Ready, Set, GO - ICAD 2018

Tomorrow, June 1st, ICAD (Index Card A Day) begins and will run until July 31st.  This will be my 5th time taking part in this challenge.  I'm planning on posting one week's worth of cards at a time, including the prompts for the week and the themes.  

It's a fun challenge run by Tammy Garcia at Daisy Yellow.  The rules are simple...... and there's only one.... you must use an index card to create on, not specialty paper.  It can be any size up to 4 x 6, lined or unlined, colored or white.  You can prep them with gesso or go commando.   You can follow the prompts and/or themes or not.  The goal is to create something each day.  Do them all or do as many as you can.  This is very "life" friendly.  You fit it into your life.

Don't think you are an artist?  I've seen beautiful paintings, drawings, collages, mandalas, and mixed media of all kinds and all levels of ability.   One person wrote a short story - adding a bit to it each day on a new card.  Some practice lettering skills, some write poetry, some make marks, some stack and staple.  There is no right way or wrong way to do this.  You just do it.

Grab a pile of index cards, some art supplies - whatever you have on hand....crayons, pens, highlighters, pencils, paints, anything.  I've even stamped with cherries before, and let me say that there's beauty to be found all around.  Even in the ring left by the coffee you spilled this morning.  Put and index card under your cup just in case.  Drop your used tea bag on a card and when it dries, look for shapes and patterns to highlight on it.  

Think about joining in the fun.  You can share your cards on instagram, on your blog, on the ICAD facebook page.  No stress necessary.

Mini Scrap Collages 120-126/365 (3 of 3)

All caught up.

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Mini Scrap Collages 113-119/365 (2 of 3)

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Mini Scrap Collages 106-112/365 (1 of 3)

No, I haven't abandoned this project.  I just fell a little behind in posting and, yes I'll be honest, creating them.  My internal calendar (if there is such a thing) has really been off lately.  It's funny, because I do keep track of the days at work.  But days just keep on flying by so fast and I think I have so much more time to get things done.  There are 18 days left of school with staff and students.  This last week was one of those that was chock-filled with events and an upswing in mishaps and mayhem and the next 4 weeks will be a race to the finish line.  

I've kept with posting only a week's worth in each post which means there will be 3 posts to catch up.  If you're following along, thanks for sticking with me on this.

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This Last Weekend in May

A birthday card using another new background die.  This one is from Tutti Designs.  And the flower stamp is from Unity.  I was happy to find that paper behind the grid. 

 

The little patriot helping to put out the flags for Memorial Day at his house.

 

He gets to rest after a job well done.  He celebrated with his aunt and uncle - Air Force and Army Ranger - who were on leave this weekend and visiting their family and new niece (his new baby cousin). 

 

Looking over the dune in Ship Bottom on Saturday that dredger was so big and looked so out-of-place.  Not very many people on the beach.  As warm as it was inland, it was much cooler by the water.  But we enjoyed our annual get-together with our Table 7 compadres.  I started the weekend on Friday with a trip to the Emergency Room after a trip backwards at home landed me on my butt, hitting my head on the walkway.  Nothing broken, just bad bruises and a minor concussion.  Sunshine and computer screens are not my friends at the moment. 

Trying to catch up on some posts before ICAD begins at the end of this week.  I had planned to do some of the warm-ups over the long weekend but that was not to be.  If I pace myself, I may get to some of them before June 1st.

How was your weekend?

Jingle Belles - Tie a Holiday Ribbon Around the Christmas Tree

Ribbon.  Ribbon.  Who has ribbon?  Funny how I was recently thinking about how I could use some of the ribbon that I've been stashing away.  Seriously, I have probably spent a small fortune on pretty ribbon.  It's part of the "I'm going to need this someday and it's not that expensive" mentality. Until, of course, you sit back and look at all that you've accumulated.  Not to mention ribbons that have been rescued from gift packaging, out-of-fashion craft projects, hang tags, etc. 

So when I started pulling out possibilities of ribbon to use I came across these stamped and cut out pieces of mandalas.  These, believe it or not, were probably my first introduction to serious rubber stamping.  Anyone out there remember the Carol Duvall Show?  I don't remember who the guest was, but they did a segment using Outlines stamps and for whatever reason, I wanted to give them a try.  

I searched online for a source close by.  Wasn't it lucky that a brick and mortar store not too far from the University of Delaware, where my daughter was going to school at the time, carried Outlines stamps - along with a plethora of others.  She was a freshman at the time and I would often drive down on Friday afternoons to bring her home for the weekend.  So a plan was hatched.

Being younger, and much more adventurous back then, I planned on leaving early one Friday to check out that store before she was done with her classes.  It was called White Swan Stamps and it was located in New Castle, DE.  Up until then I had never been in a store entirely dedicated to one craft.  (Okay, if you don't count fabric or yarn stores.)  They had a whole selection of these mandala stamps to choose from and I built a small pile of them in my basket and only flinched a little when they tallied up my bill.  I was hooked.  

I stamped and cut out scads of them in all different colors.  I've only shown what I found in red, green, and white.  Like I said, there were different mandalas, and they could be mixed and matched and layered.  I know I used them for Christmas cards one year and had all those extra pieces left.  I wanted to use some of these again and started thinking about how to incorporate ribbon.  

I found a salvaged length of this pretty red ribbon and got out some red metallic embroidery floss.  Using a pin, I punched holes on the green piece in each segment. Then I "sewed" the ribbon into puffs all around.  I searched for a background paper that wouldn't compete too much with the ribbon mandala.  

Not only is the ribbon dimensional, the mandala segments are all at different heights.   I'm very pleased with how this came out.  I'll have to think about using more of these - in all the colors, for all occasions.

