SUNDAY POSTCARD ART CHALLENGE: 11/05/2017

I have been asked to host the Sunday Postcard Art Challenge this week and I chose the challenge theme of feathers. I hope you will carve out some time this week to get crafty and participate! You can find details here.

My husband and I began our journey from New England to the Desert Southwest on October 10th. We have had only short stops until we arrived in Colorado Springs last week. We will be here for three weeks, giving me time to get out my art supplies and play a bit. Colorado Springs is home to Simple Treasurers, a rubber stamping, scrapbooking and papercrafting haven! One of my purchases was a set of Prima cling stamps which included...you guessed it...a feather stamp!

I began this project by rubbing a bit of color from two new Ranger Distress Oxide inks, Cracked Pistachio and Worn Lipstick, onto my craft mat and spritzing with water.

I then cut a piece of Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper into a 4 x 6" postcard. I continued "dipping" that in the inks until I was satisfied with the look.

While the inks were drying, I created my text on my computer using a quote about feathers found on an internet search. Next step was to put the postcard into my printer tray and print the quote directly onto the postcard. Once done, I stamped the feather image twice onto the postcard. (I didn't need to create a "mask" since the images were, well, feathery!)

Here's the finished postcard:

Thanks for stopping by! It really means a lot to me when you take a moment to leave a message, too!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (06/16/2017)

It has been many weeks since I have been able to participate in the Sunday Postcard Art challenge, but I am back on track and welcome this chance to be crafty! Audrey is hosting this week and she has challenged us to use NUMBERS!

While I expect most of my fellow artists to use numerals in their postcards, I decided to use the verbal representation of numbers instead! My background is simply a scrap of designer paper cut to 4x6". The foreground was created using two Stampotique stamps. You can find the fish here and the text stamp here.

I hope you will carve out some time this week to get crafty and make a postcard for this week's challenge. You can find the challenge details here. Please also take a moment to visit Audrey's blog here.

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (04-23-17)

Although we are (just today) back in our summer campground, I will post this as "art from the road" as it is there where it was created. I just didn't have any electricity to post it until today!

Anne Wilson is our host this week on the Sunday Postcard Art challenge blog and she REALLY has challenged me to the point of pain!! She has asked us to use/do ZENTANGLING/DOODLING in our postcard art. I don't doodle and I certainly don't zentangle so I thought about just sitting back and not participating this week, but what fun would that be? 

I started by googling "free zentangle patterns" and came up with a couple that looked just okay. Then I found an elephant that I loved! I thought that I would practice a bit on the other pattern first, then tackle the elephant. What I ended up using as a background here came out as passable, but the elephant turned out to be a disaster! I decided to just scrap the whole thing and have wine instead. Just before I headed for that glass of wine I thought for a moment about painting the ugly elephant black, thinking it might just pop on that colorful background. I did it and I liked it!

If you enjoy doodling or zentangling or just want an artful challenge, you can find the Sunday Postcard Art challenge here. 

Thanks for coming by and especially for taking a moment to leave a message. I value both!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: The Three Muses Challenge (04-18-17)

The Three Muses this week challenge us to create an artful project using HANDS as the focus. I was very excited to see this challenge theme come up as I had just been given a stamp with hands in it!!

My husband and I have been traveling since last September (mostly to avoid the cold New England weather) and have taken this opportunity to reconnect with family and friends across the United States. I was thrilled when we announced online that we were approaching Virginia that an online friend invited us to stop and see her. It was the first time I would meet Carol Porter, artist, teacher, stamp designer and friend. Carol gave me a framed piece of her artwork and also the stamp I have used here (one that she designed):

Thank you for your visit today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are important to me!

If you would like to create something for this "hands" challenge, you can find the details here.

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (04-16-17)

This week's Sunday Postcard Art (SPA) celebrates Easter and all things Spring. Mandy Chilvers is the owner of SPA and serves as our resident artist and host this week.

I don't have much in the way of Easter or Spring stamps but what I do have is a new stamp from Stampotique called Betsy Bird. She had not yet seen any ink, so she way perfect. The background is a scrap from another project cut to 4x6".

