creativityUNLEASHED by traci bautista

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy NEW year...

As 2009 comes to an end, I want to express my gratitude to you for being a part of my artistic journey over the past 8 years. Little did I know that when I decided to quit my corporate job in 2001, I would be blessed to meet so many people and share my passion with a worldwide audience. It's amazing to me every time I receive an email, teach a workshop, see a photo of artwork or hear a story from someone who has been inspired by my art and book Collage Unleashed. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to share my stories and be part of your art world...for your support, smiles, hugs, notes and the daily inspiration YOU provide me. I am looking forward to 2010 and all the new opportunities and adventures that I will encounter in my creative journey.

wishing you and yours a blessed, creative & prosperous 2010 filled with LOVE, light and laughter...

LIVE your DREAMS!  xoxo~treiC

NOTE: the busy holiday season flew by and I didn't get a chance to do my HOLIDAY giveaway. So I've decided that I will be doing a few to kick off the new year. stay tuned...

day 24 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: loved ones

and for my final 2009 holiday inspirations post...

for me the holidays are ALL about celebrating & sharing with my beautiful FAMILY and FRIENDS. they have been by my side throughout my journey, my cheerleaders, my confidantes, my best friends...my HEART <3

bringing me smiles, joy, laughter, so many cherished memories, hugs and most of all LOVE.

to all of you...I thank you for all that you have brought into my life...

                    i LOVE you...

 

 

 
   

wishing you & yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

xoxo~treiC

day 23 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: love <3

     

day 22 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: handmade gifts

a little peek inside my traveling studio...I've been busy painting and making art journals on my sister's kitchen table...thanks dude! :) here are a few photos of the creative madness...

 
 

some of these are gifts, some for a custom order and the rest I will be listing in my ONLINE boutique later this week....stay tuned! And don't forget about my big GIVEAWAY on Christmas Day!! 

happy holidays...be INSPIRED!

day 21 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: gift wrap

a short video of my collaborative gift wrap artwork with my niece. It was early in the morning and not too much light, so the colors in the video are slightly dark. I'm having so much fun spending time with her and she loves art supplies, bright colors and always wants to play with her crayons...takes after her auntie :)

This year I decided to make wrapping paper by recycling old architecture renderings. They are perfect for painting and make great wrapping paper because of their large size. I painted with various acrylic paint and made marks with water soluble oil pastels, graphite pencils and India ink drizzled with a pipette.

 

{above} this piece is the collaboration created with my little niece Pua featured in the video. Every morning since I've been visiting, she wakes up and says "crayons", "crayons please"...and points to them. So I've been giving her mini art lessons every day. soon i'll be teaching her how to paint and collage. she already loves the sewing machine, every time I start working on it, she comes up to sit on my lap...gotta get her started early! :)

more gift wrap ideas...
-recycle holiday cards to make gift tags or paper ornaments

-wrap your gifts with recycled materials...use shopping bags or paint grocery bags and newsaper, use priority mail envelopes/boxes and turn them inside out to paint/decorate them for packaging.

-recycle all the gift bags you get and reuse them.

-make gift tags with pictures of loved ones

-wrap gifts with Furoshiki Japanese fabric wrapping technique

day 20 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: store windows

today I went to do a holiday TRENDING trip and a little shopping at Ala Moana in Honolulu...here are a few photos of from my stroll through the crazy Christmas shopping madness...

{above} handpainted urban vinyl dolls at 808orbit - fell in love with these one-of-a-kind painted toys by various graffiti artists around the world. Here are a few of the artists~ pancho from hawaii, scribe from missouri, leecifer from cali & newKON from hawaii

