even MORE art!!

I thought I'd post a few more art photos from some past projects... art is being done in tiny little spaces of time around here now, because I'm back to work!! yay!! after 9 months of being unemployed, my self-esteem had taken a bit of a beating (which is an understatement), so I'm glad to be gainfully employed again, especially since Arizona has been pretty hard-hit by the economic crisis. (real estate values plummeted, construction is a big part of the economy, etc. etc.) But I digress-- on to the art! This ATC was for a swap on the website ATCsforAll.com, which is an amazing place to trade ATCs, mail art, chunky books, supplies, and more. The artwork in the gallery is fabulous and a great source of inspiration!! The swap theme was "Monochromatic" so all the cards had to be in shades of a color. This is not the card I planned to make when I started out, but sometimes they have a life of their own, and it's better to go where the inspiration takes me. I used pattern tissue, patterned paper, some ink for shading the edges, and rubber stamping, all to go with the theme of sewing-- I think I titled it "Family Ties."

This card was another for the in-person swap last month, for the Hearts and Love theme. I read somewhere that those conversation hearts candies (you know, the ones with the little phrases on?) had just updated their sayings to retire the phrase "fax me" and include "tweet me" and "text me." Which I think is ridiculous, but that's because I'm not the right age for those things to just roll off my tongue, and I only use my phone to make phone calls... but, I thought "tweet me" would be really cute with this little birdie stamp I have! The background is a paper doily with gold gel pen doodles... and more glitter!

And now, a few completed journal pages-- I started the background on the page above ages ago, and finally did something with it. I wasn't too into the SuperBowl game, if you couldn't guess by the amoung of doodling (except for the commercials, which I really didn't think were all that great).

This page was also started ages ago; I think it was actually one of the first pages I painted in this journal-- and then it sat. And sat. And sat, waiting for me to come up with the "perfect thing" to complete it. (at least that was my mental block, anyway-- perfectionist syndrome-- which doesn't go so well with art.) So, I decided to try my hand at some funky-scrolly lettering... which didn't turn out too bad, I don't think!

and one more page in progress, with a painted paper and collage background... I think "journaling" in stages seems to be the best way for me to work-- I get in a "paint and collage" mood, so I get inspired to start the backgrounds, then they will wait till I feel like writing on them, or adding to them... (or not-- I do have some backgrounds that I love just the way they are) That way, I don't have to start "from scratch" when I feel inspired, but don't feel like getting messy with paint and gel medium. Wow, that sentence is not grammatically correct at all, but I'm too tired to fix it-- the worst part of going back to work is having to get up when it's still dark out, so I'm off to bed!

Christmas crafting!

so, I didn't think quick enough to take any photos of my Christmas cards (it's always a scramble to get them done and in the mail!), but there was some additional Christmas crafting going on... wanna see?? This sequined and beaded beauty (pic above) was a great score at the thrift store... it was the entire kit, never opened, from LeeWards, and it was actually pretty fun to make! Okay, so my thumb hurt by the time I was done from pushing the pins into the foam ball, but it turned out great in the end. This was actually one of my presents to Tom-- we try to add to our ornament collection every year, and he has some similar ornaments from his Grandma in his collection, so I was really happy to find this kit. (I know there are companies that still make these kits, so I may make some of these for next Christmas, too.)

These two photos (above and below) are from another of Tom's presents, which is still not quite done, but almost. It started with a clear glass plate (again, from the thrift store) and some of his collected cigar bands... I saw an article about these kinds of things in a Mary Engelbreit magazine, and thought it would be really fun to make a keepsake out of the cigar bands-- he's collected them ever since we've known each other (because I asked him to, for crafting purposes!), and has quite a few saved up. This plate also was a lot of fun to see the design come together-- the artwork on (better quality) cigar bands is incredibly detailed, in terms of color and design. It only needs a backing of paper on the backside to cover up the wrong side of the bands, and then it will be ready to hang up in his office.

a detail photo, just to show the color and design of the bands... click on the photo to see it larger.

And, finally, a couple ATCs... I rearranged the furniture in my crafting space (!! It was a lot of work, but I just had the itch... I think I did this growing up, too-- I remember rearranging the furniture in my bedroom quite a few times.) It still needs to be cleaned (as usual, of course!) but in picking up the desk, I collected some interesting scraps and put them together to make a couple trading cards. I added them to some premade backgrounds I had stored in my stash. The one above is collaged from a die-cut piece of scrapbooking paper, more scrapbooking paper, glitter, and some random words I cut from a vintage gardening book.

