Somerset Place

We'll make a confession — we love to cut up books. It may sound barbaric, but there is something immensely satisfying about cutting up a book that you were forced to read in school, or a book that you totally hated. These books find new life in mixed-media canvas, card making projects, and art journal pages. No scrap goes to waste and beautiful artwork is created in the process.Best Places to Find Old Books: Thrift Shops Library Sales Flea Mar… Read more

The dreaded blank page can sometimes stop us in our tracks when we sit down to art journal. We don’t know whether to start with choosing a topic or theme, writing down our thoughts, or putting together a color palette. The next time you want to create a journal page and don’t know where to start, consult this helpful list of 25 art journaling prompts developed by the creative minds behind some of the inspiring artwork in  Art Journaling… Read more

Inside every artist’s toolkit, there should be gesso. It is so useful that it is an integral part of every mixed-media artist’s creative process. It is typically a white paint mixed with some sort of chalk, which provides plenty of “tooth” for later layers of paint — but that is not all that this wonder mixture is good for! Here are 5 different ways to use this tried-and-true material. 1. Primer We’ve all heard of this use, but it is… Read more

Here at Stampington & Company we are always coming up with ways to provide creative inspiration and help you grow as an artist. Last year we were thrilled to present The Somerset Workshop Collection, a destination for online classes and artist workshops. It features an array of courses by some of the industry’s leading mixed-media artists that teach new techniques, provide inspiration, and more! Discover a few mixed-media courses you… Read more

Article originally published in Art Journaling Autumn 2017There are so many amazing journals in previous issues of Art Journaling. When I purchased my first copy years ago, I was intrigued. I found that there are numerous techniques artists have used to work with paper, fabric, and other substrates to make meaningful journals. I loved finding out that there is no right or wrong way to create, there is no one way journals are supposed… Read more