Some ATCs and A Gouache Experiment

Yo. I'm back once more, and I've got some more arty goodness to share with you all. So I guess I'm just going to jump right in there and get it done. There is a sheet of playful/just plain random doodles above. I was really bored and sitting at the dining room table. I grabbed some colored pencils that just happened to be sitting there and just started to doodle out some random stars, circles, etc. onto the paper in different colors.

For the most part, I hated them, and was just doing it cause I was really bored. But as I continued to work on them, I sort of became more attached to them. I started to like their wonky quality, and didn't care that they weren't perfect. Now I really like them. I'm probably going to work with this a bit tomorrow. I was thinking of using it for either a collage paper for an art journal page or an ATC background. Or maybe both. You never really know 'til you try it you know. That's just how I roll. Not knowing what coming next, or what I'm going to get rid of. I'm more of a spontaneous person myself, if you can't tell by now.

And I know that you guys are going to totally scold me for this, but I started another project. I know, I know. It's wrong. I haven't even worked on the knitted cable gloves I pretty much started this blog off for a long time. But I tell you the truth, those are going on my list of things to work on tomorrow. I promise.

So anyways, getting back to the topic. I started a new crochet project. It's a basic single crochet afghan that serves several purposes. One is that when it's done it's going to be really warm. That's pretty much a bonus. Another thing is that it's really easy. I just chained about 150 stitches, then single crocheted up from there. It's a scrap project. I specially started it just to use up those little balls of scraps that you literally can't do anything with. I know I already have two of these types of projects started (I haven't shown you the second one yet...) but I thought it couldn't hurt to have another scrap buster!!

But the final and real reason that I actually decided to start this is that I just needed some simple, mindless crochet. You see, I homeschool. And there's a whole lot of reading involved in that (my Mom reads aloud to us) so I need something to keep my hands busy. I'm not the type to just sit around doing nothing. I either need to be doing something totally active (sports, working out, running, biking, etc) or doing something with my hands. I just can't sit and listen. So that's the beauty of this project. It's so simple I don't even have to think about it. Just listen to what we're learning about.

The picture above is a flatter version of the first picture so you can sort of see how it's working up. It's really a lot longer than this, but I wanted to have a pleasing picture rather than just showing you how long it is. Basically I'm just doing alternating stripes of white and cream with colors (so far I've only used blue and green, but that's because that's what most of my stash is made up of), so it's going to be pretty colorful when it's actually finished. Also, the stripes aren't measured at all, I just do some thick and some thin. It makes it more pleasing to look at.

Here's something else that I've been working on. Some ATCs for a swap I'm participating in. It's called the 'One Good Egg' swap, and basically you just make some easter eggs using any technique you like. Zentangling was what immediately came to mind. Soo... long story short I made six cards, and am going to be sending them to the swap coordinator here soon. I just love how they came out. Especially the wonky one on the bottom in the middle. :D BTW, in case some of you were wondering, it was either a 3/3 or a 6/6 swap. Normally if it gives you a choice like that, I'll go for the larger number, since it means I'll get more in return. :) I know, it's sad. It's an addiction. But I love what I do.

I also did another card for the 365 Card challenge today. The theme/challenge/topic was pure contentment. They wanted to know how you would depict those words on your card. I basically just went through some of my images and found a picture of a girl who looked contented. I then just added a sentiment to finish it off after some stamping. But here's something... I decided to do a cute mini card today!! You can't tell in the picture, (I should have put something in for comparison...) but it's an ATC sized card! I'm not sure why, but I like the small size of an ATC or the large size of an art journal or scrapbook page. There's that card size in the middle that's a bit intimidating. Don't ask me why, though, cause I don't know. :D

Okay, so I've got a couple more pictures for you, and they're both of my new art journal page. I don't know why, but I'm not quite fond of this page in general. It's kind of weird, and the colors don't really go together. Also, I don't know if the phone book paper really matches the theme of the rest of the page. But anyways, I'll probably end up layering a whole buttload of crap on top of this until I'm finally satisfied with it. Or, if that doesn't work, I'll probably just layer white paint on over top of it and start over again. :D

Here's the same page, just further away. The idea for this page just was to experiment using gouache. I had gotten some of this for about 50 cents from a thrift store, just wondering what it was all about. I did a little bit of researching about what I had gotten, and it turns out I got a really good deal. An original tube of this stuff in a smaller size goes retail for about three bucks. It's literally the best of the best. And to think I had no idea what it was when I got it.

If you were wondering what gouache was in general, I think that it's similar to watercolors, only they're more solid. You squirt it out onto a pallet and mix with water. But these things have better cover than the acrylics that I use. Personally, I think that's pretty good! I just have to do some more experimenting to see what else I can do. Hopefully to make them look better. One last thing I'd like to share with you before I go is to try and post a list of what I plan to work on tomorrow. There's no way I can be precise to a 'T', but I'll do my best!!

Art List For 4-7-2011

-Art Journal Page

-ATCs

- Knitted Gloves

-Cross Stitch

- Crocheted Blanket

-365 Card Challenge

And of course, anything else that may pop up!! See you all tomorrow!!