Final cards of the challenge.

I have finished the 52 card challenge ahead of time because my hubby is having a major operation on Dec 1 so I don't think I will be able to get much art done for a while after that. I will share my final cards today. 

 

 Week 41 - miniature. I wasn't sure what to do for this prompt so I looked through my  image collection for inspiration. When I saw the farm animals I decided to use them. I wanted to make them look tiny so I put them onto the hand. The miniature farm idea came when I was working out what to write on the card. It is mostly acrylics and collage.

 Week 42 - enchant. I used an old piece of painted paper for the background and added the image. You can't read it but the writing is the dictionary definition of enchant. I added gold embossing around the edge of each piece.

 Week 43 - stem.  I used another prepared background for this card and a cut out image. the stitching was done with a pen.

 Week 44 - mask.  I covered the card with gesso and used a pen to draw the pattern. I cut the mask out of previously painted paper and glued it on. I used a pen to do the stitching on the mask.

 Week 45 - night. I know I have used this image before but it is a favourite. This is another painted paper glued to the card. I used a credit card to spread the paint over the paper. I added stars and dots around the edge with a white gel pen.

 Week 46 - honey.  The quote on the back says "If you want to gather honey don't kick over the beehive."  Acrylic background, pen sketching and coloured with pencils. Simple but fun to do.

 Week 47 - feather. A simple background from painted paper and a collage of birds.

 Week 48 - vanilla.  My favourite type of vanilla is ice cream. Painted paper background and I glued on a separately sketched (with coloured pencils) ice cream cone.

 Week 49 - jingle. Painted paper background and a sticker. The stitching is white pen that I have outlined with pencil to make it look like real stitching.

 Week 50 - love. Painted background, collaged image and fine-liner quote.

Week 51 - stencil. I used texture paste through a stencil for the background. I painted it with acrylics, highlighting one key.

 

 Week 52 - loop. I chose to interpret loop as the infinity symbol, endlessly looping around itself. The card was stamped and embossed then coloured with sprays. The infinity symbol was cut out of cardstock then embossed in a machine. I painted it gold to stand out against the background. 

I am glad that challenge is complete, and really happy that I have a stack cards to look through when I need some inspiration. I haven't done a lot of art journaling this year but I have completed the ICAD challenge and this one so I feel like I have done some art. In total it is 113 cards. I like to think of them as mini journal pages.  

I am currently working on some textile art that I will probably share in the new year. I have also signed up for the documented life project for next year so I will be sharing a lot more art journaling then, along with techniques (I hope). I should still be posting over the next couple of months but it won't be as often.

 

Art with playing cards.

 Week 36 - paint.  I love to paint daisies so that was how I decided to do this card. I used acrylics and bubble wrap for the background then painted in the daisies. I outlined them with black pen and added some white highlights with the quote.

 Week 37 - ticking.  Acrylic background with pencil stripes. I used thin liner markers for the clock and more acrylics.

 Week 38 - garb.  I used a dictionary page for the background and topped it with cut outs of late 1920s fashion.

 Week 39 - concentric.  I used my cuttlebug machine to cut out the shapes that I layered over an acrylic painted background. I wrote the word on the other side of the card.

Week 40 - pencil. I used watercolour pencils to draw and fill in all the little squares on this card. There is a quote on the back that reads: "A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere. " I love drawing and using pencils.

More challenge cards.

 I am sharing a few more of the cards I have completed for the 52 card challenge. I have to say this is one of the hardest challenges I have done because some of the words are not very art inspiring for me. I think they would be good writing prompts though or for larger journal pages where you have room to explore a theme better.

 Week 30 - trend. This card is painted with gesso and sprayed with metallics. I then added a chipboard heart from my scrapbooking stash. I embossed it with a cuttlebug and then painted it with metallic acrylics. I was feeling sparkly that day, lol. There is a quote on the back that says: "Don't follow a trend. Follow your heart."

 Week 31 - bracelet.  I sketched out some friendship bracelets on a painted card then coloured them with felt tip markers. I used Tombows because they always turn out a little paler when used over acrylic paint. I wanted a soft look.

 Week 32 - orbit.  The background is painted and then stencilled with Golden fluid acrylic for a shiny look. I added the quote and printed photo later.

Week 33 - low.  I found this quote with low in it to inspire this card. Simply painted with acrylics and a little pencil outlining.

Week 34 - dial.  I used flat acrylics for the background and stencilled on some Luminarte silks glaze for the shiny pattern.  I sketched out the phone and painted it with acrylics and some silver pen. I miss the sound of old phones that had dials.

Week 35 - wallflower.  I found this part of a poem that I decided to use for my card. I had a collage image of a women's head and bust that looked like it fit the poem so I cut it out to use. I had to lengthen the body with acrylics and add a little more hair but you can't really tell. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Using angelina film

As promised I am sharing the photos I took while making the peacock card for the 52 card challenge.

