Merry Sherry's Creations

An Art-Full Life

Creative Time Again!

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We recently adopted a sweet little rescue dog (Harriett The Yorkie) and while helping her adapt (and us as well) to the new arrangements, I’ve taken a few days away from posting and creating. But today it finally cooled down enough here in North Texas to take her for her first walk in the park. We didn’t go far but she was ready for a LOOOONG nap afterwards and HERE I AM – back in my creative space!

I’ve had the MOST fun taking Diane of The Dreams Factory’s class on The Graphics Fairy (available with their Premium Membership). I’m not an affiliate with The Graphics Fairy – but oh my goodness how I LOVE to share how much fun I have with my membership!

Diane’s class was on creating a layered paper digital collage. I’m showing my final completed project in the image below. However, having an ABUNDANCE of respect for the lovely graphics used in the class, I’m “marking it up” a bit so it cannot be recopied from this site.

I know it is hard to tell much in a photo like the above, but there are a BUNCH of layered digital paper images used in this project. Each image is wonderful on its own – but so fun in a collage. This was my first really complicated digital collage. Although Diane demonstrated with Photoshop Elements, I am an Affinity product user. I used Affinity Photo. Though there are differences in the names and some actions between the two programs, with persistence I was able to get through all the steps. I had to segue to look up how to do some things in Affinity Photo but that was a great opportunity for me to learn more about it as well.

I can’t wait to do more of these kinds of collages with my own designs and use them on my book projects! If you are interested in learning more about the class and where to find these amazing commercial use graphics, please follow the links above – or in the information below!

Happy Creating!!

RESOURCES

  • Affinity Photo – if you haven’t discovered Affinity products and despair because Adobe products are so expensive, I urge you to give Affinity a try! I moved off Adobe products two years ago and have never looked back or missed a step in our art production business!
  • The Graphics Fairy – you can subscribe for free to receive their weekly freebie and newsletter. But the REAL jewel is their Premium Membership. I’ve got a tight budget but so far the membership fee has been at the perfect set point for me and I absolutely LOVE the graphics. They also offer (as part of the membership fee) some fantastic tutorials by very skilled artists. I HIGHLY recommend.
  • Diane at Dreams Factory – one of the fantastic artists who has created tutorials for The Graphics Fairy and these are included in the price of the monthly membership. Her tutorial for the project I just completed is AMAZING. The detail in the instructions is incredibly helpful!

Tin Can Fun

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Hope you have nothing but good things come your way today. And if you happen to be a mom, I wish you a fantastic day leading up to your special day tomorrow!

Lately, I’ve been having a lot of fun with tin cans. I’ve been experimenting with decoupage, painting, and even some drawing on cans that I salvaged. One project was a fun display for air plants using olive cans! I wrapped twine around the cans (using a glue gun to secure it) and then glued them onto an orchid mount board that I had lying around. To ensure extra stability, I used a small amount of Reptile Glue in addition to the hot glue gun.

While going through my collection of stick-on decorations, I found these adorable little birds. Even though they already had sticky backs, I decided to reinforce them with a dab of hot glue. I added tiny bows to two of the cans, securing them with another dot of hot glue. I’ve always been fond of air plants, and I discovered some new species to add to my collection! They look fantastic on this board!

Tin Can 1
Tin Can 2

I’ve been having fun exploring decoupage and painting techniques on tin cans. I really like using mushroom cans because the brand I use has a little recessed “lip”. The lip is perfect for attaching a piece of round cardstock to add a sturdy area for rocks, marbles, gravel, or preserved sphagnum moss. You can easily leave a hole in the cardstock base to insert floral picks.

After painting the can white, I printed out a design and used decoupage to apply it. To give it a more natural look, I added little splashes of burnt umber to mimic rust and sealed the entire piece with glossy ModPodge. I then secured the cardstock to the rim with a bit of Reptile glue and hot glue, then inserted the “stem” of a faux succulent into the center hole. I think it is absolutely adorable!

Tin can with Grace in Abundance text and a succulent.

I can offer group classes on how to create similar items. It’s a fun and inexpensive way to gather with friends for a no-stress creating time! Message me if interested in information! Happy Saturday – and a blessed Mother Day’s tomorrow!