Secret Door ATC's: Part 2

Here are the remaining two ATC's I was sent in response to the Artella Secret Door ATC Swap. Aren't they gorgeous? While I LOVED them all, my favorite is the top photo. The front of the card looks like a glass door. I don't know what the paper is that the artist used; it's like cellophane. Then, when you open it you have that beautiful image behind it. Very creative! The bottom card has moss adhered to the inside with a silk flower. Very cool! All of the artists really showed their creativity with this swap. I'm getting a nice little collection of ATC's now, thanks to these ongoing swaps. How fun!

Worked a little on my zine yesterday, but didn't make as much progress as I liked. The weather was beautiful and I needed to run some errands. That stretched out into a few hours out and about yesterday afternoon. So, today I must stick to the task and get the painting of the covers to all ten zines finished today.

I found some beautiful fabric that will add nicely to some part of the zine. It would make a nice little art quilt, too. I made sure to get enough to do both! :) Enough for today. I hope to have more to show you soon.

Secret Door ATC's Have Arrived!

They have arrived! Right after I posted here yesterday, I went out to check the mail and there they were. I really LOVE this batch! I know I always say that, but these were especially well done! On the Artella website everyone is gushing about the cards they received. Now I can see why. Here are the first two. You can click on the image to get a larger view. I'll post the other two tomorrow. Hubby's favorite is the top one. I do love that one, too. I think my very favorite is one of the cards I'll show you tomorrow! :)

I didn't sign up for the next swap, but I'm thinking about signing up for the one later in August. They are offering some really cool swaps now. I don't want to over commit myself, but I'm wishing I had signed up for the inchies swap. I think it will be ongoing after this first go round, so maybe next time. Inchies are little one-inch pieces of art. You adhere them to cardboard or cardstock. Just one inch. Not too large a canvas. What do you do with them? You trade them with other artists and use them in your own art. When you create an inchie, it's usually something you'll incorporate into another piece of art. So, it's a "part" of a larger piece. It can be anything. Rather than create a whole face you could make a really elaborate eye. Then, the artist can use that in HER collage of a face. Or, some people create a ton of inchies and adhere them to a canvas in a collage. I, personally, like that idea. Hmm.... Oops, I digress.

My zine is keeping me busy and I don't want to fall behind in the flow I'm in. I ran out of ink in my cartridges yesterday so I need to make a trip to the supply store today. This little project may take a couple of cartridges. Why is is that when you print out ten of something, everything is fine until that last one. You just KNOW it's going to jam the printer or some other headache will occur. Yep, that's what happened to me. Meanwhile you waste precious ink trying to get it to print! I've decided to keep the "duds" and incorporate them into my personal zine. Ah, the sacrifices we must make... It's fun, though. Today I am painting the background of all ten zine covers. They are made of Tyvek so the paints and inks and whatever else you throw on them adhere really well. Then, I hope to attach the butterflies to each front. That's a lot to get done today, so I must get to it. I'll post one as soon as it's finished. It will look a lot better than the rough draft I posted yesterday. The colors will be more compatible on these.

Secret Door to Wonderland: ATC 5

This is my favorite of the ATCs I created for the Secret Door ATC Swap at Artella. I LOVE Alice in Wonderland and have found some great little art goodies with that theme. These were little mini playing cards of different Alice in Wonderland characters that I hid behind the three doors shown on the first photo.

The second photo opens the first door. Behind it lies the The Herald. His door reads: Believe. The third photo opens the next door. Behind it sits the Hatter. His door says, "Twinkle, Twinkle says the Hatter." You can't have an Alice in Wonderland theme without the Hatter! And, of course, behind the final door is Alice herself! What else would her door say but "Adventure"!

I liked the contrast between the rusted out old doors and the fantasy of Wonderland that is hiding behind each one. The back cover is a digital stamp of different characters from the story blended into one.

These are the cards that I've posted over the last five days are what I've submitted to the swap. I can't wait to see what different artists' interpretations of Secret Door I get back! When they arrive in the mail, I will post them.

Still searching and printing out images for my zine swap. Had a short detour last night. Hubby and I decided to landscape a neglected corner of our home. I'll post pictures as soon as we put on the finishing touches. Teaser: I now have a real-life fairy garden! Stay tuned...

Secret Door to Creative Imaginations ATC

Here is the fourth ATC that I made for the Secret Door ATC Swap at Artella. I love this image of the little girl in the clown outfit. The colors are so soft and she just looks like she's imagining all sorts of fun things! Again, the color didn't come across too well in the scan.

