Rita Barakat meets Style Tech Crafts Blog hop- Mermaid Canvas by Tamiko

Hey creatives Tamiko here!  I haven't used my blog in such a long time and I don't know why!!  But today I am here to speak about a collaborative project between Rita Barakat's fabulous Mermaid Dies and the glitter vinyl from Style Tech Craft!  Check out what I made!

Tools Needed:

Rita Barakats Mermaid Dies

Style Tech Craft Vinyls

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Scissors

Cardstock

Pen

Squeegee

5x7 Canvas board panel

Dymo label maker

I played with the dies first of all.. How freaking cute are they, really?!?!? After I decided which ones I wanted to work with I had to pick over the vinyls I received from Style Tech Crafts. What can I say, I was unnecessarily intimidated by the vinyl. Little did I know how simple it would be to just cut the vinyl.  No machine was actually needed!!  This vinyl has a glittery type of look and guess what?  Not one piece came off on my hands, to be found at a later date on my eyebrow (laughs).  I was totally impressed with this.

I took cardstock and drew shapes I wanted for the canvas. With those shapes I new exactly how much vinyl I needed for each section. The vinyl sheets come off a 12x12 sheet, so that left me with plenty to use on other projects!  I'm pretty excited about that, especially since I had so many die cut mermaids I hadn't used!

I am so in love with Rita Barakat's die cuts and not just the mermaids, I might add!  They are so vibrant in color and can just about fit just about anywhere!  My jounals, planner, this canvas, shadow boxes and even mason jars!!  (yes I've placed them in mason jars!!)  I adhered these mermaids to the vinyl on the canvas! Added some text from dymo label maker and voila!  A small inspirational canvas I can place anywhere and enjoy daily!!  I hope you enjoyed my project as much as I did creating it!  Don't forget to follow Rita Barakat and Style Tech Craft on all social media platforms!  Some links are provided below!!!

Don't forget to check out the other designers to see what they did with the mermaids and vinyl! 

#ritabarakatart 

RitaBarakat.com

www.Styletechcraft.com

www.Facebook.com/Stlyetechcraft

www.Pinterest.com/Styltechcraft

Hashtags: #styletechcraft, #ultrametallic

It's a Rinea Inspired Girl!!

This post is in fact double posted and the original can be found over at Helmarusa.typepad.com!  

HAPPY NEW YEARRR!!!  Tamiko here and I hope you all are doing well!!  This year I chose not to do any resolutions but I do have a word of the year. I picked my word to be NURTURE.  Nurture myself, family, friends (old and new relationships), art and my relationship with God.  Seems like a lot, but the list is short and realistic, to me. I am so honored to be part of this team when they made January Rinea Inspiration month! We get to show you what we can do with new and wonderful product. (cheesy grin) 

So, I needed to embellish a shower gift.  One of my dearest friend's adult child is having her first baby girl. (insert ooo and ahhs here.. (smile))  That makes one of my oldest and dearest besties a GRAMMY!!!  :::a wooohooo for her sounds good here:: I'm not showing the gift, which was also hand painted by me, because this post will go live before they receive it. (smile) Check out these darling little shoes I am using to embellish the present.

 

Items needed to create the above:

Helamar Super Tac Eva Glue

Helmar Quick Dry 450 Glue

Renia Metallic Foiled Paper-

    In Fuschia

    In Metallic Variety Pack 

Baby Shoe Paper pattern on pinterest -

    provided by EasyGreenMama.com

Fussy Cut Scissors

Embellishments:

    Paper flowers

    Faux Rhinestone Trim

    Pom pom Ribbon

FineLiner Applicator  (optional)

The Rinea papers are beautiful foiled paper that come in a plethora of colors!!  As soon as I saw the fuschia paper I know I was going to make a pair of baby girl shoes.  The more I played with the paper and saw its flexibility and how easily it held shape, I knew I had chosen the right project. On pinterest I had already eyed this pattern by easygreenmama.com. So I printed it and roughly cut out the piece.  Then I took the pattern and folded my 6 x 12 inch sheets of Rinea paper in half and cut out the pieces.

