Love Bird Cards

These two cards were made using my Gelli Plate and the "Love Bird" stencil from iStencils.  I first laid down metallic acrylic and regular acrylic paint on the Gelli Plate. Next, I laid the stencil over the stencil, rubbed, and then lifted the paper (2nd card). Then I removed the stencil and laid another piece of paper over what was left on the plate to get what is called a "ghost" print (1st card).

Do What They Say You Can't Do

I bought four packages of these mini calendar pads from Rubbermoon and couldn't wait to use them. They come in a pack of 6.  This is the first of many "tag" calendars I plan on making.  The tag is from Unity Stamp Co. and they have a variety of sizes and colors to chose from.  The embellishments are just some lovelies that I had lying around and decided to use on this piece.

The bubble background stamp is from the Stamps by Jolande & Marleen kit titled "You can do it".  I absolutely love these two designers and their stamp sets.

Stenciled ATCs - Sweet William, Wild Thing, and Happy Cat

I've been making Artist Trading Cards (ATC) since 2009 and was an active member of ATCs for All. I haven't been on the site in two years.  I recently joined a FaceBook group that trades ATCs and signed up for StencilGirl's monthly stencil club.  The point? you might ask is that I never really thought I could use stencils. I mean I'm just learning how to "layer" paint.  Well, I did it, I went and bought me six more stencils and created the following ATCs. Hah, layering isn't so bad.  I really liked how they turned out.  I even picked up my copy of Drawing Lab For Mixed-Media Artists by Carla Sonheim and drew the characters for these cards.  As I haven't drawn in over two years it was kind of awkward, but as Carla points out in her book Steven Pressfield states in his book titled The War of Art "There is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist."

Meet Sweet William the frog:

Wild Thing Giraffe:

Finally, Happy Cat:

These are all ATC size, which is 2.5" x 3.5", and created on Bristol paper.  I rolled paint for the background, dabbed paint through stencils, tore vintage book pages, and colored in each image.  I also used stamps, found words in print, and sticker words for the phrases. Lastly, as I always do, I used my ink pads to create a soft border around each one.

My final point is this: Don't be afraid to try something new and uncomfortable. You can't succeed if you never try.

More Christmas ATCs

I am not a big collage person, but since my muse left me about a month ago, I decided to use some Christmas die cuts my mom bought me and make some ATCs.  At least I'm doing something creative and it actually turned out to be fun.

Last night we went to the NEO Christmas tree lighting ceremony and that kind of inspired me to come home and do something artsy.

Be Merry Bear

Frosty Nutcracker

Just the right tree for me

Sugar Cookie Bear

Winter Wonder

I used art markers, permanent markers, glaze pens, diamond glitter fabric paint, Christmas diecuts,, scrapbooking paper, and washi tape to make these.

Christmas K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Swap)

Here are my cards for Groups 3 (Christmas Trees) and Group 4 (Christmas Animals).  The point was to keep them simple.  The cards are mixed media collages using glaze pens for accents.  I also used Silver Snowflake Stickers for the tops of the trees.

Christmas Trees - Group 3

Christmas Animals - Group 4

Halloween Accordion Scene

This is the scene I made from the original post of just one Halloween arch.  I finished this last night and am really happy with how it turned out. I made "hinges" out of card stock and rotated them so the scene would open up accordion style.  I am thinking about starting a swap for this type of scene.

I have some other arches in various themes that I didn't want to punch holes in and am thinking about doing this to those as well, so I can enjoy them by setting them out around the house.

2nd Annual Halloween Fun Swap

I usually only do hand drawn/hand painted swaps, but I love Halloween so much I decided to do the 2nd Annual Halloween Fun Swap over at ATCs for All!  I found a stash of fun Halloween pieces and came up with these four cards for the swap.  I am now going to make some more to add to my collection.

Then I found an arch laying around, so I used some of those Halloween pieces and made this "Gone Haunting" Halloween Arch.  I am thinking about making two more and hinging them together for an accordion type scene to put out for the holiday with the rest of my decorations.

"Design-a-Dog Bone" Open Media Swap

So, this was an interesting swap.  This was a open media swap with the end result being a 6" or 8" dog bone.  I haven't had a dog of my own since I was a teenager and someone stole that one.  We did own a dog in Colorado, but it ended up being "psycho" and we had to give it back to the original owner.

These were fun to make and I broke out my Gloss Mod Podge to create the background out of some random paper I had lying around.  Then I cut each dog bone out and added doggie stickers.  I outlined each item and added swirls and dots with my white gel pen and metallic gel pens.

I took my awl and punched holes around each dog bone after I glued another piece of cardstock to the back of each bone.  Once all the bones had holes I took embroidery floss and "stitched" around each bone.  They might look simple, but in reality it took me like two days to make these.  I'm happy with how they turned out and am possibly going to make some for myself.

I'm also thinking about hosting a swap for Cat Paws!

Dragonflies and Butterflies Swap

Collage/Mixed media only!

Wake Up & Smell the Coffee Swap

Who doesn't like a good brew of coffee in the morning?  I know I do, so this swap was right up my alley.  I haven't done mixed media collage in a while and I wanted to make coffee cups with a little more than just the cup.  I used permanent markers and white gel pen for accents.

Day 31 - Healing

A member of Mixed Media Workshops is going through some rough times with an illness she is being treated for.  So, they created a group for her for people to send her art while she is healing.  What a wonderful idea and I agonized over what to send her as I am only creating ATCs at this point in time.  Even though it is only 2.5" x 3.5" I really wanted it to be special. 

I watercolored the background and then did some Zentangle on a heart and adhered it to the card.  Then I printed out words that all mean "heal" and glued those on as well.  I was satisfied with the end result and this card will be on its merry way on Monday.

This is Day 31's ATC that I submitted in the 2010 Project ATC 365.

Day 30 - In Sync ATC

I spent a ton of time yesterday cutting up magazines for collaging.  Not only is that time consuming, but after awhile everything starts looking the same.  By this I mean I sat there cutting up everything in exactly an artist trading card (ATC) size and then I would snap out of it and maybe cut some odd things.  Toward the end I was looking at stuff that I probably could have kept but just kept saying "nope", "no", "nope".  That is when it is time to stop cutting up anything!!  This card is another mixed media collage and I actually broke out the borders I had from when I used to scrapbook.

This is Day 30's ATC that I submitted in the 2010 Project ATC 365.

Day 28 - Ilustrious Pink ATC

Another mixed media collage.  I am really starting to like these and they are much easier than actually drawing or painting anything.  Although I'm not ready to give up doing that.  This particular card has a watercolor background, so technically I'm still doing that.

This is Day 28's ATC that I submitted in the 2010 Project ATC 365.