ICAD 2018

I'm coming late to the ICAD party this year.  I didn't do it last year because I thought I'd be too busy.  I think I'll be too busy this year too (ha ha!) but I need the creative boost it inspires methinks.

ICAD 2018 started June 1st but I just jumped on the bandwagon a couple of days ago.  Here is one of my index cards so far.  I'm going to trade it as a postcard for a swap I'm in so it won't be added to my collection.

In 2016, the first time I participated in ICAD, one day I gelli printed a bunch of index cards.  This was one of the remnants.  I just added a few extra bits to it to finish it off.  I love the cheesecloth print in the background.

Are you doing ICAD?  Have you heard of it?

Cheers!

I've been busy as a ... well, you know.

There have been a bunch of fun little projects on my desk over the last week or so that I haven't had a chance to share.  Since the title of my post is 'Busy as a ..."  let me start with this set of ATCs.  I made these for a "Save the Bees" swap on ATCsForAll.

My next little somethin', somethin' is a postcard made for a gelli print postcard swap.  I have a lot of gelli prints and it was great to go through them to find bits and pieces to make this card.  I cut the strips into 1/4" strips and then glued them onto a cardboard box base cut to 4"x6".  Next I used circle punches to cut more gelli prints and added those on top.

The following ATC was inspired by the art of Heather Brown.  I don't often do hand-drawn stuff, but went for it for this "Great Big Ocean - tropical" themed card.

Okay, last one.  These two ATCs are for a swap that required inspirational messages on both sides of the card as well as gelli printed bases.  I used quotes that moved from the front to the back of the card.

It's been a reasonably creative week, I'd say.  Now I'm off to bake some goodies and tackle that pile of laundry - not nearly as much fun.  ;) 

Stampotique April Release : Phrase Cube #2

Lucky me.  I love a good snarky phrase and Stampotique's new Phrase Cube 2 is right up my alley.  :)  I made a postcard today using Phrase Cube #2, Mash Up, Jillian, and Scribble Angel.

Go to our Stampotique Facebook page to check out more great projects featuring our new stamps.  :)

SDC 268: Add Ribbon or Lace

Hellooo, Friends!

We are in week 2 of the Add Ribbon or Lace challenge over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog.  Now, I don't know about y'all, but I went through a big ribbon and lace phase many years ago when people started adding them to their scrapbooks and cards.  I hoarded loads of pretty, patterned ribbons and luscious laces and then my kids started getting older and busier and I started taking fewer and fewer pictures.  Oops...my scrapbooking dwindled to ... never.  My pretty ribbons and laces gathered dust.  I dusted off some lace to make this postcard for a friend.  :)

Stamps: When Heart Speaks and Texture Cube 1

The base of this is actually a plain old gesso'ed index card that I jazzed up with modeling paste, acrylic paints, stamping, lace, and washi tape.  It was super quick to make and very unplanned and easy breezy.

We would love it if you take our challenge and create something using lace or ribbon.  Check out all of the challenge info HERE on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and link up your project for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to the Stampotique online store.

Cheers!
Julie

Pink, Gray & Green Color Challenge: Postcard

When The Muse whispers it's best to listen.  I am sending out some gelli prints for a swap and thought it would be nice to add a little postcard note along with them.  I really like the color combo challenge that Rubber Dance Art Stamps has on their blog right now so decided to base my postcard on that.

My base is actually an index card (which means I'll probably need to reinforce it a bit with cardstock on the back).  I didn't think about taking a process photo until I was mostly through, but here's a mid-process glimpse.  :)

I really like to use up scraps as much as possible.  The flowers (from Rubber Dance) are stamped on pink scraps that I had in my stash.  The black stars that you see on the background are from the same stamp set.

To create the background, I brayered gray acrylic paint over the index card.  I intended to just add a smidge of green on top of that, but when I brayered the green it pretty much covered the grey so I added more gray back in by dabbing acrylic ink through a stencil.  I splatted bits of white and dark green over that and when it was dry I went around the edges with black acrylic ink.  To finish up, I glued on the flowers and sentiment.  Wa-la!  Finito.  :)

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Her Castle

A trading group that I belong to threw out a challenge this month to make a house(s) postcard.  I have been woefully busy with non-artsy things of late and jumped at the chance to participate to get the ol' juices flowing.

Surely I've mentioned in the past that my husband accuses me of being a hoarder.  Those hoarding tendencies came in handy as this is entirely made of scraps: chipboard backing from a used pad of paper, gelli prints, an artsy envie from a friend, cast off scraps from other projects, the bottom of a receipt...  :)  The quote cracks me up; you know I love a little tongue-in-cheek humor.  Using this stuff counts as a good day in my book.

Cheers!

Sunday Postcard Art - Friends

Running late again this week on my card, but here is my friend-themed postcard for SPA.  Click on the photo for a better view...

This reminds me of my very good friend, Margaret.  She is always there to lend an ear or a shoulder.  :)

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday Postcard Art - Ephemera

I'm titling my postcard this week "Homage to Frannie".   My mom has affectionately been dubbed "The Deal Queen" by her children and grandchildren.  She doesn't scope out good deals out of financial necessity but rather I think for her it's the thrill of the chase of finding a really good deal. 

With the exception of the card base, ink and rhinestones, all of the items used on my card were plundered from either my purse or the kitchen counter (i.e. weekly grocery circulars).  I stamped and cut out her face from a receipt and her crown is a gum wrapper that I purposely kept since it was a such a pretty, shiny blue color.  :)

Thanks for stopping by this week!