I first painted the card using the credit card technique. I put blue paint at one end of the card and used a plastic card to spread the paint across the card. I then did the same thing with a purple paint and you get the effect seen here. If you do it while the paints are both wet you get some mixing of color. I didn't do the second coat evenly so some of the original blue shows through the gaps.

This photo shows the Angelina film I used. It can also be known as Textiva film. I have had it a while but it is usually sold by textile retailers or maybe a mixed media supplier. I scrunched it up for texture and glued it to the card with white glue. The glue didn't seem to hold it well so I added a line of stitching around the edge to make it secure. When the film is heated it shrinks and pulls so I wanted to make sure it wouldn't come off.

I held the card with clips over a teflon craft sheet. I then used a heat gun to shrink and make holes in the film. I do this outside so I don't breath the fumes in. Leave it clipped down until it cools or the card may curl. I did not need to trim the film because it shrank to the stitching when I heated it.

You will notice the finished color of the film is very different to the color before heat is applied. You never know what you will get and that is part of the fun of using this film.

Finally some more art.

I didn't realize it had been so long since I shared some work. I have been busy teaching a little and also helping my daughter with her artwork. https://www.facebook.com/galaxiametal?fref=nf  I am now finished with those so I have a little more time for my own work. I also joined two textile art groups so I will be sharing some of my textile work occasionally.  I do like to vary what I make to stay creative.

I have completed quite a few cards (9 so far) for the 52 card challenge that I had fallen so far behind in. I will share 5 today and some more later on.

 Week 25 - peculiar.  This was a simple card. I painted it white and dribbled on some watercolors. I then turned the blobs into creatures (like Carla Sonheim does) with a pen and some shading, then added a few splatters as well. The technique is easy because the creatures are not realistic.

 Week 26 - around.  A simple acrylic painting and a quote to match.

 Week 27 - minimal.  I painted the card with a thick layer of gesso and while it was wet textured it with a heat gun. When it was bubbled up I painted on golden acrylics and added a scrapbooking definition.

 

 Week 28 - peacock. I was inspired to go with the peacock colors rather than the lovely bird for this card. I used angelina film to make the background and added some skeleton leaves on top. I did take a few step by step photos so if I can find them I will share them tomorrow.

 

 This view shows the leaves better and you can see how the color of the film changes depending on the angle of the light hitting it.

Week 29 - joker.  I went a little crazy with my sketch for this one. It is acrylics with some pencil shading.

52 cards...

I have been neglecting to share some of the cards I have been making. Somehow I jumped from week 16 to week 20.

Week 17 - The prompt for this one was Objet d'art.  I used images cut from a giftware catalog. I tried to choose colours that would work together and then arranged them around the frame I had painted. I had so many items cut out (I did them while watching tv with hubby) that I put them on the back of the card too. 

 

  Week 18 - prompt Army.  I couldn't think of a way to do a card about the military definition for Army so I twisted the prompt to suit my own sense of humour. The arms were painted with acrylics and then I added some colored pencil shading. It is a great way to store a bunch of poses to use in later drawings.

Week 19 prompt - dictionary.  I glued a dictionary page to my card with gel medium.  When it was dry I used coloured pencils to sketch some daffodils. Daffodils are a fairly easy flower to draw if you are just beginning to learn sketching.

Week 21 Prompt - niche.  This shows the hole I made in one card that I glued to a second one with two layers of black foam tape for a 3D effect. I had previously gessoed the first card and stuck tissue onto the second one.

I didn't like the yellow tissue so I covered the cards, front and back, with this paper that I know as mulberry paper (it may be called something else where you live). You can see it has lots of threads in it and when you tear it the edges are frayed nicely. I put lots of overlapping pieces on the cards and then dry brushed on a little silver paint to highlight the texture.

 I used two cards to make my niche.  I used scrapbooking brads for the flowers.   The butterflies are old pieces of jewelry that I had saved. I used wire cutting pliers to remove the jewelry parts and adhered them to the card with foam tape.

Week 22 prompt - trim.  A humorous take on the prompt.  I painted the background with acrylics and covered it with plastic wrap while it dried.  It gives the paint an interesting texture.   I did a simple sketch and colored it with pencils.

Week 23 prompt - emerald.  I used self-adhesive paper for the background of my card.  The tree was embossed on green metallic foil that was stuck to cardstock. I used alcohol inks to add more color to the back of the tree and then used a Brilliance stamp pad to add the copper color to the tree. The Brilliance ink works on most surfaces if you dry it with a heat gun.

Week 24 prompt - game.  I painted the card with distress paint and then used a stencil and distress ink to apply the pattern. I had the scrabble tiles in my stash (I think they were a freebie with a magazine) so used them to make the words.

