5 Minutes to Art

from CLOTH, PAPER, SCISSORS!
(Art by Melissa P. Hackmann)

No time to make art, you say? Here are tips to show that if you get organized and do a little at a time, you can get a lot of art done in five minutes.

1. Organize a basic, portable toolkit. Get a a small compartmentalized tote and put in supplies you use most often, such as: your favorite background stamp and a small set of alphabet stamps, a black or brown Staz-On inkpad, a fat quarter of fabric, watercolor paper, a pair of scissors, a embroidery needle and floss. Keep basic materials in a handy place, ready to go when you have five minutes to spare.

2. Make backgrounds. paint a wash on the watercolor paper with watercolors. Stamp words and/or images over the wash. Let dry… (It’s now prepped for later use!)

3. Practice your embroidery skills

4. Add to your sketchbook. Keep a fine-point black pen and/or a small set of watercolor pencils in your bag with your sketchbook in your bag. Then when you're waiting … sketch an object or write down an idea. Add a glue stick to the kit, and you can paste in fun found objects.

5. Embellish. Sew or glue a button, charm, sequin, or bead on a project you've already started, or to a piece of fabric you can appliqué onto a project later.

a few more ...

v Pre- Cut up ATC backs. ( 2½” x 3½”)…

v Dye fabric. Trims, fabric squares, cheesecloth, and other natural fibers …

v “Age” fabric.

v Stamp …. Stash fun improvised stamps in your everyday tool kit, and next time you have five minutes, stamp like crazy!

v Cut out individual letters from old magazines to use in a collage at a later time.

v Make a “sandwich” - Fuse fabric to one or both sides of a sheet acrylic felt (the kind you buy at craft stores). When you have another five minutes, slice them into ATC- or postcard-sized pieces.