ICAD Weeks Seven and Eight

With July winding down it also means that ICAD is winding down.  A few days more and August will be here.  It seems to have gone by quickly.  Here are Weeks 7 and 8.

Day 43 - Lilac

Paint Pens, Watercolor Pencils, Micron

Day 44 - Roundabout 

(There is a difference between a Roundabout, a Rotary, and a Circle which I didn't know.  I thought they were just names for the same thing.)

Micron, Paint Pens

Day 45 - Kaleidoscope

This looks like it took a long time, but once I got into the flow of making those squares it seemed to go quickly.  

Stabilo Markers

Day 46 - Pond

Do you call these cattails or punks?  I asked HWNSNBP to get us some so we could burn them while we're working outside as a way to deter some of the bugs.  He reminded me that he tried to get some a few years ago and got wet feet.  

General's Watercolor Pencils

Day 47 - Record Player (Off prompt unless you equate the grooves of the marker and the vinyl circles with a record.)

Markers, Vinyl punch outs from some new pencil cases

Day 48 - Cupcake (Off prompt)

I was playing around with my Zig Metallic Dot Markers and these birds showed up.

Day 49 - Tropical

I had done something similar in a sketch book last year.

Microns, Generals Watercolor Pencils

Week 8

Day 50 - Typography (Off Prompt)

My hand just wanted to make these scribbled circles.

Stabilo and Micron Markers, Graphite Pencil

Day 51 - Blur

Zig Clean Color Dot Markers

Day 52 - Ice Cream

Some fruity ice cream cones.

Dollar Store potted paint, Micron and Stabilo Markers, Watercolor Pencils

Day 53 - Botanical

Micron and Watercolor Pencils

Day 54 - Translucent

This was an experiment that didn't work out as well as I pictured it would.  I used a piece of white tissue paper for the sun hoping that it would be translucent.  The writing was on the card already but it wasn't readable so I traced it on the top of the tissue paper.  (For a couple of days last week we actually had a lot of smoke here on the east coast from the fires on the west coast.  It really did make the sun look like a red ball in the sky.

Acrylics, Micron, Tissue Paper

Day 55 - Tendril

This was a font I found online.  

Microns and Stabilos

Day 56 - Encyclopedia

Who else learned how to spell ENCYCLOPEDIA from Jiminy Cricket?

Micron, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Gel Stick

So the final stretch is here and although I enjoy doing these cards I am looking forward to taking a break from challenges for a while.  I have to get back to my card making as I'm falling a little behind on my Christmas cards, and I have so many ideas that I want to try with some things that have accumulated on my work table.  

July Anniversary

We should have been celebrating Rachel and Ryan's wedding this month - well, their wedding reinactment as they did get married last July without all the trappings, but virus protocols hadn't been lifted and they were faced with having to cut back their guest list by a third which they didn't want to do.  They would have rescheduled right away but the venue is going out of business so they are still in the midst of replanning everything.  They are on the hunt for a new venue and have no idea of a date at this point.  A wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses have all been purchased and are waiting to be put to use.  In the meantime, there was an anniversary to celebrate.  

I used the woodcut hearts and vines from The Greetery as a focal point.  The stenciled background was created with the leftover from the vine diecuts.  And I found a LOVE die that I cut out multiple times and layered for a dimensional effect.  

I have lots of this paper stocked up for the invitations when the date is finally put in place.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

ICAD - Weeks Five and Six

Day 29 - Quilt

Stabilo Markers and a Watercolor Pencil

Drawing those circles was hard enough, I don't think I could sew them!

Day 30 - Pastel

Zig Dot Markers, Watercolor Pencils, Washi Tape Butterflies

Day 31 - Vine

Dollar Store Heart Stickers, Micron, Watercolor Pencils

Day 32 - Talavera

One of the things that I like about ICAD is the new things you learn.  I had never heard this term before and had to look it up.  It turns out to be a kind of elaborate Mexican pottery.

Paint pens, Micron, and Gel pen

Day 33 - Feather

Acrylic background and Feathers from Kirby

Day 34 - Gingham

Stabilo markers and Flag cutout

Day 35 - Dahlia

Potted paint background, Cuttlelola 

Day 36 - Tree House

Acrylic background, Stabilo and Micron Markers, Gel Pen

Day 37 a & b - Oasis (off prompt)

Shuttle Art Gel Crayons activated with water

Day 38 - Postcard

Dollar Store potted paint, Micron, Die cut letters and leaves

Day 39 - Nautical

Dollar Store Potted Paint, Micron

Day 40 - Train or Train Set

Micron, Stabilo Markers, Uniball Gel Pen

Day 41 - Message in a Bottle

These are Genie bottles.  You have to rub them to get your message or your task.  Choose your color wisely.

