Journal pages update - Mise à jour des pages de journal

I'm still working on 10 journal pages for a private swap. There's still a lot to be done with them but I like where they are going right now. Using up my "special" papers feels really good!

Je travaille encore sur 10 pages de journal pour un échange privé. J'ai encore beaucoup de travail à faire dessus mais j'aime la direction qu'elles prennent pour l'instant. Ça me fait du bien de me servir de mes papiers "spéciaux!"

Find your wings - Trouve tes ailes

 One of the postcards I received in Hanna's swap was from Danielle. When I went to Danielle's blog, to thank her for the beautiful art, I saw she was thinking of hosting her own postcard swap. So I told her I was interested in participating. It's a much smaller swap (only 8 people total) but it's fun nonetheless. I decided to make 4 very similar postcards and used yesterday's stamp on them. You can see all 4 below. Hopefully, the recipients will like them.

Une des cartes postales que j'ai reçue dans l'échange d'Hanna était de Danielle. Quand je suis allée sur le blog de Danielle pour la remercier de la belle oeuvre, j'ai vu qu'elle voulait aussi être l'hôte d'un échange de cartes postales. Alors je lui ai dit que j'étais intéressée. C'est un bien plus petit échange (seulement 8 personnes en tout) mais c'est tout aussi amusant. J'ai décidé de faire 4 cartes postales très similaires et ai utilisé l'étampe d'hier. Vous pouvez les voir, toutes les 4, ci-bas. J'espère que les récipiendaires les apprécieront.

Mail art - Art postal

This year, I was lucky to receive these 10 postcards in Hanna's swap. I love each and everyone of them and am thinking of ways to store/display them. 

Turtle from Regina, Pippi Longstocking from p.strange, Be Creative from Hanna (!), Heart in hands from Charlotte in Sweden, Mini tags from TJ, Organic abstract from Arden Hill in Canada, Pink and yellow from Mary, Draft from Lay Hoon, Japanese card from Danielle and Circles from Dori.

Cette année, j'ai eu la chance de recevoir ces 10 cartes postales dans l'échange d'Hanna. Je les aime toutes et pense à une façon de les ranger/exposer.

Tortue de Regina, Fifi Brin d'acier de p.strange, Be Creative de Hanna (!), Coeur dans les mains de Charlotte en Suède, Mini étiquettes de TJ, Abstrait organique de Arden Hill au Canada, Rose et jaune de Mary, Draft de Lay Hoon, carte japonaise de Danielle et cercles de Dori.

 

Works in progress - Projets en cours

I have two projects that need to be finished by this weekend. A bundle of journal pages, without any writing on them, for a personal swap and four postcards for a small organized swap. Above, you can see some of the journal backgrounds which are far from being done. Apparently I work well under pressure because whenever I enter a swap, I rarely get my artwork done early. I always make the deadline but it's usually very tight. It doesn't help that I still haven't completed my living room's reorganization. Friday night, I wrote on Facebook that my living room is a mess, my hands are covered in glue and paint and my soul is singing. So, as long as my soul is happy, I'll keep doing it this way!

J'ai deux projets qui doivent être terminé avant la fin de semaine. Une pile de pages de journal, sans l'écriture dessus, pour un échange personnel et quatre cartes postales pour un petit échange organisé. Ci-haut, vous pouvez voir certains fonds de journal qui sont loin d'être finis. Apparemment je travaille bien sous pression parce que lorsque je m'inscris dans un échange, je fais rarement mes oeuvres à l'avance. Je respecte toujours la date limite mais c'est souvent serré. Ça n'aide pas que je n'aie pas terminé la réorganisation de mon salon. Vendredi soir, j'ai écrit sur Facebook que mon salon est en désordre, mes mains sont couvertes de colle et de peinture et mon âme chante. Alors, tant que mon âme sera heureuse, je continuerai comme ça!

My friend CeeCee is offering her very first digital stamp at a very special price this week. If you decide to buy it, tell her MissKoolAid sent you!

My mom, Angelle, has returned to blogging. She had entered Hanna's swap and posted her postcard as well as other beautiful things she did. (She only writes in French but understands English so you can leave her a comment or two!)

