New Art Group

I joined a new art group on Yahoo. I felt I needed an outlet to making more art than just the one time per month for my CollageATCs group. I already joined 5 swaps, the earliest due on 9/20 and the latest due on 10/15. My plan was to join swaps that weren't due anytime soon as next week I will be starting work UBS for 3 weeks and working about 8 hours there everyday and the 3 hours at my other job every day, so I wouldn't be very energized to do anything in the evenings.
The other day I was in my art closet and decided to start on some anyway. OK, it really started at the event I was working at Hilton on Thursday when I was a little bored and started sketching out ideas for the upcoming swaps on my information sheet. One of the swaps I'm in is called a Ladies Vintage Wallet swap. Basically, we're creating a simple 'wallet' out of paper, decorating it and filling it with a few things that will be swapped out. We have to create, in addition to the wallet, 2 vintage decorated ATC's, 2 vintage decorated luggage tags, 1 vintage decorated calling card and 1 vintage decorated/written letter to ourselves, as if we were living in that time period. I had to scan an ATC I did for a sale on etsy, so thought I'd scan the finished (or so I thought) pieces I had for the swap.
These are the lugguge tags. I took the dimensions given (2" x 3"), cut the tags out, rubbed a Really Rust Stampin' Up ink pad on them, and then added images I thought made them look vintage. Clock: I found the clock image on a collage sheet, cut it out and wrinkled it up, I did the same with the two kids bicycling in the corner. The bead is a paper bead I did when I was younger. Leaves: The top leaf is a ginkgo leaf that was sprayed with ink and then pressed onto a piece of paper, the other is from a piece of patterned scrapbook paper, I then layered the button and brown flower embellishment in the corner. After scanning these, I added a green tinged image of a boy on top of the leaves and added a twine to the clock tag and a green yarn to the leaves tag.

These are the Vintage ATCs for the swap. The one on the left has an image I took out of a dictionary of the occult that I bought at a bookstore in New Orleans when I went there in 2003, I distressed it with the same rust ink pad as I did the background and the two luggage tags. I also wrinkled it up to make it appear older, it is mounted on a green paper and then onto the ATC. There is a piece of gold mesh across the corner with a tannish button and a green button on top. I decorated the wallet with the mesh and green so I was trying to tie those colors in. The card on the left has a napkin for a background. The lady image was stamped with bleach into some green paper, the "INSPIRE" was also stamped this way.

I'm still in the process of finishing the wallet and the calling card. I'm having a hard time figuring out what a letter to myself in the Victorian age would be.

The other swaps I joined are: a charm swap, I've never done charms but it sounded so neat, plus I'm psyched to see what other people did. For this swap, I wrapped some puzzle pieces in tissue paper and covered them with tacky glue, kinda decoupaging them and then stamped an interesting texture stamp into them. I need to paint/color them in something bright as they're stamped with black onto a darker teal and blue tissue papers. I had also planned on doing the Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on some matboard, but I don't have the supplies, and I'm not sure how to keep the holes in the pieces as I'm making them. I might borrow the supplies from my mom, not like she's using them now anyway. This one's due on 9/20, I will receive as many charms back as I send (8 or 16) on a charm bracelet.

Tag swap: I'm supposed to make 5 tags ATC sized or ATCs with tags on them. I've already finished these, they're distressed with the same ink pad to paper technique as the above cards/tags.

Chain Swap: I have to make a paper chain of 3 people/animals/whatever and decorate as I wish. I found a really cute alien chain pattern online and did that decorating the head and legs. I then made a single one for me decorated the same way.

Queen of Hearts Swap: Basically I take 6 Queen of Hearts cards and alter them to whatever I want. I can also make my own cards. I'm having the hardest time on this one, but it's not due until 10/15, so I have some time.

I'll scan and post lengthier descriptions on the other projects soon.

I joined a new art group on Yahoo! called TheSumOfAllAtcs. I felt I needed an outlet to making more art than just the one time per month for my CollageATCs group. I've already joined 5 swaps.

More past pieces

Art Heart

This an altered tin, I received the tin filled with chocolates for Valentine's Day one year. The paint has been burned off by holding the tin over a gas stove, until it started peeling off and then wiping it down with a towel*

After removing the paint, I layered Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on to it, heating and adding more embossing enamel until I achieved an even layer. I allowed it to dry, heated it up again and started adding colored embossing enamel (silver, purple, green glitter, and blue) until I achieved the color combination I wanted. After letting it dry again, I heated it up and stamped the word "Art" in black ink, a pine bough and a heart button into the warm enamel. I colored the imprint of the heart button with a turquoise paint pen. To tie in the turquoise color, I added some turquoise faux jewels around the arches of the heart.

This is one of my favorite altered tins. I don't have a gas stove anymore so I have to find other ways to alter tins by adding paper/fabric/paint to them like the butterfly tin below.

