1950s Ad Art

A postcard I made for a swap with the theme of 1950s advertising. These are all authentic '50s images (except the butterfly). The quote is from the 1953 movie "Roman Holiday" starring Audrey Hepburn. Can you believe these outfits -- two and three pieces each! -- cost less than a sawbuck?

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Free Matrioshka labels, to do lists!

If, like me, you love matrioshkas -- and who doesn't? -- you'll love these free downloadable prints.

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Thanks to Jessica at How About Orange for the alert and Yas over at A Print A Day for making them!

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Victorian digital

This ATC was done for one of my art groups, and the theme was open -- so long as it was digitally created. Embellishments were optional. Can you tell which embellishments on this card are real, and which are digital?

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For the love of Print

One of 10 ATCs I made for a swap in one of my art groups. The swap theme was entitled "Print." The rules were to use real print from at least two sources. Mine came from a 2004 publication of the New York Observer and a more recent Elle magazine, supplemented with vintage images and a printer's "N" stamp in the background using distress ink. Oh, and a vintage-style bronzed brad.





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(Click to enlarge)

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Into the Looking Glass

My ATC contribution to Go Make Something's Make It Mondays challenge. This week's theme: Alice in Wonderland.

I used foil for the mirror.

Sorry the picture's not very sharp. I took this photo with an old digital camera instead of my scanner.

B is for Bubba

"B" in my ongoing project, an ABC book for Larry Gene. I'm hoping to have this done by the holidays and give to him as a Christmas present.
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I've noticed the book looks much better if I don't overcrowd the pages with too much stuff, which kind of defeats the purpose. About three items to a page is it. However, on some pages I'll have to double up. We'll see how that goes.

Art in a bottle

Oh what fun! I've received an official "Message in a Bottle," a real water bottle chock full of art goodies!

Here's what was in mine:

*A selection of text in foreign languages, including what looks like Swedish, French, Arabic, Russian and Japanese.
*Joss papers
*An ATC from Lisa Vollrath
*Colorful popsicle sticks
*A glassine envelope filled with awesome genuine cigar labels!
*Four bamboo domino-shaped beads
*Four miniature playing cards
*Some chunky embellishments such as flowers, paper clips and a plastic key.

My bottle came from Lisa Vollrath over at Go Make Something. To read about the cool pay-it-forward bottle swap, read Lisa's description on these plastic mailgrams. I'll be sending out my bottles soon!

If you would like to be included as a potential recipient of one of my bottles, please e-mail me your name and address (my e-mail link is on the upper right side of this blog). I'm looking for artsy people to participate, as you would be able to reciprocate the sort of ephemera and embellishments that fellow artists would enjoy. Let me know!
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A is for ABC Book

I decided to make an ABC book for my very bright son, Larry. I wanted to use items he recognizes and words he knows to support his rather extensive vocabulary, which, at 14 months, is about 50 spoken words and growing every day! In fact, in the last week, he spoke his first sentences (as opposed to single words): "Mama up!" and "Want down." Also this week at his grandmother's house, twice he counted "1 - 2" for the first time out loud while playing by himself and with no coaching involved. I'm so proud of that boy!

Larry Gene for President!

Ha! This is too funny!

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Americana the beautiful

Chunky page art for a swap I'm hosting in my LetterHeads group. Theme: Americana.

No digital work here, all collage, glue, pen-and-ink drawing, wire, chalk, a few artsy stickers, some button embellishments.


Both the pink tag background in the first chunky page and the American flag tag wedged in the wire house on the second chunky are hand drawn.

Vintage Halloween (Monte)

Monte whipped out another set of ATCs, this time with the theme of "Vintage Halloween." These cards aren't due until October, but they were so fun, he's way ahead!
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Monte started making ATCs with me about a year or so ago and has been making them every now and then since then. I asked him why he enjoys making these little artist trading cards, and this was his reply:
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"It's fun to create and I love being with my wife. It's a connection to (her). And I like to create. ATCs are instant gratification. You get to create something and see it immediately, not over a long period of time."

What a sweetie!
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Gypsy Soul

Postcard I made for Go Make Something's Make It Mondays challenge this week.

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Italy. On their terms

Postcard I made for Go Make Something's Make It Mondays challenge this week. The theme? Italy!

Aw shucks!!!

Got a shout-out from one of my favorites artists and instructors, Lisa Vollrath, who picked me and one of my ATCs as the featured Make It Mondays artist on her blog this week! Thanks Lisa!

Check out Lisa's blog post here.

And the rest of her site here:

HOW TO MAKE THE FAIRY WINGS

I've had several requests for instructions on how I made the wings in the above ATC. It's a fun technique. The wings are made from a colorful napkin, applied with a decoupage and collage gel to an ATC base.

• First, peel all the layers from your napkin, leaving only the thin, top printed layer. Position your napkin over the top of your ATC base (in the area where the wings will be). Use a thin, watery type of gel adhesive that freely slides and glides over your napkin without tearing it. I used a decoupage and collage gel from Artsy Collage, but I'm not sure they make it any more.

• Use your finger to smooth the gel all over your napkin onto your ATC base. Gently rub the napkin to smooth out the wrinkles. The napkin should sort-of melt into the ATC base. Don't press too hard or over-rub, as your napkin might tear. A few wrinkles are fine! Set aside to dry.

• Take your fairy picture, already cut to size to completely fit over your ATC base, and hand-draw your wings with pencil. Cut out the wings with a razor blade so you have the main picture with a hole wear the wings should be. I then use a silver or gold metallic pen to outline the wing area on the main picture. Glue the fairy over the dried napkin base.

Life takes Visa

My "Wish" postcard from my LetterHeads group, had to mail 08/08/08. I did a riff on debt with my wish spelled out on the back side. Sent this postcard to five people.

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Identified Flying Baby (Monte)

My dear husband, Monte, gets back in the game
with this set of Artist Trading Cards. The theme
was Mysteries of the Deep and Daddy couldn't
resist dressing up Larry Gene in some mysterious
gear and floating him Out There among the planets!
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