This one started out with another premade background of watercolor paint, a napkin, and some handmade paper... I added a tiny vintage photo print, a German scrap frame, and more vintage words. Now if I just do some more organizing, I might find some more neat stuff, and get some more crafting done!

procrastination is the answer...

You know how they say "Necessity is the mother of invention?" Well, I think it's procrastination. I am a terrible procrastinator, always have been... I think it forces me to be creative, though. Tonight, I made ATCs for a swap I have known about for at least a month... I could have made them anytime- the theme was an easy one, I thought: cancelled postage stamps- but I just couldn't come up with any ideas I liked! Now that the due date is finally here, I was forced to do something, which led me to a mad dash around the house and thru my craft room, this evening after work. Hopefully I'm not the only one who sometimes needs this creative "mad dash sprint" to the finish line?? Anyway, these are what I came up with: These first two are not my usual style, at all... The bottom one is a crazy sort of garden, with the postage stamps as flowers... the bumblebee is stamped, and colored with marker, while the leaves and grass are hand-drawn with colored pencils. I like the top one a lot: there's a bit of a glare, but the postage stamp is Cinco de Mayo, so I put together a fiesta-themed card. I found the magazine images a few days ago in a back issue of Phoenix Home & Garden, and put the whole thing together in about 15 minutes. (that was after I searched frantically for the magazine, having mis-placed it, of course... that sort of thing always happens when I'm looking for something specific!) These two were also put together rather quickly. The card on the left is a postage stamp of a lighthouse on DiamondHead in Hawaii, so I made a beach from sandpaper, and a palm tree from torn mulberry paper. I really like the graphic design on the stamp on the right ... I simply found matching cardstock and wove strips together to play up the quilt pattern. (I say simply, although it required some glue and finesse to get it put together...) These are a few more of my latest creations, made last week... I'm also coming down to the wire for an "inchie" swap, which is 1-inch square pieces of artwork. These were also really difficult for me to come up with, even though the artwork can be any theme- you'd think this would make it easier for me, but not really. I decided to go with "abstract" for the style... these were made using a scrap paper towel, actually- I was drying my paintbrush out after rinsing it, and still had paint in it- I thought it looked kind of neat, so just continued painting the paper towel with more colors of paint and water... after mounting the towel to watercolor paper squares and trimming them, I added details with metallic pens, sequins and glitter glue. I have two more sets completed, but still need to make 6 more- the mad dash with those will be tomorrow afternoon's project!

crafting HAS taken place...

I just can't show the entire pictures yet! These pictures are sneak peeks for a couple swap-bot packages I sent out, and I want to make sure the recipients get them first... I don't want to spoil the surprise!

These two images are peeks at two ATCs I made for a "Back & Forth" swap- my partner sent a packet of paper, embellishments, etc. to me, and I made two ATCs from them, using the materials she sent (along with a couple of my own things). I sent paper and other materials to my partner, and she sent me back a really cool ATC using the menu from our favorite Chinese restaurant, along with a fortune-cookie fortune, and some origami paper. (I will post it as soon as I take a picture.)

These two pics are sneak peeks at two sets of inchies (1 inch x 1 inch collages) I made for another swap, "Recycled Inchie Art" that was a bit challenging for me... I'm still not used to the 1 inch size, and had to work a bit finding small enough images. It was all about using things destined for the garbage or recycle bin; once I got into it, I had a good time finding papers and images to use in unexpected ways- I dug thru my recycle bin for teeny paper scraps, went thru some junk mail and pamphlets, and scavenged from the Ikea catalog, a catalog of posters, and a home decorating catalog (all of these things were dug out of the paper recycling bin). It's amazing how much paper and cardboard packaging we get; it was nice to use at least a tiny bit of it for an art project.

My next swap is also going to take some thought- it involves finding seven specific elements to decorate 2 ATCs with... it should be a lot of fun, once I get into my stash of stuff! I also dug into my stash of felt and am working on some new fall-themed felt pins, since it's starting to cool off here and feel a bit like fall. We don't get fall-colored leaves here in the desert, so I'm going to make my own!

great mail week!

