misc. bits…

 “It is the sweet simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder~

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Here we are in the downhill slide for the merry month of May.  Upcoming in the near future are the following:

I’m noticing that Mary Ann Moss is gearing up for another online class.  This time,  the class will be about sketching.  I have always enjoyed her classes.

Traci Bautista has a new book coming out and a new online class about printmaking.

Tammy over at Daisy Yellow is hosting the Index Card a Day project starting the first day of June.

Me, I continue to do my own little projects.  I think I will participate in ICAD again this year.  I really enjoyed it last year.  But,  I’m not buying those flimsy index cards again this year.  I have already cut out 3×5 cards out of cereal and cracker boxes.  I know the idea is to use index cards but I think my “cards” will be much sturdier.  Plus, I like recycling my cereal boxes.

A few posts back I mentioned Tina Berning’s book,   100 Girls on Cheap Paper.  Here’s a few I painted on cheap paper with a brush (mostly) using sumi ink and some watercolors:

This one is pen and watercolors:

Here are three small collages I made in the little journal I’m recycling from a junk mail booklet:

I hope you have a great rest of the week!!!

final ICADs…

Here are my final ICADs for July 26-31.  It was fun, it was a blast…and I never got tired of making those small pieces of art.  Thank you Tammy for hosting the whole thing for two months.  My cards are all together in a plastic index card holder that I bought at one of our local dollar stores.  I forgot to take a photo of it.

ICAD 56 is a combination of vintage magazine, old typing book, and newer magazine pieces(the bird):

 

ICAD 57 is a collage from a fashion magazine:

 

ICAD 58 is a face I drew with ink and a brush on an old house plan book, other pieces are from a magazine:

 

ICAD 59 is a part of magazine ad that I painted over and then I saw a face:

 

ICAD 60 is pieces from a magazine ad over a painted background…doodling added with a dip pen:

 

ICAD 61 *inserts drum roll* is mostly a mixture of acrylic paints and inks:

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

 

ICADs for July 19-25

Only six more days remaining for the Index Card a Day project.  Someone was being facetious on their blog how everyone must be getting sick of seeing ICADs everywhere 🙂  I have thoroughly enjoyed making them and have managed to keep up for the almost two month period.

Click here to see more participants in ICAD

The round robin journal group I was participating in has ended.  A big thank you to Danielle for coordinating our little group.  Also, thank you Janet and Andria, the other two participants in our round robin group, who, along with Danielle have been a great source of inspiration.

ICADs for July 19-25

ICAD 49 is a collage from pieces found in a fashion magazine:

ICAD 50 is some mini drawings of plants inspired by a new pattern motifs book(more about that later):

ICAD 51 is mostly vintage papers collage:

ICAD 52 collage with oil pastels and marker embellishments:

ICAD 53 is a magazine collage embellished with oil pastels and gel pens:

ICAD 54 started with a tea bag packet:

ICAD 55  began with a scrap on my desk.  It needs a sea gull to complete it:

Everyone have a great weekend!  I appreciate each and every comment.  Thank you!

ICADs and a zine…

I have been busy working on another project for my “Sewn” class.(See July 5th post).  I hope to get my pattern book put together soon.  Meanwhile, here are the remaining ICADs for this week.  So far, I have made 42 cards.  Index Card a Day originated with Tammy over at Daisy Yellow.  She has lots of creative ideas going on over at her blog, this is only one of many ideas. Here are ICADs 39-42 (July 9-12):

ICAD 39 is four layers of spray inks with various stencils:

ICAD 40 is “Did Nancy Get Mail?” from an old vintage reader:

ICAD 41 started as an ad for a handbag.  I used metallic ink and paints with some Payne’s Gray for outlining the bird that appeared…I love his eye!

ICAD 42 is mostly magazine collage pieces with one piece of scrapbook paper:

I’m not going to do Link Love this week due the time factor.  I do want to share a zine that Lee over at Defining Me sent me this week.   Around two weeks ago, on her blog, she mentioned that she had made a zine.  She made a one sheet zine like the one I wrote about in my last post.  She is so talented and creative!  She drew all the pictures except the page with Mona Lisa 🙂  She asked anyone who wanted one to let her know…and I did…and I’m very happy that I did.  Thank you Lee!!! I love it!!!  Here’s the front and the back of Lee’s zine:

ICADs(Index Card a Day) and more painted papers…

A really quick post to show my ICADs, for July 6-8. ICADs are a two month long project hosted by Tammy at Daisy Yellow.    I’ve also been painting more patterns on paper.  The second lesson of the “Sewn” class by Mary Ann Moss was posted this morning…I watched the videos once but I’m going back to take another look at them.  If you don’t know about “Sewn,” there is a short video on the sidebar  by Mary Ann  explaining about the class.  So far, I’ve been having great fun slinging paints and inks all over the paper.

ICAD 36 is collage from magazine pieces:

ICAD 37 is painted deli paper glued onto the card…and I wish I had not added lines…oh well:

ICAD 38 is all magazine collage…I was going to use some advertising logos but this is how it turned out:

This is growing right by my bird feeder in the back yard.  Three Sunflower plants have grown there all by themselves from stray seeds that the birds missed:

Here are some painted papers from the weekend:

another shot:

One more thing.  I want to mention,  is that Karen over at MAIL ME SOME ART has several swaps going on this month.  There is a button on my sidebar that will take you to her mail art blog.  One of the swaps that intrigues me is a zine swap that must be mailed to her by July 29th.  I hope I can do one…I have a lot of projects going on right now but I’m going to try to enter that swap.  The zine is all complete on one piece of copy paper.  Go here to read about how to fold and cut the sheet of paper to make a zine.  She made a video to show the entire process.   She made two examples to show how she made a zine from a single sheet of paper.

