New ICAD cards

More index cards for Daisy Yellow's ICAD Project.  I am really enjoying this project, and I'm developing a daily art practice.  I've always had difficulty doing art on a daily basis. Like New Year's resolutions, I would have the best of intentions, but would somehow drop the ball.  Maybe I'm able to keep up with this because I'm letting go of the outcome, not overthinking the process and just trying to have fun and use some of my hoarded art supplies.

Blues.  Materials used: Gesso, Faber-Castell Gelatos, decoupage tissue paper, vintage dictionary page, vintage bird image. 

Freedom.  Materials used:  Japanese paper, found image, vellum, Faber-Castell

Big Brush Marker. 

Linen:  Pencil on index card. 

Rust.  Materials used: Image by Artchix Studio, paper flowers, rhinestones, paper from 7 Gypsies and DCWV, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape. 

Summer.  Materials used: Image from flickr.com, gel pens, decoupage tissue paper. 

Owl.  Pencil sketch on index card. 

Off the Page.  Materials used:  Rubber stamp, Distress Ink dauber, vintage egg and bird image, page from vintage women's medical dictionary. 

Visit these other ICAD participants:

• Art with kids at The Color Palette
• Nathalie Nayer at http://nathalienayer.blogspot.com/2011/06/cockerill-sambre-index-card-5.html
• The colorful work of sirens_idyll at http://m.flickr.com/?done=1&id=5778820990&magic_cookie=e55e5c84cfdb5d8c63616f1c02a9a358&title=&description=#/photos/sirens_idyll/sets/72157626774355301/

The natural world

Hello, and welcome!

Our orange and red daylilies have bloomed in front of our house.  We planted them about three years ago, and they have been strong and hardy plants. This year, a well-meaning neighbor accidentally weed-whacked some of them to about three inches off the ground. Those in particular did not grow much taller, but we are hoping that next year, they'll be back in full force. I'm very glad to see that the non-weed-whacked lilies are bright, shining and happy!

From tiny acorns...grow little oak saplings in our yard.

Our next-door neighbor has a great old oak tree in his backyard, and Steve recently found an oak sapling growing near our hedge. When he pulled it out of the ground, we saw the acorn from which it grew. The roots were growing from one end, and the sapling from the other. Neither of us had ever seen this before! I am sure there's an Eastern gray squirrel responsible for this...

And shown getting ready for a nap is our Norway brown rat, Willow, in the hammock Steve made for him.

Willow's been taking it easy a lot more lately, as he is pretty old. At the end of July, we will have had him as a member of our family for two years! As most rats only live about two years, we feel quite privileged to have him here with us.

Drop me a line and let me know if you'll be in hanging out in your hammock this week. Anyone have a vacation planned? Or even a staycation? I would love to hear about it.

ICAD project

Posting my index cards for Daisy Yellow's ICAD project:

Circles. Materials used: acrylic paint, Sakura gel pens, drywall tape, scrapbooking paper.

Haiku. Materials used: Fun foam flowers, Portfolio oil pastels, rubbing plate, Japanese ephemera.

Marguerita. Materials used: Color Mists spray watercolors, scrapbooking papers, Doodlebug buttons, paper ephemera butterfly, deli paper. (P.S. I could go for a tall, cool Texas Marguerita with salt right now. How 'bout you?)

Spring Flowers. Materials used: Ephemera from K and Company and  Alphastamps.com, scrapbooking paper.

Stamps. Materials used: Paperwhimsy.com image, background transparency from Navel Jelly Studios, miscellaneous vintage postage stamps.

Yellow and White. Materials used: Vintage postage stamp, modern Canadian postage stamp, Japanese paper, vintage garden ephemera.


It's not too late to join in the fun! Go on over to Daisy Yellow's blog and check it out.

Under Construction

Hello, everyone!

It's been a while since I have posted, and I have some news. I'm taking a course with Liv Lane to build a better blog. I began this blog a little over a year ago, and frankly, I'm just not happy with it. I wanted to focus on my art, and to a certain extent, I have. However, I have had trouble maintaining my enthusiasm for blogging, and thinking up topics.

You would think a professional writer would have no problem blogging, wouldn't you? But that's just not the case--at least, not with me. I've felt both naked ("what if I say too much?") and invisible ("nobody reads my blog") and quite honestly, I've wondered if it was worth continuing.

Until I saw Liv's course.

I am going to really try and make this blog a pleasant place to visit, one that you will enjoy reading, and I will enjoy writing. If you have suggestions about things you would like to see here, such as giveaways, guest artist interviews, or freebies, please let me know. I do love hearing from you.

In the meantime, here is a freebie for you today: a vintage rose playing card. Please right-click on it to download, and enjoy!

Also in Bloglandia:

• Daisy Yellow is sponsoring the ICAD project. Read all about it here!
• Lenna and her husband celebrate their anniversary; and 
• If you like armchair travel, visit Paris Breakfasts. I can't say how much I love this blog!

Until next time--take care, and stay cool!