ICAD 2014

I'd been seeing the Index-Card-A-Day challenge  (aka ICAD) going on over the past few years and thought it interesting, but I never jumped on board. After seeing a friend post one of her index cards on Flickr, I decided to give it a go this time around.

ICAD #1

I usually don't have a problem getting some creative time in most every day, so for me the challenge wasn't really about carving out a bit of art time every single day. I'm really not sure exactly what prompted me to join, or what I'd hoped to gain, but I am so glad I decided to play along!

ICAD #2

I knew from the beginning that my own personal goal would be to incorporate some of my lesser-used art supplies. Other than that, I decided to just go in whatever direction I wanted on any given day. I have rarely used the prompts and themes, although those can be helpful to give you a jumping off point or something to work towards.

ICAD #3

By the time I'd gotten to my 4th ICAD, I noticed a wonderful thing starting to happen. I had a flurry of ideas and things just seemed to flow. For me, this is what I always call being "in the zone". All too often when I sit down to create, the zone eludes me, but getting to that point feels amazing, and it's there that I do my best, most authentic work.

ICAD #4

A revelation!

After working on this challenge for a few weeks, I'm finding almost no end to the rush of inspiration. These little index card creations have given me a ticket straight into the zone, and it happens almost effortlessly. I can't really explain why; maybe it's the small size (although I do make ATCs and other small creations as well), maybe it's the fact that I've been using some of my forgotten art supplies, or maybe it's the freeing feeling of using something as common as an index card. Perhaps it pushes aside that inner voice that nags at you to make a masterpiece when you sit down with a canvas or expensive papers and paints. I don't fully understand it, but that's ok, I don't need to have all the answers. I just know that this fun little challenge has allowed me to break out of a bit of a rut I was in and make some authentic creations. Not only that, but the ideas that have come about on the index cards I have then transferred to other pieces, like handmade postcards and other mail art, ATCs, and more. 

ICAD #5

I would encourage anyone to give this a try. The main idea is just to be creative, just to get something onto the index card. It allows for a small bit of art time every day, and can be done nearly anywhere depending on your chosen medium. You don't even have to consider yourself an artist to give it a try, but trying is what's important. Give it a shot, and I'm pretty sure you'll find it to be as much fun as I have. And you just might be surprised by what ideas you're able to unleash, and the resulting creations.

ICAD #6

New-found love: Gelli Printing

I can't remember when I first heard about the Gelli Arts printing plate, but I knew right away I wanted one. I've been interested in gelatin monoprinting for awhile, but was uncertain whether I wanted to try my hand at creating my own homemade gelatin plate, a plate that breaks down over time and so is temporary. The Gelli Arts plate makes monoprinting so easy and hassle-free, as it is a permanent, gelatin-like printing plate, so it's always ready to go whenever you are. I know I sound like a Gelli Arts spokesperson, but I can't help it. I just LOVE this thing!

I received the 8"x10" plate for Christmas, and I can sincerely say it is one of the greatest creative gifts I've ever been given. From the first moment I rolled paint onto it with my brayer, I was hooked. I took every available opportunity to sit down and make prints, and in short order I had accumulated quite a substantial stack of painted papers. Some of my prints were a success, with interesting patterns and textures, and some weren't so amazing, but I have come to realize even "failed" prints can be used in numerous ways in various other projects.

Here are just a few of the multitude of prints I've made:

It's always exciting to peel your paper off the plate and discover what you've managed to create. I haven't been this inspired by a new art tool in awhile. If you have been thinking of jumping into monoprinting, you simply cannot go wrong with the Gelli plate. I must warn you, though - it's completely addictive. 

In a future post, I'll share some of the projects I've created using my prints. 

I return with mail art goodness!

Wow, it has been well over a year since I have posted here. So much can happen in a year, and as with most of us, life has been hectic and busy, which makes it very difficult to find the time for blogging. I am, however, still creating (as I have been for most of my life), and the desire to share my creations and network with other artists brings me back here yet again.

As per my usual, I'm all over the map as far as mediums, but my main love has always been paper, paint, and ink. In that vein, I find myself regularly making a lot of handmade postcards; mail art is near and dear to my heart. So, I'm jumping back into the blogosphere to share a bit of that. For those interested, I'm sharing a bit about techniques and/or supplies, too. 

The above postcard was made from calendars for a calendar recycling/reusing swap. I added a bit of rubber stamping, because everything's better with a stamp!

This guy makes me smile. Made for a green collaged postcard swap. The robot image is from a vintage children's book. I added sequin waste, embossed circles punched from metal tape, scrapbook paper, and rubber stamping.

I have a dear friend in England who loves puffins as much as I do. This was made just for her. The puffin image is from a National Geographic magazine. I placed textured items underneath (stencil, rubber stamp, ceramic tile), and then rubbed over the surface of the paper with Nevr-Dull. Love that technique! And I know you're shocked, but rubber stamps were used here, too. 

Made for a Year of the Snake swap. Nevr-Dull again makes an appearance, and stamps, and ink, and stencils, and paint, and...

Made for a swap where we could only use trash *ahem* (read: ephemera!) to create our postcard.  

Oh rubber stamps, how I love thee, even after all these years. Color was added with Inktense pencils. 

"Thrust you can trust". Ha! National Geographic image, Nevr-Dull, fish from old library book, Gelli-printed papers. 

Made for a very recent swap that I'm hosting; rubber stamped and inked and such.

Another swap, this time one using the Gelli Arts printing plate and bubble wrap. 

I offer my thanks to those of you who decide to stop by and visit my little, neglected piece of the web (bad blogger that I am...). It means a lot to me.

