Butterfly Sympathy

I created this sympathy card for a friend whose mother passed away last week.

I used a Glimmer Screens butterfly stencil and vibrant turquoise Dylusions spray ink to create the front.  On the inside I stamped a similarly shaped butterfly using peacock feathers distress ink, which is almost an exact color match to the Dylusions spray.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

Have a wonderful day.  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Turquoise and white cardstock by Bazzill; whisper white cardstock from Stampin' Up; Glimmer Screens butterfly stencil; Dylusions spray ink; sympathy stamp by Stampabilities; Ranger Archival black ink; butterfly stamp by Hampton Art Stamps; sentiment stamp on inside from Stampin' Up; peacock feathers distress ink; corner rounder punch.

Playing with Pencils - Rutabaga

My mom and I had a garage sale last weekend.  Several old gardening books that my dad had acquired somewhere did not sell, and I kept one that had a lot of simple (but very well done) color botanical illustrations that would be good for collage or for sketch practice.

I drew a rutabaga based on an illustration in that book, then colored it with Prismacolor pencils.  I like how the bottom section and the stem turned out, but I had trouble getting the purple section to blend the way I wanted it to.  I like to use odorless mineral spirits to blend my Prismacolors, but since I was working on this in the living room I had just my pencils and an eraser.  It was a relaxing way to end my Saturday.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend.  Thanks for popping in.

Supplies:
Sketch book; Prismacolor Premier pencils; Staedtler eraser.

M Cubed: Mary, Mary, Margie

I'm slowly getting around to projects and gifts for various friends and family members.  I created this mixed media collage for my friend Mary, an artist I first met about three years ago when I took her class Found Object Sculpture.  It ended up we had quite a few things in common, and we have so much fun whenever we get together.  When she posted this adorable picture of herself, her mom and her grandmother on her Facebook page, I knew I had to make something with it.

I started by adhering patterned papers and vintage sheet music to a 4x4 cradled wood panel.  I dry-brushed on white acrylic paint and added texture by stenciling modeling paste through a piece of punchinella.  After the modeling paste dried, I tinted it with distress ink.  I printed the photo on matte paper, trimmed out the three figures and adhered it to the background (note: you need to print photos on a laser printer if you're going to use wet media).  I added more modeling paste, charcoal pencil and Stabilo All Pencil to bring everything together.

After much debate as to whether to add a hanger or some feet, I decided on feet, using two old metal bobbins wound with a strip of book page.  And of course, I had to finish off the back with more book text, because those kinds of details are important to me.

I think this turned out so cute!  I love the juxtaposition of the vintage photo with the colors, and the modeling paste looks like a bunch of abstract flowers, especially after I added the glitter glue.  I hope she likes it.

Have a fabulous day!

ICAD No. 24 Psychedelic Circles

I haven't made any index cards for several days now due to other projects I had to get done and things like work and having a garage sale.  So I was happy to find time tonight to make a card using some Gelli Plate prints I made last year.

I used various sizes of circle punches to create a whole bunch of solid and "donut" circles to adhere to my index card.  I love how dynamic this card is, and I think it illustrates well the week's theme of psychedelic and today's prompt of geometric.

On top of everything else, my printer/scanner started acting up last night and I've spent several hours over the past two days trying to fix it.  I was in a panic, let me tell you!  I don't know if it's fixed, but I did manage to get this card scanned.

Thank you for reading my blog and as always, I so enjoy reading your comments.  Have a great day!

Happy Father's Day

I created this card to give to my dad on Father's Day.  I feel so fortunate to still have him with us, as many of my friends have lost their parents already.

As Annie calls it, I "busted my stash" for this card, utilizing patterned papers by Prima Marketing for the background.  The focal images are by Tim Holtz.  To age the metal key a bit, I gave it the white acrylic paint treatment.

Here's a picture of my dad from the mid-1950s.  All dressed up and some place to go, no doubt!

And here he is about 60 years later.  I think he's aged quite well, don't you?