Mon amie CeeCee offre sa toute première étampe digitale à un prix très spécial cette semaine. Si vous décidez de l'acheter, dites-lui que MissKoolAid vous envoie!

Ma mère, Angelle, a recommencé à bloguer. Elle s'était inscrite à l'échange d'Hanna et a affiché ses cartes postales ainsi que pleins de belles choses qu'elle a faites. (Elle n'écrit qu'en français mais comprend l'anglais alors vous pouvez lui laisser un commentaire ou deux!)

My postcards - Mes cartes postales

My postcards for Hanna's swap are all done and in the mail. In the mosaic above, there are 2 postcards which you don't see well because they are vertical instead of horizontal like all the others. But they all have the same style. I really loved working on them and hope the recipients will enjoy receiving them (note an 11th postcard in the mosaic... )

Mes cartes postales pour l'échange d'Hanna sont toutes terminées et à la poste. Dans la mosaïque ci-dessus, il y a 2 cartes postales que vous ne voyez pas aussi bien parce qu'elle sont verticales au lieu d'être horizontales comme les autres. Mais elles ont toutes le même style. J'ai beaucoup aimé travailler sur ces cartes et j'espère que les récipendiaires les apprécieront (notez une 11ème carte postale dans la mosaïque...)

 

Postcards in progress - Progrès sur mes cartes postales

Still working on the postcards.

Je travaille toujours sur les cartes postales.

 

ATCs from the swap - CAÉ de l'échange

 These are the two ATCs I made for the swap hosted by Janet and Lee. My partner was Anna Rosa.

Voici les cartes que j'ai faites pour l'échange organisé par Janet et Lee. Ma partenaire était Anna Rosa.

And these are the cards I received from Anna Rosa. They are all full of texture. The colours didn't come out right in the photo and were worse with the scanner. The butterfly card is actually greener than that.

Et voici les cartes que j'ai reçues d'Anna. Elles sont pleines de textures. Les couleurs ne paraissent pas bien en photo et étaient encore pire au scanner. La carte du papillon est bien plus verte qu'ici.

Collage swap update - Mise à jour de l'échange de collages

Since I don't have a completed paper project to show you today, I thought I'd show you one of the collages I received from my partner in the collage swap. Laura was very generous in her art, in my opinion. This piece is on a deep canvas and is covered with wax. It is absolutely gorgeous. My photo doesn't do it justice. The other piece is just as spectacular and you can see it over here. I feel very lucky to own these beautiful works of art. I'll be back tomorrow with something new.

***

Comme je n'ai pas de projet de papier complété à vous présenter aujourd'hui, j'ai pensé vous montrer une des collages que j'ai reçus de ma partenaire pendant l'échange. Laura a été très généreuse dans son art selon moi. Cette oeuvre est sur une toile profonde et recouverte de cire. Elle est absolument magnifique. Ma photo ne lui rend pas justice. L'autre oeuvre est tout aussi spectaculaire et vous pouvez la voir par ici. Je me sens très chanceuse de posséder ces magnifiques oeuvres d'art. Je vous reviens demain avec quelque chose de nouveau.

New collages for the swap - Nouveaux collages pour l'échange

 I decided to make two new collages for Janet and Lee's swap after all. I went with blues and purples because those are my partner Laura's favourite colours.

J'ai décidé de faire deux nouveaux collages pour l'échange de Janet et Lee après tout. J'ai choisi des bleus et pourpres parce que ce sont les couleurs favorites de ma partenaire Laura.

Ca-fée, the coffee faerie - La fée du café

I signed up for a swap at Atcs For All which is called "Freakish, Functional and/or Funny Faeries."

This is Ca-fée, the coffee faerie. She makes sure they get your order right at the coffee shop and she also makes sure there's coffee beans/grounds, milk (or cream) and sugar for your morning coffee at home or at work.

In french, faerie is fée and coffee is café.

***

Je me suis inscrite à un échange sur Atcs For All qui se nomme "Freakish, Functional and/or Funny Faeries" c'est-à-dire, des fées bizarres, fonctionnelles ou amusantes.

