Poire Jolie - Mail Art Postcard

The fun and talented leader of our altered envelope group is celebrating her birthday this month.  She does such a fabulous job of keeping the group going, and her artwork is amazing!  Take a moment to visit her blog, A Mynah Production, and you'll see what I mean.  She likes mail art with a lot of layers so I created this postcard to send to her.  Now that she has received it, I can share it with you.

The background started with lime green Dylusions ink sprayed through a chicken wire stencil.  I drew the pear on a separate piece of cardstock that I had colored with distress stains.  After cutting it out I stamped on the numbers.  The red letters have some dimension to them thanks to modeling paste that was applied through a stencil using a palette knife.

Thanks for popping in!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; Dylusions fresh lime ink spray; Crafter's Workshop chicken wire stencil; very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; Tim Holtz wild honey and festive berries distress stains; black and white Stabilo All Pencil; Derwent white and natural charcoal pencils; vintage sheet music scrap; script stamp by Inkadinkado; numbers stamp from Red Lead; Ranger Archival black ink; Tim Holtz letter stencil; Golden modeling paste; Tim Holtz rub on; washi tape; Tim Holtz reinforcer sticker.

Men in Hats - Moos

After spending quite a few hours cleaning in the basement on Saturday, I was ready to sit down and play for a while.  I decided to make a trio of moo cards using paper scraps left over from other projects.

I started by adhering patterned paper to watercolor paper cut to moo size (1 x 2.75 inches).  I altered the background by dry-brushing on titanium white acrylic paint and adding a background stamp.  My three gents in hats are by Artistic Outpost.  I stamped them on smooth vanilla cardstock and colored them with Prismacolor pencils before adhering them to the background.

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with my gents.  I'm thinking of mounting them on a solid substrate such as the cover of an old book.  And I may use the dictionary page that I used to make this scan, because the page has some fun words including cranky and crapulent, which means sick by intemperance (i.e., drunk!).  I just love old dictionaries.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb. watercolor paper; patterned paper; titanium white acrylic paint; wild honey, gathered twigs, pumice stone and vintage photo distress ink; French script background stamp by Stampin' Up; scratched grid background stamp by Cornish Heritage Farms; antique crackle background stamp unknown; very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; men in hats images from Artistic Outpost; Ranger Archival black ink; Prismacolor Premier pencils; odorless mineral spirits; Tim Holtz rub-ons; Adirondack espresso acrylic paint dabber; Derwent peat charcoal pencils; vintage book text.

Derwent Watercolor Chart

Isn't this pretty?  It's a chart I made last night of my Derwent watercolor pencils.  I bought a couple new colors this week and now my pencil case is full.  It holds 48 pencils so if I "need" more colors I will just have to buy a bigger case, I guess!

I'm taking a trip in a couple of weeks and have decided to take a small art kit consisting of my watercolor pencils, some paper, and a couple of Niji water brushes. I don't know how much time I'll have for arting (it's a work trip), but at least I'll have something to occupy me during the flight and if I get stranded anywhere.

Thanks for popping by.  Have a great weekend!

It's Hard to Say Good-bye

I sent this card to a dear friend who recently lost her father to cancer.  Cancer sucks.

Supplies:
Red and tan cardstock by Bazzill; whisper white cardstock from Stampin' Up; floral and sympathy sentiment from Stampin' Up; Marvy markers; Ranger Archival black ink; Pitt black artist pen; oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders; Anna Griffin embossing folder; corner rounder punch; pop-dots.

Bleeding Hearts - ATC

I don't recall what made me think of bleeding hearts this weekend; perhaps the excitement of seeing all of our spring flowers poking out of the ground.  I've never had a bleeding heart plant, but they are beautiful so I decided to make them the subject of a practice sketch and then an ATC.

