Passion For Paper

Many Words for Love

2012-02-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

A card for my dear husband:

4 1/4 x 5 1/5"

and one for my sister:

5" square
Inkadinkado stamp
Prismacolour pencil crayons

Don't forget to check out all the great art and enter yours at the Quietfire Style: Queen of Hearts challenge!

Vintage Valentines

2012-02-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

I remember fondly the Valentines we used to exchange as children, so when I came across these images from Tumble Fish Studio at DeviantScrap.com I knew they would be perfect for Artist Trading Cards:

Tangerine Chaotic Feathers

2012-02-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink

Hand carved stamp

I managed to get all of the design prompts on one Artist Trading Card this month. Tangerine, chaotic, and feathers are the prompts we might want to use in February for the Vancouver Artist Trading Card Swap.

Book of Days

2012-02-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

My Book of Days morphed this week into a cross between a Smash Book and a Remains of the Day journal when I was once again inspired by Lelainia Loyd and her Fragments of Me 2012 Sketchbook Project. That's OK - Effy Wild at the Book of Days journalling project finds her journal morphing into something new and I'm practising my composition and collage skills. Some of the Christmas cards I received this year were too nice to toss into the recycling bin and now I can enjoy them all year long.

A couple of weeks ago, just after the snow melted here in Vancouver, my heart turned to spring:

Pan Pastels

Heidi Swapp and Plaid stencils

Prima Christina Renee and Rusty Pickle stamps

Still Playing with Collage

2012-01-20T16:55:00.000-08:00

Images from Lisa's Altered Art

Backgrounds Acrylic Paint

I Won!

2012-01-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

I won a delicious box of ephemera from Mel Kolstad at Ephemeraology, who held a draw on her blog. (Do check out all the great art and "stuff" on her blog). I also won a $25 gift certificate to an on-line store. I chose Silver Crow Creations, but haven't made my purchases yet.

Mel is so generous and kind - she kept thanking me for following her blog. I'm really blown away by her generosity.

This box contains all kinds of the most delicious papers to use in my collage projects. I bought a book last year, (a lovely birthday gift from my sister, Dianne), called Scraps: An Inspirational Field Guide to Collage, and I was wondering how I was going to start a collection of ephemera they wrote about in the book. I need wonder no more.

Thanks so much, Mel!

A Birthday Card

2012-01-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

This birthday card is for a dear friend.

5" Square

Stamp by Inkadinkado

Pencil Crayons

I'm liking kraft card stock and square cards this week.

More Vintage Collage

2012-01-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

Here are three more Artist Trading Cards using images by Kelly Burton I made for my vintage swap:

Happy Birthday, Sunshine!

2012-01-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

My sister, Dianne, is the sunshine of my life. Happy Birthday, Dianne!!

4 1/2" square
Stamps by Stampendous and Hero Arts

Vintage Collage

2012-01-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

I'm starting (finally) to feel more comfortable with the collage process, thanks to a book I bought recently, Scraps: An Inspirational Field Guide to Collage. The book contains a large section on composition, one of my weak areas.

Here are three Artist Trading Cards I made for a swap:

Backgrounds: acrylic paint

Images by Kelly Burton

What Will the New Year Hold?

2012-01-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day is what Effy calls a 'big calendar day'. Other examples would be Christmas, your birthday, or other days that you celebrate or are important. These days get full spread in your Book of Days.

Pan Pastels

Heidi Swapp stencils

Octopede Factory images

Letter to 2011

2012-01-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

I'm still catching up on my 2011 preparation for my 2012 Book of Days. Our instructions from Effy were to write a letter to 2011 and put a pocket or envelope in the front cover of our journal to hold it. I decided to do a card; inside I'll write the letter. My word for 2011 was BIGGER.

Masks by Tim Holtz

Spritzed Watercolor

Pan Pastels

Stamps by Hero Arts, Autumn Leaves, Making Memories, Rusty Pickle and ME!

My word for 2012 is "Inspired".

