by Andrea Walford | Jun 24, 2015 |
In all my years of blogging and teaching paper crafting – in speaking with and teaching thousands of card makers and mixed media artists around the world – the #1 thing that I hear, over and over again is this:
“I am not creative”, “I am not artistic”, “I can’t come up with my own ideas”, “I don’t know how to take an idea and make it my own”.
Different ways of saying it – but ultimately all saying the same thing. “I am not creative!”
I am here to tell you that this belief is absolutely, unequivocaly NOT TRUE! (more…)
by Andrea Walford | Jun 23, 2015 |
Do you ever struggle to come up with card ideas?
Do you ever see cards on the internet – whether it’s on blogs or Pinterest – that you absolutely love – but you’re not sure how you can take that idea and make it work with the supplies you have on hand? (more…)
by Andrea Walford | Jun 16, 2015 |
Last week on Tuesday I sent out an email to those of you that are on the Sunny Stampin’ email newsletter list with a photo of a card I had created, and asked the following question “What do you do with an ugly card?” I mentioned that I would share the transformation today, but in the meantime asked people to give me their suggestions on how I transformed it.
So, here is the “before” card:
Here is the after card: (more…)
by Andrea Walford | Jun 9, 2015 |
You’re standing in your crafting space surrounded by your glorious stash of Stampin’ Up! products just begging to be used.
You know you want to make card – you even know the theme of the card you want to make, but beyond that you’re drawing a blank. It’s been a few days since you’ve sat down to create so you’re not feeling the mojo. (more…)
by Andrea Walford | May 27, 2015 |
Thank you for all your wonderful comments on last week’s Let’s Make It Over post! As I mentioned in that post – taking a card and making over cards using all Stampin’ Up! products, used to be a popular feature on my original Sunny Stampin’ Blog – and one that I loved doing. In reading all your comments, I was reminded of why. (more…)
by andreawalford | May 26, 2015 |
Welcome to another Donna Downey Studios Artist Gang Tuesday! For this month’s project I decided to create another 12″ x 12″ mixed media canvas with an inspirational quote.
My poor studio is sadly lacking in art pieces for the wall because in the past my tendency was to create most of my art in my journal. My reason for this was simple – I was experimenting, and I didn’t want to chance “ruining” my canvases. I wanted to save my canvases for the time when I felt as though my artwork had progressed enough to be “worthy” of a canvas. (more…)
by Andrea Walford | May 19, 2015 |
Welcome to my first “Let’s Make It Over” post! The purpose of the “Let’s Make It Over” feature is to show you innovative ways to use your Stampin’ Up! products to re-create trendy cards created by talented designers in the blogosphere. In card-speak it would be called CASEing a card (acronym for “Copy And Share Everything”).
For each “Let’s Make It Over” feature I choose a card I like, make it over with products from my Stampin’ Up! stash, and then share my thought process behind my product choices and how I adapted my products to fit the design I want to re-create.
For this week’s project I found an awesome card by Laura Bassen from her blog Doublestick Heaven. Here’s a before & after snapshot of the projects:
Laura’s card featured a Papertrey Ink stamp set called Plaid Builder – which is essentially a collection of different line widths and textures. I loved the way she used one of the line stamps to build a colorful striped background. I had several thoughts as I was re-creating the striped background. (more…)
by andreawalford | Apr 28, 2015 |
Welcome to another Donna Downey Studios Artist Gang Tuesday! For this month’s project I decided to create an inspirational piece of artwork that I could frame. Now instead of working on a canvas, because I knew I wanted to work with my water colors, I decided to work on some 140 lb Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper which I cut to 9″ x 12″. (more…)
by andreawalford | Mar 31, 2015 |
One of the most challenging aspects of being an artist (or really, any type of a creative), is “finding your voice”. Now I have found that most people use that term to refer to finding their unique style. In my own personal journey and evolution as an artist – “finding my voice” has had nothing to do with developing my style.
As I learn and grow and develop my skills as an artist, my style is continually changing and evolving – in fact even after spending the last 5 years delving into the world of mixed media, I am still not sure that I have totally settled on a style that I would consider to be uniquely mine. The way in which my “voice” has been expressing itself through my art on the other hand, has been growing in strength and in clarity. (more…)
by andreawalford | Feb 24, 2015 |
Have you every felt completely overwhelmed with where your life is at?
You lie in bed at night thankful the day is over, but at the same knowing that tomorrow will bring more of the same?
It’s not easy, but you’re managing to hold your own. In fact, you’re actually starting to pull yourself out of the muck, and learning how to handle your “new normal”…..
but then something else gets thrown your way… (more…)
