More Background Papers & ATC's

I have made even MORE background papers and ATC's, artist trading cards. It's so much fun and so addicting. I could do this part of the workshop, Week One, from The Artistic Mother by Shona Cole forever. It's great preparation for the poetry journals in Week Two as well as larger collage projects. The more practice the better. Right? This time the children joined me. Kids are just amazing. They are so free to create. In their minds there are no boundaries. We really enjoyed doing this together. We did the ATC's on my birthday. As you will see, they are budding artists.

Here's my new set of background papers. Some different and lighter colors. The red is my favorite. I went crazy with the stamping. I didn't worry about how the stamps looked or placement. I just let loose and stamped almost all over the pages with various stamps and ink colors. I used Staz On permanent ink pads. They come in many different colors. I also rubbed a different oil pastel color along each edge. I didn't try to match the colors. I just grabbed a different color each time. Very random. It didn't really matter if they looked good or not; they're going to be torn up anyway. You can make a lot of papers very quickly this way.

Here are my 16 year old daughter Kimberly of What to Wear's papers.

Here is another paper Kimberly did. This one she is framing for her room.

Here are the papers of my 9 year old daughter Emily of Super Stitches.

And these are my 7 year old son Martin's papers.

And here are all of our beautiful papers torn to bits as we work on our ATC's. Did you stop breathing? How could we do that to our beautiful papers?  Right? But one must do what one must do. These papers are fulfilling their destiny. They were not meant to be works of art in and of themselves. They were meant to be a part of something bigger. And joining together with other materials, they can be even greater than they ever could have been on their own. Something really beautiful and meaningful, a true masterpiece. And the same goes with our lives. We can do so much more when we join our giftings with those of others' and work together. And we can be used to encourage and lift others up along the way. We were not meant to stay independent and isolated. We were meant to make a difference and an investment in the lives of others. We all have so much to offer. And that's what this group, The Artistic Mother's Art Group, is all about. Isn't it.

Now for the ATC's:

I made two more cards and another ATC.

Here is my ATC.

And here are my cards. On one of the cards, I pasted the hearts on upside down. Oops. And it could have been such a nice card. It had so much potential. Oh well. That's all right. That's why we practice. We learn from our mistakes. I'll make sure to pay better attention next time. Won't I?

Here is Kimberly's ATC.

Here are Emily's ATC's. She did six! She plans to do a whole deck of playing cards. She's going to collage the backside because she still wants to be able to play with the cards. Practical art. Isn't she clever? Which of Emily's is your favorite? I would love to know. Do tell.

And here is Martin's ATC.

Aren't they all so sweet? This was such fun. I highly recommend having an art day as part of your or your children's birthday celebration. 

And then after all of that hard work, we went for a nice stroll around the neighborhood as the sun was starting to go down, waved down the ice cream truck, then went inside to have apple pie and cheese cake. What a great ending to a great day. You couldn't ask for a better birthday, just hanging out and enjoying time with the ones you love.  

And now I must start working on my poetry journal using what's left of my background papers. Wish me luck. I'll show you what I come up with tomorrow or the next day. See you then. Happy creating. Trudy

And The Winner of My Birthday Giveaway is.... & What I did on my Birthday

And the winner, chosen by Random Number Generator, of these beautiful cards I made using my background papers from Week One of The Artistic Mother workshop for my birthday giveaway is Mandy of Eight is Enough. She is one of the participants of The Artistic Mother Art Group I am hosting here on my blog where we are going through the 12 projects in The Artistic Mother workshop together, blogging about it and encouraging one another. (And we are still accepting  participants if you would like to join in the fun.) She is a homeschooling mother of 8. Fun and encouraging person. She also does beautiful layouts for her scrapbook pages. Congratulations, Mandy.

I would also like to say a big thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. And what did I do for my birthday weekend? The children and I did art most of the day. We made more ATC's, artist trading cards, and greeting cards from our background papers from Week One. Just more practice for making the poetry journal, our project for Week Two.

