ICAD Cards and Painted Fabric Swatch

Okay. So I have decided that, today, I really want to share with you guys my ICAD project. I have a total of four cards to present to you today; today's card is going to have to wait until another day. I can't believe that I am honestly almost at the end of this challenge. It's been crazy. But I've enjoyed it immensely. So let's get started, shall we?

The first card that I would like to show you is composed of many layers of paint, stamping and collage. This feels very much my style, and I love the way that it turned out. I thought that it looked okay before I added the flowers for the stamping, but after that, I loved it. And the collage just added the perfect touch, in my personal opinion.

The next card that I would like to share with you is kind of different than the work that I normally do when you think about the colors. But I do like it. I can't even remember how I made this card exactly, but I do know that there were a lot of layers involved. I didn't like how some of them were turning out, and so I added more to it. And, eventually, I got myself to a place where I was comfortable stopping.

This card was extremely simple. All I did was rub a couple of ink pads onto the background, then wet it down with water to give it an effect that was almost reminiscent of watercolor. I added the stamping with a foam stamp and acrylic paint (seems to be my signature) and then added the words. And that was that.

The final ICAD card that I want to share with you guys today is sort  of interesting in comparison to the rest of the cards. It looks okay in the picture, but I don't know if I'm all that fond of it. All of the colors got extremely mucky and they all mixed together to create one shade. But the stamping on top sort of saved it for me. 

And that's it for the ICADS.

However, I do have something else to share with you guys today. This is a swatch of painted fabric that I was working on. I saw something on pinterest today (actually it was many months ago, but I decided to do something about it today) that was actually a dress that was created from hand painted fabric. I got to thinking, and realized that it would make a really cool homecoming or prom dress. Even though I'm not big into dresses or getting all dressed up for that sort of thing, if I made the dress myself, it might be a little better, since I can make it in such a way that I would be comfortable, and not have to worry about the top being too low, or the skirt being too high, or both at the same time.

Here's a bit of a close up of the texture. I really like the way that this piece turned out. Honestly, the whole thing was a bit of a test. I was just experimenting with painting on fabric. And I think that there will probably be a lot more experimentation before I take on a dress. But a nice homecoming dress might be in the works. Might being the key word, of course. But it would be cool to kind of show the process here on the blog. Maybe I'll do some sketches tonight, before I go to bed. I've been designing some dresses lately anyways. 

Anyways. Thanks for following me and my bunny trails, and I'll catch you tomorrow! Bye!

Paper/Fabric Collage Fodder

Hey guys!!

What's going on with you guys today?

I haven't done much crafty stuff today, but I did take a few pictures for the blog.

I pulled a bunch of stuff out of my pile of supplies, and made a few piles. 

I've now officially decided to start a sort of series on collecting supplies for working in an art journal.

In other words, an series on collecting art journal fodder. 

For now, I think I'll just share with you guys what I've found so far.

Then I'll do other occasional posts about how to find and collect these things.

Are you guys ready for this?

Okay then.

Let's do it then.

Let's look up at the picture above at the first little collection I found.

I just pulled a few of the first things that came to my hand. 

I have a piece of magazine picture.

Some apple stickers.

Some printed black and white borders.

Some color scraped fabric.

Some watercolored book paper.

And a strip of colors.

There isn't as much in this picture, but I still like this selection.

I have a dyed paper towel.

A butterfly die cut.

Some pink polka dotted tissue paper.

A pulled photo paper.

And a homemade stamp that I made using craft foam and a toilet paper tube.

This was so much fun finding all of this stuff out of my stash;

So far I've just stacked it all up in a giant stack,

But I'm planning to start organizing soon.

I'm gonna try sorting by color in some type of horizontal paper storage.

But that's all I've got for you guys today.

And I'll see you guys tomorrow. :)

Collage Unleashed Project. Week 1.

Hello all! Welcome back to yet another day of my blog. I hope you guys aren't getting tired of me yet! Cause I've still got a bunch more tricks up my sleeve... :) Okay, so today, I'm giving a type of update post on my Collage Unleashed project. A few weeks ago, I started working my way through the book "Collage Unleashed, by Traci Bautista". I haven't done that much yet, but what I have, I would like to share with you guys. I find that even though Traci's style is gorgeous, it just doesn't fit with my style in the very first try. If you look at the picture above, you'll see my very first color scraped piece.

I don't like it. I think the colors are just a little too muddy. Plus, they're just not as bright as my normal colors. I feel like it just doesn't represent my style. I don't really do too well with my art that doesn't represent ME. That's the purpose of my art. To express myself.

I tried it again. I did pretty much the same thing, just used different colors, and sort of interpreted it in my own way. I really like this one though. The colors aren't really my kind, but I like them anyways. I'm going to try this same technique (scraping and stamping) with some brighter colors. This just feels a little bit dull. But I'm still going to use this in my art. What I'm going to do with it is probably cut it up and then use it just as collage paper. That seems like a good enough idea to me. :)

The last thing I'd like to share with you guys is a piece of scraped fabric I did. Normally you do the scraping on paper or cardstock, but Traci recommends also doing it on a plain white muslin. It adds amazing texture, plus it's just really cool looking. I used yellow, orange, and red. That always reminds me of fire for some reason. And I love fire. It's just so cool. Of course, I don't like it when buildings get burned down. But campfires are just so neat!!

Anyways, just one last thing before I leave you guys today; I was thinking about maybe doing an art journaling course. An online workshop. With videos and PDF forms and everything. Maybe about different techniques and prompts. I just think it would be cool. But really, I don't want to go to all the trouble of putting something together, and then nobody buys it. I don't know how much it would cost or anything - just throwing the idea out there. Maybe if I did a short, 1-2 week course or something for free, then you could get more familiar with my teaching style? Tell me what you think!!

Oh, and just a bit of a side note... this morning my blog hit 1,000 hits!! I'm so happy! And excited! I'm just kind of wondering where the blog will go next. Who knows, really? So anyways, see you all next time! Bye!