Portable Art Kit: A Stamped Pouch Tutorial – And Giveaway!
By: Amy Maricle
Hello Wonderful, Creative You!
Do you have a portable art kit yet? I love them, especially when I have decorated the pouch with fun patterns, designs, and colors. Portable art kits facilitate art for busy people. For more on portable art kits, click here.
I know it’s hard to find 1 – 2 hour stretches to yourself, but frequently you spend time waiting at the doctor’s office, at your daughter’s dance class, or in between meetings. That could all be art time.
Feed Your Inner Artist: Make Art a Daily Practice
The next time you get a few minutes of down time, imagine what it would be like reaching into your bag and seeing one of these pouches – it would be hard to resist doing just a little something, wouldn’t it? Instead of looking at your phone or a magazine, pull out a thin tipped marker, a chalk pastel, and a mini journal.
Doodle for a few minutes. Listen to the sound of the chalk pastel lightly etching across the page. Feel your breathing slow down. Suddenly you have arrived in the moment. You are mindful – focusing on what is happening in the here and now through your art and your body’s experience of it.
Increasing your creativity is a matter of making your art practice a regular part of your day. Start looking for opportunities to feed your inner artist – read about artists and look at their work, talk to other creatives, and engage in daily art play. Pick a color, make a few marks. Don’t make it too complicated.
Give Your Inner Artist a Gift: Make a Stamped Art Pouch
On a recent trip to my local business supply store, I was thrilled to find a large number of canvas zipper pouches on sale for just .25 cents each! I am always on the hunt for zipper pouches because they make great portable art kits.
I have a few different art pouches for different purposes, and I carry different ones depending on my mood or my travels. They make great gifts too. (I’d like to give YOU one, so comment at the end for your chance to win!)
These canvas pouches were perfect opportunity to try stamping on fabric. I’ve been looking for an excuse for some time – I’d love to do tea towels, shirts, anything practical that could become much more personal, artsy, and beautiful.
I hope you try it, it was LOADS of fun. Hunt down (or make) your own fabric zippered pouch and follow along on this tutorial! Remember to comment for your chance to win one of the pouches I made.
Making a Stamped Art Pouch
1. Cut your own stamp.
If you have never done this before, please don’t skip this step! Making your own stamp is easy and affordable. Whether you are using a Speedball Stamp Making Kit, or cutting foam into shapes and pasting them on wood or plastic bottle caps, you’ll find that creating your own stamps adds a whole new level of fun, originality, and expressiveness to your art making. For a full tutorial on stamp cutting, click here.
2. Paint a Base Coat of Gesso
I skipped this step because I liked how the canvas had a natural look to it. However, if you want a white background, or if you want to be sure that your colors will not change in any way, use a coat of gesso before you paint, and let it dry thoroughly. You can see the change in the minty color I used on the pouches. On my palette it’s mint, but once it dried on the pouches in the picture below, it looks green.
3. Coat your stamp with a layer of acrylic paint.
The triangle stamp shown in this photo is made from craft foam I found at the local craft store. I cut triangles and placed them on a block of wood in different orientations. In my art, I have found the simplest shapes in stamps to be some of the most attractive and satisfying in my journals and other art pieces.
4. Place Your Stamp on the Fabric and Press Firmly
5. Vary the Pattern.
Orient the stamp in different directions, run it off the fabric, vary the color, tone, or saturation of the stamp, or let the stamp seem to “travel” across the fabric.
5. Let Your Art Pouch Dry and Fill ‘Er Up!
What Should You Carry in An Art Pouch or Portable Art Kit?
You can get quite a bit in there if you are creative about it. My main portable art kit for art journaling is about  the size of small woman’s clutch purse. Here’s what might be inside on any given day:
a full set of sharpie markers
white gel pen
mini journal
travel watercolor set
travel watercolor brush with water well
Items that vary; stamps, small acrylic paint tube, paper scraps, gesso, glue, scissors, water soluble crayons.
What do you want to carry in your art kit? Where will you make art?
Art Pouch Giveaway!
There are two ways to win one of these lovely art pouches.
1. Comment on this post and I will choose one winner at random by Sunday, June 7th at 9 pm.
2. Tune in for the Art Journaling Webinar tonight at 8:30 PM and find out how to get a second chance to win.
Happy Art Making!
Creatively Yours,
Amy
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Love these pouches! Thanks for posting.
Hi Kathy:
I’m so glad you are enjoying them! Let me know how it works if you try it too.
Cheers,
Amy
Inspiring! Eye appealing – thank you
HI Diane:
Thank you so much for dropping by and for your comment. I can’t wait to see what others come up with when they try it too. Cheers,
Amy
Truly beautiful and very inspiring
Hi Deb:
Your words mean so much to me! Thank you. I’d love to hear about what you are creating, or dreaming about creating…Also, I hope you join us for the webinar tonight on Google +, it’s free and open. It’s going to be really fun. Just follow this link if you are interested.
Cheers,
Amy
Amy, I”m an Art therapist at a children’s hospital and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy your blog and posts! You have so much experience, wisdom and are so generous. You have informed and inspired my work. Thanks so much and love the pouches–super cool.
HI Heather:
Thank you so much for reading and taking the time to post your kind comments. It’s such a blessing to be inspired, isn’t it? I give thanks for it daily. The web facilitates this process so much for me, I’m so glad I could do it for you. I look forward to hearing from you more on here. 🙂 Let me know how it goes if you make the pouches.
Cheers,
Amy
This prize will be perfect. Thanks
HI Eileen:
Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
Happy Creating,
Amy
Fun and functional while looking good!