Do I Have Time for This??

2012-01-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

Day Two, Book of Days. Our instructions in yesterday's video were to do a full spread at the beginning of the week describing what is on our mind for the week.

Stencils by Tim Holtz

Stamps by Rusty Pickle

Pan Pastel

What is on my mind is whether I have time for this new program! But I found if I keep the spread simple with lots of white space (which I'm interesting in experimenting with anyway), I can do a spread in an hour.

What's on your mind this week?

Book of Days

2012-01-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

In 2012 I'm going to re-energize my art journalling practice by participating in the Book of Days. There are videos to watch and two or three weekly newsletters, but most importantly for me, the program will give me some structure, some prompts and a reason to keep the practice going. I'm going to continue to experiment with different styles and mediums, I'm sure, as I continue my struggle to find my own style.

I hope to have some photos of my progress soon. During the waning days of 2011, Effy made suggestions to pick your word for 2012, to decorate your journal cover and to write letters to 2011 and 2012 for the spreads on the inside front cover. Earlier today, there was a 2 hour video about the 'big calendar day' spread for January 1, and an introduction to the rest of the program. I spent the waning days of 2011 coming home from a great vacation in Hawaii, so I don't quite have any of this ready to show you.

What are your plans for 2012?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

Delivered

2011-12-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

Hand Carved and Ma Vinci stamps

Variations on a Stamp

2011-12-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

These bookmarks show the different ways you can use one stamp. From left to right, the mediums used are distress inks, alcohol inks, markers, and a paint chip.

A Friend Indeed

2011-12-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

Kiss Me

2011-12-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

Miss You

2011-12-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

This is the last in a recent series of Artist Trading Cards made for a mail swap. You can see the others on my recent blog posts.

Bouquet

2011-12-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

Secrets

2011-12-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

Promises

2011-12-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

Be Happy in the Moment

2011-12-02T12:17:00.001-08:00

I've been playing around with various collage techniques. This background was done with chalks - the white lines have been erased with a white eraser and a ruler. Thanks to Jeannie at our local stamp club for this demo!

Stamp by Paperbag Studios

Miss You

2011-12-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is the first in a series of recent vintage Artist Trading Cards done for a swap.

Pulling Prints

2011-11-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post, I wrote about mono-printing using acrylic paints. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I cut them down into Artist Trading Cards recently, and I like them a lot better.

How have you recycled art?

Field of Dreams

2011-11-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

The last in my series of "spring" Artist Trading cards LOL

Portfolio water soluble pastels

Stamps by Tim Holtz, Hero Arts, and Autumn Leaves

Mona Lisa

2011-11-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

Portfolio water soluble pastels

Stamp by Ma Vinci

What's Up Doc?

2011-11-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

Portfolio water soluble pastels.

Stamps by I Brake for Stamps and Hero Arts.

Man Cards

2011-11-22T17:41:00.000-08:00

It's time to whip up some "man cards" for upcoming birthdays. Like many card makers I struggle with these - no flowers or ribbons allowed! (I did allow myself some twine, however.)

Ride On

2011-11-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

I got out my Portfolio water soluble pastels and made a few Artist Trading Card backgrounds recently. This Stamping Bella image is coloured with Prismacolors.

I must be pining for warmer weather already!

Watercolour Practise

2011-11-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

I've been practising my watercolour technique thanks to a book by Claudia Nice - Painting Nature in Pen & Ink with Watercolour. I'm not drawing like Claudia does so well, I'm using rubber stamps. I have enhanced them after colouring with ink.

Stamp by Eureka

Stamp by Sparkle N Sprinkle

Chocolate is Good for You

2011-11-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to My Husband

2011-11-15T17:27:00.000-08:00

I am a very lucky wife!

One Cool Kitty

2011-11-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

This cool kitty is a Maryse Carrier stamp, coloured with Prismacolors.

The words are from inque boutique.

If it's not fun......

2011-11-12T16:48:00.000-08:00

you're not doing it right.