One thing I hope to improve on is my photography skills. I thought it would be fairly easy to snap photos with my digital camera, but once they are on the screen in the image editing program I see where the lighting or the angle is off, or I've moved the camera and it's blurry. Frustrating!! The color isn't quite right a lot of times and trying to manipulate that in PhotoShop can be a challenge. So, there's much room for improvement needed in that area.

I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon gathering papers together for my zines. I am hoping to save myself from having to buy a few ink cartridges by having colored background pages already in place. Then, my content can just be added to those. I'll show you what I mean when I get a sample page finished.

I'm still debating what size to make the zine. I've got examples that go from small pamphlet sized zines to larger ones made of construction paper. It's really a matter of choice and needing to know what you are including on your pages. You need to be able to accommodate any large art or envelopes for goodies. I have LOTS of goodies to include, so the fun is in deciding which goodie goes into which zine!

This is giving me a welcome opportunity to use up a lot of my huge stash of art papers, scrapbook papers, embellishments from kits that I receive monthly. Today's goal: decide on the size and cut all the papers so I can start the collaging and writing!

After much consideration, I've decided the theme for this zine will be: Wings...
Stay tuned to see what all I do with this idea. ;)

Hopes Take Flight

Here is a little painting I was inspired to work on. One of the poets at the Artella website (see sidebar) wrote a little poem called "Red Balloon" that inspired me to paint this scene. It's a paintover of a little girl I found in my image file. The rest of the photo is painted over just to leave a background. I added the balloons (large sequins tied with white thread). You can click on the photos to get a larger view. Here is the original poem by Ramona Davis (PoeticJava):

Red Balloon

I dream and hopes take flight
like a long tailed kite -- or a red balloon
whose basket holds
treasures; promises,
colored stones or words
to live by. Such
sacred wonders.

Published Jul 06, 2008, by Ramona Davis

I love poetry and need to get back to writing some more. I go through creative spurts in each area. Right now I'm in a huge creative spurt with mixed media collage. This painting is titled, "Hopes Take Flight" from the first line of Ramona's poem. It's a mixed media on canvas board. Hubby said the little girl looks sad. I don't know, maybe. I think it has a haunting look and a carefree look at the same time. Is that possible? ;) When I posted this is my gallery at Artella, Ramona said she loved it. That's what I was wanting to hear, so mission accomplished!

Below the paintings I've put my third ATC. This one is called Secret Door to Magic. The reason I was so excited about this ATC swap is because I LOVE photos of old doors. I have a computer file of images of nothing but doors. Something about them draws me to wonder what's going on behind them. Or, if they are really old, I wonder what happened there in the past.

Anyway, I loved this door image and decided to make it a magic place when you enter it. This also gave me an opportunity to include another of my current obsessions: fairies! I LOVE fairies, as you know if you've read this blog for very long. (Click on my digital altered books in the sidebar) The second ATC photo says, "Secret Door to Magic". The gel pen didn't scan so well.

Today I am getting serious about starting my zine. Time will be gone before I know it. The search is on for images to fit my chosen theme which is... I'll tell you tomorrow! :) Until then...

Secret Door to The Past: ATC 2

Here is the second ATC I created for the Secret Door ATC Swap at Artella. It's called, "A Secret Door to The Past". I found an image of an old scrap book and thought that would be a good place to start. I apologize for the quality of the scan. It didn't translate too well after the image was copied.

I attached a small key charm to use as the "doorknob" into the past. The writing on all of my ATC's is done with a gold jell pen. It looks much better in person than the scan shows. The second photo is an old cabinet card photo I have in my collection. I wanted to add to the vintage feel of the scrapbook. And the last photo is the back of the card.

I've been pouring over my zines I won from the ebay auction awhile back, trying to come up with some ideas for page layouts in my zine. They are all so unique so it's a great source of inspiration on how to write up little stories, what sort of things to attach in the zine. Most of the zines have little goodies attached to them. They use either a small envelope with a charm or some other prize tucked away inside, or they even attach smaller zines to the page!

My mind is racing with so many ideas, I'm going to have to hold back on some of them or I'll be creating a book! ;) I have my theme set and am now in the process of searching for the perfect images. Stay tuned for further details.

I'm working on a little painting that I hope to finish today. It's totally different than anything I've done so far. I'm all for trying new things in art! I hope to have it finished by tonight. That's all for now. Off to work...