What's Creating Today - 2015

For the last few months I have been "sew" single minded in the studio.  My focus of late has been working on many of my art quilting projects, and making items for my Etsy store. And while it was nice to take a creative break from doing any art journaling or mixed media art, I didn't realize how much I had missed it until I got the e-mail about iHanna's spring DIY postcard swap.  I always look forward to the swap because it gives me a chance to experiment creatively and share my discoveries with others.  And the best part is that in return I get wonderful postcards from others which always delight and inspire me.  I received so many wonderful cards from all over the world this swap and I am looking forward to sharing those with you in my next post.

First though I thought I would share the postcards I created for the swap.  My approach to this swap, as was to the last swap, was to work on my collage art.  I love collage.  I love combining imagery in layers and how in doing so it can convey hidden in "plain sight" meaning and message.  And what I especially love about collage is the ease in which I can drop in and out of creating one without worrying about being able to pick up where I left off in the creative flow.  Too many times when I am ready to sit down and art journal, my brain gets in the way of the creative process.  Thinking and planning a journaling layout for me often creates a mental and creative block to getting anything done on the page.  With collage there is no thinking or planning, just layering.

So onto the cards:

 

The above was the first card I made.  And after I finished making it I photographed it, which I did after every card I made for the swap.  I learned from quilting that sometimes your perspective is skewed by looking down at something lying on a table.  In quilting when dealing with larger applique pieces that are still in progress and cannot be hung on a design wall, taking a photo of the piece often gives you a different perspective that can be valuable in your layout.  It also helps you to make observations in a general sense on how your work is progressing, or analyze things you have already done.  In looking at the photos of the cards I made I began to see trends in my work.  Here is what I observed (in no particular order):

 

Observation 1 -   I mostly work with images and backgrounds in pastel or brighter colors.

 

Observation 2 - I use a lot of vintage imagery that is thought provoking.

Observation 3 - I usually include a message.

 

 

Observation 4 - I use a lot of little scraps.

 

Observation 5 - I do a lot of detail cutting.

 

Observation 6 - My cards almost always have a very decidedly feminine feel.

 

Observation 7 - I love to use a script stamp on backgrounds or incorporate them on little scraps.

 

Observation 8 - I almost always include flowers, butterflies or birds.

 

I hope you enjoyed looking at my cards.  Feel free to leave your comments, they are always appreciated.  Look for my next blog post coming soon on the cards I received for the postcard swap. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Happy Creating!

 

 

 

What's Creating Today!

 Not long ago I took part in another of iHanna's postcard swaps.  Here are some of the cards

 I sent off to my list of names.  For all of my cards in this swap I chose a French vintage theme.

So what do you think, send me your comments.

Upcoming news:  We have moved after 15 years to a new house, so I will be sharing pictures in an upcoming post.

What's new at The Loft - Episode 17

Tampa Bay Scrapbooking Guild

Our March General Guild meeting was a lot of fun.  Our guest speaker Nancy Nally from Scrapbook Update gave an interesting and entertaining talk about the upcoming trends in the scrapbooking business.  It was a pleasure to meet Nancy and learn about what we have to look forward to in the scrabooking world. 
Here are some pictures from the event.

And here's a picture of me with Nancy

Sticker packs from San Diego

Last post I made mention of these great sticker packs my husband brought back for me after a business trip in San Diego.  He is such a great guy, and I love how he wanted to bring me back something that he knew I could use in my projects, whether it be ATC's, scrapbooks or mixed media.  There were four different packs he brought home, vintage perfume labels, 2 sets of travel stickers, and an assortment of postage labels.  Here are some samples of the labels.

 

ATC 3.6.5. challenge

My card from 3/26 was called "Love" and was made by cutting a background from Tweety Jill's "Retro Rooster" paper pack, and stamping a love stamp on it with black ink.  Next I took white Liquitex "Basics" paint and dry brushed it lightly over the stamp.  I then took a ColorBox "Cat's Eye" ink pad and lightly smudged the color in some areas.  I then detail cut the image of the girl from my Tweety Jill "Vintage Photographs" collage pack and adhered her to the center of the card. To bring out the letters in the word love, I outlined them using a white Uniball pen, and then doodled some dots inside the outline with a green Zig chalk marker.  Using turquoise Tsukineko chalk ink I stamped the flourish on the right side of the card, and then decorated that stamp by doodling dots with the white Uniball marker, and added some purple rhinestones.  I also added some additional bling by gluing a green glitter heart charm on the right side.  Lastly I added some color to the flower in the girls' hair with a rose star Gelly Roll pen.