And on Sunday after church, our neighborhood was having a block party. We all met at the park at the back of the neighborhood. There were blowup slides and jumping things for the kids, hot dogs, music, frisbee, riding scooters and skateboards and face painting, etc. Another mom from the neighborhood who I haven't seen in a while brought several hula hoops, and I hula hooped. It was so much fun. I'm hooked. It's something I can do with the kids while getting in shape at the same time. I hadn't done this since I was a kid. So I was surprised when I was able to do it. The reason I was able to was because the hoops were of better quality than the ones you buy for the kids. They are bigger around in diameter. It makes a huge difference. So trust me, if you had one of these hoops, you could do it, too. She also showed me a few tricks. And she told about this website where you can take online hooping classes. Looks interesting. They have a section, I think under FAQ's, where they show you how to make your own hoops.

And here is a picture of my 9 year old daughter, Emily of Super Stitches, hula hooping with several at the same time. This was her first time she was successful with hula hooping. I told you, it's the hoop you use that makes all the difference. Emily has an awesome blog; so check it out.

I would also like to share with you that my 16 year old daughter has a blog as well called What To Wear. It's cute and fun.

And also for those of you who may not be aware, I also having sewing, fashion and style blog. So please look around and see what you think. Click here.

My Birthday & A Giveaway For You!

Hey, Everybody! Today is my birthday! I'm a young 45! I'm celebrating by giving you the present! I made two cards just this morning using my background papers from Week One of The Artistic Mother Workshop we are all going through together. I applied the technique for making mini-collages by making ATC's, artist trading cards, just a bit bigger. that I mentioned in my previous post. I made a view finder the size of my cards. These cards can be given away or can actually be used as part of another project, for example, a wall hanging. Use your imagination.

This giveaway is open to my followers only. So if you would like to be included, please sign up as a follower and then leave a comment letting me know that you are a follower. I will use Random Generator to choose a winner from those followers who leave me a comment. Please make sure that I have a way to get ahold of you. You will have one week from the time I have announced the winner to contact me to claim your prize.

So sign up as a follower and leave your comments now! You have until Sunday evening to leave your comments.

Mini-Collage Practice as a Warmup for Poetry Journal

Here are my versions of practicing doing mini-collages as a warmup before doing the poetry journal, Week Two's project in The Artistic Mother workshop. Shona of An Artful Life and author of The Artistic Mother has done a post about this with a tutorial. I really suggest you take a look at it because she goes into detail breaking it down into steps showing how to make and use a view finder in order to help you make the proper combinations. It's a very easy method and can be used on many projects.

I used my background papers from Week One to make these. The first two were made by tearing and cutting up strips of my papers and glueing them onto a playing card. The last photo is a greeting card. The same process was used. The papers were glued onto some card stock that was folded in half to make a card instead of onto a playing card.

Art Action Plan Sheet

I painted a couple of other sheets of paper with lighter colors and decided to use this one for my Art Action Plan sheets from Week One of The Artistic Mother by Shona Cole. I didn't stamp it or do the edges with the oil pastels, although it probably would have been a nice touch. Just good old paint over gessoed paper. I used the monoprinting techniques mentioned on Page 61 where you apply a couple of drops of paint, two different colors, on one half of the paper and spread it around with a rag or a brush, lay the other half of the paper over it, rub it, then open, then add a second color to the unpainted parts and blend.  I love the way it turned out.

 I then scanned it into the computer for future use as recommended on Page 71, Step 4. I also scanned in one of my other sheets to use for stationery. I'm hooked now. I don't think I can ever buy store bought stationery or To Do List sheets at the store again. I love making my own. This is very addicting.

I am so loving going through the projects in this book The Artistic Mother with all of you. There are so many great project ideas within the 12-week step-by-step workshop course and the book's message of how to bring creativity back into our lives, the weekly action plan to help us make the best use of our time and the tips on creating time and space in our lives for our art. I am getting so much out this book along with the support of this group being hosted on my blog, The Artistic Mother Art Group. You are all so encouraging, and I am really enjoying getting to know you and making new friends. Thank you for all of the wonderful comments on my previous post about my background papers that I painted.