The Rinea paper made it easy to navigate glue placement with the tabs.  I folded the tabs along the inside the sole of the shoe and secured them with the Super Tac Eva Glue.  After that was secure I added the base of the shoe!!  I then embellished the shoe with paper flowers and faux rhinestone trim using my QuickDry 450 Glue.!

Shortly after creating my embellishments I showed my mom and aunt and they were totally giggly and excited about the project. They gave me even more suggestion for those lil cutie patooties and that made my day!  Can't wait to explore more possibilities with Renia and Helmar.  Don't forget to check out the Renia site by clicking here,  especially when you want a lil shimmer in your work without adding glitter and totally classy texture foiled paper!! 

Don't forget with great paper there should always be, even better glues and we cover that here at Helmar Worldwide!!

  

Facesfaces

Just working in layers.. I love my watercolor pieces...

Planner Pins- Dollar Tree Find

I am not a planner, let's just face it.. I have no real life activities worth recording besides the occasional doctors appointments.. :) But I am totally enthused with making planner clips.  I think its fun to see the hanging out the top of a midori type or ring planner.  They don't take long to make and you can make them from almost anything. Below I took a card my daughter got from her birthday and saved the sweet treats to make planner clips.

Then in the next picture I took the stickers I was hoarding from Dollar Tree!

Bubbles

Hey guys.. this is another project I had loaded images from my camera.. and never posted.  Told myself if I ever got a laptop so I could type at my liesure I would type a post for it.. As a matter of fact I'd post more often..  Well below I began with Holbein watercolors and I created bubbles.  I chose colors I was already using simular to my Deco Art Americana Acrylics I painted my base canvas with. I also used oil pastel and acrylics to create light on the bubbles. Then I cut the bubbles out.

 

I used some Helmars glue to adhere the bubbles to my canvas.  

I also took more Helmars glue and some coordinating colored seeds beads and added some texture and dimension.  The glue dries clear and with a lil sheen/crystalization.

Here is a the finished piece.. I love it.. :)

Faces.. Old but posting...

Not exactly sure why I wanted to make a post of this image. Cant remember what I used to create it other then it being water soluble... and in form of a crayon.. Guess thats what I get for waiting over 3 months to complete the blog post.. Either way, I love ANY water soluble crayons..  She does look like how I feel today.. Some folks ruffle my feathers.. unknowingly of course.. and I just hope I control myself and don't lose myself and tell them how I feel..  

Natural Soap by Zakia

I am so happy I decided 2017 was going to be my year for self care. One way I decided to do this was with the purchase of a Naturally Nourishing Soap Box Subscription from Zakia Ringold. I met Zakia on Periscope, where I was quickly drawn in by her personality and passion for soap making! I'm serious.. You know how folks kid and watching paint dry.. well not so funny, because I do that! But also, I tuned in for episode after episode to watch Zakia make soap and her exfoilliating sugar scrub y'all!!  This chick is a the real deal!!  While I won't be taking pictures in the bath (haha) I will be reporting to you all just how everything goes with this soap, which by the way smells so damn good and clean!! I'm excited, so excited wrote a post!!  Happy New to You Year!!

Winner of the giveaway spot for the One BADASS Workshop, was originally won by someone who already purchased a spot.  She paid it forward by choosing another person commenting from the page who has less then 24hrs to contact me!  Yikes!!She has got to be ONE BADASS Commentor.  In the meantime, in between time, early registration for the workshop ends December 26th, 2016!!  You can still use discount code URBADASS till December 26!!  Register NOW!!

http;//bit.ly/BADASSOffer

Day 5.. Tamiko Intro & GiveAway

Today is day 5 of the introductions and my name is Tamiko McCurry. Some of you know me as MEKOfoSHO on many of my social media platforms!  I am a born and raised Chicagoan!  Growing up in Chicago, IL, I never thought one could be an artist unless they had sold work in galleries or were acknowledged/recognized by some formally educated artistic community, until I became an art journaler/mixed media artist . So many can'ts became cans and because of that, I EMBRACE the title, ARTIST.  

I am totally stoked and honored to say I am a part of  the One BADASS Art Journal Online Workshop of 2017!! ::insert super loud wild woman yells here:: . As I look at the picture below, I think... She's a BADASS.. She's a BADASS! & She's a BADASS and so on!!  I hope that you will join us and EMBRACE your inner BADASS too!!