My card from 3/27 is called "Alice's Adventures, and was made using images cut from the Tweety Jill's  "Alice in Wonderland" collage pack, and used a playing card for this background to match the theme.  Next I cut the spine of the book and glued it to the left side of the card.  I then cut the story text and glued it in the center of the card.  I used Color Box's "Cat's Eye" inks in yellow and green and smudged it along the surface of the card.  I next detail cut the image of Alice and glued her on top of the story text but aligned to the right side.  Next I cut the image of the playing card and glued it down at an angle on the upper left hand corner.  I then detail cut the image of the Queen of Hearts and adhered her on top of the playing card with pop up dots.  Lastly I cut off the shank of a rabbit button and glued it to the bottom left hand corner of the card.

My card from 3/28 is called "Time Flies".  For this card I started with a piece of text paper from Tweety Jills collage paper pack. and using a bird stencil I took Tsukineko chalk ink in Turquoise and applied the color around the edges of the stencil. I then outlined the image of the bird with a black Zig marker.  I then detail cut the image of the girl from the Tweety Jill "Vintage Photograph" collage pack and glued her to the center of the bird.  I then added a little more color by applying some yellow ink from my Colorbox "Cats Eye" ink along the outer edges of the card.  Lastly I stamped the title using black ink.

My card from 3/29 is untitled  and was created by printing an Asian background on black and white laser printer.    The whole background image was then colored in using Crayola watercolor pencils, and then applying water lightly with an H20 brush.  Next I stamped on white paper and detail cut the image of the Geisha, afterwards I used water color pencils on that as well.  I glued the Geisha to the bottom left of the card, and then stamped the pagoda next to her in black ink.  I then detail cut the image of the lucky cat that I had gotten off the internet.  Lastly I stamped the Asian characters in black ink at the top right hand side of the card.  Lastly I doodled all over the card with a white Uniball pen.

My card from 3/30 is called "Italia".  I made this card by cutting a background from a Italy daily desk calendar and adhered it to the background with some Tombow glue stick.  Next I used a black Zig marker to re-draw some of the lines of the buildings, to make them more prominent.  I then used a white Uniball pen and doodled some clouds and made a dotted edge.  I then took a clear sticker with the word Italia and aligned it along the left edge of the card.

My card from 3/31 is called "Perfect".  I started by making this card by printing an old Hollywood photograph from the internet and using it as a background.  Using Koh-I-Noor watercolor wheel I painted the dress of the woman.  I then used my Stencil Collection chalks and added flesh tone to the skin and light blue to the fan.  I then cut out the side slotted pieces of a die cut film strip and adhered it to the right side of the card.  I then took a clear star Gelly Roll pen and added some sparkle to the dress, parts of the fan and the film strip.  I then used a blue star Gelly Roll pen and added some bling to the top of the fan, colored in the tiara and shoes of the lady.  Next I added a line of tiny pearls the the bottom of the fan.  I then colored in some of the fan's blades at the womans hands with a white Uniball pen.  I then used Tsukineko chalk ink in turquoise and lightly smeared it to the background to add a little color.  Lastly I used a rub on for the title and applied it to the top of the card.

My card from 4/1 is called "Bieres de la Muese" and was made using a playing card for a base this time.  I then cut a strip of blue polka dotted paper and glued it diagonally across the card.  Next I stamped the background paper and part of the card with a sheet music stamp in black ink.  I then detail cut the image of the clock from a card collage pack I had laying around, and glued it down on the top right hand edge of the card.  The woman was then detail cut from my Tweety Jill "Fashion" collage pack and adhered her to the left hand side of the card.  Lastly I cut the title from the same image as the woman and cut it into pieces gluing them in different spots on the card.

My card from 4/2 is called "What Lies Within Us" and was made by cutting a background from a free sample of artist paper printing in Somerset Memories and adhering it to the card..  I then inked the edges using Tsukineko chalk ink in turquoise.  I then detail cut the image of the girl from the Tweety Jill "Vintage Photographs" collage pack and glued her at the bottom of the card.  Next I cut the title from a 12 x 12 sheet of scrapbooking paper covered in quotes.  I lastly embellished the card a little further with a few rub on flowers from Bo Bunny.

ATC 3.6.5. Challenge for vacation week

The family and I are going away for Easter this year so I hope to be able to send some posts from beautiful Charleston, South Carolina.  I still will be making my card per day but to challenge myself further I've decided to take only a minimal of basic supplies and make may cards with things I find along the way during our time in Charleston.  The basic supplies I will be taking are:

a 8 pack Crayola watercolor pencil set
a black Zig marker
a Tombow glue stick
Bumble Bee detail cut scissors
an H20 water brush
a white Uniball pen
a Clear Star Gelly Roll Pen
an Adirondack white acrylic paint dabber
pop up dots
Tsukineko chalk ink in turquoise, midnight blue and barn red
and some ATC card blanks

I'm looking forward to the challenge, but a little nervous about it so wish me luck!

Well that's all I have for today.  Hopefully the next time I post will be from beautiful Charleston.  As always your comments are welcome so please feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you think.  Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.