more index cards…

a new month and I am still playing with 3×5 card collages…

above are some background cards I made a while ago that helped get me going…

washi tape on stenciled painted background with catalog image, cigar box paper and a piece of Flimmerstern…

the lady was printed with ink running low in our printer and too good to waste,  stamped book text, striped tissue paper created on top of the ‘coat room check 351‘ card  in the first photo…

created on the black and white card with the house and garden diagram letting the TruBlu label colors lead me using Lumiere paint along with Distress Stains (one of my favorite things these days)…

swirly stamped background with torn pieces from a paper bag that held delicious Grasmere Gingerbread from our trip to the UK in June…

stencil and plaster with some of my favorite decorative tissue papers, music and “Persuasion” book text…

using a few favorite rubber stamps,  sari ribbon and a US postage stamp…

got brave and used all three of these wonderful Swiss stamps from a special friend with a little doodling and stamped ink spots…

I will have a few more cards to share next week…

♥Happy August Dear Ones♥

Seize the day …

when I heard that Dawn’s Journal Journey’s May challenge was “Birds” I had a couple of images I knew I wanted to use (sorry I could not find who to give credit to for the images)…

the girl with the basket on her head is from a 3×5 skinny that I created on cereal box cardboard some time ago…

I increased the size which is unusual for me as I seem to most often reduce the size of images…

adding a little texture with some sari threads for the nest and a wooden inchie frame that I glued text onto sanding and inking the edges…

I began working in this 1958 encyclopedia back in 2009…

excitement is building for me as there are only two more sections to complete in my visual journal and I’ll be ready to put a cover on it and call it done…

 I am also sharing this with Susi’s Art Journal Journey “Challenge Yourself” for May as I did challenge myself in several ways (i.e. use of images and only using stamp inks along with limiting my color palette)…

♥Happy Weekend All♥

angels and demons…

a handful of my index cards so far for the changing season …

best viewed by clicking each for the closeup …

feeling autumnal and

a little Béla Lugosi …

thanks to some Recollections Lenticular Stickers…

other ingredients are pieces of my Citra Solv treated Nat’l Geographic magazine pages … tea cup from Dover … Black Cat firecracker label … assorted rubber stamps and the perfect freebie word sheet from Pennywise Arts…

and to balance things out a bit here is October’s quote from my “Angel Spirits” The Art of Sulamith Wulfing 2011 Calendar:

“I have been with you from the moment of your birth, precious child, and I will be with you to your journey’s end – and beyond.  Close your eyes and feel my presence, strong and sure and eternal.  Know that I keep you safe and whole, every day and every night, now and forever.” ~Guardian Angel, October 2011

I would also like to share these three angels as FREE DOWNLOADs from my photo collection

taken at the Washington DC Congressional Cemetery…

these are for your personal use only…

not intended to be made into collage sheets or sold…

Enjoy OXO

Goodnight Irene

this soon to be altered metal recipe box has been kicking around for awhile now…

it is perfect for holding my 3×5″ index cards…

my attempt at creating an earthquake card did not work out…

 but I did want to share some of the other cards I created recently…

with a short description of what went into each…

I so enjoy putting bits of this and that together…

playing with scissors and glue never gets old…

it seems my blog has turned into part of my memory…

you may notice that there are underlined words in most of my posts…

I try to add links to provide further info and of course give credit where credit is due…

there is a handy tool on my sidebar marked “Looking for Something” … typing in a word or two oftentimes takes me where I need to go…

for a clearer view you can click on the pictures…it helps sharpen them…I should really take the time to get out the tripod…

here goes…

Citra Solv background…scraps of paper doily and graph paper…copy of a TAP transfer piece I made with beaded and stitched silk frame…Goddess stamp …

Citra Solv background…stamping…gold Krylon pen…scrap paper from garden catalog…faux leaves and flower colored with Sharpie…center brad…gold napkin for bottom trim…the image was in a cigar box with some pages I cut up for text…not certain where she is from…

mini me…age two in Germany on a paint scraped and doily gesso background…German book text (thank you Margaret I finally got brave enough to rip those nice pages) …text washi tape…and rubber stamps from Catslife Press…really Loving the “Remember to Play Everyday” freebie stamp from them…

another Citra Solv background…some you hardly want to cover up they have such great colors and design…the Polish postage stamps really inspired me on this one…a Debbie Warren free microscope size image trimmed down with a little more graph paper at the bottom…

I had scanned a piece of green and black collaged background paper that I created some time ago added a little gesso stenciling with a plastic doily…along with my favorite Paper Whimsy sun face…dotted piece from a recycled envelope…black rubons and the word “luminous” cut from a paint sample…

another piece of my scanned background glued onto my pink index card…I decided to print it larger which made it a little different and interesting…my favorite “Art Helps Me Breathe” stamp again from Catslife Press and the fan stamp enhanced a bit with my white Signo gel pen…

our house is on high ground here in Northern Virginia…

still not sure what to expect with Hurricane Irene…

they are throwing the “historic” word around again…

we are hoping for just a tropical storm here in the Washington DC area…

it will be nice to say “Goodnight Irene“ after this weekend…

sending best wishes for everyone’s safety…

may each of you stay out of harm’s way…

OXO

index card swap with Sandy

the lovely and talented Sandy is back in blogland after a bit of a break…

both she and her creativity were greatly missed…

Sandy got excited when she saw some of the index cards on my blog recently…

so we decided to swap a couple of cards…

here is what I took to the post office yesterday…

be sure and visit Sandy here to see the beauties she made for me…

some fun mail on its way back and forth across the ocean

index cards keep happening…

not tired yet of making 3 x 5 inch collage cards…

in fact some days it is easy to make four…

they make nice greeting/note cards…

one of the sunshine girls jumped into two photos … two of the cards above have National Geographic CitraSolv backgrounds…

the Paper Whimsy sunshine face helps make any body look better I think…

it can mean lots of fussy cutting…

but I enjoy that…

the little “houseguest” above is holding a 3D vintage flower…

the word was cut from a large print book

…all of my photos are better clicked for a closeup…

some new unmounted stamps I ordered from Catslife Press arrived and I couldn’t wait to play…

