New ACEOS

ACEOs are so much fun to make! And these are twice as much fun because I used a technique called pulled art. You play with paint, pens and other fun mediums then sit back and look at your work until a story emerges and there like magic a picture comes through. Here are some examples and FYI they're available in my etsy store claraism.etsy.com

ACEO Dafney

Dafney has a problem, she never liked her picture taken but today was different; Today she has a secret. This little girl has a Victorian style about her and her eyes tell a story that she could never tell.

Do you recall that moment when you’re tittering on sleep and you feel like you’re falling? Well, this piece of pulled artwork has been inspired by that fall.

Abigail just overheard the strangest thing, and she‘s torn; should she tell or keep it a secret?

Marie is waiting for her one true love and today is the day; the day she thinks he’ll ask her to be his wife!

Love is in the air

Gift tags are a fun way of personalizing any gift you’re giving. And you can use so many different kinds of material too. Here I have created some Valentine Tags to adorn my gifts this year. I used designer papers, fabric ribbon, and assorted embellishments to create fun and beautiful Tags.

HandMade Flowers

I spent the better part of this weekend making paper flowers. Why? Well, I would like to do a tutorial on youtube and thought I’d better get it right first and of course why not? Paper flowers last forever and handmade is so much more precious than store bought; don’t you think?  So here is a quick step by step

First cut out 5 petal flower you’ll need 5 of these. You can cut them by hand or use a punch or even if you’re lucky enough to have a die cutting machine use that.

Next , take one of the layers and use an end of a marker or something else that’s round and curl the petals around it.

Then glue the layers together making sure to offset each layer t make a fuller flower. The last layer is the bud you can make a tighter bud or looser depending on how much you curled them around the marker.

At this point you’ll want to cup the flower in your palm to add form to it.

Finish by taking the end of a paint brush and curl the petals do this to each layer for a more realistic look.

You can spray your flowers with several mediums to get the color you like best like water colors, lindys, or ranger mist and/or dies. It’s better to color your flowers before you glue them. The results are wonderful and make great embellishments for any project.

This is My year!

Ah, the start of a new year, full of potential and opportunities. I love this time of year for so many reasons but at the top of the list are always the fresh new plans or goals for the coming year.  I’m especially excited about this year because I will be focusing on my Art/craft-work more specifically my love for it! I find it hard to commit to Blogging daily so I don’t really want to set myself up to fail. I think once a week to start will be plenty and if I gather a following then I will post more frequently. 

 Next, is the social networking sites; I have a facebook I had better start using it for better things, other than what I had for dinner.  Then there is my favorite place to hang out; You-tube! I want to add more videos and maybe even try my hand at a series that doesn’t require people to sign up. I’ll just make fun and interesting videos for the love of art! If you would like to see what I’m up to, find me on youtube ccbell42 http://www.youtube.com/user/ccbell42?feature=guide and be sure to subscribe to my channel.  

This is going to be my year; my year to shine, to be recognized for interesting and imaginative artwork. I am going to be published in one of the many Art/craft magazines out there [or maybe all of them].  Yes! this is my year 2012!!