Voici Ca-fée, la fée du café. Elle s'assure que votre commande soit respectée au Café du coin et elle s'assure aussi qu'il y ait toujours des grains de café ou du café moulu, du lait (ou de la crème) et du sucre pour votre café du matin à la maison ou au travail.

A collage swap - Un échange de collage

On Monday, Janet and Lee announced on their respective blogs that they are organizing a mail art swap for 6"x6" collages. After last week's big collage, I thought it would be a great idea to try this smaller size. These are two collages I've made over the course of the evening on Tuesday. I'm not sure that they will be the ones for the swap but I sure had fun making them. For more information about the swap and to sign up, be sure to visit Janet or Lee's blog.

Lundi, Janet et Lee ont annoncé sur leur blogue respectif qu'elles organisent un échange d'art postal pour des collages de 15,25cm x 15,25cm. Après mon gros collage de la semaine passée, j'ai pensé que ce serait une bonne idée d'essayer ce format plus petit. Voici deux collages que j'ai fait au cours de la soirée de Mardi. Je ne suis pas certaine que ce soit ceux pour l'échange mais j'ai vraiment eu du plaisir à les faire. Pour plus d'information sur l'échange (en anglais seulement) et pour vous y inscrire, allez visiter le blogue de Janet ou de Lee.

Found poetry

One of the swaps I'm participating in is about reusing/recycling and Found poetry. I've always loved writing poetry but it's been quite a few years since I've done it so I thought that doing this swap would be a good way to play with words again.

The idea of the swap is to use discarded papers or left-overs from another project to make the background. Some people have used images from magazine. I personally use a lot of patterned paper and cardstock so I just picked a few pieces from my big baggie of left-overs. The tarot paper is a wrapping paper I've kept for many years because I loved how it looked. I had used pieces of it on chunky pages for another swap so I decided to use some more on these cards. The text is from "The house at Pooh's corner" which is, for those who don't know, a Winnie the Pooh story. The text itself was already full of poetic words so it was easy to create beautiful found poetry.

I liked making these cards so much that I made a second series with different papers and a text page from an old National Geographic about rock climbing/trekking. Completely different for the poetry but a lot of fun too. I plan on doing even more of these types of cards so if anyone wants to trade Found Poetry ATCs with me, don't be shy and contact me. It's a good way to get started with ATCs if you've never tried them before: a simple background collage and assembled words/phrases to complete. The only thing I added other than that was inking the edges for a more uniform look but even that is not required.

Well, I'm off to create more ATCs for swaps and for fun. Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends. And if you're moving today or helping someone move, stay safe!

Making art for others

I've been doing a lot of art lately. Mostly for swaps. Or friends. Or challenges. Not a lot of "just for me" art. That's ok. As long as I'm creating and having fun. Which I am.

What I love about working with the ATC format is that it is big enough that I can make elaborate drawings or detailed collages if I want to but it is also small enough that I have to limit myself to not over-do it.

This card is for the Fun and Funky Cats swap. She is made of collaged papers, drawn and coloured cat and embellished with a dry embossed basket (made of cardstock), some yarn and metal wire for the knitting needles! Such fun!

Chunky Pages

For a long time, I've been curious about Chunky Books also known as Fat Books. For those who don't know, they get their name from having lots of embellishments or fibers and beads hanging from the side, making the book so thick that it doesn't stay closed.

I got the opportunity to sign up for the Monochromatic Chunky Swap on ATCSforALL.com and only had to do 4 of these pages but I ended up doing 2 extras. I started by cutting the bases out of thick cardboard and then painting gesso over all 6 bases. After that came paint, both acrylic and watercolour, collaging of dictionary pages, stamping with StazOn ink. After that, I worked on each page individually, immersing myself in each colour, one at a time. I have to say that my favourite is the green one but I haven't decided yet which one I'll keep. What do you think?

