ICAD 2023 Begins

So with the beginning of June comes the start of ICAD (Index Card A Day) and yes, I'm going to try to complete it again this year.  There will be 61 days of optional prompts with the only "rule" being that you have to use an index or rolodex card.  I like using the heavy duty 4x6 index cards that someone turned me onto from Amazon and I went looking for them at the end of May but only found a pack of the real cheap ones that I had from school......or so I thought, because just after I went online to order more of the good ones I did find the ones that I had stashed away.  Needless to say, I am well supplied for this challenge and probably a couple years' more.

So here is my Title card.  This background was created when I decided to check the pens and markers in the pouches I was going through looking for those cards to glean out the ones that didn't work.  I also found some tags that I had set aside for a forgotten project and used those adding the lettering by cutting up a birthday sticker that I had saved from an envelope.  The little citrus sequins were added to cover up a smudge.  And the white tags were adhered to the black one with some SU brads that have been too long in their hiding place.

Day 1 - Sapling 

 I have a couple few many boxes of paper scraps and bits that I've decided to try to do something with rather than just collect, so everything you see here on this card comes from that stash, including the paint chips and twine.

Day 2 - Polka Dots

The background is from the inside of a security envelope and the circles are various motifs from a book, wrapping paper, a stamped bag, a vinyl folder, and the labels from spools of thread that no longer stick.

 

Day 3 - Map (or not)

I thought afterward that I should have left the hexies blank spelling out MAP, but it took a while to complete this so I let it go as is. Used all shades of blue and green Stabilo markers and a different pattern for each.  Yes, there are index cards that are printed with the hexies to begin with and of course I had to have them so you'll see them again in the future.  They are very thin though, so I'll have to watch what I use on them.

Day 4 - Espresso (Yourself!)  

You know those cardboard sleeves you get for hot coffee have a name - they're called zarfs and I usually try to save mine, if not for the printed pattern on them, just for the corrugated cardboard they're made out of which can be used in many ways.  I also unwrapped a length of raffia for this background and added a saved kraft hangtag for the top of her hat.  The flower was a tag from something old and the center of it another circle from a vinyl folder.  As I was working on this I was reminded of my uncle's wedding, which I was in back in the very early 70's.  It was very "mod" - the girls wore lime green dresses with white polka dots and big white buttons down the front.  It was a long straight dress with short sleeves and a u-shaped neckline - and my mother and grandmother made them for all the girls.  Oh yes, and we all wore white, wide-brimmed, floppy white hats.  (I guess it was the band on this hat that sent me down that rabbit hole.)

Day 5 - Zebra

I used the zebra motifs from some Zebra pen packaging I had saved along with various strips of black and white security envies.  The quote was written on black cardstock with a white gel pen and I fussy cut around the words.

Day 6 - Wildflowers

I made a mistake when I copied the prompts into my notebook and left off the (s) and didn't realize it until after I had glued down all those little paper dots so here I have a single wildflower.  But one should note that one year there may be only one of that flower and next year there may be hundreds. The quote is from Lady Bird Johnson.  The flowers, leaves, and dots are all saved die cut extras from card making.

Day 7 - Treble Clef

I drew the treble clef hoping to make it look ribbon-like.  Then I added the ruffles.  I found the quote in one of my notebooks when I was looking for the flower quote and played around with it in pencil until I made it fit withing the clef.  I added the color with General's Watercolor pencils.  

I pulled out the yearly pouches I have of all the previous ICAD's I have done - 4x6's (with the exception of the first two that are in a little 3x5 recipe box.  I found these polka-dotted pencil cases at the $Tree many moons ago and stocked up on them because I like the fact that they are mostly see-through and I can tell what's in them without having to unzip them to check.

You know what else falls on June 1st?  This year it happened to be the 50th anniversary of HWNSNBP and my first date back in 1973.  He took me to the movies and we went to McDonald's afterwards because the restaurant he wanted to go to across the street was closed, so we celebrated by having McDonalds for lunch that day. (Oh, and we went to the nursery and bought more plants too, putting us well over the planting budget for the year, but these were celebratory plants.)

And you know what the first Friday of June is - Donut Day!  This little guy decided to forego his usual chocolate donut and tried a strawberry one and I'm told that he liked it.  I think he's more willing to try different things that he's seen his friends at daycare eat.  We got him to eat watermelon when we were watching him, and Rachel said she was told he will now eat hotdogs although she hasn't witnessed it yet.  But he will jump at the opportunity to put Chick-Fil-A sauce on almost anything and not just the nuggets.  

I've been trying to catch up on the weeding but haven't been out of the house much in the last couple of days because even thought the temps are comfortable, we're getting the smoke from the fires in Canada.  So much so that the levels are in the hazardous range and many, if not all outdoor activities have been cancelled/postponed and we've been warned to stay indoors and use a mask if you go out.  The red dot in the window was the moon the other night around 1 a.m.

And this is the eerie smoke that is moving slowly through giving everything a orangy tint.  You can smell it as soon as you open the door.

This is the sun at 1 p.m. this afternoon looking like the same red dot the moon made but through the brown sky.

We could have a couple more days of this, unfortunately.