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.  Thanks for dropping in.

Supplies:
Black cardstock by Bazzill; green cardstock from Stampin' Up; patterned paper by Prima Marketing; titanium white acrylic paint; pumice stone, forest moss and gathered twigs distress ink; focal image by Tim Holtz; splatter pattern stamp by All Night Media; metal key unknown; twine; pop dots; charcoal pencil.

Scrap Tag Cards

A couple of weeks ago I made several tags out of the scraps left on my craft table.  You can see the original posts about the tags here and here.  At the time I didn't have any specific plans for them, but today I used several on the fronts of some RAK cards I wanted to mail this month.

I started by selecting the card base.  Usually I make my own, but I've had these colorful square cards in my stash for several years now and decided it was time to use them.  (My mom and I are having a garage sale this weekend, so I've been cleaning out closets and drawers.  In the process I was reminded of all the art and craft supplies I have, and I've made a vow to get busy using them!)

I pulled some sheet music out of the scrap pile and then found a piece of patterned paper to coordinate with each tag and card base.  The final step was to die-cut the words and add ribbon to the tag.  I included instructions with each card that the tag can be removed and used as a bookmark, or the recipients can just leave the tag on the card.

I had so much outgoing happy mail today that I had to put it in a plastic bag and clip it to the mailbox!  Won't my mailman be thrilled?  I sometimes wonder what he thinks of all the artsy mail coming and going from this house.  I hope he enjoys it as much as I do.

Thanks for popping by!  Have a fabulous weekend.

Supplies:
5.5 x 5.5 cards by DCWV; vintage sheet music; miscellaneous patterned paper; die-cut words by Little Yellow Bicycle; black cardstock; miscellaneous ribbon and hem tape.  See links above to original posts for the supplies list for the tags.

His Timeless Story

This collage was created on a 5x7 canvas panel for my partner in this month's altered envie exchange.  It wasn't long ago that she sent me a marvelous painted canvas panel in lieu of an envelope, so I'm glad to have the opportunity to reciprocate.

The panel started off routinely enough, by my adhering an old book page using gel medium.  However, when I adhered my photo, I "boogered it up."  It couldn't be saved so I set to removing it by rubbing it lightly with a damp sponge.  In the process a lot of the old book page also came up, but because I had used gel medium to adhere it, I ended up with a transfer of some of the text!  This was one time where a mistake resulted in something better.

In this closeup shot you can see the transferred text as well as some of the grungy texture that resulted from removing the original book page.  In spots where I rubbed harder with the sponge, you can see the canvas peeking through.

The strip of washi tape along the bottom set the color scheme for the rest of collage.  I added blue and red stenciling using distress inks in addition to an old French postage stamp and some rubber stamping in black.

On the address side, I adhered another book page, muted it with white acrylic paint, then added the same type of stenciling and stamping that I had done on the front.  I sprayed both sides with a matte acrylic sealant before adhering the postage stamps.  I chose stamps that coordinate with my artwork, including one of my coveted Inverted Jenny stamps.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week!

Supplies:
5x7 watercolor canvas panel (Hobby Lobby); old book page; Golden soft matte gel medium; laser copy of old cabinet card; titanium white acrylic paint; Liquitex burnt sienna acrylic paint; vintage photo, black soot, chipped sapphire, pumice stone and barn door distress inks; vintage French postage stamp; punchinella; splatter pattern stamp by All Night Media; Tim Holtz washi tape, ruler stencil, star stamp and word stickers; dark charcoal pencil.

ICAD No. 15 The Stranger

Today's ICAD prompt was Route 66.  I actually have some rubber stamps that fit that theme, but I've used them numerous times over the years and frankly, I wasn't feeling it.  Besides, a 4x6 card using those stamps would have taken me more time than I was willing to spend.

