SCACD Eclectic Sea Rubber Stamp Release Hop

SCACD celebrated today a newly released, exclusive rubber stamp set called Eclectic Sea which consists of nine rubber stamps.  The Eclectic Sea is a twist of sorts in how something land bound might be seen in the ocean; for example a Sunflower that is now a Coral Sea Flower and vice-versa.  So check out the collection as these are really unique and elegant.  SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are so happy to be showcasing them to you now.

Now available to purchase in the USA for the Eclectic Seas Collection.  Be sure to visit the store to see all of the amazing stamps in this collection!  They are all absolutely stunning!

**International Friends, if interested, can please email Susana.**

I was really excited to get to play with the large and small Coral Sunflowers stamps.  And, the best part for me was challenging myself to use them in different ways, especially on a mixed-media project and in my art journal.  Plus, I love making ATCs (artist trading cards) so I knew that I had to make one of those as well. ;-)

A mixed-media canvas -  Large Coral Sunflowers stamp colored in with Copic Markers.

An Artist Trading Card - Small Coral Sunflowers stamp colored in with Copic Markers.

Art Journal page - Large and Small Coral Sunflowers stamp colored with Tim Holtz Distress Stains.

You should be going next to visit Cheryl to see the fabulous creations she has made.  If you are lost then just head back to the SCACD store blog here for the hop list.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you enjoyed the projects that I created with these beautiful stamps!  Be sure to visit the SCACD site to see all of the amazing stamps that Susana has to offer!

Take care!

Dianne

It's ICAD time!!!

And here we go with ICAD2015!!! I could ramble on and on about how neglected my blog is and all that jazz, but I'm not even going to bother. lol  Let's just jump right in with right now and right now it's all about ICAD which is short for Index-Card-a-Day.  First of all, if you're wondering what that is...please visit Tammy's site to learn all about it then come right back here because I have lots to share!

This is my fourth year participating and it has become one of my favorite times of year.  I mean seriously, just go look at the ICAD Facebook group and you can't help but be amazed at all of the awesome art but what's even more incredible is thinking of all of these people around the world who are creating a little something, turning a plain, old index card into a work of art, and sharing it with others.  How cool is that?

Before ICAD started up on June 1st, I thought it would be fun to do a video flip of each years worth of cards that I have created.  I don't think that I have actually made it all the way through the June and July with a card for each day, but that's okay.  I created when I could and enjoyed every second of it and that's what's important.

You can see those videos here:

ICAD 2012 Flip

ICAD 2013 Flip

ICAD 2014

I absolutely love creating on these little cards!  They are a bit bigger than an ATC (Artist Trading Card which is 3.5"x2.5") and they aren't as big as a journal page.  Plus, they are cheap!  You don't feel bad about "ruining" them or creating something that you don't like on them because it's just a small piece of paper.  They are a great place to practice on with new supplies that you have or ones that you've had forever but haven't ever used.  I also really love to recycle things onto my cards.  Things you wouldn't think of too like the part of a mesh bag that lemons/limes come in to flat cotton balls.   I think one of the things that I enjoyed the most about doing the videos with all of my cards from the last three years was seeing how much my style has grown and changed into something that's truly me.  I have learned so much from just experimenting with my art supplies on these little cards!

Today is June 6th, so here are my cards that I have created so far as well as a link to a YouTube video of my creating that card.  I am hoping to be able to video creating as many cards as I can.  If I don't, there will always be photos of the cards here.

Title Card

click here to see the video

Day 1

click here to see the video

Day 3

click here to see the video

Day 4

click here to see the video

Day 5

click here to see the video

Day 6

click here to see the video

 Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to keep things updated here with my daily card shares!  I have been doing TONS of creating since my last blog post and I'm really wanting to share some of those projects bit by bit as we go through the summer months. :-)

Take care!
Dianne

daily ramblings....2/27

snippets from my day....

I finished "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell at 1 a.m. 

and started "The Girl on the Train" by Paul Hawkins

while waiting in the school parking lot.  I always have 

at least 4 books going at the same time, I think. lol

I'm in an ATC swap group and we had a swap where

you mailed an envelope of goodies to someone and

then they had to create an ATC with what you were 

given.  Here's my first envelope of goodies.....