I recently joined swap-bot, which is a great internet site for hosting and organizing all sorts of swaps, including craft supplies, handcrafted items, postcards, letters and lists, and ATCs, which are my main thing right now. (Check out swap-bot here.) This week was a great mail week; I got envelopes from 5 people, 2 different swaps that I'm in. (Much better than just the usual junk mail and bills!)

These are ATCs from a swap titled "Flower Power Postage Stamps" where you use the postage stamp as inspiration for the card. Jeannie sent me some extras, too: the cutest metal dragonfly brads, and some shiny red Christmas paper (which didn't focus too good, so there's no pic of it here) which will definitely be put to good use!

These are only part of what Dawny sent me for a painted ATC background swap. She even painted her envelope! (you can see the rest, including the envelope, here) The red and green ones are perfect for another swap I'm in for Christmas ATCs. The top right one is painted felt, the bottom right one is collaged, and the red and green ones were made using crackle paint, I think.

Backgrounds from Kimberly.. the top 2 went right into my album; they're too pretty to use as backgrounds! The other three were made (somehow) using sandpaper, crayons, hairspray, and rubber stamping, from what she says. I need to find out exactly how she did it, cause they're really cool! I'm not sure I want to cover those up, either...

Flower power postage stamp ATCs from Kasia. The stamps are from Poland, and she watercolored scenes onto the cards that continued the scene in the stamp. The one on the left is a view thru a hotel window, with a flowerbox on the balcony.

She also sent me an envelope full of these great extras, which I can't wait to use!

Backgrounds from Susi from the ATC background swap; the gold and white ones will also be great for Christmas ATCs- they're tissue paper, I think. The other ones, I have no idea how she made them, but the colors are gorgeous!

Newest ACEOs

I got crafty with the paper, glue, and paint again today... over the course of the last week or so, I made at least 10 ACEO backgrounds, and I finished some of them up today. I say "finished up" but it's more of an ongoing process for me- I have to think about the backgrounds for a while, then decide what images I think will "fit" with the backgrounds, both in terms of the "feel" and the colors. Sometimes, I'll even change my mind midstream, and go in a totally different direction- sort of makes it a surprise to see what I end up with!

Spring Symphony #1. for sale in my shop.

Like so many of them, it was not what I had originally planned. The image was a vintage one I found on Flickr; the image is from an 1883 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine. I watercolored it and cut it out; originally I was going to put it onto one of the painted backgrounds I made (pic below) but the colors just weren't right. I think it fit much better on this background. It still looked like it needed "something" which is where the twigs came in. They are sewn on with very thin gold thread. These are three painted collage backgrounds, waiting for their focal images. They were made basically like the journal pages I made in the Art Unraveled class I took with Kelly Kilmer. (as good as I remember, anyway- I didn't take notes during class!) Only much tinier, of course, since they're only ACEO size!

Fly without Fear. For sale in my shop.

When I started this background, I didn't like it at all. Once I finished it, I loved it! Just goes to show you that you have to see things through to the end, I guess. I left a bit of vintage dictionary paper showing in the corner; it is the definition for the word "impunity" which I kind of liked. The colors are much more luminous (? I think that's the word I want) in person, because the entire thing was covered with a light coat of turquoise Lumiere paint, which adds a shimmery glimmer of color to the whole thing. The flying bird stamp wasn't facing the right direction, so I stamped it onto a flat piece of rubber, then stamped it again onto the paper- this switches it around and gives you a mirror image.

Home- Where One Starts From. For sale in my shop.

This background ended up a bit darker overall, with the red and blue colors in the paint I used, so I thought it needed a more graphic image to off-set the background. This clipart house fit the bill, I think! I finished off the edges of both the house and the card with Sharpie marker.

finished ACEOs

No, these aren't from the backgrounds in the previous post- I don't work quite that quick! They are from a couple days ago; I just realized I didn't post pics of them! I made these over the weekend, again from a batch of backgrounds I made ahead of time... The butterfly cards are, from top to bottom, Flight for Life: depicting the migration of a monarch butterfly to Mexico (using vintage map paper I got in an internet trade), and Flight Pattern: which was made with sewing pattern tissue as a background, with real sewn accents (embroidery floss and vintage mother of pearl buttons.). I sort of made them up as I went along, and thought the names were a neat play on words... someone else must have liked them too, because they both sold only a few hours after I listed them in my shop! That's the quickest sale I've ever made, I think- pretty cool! I have another one in mind, I just have to make it... Flight of Fancy, which I envision with gold and lots of glitter...

