I came home when the guy was cutting these pieces off.. I asked him if he was going to throw those away and he said yes, I asked if I may have them and he said sure, keeps me from having to haul them off.. I wasn’t sure what I would do with these at the time, but I’m glad I took them…

Henry and I went to Home Depot and I stopped by the paint department and looked for their Oops paint.. I found a small pint of Behr Premium Plus paint interior Eggshell Enamel in an off white for $1.00. I figured that this would work as “house paint” for the technique that Gary talks about..

I first painted the pieces with liquitex basics acrylic gesso, and let that dry.  I coated one side of the triangle with the house paint in what I thought was a thick enough coat (didn’t read the instructions again until after I started). Painted another triangle and then read the instructions where it said to put a very thick coat, thick enough that your finger sinks down and leaves a huge hole in the paint.. I thought great, I have messed up.. But I went ahead with what I was doing and started the heat, rest, heat rest to see what would happen… The two that didn’t have as much paint on them made smaller bubbles, and I liked it much better than the one that I put a thicker coat on.. So I decided that when I did the other sides I would use a thinner coat and go from there… Heat, rest, heat rest, this went on forever.. lol.. Henry turns to me and says “you do realize how much time you have in these right?”…  Yes I know, but isn’t the texture cool?  And this was just with the ugly house paint! lol.

After all of the sides were bubbled up, I went and got my craft paints, as I don’t have any “artist” paints. I used one from Craft Smart – Violet, Plaid – Tapestry Wine,  Plaid Metallic – Aquamarine. For the Violet I put a little in a cup added water and white acrylic color to make a “wash” then proceeded to paint all of the triangles. I then heated the paint so that it would dry, I also puffed up the bubbles some as those were still not quite cured as I was doing this in one session.. Then I put the Tapestry wine in a cup with water and black acrylic color and put this wash on all of the triangles.. Heated again to dry.. Lastly I put the Aquamarine in a cup with just water to make  wash and covered all of the triangles and heated again..

That was it, I felt I was done, at least for now.. I may add something to these later, but for now I thought that I liked the color and the texture.. Maybe in a day or so I would look at these and think ah, I know what to do next, but for now this is what they look like…

Thanks for stopping by for a look, and thanks to Gary Reef for sharing his technique with the world.
Linda

While surfing the web one day I saw an image full of circles.. This image got me to thinking about how could I make a piece of art using circles. So I started looking around at the materials that I had on hand and found that I had a circle die that cut a series of circles. Then I found an 8 by 10 canvas and pulled out my paint..

I had all of my materials it was time to get started.

Supplies used:
8 by 10 Canvas
Acrylic Paint
Paint brush
Acrylic Gel Medium – Golden
Die cut Paper Circles
Circle fun foam shapes
Heat tool to speed up the drying time

This was very abstract, no real design to this, just wanted to use the circles and blue.. Recycled some paper and went to work…

The video of making the project:

I hope you enjoyed watching. Please leave comments and questions. If there is a technique you would like to learn just ask, I’ll see about putting together a video for you..

Make today a great day!

Linda Israel
block to adhere foam shapes

Today I’m smashing bottle caps for a project.. It’s kind of fun, and it’s a great way to take out frustrations.. You don’t have to think about much while smashing the caps.. I’ve had a huge bag of bottle caps for a couple of years, waiting for that perfect project… I’ve decided what I want to do with them, but in order to use them I mush smash them first..

A while back I remember reading somewhere that I could smash them using my old Sizzix die cutting machine and a Sizzix converter.. I played around with what cutting pads I had and figured out the best solution for me…

Again several years ago, tired of spending so much money on cutting pads/plates I sought out a local plastics vendor and picked up some sheets of plastic and cut those down to be small enough to fit through my sizzix sidekick.. Just so happen that I had enough of these that I could use these for my bottle caps and not worry about messing up the other plates… So I made a stack of one of my plastic plates and a sizzix clear plate and pushed the cap under the converter.. Down went the handle, pulled everything back out and the bottle cap was stuck to the plate.. Duh turn the cap over so that the rough side was up silly.. So after prying it off of the plate I tried it again and smoosh it went…

I decided that I wanted these to be really flat so I picked up another on of my plastic plates and made a stack of two plastic plates and one clear so I had three and ran the cap through the machine again.. Smash again, ah that’s what I’m talking about! So I spent an hour smashing bottle caps, methodically, push it in, down goes the handle, pull it out, add a plate, back into the machine, down goes the handle… I’m sure anyone watching would be wondering what is she doing, has she gone mad? Well yeah a long time ago, what does that have to do with today? lol…

Back to smashing bottle caps I think I have two or three hundred of these things and I need them flat. lol..

Make today a great day!

Linda

The OFB ATC challenge was to create a collage. I decided to use some of my scraps to make a collage sheet and then cut that up to make an ATC (Artist Trading Card)..