Day 42 - Silver

Crafter's Choice Metallic Marker, Uniball Metallic Gel Pen, Micron

Still playing catch up.

New Things

I haven't been posting much lately because my dear old computer had been showing it's old age and giving me problems prompting me to bite the bullet so to speak and get it fixed.  Well, the old girl had so much going wrong that the computer tech suggested getting a new one.  I had been meaning to, really.  I had been looking periodically for a good replacement but finding something with the specs I wanted wasn't happening.  When I took my old one in I told the tech guy what I was interested in and asked him for some recommendations.  So today I am initiating my new computer with it's first blog post.  Fingers crossed she'll be as good to me as old Dell.

Another new thing was a little surprise from HWNSNBP who found this nifty new light for me.  I have a daylight floor lamp that I typically use when I'm working in the dining room but the base has been broken for some time and being held together with some Christmas-themed packing tape.  Charming - not so much.  This light is small and portable and has a clock and calendar, as well as a color-changing base and a wireless phone charger.  I like to use a lamp with the natural light spectrum when I'm working with color (cards, artwork, etc.) so this is perfect.  

And, oh my goodness!  These new Oreo cookies are probably the best that I've had.  I don't drink coffee but coffee ice cream is my favorite with chocolate syrup and these cookies hit both those bases.  And I was glad that I had bought these this weekend and had them here.  My computer was coming via FedEx and I was going to have to sign for it.  I was pleasantly surprised when the deliveryman turned out to be the same deliveryman that delivered to the school where I worked.  I remembered that he had mentioned that our house was on his route and had made other deliveries here, but not any that needed a signature.  It was nice to have a little chat with him to catch up how he had been over the past year and he asked how retirement was.  During our chit chat he mentioned that no one offered him cookies anymore over at the school.  I always offered our delivery guys (FedEx, UPS, and USPS) to take part in our Taste Test Tuesdays and water and rest room needs.  I told him that he was in luck because I had some new Oreos to try and grabbed a couple for him.  We talked a little more and then he had to get on with his deliveries and took the cookies with him.  I hope he liked them.  

 

So I will be spending a little time getting used to a new keyboard and finding files as I break in this new machine.  I had the computer set up and files transferred from my old computer by the tech service and you know when you have a new device you have to log in to most of your websites again until the computer knows them.  Tomorrow I will also have to reinstall the printer and find my photo editing cd's.  I don't have a cd drive anymore so this might mean another trip to the computer tech service.  But for now I know that I can transfer pictures from my phone.  Not sure about my Canon yet.  Bear with me as I get the hang of all of this.  

July Birthday and What's Blooming

Here is a pink version of the BotaniCuts flowers and baskets from The Greetery.  I know we're past tulip season but I just love creating these bouquets.  And who doesn't like flowers?

So what's currently blooming in the yard?  Outside the back door the pathway is lined with pots of vinca in shades of pink and in the stones I have again allowed the cleome volunteers to go wild.  Funny how most of them are white this year.

For the first time in a very long time, we had daylilies blooming at the top of the driveway.  I say had because while we were away this past weekend they were eaten.  But they did look pretty.

Outside the kitchen window are more pots of vinca and I asked HWNSNBP to put a flower pot of zinnias there hoping that they would be tall enough to see the hummingbirds that are attracted to them.  However, these zinnias are a full foot shorter than ones that we've had in years past.  He swears that he got the same seed, but even the size of the flowers is smaller.  Oh well.  We'll have to try again next year with that.

And there's another strange looking plant in there.  He found another amaryllis bulb ready to bloom in the basement so we decided to put it outside instead of keeping it in the house.  We hid it among the vinca because we're not sure whether the deer would eat it.

We've lost a couple of maple trees in the last couple of years and this one was the tree that we hung the bird feeders in, so we decided to just have the tree topped and left some of the bigger lower branches on it.  HWNSNBP made some wooden flower pot brackets so we could place pots of flowers around the trunk and elevated enough to keep the deer away.  We had pansies in these in the spring and switched over to vinca.  And now, since there is no shade provided by this tree, we hung several pots of petunias and other flowers from it.  Underneath are some snapdragons and more vinca.

Here is the other container of zinnias.  Last year those flowers were taller than the fence surrounding the planter.  Like I previously said - they're at least a foot shorter.  

Up near the pool is our St. Francis statue surrounded by thyme, lavender, and lambs ears.  There are a couple of pots of vinca in there and some taller snapdragons but they're not blooming too heavily yet.