 I was able to make four ATC's from the goodies that I 

was given and did not add hardly any of my own embellishments.

I love challenges like this!

At The Art Journal Emporium we are having a post card

swap and I needed to make 10 post cards.  Since these will

be mailed, I decided to do magazine image collages and

finally started working on those this morning.

(Part One of me creating these 

post cards can be seen here.)

I took my post cards with me and worked on them while

my daughter was at dance.  Thank goodness the dance 

studio has tables so I can sit and work while I wait!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Dianne :-)

daily ramblings....2/25/2015

Hello everyone!

I've been very inspired lately watching Christy Sobolewski (aka Gulfsprite) and her weekly YouTube vlog and art reviews.  She's been sharing what she's worked on during that week and I love that idea.  Hopefully, that's something that I can start doing as well!

But for now, I think that I will try to do just a quick update, hopefully daily, on my poor, neglected blog.  Not much chit chat, just photos of what I did that day and what-nots like that.  

I was embarrassed to see that I had not posted on here since September 2014!  Being asked to create some projects for the SCACD Celebration Hop pulled me out of my no-blogging shell and seems to have inspired me to share more on here again.  

I have actually been creating like crazy since January!  I signed up for Wyanne Thompson's class "You & Me in 2015" and once it started up the middle of January, I haven't stopped creating something almost every day.  This has been such a blessing to my soul!  And, the biggest reason for that change was that I was able to move my art area from our cold, dark dungeon of an unfinished basement.  I am now in the "formal dining area" on the main floor of our house, right by the kitchen, and everything else that I need to be by as a busy mom.  The kids and I share this area, so it's half play room/ half art studio and it's been working out wonderfully!  Now I can work in there so easily, even if it's just a few minutes here and a few minutes there.  It is honestly the best thing that has happened in my artist life!  I did a quick walk through of my art area at the beginning of the video today for my Journaling by 5s-Session 5.  You can see it here. :-)

So, I will start sharing photos of the things that I have made these past couple of months, bit by bit, until I'm caught up....

For now, here's what I did today.....

Snow arrived early this afternoon and we went from being 37F degrees

outside to feeling like 10F degrees in just a few hours....burr....

I finished up Session 5 of Shannon Green's Journaling by 5s....

so this journal is all done and ready for "free play"!

I pulled some images to use to make 10 collage postcards

and then realized that I was out of 140 lb watercolor paper.

I like to use the watercolor paper as a base, because it's sturdy.

So, these will have to wait until tomorrow. :-(

We went to Barnes & Noble last night and I stumbled upon

this magazine and couldn't resist buying it.

and....I picked up this magazine a couple of weeks ago at Whole Foods.

I need to get another copy, because there are some beautiful

images in it to use in my collage journal, but too much

great information (recipes and such) that I want to save!

Thanks so much for stopping by and please let me know if posts like this are something that you would enjoy!

Take care,

Dianne

SCACD Brave Hearts and Eclectic 2 Rubber Stamp Realase :-)

Hello everyone! Welcome to the SCACD CELEBRATION HOP!

SCACD BRAVE HEARTS AND ECLECTIC 2 RUBBER STAMP REALASE

Susana's Custom Art and Card Design (SCACD) celebrates today the two recently released, NEW exclusive rubber stamps sets.  They are the Brave Hearts (a group of four empowered gals) as well as the Eclectic Collection 2 (a combo of six steampunk and ethereal stamps).  With the Eclectic 2 collection, if you buy the entire set you get FOUR FREE date stamp words.  SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are so happy to be showcasing them to you now.

Now available for purchase in the USA here the Brave Hearts and Eclectic 2 sets! 

Our International Friends can purchase SCACD rubber stamps at Quixotic Paperie here.

SCACD Digital images for the USA and International can always be found here. 


Susana from SCACD asked me to create some projects using some of her new stamps and I was thrilled to do so! I was so inspired that I actually made four different projects!

Be sure to go to the end of this post to find the link, so that you can travel onto the next artist in this celebration blog hop! 

