INDEX CARD A DAY CHALLENGE (ICAD)

Tammy Garcia over at Yellow Daisy is hosting INDEX CARD A DAY (ICAD) CHALLENGE. The challenge is to draw, paint, collage or whatever you like on an index each day during the month of June and July 2013.  That's 61 index cards!  I'll add my latest cards each week in a blog post and a recap here. It is my hope that during this time I will learn to make all kinds of art, improve my drawing skills and enjoy the process. You are invited to come along for the journey.


WEEK 7 DAYS 43-49

DAY 43 IN THE DETAILS

Just loved this quote on a page from a travel magazine and the blue flowers. The white gesso mixed with a blue ink gives the ethereal look to this card. A yellow glitter gel pen adds the highlights to the flowers and makes the blue pop.


DAY 44 ENDLESS LOVE. 
There is an endless song that my heart sings, one of praise and worship to my King. 


DAY 45 THINGS I LOVE
Collaging bits and peaces together to make this card.  Some magazine clippings, a stick on rick-rack border, a few bird stamps, flower cut from musical paper, a bit of stamping and some bling.



DAY 46 BUSY BEE 
Feeling like a busy little bee buzzing around with so much to do! Sprayed the background with orange ink, added a strip I had previously stamped with a bee and a wedding ring design (which looks like a bee hive to me) and a decided to add more stamping and a few paper reinforcement circles for fun. I scribbled my thoughts over the background. 


DAY 47: Finding Possibility In Imperfection
A few months ago I created the background with the circle shapes but was unhappy with the muddiness of the piece and was going to trash it. There were elements I liked so I decided to keep it and pasted it on the index card. The edges were wider than the card and so they were trimmed and glued to the card. I did a bit more doodling with a black ink pen and white out. Added the text and I like it now.

DAY 48 SEWN
I've been painting patterns on paper and working on a project that is sewn with these papers. This is some of the left over hand painted papers sewn together.

DAY 49 COMING HOME TO ROOST
This is one of those cards that just came together by playing with colors. I sprayed the background and started to wipe away color and the paper started to peel away. So I took gelatos and started rubbing in the colors to enhance them. Pretty soon I saw this little bird emerge! 



This wraps up another week of ICAD. I sure hope you are enjoying the cards as much as I am making them. 

Have a great week!
Suzy

WEEK 6 DAYS 36-42
DAY 36: FLY 
This day was just a play day with stamps and a spritz or two of color. I painted the flowers with inktense water color pencils to make them pop out. Added the bird washi tape and wanted more depth so I added the stick on birds. 
DAY 37: Your Word. 
Praising God for His word which lasts forever and always. Used yellow and pink acrylic paint smeared with a credit card for the background. Added red gelato around the edges. A bit of washi tape to give the card some pizazz. Words are written in black india ink. Added a purple shadow around the words to make them pop out with inktense watercolor pencils.
DAY 38:Sprinkle.
Sprinkle love wherever you go. xoxo Feeling the love of grandbabies today. They sprinkle love wherever they go. Happy colors of orange and aqua in background. Some black and white dot washi tape and a little doodling around the edges.
 DAY 39: Come with me. 
"Those who linger along the roads running to the sea, can hear the centuries pass"~Hugh Leonard. I've always lived near the sea and so this quote from Traveler magazine speaks to me. I cut the image and added it to the background of aqua and lime green and yellow (watercolor crayons), glued on the map stamped the circles in the background. Doodled the black and white borders.  
 DAY 40: Discover
I was on a roll with the magazine images this day, most come from Traveler. Love the black and white against the color of the sunset. I added a bit of aqua to the background and a sand dollar paper border.
 DAY 41 MERMAID
My granddaughters love mermaids! The oldest grand (little Miss Lollipop) thinks all mermaids have pink hair. SO....pink hair it is! I used watercolor crayons in the background, rub on designs give the background lots of texture. The gold bubbles are also stick-on designs from a package. A sand dollar paper border on the side. 
 DAY 42: LAZY DAY 
The shadows of evening fall across the pool. I created this using a credit card and acrylic soft body paints. Added some shadowing with dark blue gelato. The black circle bubbles are made with the end of a pencil eraser.  Simple but I like the concept. 




As the days go by I am finding it harder to do these cards, mainly because I have a house full and there is little time to spare. Making the cards every day has been challenging and lots of fun to just let myself go and create whatever comes to mind after I smear my card with color. I don't pre-plan any of the cards, they are created on the fly so to speak, but that's how I like to create anyway. Hope you are enjoying them and I appreciate your comments. 
Happy painting and doodling!
Suzy

WEEK 5 DAYS 29-35
DAY 29: WATCH THE BIRDIE
We have many birds that live around us, they nest in the bushes and trees and are a delight to watch every day.  I don't have any birds cages.  This particular day the birds  chirping and twittering outside the studio windows were my inspiration. Using watercolors for the background and Inktense watercolor pencils for the most part. Drew with black fine line Sharpie pen and doodled the black and white borders. 


