"Work, Eat, Sleep" by Kris Hankins

Most of my days seem to slip by much too quickly. And, many of my days are full of the same old mundane chores and activities.  I am fortunate that I have a fair amount of time that I can allot to enjoy my art.

For me, creating art is a total escape from the mundane. My world comes alive when I sit down in my studio. No two projects are ever the same. Life is fresh, ideas are exhilarating, and finished projects are rewarding.

 

To express how my life comes alive with art, I made this chipboard wall hanging for my studio. It hangs over my work table. It shows the difference in my days…the mundane versus the art filled days.

To make this wall hanging, I started off by inking up a piece of heavy chipboard with chalk inks. I used 4-5 colors to create a weathered-looking background.

 

On light yellow, green and blue card stock, I stamped the words "work", "sleep" and "eat" with chalk ink, using the Buzz and Bloom Rustic Alphabet stamp set. I cut these words into strips and attached them to the chipboard. I also hand-wrote some personal thoughts next to each word.
 

I took (3) 1" coordinating cardstock squares, and stamped them with a paisley print from the Buzz and Bloom Paisley Passion stamp set. I adhered the squares to the coordinating word strip, laying them at a slight angle. 

Next, I took Buzz and Bloom Chipboard Rustic Alphabet and spelled out the word ART. I inked each of the letters with white ink. I then over stamped each of them with random images from the Buzz and Bloom Pretty Things I, II, and III stamp sets. I used two stamp images and two shades of ink on each letter to give the letters more depth and interest.
 

I then attached the chipboard letters to the background. I layered them on top of each other, using pop dots where needed.  A little “bling” is always a good thing to add, so I added  square rhinestones to each letter. I added a large decorative flower, and some small rhinestones to the background. 

Next to this, I added some handwritten words that describe how I feel when I am in my studio doing art.  As final touches, I attached paper flowers, two strips of polka dotted ribbon to the background, and added two eyelets to the top of the wall hanging.  A ribbon hanger was attached through the eyelets.