Blue Butterfly Tin

This is an altered tin, I received the tin in the mail with junk mail in it. It measures 5 3/4" wide by 5" tall by 1/2" thick. I painted it with a blue Lumiere Jacquared paint. On the front I attached some blue suede printed with a texture stamp. In the corners I have a round bead on top of a gold jewelry finding on top of some glitter. In the lower left and upper right corners, the bead is clear. In the lower right and upper left, it's blue. In the center is a piece of blue suede with butterfly stamped in gold ink framed with a gold paint pen, layered on a piece of glossy gold paper, layered on another piece of the blue suede. I have also used the gold paint pen to frame the blue suede. The lid has some beige fiber around the lip. On the bottom, it is painted with the blue paint with a piece of blue lace on top of it. Inside the tin, I have a 5" long by 4.5" tall journal. The cover is blue paper stamped with a butterfly stamp, covered with a piece of blue vellum, then laced togeter with a piece of navy blue ribbon. The six pages inside are parchment paper measuring 4 1/2" long by 4" tall. I have also included a tiny metallic blue gel pen.

Blue Lady

This piece I did on a stamping trip, my mother and I took through Stamp Lovers, a store that used to be in Ankeny, IA. We got to travel around to various stamp stores in Iowa and make crafts at them. This piece is a matboard silhouette and a matboard hat. This piece was pressed into a stamp pad and then covered in embossing powder and heated up. The silhouette is covered in clear embossing powder with a blue metallic glitter, the hat is covered with a light metallic blue highlighted with the same blue metallic glitter. The embellishment on the hat is a piece of semi melted ribbon and a blue gemstone.

At the store where I did this, I bought the matboard set that had the silhouettes and hats and created another piece, which I will feature in another post.

Blue Stars
This is an altered CD. I scraped the covering off of it and then paintedit with black Neo Opaque paint. After that dried I stamped some stars in a metallic blue ink and embossed them with a clear embossing powder. I added some black and gold micro beads for texture. On the bottom of the piece is some eyelash fiber dangling down. It has a pin back on it.

Create

I have no idea when I did this piece, but I love it so much. It started out as a 4 2/8" by 4 2/8" matte glazed square tile. I painted it with copper and light gold Lumiere paint and black Neo Opaque paint both by Jacquard. I then stamped the dragonfly image in copper ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I glued the fabric Asian dragon image on the lower right corner, balancing the opposite corner with some fiber tied into a tassel and glued a Singapore coin on top of it. Above the dragon is the word create painted with the same copper Lumiere paint and bordered with the black Neo Opaque paint. In the middle of the tile, on the copper painted piece, I glued four teal green square glass beads. Also, below the dragon in the corner is a silver colored "faith" charm. It doesn't go with the rest of the piece at all, but I used some good glue on it, and it's not coming off.

*If you choose to do this, please use metal tongs with some kind of plastic or insulated handles. When wiping off the paint, you have to be careful as the tin will be very hot. DO NOT do this around young children. DO NOT let young children do this technique.

My business cards

I also wanted to mention something else to do with the art walk, kinda. I figured I needed some business cards, and since Etsy was doing a special with Moo.com, I looked at theirs. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the ending date and got my order in a day late, but I still think it was a good deal. At Moo, you can pick a size, not just business cards, add your own photos, pick a template for the back, add your own banner and information. I ordered 150 cards for around $75 dollars, with all the pluses of putting your own things on them, I decided it was a pretty good deal. Here's a couple of the ATC's I put on the cards:

"Surprise"

I made this piece for an exhibit at the Ankeny Art Museum last year. There's a star mounted on a paper tag mounted on some melted Angelina fibers layered onto a piece of striped paper. I also affixed a Surprise embellishment on the bottom.

Keeper of the Key to Remembrance

I made this one for a collage group (the actual group I host and own on Yahoo!) In the background I have a piece of paper I bought, it kinda looks like wrinkled up paper. I added a piece of brown fabric on the corner and a domed sticker with the word remember on top of that. In the top corner, there's a picture of a Victorian baby (I got that out of a picture frame), around his/hers neck is a key charm on a cord. On the left side is a piece of gray and silver napkin, this piece of napkin is what I got to use for the collage swap.

I Got the Blues

This card was also for the same collage group, under a different owner. The theme of this swap was a scavenger hunt, I had to find something blue, music, and a postage stamp. The blue background paper is some kind of mesh glued to a heavier paper. I have a picture of a guy playing the big violin (don't quite know what that's called). There is a wooden heart with UTEE colored with blue and purple embossing powder in the corner of the picture. Underneath the picture is a blue postage stamp of a bi-plane with a piece of blue plastic layered on top of it.

Fun Flowers
This card was done for a white swap of the collage group, a swap that I ran. The items given were the lace in the background and the white flower in the middle. To make this card I first painted the background paper with a spray water-based ink. I attached the lace with flower and round brads. I glued a chipboard flower in the middle and layered a red punch flower on top of that with a yellow brad through the hole of the white flower bead provided.

