Valentine's Cards, All Done!

Here are all 30 Valentines I made for Cards from the Heart this year:

It was a lot of fun making these, and I'm happy to know they are going to a good cause. I tried to mix up the style of the cards, since they will go to boys and girls in a wide variety of ages at various hospitals. I hope they kids get a smile from their cards!!

- Susan

Valentine's Cards, Part 4

And one more batch of Valentines for Cards from the Heart!

- Susan

Wake up!

The longer I am a stay at home mom with my kids, the more I need caffeine in order to function!  Here is my ode to the morning cup of coffee that gets me moving:

- Susan

(posted at Art Journal Every Day)

Valentine's Cards, Part 3

More Valentines for Cards from the Heart!

- Susan

Share your cards!

As I mentioned before, I am making Valentine's cards for the Cards from the Heart card drive. They are really in need of more cards this year to distribute to kids in hospitals.

If you have a few moments to make a few cards, or have a stash of cards already made that you can modify for Valentine's Day, please consider a donation!

Here is more info on the card drive.

Thank you!!
Susan

Valentine's Cards, Part 2

Here is my second batch of cards for the Cards from the Heart card drive.

I am really enjoying making these cards, especially knowing that they are going to kids in the hospital. I hope their days are brightened even just a little bit!

See more of my Valentine Cards here.

- Susan

Submitted Cards

I submitted a few cards to the latest Paper Crafts Magazine call and they didn't get picked. So, here they are!

This one was submitted for the nautical challenge:

And these 2 were for the water-technique challenge:

The flower one is made with liquid food coloring on wet watercolor paper. Of the 3, this is the one I thought most likely to get chosen because it's an interesting technique and I LOVE how the resulting card looks. Oh well, better luck next time!! :)


-Susan

(linked at The Contenders for cards not chosed for publication!)

Man and Woman

I started 2 art journal pages with similar backgrounds, then took them in different directions with very different images:

Mr Washington Irving is feeling a bit stuffy, but you know he's got mischievous streak hiding in him:

And this gorgeous gal is ready for some fun, but I think she doesn't quite know where to start. Bingo!

Do you ever feel that way? I know I do!


Thanks for looking! Susan

Valentine's Cards, Part 1

I'm making a whole bunch of Valentine's cards this year for Cards from the Heart. I did this last year too and absolutely love having a reason to shop for cute products and make a bunch of cards!

I found an old Inkadinkado stamp set in the $2 clearance bin at AC Moore, so each card is getting a cute little image inside, and then I'll write a message as well:

(Sorry, I know that isn't a great picture!)

So far I am sticking to Memento LadyBug ink because it doesn't run. I'd like to use the more vibrant Stampin Up inks, but they run at the slightest hint of wetness!! 

I'm doing some experiments with sealant, so we'll see how that turns out!

Thanks for looking!!

Susan 

Mini Collages

These collages are about 3 1/2 inches square. I made them for the Cloth Paper Scissors "Make Mine Mini" challenge but they didn't get picked as finalists.

Rock Star:

This one uses a Unity Bella Doilies stamp:

Maze

I did make one other collage that did get picked as a finalist, so no picture of that one right now! I have to send it in to their office for publication consideration.  It was 1 of 53 finalists, out of 300 submissions.

I am really thrilled it was picked. It was the one I almost didn't submit because I was sure it wouldn't get picked. So, you never know!!

Thanks for looking!
Susan

Handmade journal

I didn't make any art journal pages this week, instead I made my own journal!

Using directions from The Complete Decorated Journal and Cover to Cover, I bound some of my painted and prepared pages into a journal:

Now, the first thing I will say is that the author of The Complete Decorated Journal calls this style a "30 minute" book and that is CRAZY. I spent WAY more than 30 minutes on this binding! I guess she's made a lot of them and can whip them out in 30 minutes, but I sure can't!

The cover of my book is watercolor paper, decorated with water color crayons and glimmer mist, then spray with a fixative. The ends and spine are covered in washi tape.

Inside is a mix of vintage and new papers (most are painted or gesso'd), as well as some envelopes.

I used a variety of sizes of paper & envelopes, and definitely learned that that makes the binding really hard for me to sew. It was hard to clip everything firmly together when there are so many different sizes. As a beginner, I will definitely stick to same-size papers for now!!

