"Home Sweet Home" ICAD2 for 6/21/12

Ok, I might be making the Index-Card-A-Day Challenge a little more challenging than I hoped and/or planned. I've just been so inspired! I didn't realize my brain needed a little discipline to work on something everyday, and now I am hungry, hungry, hungry for art all the time. I LOVE this!
This card is from June 21, 2012. It definitely took me more than one day to do this. I'm not getting a card a day done -  and I gave myself permission to do that at the start. However, I do believe I am still benefitting from this challenge like crazy. If I'm not getting one card a day done then I am at least working on one (or two or three at a time) each day. AND THAT COUNTS.


This house, bird, and nest image is something I've worked on before in different formats - for domino pendants and ATCs. Now I felt it needed an ICAD2 work-up. 
I started by making a house shaped template that fit the index card. I cut the house out of another index card, pasted scrapbook paper over it, and added the tissue tape. Then I stitched around the edges on my sewing machine.  
The sky is layered torn dictionary pages secured with matte medium. I added some watered down blue paint then splattered really watery gesso over it. I left the torn edges because they reminded me of deckled edges on handmade paper. The edge was then shaded with a darker blue Copic marker. 
The lettering is hand stamped in red pigment ink - which I had to stamp a billion times because I always mess up the last letter and ruin it. It's matted with dark red cardstock. The edges are inked to "age" and soften them. 


The bird and nest images are from flickr's collage images group. I love the detail and texture in these pieces. My printer went light on the ink for this printing - not sure why. I went back over the pictures with colored pencils to bring out the color more. The gleaming highlight in the bird's eye is a dot of white gel pen. I also highlighted the eggs with white gel pen. 


After I adhered the bird and nest to the background it all looked very flat. I used colored pencils to shade around the bird and nest for some dimension. It really perked the piece up. I also ran a thin line of dark brown pencil to the very edges of the paper of the collage images to bring them out more. 


Oh, how I love using foreign postage stamps in my collage! I have about 20 pounds of old stamps (anyone need any?). I chose this one for the color and the country of origin - France - so it would tie in with the tissue tape behind it that has French on it.  


The back of the index card has the stitching I did with my sewing machine. I love sewing on paper. I'm stamping the date the card is finished on the back. I should go back and add some more details to the information of the piece. 

"home sweet home" Index-Card-A-Day2
Mixed media & paper collage on index card
3"x 5"
© 2012 Victoria Porter/In My Head Studios

This ICAD2 looks adorable on a tiny easel I found at the craft store! 

I am a bit behind on posting more ICADs that I have finished. There's much more to come!

- Vickie

What's On My Worktable? : Wednesday

It's Wednesday! Time to peek at my work table for "What's On Your Worktable Wednesday" over at The Stamping Ground blog! 

Today I am working on another Index-Card-A-Day (ICAD2). I'm going to use the red thread to sew around the house shape - which is my ICAD for today. The postage stamp, bird, and nest will be going on the house. For the buttons, I am still undecided. They sure do look good with the colors in the ICAD. Might have to get them into the design somehow.  

The paper covered spool is part of a gift for my bestie so I cannot say more about it just yet. :)

I just noticed in the photo that you can see the back of my scrap paper - an old unused coupon from my favorite craft store! Seriously folks, I recycle everything. 

Also of interest, the amount of space on my table shown here is pretty much all that is cleared off enough to work in. Hello, Six Inch Square Club! 

- Vickie

My Travel Art Kit

Since I went on a trip recently, I brought my art supplies. I cannot be without them for a whole week away!

This is what the kit looks like. It's a plastic container that has three levels that snap together plus a lid with a handy handle. It measures 10" long, 6.5" wide, and 6.5" tall. 

You won't believe how much you can cram into one of these things! It's small enough to fit in my suitcase with no problem. It's light enough (even though it's full) to carry anywhere. You can add layers to it ad infinitum. I've seen my craft show pals pack up in one of these stacks almost four feet tall!

This is what I have packed in each of the three layers. 

The top layer has smaller items as it is a bit shallow. I have my scissors, pens, glue, adhesive, templates, waterbrushes, post-it flags, a tiny tripod, string, stylus, Mini Mister, erasers, pencils, and my loupe. I do not travel with any water in the brushes or mister. They will leak. 

This layer is thick enough to hold a full set of colored Sharpies, a travel watercolor kit, tons of pens, colored pencils, a tin of watercolor crayons, some stencils, and a pack of watercolor paper postcards. 

Here we have an assortment of stuff: scrappy paper on the bottom, washi tapes, pencil sharpener, mini stapler, white out tape, alphabet stamp set, small set of pigment ink pads, date stamp, journal tags, stencils, jotter notebook, an envelope to hold all my travel ephemera to bring home, and tiny index cards. The paint palette is a package from Tim Holtz's gears. This plastic makes great watercolor palettes. I filled them up with the good tube watercolor paint before I left and let that dry. Just wet to reconstitute! They work great and don't take up much space at all. 

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my luggage! :)

- Vickie