She Flew....

A little bit of mail art love! I was very pleased with the watery sky - a thorough soaking of the paper helped!

Time Flies

Wow, this month is just flying by! I have a lot going and not enough time. I would love to be able to share some of the projects I have been working on, but they are for our West Coast group's Scramp Camp retreat. They will be a surprise for the attendees...so...no posting! I will be photographing them and will post after the second weekend in September.

I did sneak in a bit of other playtime by doing mail art. I have a bit of a wacky sense of humor, and I tend to express it in  my art journals and mail art. This was one of my favorite juxtapositions:

I have a lot of scenic stamps (well, a lot of all stamps really) . I also tend to buy images in varying sizes. I mixed a couple of "normal" stamps in an unusual way, and came up with the above postcard. The saying is one that seems so appropriate these days! Next time you are playing (with no specific project in mind) try mixing and matching your images for a fun twist!

Pre-empted by Real Life

Wow - it has been quite awhile! Real life has pre-empted all else these days. However, both kids are back at college; class samples are in progress; Scramp Camp art retreat is well into the planning and purchasing stages; and car will be fixed up in September. I will be heading to Boston at the end of the month to move my daughter into her apartment (with her roommate and her family).  The car - well, I was rear-ended by a delivery truck on the freeway. Thankfully, it was not serious; although, I was sore for several days.

During this hiatus, I have been doing some planning. But, it is not the same as getting into the paints, stamps, inks, etc. When real life gets in the way, do you miss making art? I have a lot of projects lined up, so planning and sketching will help when I get to them.

I did get some mail art made and sent to friends (and completed the Summer PSL). A great starter for mail art (and can be used for greeting cards) is a purchased postcard. I stamped and cut out some images, and then added them to the post card.

This was sent to my friend Sherry in Indiana. I should be able to return to normal posting soon...

Mail Art

I made a little bit of Mail Art to send to my friend, Nancy. Since she likes bird images, I thought I would use a new set I bought from Stampin' Up. On the background of the matte coat postcard, I spritzed some water and added 3 complimentary colors of Distress Stains. Once the background was dry, I added the vintage flower page. The images were stamped in India Ink black and Distress Inks. Washi tape was added around the borders. Then, to tie the whole card together, I added a wash of Distress Stain.
Mail art postcards are a quick, easy and fun little project for times when you do not have a lot of time. You can still create something fun and brighten the mailbox of a friend!

More Mail Art

Real life has taken most of my time this past few days. I was on a bit of a roll one day last week and created a few fun bits and pieces.

The above piece of mail art was created a long with the Moon Man. In addition to adding color with Distress Inks, I was playing with Glaze and Souffle pens. The border of the garden plan was double outlined with a combination of these pens. I really like the combination of glossy and mat. Have you given these pens a try? They create interesting effects!

Mail Art

I am participating in an informal mail art exchange with my friend, Sherry, in Indiana. I wanted to use this background for something surreal and vibrant. It was not until after I stamped the image on matte coat that I decided to use pastels. Since matte coat has a smooth clay coating, it does not have the "tooth" to grab certain coloring media. However, I was persistent and found that my Pan Pastels would work. The background was colored with the pastels and sealed with workable fixative. The moon man was stamped on a mate coat scrap and colored in with Copics. I cut him out and glued him to the background. The hand was colored with Souffle pens.  This was actually quite quick to create as I did not do a lot of painstaking coloring. The broad strokes of the pastels made it super easy. Just remember, if you use your pastels to add color, use the appropriate non-coated paper.