This is my lemon tree(s) that I almost lost two years ago when one of them had but one leaf.  I planted them all together and kind of braided the "trunks".  They were doing well inside until I moved the planter in the early spring and they started losing leaves again.  We put it outside and it's really thriving with lots of new growth.  Will I ever have lemons?  I doubt it, but it's a nice tree.

A view of the birdbath garden.  The white flowers at 7 o'clock are some white salvia that's supposed to be an annual but that came back again this year.  

On the table are potted begonias.  The two smallest pots are plants that have been over-wintered inside for at least the last two years.  (See all the charming cages in the background protecting the dahlias from the deer?)

Some of the dahlias are starting to bloom but we've found that they seem to prefer cooler weather and it's been pretty hot lately.

Now here you can see the two lavender plants that survived from last year and how pretty compact they are as opposed to...............

The new ones that are much bigger and heavy with flowers and scent.  Truly I think we chose the wrong variety for a fence planting.  There are annuals in between them, but they grew so big the annuals didn't have a chance.

And more volunteer cleome in the cracks.   

Still trying to catch up on weeding but I don't think I ever will.

ICAD - Weeks Three and Four

We had been very busy for the last week and a half getting ready for the kids to come with the littles.  I managed to keep up with my daily index cards right up to last Friday and the last two days I've been playing a game of catch up.  I try to work at least a day in advance with the prompts but never got to plan ahead for the family weekend.  I also neglected to post the cards from the previous week so this post is a little lengthy.  Sorry.

Day 15 - Chartreuse

The apple has shades of chartreuse in it.  It was one of the background cards I had done in advance with acrylics.  I just added it to another prepared card and added the wording.

Day 16 - Trinket

I was looking for the definition of TRINKET to see what it encompassed and was amazed to find so many synonyms for it.  This is a partial list.  Those chevron shapes are filled in with the $Tree potted paint and the words are added with a Micron.

Day 17 - Color Wheel

Sometimes it helps to not clean up.  As I was thinking of what to do for this prompt my eye caught the bag of felt that I had from the fairy project in a box of things that were going back up to the craft room.  I decided to cut a piece from each color and then, since I did not have black, I had the brainstorm to use the dark blue and cover it in French knots with embroidery floss.  It worked fine, but I have to remember not to have these brainstorms at 11:30 at night.  It becomes like doing a jigsaw puzzle where I want to keep going until I'm finished.  An hour and a half later............

Day 18 - Parallel

This was inspired by a shirt that I have.  I used Kingart gel sticks and a Micron.

Day 19 - Sand or Sand Castle

I chose to use two tangles that had "Sand" in their name - SandS S+S/Damy and SAND/Adele Bruno

Done in Micron markers and shaded with watercolor pencil.  (Could also be a beach towel to lay on the sand.)

Day 20 - Bridge

Most people know that HWNSNBP is "bridge challenged" - the technical term being gephyrophobia.  I was looking for alternatives to road/rail bridges and was inspired to use a pool bridge as a base for some linear drawings of types of bridges.  Done in Micron, metallic marker, and watercolor pencil.

Day 21 - Inkwell

Again, having "stuff" on the table brought me to this idea.  The bottle is made from the window of a security envelope with felt squares in it.  The ink spilled out is made with Posca pain pens.  I changed that childhood rhyme to better fit the prompt.

Week 4

Day 22 - Meadow

This is a meadowlark.  I had actually done a meadowlark as a warm up before ICAD started but never posted it because it looked more like a yellow penguin to me so I was glad for the opportunity to give it another try.  Done in watercolor pencils.

Day 23 - Margarita

Did you know that the Spanish word for daisy is Margarita?

Watercolor pencils, Micron marker

Day 24 - Maroon

In Southeast Asia and on the Indian subcontinent you can find the Maroon Oriole with it's blue-tinted beak.  General's Watercolor pencils, Derwent Inktense pencils

 

Day 25 - Maple 

I have a tiny maple leaf punch that I used on some cardstock and glued them to the card.  Then I drew auras around them and filled in the extra space with black.

Day 26 - Matelasse - This is not that.

Done with Micron marker and graphite pencil.

Day 27 - Marble

Another acrylic background with some dot stickers that I turned into marbles with my Sharpies.

Day 28 - Magician

What do you see in that magical blue smoke?  It is called pareidolia - seeing faces/animals/objects in randomness - like when people see the Man in the Moon, or clouds that look like bunnies or other animals.  Not to be confused with apophenia which is seeing connections and patterns that aren't there (like conspiracy theories).  So I took this prepared acrylic background and looked for things in it and outlined them with a very fine Micron.