Check out this awesome intro!!!

It is such a wonderful feeling to be in a line up with such amazing artists and/or sister-friends. Some I have admired over some time, some I have personally taken e-courses or watched youtube videos from, some I have watched their work transcend beyond anything we could have possibly fathomed and some I can't wait to experience (smiles). This will be my first time as an online instructor and I am feeling an abundance of emotions, most importantly gratitude, at being given an opportunity to share with you all, something I once only did to keep my own sanity (smiles).  Thank you Tiare Smith!! 

 Our list of instructors on the hop include....

Dec. 5th- Tracy Scott – http://www.heartistryatstudio7.blogspot.co.uk

Dec. 6th- Kiala Givehand – http://www.kialagivehand.com

Dec. 7th- Susanne Rose – clayscrapkreativ.blogspot.de/

Dec. 8th- Tracy Weinzapfel –tracyweinzapfelstudios.com

Dec. 9th- Tamiko McCurry – mikosspot.blogspot.com 

Dec.10th- Effy Wild – effywild.com

Dec. 11th- Cristin Stephenson – pan-the-artist.blogspot.com

Dec. 12th- Sharon Harkness-Dobler – yellowrosedbs.blogspot.de

Dec. 13th- Andrea Gomoll – andrea-gomoll.de

Dec. 14th- Jennifer Albin – soulwhisperarts.com

Dec. 15th- Amanda Trought – realityarts-creativity.blogspot.com

Dec. 16th-Keri Sallee – thecreativelifear.blogspot.com

Dec. 17th- Robin Mead- robinmeaddesigns.com

Dec. 18th- Tiare Smith – tiaresmith.com

SIGN UP NOW by CLICKING HERE!!

SIGN UP for the class and use this promo code; URBADASS 

to get 15% off the registration!! Would you like to WIN a free spot? Leave me a comment below to let me know you were here and for extra entries- follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter!  Winner will be announced Dec. 19th, 2016!!. (smiles)  Thank you for stopping by, YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!!

********GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.. WINNER CONTACTED and INFO RECEIVED***  Thanks LISA C.

Guess who is teaching.... ::insert happy dance here:::

:::DOING A SERIOUS HAPPY DANCE::: 

She's a BADASS! She's a BADASS! She's a BADASS!!  They all are a bunch of BADASS art journaling instructors!! Please stick around for announcements on how to win a free spot from ME, Yes yes yall.. ME, for this One BADASS Art Journal Online Class!!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW!!!

Journal Letters..

This month was the first month I was able to be in my first journal letter swap. Its with a wonderful group of ladies on Facebook.  The only allow members in once a month.  Once you are in, you are truly able to experience their spirit.  The idea is to make a signature that starts from a 8x8 piece of paper.  You add four additional sheets and you can stitch or staple it together. You are on the cover and the inside cover pages.  The last page is an address list of the participants, that way you are never without a list and you always know who is next!  This is the book I sent, all my partners are in Australia, which means 2 weeks for them to receive by post.  If you would like detailed information on the journaling letter group, leave me a message below and I will contact you with more information!  Thanks for reading!!! 

CUBS WIN!!

November 2nd, 2016.. Game 7 against the CLE Indians.. in CLE. 10 innings..

winning the series 4 to 3 CHI

This is one win I am so happy to say I witnessed in my lifetime.  Let's get one thing straight.  I am a CHICAGO Sports fan, but the CHICAGO CUBS are my babies!  I have so many vivid memories of watching baseball with my grandma as a youth,  Her, sitting in her corner of the couch, with a half glass of Jewel's generic rootbeer, (lol) and me with my leftovers from my lunch (smile).  Or Saturdays green's smelling up the kitchen while watching an afternoon game. Ha..  I even remember getting a bonus question right in the elementary school Academic Olympics, answering a question about the cubs.  I couldn't believe the boys didn't know!  Anywho.. I am happy for my Cubbies.. my fellow Chicagoans and other Cubs fans across the globe.. :)

NOVEMBER Challenges, I am taking...