Want to see all the other ribbony creations?  Join me by clicking here to visit the Jingle Belles.  

Scribble Picnic - STORM

I think it might be a tad bit odd to bring a STORM to a picnic, but that's what we've been asked to do.  Yesterday we had quite a storm here.  When the temperature drops from 89º to 69º or less you know that cold front is coming through and bringing the thunder with it.  Luckily I was indoors during the heat of the day and got home before the skies opened up.   Yes, a good storm complete with wind, sideways rain, thunder and lightning.  Thankfully, the lights only flickered once and didn't go off.  Compared to conditions a little further northeast of here, we dodged the worst of it.  

Anyway, my STORM comes in another form this week.  My office mate has a couple of horses and one of them (on the left in the picture) is named STORM.  The other is Baxter.  This watercolor was inspired by a photo that someone took of her horses last fall that she posted on Facebook.  

When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston last September, our teachers, along with our student leadership group, organized a Walk-a-Thon.  Our Stony Brook Huskies raised over $12,000 for Northline Elementary School in Houston.   Our students and staff walked laps around our playground calculated to be the distance between our school and the school in Texas.  Storm and Baxter came that day and were ridden by my office partner and her husband in the center of it all.  Our principal wore a back pack filled with coins collected from lunchroom change during the two weeks prior to the walk.  It was over 50lbs. of coins.  Several days after the event the students of Stony Brook and the students of Northline Elementary met via a skyped assembly.  It was a great feeling to be able to help them replenish things that were lost in the storm.  

What's been a bit odd here is the intensity of the "greenness".  Rachel came up from Delaware on Sunday to take me to lunch for Mother's Day and remarked how everything looked so unusually green.  We've been having a lot of gray overcast days lately and I think the lighting has something to do with it.  Right now, looking into part of the back yard that's now missing my favorite oak, it's mostly ombre green.  The daffodils are done, and the redbuds have lost their magenta buds.  The peonies are not ready yet, but just out of the picture on both sides there are a few white dogwoods adding a little lightness to the greenscape.  Mother's Day weekend and after are when the annuals go in.  HWNSNBP will be busy with that - under my direction of course.

Well, enough rambling on.  Time to get over to the picnic to see what other STORMS are brewing!  You can join me by clicking here.  And make note that we have a couple of weeks off.  Our next picnic isn't until 6/6.  

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all mother's, grandmother's, aunts, godmothers, sisters, mother's-to-be, mother's-in-law.  Those with us still, and those who continue to watch over us.

I'd like to show how I added the pink pieces to the card base so evenly.

I used my Neat and Tangled die pieces that I posted about a week or so ago.  Instead of gluing the framework down, I used two giant paper clips to secure it to the base.  

Then I added glue to the back of the pink pieces and stuck them into the framework like a puzzle.

After giving it a few minutes to set up, I gently pulled the frame away and there's my background.

I hope everyone enjoys the day

Mini Scrap Collages - 99-105/365

I'm a little behind on my posting this week.  A spring sinus infection mixed with what I'm sure are seasonal allergies have not made my "free" time particularly enjoyable.  Although when I do sit down to work on these, I become totally engaged and absorbed in the possibilities.  I must spend some time this weekend cutting more ovals.  Between HWNSNBP, myself, and Kirby our cockatiel we usually finish one box of Cheez-It's a week and each box allows for 18 ovals, so I'll always be ahead of the game with that thank goodness.  I don't know why, but I tend to wait until I have a few boxes before cutting.  It's not the most pleasurable job, but I think I have an ingrained sense of "assembly line" functioning when doing something repetitive. You know, once you have the tools out and start rolling, why stop and start again another day.  

April Cards

April was a full month.  And with the exception of this first birthday card - much to my embarrassment, most of them were late.  The first went to my office mate and was inspired by a card I have pinned (click here).  

And this one was for my daughter-in-law.  (I just love those Unity pears!)

I made two of these based on this pin (click here).  One is very late, but finally on it's way.  The other was sent in time via interoffice mail and was misplaced for over two weeks.  (I'm glad it wasn't some kind of school record going between buildings!)  More Unity stamps.  And a lot of fun watercoloring.

The last is a quick thank you card that I did for the staff to thank them for their thoughtful gifts for Administrative Assistant's Day.  (Shhh, don't tell anyone, but after having it displayed for a week or so, I took it back ...... you know me and recycling!)  

I'm trying very hard to get back to a timely schedule for my card-making so there are no late wishes in the future.  If only there were a few more hours in the day.  

Scribble Picnic - STRAWBERRY

The theme for Scribble Picnic this week is STRAWBERRY.   These little garden fairies are trying to bring this one to their picnic.  It's pretty big compared to them, but they have plenty more friends to share it with.  You probably can't see them, but they're buzzing around your head right now!  Oh, don't worry, they're not nasty like gnats.  

I'll be stopping by the picnic later today to see all the STRAWBERRY creations.  And I hear there's a STORM brewing for the picnic next week before we take a two-week vacation.  Gee, I hope no one gets blown away!

Nature-filled Weekend Pics

Friday night's sunset.  Under the eyelid of clouds.

A blink and it will sink below the purple cloud mountain.

Two doors down a hummingbird feeder hangs off the back porch.  With the screens open, I can lean out and see them clearly.

Saturday mid-morning ride down Great Bay Blvd., fishing pole in the car.  Osprey nest.

The largest horseshoe crab shell we've ever seen. (Reference the quarter on the left.)

Lot's of white birds in view.  Snowy Egrets and 

Great White Egrets.

Back home at the bay beach - what is it?

A swan.  One amongst many.