This is another bit of homework done for the Westcoast Calligraphy Society. I used a mussel shell to do the lettering and coloured it with watercolour crayons.

Twinkle Twinkle

2011-11-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

The ball and stick lettering I used on this Artist Trading Card suits the Maryse Carrier stamp, don't you think?

It was coloured with Prismacolor crayons.

Keep Calm and Carry On

2011-11-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

In October, I attended my first meeting of the Westcoast Calligraphy Society. The program for the evening featured lettering using mussel shells. Really!

This is a bit of "homework" done in my art journal and coloured with watercolor pencils.

Spot on

2011-11-06T16:37:00.000-08:00

Lady bugs, as my English mother used to say, are "spot on". That means perfect.

This Artist Trading Card features a stamp from Maryse Carrier coloured with Prismacolors. The ball and sticks lettering is hand done.

Thank You!

2011-11-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

This is a simple Thank You card done for a generous lady at our local stamp club. She brought me a bag of vintage stamps, including this See-D's set from inque boutique.

Chickadees Love Christmas

2011-11-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Actually, I think these birds are supposed to be robins, but they look like the plump little chickadees we have in our back yard, so I coloured them like chickadees. The chickadees in our yard love everything else (well, they sing a lot), so why not Christmas?

You're Got to Keep at those Christmas Cards.....

2011-11-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

..... if you want to have them all done in time!

Scenic Stamping

2011-10-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't done much scenic stamping, but I saw a video a few years ago with an interesting technique I thought I'd try.

First I colored the stamp by applying markers directly to the rubber. Then I breathed on the stamp to make sure it was still moist, and pressed it onto watercolor paper. Then I used a water brush to go over the images slightly. There are six stamps in total on this ATC.

Lines and Bubbles

2011-10-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

This Artist Trading Card was inspired by a free webinar I attended lately: So You Say You Can't Draw, an art journaling event hosted by Quinn McDonald.

The drawing of lines and bubbles was suggested as a prompt if you're not quite sure what to do in your journal, but I decided to try it as an artist trading card.

Moving Sale

2011-10-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

Our local art supply store moved recently and had a moving sale. Needless to say I picked up a few stamps. The set on the right side isn't exactly my style, but for 26 cents I had to buy it. I like the guitar anyway LOL

I've been practicing my handwriting for my journal too!

Flower Girl

2011-10-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Thrill of Victory

2011-10-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Legend

2011-10-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Always a Mystery

2011-10-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Friends

2011-10-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Wonder Girl

2011-10-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Today begins another series of Vintage Collage Artist Trading cards.

Crow at the Window

2011-10-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

There are two versions of this new Artist Trading Card series. The second one is on a watercolour spritzed background.

Many Hearts

2011-10-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

This Artist Trading Card is a Magenta stamp on black card stock coloured with pencil crayons.

Another Imagination Gone Wild

2011-10-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

jjj

Coloured Birds

2011-10-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

This Artist Trading Card is a Magenta stamp coloured with Prismacolor pencil crayons.

Home for the Holidays

2011-10-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still working away at Christmas cards. This one is easy - embossed with a bit of Bic permanent marker and pencil crayon on the door.

Stencils are All the RAGE.......

2011-10-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

in art journals. They look like this:

Only I didn't do this with stencils. I did it with stamps and masks, which I already have. Recently, I was admiring the lovely stencil work done in journals, and was contemplating the acquisition of some stencils. They aren't horribly expensive, but another storage problem I DO NOT NEED. Then I thought "Wait a minute, can't I do this with stamps? And I have lots of those."

Right about now, you may have some questions, such as:

What's the difference between a mask and a stencil?
A mask covers an area so you can apply colour around it. See the bird in the tree on the left side of this journal page?

With a stencil, you apply the colour inside the cut out area. So a stencil is a positive image and a mask is a negative image.

Are stamps positive or negative images?
They can be either, but usually they are positive images.