However, I do love travel themes and road trips, so I used a French road map and this wonderful photo of a dapper gent with his car.  The license plate dates this photo to about 1927 and you probably can't tell, but he's holding a fat stogie in his right hand.  The library catalog card along the bottom is a reproduction from a set of 30 notecards with envelopes and faux wooden catalog drawer.  I bought mine at Dick Blick but they are also available on Amazon, which is where the link takes you.

Have a terrific day!

Supplies:
4x6 index card; French road map; copy of old photo; reproduction library catalog card; titanium white acrylic paint; pumice stone, vintage photo and fired brick distress inks; par avion stamp by Hampton Art Stamps; flourish stamp by Hero Arts; Tim Holtz alpha stencil; Derwent charcoal pencil.

ICAD No. 14 Scotch Grove Salt and Pepper

The card I'm showing you today was inspired by yesterday's prompt which was salt and pepper.  I knew that I wanted to do something black and white, but it wasn't until today that I settled on this.

I took a photograph of an abandoned house a weekend ago when my mom and I went to a flea market and antique sale out in the country.  You can read about that and see the original photograph in color here.  I used the saturation feature on Pic Monkey to turn the photo into black and white, printed it on matte photo paper, and cut it out closely.  To mimic the overcast sky that day, I swiped Payne's gray watercolors onto my background.  When it had dried, I stenciled on the ruler using pumice stone distress ink.  The stenciling doesn't show up well on the scan, but on the original it provides a subtle vertical contrast to the horizontal lines of the house.

Thanks for popping by!

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor paper; Payne's Gray watercolor; Tim Holtz ruler stencil; pumice stone distress ink.

ICAD No. 12 Gelli Print Make-over

If you think this card looks like a companion to yesterday's (ICAD No. 11 Silhouette), you would be right.  I actually started this card first, reached a certain point, and got stuck.  So I set it aside, made yesterday's card using the paints I still had on my palette, and came back to finish this card today.

The background is a Gelli Plate print I made on sheet music a while ago.  Unfortunately, the original color scheme (blue and yellow) was not inspiring me at all.  So I dry-brushed white acrylic paint over the entire piece to tone down the colors, and then used pink, green and additional white accents to transform the color scheme to one I liked.  Like yesterday, this card was also inspired by a couple of Dina Wakley techniques: drawing simple shapes and fixing overwrought layers.

Have a great day!

Supplies:
4x6 index card;  Gelli Plate print on sheet music; titanium white and pink acrylic paint; black and white Stabilo All Pencils; picked raspberry and mowed lawn distress inks; Signo Uniball white gel pen; Tim Holtz collage stamp; Faber-Castell black Pitt artist pen; Tim Holtz alpha stencil; punchinella.

ICAD No. 11 Silhouette

This card was inspired by a project in Dina Wakley’s book Art Journal Courage to use a silhouette.  My silhouette started as a photograph in a store flyer I received in the mail.  The flyer was printed on heavy, glossy cardstock, and I saved this particular figure because it was about the right size for any number of projects (journal page, index card, whatever).

After cutting out the figure closely, I laid it on my index card and painted right over it with the three colors of acrylic paint.  (Because of the type of paper the silhouette was printed on, it made a good mask.)  After the paints dried, I loosely outlined the figure with a pigment pen and wrote a message to myself in the white space.  I used black and silver Gelatos to add the shadow on the left, and a black Stabilo All Pencil to trace the “Viewmaster” stencil.  My final step was to test whether the white Stabilo All Pencil would write over the Gelatos: umm, not so much.  The Signo white gel pen didn’t do so well either.  Still, this card was a fun experiment and I like the color scheme a lot.

As always, thank you for reading my blog and for your thoughtful comments.  I always enjoying hearing from you. 

Supplies:

4x6 index card; white, pink, and green acrylic paint; Faber-Castell black and silver gel sticks; Stabilo black and white All Pencils; Balzer Designs stencil; vintage sheet music scrap; Staedtler pigment pen; Faber-Castell Pitt black artist pen; Signo Uniball white pen; Tim Holtz alpha stencil; Niji water pen.

