Thursday, October 8, 2009

That hurts

For some reason Blogger won't load the insert picture thing, so, remember this post about my Queen of Hearts cards? You have to scroll down to the bottom. I received an email today from the hostess of the swap saying she didn't think my cards were good enough. As much time and effort and thought that I put into those cards, you'd think they'd be good enough.
It never feels good when someone tells you your work isn't good enough. I did this to someone in my group awhile back and now I guess it's karma coming back at me. I still judge people's art, but I generally do it in my own head now. I know most people put lots of time and effort into things they make and I think it's rude when someone says they don't like someone else's work. There are certain people's work I don't think are up to par with mine, but I still want to trade with them and encourage them to do art.

The hostess of this swap said she could send my cards back to me and have me add more to them, fix them herself, or send them back unswapped after the swap was done. I'd like to know what other people in the swap think. She said they seemed like "beginner's" cards, and that my cards showed very little effort in construction. Personally, I think she should swap them out anyway, but I'm bias. I told her she could go ahead and send them back to me and I'd make up another set. But, that leads me doubt myself, what if this other set she doesn't like either. It sounds more like she doesn't like my style. I am mostly a collage artist, meaning I find objects and put them together until they look finished.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Holiday cards

Here are the cards I made yesterday. This first one has a felt stocking with wooden stars in the corner.
This one has a small felt snowman with wooden stars.
This one has a bigger felt snowman with a wooden star and candy canes.
This one hasa felt Santa with a sleigh.
This one has a paper Santa with a plastic Rudolph
This one has a felt Rudolph with a plastic gingerbread man.
This one has a paper tree with a plastic star on top and a plastic sled.

Anyone have ideas on prices? I'm planning on sending them with white, red or green envelopes according to the color of the cardstock in the background and in a plastic sleeve.
I also have a couple white snowflakes on black and a card with a felt penguin that needs a little touching up. I'll post those tomorrow. If you're interested in any of these, I can put them under reserve.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Weathering some cards

I'm behind again, I know it. Here are my September ATC's for my CollageATCs Yahoo! group:

In the left one I used the moon and the "fog". It's actually cotton batting. The moon, bat (which you can't really see), ghost, tree and pumpkin are all buttons from a button mix bag I picked up at Hobby Lobby (I love buttons). The other pumpkin is a sequin I had lying around. The grass is from sushi, a friend of mine had some sushi one time, and the green paper wrapped around it was so cool, I asked if I could have it.
In the right one I used the cloud and the start of the rainbow. It's supposed to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and if I could have cut the button in half right, it would have looked like a pot of gold. The rainbow is colored with markers, the "gold" above the button is a sequin, the pot is just paper, and the flowers are al stickers, I had a hard time getting those little flowers to stick, they kept coming off.

The card on the left I used the small white snowflake, the iridescent snowflake and the face. The face was a plaster face one of my group members made and sent to me. The other white snowflake and the rest of the snowman as well as the hat are all buttons from a button bag.
The card on the right I used the sun at the top colored with markers, and the sun punch that is pretty much covered by the yellow gem. The yellow strip is a background I made with reinkers, and the bottom strip is from a magazine.

The card on the left I used the white flower background, which was a punch sent along by one of my members; the green sun, that's a stamp of mine and is affixed on a chipboard tag; and the foam lightening bolt that's being used for a stem. The leaf is a sequin and the grass is more from the sushi.
The card on the right I used the 2 tornado pictures, the one on the left was the ISU gymnastics teams keychain schedule. I saw them and knew they wanted to used in art. The other one is some clip art sent in by one of my group members. The green circle on the top is a sticker that came with the energize word, they are on a piece of black paper.

The card on the left I used the two cloud pictures, one is a stamp and one is a sticker; and the umbrella punch the ladybug is using. The bottom piece is from a magazine and I just layered some leaf stickers and the lady bug sticker on top. The rain is colored with markers.
The card on the right, I used the lightening, which is clip art sent in by a member; and the cloud, which is part of the stamped image the cloud in the previous card came from. The tree is a sticker and the grass is some more from that sushi.
The card on the left I used the star which is a button and the snow which is some kind of clear crystals a member sent me. The tree is a tiny plastic "stained glass" ornament, and the other snow is just paper.
The card on the right I used the yellow stars, the yellow sun and the snowflake. The sky paper was something I did awhile ago, it's sorta marbled using ink. The mermaid is a poufy sticker, the snowflake in her hand is a brad. The sun is glued onto two buttons.
I decided to make some Holiday cards and try to sell them on Etsy. They came out really well. I plan to scan them tomorrow and then add them here for people to see. But I will be adding one a day on Etsy until I have them all listed. I'm thinking about $7.00 per card. They're regular sized cards with layered paper and some embellishments. I'd love feedback on price. I'll get them posted tomorrow, so you guys can use your expertise in what you think I should price them as.
I also made some birthday cards for my cousin and grandma. I'm trying to make more cards to get in the mood of making more stuff for etsy as well as use up some of my supplies. I wanna do more embellishment on boxes too. I already got some stuff for a Christmas present for my friend Loretta where I'm going to be embellishing something with orange/copper colors. I think it will come out nice. I want more useful things as well. I know cards are nice, but once you get them most people just throw them away. People need more useful things. Any ideas on what I can do for useful things?