Crafty Musings by Hagit

The Shy Photographer

I love taking photos. I've been carrying my camera with me since the day I bought it, and I especially enjoy street photography, rather than taking well directed and arranged pictures. However, I still have a hard time shooting people, mainly because I'm too embarassed to approach them. Which leaves me with many pictures of backs!

So before I show you all my back pictures, let me just tell you about this very interesting project, 100 Strangers. The idea is to take pictures of 100 strangers (surprise, surprise!), and the site offers some very interesting tips and ideas, and also helps people share their pictures.

I'd love to try such a project one day! In the mean time, here are my pictures, of people's backs. I love how they each tell a small story. :)

 

 

 

 

What about you? Do you feel comfortable enough to take photos of strangers?

 

 

Playing in my journal

Took all my paints out last night and played around.
These are mainly backgrounds, using some new tools and materials I've been wanting to try.
Enjoyed every minute!
The hardest part is to decide if and how to continue each page. 
Do you also fall in love with your backgrounds? I get stuck every single time, fearing I'll "ruin" them! :-) 

Pops of Color

In my art journal: 

In a new book I'm working in: 

 

 

In my messy workspace: 

Around the house:

 

 

In my workshops:

 

And on the beach! :)

Where do you get your color fix? ;-)

Journal Page

I finally got around to using this journal I made a few years ago, and decided to use my ephemera instead of hoard it. The strip on the left, with the little paper plane drawing  is actually a take away menu. I love those little planes, and have been collecting those menus, so I'm very happy to have finally used this. The little business card with the boy and girl is also from a local restaurant. It says "like" in Hebrew, which triggered the "Like" in English. Stencils, washi tape, and lots of acrylics there, too.

Like? ;-)

Yet another mixed media girl

Faux washi tape - a tutorial

I love washi tape. And I took a picture to prove it!

The thing is, that it costs quite a bit.
So I started thinking about making some home-made washi, and wondered what would be the closest solution - what has that similar thin, scaly transparent texture, and came up with this super simple tutorial.

All you need is: 

Medical tape, some rub-ons, scissors, and a transparency, or clean mat, to stick the tape on.

Choose your rub-on, and cut it. I love using larger rub-ons, and cutting them into different shapes and sizes:

Cut some tape, tape it down on your smooth, clean surface, and rub the rub-ons down.
That's all! There you have it, thin, transparent, colorful washi tape!  

Now go tape something down! ;-)

There are many other ways to alter medical tape, including stamping:

you could print on it, use it to texturize a background, color it, paint it, and much more.

Here's a great roundup of washi tape on Mel Stampz.

Enjoy! :)

WIP Monday

Mixed media on canvas.

Not quite finished. 
Setting it aside until I decide how to continue :) 

WIP Monday

My Magic Place

Last week, I talked to a friend about that special place art leads us to.
A private place where I can disconnect from the outer world and enter my realm, full of magic (paint and color!).

I'm so thankful for having this magic place.
A place where I can dream
and experiment
cut, paint, sew, use my hands,
get dirty,
think things over and out,
be inspired 
and enjoy every minute of it all! 

That's what I had in mind when I made this canvas.
I transferred a picture of a door I took some time ago (one of many I have. I love doors!), and from there on, some more transfers, gesso, many layers of papers and medium, and a few lines from a song in Hebrew, translated to something along the lines of, "I'll give you the key (to the magic door), come in and be my guest".

I love the way that little heart turned out, all red and shiny and alive, as opposed to the muted transfers.

And I absolutely love all the texture:

 

 

 

 Doesn't it make you want to touch and feel all those bumps and curves? :-)

New painting

It started with this exercise, inspired by Cynthia Shaffer (I love her blog, and LOVE the energy in that last post :)).
I drew this tiny doll I once bought at a flea market:

This is what it looked like at the beginning:

And I'm thrilled with the result! I played and played with paper and glue and pencils and crayons and paints, and I'm so happy I plan to hang it! Very exciting for me, because I have absolutely nothing I made decorating my home.

Last, but not least - food for thought.
I made this canvas after a whole week in which I stayed away from the computer. Hmmm...

 

Accordion mini-album

I haven't scrapbooked in a long time, and this week I made two (double sided) accordion minis for my mom and my mother in law. Filled with photos of our son.

 It was lots of fun putting these small books together.

I thouhgt of them more as picture frames than memory keeping albums, and didn't do any journaling or add embellishments.

 Mainly paper and washi tape.

Oh and I love paper packs. I love how easy it is when everything fits together so nicely. Not everything needs to be hard, right? ;-) 

This is already the second album. The photos are the same, the layouts aren't. 

 

I thought it would be simple to make two identical albums.

 

 

Apparently, I can't do that. :)
So I played it a little more. Pages are similar, just not identical.

And here they are, ready to be gifted. 

 

 I enjoyed this so much!