These three ACEOs were made using clip art images I cut out and took to the Art Unraveled class, but never used... I call them my "Ladies of the Evening" (the evening dress, that is! haha! well, anyway, that shows you what my sense of humor is like, anyway...) All three use text cut from a vintage book, pertaining to a dance/night out on the town. I like how they turned out, too- the pink one is on a tissue paper background, and the other two are on backgrounds of textured Bravissimo paper, which is really nice quality specialty paper (I've had it for ages- I think the package is from a shop back in Illinois, before we moved... see, these things do eventually get used). These three cards are also for sale in my shop.

work in progress

So today when I got home, I had an idea to make a couple ACEO/ATC backgrounds... I still have card ideas in my head, and I also have some internet swaps in the works that I need to make cards for. (The swaps are via a site called swap-bot, which is great! someone posts an idea for something theyd like to trade- recipe, craft idea, supplies, whatever, and if people want to get involved they sign up- trades can be international or US only, and from what I see, lots of people are having lots of fun swapping things.)

Anyway, back to today's work in progress- I decided to cover some blank cards with vintage book text and vintage sheet music (from the thrift store), and then I decided to do some collage-style backgrounds using magazine pages, sort of like the art journaling class I took at AU, then it kind of just snowballed from there. I had gel medium (from gluing) all over my hands (it doesn't wash off, by the way- it sort of has to peel off... it's weird... and of course the phone rang!), and then I decided to dig a home decor catalog out of the recycle and rip it up to use some of the pics, and all the sudden the kitchen counter looked like a paper explosion:

Now, they're neat little ATC/ACEO background sandwiches, stacked between layers of waxed paper and Harry Potter books, drying and flattening. I'll show you what they look like after they're dry. (and like usual, I started out to only make a couple, and I think I ended up with at least 10- but, I'll have them when I want them.) So, the kitchen counter is back to normal, and my creative spurt has ended- till after dinner, anyway!

art projects... small ones!

So, I've been busy cleaning and re-oganizing my crafting space this past week. I was inspired by Art Junk Girl , one of my favorite bloggers, who has been re-doing her studio space over the summer, and also by the fact that my craft space is also technically our guest room. And, since my parents are coming to visit at the beginning of October, I thought it might be a good idea if the sofabed actually had room to open. (you may wonder why I'm working on this now, since October is a month away, but organizing for me is a big undertaking- it may take me that long!) I had some of my supplies in cardboard boxes in the closet, but could never find what I wanted, so I bought some heavy-duty shelves. I don't know why it took me so long to think of this, but it's a big improvement- packaging supplies and Etsy crafts now are (mostly) neatly organized, along with sewing supplies, my scrapbooking idea books, and lots of other things. My desk even got cleaned off, which allowed me to actually work on these: This ATC (title: Wounded) was made using one of the backgrounds from the class I took from Bernie Berlin at AU. The heart is layers of aluminum foil that I ran thru the crimper to give it some texture; the spike is actually a spine from our Argentinian Toothpick cactus...

This is another of the same backgrounds; this one (title: Mended) is made from metal duct tape pieced together in a sort of patchwork, along with copper eyelets and string. There is one more of the set that I haven't finished yet; these 3 ATCs are not my usual "style" at all, but they sort of just "came" to me, and I needed to make them to get them out of my head.

And now for something totally different; these 2 mini-collages were made from supplies I won in a blog contest from Art Junk Girl... I won an assortment of collage images, along with some pre-painted background squares and a number of heavy chipboard squares for creating my own collages. The first one was made from a collage image she sent me; the second one was made from images and text cut from one of my vintage cookbooklets. Aren't they nice?? (if I do say so myself... lol!) Now, check out the last pic for another view of them: Yes, that's right, they're only an inch square... they are what's called Inchies, which are Art Junk Girl's specialty. I love her stuff, but wasn't sure I could make anything so small... I still think the ATC size is easier, but inchies are interesting... it's actually fun trying to find things small enough to fit a one inch square!

a little (2.5 x 3.5 inches) more craftiness

That title is a just a little trading card humor... (little, get it?? okay, maybe not so humorous). I made a couple more ACEOs (stands for Art Cards, Editions, and Originals- the saleable version of Artist Trading Cards) a couple days ago. The first is pretty simple materials, actually- chalk and paper. The hard part was tearing the paper "just so" to get the mountains right, without ripping up an entire piece of paper!

