ICAD Lollipop Inspiration Board

I didn't know where to start on my ICAD for today.  I ended up heading over to my Pinterest Artsy Journaling board to get some inspiration and found this yummy, summery color combo.

Then I remembered some great lessons I learned from Kate Crane's Journal Soup classes so got busy on a background and it all came together!

I tried to remember to take pics of the process.  I like seeing how projects transform along the way.

Index cards as great to use as mop up pieces or for experimenting with products or techniques.  When I grabbed the card for this project it had brayered-on acrylic ink and my dip pen scribbles.  I brushed some acrylic paints over the top of those.

A little white paint and muted colors over the top came next...

More paint, darker shades this time, and some stamping and 'finger dots'...

But, wait!  There's more!  I added still more stamping, scribbles and a little black around the edges.

There she is!  I stamped the sentiment and the head image on some tissue paper, flipped it over and painted on the back side of the tissue paper.  Once that was dry, I used matte medium to stick them onto the card.  I used tissue paper because it blends beautifully into the background.  

Thanks for stopping by today.  Happy creating!

Einstein Zine

A while back (March?  Sometime during the pandemic...) I made my first zine.  It was a fun project.  I like art projects that I can sit down to do in pretty much one sitting.  A zine is simply a sheet of paper that's folded and cut to make a little book.

My recently graduated senior was cleaning out his closet and found a bunch of old schoolwork that ended up in the recycle bin in my art space.  There were lots of old math worksheets (I'm talking old like second grade all the way up to high school) and I grabbed a couple to make this.  When the background was all finished I thought I'd add quotes by famous mathematicians but those didn't really pan out.  Einstein seemed like the next obvious choice.  Check it out!

 I bought some sari ribbon on Etsy a while ago.  I cut a piece and that's where the colors for my zine came from.

The quote on the left totally sounds like something my grandpa would have said.  He had a wonderfully dry sense of humor and was a brilliant man, too.

 

I thought I had signed up for a swap on SwapBot that had a zine as one of the trading options.  Oops...guess I didn't or I missed the deadline.  It's all mine now, I guess.  😁

Have you ever made a zine?  Give it a try!

The 100 Day Project - Days 71-80: Rinchies

Still here and making little bits of art.  Days 71-80 found me working on little 1-inch circles, aka 'rinchies'.  Fun!  

Day 71:  There was a cool gel print sitting on my desk and I used that for the background.  A few drawn and painted bits later I had my first ever rinchie.

Day 72:  I knew I wanted to have a face.  I was envisioning a smiling, round, fatherly-looking moon face, but I didn't have that in my stash so I went with a Frieda Kahlo-looking face instead.  This one has several layers.

Day 73:  I rummaged around in my gel print scraps to find the base for this one.  I was sent a freebie embossing powder and wanted to try it out - I used that for the star.  This is very pretty and shimmery in person.

Day 74: This one makes me laugh.  I noticed a box of laser cut wood shapes in my stash and found some farm animal ones.  Had to use the oinker!

Day 75: I was going for a close-up and simple rinchie today.

Day 76: Inspired by an ICAD made by my artsy friend, Dana.

Day 77:  Janet Klein used to make all kinds of cool inchies and rinchies.  I peeked at her creations and this little dude came to me.  Catitude...

Day 78: I have tons of stamps but not many small ones.  I just started going through them and found a bunch of old foam ones I'd forgotten about.  I used one for the middle.  Really not loving the way this turned out, but some days it works...some days it doesn't.

Day 79:  So happy with this rinchie!  I put a scrap of Japanese text on the paper and then covered it with a piece of used tea bag.  Drew on the stem and then colored it with watercolor.  Easy breezy, but I love the simplicity.

Day 80:  Apparently I have a little bit of a thing going on with faces lately; it must be the round shape I've been using.  This face makes me chuckle.  Some days...you know what I'm sayin'??

Wow.  Just 20 days left to go!  Next up is 'flowers'...

The 100 Day Project - Days 62-70: Houses

I love making mixed media houses - no clue why, it's just my thing.  What a great theme for the latest 10-day stretch!  With the roofs on them, my little houses are over an inch, but the bottom part is 1-inch.  Works for me!

And that's it for the little houses!  Next week will be circle inchies...

ICAD 2020 (Index-card-a-day): June 1-12th

Every year I have good intentions about participating in ICAD.  It's such a great idea...just a little something to get the creative juices flowing, on a regular old index card, every day.  They don't need to be masterpieces - love that...very freeing.  AND it's only for two months.  Woot woot!  It started on June 1st and goes through July.  Here's what I have so far...(yes, I'm a day behind...already.  Oops!)

Day 1: Created my 'title' card. Most people do that before ICAD officially starts.  Screw that.  I was busy.  LOL

Days 2 & 3: Some days I start and am not sure where to go so I set it aside.  Most of the background was done on Day 2 and then I finished up on Day 3.

Day 4: The riots and protests over police brutality were weighing heavily on my mind for a few days.  This is a therapy card.

Day 5: Hey, look! An old white guy wants change!

Day 6: I have a big stash of gelli printed cards and sometimes I just reach in there and randomly grab one to get started. I found the feather and quote when looking for some background stamps to use.  Cool.

Days 7 & 8: Gelli printed the first day (I was experimenting..it didn't work like I'd planned. LOL).  It didn't feel finished and then the next day I found some blue scraps on my desk.  Yay!

Days 9 & 10:  One of my faves.  Playing with embossing paste and Lindy's Magicals.

Day 11: Watched a YouTube video this morning where she was using NeoColors on her page, almost exclusively. Went that route on my card, too.

It's morning still so I haven't gotten a chance to dig in yet today.  We're celebrating my youngest's high school graduation today, too, with a little gathering.  I hope I get some arting time in.

See you soon!

Still love making ATCs...

All of this time at home has found me spending WAY more time in my artsy space.  In addition to the inchies I've been posting I've been working on ICAD 2020 (index-card-a day for 60 days) and a few ATC swaps.  Y'all KNOW I love making ATCs!  Here's a few that I didn't get around to sharing.

I love this Stampotique mermaid.  She's so freaky-looking in her own lovely way.  There are pretty, sparkly mini stars in her hair that you can't see in the top pic, but look below...

This next one was a CHALLENGE and a half.  No Paper Allowed.  What??  I really had to think outside the box.  The base is acetate that I gelli printed on the back of.  I also used fabric tape, washi tape (attached to paper for stability.  Cheating?  Maybe.), thread, metal dragonfly inked up with alcohol inks.  I learned a lot on this one.

The next two were made for an umbrella swap.

This next one was a cool swap idea.  It was a 3-item challenge.  The recipient gave me a color, number and thing (red, 2, dragon).

I made this one for a sailboat swap.

I don't remember what swap this was for.  Hmmm...love the sentimebt and flowers though (both Stampotique).

That's the quick round-up.  What have you been creating lately?