"Read To Me"

This is a digital collage I made from the elements in the latest studio kit, "School Days", that I received through my Artella membership. If you click on the image, you'll get a larger picture. Each month they send you a nice digital studio kit and then they have a monthly contest for the kit recipients to submit whatever you decided to create from the kit. There are usually quite a number of files of background papers, brushes, images, etc. to choose from. I haven't done anything with a kit for awhile so I thought I would enter this little collage; the title is: "Read To Me". Some people print out the images and adhere them to canvas or watercolor paper; it's all up to you what you want to do with the images.

I remember when I learned to read. What a world that opened up! Mom would take me to the library and I could pick out any book I wanted to read! These images brought some of that magic back to me. I remember she would get a huge stack of books for herself and I couldn't believe she was going to read all of them. She usually did, too. Mom was a very fast reader. I am, too. That's one of the multitude of gifts that she passed on to me! Thank you, Mom! I love you!! I know she hears me in heaven. :)

Well, I'm finally starting an art journal. I've had a sketch book laying around here forever, and I bought it with the intention of starting a journal, but I just never knew where to start. The blank pages were intimidating and I could never figure out what to put on them. Thanks to the art journal course I've signed up for from Artella I now have a place to begin. It's a really cool course and it goes slow. That way, you have time to work on a journal page before the next lesson (about every 4 days). So, I'm working on my first page now and when I finish, I'll post it.

I've always envied some of the beautiful journal pages I've seen from other artists. How do they come up with these ideas! Wish me luck as I start on my own journey. It's like any art project: just jump in and do it. There's no right or wrong way to do a journal page; I know that. I just didn't want to "mess" up my sketch book. Duh! It's for experimenting!! So, that's what's new right now.

I'm also working on my first ATC art doll for the Halloween theme. I am loving this project! I get to make 4 dolls on ATC's and when I send them in, I'll get 5 back in return. The hostess sends you one of hers in addition to the other swappers! And, of course, I'm still trying to come up with another 60's Flashback ATC. All of these will be posted when finished.

I did check to see where our Magic Key ATC's were. It's been a while since I sent mine in. The hostess said some people were late getting their cards in by the deadline and as soon as they were all received we would get ours. I think for future swaps, she has an alternate plan for late senders. When I get those, I'll post them here.

Finishing Touches

This is the welcome letter that is on the inside cover of my little zine I'm putting together for the Fall zine swap at Artella. You can click on the photo to get a giant view (sorry about that. Didn't mean to make it so huge). I decided to color in the little lady stamp with some of my colored pencils. I liked the way she turned out! I mixed it up and gave some versions green eyes, some brown and some blue. I would like to think I'm putting on the finishing touches, but I do have a few more pages to finish before I start assembling it.

Last night I was reading the posts from others who are just now sending their zines in. One person put it just right. She said it was like going through the stages of grief! There's disbelief (I can't believe I signed on for such a massive undertaking); denial (I am not going to finish this); and bargaining (If I'm real good and finish one more page before going to bed, I'll be able to buy some more paint...) just to name a few.

It's been a lot of fun, really. It's total freedom to play and create whatever kind of mini-magazine you want! You are the editor, the writer, the art director, you are IT! You can choose whatever theme you want to cover, or NO theme. You can use whatever kind of paper you want, you can make it all color or all black and white. See what I mean? Decisions!! But, I'm loving my little baby. I made a lot more work for myself just because I'm so picky, but I'll be proud of what I send out.

But I won't be sending anything out if I don't stop getting distracted by such cool things on the web! More later...

ATC2: 1960's Flashback

Here is the second card I created for the Artella 1960's flashback ATC swap. It's digital here, but the background is on fabric and the rest are cut from watercolor paper. Did people really dress like that?! This swap is a lot of fun! I found some cool stickers yesterday that I'll put on my next one. It's a sheet of a tie dye shirt, some funky pants, white platform knee high boots, and some other stuff. It's a hoot! I'll show you when I get it finished.

Must run now to get these zine pages painted. It's turning into a bigger project because of my perfectionism! I'm loving the finished look, though. I'll post some pages when done. Deadline for mailing is Oct. 11. (whew!) Yes, I've re-done about half of it. Hmmm... What can I say? Didn't get much done on it yesterday because of a BAD migraine. Yuck, I hate when those hit. It had me down most of the afternoon/evening. Sometimes even Imitrex doesn't take care of it all of the time. It did help, though. Hopefully today I won't get another one. When they come in two's and three's I get worn down!

OK, enough about all of that. Stay tuned for what's next!

Taking Risks

I have a little bit of everything in here today. The top photo the pendant I talked about yesterday. I LOVE this! I placed it on a digital background so it would show up better. The scan alone was a little bare. You can click on each photo to get a better view. I'm definitely going to use this with an art doll. I think I found it at Michael's craft store. They have a great jewelry section.