Behind the Scenes

2011-10-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

One of the journals I keep documents techniques to create backgrounds for stamping on or for other paper craft projects. I finished Volume One some months ago. Volume Two finally got its title page:

The background idea came from Sonya at stamp club. It is created by embossing a background stamp on watercolor paper and then dabbling with distress inks . To apply the distress inks, apply them to a craft sheet, spritz with water and use your fingers. What fun!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

The Purpose of Life

2011-10-07T17:34:00.001-07:00

Jingle Bells!

2011-09-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

Counting

2011-09-27T15:24:00.001-07:00

The Richmond Art Gallery is hosting an international mail art swap. The theme is Economy and all entries must be 5" x 5".

If you live in the Vancouver area you can still make the October 1 postmark deadline!

Housemouse Christmas

2011-09-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

A New Journal

2011-09-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

The journal I created this summer feels wrong somehow - the colours, mainly, I guess. It feels like an orange rather than a pink time of year.

Like the last journal, this one is 6 x 6, created from scrap book papers from my stash. The ones I chose have the lovely oranges, yellows, reds and browns we associate with falling leaves.

Summer's Last Hurrah

2011-09-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

This could be summer's last journal page - I feel fall coming!

Organic Process

2011-09-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

I'm intrigued by the creative process, and the process for the creation of these Artist Trading Cards I would have to call "organic". By that I mean that they were not planned ahead of time, but evolved as each step was completed.

Group Photo

The ATC's were created for the Vancouver Artist Trading Card Group. One of the September themes is "tangled", and the colour suggestion is brown.

I decided to do something with Zentangles, but did not draw the "string" or outline by hand. Instead, I lay leaf masks on a 9 x 12 piece of watercolour paper and spritzed it with Adirondack Butterscotch Color Wash. Then I cut them into ATC's, and zentangled and coloured them with pencil crayons. I finished them off by adding stamps. I like them because they are all different, due to the placement of the masks.

A Few More Christmas Cards

2011-09-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more watercolored Christmas cards to remind you that fall, and then winter, are coming.

August Vintage Collage

2011-09-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

I received my August Vintage Collage Artist Trading Cards late last week, so now you get to see the ones I made!

Anything Goes

2011-09-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

The design challenge this week at Art With No Boundaries is "Anything Goes". The inchies on this Artist Trading Card are all about vessels, and they are created with stamps from Inkadinkado and All Night Media.

Vessels

Go over to Art With No Boundaries and have a look - anything goes!

Seek and Ye Shall Find

2011-09-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

I am trying a bit of fancy lettering in my journal these days. Anything has to be better than my natural scrawl. This alphabet is called Akim Cursive.

Journal Pages

2011-09-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

I am not a scrapbooker, but I love scrapbook paper. I use it on greeting cards and Artist Trading Cards, but rarely in my journal. These journal pages were inspired by an article in a 2007 Stamper's Sampler featuring Maria Burke of Manitoba. I couldn't find a blog for her, so if anyone knows Maria, please tell her thank you! I'm hoping that by trying her layouts I'll use scrapbooking paper in my journal more often. I did these in my 6" x 6" Slab Book.

Magenta Puzzle Stamp

2011-09-05T17:12:00.001-07:00

I just love the puzzle stamps from Magenta. I stamped these five stamps on patterned paper, coloured them with pencil crayons, cut them out and mounted them on white card stock. Easy!

One Christmas Card at a Time

2011-08-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

I've been watercolouring a few more Christmas cards, and I'll get them all done one card at a time, I guess! I'm sorry I can't give stamp credits for all of these stamps - my sister kindly sent some stamped images that I've been using.

Paper Mosaics

2011-08-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Cleaning up my desk of red bird scraps from my earlier project, I decided to make a few paper mosaics. They're easy and fun!

Love, Hope, and Optimism

2011-08-24T11:44:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week, Canada lost a great man to cancer. Jack Layton was the leader of our opposition party in parliament and his are big shoes to fill. The country is in shock.