Come play along at SPA this week. You can find the details here. 

Thanks for stopping by and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are appreciated and serve as inspiration to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (04-02-17)

This week's Sunday Postcard Art challenge is brought to us by Marion, who brings us to Einstein! When doing an internet search, I came up with more art, images, and quotes than one might imagine! This time, there just wasn't room enough on my 4x6" space as I needed so I will add one of my favorite quotes here for you:

Education is what remains after one has 

forgotten what one has learned in school.

                                                                                                                              

And, here's the postcard:

I hope you can take some time to get crafty this week. If you want to play along with Marion's challenge on Sunday Postcard Art, you can find the details here.

Thanks for visiting and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are appreciated and mean a lot to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: SENDING CARDS

I belong to the Main Street Congregational Church in Amesbury, Massachusetts. One of the ways I serve my church and its people is as a member of the "Called to Care" Committee. This group, among other things, sends cards or notes to members when they are ill, undergo surgery, suffer a loss, welcome a new baby, or, sometimes, just need to be lifted up and know that someone cares about them. Even though I have been away from my church for the last six months as we travel, I have continued to stay connected by creating these cards and notes and mailing them from the road.

One of the women in our church recently fell and broke her ankle. I created this card for her. I cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit just inside my cream card blank and adhered it to the front. I stamped my text (which I thought rather appropriate!) onto a piece of cardstock,  matted with black cardstock, then adhered that to the front.

My focal image is a stamp designed by artist Carol Porter. This image is from her "Funky Girl" series. You can purchase this stamp as well as others in Carol's Etsy Shop here. Carol's art blog is called DAILY ART TANTRUMS which you can find and follow here. The image was stamped on cream cardstock, colored with Copic Markers and cut out. I punched a scallop shape from the same cream cardstock to ground my image.

I am so glad that you stopped by today and thank you for taking a moment to leave a comment. Why don't you create or purchase a card today and surprise someone with a greeting! It just might be the nicest thing that happens to them on the day they receive it in the mail!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (03-26-17)

It is time again for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge and our host this week is Sabine who is asking us to make ANIMAL PEOPLE! 

I love art. I love humor. But, what I really, really love is humor in art! Today, that led me to not a political statement, but to political satire! Very different things.

The image is from an internet search and the question is, of course, from him. He does look a bit guilty, don't you think?

Please find some time this week for yourself and create something artful. It's cheaper than therapy! You can find details on how to enter here.

Thanks for coming by today and for taking just a moment to leave a comment. Both and important to me and inspire me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (03-19-17)

Sadly, because of our travel schedule (and locations), I missed participating in the Sunday Postcard Art challenge last week. This week, however, I find myself in the same place for three days, so there was ample time to unpack sufficient art supplies to get the job done for this week's VINTAGE GENTS challenge. Trace is our host. I hope you'll take a moment to visit her blog.

I have two vintage gent stamps from Stampers Anonymous (Tim Holtz Collection), but have used only one of them and repeatedly--perhaps because I view him as the more handsome of the two! Today, I was ready to use the second of these gents--a bit more "scruffy" but nonetheless a dapper fellow. My quote search was originally focused on the monocle, but nothing really caught my fancy so I enlarged the search to include gentlemen's clothes. Searching for the perfect quote to accompany your artwork is often time consuming, but always fun. Loved this quote from Arthur Ashe, the tennis pro, the moment I saw it!

I hope you will carve out some time to play along with Trace's challenge this week. You can find the details here. Thanks for coming by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both serve as inspiration to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Take A Word Challenge (03-05-17)

The Take A Word challenge this week is FLOWERS. Now, I have lots of flower stamps but none of them jumped out and called, "Take me! Use me!" I guess I knew that I wanted to work on my journal, so I took a different path to the flowers.

I have a 7-drawer plastic tote in which I store scraps of paper, sorted by color (basically). I figured in the green drawer I might find some floral paper and I was right! So, a scrap of paper that I have saved for likely more than 10 years has provided the floral background for my journal page today. Who knew?

