ICAD Day 12

I suffered from creative block for the last 5 days.  I started several drawings and other cards but couldn't get what I wanted and quit pretty quickly. My heart just wasn't it in for some reason.  I think I have been very tired.  Yesterday I took a nice afternoon nap and fell asleep early on the sofa.  I thought for sure I would not sleep last night after all that daytime sleeping but I had the best night's sleep I have had for a while.  And sure enough I woke up refreshed and more energetic this morning.

I tackled some mounds of paperwork pertaining to mom and dad this morning and took care of a few orders of business for ourselves also.  Then I went into my craft room to clean up my work table a little.  It really wasn't bad...not enough to stop creativness but in the process of just putting a few supplies away I picked up a sponge with orange ink on it and there was an virgin index card sitting right there.

So, I started smearing the ink on the card and when it didn't want ot give up anymore ink I spritzed it with water and kept working.  I had another pouncer with some greenish ink on it so added in some green highlights and then spritzed the card with a little water and smeared it to soften.  I suddenly had a nice background!

But now, what to do with it?  I started putting away some scrap papers and saw one had some vintage ads on the backside including an old typewriter.  Fun!  I fussy cut it and laid it on the card.  Some interesting words needed to come out of that typewriter. What I have been doing for the couple of years...trying to find my new life since I am not a mom anymore.  Okay, you are always a mom but what happens when you don't need to mother on a daily basis anymore?  I need to write a new story about myself.

And just like that...Today's ICAD was born.  I didn't try to follow a prompt..even my own. I thought my prompts would make it easier but they seems to handcuff me more.  Anyway, at least for today I am back on track.  I hope to make up the missing 4 cards but if I don't...that's okay!

ICAD Day 8

Monday is lettering day and I just wrote out a simple phrase that is very applicable to my life right now.  There is a lot going on with my dad not feeling well and other things as well so I'm just trying bite off small chunks of life.

My letter was inspired by the lettering stamps from Rubber Moon. I tried to go back to their website to find the exact stamp set, but I could find it.  It was a cool set with modular pieces.  For instance, for the upper case B you would stamp a straight line and then two half moon shapes.  Anyway, I lettered my little phrase from memory and it probably doesn't look anything like the stamp set but it was fun to write.

I buffed distress ink on to the background after I traced my lettering with a Pitt pen.  The background is very blotchy and a little dull, but oh well...that's the beauty of ICAD...Next!

ICAD Day 7

I saw this dye ink on fabric technique on Tammy Tutterow's blog and wanted to give a try.  I cut a 4 x 6 piece of muslin and dragged turquoise and pink Stampin' Up Spots (small, square stamp pads) in alternating lines across the fabric. Then I spritzed it with water and wrung it out.  The pink was very permanent but the turquoise really ran.  I should have worn gloves...my hands are still a light turquoise color!

In Tammy's tutorial she glues the dyed fabric to batting, does some stitching on it and then cuts it into heart shapes that she adds to a tag  I decided to use my piece of dyed fabric as a background so I glued it to an index card and trimmed it to size.  I also used a couple of stencils and other stamp pad colors to add the chevron pattern plus the circles and squares.  I spritzed it very lightly again, just to soften the colors and then dried it under an iron to flatten everything out.

Now that I had a background, I didn't know what to put on top of it.  I was more into the technique than the result.  But I grabbed my scrap paper pile and quickly cut the first thing that came to my mind.  I think I chose X and O because Tammy's shape was a heart and I think I had love on my mind!

Anyway, overall I like the look of the completed index card.  The black and white dots look good against the colorful background.  I liked the technique of dying the fabric with the stamp pad.  I would test my stamp pads in the future since some obviously run more than others.  Running isn't bad, but you probably want to know how it's going to react when you add water.

ICAD Day 6

Do you know hard it is to draw a weaving  Well, hard for me anyway!  It took me three starts before I finally got this one going. And now that it is done I like it!  I used a pencil to draw it out initially then traced my work with a Pitt pen.  Then I added a little and dimension and shading with pencil. It was a bear, but I got it done!

ICAD Day 5

Friday is stamping day on my ICAD planner so I wanted to try a technique I saw on Pinterest that had a mixed media background, and image stamped in black and then colored in.  

Well, my Staz-on stamp pad was dry and I couldn't find my Memento black stamp pad so I grabbed the Night of Navy Stampin up pad and used that.  Unfortunately I also used gouache which smeared the ink when I colored in.  But....I just went over everything with a Prismacolor black pen when I was done.  Not nearly as nice as the example I saw on Pinterest from Stamping Mariette, but a good start. I will revisit this again and work on the technique.