In the days before he died, Jack wrote a letter to Canadians, and these words have become beacons of light for us in this difficult time.

Here is my journal tribute to a great man:

New Challenge Blog

2011-08-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

There is a new challenge blog on the net that appeals to me for its name (Art With No Boundaries), theme and the beautiful art work I've seen so far: http://www.artwithnoboundaries.blogspot.com/. It is simply a way to share art work created around a theme, and they have even let me use some art I didn't create originally for this challenge!

The current theme is Ocean, Aquatic, Nautical, and I made this Artist Trading Card recently using some salt and watercolour backgrounds:

Why not give it a try?

A Variety of Vintage ATC's

2011-08-18T13:25:00.001-07:00

These artist trading cards were made for the Vintage Collage swap. Now that they are all swapped out you can see too!

Red Bird Puzzles

2011-08-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Two of the themes for the Vancouver Artist Trading Card Group for August are birds and the colour red.

I didn't have a vision of the finished cards when I made these. But I had to start somewhere! So, the process went something like this:

I grabbed all the interesting red paper I could find (some purchased, some hand decorated) , and cut it into ATC sized pieces.
I hunted down three ATC sized bird themed rubber stamps; these ones are from I Brake for Stamps and Inkadinkado.
I looked at the paper and decided which stamps would look best on which papers. Stamp away!
Then I was stumped. (I couldn't just mount these on ATC bases, it seemed too easy.) So, they sat around for a few days.
You may have noticed that I have a weakness for grids and inchies, so the idea struck to cut these into inchies, mix them up, and reassemble them like puzzles. I did sort the paper by weight so that the lighter weight papers were together and the heavier weight papers were together.
I couldn't resist finishing them off with a bit of stitching.

Fruits of the Season

2011-08-14T17:27:00.001-07:00

I love to play with stamps depicting the bounties of the season. In BC, our pears are in season beginning in August, right through April, a-pear-ently!

And if you look carefully, there is stitching on some of those pears.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Simplicity Inspires Again

2011-08-12T12:33:00.001-07:00

Simplicity is a blog I look at frequently for inspiration. Susan has a fantastic style that is summed up by her blog byline: "Style is a very simple way of saying complicated things." This Artist Trading Card was inspired by a card I saw on Susan's blog.

One Layer Black and White

2011-08-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

This started out as a Thank You card for a nice lady at my local stamp club who gave me these wonderful alphabet stamps and a set of "doodles". (See the photo hinge I turned into an exclamation mark?)

I mounted the letters on a large acrylic block, and made many prototypes before I got something I liked. Then I made a few extras for swap cards for the ladies at the club. One layer cards are hard to get right, but easy to execute once you like the design.

Christmas in July

2011-07-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't be July without working on Christmas cards - everywhere the paper craft artists are thinking about it, if not actually doing something about it.

I Break for Coffee

2011-07-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

Here is another coffee themed Artist Trading Card. This one uses Rubbermoon and Amuse stamps and is coloured with pencil crayons.

With Enough Caffeine

2011-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

This Artist Trading Card was done with lots of masking and Pan Pastels. The coffee stamp set is from Amuse.

Slab Book

2011-07-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

You may have heard of Smash Books, released at CHA in January. They are kind of a "junk drawer" journal by K & Company designed to hold ideas, pictures, memorabilia, -- all the stuff that goes in a junk drawer. (Here is a cute, short video all about them.)

I'd heard of them but didn't know much about them, when I saw a video on Journal Artista about her trash books and stash books. These are journals she makes out of papers she would otherwise think of as "trash", and scrapbook papers she has in her "stash". Hmmm. I've done trash books (Papers of My Life), and I certainly have a small stash of scrapbook papers. It occurred to me that some of them were purchased in "slabs", so all the papers are nicely coordinated. The one I used is a Creating Keepsakes slab from Provocraft that I bought at Michaels.

I created a cover and put it all together with my Bind-it-All.

Here I did some stencilling......

and some stamping.

