Merry Christmas!

Delivered

Hand Carved and Ma Vinci stamps

Variations on a Stamp

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

Kiss Me

Miss You

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

Secrets

Promises

Be Happy in the Moment

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

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

Pulling Prints

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

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

Portfolio water soluble pastels

Stamp by Ma Vinci

What's Up Doc?

Portfolio water soluble pastels.  

Stamps by I Brake for Stamps and Hero Arts.

Man Cards

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

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

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

Happy Birthday to My Husband

I am a very lucky wife!

One Cool Kitty

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

The words are from inque boutique.

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.....

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

Scenic Stamping

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

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

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

The Thrill of Victory

Legend

Always a Mystery

Friends

Wonder Girl

Today begins another series of Vintage Collage Artist Trading cards.

Crow at the Window

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

Many Hearts

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

Another Imagination Gone Wild

jjj

Coloured Birds

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

Home for the Holidays

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.......

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

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!