 DAY 30: Restore My Soul. 
This quote comes from the 23rd Psalm. I love the imagery of this verse. I used acrylic paint to smear on the background and Inktense watercolor pencils to rough in the trees. Black ink to outline the borders and the verse. Oh PS this is DAY 30! WHOO HOO!!! 


DAY 31: The Joy of Parenthood
Started this card out with circles in the background and didn't like where it was going. Gesso to the rescue! I could still see the circles and thought they kinda looked like faces, big eyed faces.  As I sketched them in I was thinking about my daughter and her husband and the new joys of parenthood. There is that lack of sleep look, bewilderment and utter joy that crosses their face from time to time. It is priceless. 

Parenthood






DAY 32: EMBRACE EVERYDAY
In a doodle mood. Or I guess you could say a bit lazy this day. Swiping on a bit of aqua and yellow, doodling in black ink, add some washi tape and called it done. 


DAY 33: POOL TIME 
Preparations the day before the Fourth of July, feeling the patriotic colors.  I thought this looked like the pool filled with floats (represented by the circles). I used rubber erasers to make the circles and the border print and the end of the paint brush to make the dots. I used colored inks, brushing them on straight from the bottle.


DAY 34: Happy Independence Day!
It was the Fourth of July and we are celebrating with traditional Red, White and Blue in a flag shape. There are 50 stars representing the 50 States. GOD BLESS AMERICA!


DAY 35: MEMORY
Elephants have excellent memory; wish I did. Started with colored ink straight from the bottle, drawing dashes along the edges of the card with purple ink. Added a bit of bright pink in a rectangle and started drawing circles in the center, but didn't like the design at all. I then sprayed the card with pink dylusion spray ink, blotted with paper towel and spritzed with water. Blotted again and dried the card. Added washi tape in center and on edges. Added text and black dashes on the pink rectangle with black acrylic ink. 

So many people asked how the last card was done and that is why there is such a description attached. I'm really flattered that such a simple card was so appreciated. 

Thank you so much for joining me this week for the highlights.  My hope is that you will find one or more cards that delight or inspire you. 

Happy Painting and Doodling !
Suzy

WEEK 4 DAYS 23-28 
DAY 23:HE is the Author and Perfector of Life:
I like to dedicate my Sunday index cards to the Lord. This happens to be one of my favorites this week. I used Washi tapes to get a nice graphic design and flair to the aqua and citron acrylic background colors. The pen and ink are stamps. I need to practice handwriting letters.  
Day 24 Buzzword. 
This card was inspired by a scrap piece torn and collaged to a Dylusion sprayed background. A rubber drawer liner was used to dab magenta paint on for extra texture. I used various pieces in my collage box of ephemera.
 Day 25 Priceless:
I picked my daughter and grandson up at the airport. The words are perfect. An ad from AMEX. The background is where I wiped paint off my brayer and then added the stamped images. Glued to index card, added words, circles and doodled black & white border.
 Day 26 Dedicated To The One I Love:
I was thinking about that old song by the Mama & Papas. When I applied the XOX and sealed with love. Another piece of paper previously used for wiping excess color off. I added the textured background in pink, washi tape, butterfly and stick-on circles and doodled the black & white border. 

Day 27: Hold Dear:
Delighting in holding my grandchildren dear to my heart. More strips of paper wiped with color or spray inks, background oil pastel, paper borders and stick on florals and gems. 

Day 28: Dream:

Sprayed background with aqua and lime Dylusions, floral stickers, doodled black and white border and scribbled in the background. Added dots with white out pen and black sharpie. 



Hope you enjoyed Week 4 cards! I'll be back next week with more cards to share. 

Happy Doodles!
Suzy

WEEK 3 DAYS 16-22

 DAY 16- Shhh! It's A Surprise! 
I took the easy way out on this card by letting the black and white graphic circles on a saved Surprise Birthday invitation be the starting point.  I just added a pink sticky pad note "S" and a pink paper border, doodled my usual black and white checks and stuck a package to the card. DONE! 



DAY 17-Come Out Into The Garden With Me:

Digging into my plastic bin of cast off papers, I selected the scalloped punched border and glued it to the aqua and yellow acrylic background. Originally there was a piece of backing from the lattice ribbon tape glued on the right side, latter it was removed and because the piece was sprayed with inks, it left a nice white design. Stamped flowers, dots, argyle patterns using black Stays-on ink pad, then dabbed with Distress inks, spritz with water, dried with paper towel and added the plastic aqua and yellow flowers (they were on Mother's Day cupcakes).  Oh yeah, the text butterfly was a punch out added last.


DAY 18-In Black & White Mode Doodle

This is my favorite card of the week! I loved making it! I doodled this design while watching TV. It was the first time I've done a doodle like this with flowers. Think I like it. Will do more. 