ICAD No. 10 A Triangle Has Three Equal Sides

And a square is a rectangle with four equal sides.  Wait -- what?  A 1942 elementary school math book I have says that "a square is a rectangle with four equal sides."  It took me a minute to wrap my head around that.  I guess I never thought about how one would describe a square, but I certainly wouldn't start by calling it a rectangle!  (What can I say?  Math was not my strongest subject.)

Today's ICAD started with an illustrated page from said 1942 math book and some modern patterned papers.  I then added the ledger page stencil using modeling paste.  Once it dried, I highlighted it with a distress ink.  The number 3 Flinch card, postage stamps and handwritten ledger page are all vintage pieces from my stash.

Thanks for dropping by!  Have a wonderful day.

Supplies:
4x6 index card; vintage math book page, ledger book page, Flinch card, and postage stamps; TCW mini ledger stencil; Golden modeling paste; pumice stone, black soot, fired brick and vintage photo distress inks; titanium white acrylic paint; splatter pattern stamp by All Night Media; Derwent tinted charcoal pencil; Tim Holtz alpha stencil; Staedtler pigment pen; punchinella used as a stencil.

ICAD No. 9 Children of Kildare

Tonight's ICAD features a mixture of vintage and modern papers, treated in my signature way to bring them together to form a cohesive, vintage collage.  Well, I don't know if it's accurate to call it my "signature" way, and I certainly didn't invent it, but it is a method I use often.

The focal image and wrapping paper are both new.  I adhered them to an old novel page with some sheet music, plaid patterned tape and a strip of Cookie Jar savings stamps.  I just received these in a give-away package from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  I assume they're comparable to S&H Green Stamps, but I've never heard of them and a quick search on the internet didn't turn up any information.

After dry-brushing on titanium white acrylic paint and sponging on pumice stone distress ink, I used a tinted charcoal pencil to add some shadows and depth.  The title of this card comes from a song in a 1936 school book of music for children.

Thanks for popping by!

Supplies:
4x6 index card; page from an old novel; little girls image from Red Lead Paperworks; wrapping paper from my friend Barb; vintage sheet music; text from old music book; Cookie Jar savings stamps; green plaid patterned tape; titanium white acrylic paint; pumice stone distress ink; Derwent natural tinted charcoal pencil; Tim Holtz alpha stencil.

Flea Market Finds - Scotch Grove

I thought I'd break up the ICAD posts with some pictures from the "Sunday Country Adventure" I took with my mom last weekend.  We finally went to a flea market in a neighboring county that we've been meaning to go to for the last couple of years, but it seems like we either are busy or forget about it until afterward.  However, this weekend we had another mission taking us to the same area, so we hit the road and accomplished a lot in just a few hours. The flea market had only about half of the 60 vendors they advertised, but I found a few things and the prices were more than reasonable.

The old drawer is about 4 x 11 x 4 inches.  It has a nicely rusted pull-ring and medallion on the end, dovetail construction, and it will make a beautiful art shrine when stood vertically.  The small heart-shaped mold also has a nice patina on it.  I love the bright graphics on the old seed packets, and I bought the penny postcard from 1910 for several reasons.  First, the Atlantic City image on the front reminded me of some rubber stamps that I have.  Second, I adore the sense of humor that the senders of the card exhibited, and I imagine the two of them were having a wonderful time at the beach.  On the front "Edgar" wrote, "Sweetie is as red as an indian."  On the back, "Sweetie" wrote, "Edgar's head is swolen twice its size; the salt water done him up."  I love that Sweetie misspelled swollen, yet used the proper form of its as well as a semi-colon.

The book of One Hundred and One Famous poems (With a Prose Supplement) was published in 1924.  As you can imagine it's full of poetry by early (pre-19th and 20th Century) poets such as Percy Shelley, Robert Burns, Longfellow, Wordsworth, Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson, among others.  Each poem is accompanied by a nice image of the author.  There are a few poems by later writers such as Carl Sandburg and Joyce Kilmer, who wrote the famous Trees.  Did you know that Joyce Kilmer was a man?  If I learned that as a kid (and I don't think I did), I had forgotten.  Not only was he a man, but he was a sergeant who was killed in action during World War I.  So I learned something new from this old book.