I think I did a pretty good job, actually. This card is my attempt to capture the wispy colors of the Arizona sunrise over the mountains; now that it's getting light earlier in the morning, I see this when I drive to work. Of course, I do try to keep my eyes on the road, but seeing this landscape makes going to work a little easier!

This is the back of the desert sunrise card... I'm certainly no poet, but I wrote a haiku for the desert sunrise theme... poetry in only 17 syllables, and it doesn't have to rhyme, either!

This is the second card I made, also with a southwest theme... This one was made with a brass dry-embossing template of a goat petroglyph- petroglyphs are ancient images carved into the rocks... there are a number of sites in AZ where you can see these, although we haven't seen any yet. Instead of using the embossed side, I used the "de-bossed" side to represent "carving" into the rock. I added very tiny (1/8 invh, maybe??) swirls punched from turquoise paper, and the piece de resistance ( I think, anyway) is the feather and beaded accent tied onto the corner.

They are now for sale in my shop; hopefully somebody else will think they turned out as nice as I think they did!

In other news, the Buzz and Bloom ACEO from the previous post was purchased (YAY!!) by a woman who is putting together a collection of ACEOs from artists in all 50 states- my ACEO covers Arizona. That is a really neat idea, and I could totally get into something like that, although I think if I started to buy ACEOs it could really get out of hand- there's a lot of interesting artwork out there!

more craftiness

My latest ACEO, another wool felt creation titled Buzz and Bloom.

This one has tiny vintage mother of pearl buttons, for the flower centers.

A closeup of the bee and the flowers. They're a lot smaller than this in real life, since the entire thing is only 2.5 x 3.5 inches. That bee took some work- lazy daisy stitches are a pain sometimes! It's the newest addition to my Etsy shop.

good mail day yesterday!

Yesterday's mail held more than the usual junk mail and bills!! I had extra ATCs from cards I made recently for swaps, so offered them up for trade on twopeasinabucket. The picture below is what I received in return. The two top cards and the colorful fibers are from Daria... I saw pics of these, but they're all much more beautiful in real life- the postage ATC with the embossed music and the shrink plastic treble clefs is just gorgeous!! The bottom ATC is from Jacque, from her vintage swap- the cute little girl and the bingo card definitely does make me want to smile!!!

Thanks to everyone who left such nice comments here about my latest craft projects!!! They really weren't difficult, just a bit time-consuming, but easy enough to do while sitting in front of the TV. Now, someone just needs to see them in my etsy shop, and want to buy them! I really need to get a Paypal account, I think that might be the ticket to selling relatively inexpensive things that people wouldn't want to use a money order or check on... I also need to make more things to sell... I also need to figure out how to market my etsy shop, since there are thousands of people selling on that site... I also need to figure out how to fit it all in! (Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... :-) )

In other news, fall is certainly taking its time in getting here- yesterday it was 89F (>30 C, for you metric folks) degrees, a record high for this date! It's supposed to be in the low/mid 70s (about 22-25 C) for high temps! I don't want freezing weather, or anything, but temperate weather would be nice!! Last year was like this too; I remember going to Thanksgiving dinner wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. Cold weather will definitely be a shock when we get back to Illinois at Christmas, I'm sure! (Mom, will you turn the heat up to about 82, to get the house nice and toasty for us?? just checking!)

Fall in Illinois meant raking leaves; fall in AZ means picking up rocks! At least for me, anyway... we got a load of rocks ages ago to spread along the sides of the house, and had some left over. They sat in the road, because there's lots of small gravel mixed in, which we didn't want, and we really didn't know what to do with it. Now, I'm working on cleaning it up, since we got a letter about it from the Homeowner's Association. I'm sorting it, by hand, and the larger rocks are going in the backyard in a pile, to await further landscaping instructions... I know why this kind of stuff is called "back-breaking" work, that's for sure!!!

