Mixed Media Acrylic Greeting Card "How To" Hastypearl

Mixed Media Greeting Card "How To" 

Hastypearl

Hi Everyone!

I thought it might be fun, to show you a really simple and fun Mixed Media project, 

that you probably already have all of the supplies for.

Remember, it doesn't have to look like mine when you are finished, in fact you don't WANT it to.

This is just a technique, the Creativity, is up to YOU!

Supply list:

Paper any size, or Blank Card

Your favorite Acrylic paints 

Painting  masking tape

Palette knife, or anything with an edge...could even use an old credit card or piece of cardboard

Rubber Stamp 

Stays On Ink or anything that wont smudge off of ...

Waxed Paper

Double Sided tape...I used Ranger Red line

Gold Leafing pen...or anything to make an edge on the waxed paper

Art is like Cooking . You start with a basic recipe, and then you CHANGE IT UP :)

So, as you can see, I used a blank white card for my husbands recent Birthday card!

I taped off the edge and used thinner strips horizontally, through the middle.

You could choose to skip the tape and paint the whole thing, or make a different shape than I did.

Make sure the edges of the tape are really pressed down, so you get a clean edge.

I used a palette knife.

I literally, just put tiny dots of acrylic paint directly on the knife, and smeared them in random patterns.

You can use a heat gun or blow dryer, in between colors, if you want the colors to stay sharp. 

Acrylic dries super fast, so there is almost no waiting in between colors.

Keep working along, until you get the spaces filled in like you want them. 

Feel free, to let some of the paint build up.

You can see that the buttermilk color that I used, is raised and textural.  

Don't lift the tape, yet!

(I lifted some of mine, so that you could see how things progressed) 

After the acrylic dried, I splattered some metallic paints, that are the consistency of a wet water color.

Use what you have!

Your tape is still down, so you can splatter, without worrying about it getting on your white spaces.

After everything is dry, pull your tape up.

My husband likes to fish, so I used a Fred Mullet fish stamp, stamped in Stays On, 

on a piece of waxed paper.

Then I edged the waxed paper with a Gold Leafing Pen.

You could use yarn, thread, wire...anything that you have.

Finally, I taped the fish waxed paper down with the Red line tape. 

Use whatever you have that will be clear.

Place your stamped waxed paper, wherever you want.

I wrote Happy Birthday.

You can write whatever you want!

So, There!

See how easy that was?

This has the potential to be a larger piece...maybe a 5" x 7"...whatever you want!

My only regret about this project, is that I want to get to see what You come up with!

You can see a button on the right of the screen where you can email me and send me pictures of what you make if you would like!

That would be awesome.

There is also a place on the right side, to sign up to receive e-notices that I have posted, 

if you want to follow this hastypearl blog...and I Hope that you Do :)

I don't share those addresses...EVER, and I wont annoy you with tons of postings.

I hope you had fun with this project!

Its fail proof, because there isn't a right or wrong way to do it...

and its great to know, that there are no REAL Licensed Art Police!

Only people that THINK they are ;)

  

Art is about Exploring and Learning...and hopefully having Lots of Fun along the way!

As Always...Thanks for stopping by to hastypearl...

I hope your days are Wonderful!

xoxo Laura

May Blooms Acrylic Mixed Media Hastypearl

May Blooms 

Acrylic Mixed Media

Hastypearl

I'm really enjoying...Jus' Playin' in the studio these May Days.

I mean, there is so much going on in these two pieces.

There are all manner of compounds under the paint. 

If you feel them, they feel like topographical maps!

I also laid down wire and metallics and then covered them up.

Waiting quietly for you to find them on both pieces, are some Red Poppies.

Can you see them?

Hey, its May and its time to Celebrate...the Flowers!

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When I tilted them into the light, it made the copper metallics more evident.

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Jus' Fun to show you how I Jus' been Playin' !