ENLIGHTENMENT - Collage Journal Page

SCACD stamp used:

Butterfly Chrysalis - Change

When I saw this stamp I immediately knew that I needed to use it on a page in my beloved collage journal.  The detail in it is so amazing and I LOVE all of the SCACD steampunk images!  They are stunning! 

I stamped the image onto white card stock and colored it in with Copic Markers and then adhered it onto the page in my collage journal.   

STUNNING - Artist Trading Card

SCACD stamp used: 

Blank Canvas Lotus - Small

The realized that the smaller-sized Lotus flower fits perfectly on an ATC, so of course I had to make a card using it!  

I stamped the image onto 140-lb cold press watercolor paper and then colored it in with Letraset Aqua markers, some LuminArt Silks and outlined the image with a glitter gel pen.

 ESSENTIALS - A DASHBOARD FOR MY PLANNER

SCACD stamp used:

Blank Canvas Lotus - Large

I love using my faux-Midori Travelers Notebook and thought that it would be really fun to make a dashboard for it using the large Lotus!

I stamped the image onto 140 lb cold-press watercolor paperand used Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils to color it in.Then I wrote words on the petals.  It would also be neat todo some doodling on those petals or even zentangles!

TRUST - A Set of mixed-media canvases

SCACD images used:

Blank Canvas Lotus - Pair

Lots of painty goodness went onto this set of 6-inch square canvases, including acrylic paints, color sprays, stencils, Gelatos and some collage as the first layer. I stamped the images onto card stock and colored them in with LuminArt Silks. Just for fun, I used some pink, acrylic dots at the top of the flower stamens.  

Please note that the yellow background really threw off the colors of the stamped images so they appear to not be stamped well.  These stamps are great quality, finely detailed and stamp wonderfully! :-)  

Now here's the really fun part!  Click here to jump on board to the next amazing artist in this celebration! If you're lost, or want to start at the very beginning, click here to return to the SCACD store where you can see a complete list of the blog hop participants.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy visiting everyone while we celebrate the release of these beautiful stamps!

Take care,
Dianne

flow - a mixed media canvas

Well, I have been stuck in a very dry spot for a very long time.  And it's really sucked. lol  But, while showing a friend my Renew canvas and talking out our "One Word" for 2014, I knew that I wanted to create canvas for them as well.  Once I had that in my head, I just couldn't get it out and after a couple of months, out of the blue, I finally had an idea come to me.  My friend is quite an amazing person and such an inspiration to so many people.  She is a yoga teacher/studio owner and even though I haven't be able to attend a single class, just being able to talk to her about some of the things that I have been going through this year has been such a blessing to me.  And in our talks and after mulling around what to do for her canvas, the word "flow" was pressed so strongly into my mind that I knew I had to use that word....even though her word this year is "synchronicity".  After I had the word, the rest fell into place....a finger-painted, swirl of flowing paint and lotus flowers to represent her studio.

I'm so happy with how it turned out and am finally feeling that inner spark to really start moving some paint around again.... <3

Thanks for stopping by :-)

di

ICAD2014 - Day 18

Up until now, I haven't done any of the daily prompts that Tammy has been posting on her blog for ICAD2014.  I usually really love the idea of prompts, but for some reason I like to just do whatever comes to mind for these cards.  But.......lol.....I am a member of the ICAD2014 Facebook group and wow oh wow.....the cards that everyone has been sharing there are so amazing and when I started seeing all of these Orange-themed cards for the Orange prompt, I couldn't resist.  I used to hate the color orange, but lately I've become quite fond of it.  So, I grabbed most of my supplies that are orange and had a lot of fun creating this card.  A lot of the supplies are so close to each other in color/tone that you can't tell that I used them, especially the ink sprays, but that's okay.  There is that faint layer of color there and it was fun to use whatever I happened to pick up next off of my art table.  And, just the process of putting down each layer is so relaxing to me, so it didn't bother me if it didn't really show up.  So, I looked at some of the current prompts and I know that I will be doing more of them from here on....she has some great ones so be sure to visit her blog to read all about ICAD and see what each weeks worth of prompts are.

You can watch me create this card here:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Dianne