Hi everyone, I’m really excited about my Artist Tribe project. This month Gwen challenged the us to use German Dresden Trim or English Scrap in one of our projects. Since I’ve been known to actually drool over Dresden Trim in the past, you can probably guess which direction I went… If you’re not familiar with Dresden Trims, they are deeply embossed, gold, foil-lined cardboard and papers originally made in Germany during the victorian era for paper dolls, christmas ornaments and other intricately detailed decorations. Gwen has a great selection of high quality trims in her webshop. My inspiration for this... Read more →

“Hank truly wanted to believe that his brain was mightier than his sword. But when he tried to use calculus to rule his subjects, the damn Buttons just kept on multiplying. And that my friends, really set him off on a tangent...." Mixed Media Panel by Jill McDowell This month, Gwen challenged the Tribe to use beaded and embellished trims in a project. I have to tell you that I really had a difficult time picking out which trims I wanted to work with. The Ribbon, Trims, & Textile Section of Gwen's online shop is a feast for your eyes.... Read more →

Happy November! I'm back with another post for Gwen Lafleur Studios Artist Tribe. My goal this week is to entice you to get intimate with one of your stencils. (Cross my heart, there will be no need for blushing!) I’ll challenge you to unearth new shapes and patterns hidden in stencil designs so that you can make your stencils work overtime. Then I'll share another warm-up exercise designed to further develop your isolated stencil parts while you make hand painted collage fodder that is unique to you to use in art journal pages and mixed media projects. Finally, I'll show... Read more →

Hi Everyone, Its JustJillMcD here with another blog post for Gwen Lafleur Studioss Artist Tribe. A few months ago, I scored a box of vintage clothes at a tag sale. Inside the box was a tattered silk taffeta dress that was on the verge of falling apart. Since then I've been on a mission to find ways to incorporate the fabric into my art work. One idea I had was to alter the silk taffeta with Distress Oxide Inks. Here's an example of some of the altered silk in a collage with some coveted Japanese papers. Today, I want to... Read more →

It's Kuchi Time! All of us in the Artist Tribe have been busy creating projects to showcase colorful, beaded Afghan Kuchi patches. It's my turn today and I can't wait to share my project with you and show you how you can make this easy wall hanging out of rug canvas, Sari Ribbon, and a Kuchi Patch. You'll need 2 different hook rug tools for this project, a traditional latch hook and a new tool for me: a Locker Hook. Recently I saw a hooked rug with pattern and texture I'd never seen before. After doing some research to find... Read more →

Hi everyone! This is turning out to be such a great week. I'm finally on a much needed week of vacation and my Dad and his new companion are here visiting from Tennessee. Now we're all getting ready to head out to Cape Cod for a few days to find enjoy the last whispers of summer. Life is good. But it got even better when I opened FaceBook this morning and found that the wonderful people at StencilGirl had chosen me to be the winner of the #StencilGirlSummer contest on Instagram! I can't tell you how honored I am to... Read more →

I have a tendency to become rather fixated on some things, (or so I'm told...). One of those things has been Gwen's Ornamental Peacock stencil.  This stencil has been there from the beginning for me.  It was actually one of the first stencils that I had purchased since stenciling my hallway with a FolkArt stencil back in the 80's. Here's a few pics of 10 projects we've worked on together so far.  You can bet that there will be more... Read more →

Today I'm going to share with you one way to use Gwen's fabulous Downloadable Collage Cutouts in your ATCs, collages, and other mixed media projects and some tips for adhering collage elements to your artwork. Read more →

I'm going to share how to use Gwen's stencils with lightweight Lutradur to create an interesting and textured background for your art journal pages and mixed media projects. Read more →

Gwen and me at her Mixed Media Shadow Boxes and Shrines class last spring Hi everybody. Welcome to my first post as a member of Gwen Lafleur's Artist Tribe. For those of you who may not know Gwen, she is a talented mixed media artist, an inspiring teacher, a popular stencil designer at StencilGirl Products, a mentor, and my friend, (oh, and then there's that silly day job of her's...). Working with Gwen is a dream come true for me and it truly is an honor to be one of the ambassadors on her first design team. Over the next... Read more →