I found a photograph to use as a guide and made a light sketch using a Staedtler Lumograph drawing pencil.  After a few adjustments, I added Derwent watercolor pencils.  Because my sketch book is not watercolor paper, the pencils don't really work as they should.  But this step allows me to play around with the colors and to refine the drawing.  Just for kicks, I also tested a new Staedtler pigment liner sketch pen on this page.

Based on my sketch, I transferred part of the design to a piece of Bristol paper to create this ATC.  Again I used my Derwent watercolor pencils and a very fine (0.05) Staedtler sketch pen.  I'm really happy with how this turned out.  And it makes me want to get a bleeding heart plant!

I hope you had a grand weekend!  Thanks for popping by my blog.

Gelli Print Pear

My friend Mary is celebrating her birthday this month and because she is an artist, I wanted to create an extra special card for her.  This was the perfect opportunity for me to use one of the monoprints that I made during our Gelli Plate play date last year.

My monoprint was about 9x12 inches in size (I regret I can't show you what it looked like before I cut it up, but apparently I never took a scan of it).  I chose a section where there was a light and dark patch next to each other, and drew a pear.  By doing this, my pear instantly had a shaded side and a lit side.  After cutting out the pear I stamped the numbers using white pigment ink and heat embossed them with clear powder.

The background consists of the rest of the monoprint adhered to a piece of watercolor paper for support.  In order to help the pear stand out, I lightened the background by adding Dylusions white linen spray ink through a stencil and then additional shading around the pear.  I completed the collage with a scrap of sheet music, washi tape, stamped script writing, some distress ink and textured (modeling paste) embossed stencil letters.  Oh, and a Tim Holtz rub-on and a reinforcer sticker with a dewdrop in the center!  Not to mention some titanium white paint stamped on using a piece of punchinella.  Whew.  I think that's all.

After my collage was dried and pressed, I adhered it to a black cardstock base.  My birthday message will go on the inside on white cardstock matted on a purple that coordinates with the colors of the collage.

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Black cardstock by Bazzill; Gelli Plate print; Stabilo black and white All Pencil; Derwent medium and white charcoal pencils; washi tape; script stamp by Inkadinkado; Ranger Archival black ink; vintage sheet music scrap; seedless preserves distress ink; Golden modeling paste; gold embossing powder; number stamp from Red Lead; Colorbox white pigment ink; clear embossing powder; washi tape, Tim Holtz letter stencil; Tim Holtz rub-on; Tim Holtz reinforcer; blue Dew Drop; titanium white acrylic paint; punchinella.

Arab Scarab #2 and Artistic Notecard

I've been working on some things but I can't share them with you yet because I don't want to spoil a surprise.  In the meantime here's a picture of my second scarab ATC and a quick notecard I made to send it in.

I used more purple on this scarab in order to distinguish it from the first.  I just love this color combination.

For the notecard, I stamped the main image by Artistic Outpost on heavy cardstock then dipped it in some distress stains, being extra careful so the girl's face didn't get covered.  I added the small foliage images along the bottom to fill in the space, "stamped" on some faded jeans distress paint using a piece of punchinella and that was it!  These two items are going to an artist in South Carolina who requested the scarab after seeing the first one I made for the Spring in Egypt swap.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous day.

Tulipa China Pink - Mail Art Postcard

After a cold February, the second week of March has treated us to some beautiful days with above average temperatures.  I took advantage of the warm weather to clean some leaves off the flower beds and discovered that our daffodils, hyacinths and tulips (my favorite) have emerged!  Spring is not far away now.

I decided that even though tulips are more associated with May around here, I just had to use them as my theme this month.  I pulled out a coffee table book of tulip photography that I've had for years and chose a pair of China Pink tulips as my subjects.  I lightly sketched them in pencil on a 5x7 postcard, then colored them with Derwent watercolor pencils using a Niji water brush.  The black accents were added with a fine point Sharpie.

On the address side, I wrote one stanza of a poem about tulips.  Gotta love a poem that uses the words brazen and hussies to describe a flower!  The complete poem is reproduced below for your pleasure.