;)

xoxo Happy May

Laura

Mothers Day 2014 Hastypearl

Mothers Day 2014

Hastypearl

Well, here we are!

The Mothers with 130 years of Mothering Experience between us.

My Mother is 85. 

Isn't it interesting, that after a certain age, and I don't know what it is officially, 

 it seems to be acceptable, to say a woman's age.

In my mothers case, as you look at her, its because she has Somewhere, 

seemed to Find the Fountain of Youth.

On the other hand, I would NEVER say my Sisters age. 

That must be because she hasn't reached that magic number, yet!

So as our kids weren't in town, it was a day for the Three Originals, to be together.

And that almost always means...Mexican Food!!!

There are a million restaurant choices in San Antonio, but one that we frequent, is near my Mothers house...so...even though we were all stuffed, 

we went back to her house, for some Impromptu Celebrating and Chatting.

Mothers ALWAYS love Chatting!

My Mother, has lived in the same house since the early 60's.

That turned out to be a good thing, when we lost my Father.

Check out her great collection of Milk Ware, and some commemorative plates, from the church that she has also attended for that long.

And Then Enter...the Cherry on the Top of the Day...

a Collection of Seriously Chocolate Cakes.

We sampled all and came fairly close, to finishing them off. :)

Sweet Misery!

Its wonderful, to have family nearby...and to be able to say that that has been true, our whole lives.

And like last year, I got a happy surprise from both of my Out Of Town Sons.

These Stargazer Lilies from One...(you should see them NOW, with almost all blooms open), 

and a Skype call from the Other including my Grand Granddaughter, Katherine Anne!

The days and years fly by, but its Wonderful to have Loved Ones to Mark them with.

I hope your Mothers Day was Wonderful, too!

Glad that you stopped by to Hastypearl...and

maybe Next Posting, I will be able to Disclose where that Fountain of Youth, is! :)

xoxo Laura

Mixed Media Acrylic Collage Cross Training! Hastypearl

Mixed Media Acrylic Collage

Cross Training!

Hastypearl

I thought that you might enjoy seeing something that I worked on in my studio, last week.

I had SO MUCH FUN playing in a way that I'm not as accustomed to.

After reading Chris Cozen and Julie Prichard's book, Acrylic Solutions, I got busy on an assemblage box, which is easier for me, but this piece on today's posting, was more of a departure.

I love that the ladies first encourage in their book, layering the board with Texture...of all kinds.

Now THAT, is right up my "mixed media alley"!

I started with crackle paint and burlap, and the horizontal mushroom brown line on the bottom, is actually done on the lining of a 1940's men's silk tie! Hey, I couldn't help it...I've got STUFF you know!

The little circles, are some round pieces of cardboard, 

and with all of the linear shapes, I like the little circles standing tall for themselves.

I placed the finished piece on some black card stock to photograph, and wow, 

it really made the blacks in the piece, pop!

Black would definitely be a great color choice for matting or framing. 

Top Half

Bottom Half

Finished piece leaning up against a frame.

I like how it looks, but I love how it Feels.

There is a lot of texture and that's always important to me.

Not only does it feel good, but texture lends itself to depth and shadows, that a flat surface wont.

I Loved this Exercise!

Its good, to get out of the regular groove that you are in, in whatever category you want to apply that to.

I read once, that if you repeat the same physical exercise over and over again, you muscles memorize it and the effectiveness goes down. That is why Cross Training was invented.

If Cross Training is good for the Body, its got to be good for the Artists Brain, too!

Try it! Who knows, you just might be surprised...and have some Fun :)

As Always...Im So, glad that you stopped in!

Have you done anything New lately, that you were surprised to have enjoyed?

xoxo Laura 

100 Etsy Sales...Another Benchmark! Hastypearl

100 Etsy Sales...Another Benchmark!

Hastypearl

Yippee!

I made it!

Well...Thanks to my Wonderful Customers, I made it!

I've told some of this story before, so you may have already heard it, 

but LONG before I had a shop on Etsy, I was a Buyer on Etsy.

