Almost There...

Funny how having another pair of Seth Apter classes coming up makes me want to get my 52 Card Pick Up deck finished.  And I'm so close to finishing.  Though one card at least will have to wait, because today I ordered a new stamp that just needs to be included somewhere in the deck.  Anyway, here's what I've done over the past two nights.  Tomorrow, there will be new art to post!

 

 

 

 

After tonight's efforts, there are only 5 cards left to do!

Approaching

Quick lunchtime post.  Last night I finally got back to my studio table and back to my 52 Card Pick Up cards.  I'm approaching the end of the deck!  It's been over a year since the class, so I guess it's past time, right?  I got 5 done last night.

I think this is my favorite of the five.  That stamp is one that my mom got me while she was away for a week-long workshop with Seth Apter and Orly Avinieri.

 

 

The other thing that's approaching is another weekend of Seth Apter classes!  I can't wait.  Maybe I'll even be able to finish the deck by then!

Giving and Receiving

Hello Pocketeers, long time no see!  Sorry I haven't blogged in a few months.  I have been making things, though, so I'd like to catch up a little.  Most of what I've been making has been for a swap group I joined on facebook.  Most of the swaps I've signed up for in the group have been ATCs, but I've done a couple of tag swaps.  Here's some of what I've sent out:

Black Cat ATC

Tea Time tag

 

These sets were for an Earth, Wind, and Fire ATC set swap with a group of 5 of us.

An Apple A Day tag

Christmas Tree ATC

 

It's kept me busy.  I've done a bit of my own stuff, though.  I started a cigar box with the apple themed papers from Authentique from a year or two ago...  You can see it in the photo from the last post.  And I've done a few of my 52 Card Pick-Up cards:

I'm only making one Christmas present this  year, and I can't really show it too much of course, but here are some sneaky previews of my super sneaky secret project:

I have yet to make my gift tags, but I'll post those once I make them.  I'm excited for Christmas, but this year I haven't done much Christmas art.  It's taken a while to get into the spirit.  And my art space is such a mess, it's not very pleasant to work in right now, so I haven't been as active in general.  Ah, well.  I'll get it cleaned up and get in there more often soon!  In the meantime, I plan to share some Christmasy stuff with you this week.  See you soon!

Hitting Print

Hey there, Pocketeers!  I've been slowing down on the cards, but getting together with Zingala and RunningWave has spurred me to action a little bit more over the past couple of weeks.  Still only resulted in three cards, but I dug into my scraps and cutting dies a little more for these.  Plus, this weekend we got together to play a little bit with RunningWave's Gelli plate, with fun results. But first, the cards:

 

The primarily green one has ivy die-cut from one of the papers I printed on the Gelli plate.  The mushrooms collaged onto the other are from a napkin I had in my stash.

The banners and the edging at the top are cut with Spellbinders dies.

My favorite prints from our Gelli Plate adventures, with leaves die cut from one of them, and what's left of the paper I cut the ivy from for the green card.

I love the layers and peel-y look here.

This was a ghost print after pulling a print through a stencil.  Look at that delicious texture.

In two weeks the three of us are taking a class together on using the Gelli plate, so I'm looking forward to learning different tricks and techniques for getting unique prints.  And I kind of want my own plate, but where on Earth I'm going to put it is a different story...

Halfway

Wow, it's been a while.  And after I had been so good earlier in the Summer.  Well, I haven't been as persistent with art stuff as I was at the beginning of the Summer.  Been reading more than arting, because I might be a little bit obsessed with the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (OMG).  But I have made a bit more progress on the 52 Card Pick Up deck, and started a new project.  This post shows off the rest of what it took to get to exactly halfway through the deck. 

 

 

As for the new project, it's coming along slowly.  It's rather a large one, for me anyway, and it had to spend some time on the balcony in time-out today while the spray fixative I used on it dried.  Really didn't need it fuming up the whole condo. 

The Gathering

Hi there, Pocketeers. I promise I've still been arting. Slowly, little by little, I've been building my 52 Card Pickup deck. Some cards I'm really happy with, and others less so. But I'm having fun working on them (if you can call it work). Here's what I've put together lately: 

That last one isn't my favorite, but it is the result of me finding my new stamps from Lavinia Stamps in the mail and wanting to try them out RIGHT AWAY. I had forgotten that the oak tree stamp, which you can just barely see in the background, would be so small, but the stamps are great quality. They're clear cling stamps, so they are also great for partial images if you don't put them on a block. 

Part of what I'm enjoying about doing these cards is the scale of them. It's something I will keep in mind for future art. One of my friends who gave me a lot of the Magic: the Gathering cards I'm using talked to me about artists who over-write the art that's printed on the cards with their own original art, and suggested that I try that out. The more I think about it, the more appealing the idea is. I might experiment with that one I finish this deck. Or I might just start before then. Who knows. But it's a great challenge. There's all kinds of magic I could try to work with these cards.