ICADs and painted papers

I’ve been in a flurry of painted papers …..the “Sewn” class by Mary Ann Moss opened yesterday.  Our assignment is to paint patterns on paper until Monday.  That’s when the next lesson will be posted 🙂 To find out more about “Sewn,”  see the short video link over on the sidebar.  I love to paint patterns, I like the more abstract process.  You just do it without much thought. I will be doing more patterns this weekend  and I’ll post my patterns I have painted, thus far.  Before that, let me show ICADs 33-35:

ICAD 33 is a collage of map, book and deli papers:

ICAD 34 is two magazine pieces that I embellished with a Sharpie pen by outlining the shapes:

ICAD 35 is watercolor with pen work:

To see others who are participating in Index Card a Day…go to Tammy at Daisy Yellow.

These are my painted patterns:

pink close-up:

painted phone book page:

I only have three Link Loves to share this week:

Link #1 – Alison has a good mix of journals, embroidery and photos over at Life is a Beautiful Place to Be.

Link #2 –  Graphic designer, Sharon, lives in Boulder, CO….I like the name of Sharon’s blog: The Teacup Incident.

Link #3 – Me Plus Molly is in the UK, she has lots of fabric painting and pattern making.

Check Diane at Crafty Pod for more Link Love!!!

ICADs and Neil Gaiman

About two years ago, we read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It is a wonderful adult fairy tale.  He has a new novel chosen as Amazon’s best book of the month, June 2013.  It is  The Ocean at the End of Lane: A Novel.  Click here to hear a short excerpt from it.

Here’s another video with Neil Gaiman & Zen Pencils: Make Good Art

Here are my ICADs June 29-July2:

ICAD 29 is mostly magazine collage pieces with added text:

 

ICAD 30 is magazine and scrapbook paper with a cut out I found in my stash:

 

ICAD 31 is a painted flower on a piece of phone book page glued to a stencil and paint background:

 

ICAD 32 is a doodled effort that I colored with markers:

 

 

 

ICADs, Link Love, etc…

I’ve been having computer problems the past few days.  I did a system restore and I think it helped fix the problem.  I momentarily lost my anti-virus because I restored before the renewal date.  I still had the email with the receipt showing that I renewed.  Windows 😦  Makes me want to consider an Apple product.

ICAD 26 shows a small picture and text from a late 1940’s school reader:

 

ICAD 27 has two different kinds of paper…magazine page and painted deli paper:

 

ICAD 28 started with watercolor and ink stenciling and drips with a Sharpie Marker used to doodle over them:

 

Here is a journal page I finished this week:

 

 

It’s time for Link Love!

Link #1 – If you want to smile or laugh out loud….watch Dog Takes Puppy on Journey in a Shopping Cart

Link #2 – Journals and other things at Little Raven Ink

Link #3 – Michele Meister has some unique faces and other drawings.

Link #4 – Some DIYs to try at Creature Comforts

Link #5 – Jenny aka Jennibellie has over 100 videos….here’s one on how she makes her own stencils

Diane over at Crafty Pod is hosting Link Love for now.  Check out other links over there

more ICADS and a gift…

I entered a giveaway at Deborah Weber’s blog a few weeks ago and I won!!! I got this in the mail on Saturday:

It’s a little origami pocket holder.  It has been folded to form three pockets. There are two floral tags and a handmade paper heart-shaped tag.  I took the heart out of its pockets so all of it is visible.  I love it! Thanks again Deborah!  When visiting her blog, be sure to check out her ICADs.

ICAD 22 is a cheat…I cut out some painted phone book pages to fit the index card:

ICAD 23 started with watercolor and ink splashes and drips, then I doodled around some of those:

ICAD 24 is magazine cut outs with random text:

ICAD 25 has painted paper background with a little guy I found in an old grade school science book and random text:

Tammy at Daisy Yellow is hosting the ICAD project.  I think it’s going to continue through July…so, start today if you aren’t participating yet 🙂

 

ICADs and journal page…

A quick post.  It’s been a busy day…it’s my hubby’s birthday.  He requested a pineapple upside down cake.  I just took it out of the oven and flipped it (after waiting 5 minutes) and it looks great.  We’ll try it after we get back from eating at our favorite restaurant. Tammy at Daisy Yellow is hosting ICAD.  It’s not to late to join in….just start!

ICAD 18 is mainly magazine collage with a little Sharpie Pen action:

ICAD 19 is a quick sketch using my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen:

ICAD 20 is a doodle drawing using a Sharpie Marker:

ICAD 21 is painted paper collage with a face drawn on a piece of deli paper…(her eyes are a little scary looking):

This photo is a journal page.  I covered the page with collage pieces first. I’ve had this background made for weeks…I couldn’t figure out what to do next.  I used a thin wash of white paint to tie all the pieces together.  Then I drew the shapes.  I used Letreset Markers and acrylic paint along with gel pens for writing and mark making.