If you are new to my blog and would like to learn more about this art group, please read my post about it here.

My Background Papers for the Artistic Mother Art Group are Done

Drum roll, please. My background papers for Week One of The Artistic Mother Workshop are done! Yea. It was fun. Wasn't it? The last picture shows my papers before they were stamped and the edges rubbed with oil pastels. Amazing what a different the stamping makes. Isn't it? I wasn't especially fond of my papers at first. But then after I had stamped them, I fell in love with them. I plan to make more papers with lighter colors. I have a few but not enough. But this will get me started. It's so nice having a stash of papers just ready to go for the future projects and not have to stop to make them later.

I still have to make my Art Action Plan Sheets, but that won't take too long. I'll just choose one of these pretty little papers to print them on.

Now on to Week Two, the poetry journal. I am so excited about this. It will make writing my own poetic words so much more fun. And we get to use bits of our papers. And after the poetry journal, we'll be making the poetry tote to carry our journal in. There will be coordinating elements within each; so they will match. What joy! What joy! Aren't you excited, too?

I need to go and read the Suggested Art Action Plan on Page 73 now so I can make sure that I'm also doing the other parts of the workshop because it's not just about doing the projects. The projects are provided to help us put into practice the concept of doing a little bit of art each day and making time for it in the midst of our busy lives. The poetry and photography assignments will be used in our future projects. So I need to make sure I'm doing those, too, so when I get to those projects, I have everything I need for them. I don't want the stress of having to rush around at the last minute trying to get it done, kind of like cramming for a test. Yuck! Who wants that stress? I want to enjoy this journey as much as possible. I think if I do a little each day in each area, I will get there in the end.

I hope you are all having fun, too. I've seen many of your papers, and they are just totally gorgeous. Remember, don't compare your papers to anyone else's and remember, too, that they are not meant to be works of art in and of themselves. We will be tearing them up and using them for our projects. So we are not going for perfection here.

 For those  of you who haven't done your papers yet or if you are just joining our group, don't fret. You still have time to do them. We are just now getting into Week 2, and we will spend two weeks on it so that everyone has a chance to catch up. I know that everyone's lives are extremely busy and that you-all have so much going on; that's why we are spending two weeks on each project, even though the book would have us do them in one. Because we will all have sick days, out-of-town company, vacations, holidays, other projects we would like to do in between these projects and just life, errands, laundry, cooking, etc., etc. So this workshop is totally doable for everyone. And it will teach us how to balance our lives and manage our time; so we need it. I know I do!

Are you taking photos of your kids, reading a little poetry each day? Week 2 will have us doing a little writing, not poetry, but words. They are short assignments. But each week's assignments will build upon the previous week's. It will take just a few minutes each day. It's really quite fun. I find that it is stretching me in a way that I haven't been stretched before and causing me to look at my world and my family in a more appreciative way. And in the end I will have made some precious keepsakes that will hold my memories.

Let me know how you're doing. How is it going for you? Are you having fun? What are you learning and getting out of The Artistic Mother's Art Group? Have you made any new friends? I know I have. You all have been great, and I feel that I am becoming friends with several of you all ready. You have been such a support to me. And that's what this group is all about, being a community and supporting and encouraging one another. A big thank you to all of you who have been visiting around. It makes such a difference. We don't want anyone to feel isolated. We are in this together.

And please note that several have joined us and I have several more that are about to be added since you've started. I keep my list updated here as well as The Artistic Mother's Art Group Blog List in my sidebar. Whoever has posted most recently moves to the top. To see all of the participants, just click the "show all." If you have made your own list of participants on your blog,  please either update yours with the new participants or come and check out my blog list each day for those who have recently posted because we want everyone to get visits. It's so important that we are here for one another. Thank you so much. I am so glad that I am doing this workshop with you and not alone. You are all amazing!

