odds and ends

Yesterday in my ICAD post I showed a couple I made with my newly handmade stamp.  Here's how I made the stamp:

I glued little pieces of that thin craft foam onto an empty hair spray bottle using a glue stick.  Nothing fancy and no super glues.  My little squares are imperfect as are the longer strips making the stripes.  Make sure to leave enough room to grip the "roller" at the ends without getting too painty.  You can see my practice rolls here using acrylic paint.

I'm surprised this works so well as a stamp when that craft foam is so darned thin - but it works beautifully.  Don't know how long lasting it will be yet, but by the time it falls apart, I'll be sick of the pattern and ready for something different anyway.

My friend and I hit some great yard sales this last weekend and I had a few things on my search radar.  Here's what I came home with....

I was looking for an art apron after seeing the fabulous one Corinne made for herself.  She even gave me some encouragement to make my own, but then I found this one for only $1 and I saved myself the effort.  You might also notice the painting of Seattle.  I bought it for the canvas (15 x 30" for $2.50) and will paint over it (don't tell the little girl who painted it!).  Someday someone will scrape off my painting to discover this one underneath and it will be worth thousands because it's an original "Lia".... :)

Then I found some fun jewelry pieces for $1 each that I plan on cutting apart and using as charms or on the cover of a journal/AB, or ..... who knows?  They are just cool.

And, last, but not least, the rolling pin ($1).  No, I'm not a baker.  I'm going to turn it into a larger, more efficient roller stamp!  Just waiting for the right pattern to manifest itself (and my cold to go away so I can think again!).

And, today's ICAD, in honor of being sick.  Felt the need for some bright color, finger smooshing painting and ink drips to lift my spirits.  Then back to bed! :)

Stay healthy!

icad catch up

Here are my latest ICAD creations - not a particularly inspired group I admit, but I am managing to continue making them.  See others or join in for yourself over at Daisy Yellow, hosted by Tammy.

#35, 36:

I made another stamp - I'll post the photos for that tomorrow - but tried it out on a couple of cards....it works pretty darn well.  It's a roller stamp made using craft foam and a hair spray bottle!

#37, 38:

Boring shades of blue watercolor with some random stamping and collage bits.  The second one is fairly self explanatory..... (the gray is a piece of screen door netting)

#39, 40:

Returning to one of my favorite options, use a quote, and then an homage to my garden.....the weeds at least!

I've been battling an oncoming summer cold and it seems I've lost - it's hard to feel creative or motivated to go to the art room when I can't breathe and I'm coughing, coughing.....so minimal art production the next few days I'd imagine.  I will try and stay up with my visits to everyone else though - I'll be creative vicariously......

icad update

It's been awhile, so here are the cards I've been stock piling.  (remember, you can still join in for the month of July - an index card a day...nothing fancy, just to keep you creative! - join us at Daisy Yellow to share your creations)

Day #26 & 27:

I used prompts quote for the top one and fortune cookie for the second one. I poured out too much black ink for some project or another so stamped circles and circles....you'll see.

Day 28 & 29:

This top one I used one of Tammy's (Daisy Yellow) suggested techniques of smooshing paint between 2 papers.  What did I end up with?  Circles! that then became flowers.  Why not, right?  I think I needed to smoosh a bit more so the paint spread around a bit.  The second black background was experimenting with my new black gesso, duck tape, etc.

Day #30:

OMG - this was so easy and fun.  I made my own very first stamp.  Inspired by SO many of you that do this regularly, I finally bit the bullet.  I was making party invitations and needed a Mayan themed image to stamp on the cards.  My friend google produced this image that I felt like I couldn't screw up too badly, so using scissors and simple craft foam I cut out the shapes, glued to a foam core "base" and voila! A stamp.  It worked perfectly.  I'll be making more and more........

Day #31 & 32:

More lovely circle stamping and a failed practice tree stamp - but look how great it looks with my mayan sun!  I actually quite like these two (painted with watercolors).

Day #33, 34:

The top one, simple but had to show the results of my first-ever handmade stamp. Used craft foam to cut the shapes and glued them to a foamcore base.  Quick and easy and effective....I'll be making more!

The second one, made today for the 4th of July for Tammy's holiday challenge and also Jenn at APR wanted a representation of her country (Canada) or she graciously broadened the scope to include USA, so I'll submit for that as well.

icad 16-19

More ICAD happiness to share...

#16 - trying out Martha Lever's credit card flower technique that I learned from the 21 Secrets course - some of those mini-classes are excellent!

 #17 -  Summer of color challenge for the week was mint & chocolate (based on ice cream flavor) and I have mint growing in the yard so wanted to try Karen's idea of gluing down real leaves and see what happens.  The mat medium is holding well and the leaves are starting to change color....this project smelled so good!

#18 - playing with tissue paper collage and india ink.

#19 - experimenting with india ink and bold marks - don't like the red, but really like the green....

There are SO many creative people decorating index cards all over blogland - if you need ideas, host Tammy at Daisy Yellow provides a weekly list of 10 suggested themes, or just pull out your crayons, your markers or paint and let your fingers do the walkin'.

I'm also sharing this with Artists in Blogland.

We're off to go camping for a few days - I'll be sure to take cards and markers with me so I don't fall behind.  I'm not ignoring all your wonderful creativity - I'll catch up when I'm home.....

here we go

Okay - here I go.  ICAD is upon us and I'm joining in.  Hosted by Tammy at Daisy Yellow, this simple challenge is to decorate and Index Card A Day for 2 months (see the button in my sidebar).  Two months!  Really, did I just commit to a daily something for 2 months?!

Tammy has a separate section on her blog for ICAD posts where she'll be sharing info and even prompts if you need a little creative nudge.  There's a flickr group if you want to see how folks are doing.

My plan is to use it as a warm up exercise, a reminder to create something....anything every day.  Even when I'm camping in a couple weeks....I'll take cards and pens and be among nature and dirt which will surely end up on my cards (maybe I'll take my mess book and finally get started in that!).  However, I don't want to be tedious and post my efforts every day.  So, I'm posting today just to announce I'm playing and show that I made one, but I'm thinking I'll just share once a week.  That's enough, don't ya think?

Day 1 ICAD 2012:

I got my new Adirondack spray Color Wash colors today so had to play with them first thing - I love them! I love the way they spread and blend with a little spritz of water.  However, definitely too wet an application for my flimsy little cheap cards....that's okay.  It was fun to play.

As Karen at I am Rushmore says:

                               "I keep bumping into people who kinda want to do this but are afraid.

so I'm here to say, shut up.

you can do this.

                                     it's an index card for crying out loud.  not a masterpiece.  

                                                                       this is loose.

this is casual.

this is fun.

make something small every day for two months.

don't over think it.

share it.

because it's not about being "good enough"

you're just fine."

You CAN do it.  It's not a 3' canvas, it's a little index card.  It's not a 3 hour/day commitment, it's 5 minutes.  Not all will be beautiful works of art, but many will be.  Mostly it will be fun and creative.

Can't wait to see your ICAD creations.