The allure of having a shop, hit me right away.

I imagined having a space, where I could sell my handmade's and the 

vintage found items that I loved to discover.

It took me several years, literally, to Actually Open.

Mostly, because I just didn't have a clue as to how to go about doing it.

My skill set, isn't strong on computer literacy, but thankfully, I am comfortable ASKING for help, and there has been an Abundance, of Wonderful People, to help me along the way.

I started Making and Collecting for the shop, and on December 5, 2012, I opened Hastypearl!

People have asked me where I came up with Hastypearl.

Part of the explanation is easy...

Pearl, is a nickname given to me in my early teens, by my best friends family.

I have NO idea why they picked Laura Pearl, but it stuck!

Seriously stuck, as it is also, my Grandmotherly name that my sweetheart granddaughter calls me! 

"Hasty" happened, as I was listening to an Adele song where she sings a line in a song...

"watching hastiness unfold".

Obliviously, That part stuck...too!

While I'm actually disciplined in some areas of my life, 

I also have a Hasty side to me...so...

Hastypearl...was born! 

I thought you might like to see what my first item to sell, looked like. (below)

It didn't happen until February, so, it was a L O N G two months wait.

I've heard of people getting a sale the first day, and others waiting a long time.

Each shop has its own story.

I was SO thrilled.

I called my cousin Beverly, who has the Etsy shop BevsCrochetCreations, 

and she talked me through the sale.

You can see in the fourth image, what the shops screens look like to the owners,

 since they don't look the same to the shoppers.

I packaged up the three items for that first sale, and was Amazed, that someone from Minnesota, 

had found me!

At first, I only listed to people in the U.S., because I was pretty intimidated about international purchases.

I was excited about the possibilities and realized that Anyone, could find me!

The piece below, was one of the first that I Listed.

I learned a lot from making that piece...like, little pointy things, have to be Specially Packed!

But I was an ARTEEST, and wasn't going to let that effect what I made!

It also showed me, that if someone from the United Kingdom could find me, while looking for a shrine for their home, to rotate special pictures of her deceased mother and brother in, that what I was Doing, would be more like a Ministry, than just Making things. 

With that discovery, I began praying, for all of the future buyers of my items.

While I sometimes wish my pieces would sell faster, I believe that they are each meant for 

Someone Special,

 and will be patient to see who that person is.

Many buyers have told me amazing reasons that they are buying my art or vintage finds and I love hearing their stories.

 The Vintage Cross below, was my 100th sale!

I was VERY happy about that!

The Significance of The Cross, both to me AND the Buyer, wasn't lost on me.

It went to a Texas Mixed Media Jewelry artist, who makes amazing pieces and also teaches people how to  create their own jewelry.

I had actually recently, bought her book..  

So, this is what my page looks like to me...

There's lots of info to help me run my business.

The picture below, is what my screen looked like for my 100th sale!

I had actually been excitedly Waiting, to see it!

The Truth is, I early on, sold 4 of my little wire ornament hangers to a set director, to be used on stage for a current monster Tony award winning play. I wasn't sure how to do it, so I grouped all four pieces into one sale, so I always showed that I was 3 sales behind my actual number...but oh well, it just taught me a little more patience, for that 100 on the screen, to roll around!

So, there you are!

I can't tell you ALL of the wonderful things I have learned in this process or about how many 

Great Customers, I have had.

 I've have friends and family, that have Totally Supported me either in purchasing, or Like"ing", 

yet One More of my Hastypearl listings on Facebook...ONE MORE TIME!

I feel supported...and LOVED!  

I guess the most important thing that I could say would be, if you have a Dream to Do Something...DO IT!

Don't wait until you have it all figured out.

GET HASTY!! :)

The Learning Curve will teach you things about yourself , that you cant Imagine!

Don't miss out on that :)

Thanks Everyone for a Wonderful First 100!

xoxo Laura