HI Shannon:
Welcome to Mindful Art Studio! So glad that you are enjoying the ideas – I hope you win, but even more, I hope you make some of your own, and maybe even share some of your creations on our Facebook group: Creative Self-Care:
I would put some strips of watercolor paper that had been previously colored for backgrounds and markers in my kit so I could work on little gift bookmarks while waiting in doctor offices and before meetings. (I’m always early and sitting in my car a bit anyway.)
Barbara –
I love your watercolor strips idea – so fun! Bookmarks are a great idea. Do you laminate or spray or protect them somehow?
Cheers,
Amy
This is a new project for me, Amy. I am making little bookmarks for a client to give out to my parenting class this week. At present I am just coating them with Mod Podge. But I thought it would be a fun idea to make some as little encouragement pieces for friends and neighbors who need a little lift in spirit. Each would be absolutely personalized to their specific need or situation.
HI Barbara:
This sounds so wonderful. Thanks as always for sharing.
Warmly,
Amy
What a great idea to have several Art kits ready depending on mood–that sounds like me! Thanks for a fun tutorial! I just found your website so I’m going to look around!
HI Ann:
Welcome to Mindful Art Studio! I’m so pleased that you found me. Please let me know here, on other posts, or by email what else you would enjoy seeing and hearing more about. I’m so lucky to find inspiration through others online, I love to be able to return the favor. I also have an active, supportive, and wonderful group of creatives who gather on FB to share art work and self-care ideas if you are interested: https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeselfcare/ we’d love to see you there if you wish.
Warmly,
Amy
Hi Amy what a great idea. Thanks for sharing. You’ve inspired me.
Jean, you are so sweet. I’m so pleased that you found inspiration here. I’d love to hear how you use it and what’s going in your portable art kit!
Cheers,
Amy
Such a clever and cool idea – love it 🙂
Hi Lisa:
Thank you so much! I hope you make some too and enjoy!
Happy Art Making!
Amy
I have been inspired by this lesson on art pouches! I can think of several other ways thesecpouches can be used for portable kits. Now I want to kake several of them!
HI Lynne:
Your words warm my heart. I’m so glad to hear that it inspired you, that’s exactly what I want. 🙂 I hope you share you beautiful results with us on the Creative Self-Care FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeselfcare/
Creatively Yours,
Amy
really cute pouches. thanks!
HI Bailey:
I’m excited to see you back here! Thanks so much for the kind words. Given your talent with fabric and fiber, I have to ask, do you have any great advice for folks about how to incorporate some string, ribbon, cloth, or anything else? I had thought about adding some little flourishes of this kind, but ran out of time.
Creatively Yours,
Amy
I always take along too many journaling supplies when I travel. Love the idea of the smaller clutch with a few supplies. Thanks!
Hi Jen!
Welcome to Mindful Art Studio! Thanks so much for reading and commenting. I hear you about taking along too many supplies. 🙂 yesterday I challenged myself to go as minimal as possible (that’s the plus with the smaller pouches I painted) and i brought just 1 sharpie, 1 micro pen in black, and 1 white gel pen, along with a paper bag mini journal I made. If you are interested in the paper bag journal, you can find the tutorial by clicking this link, it’s towards the end of the page in a little video. Who said art supplies have to cost a lot?
Now I’m so curious to know what’s going in you small portable art kit.
Cheers,
Amy
HI Jen!
You are the lucky winner of the portable art kit art pouch! I will get in touch with you off the blog to find out your address. I’m so excited for you and can’t wait to see how you use it!
Creatively Yours,
Amy
Thanks Amy! This is so inspiring! love it and the pouch is a great idea!
HI Darshana:
Welcome to Mindful Art Studio! I’m so pleased to have you here. I can’t wait to hear more about how you use your art pouch and what’s in yours. This weekend I have been enjoying a really limited version – just 4 things – a paper bag journal, white gel pen, black brush tip marker, and purple sharpie – it has pushed me to push the materials farther. That’s one benefit of limits. It’s an idea that artist Phil Hansen got my onto with his wonderful TED talk about letting limitation drive creativity. I talked about it and shared the talk in How to Be a More Courageous Artist earlier this year. I hope you find him as inspiring as I do.
What else is inspiring you these days? Materials? Certain art pieces? Please share!
Creatively Yours,
Amy
This is a great article. I am a university student and I am about to begin my Honours in Art therapy with children on the autism spectrum. I was thinking of ways in which to carry all my materials to each school… and I have found the answer!
thank you Amy.
HI Alicia (Leash)
Welcome to Mindful Art Studio! How exciting to have another student on here. I agree that portable art kits would be a great way to go. Are you thinking about organizing them by activity? One for each school? Do share! I’m so curious.
I look forward to hearing more about your journey.
Cheers,
Amy
Hi Amy,
My research is on how art therapy can be used as a tool to encourage individuals on the autism spectrum to express feelings and emotions. Each activity will be designed around the individual and the severity of their autism as well as their art material preference. My ethics application took 3 1/2 months so I am super excited about nearly starting.
“Doodle for a few minutes. Listen to the sound of the chalk pastel lightly etching across the page. Feel your breathing slow down. Suddenly you have arrived in the moment. You are mindful – focusing on what is happening in the here and now through your art and your body’s experience of it.”
Seriously, the way you write just brings me such a deep level of “calmness.” I love this post, and most importantly, love you! Thank you for such a sweet and simple tutorial. Also checked out your tutorial for making your own stamps. I need to do that with my son!!
HI Deidre:
It’s such a pleasure to have you here on the blog! You are so sweet. I’m so glad that the post touched you, and I can’t wait to hear how stamp cutting with your son goes. It’s a great project with young kids!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment.
Amy