Faces of the Past

This card has found pictures layered on top of peach paper that's on top of a yellowish mulberry weight paper layered on a foreign book page on a plaid orange background. In the upper right corner is a piece of red and orange plaid napkin.

Drive to the Stars

This card has metallic star stickers affixed onto a paper tag that I colored with green and blue ink. The tag is layered on top of a brownish paper background. The lower left corner is wrapped in a green fabric, the lower right corner is wrapped in a handmade paper. There is a found car picture in the upper right corner.

Dream

This card has a background that I painted with semi-metallic paint. There is a strip of butterfly/silver ribbon diagonally across the card. On the top right corner, the word "Dream" is affixed. Opposite that on the bottom right corner is a grouping of beads. There is a purple bow on the middle of the card.

Art is Therapy

This card is colored with green and blue ink, the same as the tag in the "Drive to the Stars" ATC above. I have layered a piece of blue and green squares paper in the middle of the card lengthwise. Across the bottom is a piece of green/blue plaid ribbon. In the middle of the card is the typed quote "Art is therapy" colored green. In the top right corner is a blue/green bead.

Ancient Book

This card has a cardstock background with a table image and a book image on the table. There is stamped words on the book.

I also added these images to three other cards: A CD piece, an altered tin, and a pin, all listed in my etsy shop.

On the back of my cards I have my banner from my store, name, title, my etsy store addy, and the addy for this blog. The background is green with the information printed in white. I think they look pretty cool. And I'm very excited about them. I've been pretty much showing them off since I got them.

Some of my art history.

I am participating in a local event here in Ames called Art Walk on Friday from 5 to 8 pm. I was looking around for pieces other than my numerous ATC's, to give people a look at what else I do. By looking into that I found a few pieces from further back in my life, a few pieces from before high school even. I thought people might be interested in seeing them, so I'm posting a few photos today, and will continue to post a couple more.
As usual the pictures are backwards. This first one is a close up of part of the 2nd one. This is a piece of matboard covered with ultra thick embossing enamel until it became even thickness throughout, then colored with a blue sparkly embossing powder, and stamped into with a woman's face stamp with black ink.

When I was a senior in high school I took a class called British Literature. After reading something by William Wordsworth, we had to do a project about him (I'm sure there were more requirements, but hell if I know what they were). Anyway, I chose to illustrate the poem The Reverie of Poor Susan.

The Reverie of Poor Susan by William Wordsworth

At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,
Hangs a Thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years:
Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard
In the silence of morning the song of the Bird.

Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees
A mountain ascending, a vision of trees;
Bright volumes of vapour through Lothbury glide,
And a river flows on through the vale of Cheapsie.

Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale,
Down which she so often has tripped with her pail;
And a single small cottage, a nest like a dove's,
The one only dwelling on earth that she loves.

She looks, and her heart is in heaven: but they fade,
The mist and the river, the hill and the shade:
The stream will not flow, the hill will not rise,
And the colours have all passed away from her eyes!

If you click on the picture, it should enlarge for you. I cut a picture frame out of matboard, placed a typed version of the poem inside and decorated the frame. In the left hand corner is a stamped image in some ultra thick embossing enamel, she's looking up a sign post that says Wood St with a bird sitting on top. There are white circles going from Susan's head up to some stamped mountains, like a thought in her head. On the right side of the frame is a stamped cottage with a "river" traveling up to it. The river is made out of paper. I honestly have no idea what I received on the project, but I want to say it was a B or above. That could be wishful thinking, but I remember my teacher loving my art work.

This next one is also from my senior year of high school when I took a 2D art class and we made paper.

Originally I had this piece as a card with a couple windows cut out of it. But, if you look at it closely, you can see how thin the sides are. My teacher suggested I leave it folded up and mount it so it wouldn't come apart. This first picture is a close up.

I have layered the back page with mulberry paper and an Asian character stamped image mounted on it. The window in the second layer of the piece has mulberry paper around the cutout and covered with a piece of acetate, so it looks like a window. On the front of that piece I have mounted a face stamped in brown glued onto a piece of white mulberry paper. You can't see it very well, but there is a ticket on the corner of this piece with a stamped image on it, I don't remember what it was and I can't tell without taking apart the frame and I'm not doing that. On the front piece, there's a flower punched image on the top and on the bottom there is a bow tied in a reddish yarn.I entered this piece in my senior art show and won first place for best in show in mixed media I believe.

I also entered it into art at my county fair and it won a purple rosette to go to state fair where it won a blue ribbon.
Somewhere in there, most likely before I entered it in my county fair, and after my high school art show, I had it framed in a really nice green frame that really brings out the green mulberry paper in the back of the card.

The last one is just a random piece of artwork.

I also used the matboard/Ultra thick embossing enamel process on this one. The top layer is colored with a lavender embossing powder with silver and peach mixed in. The image is of a line drawing of a leaf stamped in silver. It is layered on brown and white mulberry paper on top of black paper. It's nicely matted in a mat that's had silver ink sponged on top of white matboard and then framed.