Sunday Postcard Art - Faeries of the Sea

My SPA offering for this week:

I made my card based on an image from Mermaids: The Body Found that aired on Animal Planet a while ago. 

The background is a mix of Dylusions and Distress Inks/Paint/Stain as well as a recycled paper towel that had ink overspray on it. A smidge of pewter glitter is around the silhouette.  The poem fragment reads

"That fairy song was not for me,
Nor those green eyes, nor that gold hair;
Deep in the caves beneath the foam
There was a husband and a home
It was a mermaid taking care
Of her small children of the sea.

The full poem is here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Sunday Postcard Art - Sing Your Heart Song

....or how about Tuesday Postcard Art??  The background is corrugated cardboard that was gessoed, sprayed with some yellow ink spray and then coated again with a little yellow distress paint.  A music sheet was sprayed with some ink sprays before I cut it into a heart shape.  The IPod was stenciled with acrylic paint over a scrap piece that had ink spray overspray on it and the wire is some wired paper fiber that I've had in my stash for ages.

 

Get the details to play along with Sunday Postcard Art HERE.  Happy Tuesday!!

Sunday Postcard Art: Summer Solstice

I know...today is Tuesday not Sunday.  Sunday found me up north cheering my daughter and her soccer team on to victory.  :)  The theme at SPA this week celebrates the official beginning of summer, Summer Solstice aka Midsummer's Eve.  Back in the old days people would light bonfires on Midsummers Eve to ward away evil spirits.  It was said that if you jumped over the flames you would have good luck.  I"m thinking scorched lower regions isn't very lucky, but what do I know??

ANYWAY, here is my weekly contribution.

The picture is a little funky as I had to use my phone since my computer is misbehaving and won't let me turn it on (I snuck onto the kids' - shhhh).  Definitely click on the picture to zoom in - it looks much better!

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy week!

Sunday Postcard Art - All Things Masculine

Happy Fathers' Day!  The challenge this week over at SPA is to create something guy-ish.  I wanted a rough and rugged background so headed over to our recycle area and nabbed a piece of cardboard off a 12-pack of Lagunitas IPA (beer box background - doesn't get much more masculine than that, eh?).  Channeling my inner John Wayne I headed over to The Graphics Fairy where I found the great vintage western image.

Thanks for stopping by, y'all!

Sunday Postcard Art -"Journaling on a Postcard" and Pinterest to the Rescue

My interpretation of this week's theme for Sunday Postcard Art was to create an art-journal-like piece on a postcard-sized base.  Mine is an example of something I'd put in my art journal and metamorphosed into being something completely different from what I had originally intended (as usual.  Do I say this every time?  I think I might.).  This time I thought of taking a couple of pictures while I was in the process.  You'll see what I mean about metamorphosis!

I needed some inspiration so I decided I'd look on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's blog.  Her prompt was to look around your neighborhood.   I cut a 4" x 6" piece of cardboard from a cereal box for my base and prepared it for some bright Dylusions sprays.  Loved it.  I was thinking maybe some houses and trees maybe?  Slabbed some acrylic paint on bubble wrap and threw down a torn book page.  Then I decided that I wanted to play around with some techniques so I rummaged through my Pinterest boards and rediscovered Linda Cain's tag and thought,  "Oooohhh...pretty.  I want to do that."   Pulled out an open stencil and smooshed embossing paste through it. Nice, but how to add color?  Didn't think distress stains would work here so I dabbed some distress paint over the stencil...eewwww...that wasn't working for me.  In fact this is pretty ugly.  Ruined.

But then I remember somebody commenting about one of the cool things about art journaling is that you can just cover it up if you don't like it.   "Yes!  I can do that!"  (Bob the Builder just came to mind.  Now that's a flashback!  I digress...).  Slathered another layer of gesso over the whole thing.  It soaked up some of the Dylusions underneath - perfect.  What to do with this formerly bright, vibrant color turned to more of a pastel pallet?  I was thinking circles, looked for quotes, didn't find anything that resonated.  Pinterest!  I have a Well Said board so I looked over there and found it.  Spot on for this piece and definitely in line with my own odd sense of humor.

I love this little guy (Heart Boy) from Stampotique.  My kids gave him to me for Christmas.  :)

The bubbles are a pinker hue in real life and to make them bubblier I took some Diamond Glaze and rubbed it over them with my finger to add some shine, added a touch of turquoise Dylusions on the bottoms and a smidge of clear Stickles for sparkle (okay, you can't really see it in the pics, but take my word for it that it's there).

Tah-dah!  The finished postcard...

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a spectacular Sunday!

Sunday Postcard Art - No Place Like Home

I ran across this postcard challenge in my blog wanderings and thought it would be fun to play along with it.  The theme is 'home' and the only other criteria is that the finished piece is 4" x 6". 

Maybe I'm missing a couple of my boys.  My hubby and oldest son are up in BC this weekend for some hockey.  :) 

This came together super quickly.  I just dug into my scrap stash (i.e. over-spray pieces and experiments) to make my little house.  The other day I was making a sample sheet with all of my embossing folders and realized there are several I haven't used in a long time (swirly background).  The washi tape at the bottom is from the first roll I ever bought.  Wah-lah...postcard!

Enjoy your Sunday!