Thursday, May 31, 2012

Curiosity

Sometimes a card reveals its own theme without my conscious planning.  I started this project with an idea of animals (originally it was to be both cats and dogs) playing with kids' toys, but after about a dozen iterations, various toys and animals dropped out, and the theme of "curiosity" was staring back at me.

That inquisitive kitten on the left had a lot to do with it.

I love all of Eat Cake Graphic's cats!  It's clear by browsing the many feline-inspired images, that the artist is well-acquainted with cats.  You'll find them in all manner of active (and not-so-active) pursuits, each image skillfully depicting the way cats move, and the way they sometimes just lay there. So great!




Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Postal Birds

The theme for today's pc is "birds".  I decided to incorporate a large number of different birds by creating a postage-stamp-scattered desk top.  

Some of the postage stamps were built using blank frames (100 Proof Press and TooMuchFun both carry these) and a variety of bird images.  Others, as the "owl post" image below, were stamped with a postoid stamp.

As you can probably guess, this project required a lot of masking.  The masks were just straight lines though, so it wasn't all that time-consuming.  Adding subtle shadows gives the illusion of depth.

I really should have included denominations for the postage--oops!
I love how the baby chick seems  to be thinking, "What're you looking at?"  :)

Saturday, May 26, 2012

ATC Saturday: Fables and Fairytales

This image from Beeswax was the perfect thing for this week's theme.  I almost never use just one stamp on an ATC, but this is an exception.  I felt any additions would detract from the scene.

You can find this stamp under the heading "Large Stamps and Etchings" over at Beeswax.  You'll see that I cropped a lot out in order to fit the 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 size requirement of an ATC.

When working with large stamps, place the stamp face up on the work surface and ink it by "stamping" a raised ink pad all over it.  Then, leaving the stamp right where it is, bring the paper to the stamp.  Cover the stamp with the paper, then roll a clean brayer over the back of the paper to get a solid impression. Finally, peel away the paper to reveal the stamped image.


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Insects

Here we have a pc to celebrate the creepy crawlies.


I thought about stamping a stickpin through each little specimen, but in the end I didn't have the heart.  I couldn't do that to even a rubberstamped insect.

The beetles, fly and hand holding tweezers are all from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers (now carried by StampFrancisco).

The rest are from the Oxford Impressions unmounted sheet, "Field Notes", available at StampDiva.

Monday, May 21, 2012

ATC Saturday: Steampunk

The weekend got away from me!  Here's Saturday's installment, a little late. 

Steampunk is one of those themes that I appreciate when I see it, but find difficult to execute myself.  I didn't have time to purchase anything new, so I had to look at my old stamps in a new way.  Always a good exercise!

It didn't scan well, but the dude's monocle is a gear from a package of watch findings.
I drew a mustache to make him seem a little more 1880s.

My stamp collection is woefully lacking in 1880s people!


Man:  Diva Rubber
Gears: 100 Proof Press

Monday, May 14, 2012

Fun with Postcards

Did you create a postcard for National Postcard Week?  I did, and I've had loads of fun hearing the kids come in singing "You got Valentines!" and then going through the day's greetings together.  We've received cards from all over the country and each one is like a tiny jewel.

If I haven't mentioned it before, 'Valentines' is our word for friendly mail.  Bills and circulars are not Valentines.  Birthday cards, wedding invitations, and NPCW postcards are.

Boxes and fat envelopes on the other hand, are "Sea Monkeys" (as in, "Your seamonkeys have arrived!").  That explanation probably doesn't help at all.  If you were around the CompuServe stamping forum in the 90s though, you get what I'm saying.

In case you weren't on my mailing list (see this post for info on how to get on a distribution list) below is the card I sent out this year.

The submarine (actually a transformed helicopter), fishies, and foliage are all from Eat Cake Graphics.  The bubbles were drawn by me, with the help of Inkscape* and a circle-brush in PhotoShop.  I used Inkscape and PhotoShop to create the faux postal cancellation mark, too (who knew that would be so complicated?!  Perhaps a tutorial on this?  Are you interested?).

Happy NPCW to all the deltiologists out there!


*Inkscape allows you to input mathematical functions, then it will draw a line representing that function.  The bubbles are the result of a sine function.  The line itself didn't make the final edit, but I used it as a guide to draw the bubbles.


Saturday, May 12, 2012

ATC Saturday: One for the Moms

Here's me (yep, I look just like that) and my five kids symbolized as hearts: two girls, and three boys.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms, Grandmoms, Godmothers and Mom-Wannabes.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Happy Birthday PC

Somebody's going overboard with the candle-blowing.  Poor little Peek-A-Boo is covering his eyes in fear.  I love how all of the Eat Cake Graphics creatures--human or otherwise--have such personality.

May is a busy birthday-month around here.  This card will go to my sister, but my two littlest ones also have birthdays in May.  Each of them would prefer dinosaurs to fluffy critters, however.