Moo Cards - Black and White

Finally, I had time to make some moo cards! I love to work small, and the moo card is probably my favorite format for little pieces of art. The nice thing about moos is that they can stand alone, or can be added to a greeting card or other piece of art. The cards pictured here are for Make a Moo or Two, where the challenge this week is black and white. Here, I've simply done some very basic stamping with black ink on white cardstock, then framed it all up on black cardstock. All stamps and cardstock are from Stampin' Up!.

Inspire Me Thursday - Artist Trading Cards

This week's challenge at Inspire Me Thursday is ATCs, or artist trading cards, which are tiny works of art measuring 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches. I've only been making ATCs for a couple of weeks, but I've rapidly become addicted to them. They're quick and easy (usually!), can be made with bits and pieces of whatever you have on hand, and they're fun to flip through when you need a little inspiration.

I believe I've mentioned that I hand-dye my own fabric for some of my sewing projects. When you've put in the effort to dye the fabric yourself, it's hard to throw away the scraps. The card at left was made with tiny scraps I had saved from a small art quilt. The pieces were already fused with Wonder-Under, so construction was as simple as ironing everything together and quickly finishing off the layers with the sewing machine.

For the second ATC, I cut the leaf shapes from a piece of Hoffman Bali batik, then fused them with Wonder-Under to another piece of hand-dyed fabric, and again quickly stitched everything together by machine.

The third ATC is made with scraps of scrapbooking paper, newsprint, and stamped cardstock. The embellishment is a piece of matboard, covered with ultra-thick embossing enamel and impressed with a rubber stamp while still hot.

Radiant Pearls

Lately, I've been enjoying some supplies that I haven't used in a while. I'm not exactly sure why I stopped using Radiant Pearls, but I'm pleased to have them out again. An interesting quality of Radiant Pearls is that they dry by absorption, so they must be used on a porous surface, or they'll stay wet forever. You can use a plastic lid or an old cd as a palette, and your paints will not dry on those surfaces. Not ever. This means that you waste less paint, and you can pick up a project where you left off, long after you last worked on it. I last used my Radiant Pearls about 5 years ago, and when I pulled out my cd palette today, the paints on it were still wet!

Another thing I like about these paints is their shimmery quality. Unfortunately, you can't see that in this photo.

Radiant Pearls are very much like watercolors. They're transparent, can be thinned with water, blended with other colors, and used as a wash. But they also have emollient properties, so they spread nicely if you're using them full-strength.

I haven't done much with Radiant Pearls beyond coloring rubber-stamped images, but I'm beginning to see the possibilities. For now, I'm still using them with rubber stamps, as in the photo above. Pictured here are some small images stamped and painted on watercolor paper, attached to mat board, and finished off along the edges with a Krylon pen. They each measure only 1 x 1-1/4 inches, so I will probably make them into pins.

Bottle Cap Charms - Works in Progress

I've been experimenting a bit with "supplies" that would ordinarily go in the trash, and I wanted to share my preliminary results with all those kind beer-drinkers who have so generously donated their bottle caps for my art projects.

These caps were first flattened with a hammer, then painted with acrylic paints. After the paint was dry, I pressed the caps into a Versamark ink pad, then coated them with antique gold embossing enamel, heated until the granules became very liquid, and pressed rubber stamps into the hot surface. I'm not sure yet what I'll do to these next (if anything), but after I'm satisfied with the way they look, I'll coat them with a clear sealer, drill some tiny holes for jump rings, and maybe add some dangling beads to the bottom to give them a little more weight.

That's a piece of bleach-discharged black velvet in the background - another project for a future blog post!

Inspire Me Thursday - Dear Diary

I'm coming to the table a bit late with my Inspire Me Thursday submission, but I didn't really expect to post anything this week. That's because the prompt is "Dear Diary" and I don't keep a diary. Never have. Sure, I've had diaries before, the kind with the leatherette cover and the tiny lock and key, but I never actually wrote in any of them. Maybe I was always afraid someone would read what I had written, and I would be exposed, and vulnerable. I was also expecting to skip this week because I've not been feeling myself the past few days. On Saturday I cleaned up my desk and my studio space so I could actually find things, but I still haven't been able to get motivated. There are just too many other things going on, and they're wearing me out. But when I finally arrived home last night from one of my usual evening activities (I really need to stay home more), I sat at my desk looking at my stack of lists, and was struck by the idea that, in a way, my list-making is a form of diary-keeping. You see, I make lists for everything -- creative ideas, things I need to do, websites to visit -- you name it, I probably have a list for it. All my lists are on scraps of paper, and they tend to get mixed up, or used for jotting down something else, and I end up rewriting that list. So, I remembered these tiny composition books (3.5 x 4.5 inches) I found at WalMart. And why not turn some of my collage and image transfer failures, which of course I had saved, into covers for my little books? You already know that I like to work small, and I enjoy making things to fix up my work area. Well, in less than 30 minutes I had completed two little "list diaries" and I think I've recovered my creative mojo. Sometimes, a little glue and some metal leaf will work wonders, and will help you get organized as well!