I am now caught up with this challenge. I also have a bunch of index cards to share so will try to post again very soon. Keep making art and having fun.

Use up your stash!

Some time ago I took a good look at my accumulation of craft and art products. I realised that I had a huge amount of stuff and some of it was not even useful any more. I have never really felt that I needed the latest of everything but I found it hard to resist a bargain at craft fairs or art store sales. Then when I did have a big stash I kept wanting to save the good stuff for the big, important projects not the small everyday work I was doing in my studio. Art journaling and general scrapbooking were not important enough

I went to use one of my art products and found it had dried up when I had hardly used it at all. That was the light bulb moment for me. If I didn't use what I had it would be gone before I could use it. Even the scrapbooking supplies that are now seen as out of date would seem too dated if I didn't use them. I had to learn that everything I make or create is important and worthy of the best supplies. I decided to stop buying any more new things and use what I already have. This was hard at first, but now I can go to a craft fair and only buy things that I will use immediately. Sometimes I don't even buy anything at all! It is my goal to use up a lot of items I have been saving so I have more space in my studio.

 This weeks card for the 52 challenge has part of my stash in it. A while ago felt cut out borders were popular for scrapbooking and I bought a few colours. I had this green one that I decided to use.

 You can see it is pretty bright and also self adhesive. It was one length but I cut it into three pieces to fit onto the card front like a background rather than a border.

 I used the Lumiere paints on the tissue paper side of the card. I also did the same on the other side of the card that was plain. I ended up using the plain side for the front and put a quote on the back.

 I sprayed the felt with mica sprays. I was hoping they would become more colored and sparkly but most of the spray was absorbed by the felt. It did make the green color less vibrant.

 When the felt was dry I removed the backing paper and stuck it onto the card. I cut some of the lengths apart so they would fit onto the card better. I used my favorite Inca Gold metallic paints to add more color in random areas on the leaves. I used copper and gold colors.

 I glued on some butterfly cut outs and the card was finished. The quote on the back reads:
"Nothing makes me so happy as to observe nature and to paint what I see - Henri Rousseau."

 You can see how 3 dimensional the felt is. I like the way the altered felt looks so now I will start adding it to more of my scrapbook pages. I love when a small bit of fun, like these cards, inspires me to use products in a new way. Go ahead and look through your stash. Find something you have had for a while and think of a new way to use it. What are you saving it for?

A few more quick cards.

I didn't realize it had almost been a month since I blogged. I have joined an art group this year and was told we had to have 4 paintings done by June. It now seems that date has been postponed a bit so I now have more time for the fun things. I have made a few more cards for the 52 card challenge.  I love making little pieces of art like these.  I find it very creative to make art for myself and not for potential future buyers.

Unfortunately I don't have progress shots for these ones but I can do tutorials if you want to know how to do a particular technique. Let me know in the comments section.

Week 11 - Vintage. This card is an acrylic painted background. I just put a couple of different paints on randomly with a brush and mixed them together a bit. I used an image from a free image site. The writing was done with a white uniball Sigma pen. It works on almost any surface as long as it is dry.  

Week 12 - seed.  I used strips of masking tape layered over the background card. I then dry brushed brown and green paint on so you can still see the texture of the tape.  The seed packets are stickers from my stash.

Week 13 - clue.  This is the queen of hearts card from my deck.  I kept her face and lightly painted over it so I could still see the lines then re-drew them. I painted a new hairstyle and outfit, then covered up the background.  It looked a little plain so I used a stencil to add a bit of colour to the background.

Week 14 - note.  The quote on the back reads "I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on them saying toys not included." I thought it was funny so I used a photo of a pack of batteries to make this simple card.  The background is embossed cardstock with a little ink to add shading. 

Week 15 - concept.  The quote on the back reads "Space is an inspirational concept that allows you to dream big."  I used a card that had been covered with gesso. I painted the card with dark blue acrylic paint that had some gel mixed in to make it a little transparent. While it was still wet I dropped on some light coloured paint in the top left corner. I quickly covered the card with plastic wrap and then smooshed the lighter colour into the dark colour. It makes it look cloudy. I should have let it dry but I was impatient and took the plastic off too soon. It lifted the entire background off in some areas so I had to do the whole thing again. This time I left it to dry completely.  The background was now textured so I used very watery paint for the planet to highlight the texture that was already there. I splattered on watery paint for the stars and used a paper towel to blot them off. That leaves the faint marks that looks like distant stars.  I then splattered again for brighter stars and let them dry. The card was done.

Week 16 - pen.  I used a black tissue covered card for the front image. I used the white Sigma pen to sketch and doodle the image.  The back of the card was lightly painted with acrylics and the word doodled on top with the white pen.