I am loving making atc’s (they are the same as aceo’s …the acronyms stand for artist trading cards and/or art card editions & originals) they are small, about the size of a business card and so gratifying! If you go to Etsy and just search for atc or aceo you will come up with many of these treasures by wonderful artists! They are lovely and affordable and I just love ‘em!

I have been making these babies a lot lately because they really fit into my time schedule and they give me the opportunity to experiment with some of my sketches and also different mediums.

I would LOVE to get a swap going so if anyone is interested PLEASE send me a message!

water color atc by me, kristen

thanks for visiting. x’s & o’s kp

I know I have been remiss in posting here and I feel guilt ridden! My ‘other’ blog and my new paper craft planet group has been taking any ‘extra’ time that I have. I still want to keep this blog to post my thoughts, art and tutorials that are not stamp related, but lately I am just so busy trying to finish up the semester. Just two more weeks!!

Well here is an elephant tea pot that I made in my ceramics class. I think it turned out cute but I have to be honest, I’m not too good at making lids! LOL So I will NOT be pouring tea from it!

ttys

kristen

I'm a little tea pot

short and stout...

All you need is love.

I have been busy but I can’t seem to help myself…I can’t seem to stop making these little ‘robox’. There really is somebody for everybody!

xo. Thank you for looking at my art.

Happy Valentine's Day! A Heart for You!

Once upon a time there was a young girl who liked nothing more than to draw sweet little illustrations. The girl worked for years and years drawing her pictures and sharing them with people far and wide. She would go from kingdom to kingdom showing her whimsical designs and teaching many creative people how to make beautiful note cards and lovely pieces of art, using the images she had drawn. Then one day the King and Queen of Shadyville summoned the girl to their castle. They wanted her to teach only in their kingdom and in return, she would be paid well and be treated like royalty. Although she was unsure, the girl agreed. But she soon found out that the King and Queen were evil and had no intentions of paying her and they treated her horribly. They were so mean, in fact, that she soon fled the kingdom forever, leaving all of her precious art supplies and her stacks of artwork behind. The evil King and Queen (who weren’t really even a king and queen after all) claimed all of the girl’s artwork as their own and began selling it to all the people in the land. For years the girl felt so badly that she was not able to draw her sweet illustrations or even doodle a simple design. But after a time she could no longer contain the ideas in her head and slowly she began to draw and color again. She realized that although her pictures might have been taken from her, her talent and her desire to create was something that could not ever be taken away. The girl (who had grown into a woman), created lots of new pictures and they were better than ever! And she lived artfully ever after.

…I really appreciate all of you who have begun to visit my blog! For the “surprise” I have been writing about, please visit my new shop kristenpowersink I will be adding new images every week and will have lots of new paper craft tutorials! This has been a big step for me and I am so grateful to all of you who have been so encouraging! If you would like the above image as a free digital download image, just send me a note and I will email it to you. Please continue to visit for new artwork, ideas and some giveaways too!

Thank you.

xo

kristen

Going around in circles. Although that is how I feel some of the time, this is just another d.i.y. tutorial on how to make a cool pendant using my paper jewelry technique!

here are the items you will need:

1) Ink-redible fine-craft paper (you can use other types of heavy paper but this works the best!)

2) circle template

3) acrylic paint and/or acrylic ink

4) decoupage medium or paint on glaze

5) pencil,scissors,paintbrush, eyelet setter and hammer (to punch hole)

6) jump ring

art pendant made from paper

use this paper and a circle template

Choose whatever size circle that you want. Trace and cut it out. File the edges a bit to smooth.

Using your circle template again, start drawing many circles and half circles to look like...

....this!

Choose your paint colors (of course, let your imagination go wild here!) I used acrylic paint and acrylic ink. oh and I made a mess!

keep going...

Now it's all painted . make sure it's dry. I give it a shot with my heat tool.

Next, I outlined all my circles in black...makes it POP!

make sure your outlines are dry and then flip it over and paint the back!

Once your piece is thoroughly dry give it a few coats of gloss, letting it dry in between coats. Do this to both the front and back.

After the gloss has dried completely, punch your hole. I use an eyelet setter. Make sure you punch approximately 1/8 of an inch down. Otherwise if you are too close to the edge it can split your paper. ALSO you may want to skip punching a hole altogether and use a glue on aarnraku type of bail. (note * a regular hole punch will not work when using this paper)

ready for a jump ring!

now put it on a cord or chain...

make art. wear art!

(clue # 10… a chip off the old block)

click here to purchase ink-credible paper 2 5x7 sheets for $2.95

So my husband called when he was on his way home. “Hi honey. What are ya doin’ ?” He asked. I just laughed. He laughed too. “What?” He asked again. “What is it?” I couldn’t help it, I giggled some more. I felt silly saying what I was really doing. But I said it anyway.  “I’m making a robot out of a matchbox”.  He laughed harder. “Oh my little artist. You are too cute”! He is so sweet and understanding. How nice is it that he did not care one bit that my latest project (once again) took priority over making dinner ?!!  I just love that my family gets the fact that a tiny wire bird cage, an experimental painting, a paper flower or, in this case, a robox is very urgent and needs my immediate attention!