The second element was the text stamp I wanted to use. It's from Unity Stamp Company and comes in a set called You Are Important. The third element, of course, is my focal image. This wonderful stamp is one of the Funky Girl stamps and was created by stamp designer and artist Carol Porter. You can find her stamps in her Etsy Shop here. 

One of the great parts about most of Carol's stamps is that they are designed with only general detail, thereby allowing the user to play a role in the design. Here, you will see that I wanted my image to be wearing jeans with a sweater top over a white shirt. It is kind of like playing with paper dolls!


A bit of washi tape to ground my image and done!

Thanks so much for coming by today and, especially, for taking a moment to leave a message. Both are important and serve as inspiration to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Take A Word Art Challenge (02-26-17)

CHILDHOOD is the challenge for Take A Word and I have used a photo from about 1950 of my sister and me as the focal point of my artwork. The rest was simple--a leftover piece of scrapbook paper!

Find some time this week to make some art! It's cheaper than therapy!

Thanks for coming by and for taking a moment to leave a comment today. Both are important to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: The Three Muses Challenge (03-01-17)

The Three Muses art challenge this week is about MAIL ART! I have chosen a postcard theme where I have used lots of stamps, mostly from Stampotique Originals.

I hope you will come play along this week. You can find the details for linking up your artwork here.

Thanks for coming by today and, especially, for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both serve as inspiration to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (02-26-17)

I am sorry to have missed last week's Sunday Postcard Art challenge, but I was sicker than I have been in years and just was not able to participate. I am much improved this week, so have given the Sunday Postcard Art challenge this week a try! Jenn is our host this week and she has chosen BUTTERFLIES as the challenge theme. I have broadened that theme to include dragonflies here.

I began by rubbing several shades of blue from my Distress Ink "mini's" onto my craft mat, then spraying with water. I dragged a 4x6" piece of white cardstock (because I wanted a mat finish) through the wet ink. I dried that with my heat tool, then repeated the process with Squeezed Lemon but this time adding less color and water. Once that second layer was dry, I stamped my dragonfly using Salty Ocean then added my dragon text using Archival Jet Black. Both stamps are from Stampotique Originals. Finally, I added Wink of Stella (clear) to the wings and body of my dragonfly to a bit of shimmer and shine! The text stamp is a bit difficult to read on the scanned version so you can read it here...

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you will take some time this week to play along with this fun art challenge. You can find the details here.

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Take A Word Challenge (02-12-17)

The Take A Word challenge this week is also following the Valentine theme--and appropriately so! In this case, I used a piece of 12x12 wedding designer paper for my background and then enlarged, printed, and trimmed a digital image (Gibson Girl) from The Graphics Fairy.

I hope you will carve out some time this week to play along with this Take A Word challenge! 

Thanks for stopping by and also for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are important to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (02-12-17)

Stacy is our host this week at the Sunday Postcard Art site and she has chosen Vintage Romance as the challenge, so appropriate as we near Valentine's Day this week.

I have chosen the paper/scissors/glue approach for my postcard with just a bit of inking around the edges to finish it. Grooms seem mostly to be an afterthought in weddings nowadays, so I decided to make the groom the focus of my work here.

Thanks for your visit today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both serve as inspiration to me. If you would like to be inspired and play along this week, you can find the details here.

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: The Three Muses Challenge (02-08-17)

Wednesday is the day that The Three Muses Challenge is posted and this week's theme is MOON. 

The stamp I have used is called Son and the Moon and is by stamp designer Carol Porter. You can check out Carol's stamps here. I have used this stamp before but in a very different context. This one is about possibilities! Imagine, if you will, that before there was a Man in the Moon there was a little boy dreaming of becoming that man! The text stamp is by Stampers Anonymous.

Thanks for coming by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are appreciated!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Take a Word Challenge (02-05-17)

This is my second go-around with the Take a Word Challenge, and I am following their word theme of FRIENDS. 

This is a simple piece of art that I will add to a card blank and send off to a friend. I began with a scrap of paper mounted on black cardstock. I first stamped my focal image ("Little Friends" from Stampotique Originals) directly onto my scrap of paper. I also stamped it onto a second scrap of paper and cut it out. I needed something to anchor the friends so they didn't appear to be flying, so I used a partial strip of a sticky border (from Stick-A-Bilities) and placed it over their feet in the first image. I then adhered the second image over the first so their feet seem to be standing on the chevron border. The text strip (Tim Holtz' idea-ology "Small Talk") finished off the piece.