 

the window at COACH - I thought it was interesting to see the gift box print is printed with the word COACH repeated in different hand drawn fonts. I noticed a lot of fuchsia, purple, blue colors and loads of embellished purses with metal charms. IDEA --->paint your own bag with or print a photo on fabric canvas then stitch it to a tote bage. Make your own gift wrap by doodling or writing words on brown or white craft paper

one of my FAVE designers and stores- Betsy Johnson

a lighted illustration inside Macy's ~ a great inspriation for doodling

 

the BRIGHT lights of LV~ louis vuitton ~ take an interesting reflection self portrait {a reflection of me & my purple scarf in the corner}

loved this Holiday Fairy decal but can't remember the store

 

it's SNOWING in Hawaii...I HEART the hand painted bird house ornaments hanging from the tree ~"warmest wishes" window at Nordstrom

another beautiful day in the 80s...happy holidays from Hawaii!

take a stroll through stores to research colors, prints, interior design and window displays for current trends and ideas for sketchbook inspiration. happy creating!

day 19 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: gift tags

some of the fun art I found on ETSY...buy HANDMADE and printable gift tags from designers or make your own tags from old holiday cards, your paintings and collage artwork!

{from top left to right} ROW 1~ 1. RETRO gift tags by PinkKittyCrafts 2.modern snowflake by artistscs28 3. angel tags by creativevisions  ROW 2~ 4.santa tags by BuncoBettys 5. printable tree by GoMakeMe 6. art tags by livefunky  ROW 3 ~7. cupcake toppers by sevencupcakes 8. holiday tags by ThePoshEvent 9. hand carved stamp tags by Eweniques

day 18 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: wreaths & ornaments

I HEART paper...obviously! :) AND there are so many great HOLIDAY tutorials online. Paper balls...wreaths..ornaments..lollies...and more... I'd like to share a few project tutorials I discovered and ideas of how you could make them with your own twist. Anytime you see a project or tutorial try to figure out ways you can add your personal touch...changing the colors, materials or using handpainted paper..the possibilities are endless!

the video above is from my Holiday Paper Projects episode on Craft Lab, it originally aired on DIY for the past couple holiday seasons and just recently re-aired on HGTV this month. In case you missed it..I demonstrate how to create a simple origami ornament made with hand painted paper. 

...and onto MORE FABULOUS holiday paper decor projects

Oh how I HEART Rhonna Farrrer and her FABULOUS creations. check out these LOVELY LOLLIES & wreaths! YummmY! --->make small size lollies and wreaths for gift decorations, ornaments or garland.

Look at these wonderful ornament balls!! The video tutorial can by found www.carlosNmolina.com. Go to "Tutorials & Videos" and then select the paper ball button.--->try making the paper balls with my FREE digital collage kit, print color copies of your journal pages or make fusion dyed collage pieces to cut into strips.

I love this photograph and the project, it's a great way to recycle book pages. Visit Kellie's blog to see the festive holiday wreath she creates from these paper curly q's.--->think about other paper you could use to make wreaths, collect found/free paper to recycle, add glitter to some of the pieces or paint the book pages.

This is a fun and great way to show off beautiful paper and photos. You can find project instructions on InspireMe Crafts. You could also make this out of handpainted paper. If you made smaller sized cones, you could make tree ornaments. Also, you could print photos and art backgrounds on paper and use those instead of scrapbook paper...just a few more creative IDEAS...

I found these projects through various google searches, flickr and twitter. NOTE: all these were posted with permission of their AWESOME designer. happy HANDMADE holiday!

day 17 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: paper decor gallery

 

a gallery of FABULOUS handmade HOLIDAY paper decor I discovered on flickr. ENJOY the inspiration, great colors, ideas and art. Thank you to the artists for providing such great eye candy and holiday INSPIRATION! click here to see gallery & artists..

day 16 {holiday} INSPIRATIONS: sharing YOUR gift

OK..I'm a day behind in my 24 days post..but I think I have a good reason :) For the past two days, I've been teaching a mixed media art journaling workshop to high school art students at Le Jardin. These kids are SUPER talented, funny and created amazing paintings and art journals. Their infectious creative spirits and laughs were contagious. I had a wonderful time sharing my gift, painting with them and helping guide their creative energy.  It was nice to have a couple of days to paint and watch them have fun playing with color...here's a short video of our creative play days! Alohaaaa...