Inspired by. . .

Hello, again. I belong to a stamp group that meets monthly to exchange swap cards. The August assignment was to pick something that inspired us, make a card from that inspiration, and show both at the meeting. So, last winter I bought a really pretty shopping bag at Target and thought, wow, that would make a great card! Here's the bag:

I used three Stampin' Up sets (one tree set, Season of Friendship, and two retired circle sets) to make this card. The tree set even includes the little bird. The tree and bird are embossed with black embossing powder. The circles are all embossed with white. I used tiny circle Class Appeal stickers in the centers of the circles.

That's it for now!

Cathy

Ann's Blog Candy

Hello, dear readers. If you are a stamper, hop on over to my friend Ann's site for the opportunity to own a darling stamp she is giving away as Blog Candy. Here is the card she made with the stamp, beautifully colored with Copic Markers.

And speaking of Copic markers, I am beyond excited about being signed up for the Copic Certification class in October of this year. I plan on teaching classes starting in November. I'll post more information about that as the time gets closer.

Hope you all had a great weekend. We did. Can you believe that at the end of August in Indiana, we had a high of 70 degrees today?! My kind of weather!

Cathy

A Little Water, A Little Color, and a Phoenix

I know we all have good art days and bad art days. But I have to say, this is one of my favorite cards that I've made. I made the background using Stamp Zia watercolor sprays after I watched Zana demo the technique at a convention. Draw lines on watercolor stock using plain water and a medium round paintbrush. Then spray the watercolor sprays. The colors "stick" to the dry areas and "run" in the water lines, making a spectacular yet easy background. Zana has lots of instructions for terrific projects on her web site. The large stamp, if you're interested, is called Phoenix Mask. Both stamps are by Stamp Zia. And by the way, Zana literally makes her own water color sprays and they are extremely vibrant and easy to use. I highly recommend them!



The images are embossed in black and highlighted with glitter. The eyes of the mask are outlined with a gold Krylon Leafing Pen.

I no longer own the card, but I can go look at it any time on the wall of my stampin' buddy Meghan's art studio.

Hope you are all having a "cool" August.

Cathy

And now. . . for something completely different. . .

OK, this was something totally outside the box for me. Last summer, I took part in a bead challenge at a lovely little bead shop in Zionsville, IN, called Time 2 Bead. Sadly, they have had to close their doors since then. For the challenge, they chose several paintings and put together bead kits based on the colors and textures of the paintings. The idea was to use the beads to interpret the painting. Of course, everyone but me made jewelry. I chose a 1944 Picasso called The Cock of the Liberation. Below is a picture copied from the internet:

This is the bead kit:

First I pencil sketched the painting onto a 3 1/2 x 5 white Claybord. When I was happy with the sketch, I began to go over it with various colors of ink, then "painted in" with the inks. I used dye, chalk, and pigment inks. Sketching the Picasso gave me a much better appreciation of the artist. I always looked at his work as pretty "random", but it is extremely geometric, with lins and curves connecting everywhere.

This is the finished ink painting next to the inkjet printed image. I was so happy with it that I almost hated to start applying beads!

However, it was, after all, a bead challenge, so here are several photos of that process. I painted each area with Scotch Quick Dry Tacky Adhesive and applied the beads, in some instances with a pair of tweezers. The only beads that weren't in the kit were various colors of micro beads.

And here, finally, is the finished product. Of course I didn't win, as it would be difficult to wear a 3 1/2 x 5 inch pendant around one's neck. But I was very happy with the result and it was a LOT of fun. All projects were displayed in the store for a month and customers voted for the winner. At the end of the contest, Time 2 Bead held a reception for all the artists who entered.

And yes, the little bird has googly eyes. We are here to have fun, right?

Have a great weekend wherever you are!

Cathy