A couple of weekends ago I found myself with bloggers from a whole range of different blogging niches, fashion, beauty, craft, you name it, having a lovely craftanoon at the VikingArtyParty. You know me, any excuse to get a bit painty! But it wasn’t just about paint we got a chance to get some paper folding on and some inky fingers too.
The office supply company Viking had put on a whole craft-filled afternoon, with buns and tea, at the Lumerie London and three different workshops: Modern Calligraphy by A L’aise, Block Printing by Tea and Crafting, and Mindful Origami by MindFOLDness.
So let me share a little Magazine files hack we did with Jane Gois the founder of Tea and Crafting. I think this will be right up your mixed media street, so huge thanks to Jane for sharing this with us all.
[I do use affiliate links and there are some in this blog post.]
Decorating blank magazine files with some block printing, it is a great way to add a pattern to these files. We used some craft foam and acrylic paint. Of course you can cut craft foam in any shape you want so I went for feathers. I do still love feather forms, need to work them out of my system. Trends move on and all but if you are looking for more feather ideas then I do have a feather decorated Mixed Media tote for you to have a go at!
You might have seen a peek of my feather block printing under the #VikingArtyParty hashtag from my Twitter feed a couple of weeks ago. I went for a two colour combo of complementary colours – blue and orange. I wasn’t particularly worried about getting a perfect block print as I had already decided to add some black pen detailing to bring the pattern together, when I got home, using a pen that works well on slick surfaces. But if you are just sticking to the paint design then you might want to be a bit less slapdash than I was with my stamping!
The only thing is that I now need a lot more of these files as well as some shelves to put them on as I do have a fare few magazines from my article writing. I think my studio is in need of some organising!
But there was plenty of inspiration for patterns as each blogger brought their own spin to the task. You know I just love that about watching people in workshops, there is so much variation and inspiration from everyone and there certainly was that afternoon at the VikingArtyParty, everyone was in full creative flow.
It really was a lovely craftanoon and I haven’t even touched on the interesting mindful origami workshop with Samuel Tsang talking about the history and the connection of origami to mindfulness and inner piece. Or the fabulous workshop with Suzie Dicker practising modern calligraphy with dip pen and ink, which I totally loved and had to work very hard at not sticking my tongue out with concentration whilst doing!
By the way Suzie runs a stunning stationery shop A L’aise and she has very kindly offered you all a 15% discount with this code: SUPER15 until August 31st 2016. Thanks Suzie!
Thanks to Viking, Search Laboratory and our three wonderful workshop leaders for a great afternoon of crafting. Let me know if you do any magazine file block printing, I would love to see what designs you come up with!
Kim
Oh this is a lovely idea! I have several plain box files with my magazines in them and this would be a lovely way to get them a bit brighter and cheerier. Xx
I know! It is a great idea isn't it Ruth? Really does cheer up magazine files. I need to get some more now 😉
I love what you did with adding a bit of detail with the black pen! Would never have thought of that! Our flamingo and banana leaf designs pale in comparison! It was such a fun day! XX
Soeursdeluxe.com
(Our post is up this Saturday!)
Thanks, I am glad you liked it! I loved your flamingo and banana leaf files – they were fabulous! Looking forward to seeing your post!
Kim
Hi Kim
What a fab day you had! Love all the designs they look fab and like already has been said great idea. Thank you for sharing X X X