Fearless Art Journaling, Part 6: Creation of a Page

I have been blown away by the number of hits my Fearless Art Journaling series has received, especially considering I haven't added a new post in the series in over a year. What this tells me is that a lot of folks out there are very interested in art journaling, with making backgrounds being at the top of the list, at least as far as my own page views are concerned.

For this part in the Fearless Art Journaling series, I thought I'd show you the construction of one of my own pages from start to finish. I hope it gives you some ideas of your own as I show how an art journal page goes from blank paper to completed page.

In the past year, I haven't been as prolific in my own journaling. In fact, until the other day, I hadn't even opened my art journal since last summer. I wanted to change that, so a couple days ago I decided to do a quick page and just play around. No pressure, no stress, just play, which is how I always encourage anyone to work in their journal. 

I knew I wanted to make use of my new aspen trees template, but other than that, I had no real goal or outcome in mind. I started the page by sponging on Antique Linen Distress Ink, then I stamped this nifty newspaper background using Frayed Burlap DI.

Next, I pulled out the template. I used blue painter's tape to keep it in place, and using a Ranger ink blending tool, I rubbed on some Rusty Hinge DI. 

Working in the same way, I rubbed on Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, and Broken China. After removing the template, I used a toothbrush to splatter Transparent Raw Umber acrylic ink. 

At this point, I felt the area where I'd used the template needed to be framed out more, so I grabbed some paper scraps (I have a plethora of scraps and am thrilled anytime I can find a use for them) and glued them down to create a frame. I also added some washi tape in a couple spots. 

This is the point where I sat back and looked at the page, trying to decide where to go next. I felt like I wanted to add the image of a woman's face in the trees, so I picked out one of my rubber stamps for that purpose. I wanted some focus on the woman's face and felt that just stamping directly onto the trees would be too busy, so I brushed on off-white acrylic paint where I wanted to stamp the face. I also dry brushed this same paint in different areas all over the page, and then rubbed on some Broken China where I planned to stamp the face. It was then I remembered I'd wanted to flick water onto the page to make use of the water-reactive properties of Distress Inks. I love how the water droplets look with the ink and paint together. 

Once everything was dry, I stamped the woman's face in Ranger's Archival Ink in Sepia. This is a permanent ink that works pretty well on glossy surfaces, but it does need time to dry on any glossy or painted surface, so at this point, I walked away to have a cup of coffee as I let the ink dry. Once the ink had dried, I stamped the tassels and outlined the face in Broken China using a blender marker. 

I like how this page turned out and feel it's pretty much complete and ready for my writing. I might add something later, as it seems usually I tweak pages some here and there if I feel later it needs something more. 

I hope showing the steps involved in creating this simple page gives the beginners out there a little insight into how a page can be constructed.

Eggshell Mosaics, My Newest Addiction.

Hello, all! No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just finding a lot less time in life for blogging. I won't make promises to blog more (even though I'm going to attempt exactly that), as we all know life ebbs and flows and we often find ourselves putting something on the back burner. For me, it's my blog. Luckily, my desire to create and the actual creation process never gets put on the back burner, so while I rarely blog about it anymore, I am, in fact, creating all the time.

My newest obsession is eggshell mosaics. I'm a member of the site swap-bot.com and another member there is a big fan of this medium. I kept seeing these beautiful pieces she'd made, and when she set up a swap, complete with a wonderful, detailed tutorial, I knew I had to try my hand at it. Since then, I've decorated magnets, wooden picture frames, and Christmas ornaments using eggshells. For a time, it seemed anything not nailed down in my home got a covering of eggshells.

 

 

These are just a few of the magnet sets I made. The Autumn leaves sets are still available for sale in my Etsy shop.

So, still creating, and after over a year of not working in my art journal, I am starting to dabble again there. Maybe I will even find the time to add to my Fearless Art Journaling series, who knows?

As always, thanks for stopping by, and have an artful day!

These are a few of my favorite things...

I absolutely love thrift stores, and when I found a box of vintage wooden dominoes for sale at a little shop in a nearby town, I snatched them up. Dominoes can be used in so many creative ways, but after participating in an altered domino swap recently where my contribution was a necklace, that's where I decided to start.

I began by sanding the edges of the dominoes to add to their vintage and rustic appeal. The above domino features embossed foil tape that I colored with alcohol ink. Foil tape seems to be my new favorite thing as far as creative endeavors go.

I am often drawn to this pen nib stamp; it's definitely a favorite. This is actually a section cut out from the stamped image. I think this calls to the writer in me, as well as the lover of nearly all things vintage. The color on this piece was provided via watercolor pencils, specifically Inktense pencils. They're amazing! I wish they'd let me be their spokesperson. Once you brush them with water, they become as vibrant as ink. So much fun, and the best watercolor pencils ever, in my humble opinion. I finished this necklace with a coat of dimensional glaze (also on my list of favorite things) to give a glossy, glass-like appearance.

I believe the above necklace may be my favorite of the three. I liked it so much, I actually made another pendant just like it to keep for myself. This one was colored with Distress Inks (yep, you guessed it, favorite stamping ink) and also finished with dimensional glaze.

All three of these necklaces are available for sale in my Etsy shop right now. In the works is a bracelet made from some of the dominoes and also featuring the pen nib stamp. I haven't decided yet whether to part with it or keep it for myself...

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I wish you all an artful and glorious day filled with some of your favorite things.

Another round of Seth Apter's The Pulse

Hello, readers! Just a quick post to let you know that another segment of Seth Apter's wonderful series The Pulse is happening this Sunday, August 19. Yours truly will be one of the artists featured. For this portion, Seth asked us to provide a photo of a favorite piece of art we'd created, and its meaning to us. Please go have a look at all the inspiration that Seth works so hard to bring together!

Thank you!