Catslife Press is the creator of one of my all time favorite rubber stamps: “Art Helps Me Breathe”…

the card below was made with the surprise freebie stamps included in my recent order…

“REMEMBER TO PLAY EVERYDAY” is a brilliant motto and something I do actually try and live by…

I used some of my paint scraped book pages for backgrounds with some of the other new stamps I ordered…

delivery certainly was speedy and the postage was very reasonable…

it is also nice having the choice of wood mounted or unmounted stamps…

I have no affiliation with Catslife Press…

just a very happy customer…

hope you get some time to PLAY

August daze…

not flaming with creativity at the moment…

*lady and moon from The Graphics Fairy … always a brilliant and generous source of free images*

feeling a little betwixt and between…

I do keep making 3 x 5″ index card collages…working quickly…not thinking too much…

also getting a little reading in…

here is this month’s quote from my “Angel Spirits” The Art of Sulamith Wulfing 2011 Calendar:

“You came into this life with a sacred purpose, entering into the stream of your destiny as a boat is launched trustfully upon a great river.  Attune yourself to that divinely guided flow, and all will be well.  Follow your heart and offer yourself as a vessel of goodness.” ~Spirit of Purpose, August 2011

~* OXO *~

…I am just like me

“I am completely authentic. I don’t pretend to be what I am not. I am what I am, and I accept what I am. I am just like a flower, just like the ocean, just like the sun. I am just like me.”  ~Don Miguel Ruiz

reading that inspiration from Don Miguel Ruiz reminded me of my word of the year AUTHENTIC … on my sidebar … 

here we are over half way through the year … I am finding out that it is pretty challenging being completely “authentic” all the time…

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

my art cave gets the morning sun and likes to hold on to the heat into the afternoon on these hot hot days …

even our nights have not been going below the 70’s (20+ celsius) lately…I certainly do NOT treasure the heat 😉

(left card: scrap papers, washi tape, paint, inks “Treasure” rubber stamp… right card: citrasolv background paper with black marker highlights…the card actually says “The HEAT wears me out”…but the ‘wears me out’ was lost in photo taking along with the lower border of the image…sunshine making trouble on our shady back porch too…my fav photo spot usually … images from Alicia’s Altered Bits collage sheet)

I have managed to get up in my art room and play a little with my pink index cards (or skinnies as they are also called) a few times …

(left card: my artwork transferred onto fabric and stitched onto scrap paper decorated with rubber stamping, rubons and fabric bits… right card: torn papers and dictionary page, paint and rubber stamping)

hard to make just one as one seems to lead to two more and so on…

(left card: some Sunday’s we split a salty and sweet caramel chocolate square with our coffee…it comes on a nice brown paper square that I always bring home…the bag is too good to waste too… right card: a piece of torn map from a trip to San Francisco inspired me on this card…we Love SF…a flower stamp seemed perfect too)

I work quickly on these using what I have on hand…

I sure do miss Wednesday Stamper…Wednesday’s are just not the same…

Footnote: this is my 1,400th post

make time to play…

there is fun buzz in the blogosphere about the index card a day project (ICAD)…along with SO much creativity…

 Dianne and Terri are a couple of artists that greatly inspired me with their index cards…

while I do not plan to participate in the challenge daily necessarily…

I do enjoy a good challenge and having a chance to play…

at first I could only find the larger size of index card in my stash and ended up with a postcard size creation…

a sweet surprise package from my dear bloggie friend Suz provided the perfect crepe paper ruffle…

I just knew I needed to use that in something special using one of my favorite vintage postcard ladies as a TAP transfer on fabric…

a little stitching…some vintage velvet ribbon…lace bits and more and it was complete…

I save all of the papers that protect my table top from glue … rubber stamping ink and paint … they make perfect backgrounds …

some 3 x 5″ cards did surface in a recent studio cleanup so I got busy…no matter that they were pink to start out with…

a new tin of Cavallini animal stickers made a nice focal point for my first couple of cards…

I do see more index cards in my future…it is a perfect way to use up scraps and what you have handy on your work table without a huge time commitment…

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ~Plato

Ian … Phone Home

* illuminated *

my little 3×5 canvas began with the lovely dancer image from Terri Kahrs of Pringle Hill Studio (there is a gorgeous colorized version too)

Terri often shares images along with her creative process which is always a delight

here are some of the supplies I used … forgot to include my stamp pads in the photo

I think this canvas will become a part of a larger piece or a book spread at some point

are any other WordPress bloggers having issues with making your pictures clickable for closeups?  the last couple of days something has changed and I have not altered any settings … not sure what is going on … hopefully things will go back to the way they were … I enjoy clicking pictures for closeups!

“From its brilliancy everything is illuminated” ~Guru Nanak

Grace

the challenge at Mixed Media Monday is “Layers”

I created a little  3×5 inch canvas

using various papers, inks, paints, gesso pounced through star sequin waste and dry wall fabric mesh

“Our real journey in life is interior:
it is a matter of growth, deepening,
and of an ever greater surrender
to the creative action of love
and grace in our hearts.”
~Thomas Merton

Childhood

The TGIF challenge this week is “Childhood”.  For my skinny, I used two Leslie Brier images on a junk paper background that I stamped and added inked highlights to.

“Sweet childish days, that were as long as twenty days are now” ~William Wordsworth