I find this risk theme alot in my magazines and art publications that I follow. I'm wanting to take more risks with my art; try things out of my comfort zone. It's a good exercise to push your creativity to new limits. Some of the things I'm aiming for that are completely new to me: trying an assemblage or shrine, art dolls with more found objects, altering vintage book covers, sketching and painting, small journal quilts and incorporating beading into my work. Whew! That's an ambitious list to start with. I keep a small notebook of ideas that I jot down as I come across them and these are among the ones that really have my interest now.

Oh, I keep forgetting to mention... have you noticed my new blog banner? That was another small risk I took. I was not in love with the plain one we are given with the blog templates here. So, I figured I would try and create one for myself. I've noticed alot of my favorite blogs have their own banners. I figured why not try my hand at it. Working in Photoshop with the digital altered book gave me the push I needed to try and create my own banner. I'm pretty happy with it. Now that I figured out the size, I'll change it up now and then just to keep things fresh! I hope you like it. Hubby liked the new colors in the background and sidebars, too! :)

The second photo is my favorite page of my digital altered book. The original page that we were given before altering was the whole poem on a blank page. I took just the first verse of the poem and created everything else around that. I still have the final page and the back cover to finish; something I'm aiming to complete today.

The last photo is another of my ATC's I created for the magic key ATC swap at Artella. If you look at yesterday's post, the cover (or door) is posted there. When you open the door (which is attached to the front of this card) you see this little guy.

So, back to work. I'm really motivated to wrap up the works in progress and begin with new projects. Plus, I made a trip to the flea market yesterday and came back with some absolute treasures! I'll post those tomorrow. Stay tuned...

Queen For A Day ATC

Here is the fourth ATC I created for the Artella Magic Key ATC swap. The first photo is the "door" and the second photo is what the magic key opens the door TO. The door is attached to the bottom card by tiny brass brads down the left side. Usually we don't get to see any of the participants' ATC's before they are sent to us. However, I think everyone was a little excited by this theme. Some of them have posted their cards to their galleries already. The usual practice is for the host of the swap to scan all of the cards and then post each participant's card to the Artella site a day at a time. I just post mine here, and then when they are posted at the Artella site, I get to see them again! ;)

The new theme for the next ATC swap was announced yesterday: the '60's. You can interpret this any way you want. I was born in 1960, so I'll just look through images of that time. The music is always a good place to look for inspiration. Hubby is a classic rock fan and most of his music is 60's and 70's. UNLIKE mine...but that's another story.

I know... I know... I said no more signing up for anymore swaps until my digital altered book and zine are out the door (or the computer in the digital book's case). But, these little cards are addicting! As I said yesterday, I'm still making a few more magic key ATC's just for my own use!! They were more labor intensive than the others that I've made, but I knew the effect I was going for and I was pretty proud of them.

Speaking of being a perfectionist...I found this cool pendant in the bead section of the craft store. It just screamed my name when I saw it. It's my motto when it comes to my art. I'll post it tomorrow. *devilish grin* I want to learn how to bead! There are a million different kinds of beads, wire, findings, etc. It's overwhelming for someone who has NIL experience with beads. I've never strung a bead. Anyway, there are also little charms, pendants, etc. in these aisles. This pendant was so on target! I'm going to design an art doll around the theme of the pendant. *sigh* I need more hours in the day.

OK, back to work. Two more pages to go on my digital altered book and I'll be able to send it in to Artella for conversion BEFORE the deadline. Ha! That' a first. If you are not familiar with digital altered books, click on my two books in my sidebar under "My digital altered books." They are also addicting and a great way to play with Photoshop. They are just like the traditional altered books, but they are done digitally. I know, I was skeptical too, before I signed up. I still LOVE altering old books the traditional way, but this is a good alternative. My studio space is a wreck right now with all of the other projects I have going, so digitally altering something is a lot less messy! Go to the Artella website and check out their gallery of all of the digital altered books. There are some pretty amazing ones besides the two by yours truly.

Stay tuned for more to come...

Inner Child ATC

This is the third ATC I made for the Artella Magic Key ATC swap. I loved this image. It's a reminder to allow yourself to play! Don't forget your inner child. She is there to give you permission to have fun! Art is a wonderful opportunity to let go and play, just like you used to do in art class.

I used to love art day in grade school. Our art teacher would wheel in this cart filled to the brim with goodies like paints, papers, glue, scissors, etc. She was magical to me. She always wore the most vibrant colors and her jewelry, I realize now, was hand-painted. She was definitely an inspiration to me.

I've continued making more magic key ATC's even though I've already mailed in my five for the swap. I loved this theme! I'm curious to see what I get in return. I've never been disappointed. I'm thinking about what I can do with all of these little canvasses I get in these swaps. There are lots of options out there. I've seen binders with little pre-made pockets to store them in, a wooden carousel with pockets to display them in, people have even strung them on beads and hung them in their studio! I'm thinking about printing them on cloth and sewing them into little art quilts. I've been toying with a layout for these. More to come...

I've got to get to work finishing my next digital altered book and my zine. The altered book contest deadline is Oct. 4 and the zine deadline (fast approaching) is Oct. 11. So, that's it for now. Thanks for stopping in!