UPDATE: Paperbag Studios stamps and Art Pops™ are no longer available, but many things can be substituted to make this project!
Get creative and have fun!

Laurie Haley

I had such a fun time creating this little project with business cards and Roben-Marie's Art Pops™ Cards and Stickers. How this project came about was from something pretty simple…cleaning my desk. A few weeks ago, my pile of creative mess had once again found its way into a mountain, and there comes a point where I need to get it under control again so I feel more creative. And, if I am honest I needed the space. I had boxed myself in.

Check out this video tutorial as Design Team member Laurie Hayley creates these altered business cards. Lauri takes you step-by-step through creating these little cards which are perfect for setting your art free in the world! She uses Art Pops™ and…

So, as I was cleaning, I came across a package of business cards I had set on my desk to play with. Of course, they got covered with other projects I was working on and were forgotten. Once I had them in my hands again I got excited about them all over again and wanted to play, so I abandoned the cleaning up project and went to my painting table and began to play with different markers, paints and stamps. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share the fun in my next design team project.

I wanted to carry some “business” cards in my purse so that I could leave little pieces of free art for unsuspecting recipients so the Art Pops™ Cards inspired me to make the little card holder. I might be at the dentist office and leave one on the table in the waiting room, or I might leave one on a table in a restaurant. There are all kinds of places to leave little art gifts for someone to find and brighten their day and make them smile. So, I measured out the large size Art Pops™ Cards and they were perfect for making the little card holder.

I hope you will give this project a try. These little art cards are the perfect way to loosen up and just play. If you have trouble with layering this is a great way to help you get over that fear of covering something up because to make these cards you just keep creating layers using your supplies until you are happy with the results.

You just can’t go wrong because they always come out cute. You can relax and just play because you know the next layer will cover up a mistake or something you don’t like and at some point that last layer you put on will be the perfect one and you’ll say YES….this is it.

I encourage you to play and have fun with your art. Playing is a great way to learn what you like, don't like or what you want to improve on.

Have fun and thanks for joining me!

Going Deeper...

Is there an aspect of mixed-media art that you always avoid? Why?

Oh, yes. There are two things I avoid and two things I don't avoid but I am not really comfortable with yet.

The two things I avoid are drawing bodies and oil painting. I avoid bodies because I prefer whimsical and funky so having to draw a body with the right proportions makes me run and hide. I avoid oil painting because I have heard it takes oil so long to dry. I have never tried oil painting though so I am only going by what I hear. I do love the look but I'll probably stick to acrylics. Besides, adding oil paints is just one more thing to have to store.

The two things I am not comfortable with are faces and painting big. I am not comfortable with faces because I don't practice enough. Again, I prefer whimsical and funky so I don't really care to be proportionately correct but even whimsical faces make me a little nervous. I do plan on playing with funky faces more though so I can get over my skittishness about them.

I am not comfortable with painting big because well...it's big. I am working on composition and color with smaller pieces though so that I can ease into larger pieces. I have a couple of larger canvases on my easel and I work on them here and there but in my mind they will not be ready for a long time.

So, based on this, I see that whatever makes me uncomfortable is what I should practice most if it is something I really want to do.

What creative tool/supply are you obsessed with right now?

Pencils! I am loving pencil marks. Pencils of any kind. I mostly use your basic #2 pencil but I also love using my Jumbo Jet Black charcoal pencil from Jerry's Artarama, a China marker and my Stabilo All pencil. I will occasionally throw in some regular colored pencils or watercolor pencils. I just love the look of scribbly pencil lines!