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Video sharing how to upcycle an old picture frame mixed media style

Let's Play, a link party where you can be inspired and be inspiring! For this week’s Let’s Play link party, I’m upcycling an old picture frame, mixed media style!  This frame had no glass in it…no photos…and the backs were missing.  Why was I keeping it?  No idea but it was either time to get rid of it or add some color to it!

 

Video sharing how to upcycle an old picture frame mixed media style

So how does this all help me play?  Starting with something that was headed to the trash takes all the pressure off.  What if I ruin it? Who cares, it was headed to the dump anyway!

It’s also handy to have an O.O.P.S. attitude because as soon as the orange hit the frame, I didn’t like it at all!  O.O.P.S. stands for Outstanding Opportunities Presenting Suddenly and when I have an O.O.P.S. attitude I see the opportunity instead of the “mistake”.  This Oops led me to adding patterns with stencils.

But it wasn’t my only Oops…and that is a good thing!

Video sharing how to upcycle an old picture frame mixed media style

There was one Oops that was my absolute, hands down, favorite. It led me to doing something that I probably never would have done but am so glad I did!  And it’s all in the video!

Watch Upcycle an Old Picture Frame Mixed Media Style Tutorial on YouTube.

Stencils used: Rectangular Patterns for Play, Doodle It Inchie, and Rows of Triangles.

Fineliner video tutorial mentioned in the video can be found at https://youtu.be/pDr1G2UIrXI

How do you play creatively? There is no "exactly" how to do it but there are guidelines to lead you- that is the focus of this year's Let's Play link party and giveaways!

This month’s giveaway is a $50 gift certificate to Dick Blick!  Link up what you’re creating (and you get a bonus entry into the giveaway for sharing your play) or leave a comment telling something that you liked about one of the photos shared. One comment per person.  Giveaway closes Sunday, Jan 31st at Midnight PST and will be announced the following Tuesday.

New to Let’s Play?  You can find out all about it, what you can share (and it is almost anything), why your play (yes YOURs!) helps others to play, plus other info here.

This post is just one of many Let’s Play link parties and each one has a video all about creative art play!  Click here for a list of them all and the most recent one will be at the top of the list so you can jump right in and share what you’ve been creating!

[inlinkz_linkup id=597547 mode=1]

This post is just one of many Let’s Play link parties and each one has a video all about creative art play!  Click here for a list of them all and the most recent one will be at the top of the list so you can jump right in and share what you’ve been creating!

Link up etiquette  

  • If you see something you like, leave a comment on their photo or blog post and show some love – let them know they inspired you! 
  • Share your recent play (any form of creativity is welcome) that hasn’t been linked up to a Let’s Play before ( limit 3 per week please)
  • Add a link back to to this post so that others can find it, be sparked, and join the fun!
  • New link party begins each Tuesday..sometimes even late Monday night… 
  • Enter the giveaway for the $50 gift certificate by linking up (and you get a bonus chance for sharing your fun) or by leaving a comment telling something you liked about one of the photos shared in the link party. One comment per person on this week’s blog post.  The winner will be announced on the first Tuesday of the following month. You can find all the details about Let’s Play here.

You can upload a photo or use a URL or Instagram.  Not sure how to find a URL or link up? Check out this page of Let’s Play FAQs.

Want to put the button your blog? Just copy all of the the code from under the button.

Let's Play!
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New stencil release giveaway! A new stencil release means a giveaway!  One random winner will receive my 5 latest releases and my DVD, Breaking the Rules! Beyond Stenciling Techniques – and yes, international is eligible too!  I’ve heard from lots of people they have already ordered some of these, so if you win and you’ve already got one you can pick any of my other 50+ stencils at StencilGirl.  Find out how to get entered at the end of this post!

Rectangular Patterns for Play and Circular Patterns for Play have several patterns on each stencil.  There’s a reason for that…and I share how to use just one stencil to build up layers for an art journal background in this new video!

Watch Building a stenciled background in an art journal tutorial on YouTube.

Fun video sharing how to use all the patterns on one stencil to make an art journal background!

Two of the stencils include masks too!  Butterfly Journeys and Finding Your Tribe both come with masks so there are all sorts of possibilities for how you can play with these!   You can see how I made this page in the video A scribbly start to an art journal page inspired by morning pages on YouTube.

Video of colorful scribbling, used as her morning pages, is transformed with a butterfly stencil and paint.

The ladies on the Finding Your Tribe stencil are near and dear to my heart because they represent the women who I have come to know and treasure through to art.  My life is so much more complete thanks to them!

Finding your tribe stencil in an art journal page

The Mixed Media Mail stencil was inspired by mail art so I used it to create some colorful junk mail envelopes in this video – Rediscover Ways to Play in a Monthly Challenge

January's Let's Play challenge of using something that would have been thrown away

So would you like to win all 5 of these new ones and a DVD?  I’ll be putting an address on the envelope and dropping them into the mail- and it could be you!

Leave a comment and you are entered to win!  Want more than 1 chance to win?  How about 4 more chances!  For each of these that you do, you’ll get another entry!  Each time you do one of these, come back and leave a comment tell me you did it and you’ve got more chances to win!

  • Share this blog post on Facebook
  • Pin anything from this post on Pinterest
  • Repost my giveaway post on Instagram (I’m carolyn_dube )
  • Share on G+

The giveaway is now closed. You can see the winner here.  Thank you everyone for all your kind words!  If you’re arriving here after the giveaway has closed – never fear!  There will be more giveaways in the future and if you’d like to know about them as well as get downloadable goodies in your inbox, get signed up for my newsletter!

Be sure to be entered by 5pm EST on Monday, January 18th when random.org will pick one winner and it will be announced here on the blog on the evening of the 18th!

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Video of colorful scribbling, used as her morning pages, is transformed with a butterfly stencil and paint.

What inspired my art play today?  Aggravation…not the game…the emotion.  Thank goodness for Julia Cameron and her morning pages from The Artist’s Way so I could get it all out of my system!

I have used Morning Pages to write, on paper with lines and an ink pen, what I’m feeling, thinking, etc. without worrying about grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.  And it is powerful.

But I also do it with art supplies and for me, it is even more powerful when I add color and big big scribble writing.  Letting it all out on the page allowed me to get it out of my system and to transform it into much more gentle feelings.

Once I had all that colorful scribbling, I wanted to capture the transformation in the art journal page so I used my Butterfly Journeys stencil and masks.  Butterflies symbolize transformation so they were just what I needed.  You can see the whole process and how to use a mask in the video!

Watch A scribbly start to an art journal page inspired by morning pages on YouTube.

After I finished 3 of the butterflies, for a split second I almost didn’t cover it all over with black paint.

Video of colorful scribbling, used as her morning pages, is transformed with a butterfly stencil and paint.

To create a title for the page, I combined words from 2 stencils, Mixed Media Mail and Transform by Seth Apter.  The last touch was a bit more of the scribble journaling but this time it was more peaceful writing thanks to being able to transform that aggravation through art play!

Want to know more about how to let yourself play?  I’ve got a free workshop called Permission to Play to get you started no matter where you are on your creative journey!

Video of colorful scribbling, used as her morning pages, is transformed with a butterfly stencil and paint.

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!


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