I have to admit that I feel a bit crazy sometimes. I have had a little sketch of a robot on my desk for over two weeks and today I just couldn’t stand it any more. I had to make one. I wasn’t sure, when I started, how I was going to make it. At first, I  kinda thought I would do it out of shrink plastic. Then I nixed that and started making one out of paper covered with foil. But then it just sort of evolved and ended up being made from an old ladies watch , a matchbox , some magnets and a few other bits I had laying around on my desk! I have to say, I am very pleased. Most likely I will do this as a tutorial one day but first I have to find another old watch….maybe I will even do some bigger ones, but then I will need an old clock. Meet my  Robox…

a robox is a very handy thing to have...

he opens up and has an emergency match and a heart!

the robox comes off of his bottle cap stand (his legs are magnetic)!

now you can move his arms to his legs and wear him as a necklace on a ball chain!

told ya he is handy!

So that’s my clever idea for tonight. I do believe you will see more of these soon (just need those old watches)!

peace, love and

kristen

p.s. clue # 8 it’s not always crystal clear.

No I’m not running for office! I have entered my typography owl design in a bag contest on bagstab . If my design wins then it will get sold on the bagstab site! So if ya get a chance please click on over and vote. In the meantime, I am so sorry for not posting lately. I have just been really busy working on a few major projects!   But stay tuned and continue to LOOK here on my blog for the unveiling of a BIG Surprise. Each day from now until Valentine’s Day I will give a little clue…..

Anyway, here is my messenger bag design. Go to bagstab even if you don’t vote for mine it is a really cool site!

My Type of Owl messenger bag design by me, kristen! (made completely from symbols & typefaces)

cheers,

Kristen

I don’t have a tutorial for y’all today, but I do have something really cool to share! I needed a new sketchbook for my figure drawing class and I didn’t want just any regular, ol’ sketchbook (good heavens, no)! So I had my kids old Candy Land game (which I have been saving since I cleaned out their closet this past summer…) I had it tucked in a corner of my office and it kept sliding down onto the floor. My husband kept picking it up and throwing it away, and I kept retrieving it out of the trash! Finally, after the third time (and luckily it was always dry and “clean” trash!) I said, “Don’t throw the Candy Land game away anymore. I’m gonna make something with it one day.” He has heard that quite a few times before (needless to say, he stopped throwing it out)!! LOL

Last summer I was lucky enough to find a heavy-duty, wire binding machine on Craig’s List for under $200.00. I am certainly not one to pass up a bargain when I see it. I snapped that baby up. I have made a few note/sketchbooks but have used my own artwork for the covers. It’s a lot of fun to experiment with different covers and sizes. But I wanted to do some up-cycling and I also wanted to do something big (all of my others have been 5×7 or smaller).

Anyway, I made not one but two big sketchbooks. I just love them. Now I am keeping my eyes peeled for other cool games to up-cycle (one can never have enough sketchbooks). I hope you enjoy these- I know I will!

9x12 up-cycled sketchbook using an old discarded game box lid!

here is the inside-I made a pocket to hold loose papers too.

Here is my 2nd journal using the game board. It is 10x15.

inside my 'game board' journal.

game board journal opened up!

Hope you enjoyed my show and tell. As always, please let me know if you  have any comments or questions !

KP

valentine angel pendant by me, kristen!

Here is another angel that I recently made as a paper pendant. I think she has such a sweet and angelic face! Sorry I don’t have much time to write tonight, weekdays are super busy for me now that school is back in full swing. I will post more this weekend….look for a new tutorial on Sunday night!

The Phoenix is such a symbol of hope and renewal. Perfect for a cold day in January!

It’s Sunday evening and I have so much going through my head right now. I start back to school tomorrow after a much needed (and much too short) break! Most of the time didn’t really feel like a “break” anyway with all of the busy-ness of the holidays and the many hours of shopping, cleaning and cooking. I’m not complaining because it was fun to have time with the family and it’s always wonderful to have my oldest girl home from college.  But as usual, time just flies by and before Calgon can take me away, the time has passed.  Like I said, it’s back to school tomorrow and it’s going to be a full load. The kid started back last Tuesday but then had a four day weekend due to the snow and ice and I have a sneaking suspicion it’s going to be rough on all of us getting back into a routine in this frigid weather, ugh!

I sure hope you have enjoyed my tutorials and the new look of kristen powers ink!  I plan on posting at least one or two craft  tutorials per week. I hope that if you like what I am doing you will subscribe. I have a lot in the works for this year, so please check in often!

Artfully yours,

Kristen