Also, Shona Cole, author of The Artistic Mother, has just done an awesome post that will be a big help to us as move into Week Two. She suggests making mini collages on playing cards to practice using our background papers before we start making our journals to train our eye to see both bad and good composition and color choices. View it as a little warmup before diving into the journal project. I am definitely going to do this. It looks like fun. She's done an excellent tutorial showing a step-by-step. I'll show you mine in a couple of days when I get it done; then I'll start working on my journal.

The Kids' Painted Papers & My Gessoed Papers

The kids have been so inspired by my being involved in The Artistic Mother's Art Group that they painted for hours a couple of days ago. They were also inspired by the work of Lance Cross, Abstract by Lance. You can see some of his work on the post I did about him. They were calling their paintings, Abstract by Martin and Abstract by Emily. It was so cute. 

The first two photos are Emily's, and the next two are Martin's. The next four photos show me putting the gesso on my papers. I gessoed colored card stock, white computer paper, junk mail, worksheets from an old Latin workbook, and some music sheets, which are not pictured. 

The last photo is a picture frame that Emily decorated with buttons. She has posted about this on her blog. She has a really cute blog with lots of fun things going on.

Also, Shona Cole of An Artful Life and Author of The Artistic Mother did a post on the rubber stamps that she uses and where she purchased them. I thought I would let you know in case you weren't sure what type of stamps to use when stamping your background papers. You can use any kind you like. This will just give you some ideas if you need them. She is also doing a giveaway on her blog. She is giving away a copy of the magazine Studios by Cloth Paper Scissors. Good luck. I hope one of you win it. 

I finished painting my papers last night, and I'll be stamping them today. I'll probably show you the pictures of them tomorrow. 

Motherhood Article & Artistic Mother Art Group Mentioned at Shutter Sisters

Shona Cole has written a beautiful article about the art of motherhood and also talks about The Artistic Mother's Art Group over at Shutter Sisters. She also mentions that she would love to see pictures of your precious children and requests that you leave a link for her to go and take a look. You will love her article. It is very inspirational and will bless your day. I encourage you to go and read it.

I am hoping to paint my papers today! They are already gessoed. After seeing all of your beautiful papers, I'm getting excited that maybe I can do this. I sure hope mine look half as good as yours. Oh, and my children already did their papers. They beat me to it. I'll try to get a picture to show you soon. The creative bug has really bitten them since I started this group. Hope everyone is having fun. I know I am. You guys make it all worth it. I've been really enjoying reading your blogs and following your progress. I'm learning so much from you!

Above picture: My two girls having a bad hair day.

Show & Tell Fridays, Calling All Artistic Mother's Art Group Participants, and Everyone Else, Too

Donna Rodgers from Comin' Home is an avid quilter, seamstress, and crafter. She is hosting a weekly Show & Tell on her blog that includes anything you are working on in any medium: sewing, painting, cooking, photography, altered art, scrapbooking, etc. She wants to encourage everyone in their creative pursuits.  Just send a picture of your latest endeavor, finished or in progress, a little blurb about your submission, and a link back to your website or blog. She will post it on the very next Friday. You can send one every week if you like.  She has a Show & Tell and an I Was Featured button that you can grab and put on your sidebar if you like. 


She said that she would really love to have submissions of people from the Artistic Mother's Art Group's progress. So if you want to show off your work, contact Donna. This show and tell is for everyone not just participants of The Artistic Mother's Art Group.


Also, don't forget that there is The Artistic Mother on Flickr that you can post your book-related work on if you like. The Flickr group is for anyone going through Shona's book, The Artistic Mother, not just participants of The Artistic Mother Art Group. The button is in my sidebar.


(The above photo is of my teenage daughter, on the right, with her cousin having fun. Sorry it's so blurry but I loved it so much I had to share it anyway. I currently have an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera. We're hoping to get a better one some day Hope you enjoy it anyway.)