Creativity Kick Start

What do you do to kick start your creativity?  I want to know! 

I just can't seem to get going lately.  Although my life is way busier than it was just 6 months ago, I do find little pockets of time to create.  But when I sit down to make something, my mojo is missing. 

Fred Mullett was in town last week teaching at a nearby stamp store.  I've admired his work for years, so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to get my creative juices flowing and took one of his classes.  And I think it worked.  I've been working on some new projects today and feeling things moving again!

Here are a few of the things I made with rubber stamps, markers, pencils, ink and paint.  It was fun!

I'd love to hear what you do to find your mojo when its missing.  I'm going to write a blog post about it and would love your input!

Ali

Guest Artist Sharon Rogers

I'm so excited to share with you the beautiful work of Sharon Rogers.  She created a stunning bird tag and a lovely CAS card using the Vintage Page Bird kit.

And I love this nip and tuck card Sharon created with the Foreign Book Page bundle from my store too.

You can enjoy more of Sharon's work on her blog, Sharon's Showcase. 

Don't forget there's still time to enter this month's bird challenge! To see more vintage bird projects, click here and to purchase your own Vintage Bird Kit, click here.

Ali

Altered Bird House by Cheri Weston

Cheri Weston made the most adorable altered bird house book with my Vintage Bird Kit and seam binding.  I' m so excited to share some pictures of it on the Vintage Page blog - you can read more about it on Cheri's blog Stamp n Boomer.  Pop over and say 'hi'

For more vintage bird project to inspire you, click here and to purchase your own Vintage Bird Kit, click here.

Ali

Friday Favorites - Writers & Graveyards

Last Saturday we spent a lovely day exploring an old graveyard in Concord, MA and nearby Walden Pond with some new friends.  The graveyard is called Sleepy Hallow and is home to the graves of some famous writers, such as Emerson, Thoreau and Alcott.  It was an awesome place to take pictures, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites today.

Hope you have a fun weekend planned!

Ali

Fabric Bird Collage

I'm just loving playing with fabric at the moment.  The base of this 6" x 6" collage is a piece of grunge board that I sewed a piece of tea-dyed ticking to.

Then, I just layered up things I love:

• stamped, tea-dyed tag
• piece of handmade paper
• page from a vintage book
• old postage stamp
• scrap of an old vintage map
• vintage buttons

The main focal image is a bird from an old book page (found in the Vintage Page Bird Kits) adorned with an old lens.  Everything was either sewn onto the fabric base or adhered with gel medium.  Here's some close-ups:

 

 

I'm linking to the following Brenda's Tuesday Treasures.

Happy Creating!

Ali

Altered Book Cover by Trisha Too

I'm delighted to share with you today a beautiful piece of art by Trisha Too of Easily Amused, Hard to Offend.  Trisha is an amazing Mixed Media Artist - you should definitely check out her work if you're not familiar with it. 

To make this piece, she used the Vintage Page Bird Kit and Neutral Seam Binding to create an amazing altered book cover.  I love how she created a sheet music pleat at the bottom!

Created by Trisha Too

If you love birds, don't forget to play this month's bird challenge.  You're in with a chance to win some lovely seam binding.

Come back tomorrow and I'll share with you a fabric collage I created this weekend. 

Ali

Bird Challenge & A Prize

I'm celebrating the release of my new Vintage Page Bird Kit with a creative challenge and a chance to win a prize.  The challenge is to create a piece of artwork containing

B I R D S

Created by Ali Manning

It can take any form - an ATC, card, scrapbook or journal page - you choose.  And you can use any media - paper, fabric, stamps, ink, paint etc.  Go to town and have fun.  Post your creation here by May 31, 2012 and I will randomly draw 3 lucky winners, who will all receive my Neutral Seam Binding Collection.

Here's some artwork by this month's Guest Designers to inspire your bird creations - all created with the Vintage Page Bird Kit.

 Created by Helene Huber

 Created by Debi Ryan

Created by Trisha Too

Created by Cheri Weston

Created by Sharon Rogers

Vintage Page Bird Kits

Good morning!  The Vintage Page Bird kits are finally available in my Etsy store.  I've been working on them for a while and I'm so excited that they are out in the world!

My thinking behind them is that while mass produced papers and embellishments are fun to use, I like to incorporate real vintage items into my work.  And so I figured, other probably like to do that too.  That's how they were born!

I picked a favorite theme of mine for the first kit - Vintage Birds.  Each hand-selected package contains all original bird themed book pages, illustrations and ephemera - nothing has been reproduced or altered in any way.  Because they're from my personal collection, there's only a limited supply, so when they're gone, they're gone :(

And in case you're wondering what to do with these bundles of vintage goodies, here's some inspiration for you.  Helene Huber created this fantastic tag using a recycled postal box lid - thanks Helene!

And I made a fabric collage using one of the cute bird trading cards that's included in the kit.

If you have any comments or questions about the kits, drop me a line - alimanning@charter.net.

Have a creative day!

Ali