This was a great way to use some of the pages that have been sitting around waiting for a purpose, as well as try out some paints and embellishments I have on hand.

I hope you like it! Thanks for looking!

-Susan

P.S. This is linked at Art Journal Every Day

Make your own

I set a goal for myself to participate in every one of the Moxie Fab challenges this week! However, the challenges are coming fast and furious and I can't keep up. So I decided to combine 2 challenges in one card.

This card combines the "make your own background paper" challenge with the "Stamp with a homemade stamp" challenge.

Here's what I did. First, I used bubble wrap and turquoise ink to stamp the background. I like bubble wrap stamping with ink better than bubble wrap stamping with paint for cards, because I usually end up with a warped card from too much paint slopped on by the bubble wrap!

The turquoise ink did come out lighter than I would have liked, but this is some old, cheap-o Ink It Up ink that AC Moore doesn't even sell anymore!

Next, I used a toilet paper tube and paint to stamp the large circles. I stamped off the tube a couple times to make sure I didn't get too much paint onto the card.

Finally I layered a sentiment sticker onto a border sticker, and put all that on top of a torn strip of music. The music is actually from the bag I got at a music store when I went in to buy my kids' piano book. I think I need to go back there and buy more stuff just so I can get more of those bags! :)

Thanks for looking!
Susan

Mini card

This mini card was made for the Moxie Fab mini card challenge!  I made this card by cutting a standard size card in half, so this one is 2 3/4 x 4 inches.

The first layer is a torn book page, layered with the large sentiment sticker and topped with the 2 flower stickers.  I trimmed the flowers down so they fit onto the card front. This also let me use up a sticker that had been damaged on one side. I just cut that part off!

Thanks for looking!
-Susan

Artistic Outpost

Santa brought me a couple new stamp sets for Christmas, Typography & Quote and Quotable.  I love both of these because I hate my handwriting and rarely have the patience to spell out sentiments or thoughts with alphabet stamps. So these collections are perfect for me!

I made a mini-accordion book style of card to try out a few of my new stamps:

I've been experimenting with lots of mini-books, pamphlets, etc lately, and I'm sure these stamps will be getting a lot of use!

Valentine's Window Card

Is it too soon for a Valentine's Day card?? This card is for the Moxie Fab Window Card challenge. I had made a window card for Christmas and really liked how it turned out, so this window card challenge came at just the right time for me to try again!

The heart-shaped window is made with a heart punch, and inside you can see a little locket peaking out.... there's a surprise inside!

Mounted inside the card (with removable adhesive) is a mini-Valentine like the kids exchange at school:

I love how the window let's me do this 2-in-1 idea with the mini retro Valentine! Fun stuff!

Thanks for looking

-Susan

Using 10 embellishments

This card is for the Moxie Fab challenge to use 10 embellishments on the card. That's a lot! I don't usually use a ton of embellishments on cards, but I gave it a try!

These are stickers from the (discontinued?) Vintage Vogue line.  I thought the Miss You sentiment (stamped on a label sticker) went well with the clocks.

The patterned paper is from Stampington, and I also used some glitter tape. 

If you want to see a REALLY cool card for this challenge, the one that really WOW'd me as innovative is here. Really cool. (I don't know that blogger, I just thought her card was creative & original!).

Thanks for looking!

Susan

Published!

I guess this is OK to post here now that the magazine has been out for a while... I am very excited to have been published (for the first time ever!!) in Somerset Studio's Take Ten magazine!

In the Winter 2013 issue, my cards are on page 96 in the "A Different Point of View" section. Very exciting!

It was quite a shock and a thrill to see my cards and my name in print!

Life x2

A while back, I came across some pieces from the board game "Life." Here are 2 collages with 2 different takes on Life.

Last of the trial & error journal

Here are the last of the pages from my trial & error notebook-turned-journal:

See the rest of my art journals here.

Thanks for looking and Happy New Year!!

Susan

Trial & Error notebook journal

This is a hardbound notebook that I converted to a journal by using gel medium to stick pages together then gesso-ing the resulting thicker pages. While I liked it for what it was - trial & error - I ended up preferring the mixed media notebook (or a watercolor notebook).  Gluing the pages gets tedious, and I used up so much gel medium!!