Video where I walk through the process and make the ATC:

This is one of those fun techniques that is easy and once you create a page you can use it for more than one piece of art. Just cut out or off what you need for the project. I will use strips of the parent sheet to make a framed art or a greeting card.. and it looks like I spent a lot of time creating a one of a kind art..

Have fun with this technique. Please share your creations. I love seeing what others come up with..

Make today a great day!

Linda

Artist Trading Card for the OFB ATC group. Theme: Johnny Depp.

I choose to use a character from one of the movies: Captain Jack Sparrow… I just love his character in the Pirate movies.. I downloaded an image from a website and printed on cardstock. Scrapbook paper was used as the background. I’m loving the Tim Hotz mini masks and the Distress Inks. I love how versatile the distress inks are for artwork.. A Skull stamp from Inkadinkado. But I didn’t stop there…

The below video shows everything I did, I hope you enjoy watching.

Thanks for stopping and for watching.. If you have questions, please feel free to ask, as I love to share what knowledge I have with others.

Make today a great day!

Linda

Artist Trading Card for the OFB ATC group.

When we were told what the theme was there were some chuckles and ahs. I   wondered what I would do and then I got lucky. I was flipping through a magazine  and found the quote and remembered that I had the child with butterfly wings   stamp. Then everything came together.

I used an unmounted stamp, background paper and a Butterfly die cut that was given  to me.. The paper flowers I made earlier with a tiny flower punch.

I used Glossy Accents by Ranger / Tim Holtz to glue things together in this project. The glitter glue is from Tulip (found in the t-shirt decorating asle). I love using watercolor pencils and an aqua pen.. The aqua pen makes it so much easier than  having a brush and water that would get dirty. Just wipe the tip on a paper towel or  something to clean it and move to the next color… And it is portable, no worries  about spilling water. I used bottled water to fill my Aqua pen.

I made my own tool to add ink to the paper. It is a felt square velcroed to a square block. Got the felt in the kids craft area, the velcro in sewing and the square in woodworking. These are pretty cheap to make and when the felt is too dirty to use or wears out just peel off and put another one on.. (I also use the same “tool” when I do polish stone on glossy paper, which will be another video soon).

My dogs were very noisy this night, my neighbor, who is also my CPA came over to bring our taxes – Ray D. Young CPA ROCKS!!! by the way… We got a refund on our Federal taxes we were pretty excited! lol… So that is why I cut out the “noise” it was very, very loud! LOL… Go see “My Dogs Feb 2010″ video and you will get an idea of how loud it can get.. lol…

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy viewing this ATC.

Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments… I might be slow to answer, as I’m still learning how this thing works! LOL.

Have a blessed day!!

Linda

Handmade flowers that have a surprise center – Hershey’s Kisses.

I used the Cricut cartridge Pagoda Passion to cut the flowers at 2.95 inches, I then sprayed the flowers with Adirondack Color wash sprays by Tim Hotz and my own “glimmer mist” which is acrylic floor wax and pearl ex in a spray bottle. The rest of the items I already had in my stash to complete this Bouquet of Flower Kisses, which became a birthday present for my mother. Which she just loved.. lol… Very easy to make.

What you will need:
6 colors of cardstock I used three shades of pink and three shades of purple
bamboo skewers Depending on the size of vase you have 10 to 16 skewers
Pencil sharpener
Hot glue gun
Tissue paper that matches the cardstock for your flowers
Green tissue paper
Hershey’s Kisses (I used two bags to fill the vase and these were the Easter Holiday Kisses so there were pretty purple and pink wrappers)
Packing peanuts
Rubber band
Adirondack Color wash sprays (or other type of color sprays)
Your version of a Glimmer Mist

This was fun and quick to make once I had all the materials laid out… Oh and you will stab some of the kisses if you jam the skewers in really hard so go gently I just warned my mom that the candy was all wrapped when I started and the vase was clean and I did the damage so she could still eat the candy lol.. I think it would be a wonderful Mothers day gift. Or for a new mother in a hospital after giving birth. For a friend that can’t have real flowers because of allergies.. So don’t limit yourself look at candy in a different way, maybe a different candy could be the center…

I hope that this inspires you to create one for someone you love… Please feel free to ask questions. I love sharing what knowledge I have..

Have a blessed day.

Linda

The challenge for our OFB ATC group was to create an ATC (Artist Trading Card) with Geometric Shapes. Idea: Use Fun Foam Shapes to create a unique background or even a focal point. I used acrylic craft paint to change the color of the shapes and then stamped on top with a Brilliance Ink pad… Great way to use those odd colored or odd foam shapes. I liked this one so much I ended up making 8 cards! One for my swap partner and the others… hum… I guess I’ll swap with someone else. lol

Fun foam can be used in different ways. Next time you see fun foam don’t just pass it by pick some up and see how you can change the look of it and create something unique..

Geometric Shapes ATC

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog..

Have a blessed day!

Linda