September Blog

I figure that if I can find the time to produce one blog a month, I'll be happy.  There has been much going on this past month, including the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days.  I generally create my own New Years cards for friends and family.  This year I made a few prototypes and repeated the basics of each of them to mass produce the quantity I needed.  Here are some examples:

      

Except for the two stamped cards, the images were taken off the internet thru Google Images.  Since I don't sell my cards and only give them as gifts, I feel that is legal to use them. 







I made a really nice card the other day.  Here it is:

It's a simple design making the background from clear stamps in sepia and using the same color for the words. I added an embellishment to make the card have a little color.

Here are some of my attempts at collage.  I still feel they are a challenge, but I'm sort of getting the hang of it.  It's a matter of 'letting go' and just doing it!

Well, that's it for now.  I'll try to post more often. 

My Babies

I guess that I've not mentioned anything about those two beautiful tuxedo cats on my home page.  Well, on the left is GirlCat and the cat on the right is BoyCat.  They are siblings. When that picture was taken they were around 3 1/2 years old.  I had just taken them into my home.  An unlucky couple decided that they didn't want to take them from their apartment to their new home.  I had wanted to adopt 'a' cat, but when the opportunity came to take in two, I couldn't let them go homeless.  Well, today, they are over 18 years old.  They are my baby kitties.  They look the same now except that as they age they have gotten thinner.  But, the Vet says that with age cats lose muscle mass.  They both have some illnesses that need medications administered at different times of the day.  Somehow they have survived and my husband and I love them dearly.  It isn't easy raising elderly cats.  They rule our house. Their schedules determine our lives.  They are vocal and moody and tell us how they feel.  We take their lead and follow them.  They are surely pushie little kitties. LOL  But until it is their time to pass on, we will treasure the unconditional love they offer us, and will cater to their every need.    

Some more new stuff

As you can see, I added some HTML to my page.  On the right is a link to "Where Women Create" magazine. I love the Stampington magazines that pertain to my craft, but this magazine is even more beautifully produced than the others.  I know that I'm not in the league of the women who are featured in the magazine, but just reading about them, and looking at the art work and photography, is thrilling! It's a little eye candy for me with a creative punch!
   Meanwhile, here are a few new cards:

These are all a little different.  I had some leftover gold leaf paper and made the gold butterfly card for a friend.  The Asian style card was designed after a card I saw in a card magazine.  I'm trying to teach myself to color the stamped objects, so there are some examples of my beginning coloring.

The following pic is a practice page of using colored pencils:

 As you can see, I'm still am amateur at it, but I'll keep at it.  
  For now, that's what's new.

Just not enough time

I just don't know how bloggers do it! Where do they get the time.  I barely have time to work at my craft desk to develop examples of my work. LOL
  I have been working on some new techniques in putting color into my stamped objects. There are many mediums to use and I've just purchased some Copic markers (a beginning set of 12 Ciao markers) and 2 sets of Prismacolor pencils.  At the moment, I'm spending more time with the pencils.  The Copic markers are a challenge that still needs to be explored.  I'll post some examples of my color testing soon.
  I'm a student who is still learning and between my classes with Diana Kovacs and my online research, I plan on continuing, albeit part time,  to educate myself in this craft. 

Some new stuff

Here is some new work that I did this past week. I've been trying to get to my desk every evening. These cards are from the last few evenings and today.

This card was not a success.It just didn't work for me.  The paper matches were off.  But, each piece is a learning experience.

This Card was done today.  It looks better live.  The wings float off the page and reveal the original stamped image of the butterfly both on the paper background as well as under the patterned paper of the butterflies.

Here's that pretty lady again.  I found this image to be so enticing that I used her three times...variations on a theme.  This picture is enhanced with gold peel-offs.  They do make this card pop!

Crowns and Wings

I've been fascinated with  collage work that contains women with crowns and wings. Most of the pictures used in the collages are vintage early 20th century.  I've collected and printed many images to use with this style of art and here are a few examples of some of my attempts to produce collage:

It's been a while...