ICAD Day 4

Unlike yesterday...when I was finally ready to work on today's ICAD I rolled out a card that kept developing smoothly and peacefully. No angst that this wasn't going as I had planned.  

I had a beer label from New Belgium Brewing Company that features a Instamatic on it that I knew I wanted to feature (the beer is a delicious wheat beer called Snapshot).  I like the play on the word instamatic paired with the word instagram.  Something I sure the Instagram developers loved also.  

As I developed this collage I was thinking that when you think of photos taken with the old family instamatic (with the magic cube flash on top!) you never think of pictures of food!  And yet, Instagram is the media of choice for sharing your latest food conquest with friends. I was trying to picture my parents taking pictures of food at a restaurant with their Instamatic.  Ha Ha...that made me laugh.  It's a ludicrous thought.  In fact if my dad had a smart phone or laptop computer today and saw the sharing of food images I imagine there would be a big question mark over his head. 

Anyway...that's my collage story and I like it.  And I like my collage too!

ICAD Day 3

This ICAD did not come at anything like I planned!  Wednesday is Silhouette Day(as in my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine) and I planned to cut some colorful flowers and butterflies from some Gelli prints that I have been saving.  I did cut a lacy butterfly from a Gelli Print but when I started laying everything out on my background I didn't like the look.  So I had some little fronds sitting on my work table that had been cut previously and I cut a flower from the same plain cardstock, plus a polaroid frame.  I put all that together with a button and some cheap butterflies from SAS and voila....Day 3 is done! Phew! 

ICAD DAY 2

Tuesday is drawing day so I drew this cherry image using a cherry illustration saved from The Graphics Fairy. I'm glad of two choices I made for this year's ICAD.  First, the decision to use mixed media paper cut to index card size.  My watercoloring leaves much to be desired, but I'm less frustrated using this paper.  Also, I'm glad I choose a theme for each day of the week so I don't get locked up looking at a blank piece a paper.  It gives me a chance to think ahead and narrow down what I want to do each day.  Time is precious for me right now so I want to get right to work on each ICAD. 

I Declare ICAD 2015 Open!

The beginning of ICAD is like the opening of the Olympics for me. There has been a group of people on Flickr who participate on a regular basis and during the challenge there is lots of positive energy, encouragement and companionship.  And then when it is over everyone goes back to their individual worlds but look forward to reunite the following year.

I think this is the 4th year for ICAD for me.  Last year was the first time I complete all 61 days and that in itsself is enough to be proud of.  But, I am also proud when I flip through my cards from last year to see how I challenged myself and found some hidden talent.  I'm also proud that on the days that I "wasn't feeling it" creatively, still managed to put out a decent card.  I don't see any cards where it looked like I "phoned it in".

So, ICAD starts tomorrow, but in a burst of anticipation I got my cards done today.  I decided to try structuring the experiencce so that I don't have to think so much about what to do each day.  But, I'm not one to follow the rules..even my own!  So if on Monday I have a brainstorm for a watercolor, I'll skip lettering and do watercoloring instead.

The other rule I am going to break this year is to used mixed media paper when I'm painting or watercoloring.  I know the purpose of ICAD is to create quickly without worrying about "spoiling" good supplies, but I am trying to learn technique at the same time and index cards just don't cut it for that.  They only contribute to my sense of artistic frustration. Mixed media paper is not expensive at all so I think I will have the same sense of just letting my creativity fly as I do with index cards. So sorry Tammy...breaking away on that one!

Finding Doreen

Oh my! August 29th!  That was the last post I made on my supposed journey to "Discover Doreen".  I was rolling right along, having completed all days of Index Card a Day and then continuing on to explore further creative endeavors. But, I don't know what happened in my life after August 29th. Wait...I do remember.  Some gnarly problems involving my mom and my sister sucked the creative life blood right out of me. 

I have had some very tough moments in the last 9 months and although I abandoned updating my blog with any creative work I can say that in some of my darkest moments I have been able to "lose myself" by getting into my craft room and creating even the most simple items.  It makes me focus on something else and even if it's just for 1 - 2 hours I am lost in another world. 

As an example, in January, as the relief of having the holidays over took hold, I decided to choose a Christmas card design each month and make 5 cards of that design.  I figure by next December  60 cards will be done.  So far I have stuck to that.  In fact, at the end of April I made 15 handmade cards to give to my tennis teammates (my other salvation from real life!).  I haven't technically made May's cards yet....but there is still today! However, the 15 cards I made in April will keep my on track for my 60 card goal. 

So, what made me even look at my blog again was my considering if I should join the Index Card a Day project again.  And, having seen that I fell of the cliff creatively last August, my decision is yes! I must jump start my discovery once again.  So tomorrow...day one of ICAD 2015.  See you back on the road to Discovering Doreen