hello all-

and welcome to a day at mermaid camp.
even if it is not day anymore where you are.

(i was hanging out with rockstars last night
and am a little late today. oopsies.)

the far right “fairy white” photo is by the amazing thea
for all who are drooling by the way.
it is even prettier in person and she has one left.

*********

okay, now before we even began,
lets get one thing straight:

there is no such thing as
“not being creative.”

maybe you have not done art in awhile.
maybe you can’t draw a dog.
(i can’t)
maybe you don’t have time.
maybe there are more important things to do.

these things do not matter.
you were born creative.

remember the feeling you got
when you received a new box of crayons
when you were little?

remember the feeling of a new drawing pad,
white and bare, ready for your creation?

remember when the thought of a drawing being
“not good enough” never entered your mind because
you were too excited to play with your new smelly markers?

this is the spirit of your inner child-
the one that wants gold chunky glitter for no reason
and those little white rhinestones you were eyeing at
the craft store.

here at mermaid camp there are:

no rules
no grades.
no pressure.
no comparing-
i am not going to make you hold
it up in front of the class unless you want me to.

take a big, happy, deep breath and repeat after me,

“I AM AN ARTIST.”

i am an artist.

how does that feel?
does it make you excited?
nervous?
angry?

try to notice your feeling
without judging it.

if a cranky little voice speaks up
and says,
“you are not an artist because_______”

gently observe
and know that if you continue this path of creativity,
of rediscovering your truest, most authentic self,
that this voice is eventually going to get tired
and go somewhere else.

now we can play.

lets talk about framing your art. it could be a photograph, a small collage, a postcard, a note from your best friend in the 4th grade-anything that means something to you. by framing it we are giving your art power-saying YES of course it is good enough for a frame.

if you don’t have anything you want to frame, that is okay. you can start with a frame, and perhaps the piece of art that is supposed to go there is going to show up one day. or maybe you will be inspired later to put something in there.

or not.

it does not matter. this is just a little project to get those juices flowing.

frame idea# 1-a mermaid frame.
this is what you need:

a wood frame. (size of your choice)
mod podge in glossy lustre
shells of small and medium size
beach glass
tiny white seed beads
fine white glitter
aqua acylic paint, any brand
(my favorite is LIQUITEX in bright aqua green)
small sponge brush

(you can get all of these items at michaels crafts.)
remove glass from frame.
paint the frame aqua with your sponge brush.
the more layers you do, the darker it will be obviously.
most of this is going to be covered anyways so
it does not matter so much.

allow to dry, and then do the same thing on the back.

(i like to do crafty stuff on tin foil because it does not stick
and is easy clean up.)
step 2:
coat a small section of your frame with mod podge-
put it on pretty thick as it will dry clear.

gently place your shells and sea glass on the glue.
in the tiny spaces that remain in between the shells&glass-
drop in your seed beads and then coat generously with glitter.

you can never have too much glitter by the way.

there ya go-
you have a mermaid frame.

you can also do this with mirrors and boxes.

feel free to mix it up
with letter beads, different colored paint-make it yours.
you can’t do it wrong or ugly.

frame idea #2

you will need:
wood frame
acrylic paint color of your choice
mod podge glossy lustre
letter-cut outs
seed beads (optional)
glitter (optional)
sponge brush
small paintbrush

for these two frames i painted them with the sponge brush. the purple one was painted with liquitex heavy body deep violet and liquitex heavy body light portrait pink (great base for skin color) and the green one was used with liquitex heavy body cadmium yellow and liquitex heavy body vivid lime green. the green one was diluted with water to allow the wood texture to come through. the purple one has two coats of paint.

with the mod podge and paintbrush,
i painted the letters directly onto the frame.

make sure you paint both sides of the letter
front and back.

remember, mod podge is not only a glue
but a finish too.

i painted the whole frame with it once
i was done.

the letters are from K&company
and called letters to go.

you get 5000 letters in various sizes and shapes-
they are worth the cash and something you can
use in many art projects.

they also look great in paintings and on canvas.

don’t feel you have to follow my directions
word for word.

some of you may feel more comfortable
doing that and some of you
may get sparked to do it your own way.

it really does not matter as long as you
are being creative and enjoying yourself.

i have both the colored frames listed in my etsy shop.

also i have available 2 kits for the mermaid frame,
which have everything you need to make one-
geared towards peeps who have limited time, this
saves you a trip to the art store.

they are not listed in my esty shop
but email me if interested.
(mccabe@dancingmermaid.com)

speaking of etsy-

to all you who are playing with idea
of starting your own shop,
this excersie is a good way to allow you to
think outside of the box.

i hear a lot,
“but there are so many photographers and it is hard to sell prints.”

yes there are and yes it can be,
however, no one is going to do it exactly like you.

framing your own work in a clever way
is something you can do to make your art stand out,
as well as spark ideas to make your product uniquely yours.

hope this makes you want to do something crafty.

even if you are not ready to jump on in,
simply opening your heart to creativity is an act
of love too.

this is all about small steps.

my next project for mermaid camp will be posted
on monday.

stay tuned
and please link if this inspires you to make something.