Aves de Amor (Love Birds)

While waiting for something to dry on another project, I created a small note card using a leftover piece of sheet music and patterned papers by My Mind's Eye.

The card turned out so cute that I made two more.

The bird is from Stampington and Company and I like its hand-carved appearance.  Hand carving my own images is still something I plan to try some day.  In the meantime, I'm happy to have this little bird to use.

This last picture made me think of the Bob Marley song Three Little Birds.  They look so sweet together that I hate to break them up.  But I started rubber stamping so I could make my own cards to send to friends and family, so these little guys will be added to the outgoing mail soon. 

Thanks for dropping by!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Black and very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; patterned papers by My Mind's Eye; bird from Stampington and Company; Ranger Archival black ink; vintage sheet music; antique linen, pumice stone and tattered rose distress ink; oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders; border punch by Martha Stewart; punchinella.

Watermelon Watercolor

We've been fortunate to buy a couple of really good watermelons recently, so I decided to make this refreshing fruit my next watercolor subject.  I painted these two wedges on a 6x6 piece of watercolor paper and added a little yellow to the background. 

I hope you're having a wonderful day.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Master's Touch 6x6 watercolor pad; Grumbacher transparent watercolors; black Staedtler pigment liner sketch pen.

Lemon Tree - Altered Envelope

This hot summer has me reaching for cold beverages.  I don't mind drinking water (which is best), but sometimes you just want something with a little more flavor, know what I mean?  So I alternate between brewing my own iced tea, making a pitcher of Crystal Light or whipping up a batch of lemonade.

My altered envie partner this month likes botanical images and watercolors.  Since I do also, this was the perfect month for me to pull out the paints and have a go at it.  I created my own envelope out of 140 pound watercolor paper using the envelope punch board by We R Memory Keepers.  This process included scoring the envelope, but I did not fold or glue it yet.  I taped the flat envelope to my watercolor board using painter's tape and lightly sketched my lemons on the front.  I then painted them and the background using Grumbacher transparent watercolors.

Once I glued the envelope, I added the lyrics to Lemon Tree to the back. This is an old Trini Lopez song that is very catchy.  Feel free to look it up on Youtube if you want to hear it, but be forewarned:  you'll probably be singing it all day if you do!

I hope you're having a wonderful (and cool) day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor paper; Grumbacher transparent watercolors; Staedtler pigment liner sketch pen.

Vintage Swimmer Dude - Altered Envelope

As I told you in this post, I bought a handful of vintage business envelopes at an antique shop recently.  I thought they had a lot of potential for mail art, and I didn't waste any time putting my theory to the test.

After cutting a piece of chipboard to fit inside the envelope, I swiped the outside with a thin layer of white gesso.  Not only does this prepare the envelope for all the wet layers I like to use, but in this case it also helped obscure the original address.  I didn't want to confuse the postal service and jeopardize the envelope's delivery.

After brushing on the deep violet acrylic paint, I adhered my vintage swimmer (a free clipart image from one of the Stampington magazines that I subscribe to).  I colored his suit with pencils and added some shadowing with a tinted charcoal pencil.  Distress ink was sponged around the edges of the envelope.  Then I applied the black line rub-ons in a loose plaid pattern and added some random splatter stamping.  The large circles were applied using an empty cardboard crochet thread spool dipped in acrylic paint.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Vintage #10 business envelope; Golden white gesso; clipart dude from Stampington and Company; Derwent lavender tinted charcoal pencil; Prismacolor Premier pencils; Liquitex deep violet and raw umber acrylic paint; Dee's Designs distressed effects rub-ons by My Mind's Eye; spiced marmalade, wild honey and seedless preserves distress inks; Atlantic City seal and grunge pattern stamp from Artistic Outpost; splatter pattern background stamp by All Night Media; Ranger archival watering can ink; large cardboard spool.

You're a Star! Father's Day Card

Taking care of my mom after her knee surgery has meant that I haven't had a lot of time for leisure activities.  But she continues to improve each day which means she can do more things for herself, freeing me to get down and dirty at my art table.  And just in time, too, because I still had to make a father's day card for my dad.

When I don't have a specific idea for a card, I flip through my Artistic Outpost stamps and hope that one jumps out at me.  This handsome gent from the Gatsby set gave me a sly wink as I passed by, sealing his fate for the evening.  I started by stamping him twice on a patterned pattern by BoBunny.  The first image was diecut with a Spellbinders oval; from the second image I fussy-cut my gent and adhered him on top of the first for dimension.  (And I just noticed that I lopped off his left ear, poor fellow!)