Great  gratitude challenge collaboration from the awesome Julie Jordan Scott (5 for 5 brain dump) and Rachél Payne (Creativity Tribe).  The challenge can be done on FB, Instagram or Periscope.  These ladies don't believe in a right or wrong way to do this challenge. You have the right to use your artistic license to determine how you wish to express the prompts. On Twitter and Instagram checkout/search #gr8fullCre8ives

 

Then we have the Art Every Day Month Challenge, by Leah Piken Kolidas. Also done the month of  November. Very loose instructions for  this exercise. You don't have complete a piece of art daily, You just have to make time for art/creative every day. There is a link to register your web page or instagram; you can also share in FB/Flickr group.  

90 Days of posting Challenge :)

This post is being brought to you from my cell phone and my blue tooth keyboard.. lol  My friend Vicki and I realized we had not blogged nearly as much this year as we had the year before.  That was mainly due to the lack of personal blog challenges we gave ourselves last year.  We decided we wanted that back. We wanted the feeling of accomplishment that came from completing the challenge.  We said we would be more gentle with ourselves by being way more forgiving for not blogging daily. We did say we wished to finish the 90 days of blogging before the end of the year.  Very doable and realistic.  ::smile::

In the name of the..... Cross/Rememberance project

Today I decided I really wanted to work on this cross picture tray and get some new color on it.  My intent is to give it as a gift to someone I know may be having a hard time right now.  Like me.. her favorite color is purple.  She has never really experienced any of my art, so i wanted to be something special.  Worse case scenario, if don't love it enough to gift it, I'll have a new cross to put on my wall for reflection and prayer.  (tee hee)!  I furst covered the cross with Deco Art Media Line Gesso, which is very smooth going on. 

After that I took several of Deco Americana acrylics and did a super dry brush of colors.  The I even went back over the piece with a napkin to remove some still dampened areas of paint.  What to do.. WHat to do???

Thats the best part about arting everyday.   I can walk away from this project and find something else completely to do!  Not quite sure how I would embellish this, or even sure what scripture to include.  Hopefully something will come to me soon.. 

Make Me a Queen for a Day...

Just playing on a piece of watercolor paper as a pallet and decided to make a Colorful Face.. with a crown.  Perfection does  NOT live here.. haha Really loving my Deco Art Americana Acrylics.!

Have you ever...

Have you ever created UGLY ART..  No real reason.. other than.. I will just sit here.. and put paint on a piece of paper. Maybe doodle. Maybe a little pen and marker work yanno.. I'm not making a picture, but I've drawn flowers and suns and hearts and leaves..

Its relaxing and with no real expectations art is created.  You won't always like what you create, but the fact that you keep on going.. and going.. means.. hmm.. that you have no intentions on giving up... Thats just my opinion.. my ramble of the day.. lolol

Shoulda taken step out pics, but sometimes.. typing and playing on a page and showing you the final piece is enough. I mean, Im not creating for YOU.. as much as I am CREATING.. FOR ME... (tee hee)

Arnold Grummer Post Teaser

Check the post about this out in the AG site by clicking here! 

Comments are welcome, so i know you came by! Thanks!

ICAD UPDATE (more to come)

 

This one was done with watercolors.  

My Koi travel set and I also put a few strips of my mono printed tapes. 

Can't see much here.. but a bit of metallic paint from 

Deco Art, stabilo pencils, white sharpie paint pen

This was a fun collage Bert and a lil boy from an eastbay book, haha.. flowers.. acrylics from Deco Art, Matte medium and oil pastels from Prima's IOD collection.

Just another face..  get so addicted.  Neocolor 2s, Deco Art Acrylic Paints a little penwork with gel pens and white paint pen from sharpie and posca paint pens.

lots of deco art acrylic paints, gelatos, white paint pen by sharpie, and unibal white gel pen

water colors, neocolors 2, gelatos, oil pastels

#PASSTHEBRUSH!! is TODAY June 25th!

How AWESOME!!  Today's #PASSTHEBRUSH event on periscope will include

Andrea Gomoll as @Cre8tivecre8tions, 

Cinnamon Cooney as @artsherpa, 

MissMeko (THATS ME!!) as @mekofosho, 

@Ritabarakat as @ritabarakat1 

and Susan Hiles as @Shiles728

Join us today for a LIVE art hop on the Periscope App. at 12noon E.S.T.