This is the only photo I took in Scotch Grove itself, which is no longer a town but just an unincorporated area with a few homes and the numerous empty buildings that once housed  businesses.  This house, obviously empty, looked like there wasn't a single chip of paint left anywhere on it.  It sits on a little rise and from this angle made a great photograph.  But wait!  Is that Norman Bates' mother in the upstairs window??  Yikes!  Better skedaddle!

In a couple of weeks I'll tell you about the rest of our Sunday Country Adventure and share a photo of something very special that my mom bought at an auction.

Have a fabulous day!

ICAD No. 8 She Got the Way to Move Me, Cherry

Today's ICAD prompt is grapefruit and cherry.  It's a funny coincidence because just this weekend I watched a Youtube video in which the artist painted some cherries to demonstrate how Brusho watercolor crystals worked.  And week before last, for the first time in a long time (decades?), I splurged and bought a bag of sweet California cherries at the grocery store.

I lightly sketched a cherry on watercolor paper, then used regular watercolors to paint it.  I added the Neil Diamond lyric and spatters using black India ink.  Once I reached this point, I realized that this card is rather phallic in nature.  That makes me laugh because I certainly didn't intend it to be.  You Freudians can have some fun with that.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; Schmincke Horadam watercolor paints; Higgins black India ink; calligraphy pen; Tim Holtz alphabet stencil.

ICAD No. 6 Under-Paper Abstract

I'm a day behind and the prompts aren't inspiring me, so I'm trying some other things I've had on my "to do" list.  For today, that means using "under-papers" to create an abstract collage. Under-papers consist of the cheap newsprint or wax paper that I use to protect my work surface, clean off brayers and stencils, or lay under final pieces when I spray them with acrylic sealant.  I've been holding onto one piece of wax paper that I especially liked, waiting for the right mood to strike.

The letters along the bottom and the filigree image on the right were left by stencils when I cleaned them off on a piece of newsprint.  I cut out certain sections and adhered them to my index card.  I then overlaid a piece of wax paper with the wonderful red, green and black spray ink remnants.  The shimmery lime green circles are from another piece of newsprint.  The black hand drawn circles, the asemic writing at the bottom right, and the splatters were made using a calligraphy pen and India ink.  I am thrilled with how this turned out, as abstracts do not come easily to me.

Asemic writing is defined by Wikipedia as a "wordless open semantic form of writing" and by its creators as "quasi-calligraphic writing gestures."   I just call it scribbling.

I hope you had a great weekend.  My mom and I spent most of today on an adventure in the country.  I'll tell you about that in a future post, once we get my mom's purchase back from the framers.

Thanks for reading my blog!

ICAD No. 5 Poppy Dreams

I broke out the watercolors for today's card, but I used 140 lb watercolor paper instead of an index card.  You're just asking for disaster by not using the correct paper for this medium.  And since I wasn't motivated by today's prompt (owl), I waited until late in the day to complete this.  I had plans to attend a reception and exhibit opening at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art this evening, and I knew I would be more inspired afterward.

I worked wet-on-wet for the initial layer, then after some drying time refined the petals and stems.  I couldn't resist adding a little outlining with a Staedtler pigment liner pen.  I'm happy with how loose I was able to keep my poppies and how vibrant I was able to keep my red.  I really need to watercolor more often, because I do see improvements every time I play with them.

Thanks for dropping in.  Have a great weekend!

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb watercolor paper; Schmincke Horadam watercolor paints; Staedtler black pigment line pen; Tim Holtz stencil.

ICAD No. 4 Looking Over Paris

Today's ICAD prompt was mailbox.  I had a lot of ideas for this theme, but in the end I decided to be a little less obvious and make something that I'd like to find in my mailbox: a postcard from Paris.  I'd even send it to myself, if I had to (wink).

