Monday afternoon I made two new tags for my junk journal. I try to do some sort of art, or paper-crafting daily.  This time I wasn’t in the mood to work on my other art projects I have started and I wasn’t wanting to start a new art journal page. Just creating something with paper was enough to get my crafting in for the day. Which is a must! It really helps with ones creativity and it’s calming.

Anyhow, I want to show you two other projects I have started. These two projects will take me awhile since I’m limited to the time I have to craft. The picture with the three canvas and embellishments and thread is going to be a lot of fun to see where I go with it. I have a few things in mind for it and I look forward to the challenge of being creative with it. Adding textiles will be part of the making.

The wood below is part of a landscape I’m working on. It will include houses as well. I will be using my painted papers and acrylic paint for this project. To prep the wood, I used collage and then applied white gesso. I do have most of the painted papers ready to start this project. I even have the patterns of the houses ready. My next step is to sketch the landscape and house to the wood with pencil. From there I will start to collage the images. So excited about this project!

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Would it hurt too much to be kind?  

One other thing and I don’t normally bring up drama I see on social media but this one really stood out to me for a number of reasons. Mostly because I am a paper-crafter and mixed-media artist. I saw a person tweet about a TikTok video of a person re-purposing books for home decor ideas. The person was shaming this person for using the books that way by painting the covers. There were hundreds of people that got on there, ripping the person apart for doing that to the books. The names they were calling that person was beyond awful.

Back in the day, I used to cringe at my art teachers for having us use books and magazines for our art projects. That is the bookworm in me but I did it nonetheless. Usually the books were very old and we used them for collage and mono printing. You would be amazed how many professional artists use pages from books for their art. They collage with them. I do. That is one of the many elements of mixed-media art. Even people who junk journal do that.

About a two decades ago now, I used to work for a bookstore that would trash books that were returned. Even if they were in perfect condition or the fact that even libraries and thrift stores throw out thousands of books a year. At least this way they are being repurposed and saved from the landfills. I use book pages for my mixed media art and for my journals. Mostly I use damaged books and out of date Webster dictionaries and magazines. I feel for the person they were attacking. It’s ridiculous how vicious these people are. So much hate in this world and lately its increased over almost anything. Where does it end? People need to get control of themselves. Be kind!

“Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.” – Barbara De Angelis

Stephanie Hopkins