Inking Up Some New Rubber!

I confess that I went on a wee bit of a spending spree recently.  You see, the problem is that I have a lot of old favorites that I've been desperately eyeballing for quite some time.  Many stamp companies insist on having fabulous new releases too.  Hard on the ol' wallet, but I succumbed.  ;)  The perfect opportunity to ink these bad boys up was the SDC this week: Black & White - ONLY.  This girl loves herself some color so this is a challenge for sure.

See the heads in the background?  I've been wanting that Stampotique stamp FOREVER.  Love it!  The flowers are brand new from the latest Rubber Dance Art Stamps release.  I couldn't help myself...love their doodle-y delights.

This little project is my ICAD #30.  I am in awe that I am still on track with this 61 day challenge (pausing to pat myself on the back).  

I hope y'all have had a great week!  Ciao!

A Little Fathers' Day Humor

Today I'm pleased to share with you an ATC I made in celebration of Fathers' Day (this Sunday in the U.S.).  Lost Coast Designs is having a Men & Boys challenge and Los Tres Caballeros is one of my faves of their stamps.  I used uno of their caballeros for my ATC.

I know.  This guy is a little young.  The sweet newlyweds really hadn't planned to start a family quite so soon - hence his shock.  I've decided to title this one "The Unexpected Gift".  :)

Happy (early) Fathers' Day!

Today I Feel Like An Artist

I always feel hesitant to call myself an artist.  It seems so presumptuous given that I really have no artistic training.  But I do secretly like to think of myself as an artist.  I feel like my creations have evolved and have gotten to a place where I'm happier with composition, texture, color choices, etc.  It's taken a lot of practice, but I'm getting there.

For my ICAD today I took a leap (for me) and did everything myself; no depending on another artist's rendition via red rubber or digital media.  I took one of the index cards which had previously met my gelli plate and drew some flowers.  Next came some (quite a bit, actually) acrylic paint.  I love acrylics - so forgiving and malleable. A smidge more pen work (Signo uniball roller - my 'go to' white pen) finished it off.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out.  Have I turned a corner in my artistic endeavors?  I don't know, but it's a great start!

Man Up, Yo...

Carol over at the SDC wants us to Man Up this week.  In my weird, twisted brain I somehow arrived at the destination of bad pick-up lines.  I guess I envisioned a bunch of young studs (or perhaps nervous nerds) egging each other on to talk to the cute girl at the bar.  I don't know...

I feel a series coming on.  When I was looking up pick-up lines there were just SO many to choose from.  :)  Perhaps I'll turn them into a dating pamphlet for my lads; what NOT to say.  Ha ha!

I'm going to add this to Wicked Wednesday's "Something Quirky" challenge for this week too.  I'd certainly say it fits!  LOL

Happy trails!

Stamps + Watercolor

MFT stamps is having a week of creative summer camp this week showcasing a variety of techniques.  In the spirit of ICADness (i.e. stretching those creative muscles) today I tried my hand at combining stamping and watercoloring.

I've had this stamp set for years and still really like it but I hardly ever pull it out.  Not being a watercolorist (is that a word?  ha ha!) the bigger spaces were pretty tricky for me, but it's all about learning and experimentation anyway.

I stamped the main image using Distress ink (Tumbled Glass) and then used Distress inks and a waterbrush to do all the watercoloring.  I found myself holding my breath a lot.  :)

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this panel now. I might put it on a card or maybe just stick it on my wall someplace.  Who knows?

If you want to check out the MFT's summer camp, click HERE for the first day's post.

Ciao for now...

ICAD 2016 Weeks 1 & 2

Two weeks of ICAD (Index Card a Day) are under my belt.  This is my first year participating in this daily art challenge.  I'm really enjoying it so far.  Here's a peek at my cards for the first two weeks.

Week One

Week Two

I'm really trying to push myself to get out of my comfort zone and try new things.  As evidenced above, some days I'm more successful at it than others.  ;)

Are you participating in ICAD this year?

King of His Domain

I love this little guy.  He just seems to me like he knows what's up and has a great attitude.  For the SDC this week the theme is All Creatures Great & Small.  Here we have Little Bird, Big Attitude.  :)

Have a great weekend!

Update:  The crown kept bugging me.  Added a quick fix.  :)  

Continue enjoying your weekend...

Queen Bee ATC

Rubber Dance Art Stamps has a bright and happy color challenge on their blog this month.  As I rummaged through my paper scrap stash to get some inspiration I found a piece of embossed cardstock and I was off to the races.  :)

I used Rubber Dance's Come Fly With Me stamp set - love that set!

Media:
   Acrylic paint
   Washi tape
   Distress inks
   Archival ink
   Copics
   Signo Uniball pen
   Pitt pen

Happy Friday!

Itty Bitty Inchies

I remember when I started working on ATCs I was amazed at what people could do on such a small canvas.  2 1/2" x 3 1/2" was much smaller than what I was used to doing.  Recently, in one of my art trading groups, it was decided to have a go at inchies.  Whoo-wee...talk about small!  Creating on a 1" x 1" canvas is most definitely a challenge.  Fun though...;)

I have a thing for idioms. I don't know why, I guess they just seem fun to me and SO full of artsy potential.  I went with heart-themed idioms for my inchies.

This morning I made a bunch of gelli prints and I cut up a couple to use for these - great base to start from I think.  Can you guess which idioms I'm portraying?

Here's the list:
     Heart of gold
     Heart of stone
     Take heart
     Change of heart
     The way to a man's heart...
     Heart to heart
     (His/her) heart sank
     Home is where the heart is
     Wear your heart on your sleeve
     Cross my heart
     Pour your heart out
     Broken heart

Here's a little hint for one of them:

These were really fun to make especially once I got going.  Give itty bitty inchies a try!

Beachy ATCs

I so love when The Muse is awake bright and early.  I really had no idea where these were going to go when I started them yesterday.  They are for a texture-themed swap over at SwapBot.

I glued the navigational chart bits on an ATC base and smooshed on some modeling paste, followed by sprays of ink and some beads.

I found the quote this morning and if felt like just the perfect one to finish them off.

Happy Monday and have a great week!

Bubble Wrap Transfer Technique

Oh, I love Happy Accidents!  I discovered a strange and wonderful technique today.  I think I'm going to call it Bubble Wrap Transfer.  :)

I was gelli printing a bunch of envelopes and started to embellish them some more with bubble wrap dabbed in paint when I ran into some trouble.  I've used this bubble wrap for a while and it had quite the accumulation of dried paint on it.

Dried Paint on Bubble Wrap

When I plopped it onto the envies circles of dried paint came off with it.  This troubled me as I was trying to stamp white paint.  Going with the flow, I painstakingly started taking the little dried paint circles and slapping them onto a blank index card for a future background.

Wham-o!  What if I took packing tape and pressed it across the top of the dried-paint-topped bubble wrap?  That might look cool...wait...it does!  Bonus: the bubble wrap is still bubbly and can be re-used.  Sweet!

Bubble Wrap Transfer on index card

Kinda weird and different, isn't it?  I had to use this somehow and decided to try to come up with something for the Stampotique Designers Challenge this week: Boo.

I painted an index card (ICAD 2016 starts today!) blue and then wrapped the dried paint packing tape over the top of it.  I'm feeling like quite the recycling goddess today.  I cut a hole in the card and the background in the circle is from a paper towel that was used to dry up my little preschool kiddies' spray paint projects.

Fun, fun, fun day in the studio!  Now I need to get back to the gelli'd envies which I totally tossed aside when this idea hit me.  ;)  (And yes.  This is usually what my desk looks like...yikes!)