It seems that I like working with monochromatic colors so there may be a pattern evolving here!

Thank you for stopping by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are appreciated. If you are new to my blog and would like to sign up as a follower, please do so. I would also encourage you to sign up to follow by e-mail so that you won't miss an update. Both options are in the right-hand sidebar.

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (02-05-17)

Today's art comes to you from California, where we are currently camping literally on the edge of the Colorado River!

Tricia is our host this week at the Sunday Postcard Art challenge and she has chosen ORIENTAL as the theme. Although rugs always come to mind when I hear the adjective oriental, it is correct to use it to describe things from the Orient, but never people!

For my postcard today, I have chosen a 4" x 6" piece of Asian-inspired patterned paper. The strip across the bottom is gold, as are the outer edges of the flower.

The quote is a Chinese proverb. China once had an Emperor but, today, Japan is the only country that does. 

I hope you can find some time this week to join Tricia and the rest of us at the Sunday Postcard Art site to get creative. You can fine the details here.

Thanks for coming by today and for taking just a moment to leave a comment. Both are important to me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: The Three Muses Challenge (02-01-17)

The challenge this week at The Three Muses Challenge blog is BLACKBIRD. I can think of no more interesting a blackbird than the raven...which naturally leads to Edgar Allan Poe!

I used two digital images (so unlike me) as well as a strip of washi tape and computer-generated text to create this piece of art:

Thanks for coming by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are sources of inspiration for me!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Take a Word Challenge (01-29-17)

I happened upon a new art challenge site this week and I got hooked immediately on the word WORD! It is called Take a Word. While themes are generally words, this week happens to be a color challenge: black, white and a touch of red.

One of my favorite stamps is from Stampotique Originals and is called Frida Grande. Frida is beautiful in black and white alone, but easy to add red to her hair bow, her jewelry, her lips or, in this case, the neckline of her dress and lips! The background is a script stamp, also from Stampotique Originals, and is called Vintage Script.

If you love challenges (and words!), come check out the Take a Word site here.

Thanks for your visit today and for taking a moment to leave a comment! I invite you to join as a follower (upper-right sidebar) and then to follow by e-mail.

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (01-29-17)

Rosie is hosting the Sunday Postcard Art challenge this week, and she has chosen SEPIA as her challenge! I love creating in sepia, or rather creating and then turning it into sepia using my Photoshop software!!

Here, I have used a tried-and-true technique using Gesso to create my background. I cut two 4x6" substrates from white cardstock and applied a thick coat of Gesso to one of them. I pressed them together and massaged them with my fingers to move the Gesso around. When I pulled them apart, I had two unique substrates from which to choose. You can use any colorant (spray inks in this case) to add the desired color(s). 

My images were stamped on white cardstock, as well, and fussy cut and then adhered to my substrate. My text was created and printed on my computer and printer.

I hope you will find some time this week to play along with those of us who have come to love the Sunday Postcard Art challenge. You can find the details here.

Thanks for stopping by today and for taking just a moment to leave a comment so that I will know you were here!

Cheers!

ART FROM THE ROAD: Sunday Postcard Art (01-22-17)

The Sunday Postcard Art challenge this week is brought to us by Jopke from The Netherlands. She is an established artist and you can find some of her wonderful videos here. Jopke challenges us to use circles on your postcard! A rather simple request, it seems, but I want to make it a bit more interesting by tossing in a word totally new to my vocabulary. 

The title of my postcard here is PONDER THE PERIGON! A perigon is an angel obtained by rotating a half line in the same plane once around the point from which it extends. 

SAY WHAT?  

A simpler definition would be a round angle. Simpler still, a full circle!

If you would like to join our CIRCLE of friends at Sunday Postcard Art, you will find the challenge details for this week here.

Thanks for coming by today and for taking a moment to leave a comment. Both are important to me!

Cheers!