Inspire Me Thursday - I Have Something to Say

I've never been much of a talker. Words always escape me, or I think of the right thing to say when the opportunity is past. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in a family where I never could get in a word edgewise. Or maybe it's because I thought nobody was listening to me anyway. I've always, always struggled to express myself verbally. Shyness is one of my demons! So in recent weeks, as I've admired the submissions over at Inspire Me Thursday, I've noticed that so many of the artists there are able to express themselves so beautifully, not only with their visual art, but with their words as well. Pattie, Cheryl, Royce, Leah, and many others have such a gift for words! Suddenly, I found myself thinking, "I have nothing to say! Everyone but me can speak!" Then I realized that I do have something to say, a LOT to say, it's just that I have to say most of it visually. And I know that my art cyber-friends can hear what I'm saying, even if I'm not writing about it! I'm so thankful for all of you who speak my language!

Anyway --it's "Open Topic" at Inspire Me Thursday this week, so I thought I'd share some more of my "tiny works". I'm still using these little Prismacolor pencil drawings for motivation and inspiration. These are all 1-3/4" square. Here's how it works: I keep small pieces of bristol board on hand, and when a design pops into my head (which can happen at any moment - while reading, watching HGTV, playing with the cats -- you know how it goes), I grab one of these squares, quickly sketch my idea in pencil, then immediately make it permanent with a Micron pen. Then I color it with Prismacolor pencils, trying not to think too much about what colors I use. I may (or may not!) use these squares in a larger piece. Some of these may be combined with the background pictured here, which is acrylic paint on watercolor paper. Who knows?

Marble Magnet Tutorial

Well, maybe it isn't real art, but when I'm short on time, or I just can't get myself going with my usual art materials and I'm feeling the need for some instant gratification, I work on a quick and easy crafting project. Besides, there's nothing wrong with dressing up your workspace a little bit, and if you have a metal surface in your studio that you use for posting bits of inspiration, then these little magnets are both practical and fun.

Supplies:

- clear mosaic marbles from the craft store (These have a flat side and a domed side.)

- small round magnets (need to be a little smaller than your marbles)

- Mod Podge or other craft glue/sealer that dries clear (Edit - 11/13/08: I now use E-6000 glue for a durable, transparent bond.)

- scraps of decorative paper or magazine pages (most of mine come from catalogs or magazines)

- Sharp scissors or a round hole punch that's slightly smaller than your marble

- Circle template (optional)

Directions:

- After collecting your scraps of paper, cut them to fit the back of your marble. You can use a circle template from an office supply store, if you have one, to draw your shapes. Or, use an appropriately sized hole punch -- it's easier and a lot faster.

- Apply Mod Podge to the back of your marble (flat side) and place your tiny circle of paper on this, right side down. You want to be sure your image shows through the front side of your marble, so be careful you don't apply it backwards. Also make sure the entire front surface of your image is stuck to the marble - no loose edges.

- Carefully smooth the paper against the marble to get out any air bubbles.

- Apply more Mod Podge to the back of your image (again, covering it completely), then press a magnet onto this, being careful to keep everything centered.

- Press all layers together to squeeze out any excess glue.

- Set aside, magnet side down, to dry. The image beneath the glass may appear milky at first, but the milkiness should go away when the glue is completely dry.

Inspire Me Thursday - Goddess

Goddess of My Imagination

6 x 6 inches, Prismacolor pencils and ink on bristol board

The creative prompt this week over at Inspire Me Thursday is "Goddess". I wanted to think about this for a couple of days, so I spent most of the weekend immersed in Harry Potter (yes, I finished it, and all I will say right now is "Wow!" - don't want to spoil it for anyone). Every now and then I took a break from reading to get some gardening done, go to Erin's birthday party, and to contemplate art. So when I visited the IMT website earlier today, I was left speechless by all the beautiful goddesses everyone has been working on.

This is the Goddess of My Imagination, who sees color, movement, and life all around her. She started as a doodle in my sketchbook, and was supposed to be a quick, simple sketch, but became more complex as I worked with her. I think I may have also been influenced by all the violets I've been making in my cake decorating class!

I do love working with colored pencils. I think it's the child in me, who has always loved coloring books and big boxes of crayons. They're portable as well, so I can take them just about anywhere I might want to draw.