Tomorrow afternoon and evening I am going to start in on the Thanksgiving meal. I'm being pretty ambitious, which may backfire on me... (Mom, are you sitting down befire you read any farther? just checking!) I'm going to make cranberry sauce (Gram's recipe, and it will be served in a cut-glass bowl, just like it should be), rolls (from a mix, but still...), and wait- a pumpkin pie (with pre-made crust, but still...). Then, I need to bake the sweet potatoes to have them ready. That way, on Thursday, I only need to make up the relish tray (including my favorite green onions and cheddar cheese), mix up the sweet potato casserole, and roast the duck. So, we'll either be eating like royalty, or we'll be hitting the local Domino's for take-out pizza!!!

I have a doggie who needs the ball thrown to her a little, I think, so I should end this (more like a million times, if she had her way)... Everyone enjoy your long weekend, if you're having one!!!

October Swap ATCs

For some reason, pics never upload in the order I add them, either!!! Anyway, here are the ATCs from October swaps at two local stores- Mystic Paper, a scrapbook/stamping store in Mesa, AZ (www.mysticpaper.com) and Ink It!, the rubber stamp store in Gilbert, AZ (www.inkit.com) They both have some neat stuff, and offer some really interesting classes; hopefully I can get the time and $$ to take a couple sometime.

The first pic is my ATCs for the Halloween swap at Mystic Paper. The design took a while to come up with, but I think they were worth the time- hopefully the recipients do, too! I started out with a darker purple cardstock, but it just looked to dull, so I went with all bright colors, offset by the black. The moon was made using the "crinkled chalk" technique- using crumpled plastic wrap to stamp multiple colors of chalk ink onto glossy paper. This sort of layers and blends the colors together. The cats (stamp: Magenta) were stamped onto the inked paper using black StazOn (permanent ink, suitable for glossy surfaces), then the moon was punched out using one of my round CM punches. The spider was stamped with a pencil eraser, then I drew on its legs. The "spiderweb" is actually a fishnet stamp from Stampington, but I don't have a spiderweb stamp, and didn't want to draw them on. (...use what you have, right? it's always good when you can do that!)

Below are the Halloween ATCs I got back- top left is a really cute vintage image (maybe from a postcard?). Top right is actually a little paper bag with a punched fence and jack-o-lantern... the candy bar inside it isn't going to be around too much longer! Bottom left is really cool- it looks like a vintage movie poster. Middle is a cute cat stamp, accented with googly eyes and glitter. I don't usually like googly eyes, but they work with this stamp! Bottom right is a multi-layer ATC that didn't scan good at all- the top layer is a transparency with a witch stamped on it (towards the left side), the bottom layer is orange, then the little girl was cut out and sandwiched inbetween along with some eyelash fibers.

These are the ATCs I received from the Ink It! swap- the theme was fall colors. The hedgehog at upper left is really cute, don't you think? Upper right is a pocket card; the cream colored card slips out, and is stamped with a colorful bunch of Indian corn. The girl at bottom right is raking punched leaves, and at the top, FALL was stamped with a Dymo label maker (I need one of those, I think!) and applied onto buttons.

Below are the cards I made for the Ink It! fall colors swap... bright blue might not seem to fit, but I think it does- the cooler air in fall seems to make the sky so much clearer and brighter! Sunflowers were my inspiration... I always remember sunflowers as being one of the last colorful things in Mom's garden, before it got cleaned up and "put to bed" for the winter. The basket of sunflowers (stamp: SU!) was stamped onto white cardstock and watercolored with a blender pen, using markers and chalk inks for the colors. The blue was added with dry chalk. The cardstock was all distressed around the edges with my one-and-only distress ink pad (Vintage Photo is the color, I think). It might not be my one-and-only for long, though, because this weekend is the 10th annual Rubber Stamp Fall Fiesta at the convention center in Mesa, AZ! Hopefully I'll come back with at least a few things (all of it desperately needed, I'm sure!! LOL!). These were a lot of fun to do, and I'm already starting to think about November's themes of Thanksgiving and Holiday Glitter... I should do more than think; they're due in a couple weeks! I also need to start designing our Christmas cards... plus, I'm way behind on 2peas challenges, I haven't scrapped in months... maybe I should end this post, then, hmmm!! (also before something bad happens to my pictures!)