For the background, I doctored up two other patterned papers from the same BoBunny collection.  That included dry-brushing white acrylic paint, applying molding paste through a stencil, rubber stamping, and sponging on various distress inks.  I can't describe how much joy this process gives me; I could play for hours this way.  After adding the sentiment and some tinted charcoal pencil for shading, I sprayed the entire collage with acrylic sealant.  My Father's Day greeting was added to the inside of the card after the front was dry and assembled.

I hope you're having a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:
Brown cardstock by Bazzill; patterned papers by BoBunny; titanium white acrylic paint; Golden molding paste; Tim Holtz ruler stencil; fired brick, wild honey, gathered twigs, walnut stain and pine needles distress ink; Derwent forest pine and natural tinted charcoal pencil; rubber stamps from Artistic Outpost; star stamp by Tim Holtz; Ranger Archival black ink; oval and lacy oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders; border bunch by EK Success; pop-dots.

Vintage Tricycle Thanks

This is the thank you card I sent to my mom's cousin after we visited them last month (see this blog post).  Because most of the family lives in our vicinity, this cousin and her husband always have to drive here for reunions, funerals, or just to get together for fun.  But the road goes in both directions, as the saying goes, and we decided it had been too long since we had been to their place.  After a delicious lunch, we had a wonderful afternoon exploring their neck of the woods.

For this card I started with the vintage tricycle image by Deep Red Stamps.  I heat-embossed the tricycle in black and after selecting the patterned paper for the background, I lightly colored the trike with Prismacolor pencils to coordinate.  The sheet music and book text are both vintage scraps from my stash.  To integrate the new papers with the old, I sponged old paper distress ink around all the edges, stamped on a splatter pattern and randomly stenciled gathered twigs distress ink through a piece of punchinella.

Thanks for popping in!  Have a fabulous day.

Supplies:
Blue cardstock (unknown); very vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up; patterned paper by Making Memories; Versafine watermark ink; black embossing powder; tricycle image from Deep Red; vintage sheet music and book text; Prismacolor Premier pencils; old paper and gathered twigs distress ink; splatter pattern background stamp by All Night Media; round and scalloped round Nestabilities by Spellbinders; sentiment diecut by Little Yellow Bicycle; black cardstock by Bazzill; punchinella.

Road Trip Art Goodies!

Hello hello hello!  May was a busy month for us, what with my dad and I going to Washington, D.C., on an Honor Flight and my mom's total knee replacement surgery.  A lot of advance preparations were required for both events, and thankfully both went well.  Since my mom has been home, I have been her nurse, physical therapy cheerleader, cook, laundress and general housekeeper.  Some days have been exhausting!  But we are getting into a routine now and she is doing well, so I hope to get caught up on my art projects and blogging.

Earlier in May, before all of the hubbub, we took a little road trip to visit one of my mom's cousins.  She and her husband live in the country, a couple of hours away by car.

After an old-fashioned lunch at their house, the men drove to the town of Williams (population 335--SALUTE!), to visit The Hemken Collection, a car museum.  Meanwhile, we women drove to Story City (population 3,434), to check out the thrift and antique stores.  For such a small town, there was a lot of activity on that Friday.  And I found some vintage art goodies at rock-bottom prices.

My favorite shop was Broad Street Market (find them on Facebook under Broad Street Market by Carter Station).  I give the owners high marks for their staging.  I bought some vintage math flash cards there.

Something about dismembered doll parts kind of creeps me out, especially when they're served up in bowls and on platters. But the display certainly got my attention!

I have always wanted an Adirondack chair.  They are so comfortable!  (Sans fan blade, of course.)

Rustic tins grace an old cabinet at Broad Street Market.

Anyone need a humongous windmill fan?

 
At a combination consignment/antique store across the street, I found a French Horn instruction booklet in English and German that had the most wonderful graphics. I also bought some French horn sheet music at that shop.

 
At another, more traditional, antique shop, I found some early 1900s French postcards and a couple of cartes de visite. I bought the postcards more for the backs than for the designs on the front.  I love the fonts they used back then.  The plan for the cartes de visite is to make a couple of small, hand-sewn books.  The Songs from the Heart of a Boy is actually a book of poems published in 1926.  The book jacket says that the author was 16 years old.

 
My favorite purchase of the day was a handful of vintage business envelopes from a grocery supplier.  Based on the one digit city mail code, these envelopes date from the early 1940s to late 1950s.  I've already used one of them for an altered envelope project, and I'll share that with you in another post.

We had the best time on this road trip, even though it made for a long day.  I'm just glad we were able to squeeze it in before my mom's knee surgery; we knew we wouldn't be wandering too far from home for a while.

Thanks for popping by!  Have a great day.