I wish I had more time to blog.  I'm doing this quietly without anyone knowing about it. I'm not ready to make this public.  If it is public, then my obligation to post would be stronger and  just don't want to be pressured about this...I just want to post and display my cards at my leisure.  So here I am after a hectic week.  We had last minute guests from out of town this week which caused my not being able to attend one of Diana Kovaks' card making classes.  But, this coming week is another one and I'll sure be there for that.  I get such inspiration and a sense of fulfillment being among other card makers.  I learn from them.  There seems to be a regular group of women who attend and I'm getting more comfortable being with them and chatting about art and life.  
  Meanwhile, I'm going to post some older work of mine.

This card was given to a friend who lost a loved one.  It is a simple card made from patterned paper, some ribbon and stamped words on a card, over a card.  It was easy to make but I think it gave away a sincere feeling of condolences.

 

I've always been a little collage challenged.  This card was a pretty good attempt of trying to piece together images to form a feeling and a picture.  

The focal point of this card is the hand made alcohol ink design as the background.  On top of that I adhered a strip of  purchased hand made paper and outlined it in gold peel-off lines.  I adhered three pink pearls for an accent.  The lotus flowers/branch is a dimensional piece that was also adhered to the page.  I stamped the 'joy' stamp in black ink.  All this is on a black card.
I love this card!! I'm about to send it to a friend for her birthday.

That's it for now...more when I can take a break and  post again. 

A perfect afternoon to blog

It's a quiet summer Saturday afternoon with a lovely warm breeze in the air and the the trees are swaying in the sun.  When the humidity is low, a summer day on Long Island can be quite pleasant.  I'm in my studio with the windows and skylight open, and the overhead fan spinning away. My hubby is having his Shabbat nap and I'm free to play all afternoon! YIPPEE! LOL
  I have something to post here today. I made my own background paper design.  I've read how the use of gesso on a stamp can make a really interesting affect on a design.  So I took some lavender color card stock and imprinted a leaf stamp all over the paper.  The I read about the affect of metallic acrylic paint over stamped objects.  So, I took a small sponge brush and randomly brushed gold metallic paint over the whole page. Well, here's a piece of that paper:

Oh, I'm disappointed in the results of the scan, but I also had to reduce the size of the jpg to make it fit here.  But, at least you can see what I've done.

Then, I made a card using this new patterned paper as the background of the front of the card:

As you can see, the colors used in the card, along with the two ribbons, the vintage picture and the three stones, seem to balance together. I outlined the picture with some peel off gold lines to make the picture pop out.  The actual card really looks better but I think that the affect I wanted to achieve worked! I hope you think so too.
 

 

It takes time to blog...

I work 5 days a week, so maintaining this blog is going to be a challenge.
When I'm home I like to make time to work on my craft, which during the work week is generally an hour or so sometime between 9pm and 11pm at night.  I turn on my laptop because I know I'm going to need it to either use the scanner, or printer.  I also need the laptop to run my Silhouette cutting machine. In today's modern age, in order to produce the most interesting crafts, electronics seem to be necessary. I use my computers (I also have a desk top computer that's in our home office) for both work and play.  But my laptop is basically my toy for playing at making cards. LOL Oh, and I must admit, that when my laptop isn't printing or scanning, it is tuned to Hulu.com with a TV episode on as background to my creativity. LOL  
   I need to stop now...more later.  I'm going to list some of my favorite websites and publications for card making inspirations. 

Another day in Card Land

I have been experimenting here on how to show my work.  If this works, here are a few samples of recent work.  I use a scanner to capture the images and then adjust the size in MSPaint. 

     

                               

First Day at Blogging

Since this is my first attempt at 'blogging', I'll start off with saying that I plan to write about my explorations in learning the art of card making.  For some, design comes easy.  For me, it's a challenge.  I have had no formal training in art, but I appreciate color and form. What I've produced comes from being self taught, reading all the magazines I can find on techniques and going to stamp shows to see new products.  I have been lucky enough to meet a great card maker with whom I communicate by email and meet at stamp shows.  Barbara and I exchange cards from which I learn by her examples.  So, as I learn to use this online blogging system, I'll add my thoughts and pictures of my work.  I'm strapped into my seat for this exciting ride!!