New ATCs by the dozens

I just made some new artist trading cards, 29 to be exact. I like to make them in batches, and I needed some for a swao with ATheeC from Flickr, a.k.a. Martine from Belgium, with whom I swap periodically.

I also knew I'd be needing some trades for Artiscape in April and Art & Soul in May, and ATCs or ACEOs are a handy, small size for trading. I usually take ATCs and charms. Some of the designs above started as prints from some of my old favorite ATCs but all are re-colored by hand, embellished and finished as one of a kinds (OOAKs).

The picture above with the cat cards are all ATCs hand-drawn or hand-painted by me, including a Zentangle I made and a charcoal sketch of a bird. Martine also likes APCs--altered playing cards--so I turned Donald Trump into the King of Hearts and Woody Allen into a Joker. Makes sense to me.

Facebook? D.I.Y.

I've been on a crazy doodling kick lately. I think it might be a stress reliever! The last photo- a zentangle- is definitely that. This one is 3" x 3" and doodled on watercolor paper with an extra fine point Sharpie. You can read more about Zentangles on the Web, and see many varieties on Flickr. It's fun to turn them every which way to see what you can see.

The face doodles started when I met Kellie Rae Roberts at Art & Soul, Portland, and had her autograph my copy of her book Taking Flight. I just love her solemn-faced girls, and have been practicing the techniques in her book. So, some of the these faces are her design, just tried by me.

The painted girl 'Fly' is in my regular art journal and done on a Twinkling H2O background with watercolor crayons.

The other faces are mostly charcoal pencil or graphite pencil. See anyone you know? I think I accidentally made Chloe from '24' and Alexandra Steele from The Weather Channel! I started doodling these after getting Journal Bliss by Violette.

I decided I will dedicate one of my journals to being a 'Facebook.' Grown-ups certainly can be and are on the 'real' Facebook, but I've got enough sites to maintain as it is. So, I'll just keep all my face doodles in one place. I can't wait to make a cover for it. So, Facebook? I say: (Do)odle it Yourself.

Moi

Moi
Originally uploaded by Gina2424

And now, just another silly Flickr play toy, the Warholizer, by Big Huge Labs.com. This is my self-portrait for the ZNE Artists and Poets fat book page swap which I am hosting and binding. This is a 4 x 4 inch doodle I created with Zentangle-style hair, using a Sharpie fine tip.

Lovin' Zentangles -My New Therapy

As prescribed by me and introduced to me by Jade Adams and her mom Vonda Robert of ARTchix, ATC World, ZettiZoo (and well, where aren't they?), Zentangles are the best relaxation therapy ever.

They take time; you have to concentrate and focus on only them, and it's fun! It took me a while to find a pen I like, breezing through Pigma Microns of various sizes, Uniballs, a Gel Extreme 0.5 and a Sharpie extra fine (Santa put some of those in my stocking).

Today I packaged up six of my first eight for an ATC World swap hosted by Ms. Vonda. Can't wait to get some back. Besides being relaxing to make, they also make you think when you look at them. For more information, go to http://www.zentangle.com/.

See what you see in my Zentangles.

The End of the Weekend

I finished these doodle cat ATCs last night during Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. It's hard for me to "just" watch television. I like to be doing something, because, let's face it, one really doesn't 'have to concentrate' on those shows, as good as they are.

Had a hard time falling asleep, so I started recounting all the things that went on over the four-day weekend. When I reflect it always makes me feel like the days lasted a little longer, because they always seem to go so fast otherwise. Then for some reason, I woke up at 4 a.m. raring to go, whatever raring means.

So I did email, ate some Raisin Nut Bran, read my favorite blogs, looked at Flickr, and finally at 7 a.m. decided to take pictures of these cards. I found a "doodle" that works for me, and now I cannot stop doodling these cards. I'd given the previous cats all away, so I thought I'd make some for me. These are watercolor crayons and gel pens on heavy journal pages, cut out and mounted on various background papers, some from Shabby Cottage Studio http://shabbycottagestudio.com where I am on the Design Team: The Seven Shabby Sisters. Watch for our next project of an altered paper house/hanger-upper-thingy.

I already was asked by the lovely Jade to swap a card I posted on Flickr last night, so they don't last too long! I'm hoping she will send me a Zentangle in trade. I am just learning about these here: http://www.zentangle.com and haven't tried one yet. Need to get a good pen- it is key.

Looking forward to today's mail arrival. With all of my swaps now sent out, it is fun to just sit back and see what comes. That's the benefit of getting done on time or early, I guess. Forgot to take a picture of the snowman swap I sent to Mary Isabella, but I guess that's a good thing because she's one of my regular blog visitors. So, no sneak peek for you, Mary! Ho, ho, ho.

It Wasn't Even My Birthday!

Although the plan was for a Zetti-style Holiday ATC swap at lunch, I think this "Bonus Mona" might be my favorite. I feel like I should have headlined this post "I Did Not Make These!" And, if all this sounds like code, let me explain.

It was a gathering of ARTchix as Jade, her sister Coral and mom Vonda and I gathered, never having met before, with the original intent of Jade and I swapping a holiday card and some goodies. Goodies in the art world can mean just about anything, but usually ephemera and little bits and baubles to alter with.

However, I had my binder of ATC cards that I had made and so did Jade. Plus I had some that I have gotten from swaps (and am keeping) so we had a look-fest, and then the swapping began in earnest. I had made Vonda and Coral surprise cards anyway, and Vonda had one she had made with her (the purple-gray angel here) from her ATC Cemetery and Statuary group which she gave to me. Then Jade saw some more she liked and so did I. That girl is seriously talented and so is her family. Mom Vonda just won the ARTchix Fairy Dreams swap!

They also turned me onto Crafts 2000 as well as some cool Yahoo! groups: ATC World, Altered Heads, Zetti Zoo, Cemetery and Statuary as well as Zentangles. http://www.zentangle.com/. Ah! More stuff to learn and do!

The Christmas Greetings, Eighth Dwarf and Mona are all from Jade and the Crusty Tale Mermaid on an actual canvas is from Dana of fairydustedmermaids on ebay and Flickr.

Coral's goodies are coming by post, and not faux post either! That's an ARTchix joke. Okay, so I guess we artistas are weird. But, we're a (mostly) happy lot.