I hope there are signs of spring in your neighborhood this week.  Enjoy!

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb hot press watercolor paper; Derwent watercolor pencils; black Sharpie pen; bee stamp by Inkadinkado; Ranger Archival black ink; Krylon silver leaf pen; Tim Holtz alphabet stencil.

Spring Flowers - Tulips

~ Mary Havran

Tulips shyly smiling, greet the spring
Tightly closed when at
First we meet
Tulips slowly opening, begin to sing
Gaining volume
Ever sweet

No longer shy, as days grow longer,
Raising their heads
They begin to flirt
Tulips dressed in many a color
Breezes swirling
Each floral skirt

Tulips, brazen painted hussies,
Part their bright lips trying to seduce
The busy buzzing bees
Far too bold for dainty tussies
Vibrant tulip flowers produce
Visions certain to please.

My World - Mail Art Postcard

Here's another postcard using the pod cast image from Stampington and Company.  I'm sending this to an old colleague and friend who I just reconnected with.  He has been caring for his mother who has Alzheimer's, so I thought he might enjoy a piece of unexpected mail art.

TGIF!  Have a great weekend.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; tumbled glass, wild honey and peeled paint distress stains; vintage paper distress paint; vintage sheet music; pod image from Stampington and Company; Versamark ink; black embossing powder; Golden embossing paste; gold embossing powder; Tim Holtz word stickers; vintage French postage stamp; round postal cancellation stamp by Stampa Rosa; triangle postal cancellation stamp by Inkadinkado; black soot distress ink; washi tape; Derwent natural charcoal pencil.

Explore

I was making a birthday card for my dad and it just wasn't coming together.  I put it aside to work on something else and left Dad's card for another time.  When I came back to it, I decided I liked what I had completed so far and just needed to think a little harder on how to embellish it.  I dug around in my supplies and eventually settled on big bronze eyelets and some twine.

I cut off enough twine to wrap through the eyelets three or four times and still had plenty left.  I didn't want to waste it so I got the wild idea to finish it off with some macrame!  I made quite a few macrame plant hangers back in the day and amazingly enough, remembered enough to add a few basic knots to Dad's card.

I have wanted to use this Huck Finn image by Artistic Outpost because it reminds me of a childhood photo of my dad.   He's the one on the right, wearing the straw hat and holey overalls (hand-me-downs, no doubt).  You may not be able to tell that there is a live bird sitting on his hat!  That's his brother Jim on the left, holding another bird.  The two of them used to get in quite a bit of trouble together when they were kids.  Don't they look as if they could be in a Mark Twain novel?

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Have a fabulous day!

Supplies:
Brown cardstock by Bazzill; various patterned papers; rubber stamps from Artistic Outpost; Ranger Archival black ink; margin from a vintage book; Prismacolor Premier pencils; oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders; large bronze eyelets; natural twine; forest moss and walnut stain distress ink; corner rounder punch.

Pod Collage

Over the weekend I traded my Arab Scarab ATC with an artist in Norway.  In order to protect it on its journey, I created this greeting card.

The background was made on watercolor paper using distress stains and distress paint.  I heat-embossed the pod in black to help it stand out among all the other elements.  The numbers and letters were applied through a stencil using modeling paste and then heat-embossed with gold powder.  The background was adhered to black cardstock to make an A2 card (4.25 x 5.5 inches), but I think this would also make a great postcard.  So you may see other variations of this in the future because I really like how it turned out and it took only 15 minutes to make!

Have a great day!  Thanks for popping by.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; festive berries and wild honey distress stain; antique linen distress paint; vintage sheet music; washi tape; pod image from Stampington and Company; Versamark ink; black embossing powder; Golden modeling paste; Tim Holtz letter stencil; gold embossing powder; vintage postage stamp; postal cancellation stamp by Stampa Rosa; black soot distress ink; black cardstock by Bazzill.