DAY 19-That's Life

Inspired by tag I'd made several years ago.  Laid down some gouache in golden yellow and blue, used my fingers to smear it around with a bit of water to make a lighter wash effect. Dabbing excess water off the index card caused it to peel a bit so I went with it and scrubbed it a bit harder to run off some of the paint to get that layered look to the background. Stamped musical scales with Stampin' up Rust (I think) and flowers in midnight blue and black. A black and white doodle border finished it the card. 

DAY 20-Flutter Bys

You might have noticed that butterflies are a reoccurring theme in my cards.  There is something about a butterfly that really appeals to me, the fluttering movement, a tiny glimpse of beauty when one passes by. I also like bees so I added some to this card just for fun. The background is faintly stamped in aqua, next the pink zinnias, bees, butterflies and dots. A yellow glitter gel pen was used to color in some of the dots and the flower centers. Yellow Inktense pencils to lightly wash over the wings of the butterflies and I added the text last.

DAY 21-By The Light of The Moon

Using what was on my desk today. The owl is from a deck of cards I picked up at the thrift store. Film strip is a Sizzix design and flower er, moon is a Fiskers stencil pattern. Buttons are from the craft button jar. Finished with a black and white doodle border along edges.  I really like this card alot. I think it is the owl. 


DAY 22-Special Thoughts

Today was a busy day, had to make the short time slot work for me! I used a previously stamped card I'd made, cut it down, stuck it to the index card and did a little embellishment with my trusty black pen. Added the black dots and red flowers and if you look closely you'll see some little animals and birds. Doodled the black and white border to finish it off. 


That wraps up week 3 of the ICAD challenge! Hope you are enjoying these little mini-works of art. I sure am!  Let me know which is your favorite! 
Happy Doodling! Suzy



Week 2 Days 8-15


DAY 8 ANOTHER RAINY DAY
It's been raining every day for a week or so, today in particular it is pitch black out, thundering and lightening. I was thinking about how the tropical flowers love the humidity and rain. Tried to make the raindrops stand out with a little glue resist. 




DAY 9-OH LORD:  Caribbean blue and Citron green acrylic paint for the background scraped on with a credit card, a vellum sentiment with doodles around the border, floral white stick on ribbon, inktense for flowers, stick on jewels for the centers, two large butterfly stickers and several black & white stickers on the border. I doodled the black and white striped border and add dots. This card came together rather quickly. I love when that happens.




DAY 10-A BEACHY KINDA DAY: I love how fast this card came together! Acrylic blue and green paint scraped on for background. Using two stick-on pieces of ribbon tape (waves & sand dollars), starfish stamp and left over jewels from Day 9 to make "bubbles". Black and white stripe doodled border with Micron Pen. 



DAY 11-SOMETHING FISHY: After scraping on a background in acrylic paint I noticed the shape of a fish bowl so I went with that theme. I outlined the shape I saw in the paint with micron pen and doodled some seaweed after stamping the fish in black ink. The fish stamp was hand carved about 30 years ago (my first). I cut scale shapes from another piece of tissue paper that had been painted with watercolors several years ago. 





DAY12: HOLD A FRIEND: Changing it up a bit today with the background created from a scrapbook paper. I love the colors and design of the paper. I used a stick-on sentiment and applied it to a bordered journal card. Coral colored stick-on ribbon border, paper flowers, round seals and stamped butterflies. Doodled black and white stripe around the edges.





DAY 13-HERE FISHY FISHY FISHY: Feeling a little lazy today! Scraped on favorite green and blue acrylics for background. Rolled on fish design with black ink and added the black and white stripe doodle border. Calling it done! 




DAY 14-LIKE MOTHS TO A FLAME:Spent the day cleaning reorganizing collage papers and decided to use a few "found" pieces from my desk for today's card. I love the red and white polka dot paper from my grand-daughter and followed that color scheme. The circle "flame" was cut from hand painted watercolor paper. I doodled black and white stripe border with micron pen and white Bic corrector pen.


DAY 15-A BREE AND MIMI COLLABORATION : Our sweet son dropped by unexpectedly last night with our oldest grand-daughter! Little Lollipop asked to "go make art" and so we did! We dug through the plastic bin of collage materials and she selected each piece and applied it to acrylic background on the card. I added a few details after she left with the black and white doodles. I really love this card. 




Ok, that's it for Week Two! Hope you found the index cards to be fun! If you'd like to follow along during the week, you can find me on Flickr.
Until then, keep doodling! 
Suzy


Week One Days 1-7



DAY 7 

5 comments:

Unknown said...

This is an amazing Collection. I will be coming back tomorrow morning with Coffee for Inspiration!! I really love your work and your style! Please make more:)!

Tracey FK said...

This is so wonderful scrolling down and seeing them as a big collection like that... I love how you use colour and texture... it really shines through them all and they are all so different yet totally belong together... fabulous...xx

CarlaKH said...

wow you are so talented...love each one...so unique and beautiful!

Unknown said...

Hi!..new to your Wonderful Blog!..I love the ICAD!..My fav one is the Beachy one with the Starfish!..So cute!..
Kat

Artsy VaVa said...

Your cards are awesome!