Something in the air

Lots of people are feeling sick lately. Family, friends, coworkers... It's like there's something in the air. And it's not just about health. My coworker/friend is having a bad week. An ex-coworker of hers is trying to come back in her life but he's not a stable being. So she's nervous. We finish work at the same time so from now on, I'll always be leaving with her to make sure she gets to her car safely. Another co-worker of ours is having health issues. I'm trying not to let all of this affect me. I'm trying to stay positive but it's not always easy.


Since getting sick last week, I haven't been eating a lot. It seems my body has gotten used to this since I haven't had any cravings and have to almost force myself to eat normal meals. I'm not trying to starve myself, don't worry. I'm just eating less BUT eating healthy food. I'm feeling good.

And on that note, I'll go relax in front of the television. (Image is an ATC made for a swap. I decided to keep this one as my own.)

Pieces of me

A few images tonight... First, Daily Art Cards number 13 and 14.

The first one is really simple. I started by picking the flower image from my "junk mail" pile. It's from a Home Outfitters ad I believe... The next piece of paper I picked was the Romeo + Juliette phrase. Following the romance theme, I looked for something else to fill the side and the tea lights were perfect (from an article on Enya that I had kept from years ago.) Everything just came together. The only thing I added that isn't collage is the "romance" written with a gel pen.



Second of these cards is just as simple. I sifted through my stash of paper scraps (you know those tiny little pieces you just can't bring yourself to throw away...) and just glued and stapled pieces on an ATC sized piece of recycled cardboard (I think this was from a box of tissues.) The ribbon is something I've been holding onto for over 10 years. My best friend had given it to me, knowing that I loved butterflies. I finally decided to cut a piece of it and use it (finally accepting the fact that she no longer wants me in her life.) And, last but not least, I stamped with StazOn.




Finally, the last two pictures are of the journal page I made for Kira's Swap. The prompt for this week was Words and Pictures. We were to take a picture (or find one) and describe it, how it makes us feel, etc.

The picture I chose is one I took last week of my foggy street. I played a lot with this page. Background is watercolour crayons to which I applied just a bit of water with a brush. That was done after the photo had been glued down and the journaling had been done (with Micron pens.) I doodled with the Micron pens some more and a bit of white (grid next to the picture) with a white-out pen. Added a piece of 7Gypsies paper then rubbed some oil pastels on it and around the picture a bit (I smudged it with my fingers.) Stapled a vellum quote at the bottom and attached another piece of vellum over the journaling with eyelets (my favourite tool to use eyelets is the Crop-o-dile.) And last but not least, I used my "office" date stamp just below the picture with StazOn ink.

On this last image, you can see the journaling that is otherwise hiding under the vellum.

We had a beautiful sunny day today. A bit cold but then that's what I asked for, isn't it?

Oh, and Artbrat asked about the crown in my latest shrine. I made it from pieces of German Foil Paper Borders and Gold Decorative Harware from ArtChixStudio.

Of Mermaids and Halloween

Finally, I can show the mermaids I made for the swap on Violette's message board. These were sent to Sioux. The first one is an altered playing card doll. The picture didn't come out well but I can tell you there's glitter on her tail!








The second one is a paper spool collage. Of course, I used an image from ArtChixStudio on it.

The third one is a little watercolour painting with glitter added on the tail.





I've been wanting to do little banners like these and last night (seeing as I couldn't fall asleep even though I had to wake up earlier than usual this morning) seemed as good a time as any to start. I've been very inspired by all the Halloween art I've seen out there in blogland and in magazines so that's the theme I used. So the black and white one was done last night with finishing touches added this morning. The purple one I started this morning and finished this afternoon. The beauty of working small shifts in the day (lunchtime and after-school) is that it gives me time to create stuff and then walk away for a few hours before going back to it and seeing it in a different light (literally!)

The end of swapping... for now!

Yes, I've decided to stop my swapping career. Only because it consumes too much of my time and quite a bit of money (shipping mostly to US and Intl.) I finished preparing and packaging my last swaps, which will probably cost a lot to ship. Now, I will concentrate on personnal projects: painting, scrapbooking and other crafts (ATCs, artist journal, altered art, cards, etc.) So many projects, so many passions, so little time! And with the warm weather coming soon, I want to go outside more and take pictures... of anything and everything.