This will be a fun journal to work in. It is 6" x 6"

Orange Rainforest Dreams

2011-07-22T15:19:00.001-07:00

The July design prompts for the Vancouver Artist Trading Card group were orange, rainforest, and dreams. Here are a couple of my ATC's:

Totally Into Art Journalling

2011-07-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

I've been totally into Art Journalling recently and have just watched a Saturday night video over at Journal Artista http://www.journalartistaart.com/. She's doing a series on stencilling and I thought I'd share a couple of attempts.

Happy Birthday, Rylan!

2011-06-25T18:32:00.001-07:00

My great nephew, Rylan, is two tomorrow, but his birthday card isn't moving very fast with the mail strike.

The cupcake stamp is hand carved.

Yellow Sewn Paper

2011-06-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the artist trading cards I've been working on for a swap with my local Vancouver Artist Trading Card group. The themes are yellow and sewn paper. Stamps by imaginisce and Hero Arts.

Solution to Google Comment Posting Problem

2011-06-11T10:46:00.001-07:00

I've been having so much trouble lately posting comments on Google blogs and I'm very frustrated. However, I went searching for an answer and I found what we in Information Technology call a "work-around". (Well, when I worked in IT in the Dark Ages this is what we called it, anyway).

The Problem: When I leave a comment, I select "Google Account", and there doesn't seem to be another option to pick that works for me (i.e. I don't belong to any of the other accounts). At that point is where the problem starts; when I'm asked to log into my Google account I seem to go in an ever ending loop of logging in.

The work-around: Uncheck the "Remember Me" box in the log-in screen. It worked for me!

Vintage Birdhouses

2011-06-10T14:26:00.001-07:00

These vintage birdhouse Artist Trading Cards were for my May Vintage Collage Artist trading card swap.

There are seven in this limited edition.

Here is a close up of one.

Swap Cards for the Stamp Club

2011-05-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't need birthday cards for the men in their lives?

I made these for the swap at the local stamp club, using Tim Holtz and Inkadinkado stamps. That's a gold peel-off running down the right side for balance. The card opens up a little bit differently than a traditional card; I think that's what I like best about it!

Fashion Advice

2011-05-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Another Rubbermoon stamp coloured with pencil crayons! Must be my current kick.

Another Rubbermoon Stamp

2011-05-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

These Rubbermoon stamps are perfect for colouring with pencil crayons.

The House that Susan Built

2011-05-23T17:57:00.001-07:00

This Artist Trading Card has a Rubbermoon image coloured with pencil crayons.

Stamps Without Borders

2011-05-21T16:49:00.001-07:00

I love stamps with borders around them. Magenta makes many nice ones, for example. This Inkadinkado owl stamp (from the Bird Assortment clear set) doesn't actually have a border around it, so I added it by hand, using the place on each side where the branch ended as a guide.

Beach Memoirs

2011-05-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

Inspired by a Hero Arts video on coloured pencils, I created this Artist Trading Card. The turtle stamp is by Maryse Carrier.

Spring Flowers

2011-05-16T17:33:00.001-07:00

I got out my Coluzzle the other day and created these Artist Trading Cards. They were inspired by all the spring flowers I'm enjoying. They're lasting a long time because the weather in Vancouver is unseasonably cool.

Rainy Days

2011-05-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

This May has been particularly rainy in Vancouver. I woke up one rainy morning to an email reminding me of this Sunday's Vancouver Artist Trading card swap. Here are the results of all of this inspiration!

These backgrounds were created on large sheets of watercolour paper using acrylic ink. After applying large swaths of colour, thin black stripes were added using a eye dropper. Then, I quickly dry brushed the strips for this "rainy" effect. When dry I cut them into ATC sized pieces.

Paint Chips

2011-05-08T17:49:00.001-07:00

These Artist Trading Cards were simple to create. The Crafty Individuals stamp is exactly 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and was stamped at an angle on each paint chip. All I had to do was cut around the stamped image!