For the background I collaged a variety of Paris-themed labels by Cavallini.  I dry-brushed white acrylic paint over the entire card to blend the various designs.  My stately gent was cut from a reproduction Sears Catalog, and the Eiffel Tower image was cut from a reproduction postcard.  The old French postage stamp is real, but I added the cancellations with rubber stamps.

Creating yesterday's and today's card takes me back to two online classes I took with Mary Green in 2010:  Your Vintage Gluebook and Collage Coterie.  I learned so much through those classes and they helped to solidify my love of vintage collage.  Here's a link to one of the first collages I made using the blended paper technique, something I learned from Mary Green.  If you scroll through August 2010 you'll see other collages I made for Collage Coterie.

Thanks for popping by!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
4x6 index card; Paris Labels by Cavallini and Co.; white acrylic paint; vintage photo, black soot and pumice stone distress inks; gentleman ephemera from reproduction Sears Catalog; Eiffel Tower image from reproduction postcard from Mary Green; vintage French postage stamp; postal cancellation stamps by Stamp Francisco and 7 Gypsies; Derwent peat and white charcoal pencils; white Stabilo all pencil.

ICAD No. 3 Cow Country

Today's index card not only fed my soul artistically, but also served as the means for me to get something off my chest.  I went to bed last night with another person's negativity weighing heavily on my mind, and I decided I wasn't going to carry it around with me today.

After adhering a vintage map, reproduction ephemera and an old photo to my background, I took a graphite pencil and wrote a rant around and around the photo until all the negativity had left my thoughts.  I further obscured it with a black Stabilo All Pencil.  I know it won't be long before I don't even remember what the negativity was because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.

I wish you a positive day!

ICAD No. 2 A Swinger of Birches

Ack!  It's only day 2 of ICAD and I'm already behind!  I barely finished my index card before midnight, and only then because I ditched today's prompt (carnival) and went in a totally different direction.

I spritzed Dylusions spray inks through a stencil and then added bits of a Robert Frost poem called Birches.  Did you ever climb a tree as a kid and feel at peace?  As if you were somehow, just a little, temporarily, escaping whatever troubles you had on the ground?  Even in your young, partly-formed mind, you knew that eventually you'd have to climb down and face reality.   But for a while, you felt safe and "above it all," literally and figuratively.

Here's a link to the poem and one analysis.   I don't know if I completely agree with all of the analysis, but this poem does speak to me in terms of the themes of transcendence and escape.

Thanks for popping by!

Supplies:

4x6 index card; 6x6 stencil by TCW; postbox red and black marble Dylusions ink spray; computer-generated text.

Scrap Tags Part Deux

I had a few small scraps left on my craft table, so I made two more mixed media tags last night.

Have a great day!

ICAD No. 1 Purple Coneflower

In my attempt to get my mojo back, I've decided to try the ICAD Challenge (Index Card a Day) this year.  The concept is simple enough: create something every day on a cheap index card.  As the hostess says, "The challenge is about the DOING and not the KEEPING or PRESERVING or ARCHIVING. It is the process of creating each day that matters."  This is exactly the kind of challenge I need right now.  So I bought some unlined 4x6 index cards at an office supply store and away we go!

The theme for week one is drawing and doodling with pens, markers and ink.  The prompt for day one is chevron.  All themes and prompts are optional, but in this case they did give me an idea.  I drew a simple coneflower and colored it using Derwent watercolor pencils and a water brush.  I then stippled on distress inks through a chevron stencil and a piece of punchinella.

More information on ICAD can be found here.  It just started today but you can join anytime.

Happy June 1!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
4x6 unlined index card; Golden white gesso; Derwent watercolor pencils; Niji water brush; Ranger wild honey and dusty concord distress ink; chevron stencil by Studio Calico (Huey's Masks); piece of punchinella Staedtler pigment liner pen; vintage sheet music; Tim Holtz number stencil; date stamper.