Troll Houses ATC’s

as always, click to biggify 

Just a short post, I wanted to share my Sept ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) this month, because I’m quite pleased with how these turned out.

I’ve been making ATC’s for over four years now, and I’m always surprised what we all come up with for each month’s theme.
How everyone interprets that, what media they use, its always a nice surprise to receive in them mail.

Troll Houses are something I would never have tried out on my own, which is why belonging to a group like this is a good thing, it stretches one’s artistic skills.

My ATC group is on Ravelry as ATC Swap, feel free to look us up and join in the fun.

There is also an active International group on Yahoo Groups too.

The Artist Studio Tour

For my friends on Ravelry ATC Swap.

This is my studio.

The dining room.

Here is where I create amazing and wonderful things.

Until company comes over.

Basic Supplies Box:

Alene’s glue, scissors, decorative edge scissors, cat stamp and ink pad, gel pens, mechanical pencil, silver marker, VersaMarker, corner rounder, exact o knife & extra blades, embossing tool, pencil sharpener, water mister, walnut ink, and four different kinds of adhesives.

I especially like my double sticky foam bits.

Don’t set up your Arteests Studio without these!

Trays:

Here is one of my many white trays.  I have a whole stack of them and use them for everything, especially beading.  If beading is involved, I lay a cloth down on it first so things don’t slide off so easy.

They are handy to keep clusters of materials that I am using for my current project.   A tray is easier to move around than a pile of stuff.

This tray is mostly purple stuff, for making Aubergine ATC’s this month.

Other Art Supplies:

Always keep a good supply of crafting and watercolor and scrapbook papers around, you never know what you’ll need:)

Always have a decent paper cutter.  And Golden Acrylic Medium.

Always keep an big old plastic cup and washcloth dedicated to painting around.

The rest is personal preference:  stamps, inks, chalks, embossing powders, watercolor paints, acrylic paints, pearl ex, paint brushes, and various other applicators.  Smocks are optional;)

Crafter’s Library:

Its important to keep inspiration around you in the form of crafting books, catalogs and magazines.

Magazines come under two categories:  magazines you keep, and magazines you rip into.

Quilter’s Corner:

I quilt and sew stuff too.  Easy stuff.  I don’t do most patterns and clothing stuff.  Although I’ve been wanting to make simple drawstring jammy bottoms for over a year now.

See that red, white and blue material so carefully washed, dried, ironed and folded on the cart to the left?  That is the jammy material I bought last year…and I’ve quilted instead because I’m a chicken.

I always wash, dry and iron with sizing all my material before using.

I don’t like wonky shrinkage surprises.

This here is Bead Central:

Beads, beads, and more beads.

Trays, clothes, wire, coated wire, colored wire, silver wire, cooper wire, fine sanding paper, chasing hammer, pounding plate, pliers and all the other tools too numerous to mention.

Under the beads are three boxes of quilting fabric and quilts in progress.  Under the cart is “The Star Box” for folding those origami Moravian stars.

This ends The Artist Studio Tour, any questions?

Yes?

There’s more stuff in the hall closet, what of it?

The Very Latest in Referigerator Art

As you can see, my niece, Sarah was visiting.

She now comes for her visits equipped with a painting “smock” aka Dad’s old T-Shirt.

Sarah likes her colors to be vibrant, I refilled her paint tray four or five times, because she just saturates the paper with paint.

Of course, I am a biased Auntie and thinks she did a pretty cool painting.

While she did three paintings, taking two of them home with her, I was working on one painting.

For awhile now, I have been trying to paint a landscape that I like…however, everyone that knows me, knows I am extremely critical and picky.  And lately, the art books on my shelf just aren’t helping me figure out what else I should be doing…so I ordered a new one.

One is a partial painting I did while with Sarah…I did not get much done due to the fact I was supervising her.  Putting more paint on her tray, going to the closet to dig up another piece of watercolor paper, dumping her water and refilling it with clean water.  Six year old’s have a way about them that keeps you hopping. 🙂

Another is the book I received, “Watercolor Right From the Start” by Hilary Page.  I have her excellent book on pigments, so when I saw this one, I knew it would be good.

And then the surprise part, when I received the book and opened it up,  I discovered that it was signed by Hilary herself!

I tilted it towards the light to see if it was real ink or not.  Yep!  Its real!  As Sarah would say,  “that is super-duper really cool!”

As always, you can click on the pix to biggify.

Fairy Bubbles ATC’s

The Theme for November’s ATC Swap was Fairies.
As in Fairy Tale Fairies, what were you thinking?
anyways, after I did about nine Fairy cards, I started hearing “Tiny Bubbles” song playing in my head…so there you go.

The background of the bubbles is courtesy of my five year old niece, Sarah, when I had out the watercolor paint and watercolor “crayons” for her to play with.   I cut up the water color paper and figured I would use it sometime….and I did.

Aside from using my watercolors, I was also trying the new-to-me Pearl Ex-Pigments to make the bubbles.  I have to say Pearl Ex-Pigments are very versatile, there are many ways to use them, and if you know me at all, you know that I love versatility!

Just on these two cards I used them in several different ways.  The antique silver pigment I mixed up with water and arabic gum powder which I keep in a small sealed container, this keeps it moist.

On the pinkish color (interference red) I did the same mix, but kept it in a shallow dish in the open air and allowed to dry as a cake of paint would.  I also tried mixing in different watercolors to add color, I added purple to the dish and blue directly to the paint already on the paper.

I’m just getting started!

(BTW: Don’t start a land war in Asia, brahaha!!;))

Art from the Archives

Look what I dug up the other day!

Wow, its amazing to see stuff I did twenty-some years ago.   I abandoned this watercolor because I couldn’t make the girl come out right.
I am not so good with the human figure.  Once, I drew just a face, in my Study of the Masters class, and it took me eight hours!

So, I thought I would try another one with just the geese.

and then I abandoned that one too.  I have no idea why.

Christmas by the Inch

Chris picked this one as his favorite.

I was going for the “hanging the stockings with care”  look with this one and I like the sense of movement it has.

Last year I made magnet sets with that paper, I used my sisters 7/8″ punch and punched out several pages of these little stockings, trees, stars, hearts…I got a little carried away I guess.  But its all good, because I am putting all those little extras to good use now:)

A set of Christmas Inchies

Here’s four I finished in various ways.

Stamped, punched, painted, stickers, embellished or drawn by hand, I try to make each one different.

I think everyone would agree with me that cookies are a predominate feature of Christmas.  Say, that gives me an idea…

Think Pink

(close up of old pink with new light pink swatch)

First it was painted pink, then it was painted another pink, now it is painted yet another shade of pink.

Because there is pink and then there is the just right pink.

(Some people are like Goldilocks when it comes to their pink, they want it just right!)

This is the “before” pink.

That swatch on the wall is the new can of pink and the final outcome is a mixture of them both by the Mixmaster, yours truly.  We are finally happy, its not too dark, not too white.  Its “Just Right”.

New and Improved!

Now with outlines between the colors!

Melissa wanted to see what it would look like.   Of course it has been painted over since this pix was taken.
We tried a variety of ways to get the lines to look fluid and even and finally decided on a medium white paint marker pen.   You know the kind where you have to shake them like its a spray paint can?  That kind.

Melissa also ordered some new bedroom linens to match.  This is going to be one bright and colorful room, just like the girl that lives there!

The Price is Right

She has the flourish with the arms down pretty well.

Maybe needs some work on the smile:0