Only 2 Days Left!

The Index Card a Day Challenge is winding down. It makes me sad when it ends. I really enjoy getting into my art room and creating something every day.

I have a problem motivating myself to do it....it is nice to have someone else sending me daily prompts!

Here are my cards from the past week.  

Day 53: Fortune

The first thing that popped into my head was 'fortune cookie'. I keep all my fortunes in a box in my ephemera drawer so I pulled that out and sifted through them until I found one I liked.

This one says "The coming month shall bring you much happiness"

I drew the scene with my Pilot Color Eno soft blue pencil and colored it with Inktense pencils.


Day 54: Aquarium

My initial thought was to draw one of those deep sea diver figurines you see in aquariums but most of the photos online had him with a treasure chest (and a knife....to fight off other treasure hunters? lol)

I decided I liked the treasure chest more than the diver. I always wanted one in my aquarium but my college roommate never let me add one.....too tacky lol  I never had an aquarium after college...too much work I guess.

This was done with Sharpie pen, Inktense and watercolor pencils.


Day 55: Olympics

I was going for a vintage postcard feel.

This is Sharpie pen and Inktense pencils.


Day 56: Text or Texture

This was a tough one for me....not just figuring out what to do but actually physically doing it.
I had gone to the chiropractor earlier in the day. My shoulder was killing me. He adjusted my shoulder, then my elbow and then my wrist.  Everything was so sore I could barely move my arm (for about 24 hours!!!)  So drawing/painting was out of the question unless I just did finger painting lol

I ran my card through my Cuttlebug for the texture. This is a folder from a company called Life Style Crafts. No clue where I bought it....I have never seen them since. But it is very cool diamond pattern don't you think?

I then rubbed CTMH Crystal Blue ink over it and then CTMH Lagoon over the corners.

The text is also from CTMH. The "Always Grateful" set #C1559 stamped in black StazOn ink.


Day 57: Stickers

I used to be heavily into stickers. I had boxes and boxes of them. I would cover the envelopes of all my cards with them. But I misplaced them when I made the move out west and didn't find them for a couple years so I lost interest in them. As a matter of fact I bagged up most of them and sold them at my yard sale just a couple weeks ago (about 1000 stickers for 50 cents. Some little kid is now having a blast with them!

So when this prompt popped up I had very few stickers to chose from (and this is exactly the reason I never get rid of anything.....as soon as you do you find a use for it!!!)  LOL

I painted a mountain lake and plopped a couple Hallmark goose stamps into the water enjoying a refreshing swim.  :-)


Day 58: Graffiti

I was going to just add 'graffiti' to a wall but then decided I wanted to include the artist. :-)

I drew the girl with a Sharpie pen.

I dug around for a stencil of bricks but didn't like the one I had so I hand painted them instead. 
I then painted the graffiti. (you can see the bricks peeking through on some of the lighter colors)

"Rule" was added with a fine tip Sharpie marker.

I still needed something... I had been playing with my Crazy stamps earlier in the day so I grabbed the girly looking mini bird and added her to the bottom right corner.


Day 59: Hopscotch or TicTacToe

When I was a kid we would save up colored chalk and draw our board out on the playground (and hope it lasted for a few days). You then searched for a nice flat rock (they didn't bounce as much). We would play during every recess. Do kids even play hopscotch any more or is that too old fashioned?

I painted the entire card black with acrylic paint. I then added the Hopscotch board with Prismacolor pencils. I have found that these pencils (especially the white) have a chalk like look when you write over black paint (yet they don't rub off like chalk)

I then drew and colored the girl on a separate card, cut her out and glued her down. She could have been a bit bigger. Oh well. :-)


Only 2 days left in the challenge. I am not crazy about either of the prompts so this might be a struggle lol


And of course I did do a couple other things this week.

The stuff I ordered from the HSN all day craft day on July 6 arrived last week. It is so difficult to NOT buy something. They introduce so many cool products! I only ordered 2 things (but had a couple things that arrived on AutoShip from a prior all day craft day lol)

This is a birthday card for my father in law. His birthday is not until October but my Seasonal Cutting Dies had just arrived and I had to try them out!

I used the 2 leaf dies from the new set. (my Seasonal Folders didn't arrive until after I finished the card so I guess I need to make something else) ;-)

The sentiment is from Anna Griffins Fantastic Flips card kit from clear back in January (I think). The scroll frame is from one of her Fancy Frame die sets (these sets are gorgeous!) If you ever get the chance to buy them don't hesitate....just do it! They cut and emboss beautifully.

I inked the leaves with Distress Inks and added a strip of brown, embossed satin ribbon. 

It is a pretty simple card but when I gave it to hubby for his dad his first reaction was "Wow!" :-)


And lastly, I mentioned early in this post that I had been playing with my 'crazy stamps'.
That would be Tim Holtz Crazy Cats (and some birds....and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the dogs!)

I was feeling a bit down yesterday so I stopped into the local craft store (just a block from my house). They are a small mom&pop store that carries mostly high end craft supplies. It is so much fun to just browse.

Anyway, like I said, I was a bit blue so I just wandered....and found the die set for the Crazy Cats stamp set.  I have the dies set for the Bird Crazy set - well I am missing the die for the round, short bird - we won't go into that as it causes arguments around here as to who's fault it is that it is gone.

So, anyway, the dies came home with me to make me feel better. And of course I needed to 'test' them.
I stamped one of the cats, colored him with Copic markers and then used the die to cut him out. 

I could have lined up the die a bit better, especially at the bottom, but overall, not too bad. And much easier than hand cutting!

I think he turned out pretty cute....hmm I wonder why I think he is a HE when he is so pink?! LOL

I am going to spend some time today creating a card for him to live on.

Thank you for sticking around through all my rambling today! 

I hope you are all staying cool and avoiding this heat as much as possible.
Have a fabulous weekend and Happy Crafting!!!