Happy Friday!

Hey everyone!

I hope you all have had a great week and are ready for an awesome weekend!  We would love to see you for one of our classes this weekend - Inky Chicks and Wood Crafts!  You can still snag a registration spot. 

Also, a friendly reminder to grab your seat for the February Retreat AND get those Lawn Fawn orders in for a discount! 

But, today, I am going to toss it over to one of our delightful Design Team ladies - Melinda Davis!  She is sharing her experience with a challenge that is getting ready to start on June 1st - so mark your calendar.   Thanks for sharing with us Melinda!!!

Hi, it’s Melinda from the Design Team and I wanted to tell you about something coming up that has been a turning point in my art making.  Have you ever heard of ICAD?  Although it sounds like it should be a computer program, ICAD stands for Index Card A Day. Created by Tammy Garcia (daisyyellowart.com), it’s an on-line art/mixed media challenge.  The idea is that every day during June and July you make a piece of art on an index card – but since index cards are inexpensive, every day items, you are less likely to get too wrapped up in “this is a precious commodity; whatever I do on it/to it/with it has to be perfect, a masterpiece.” ICAD is free (although there is a moderately priced upgrade which gets you some extra guidance and inspiration); there are daily prompts (topical) and weekly themes (materials or techniques), all of which are totally optional.  You can share photos of your cards on Facebook (or not). The main thing is to spend a few minutes each day being creative.

 Chevron: acrylic paint (stenciled and scraped); stamped (acrylic paint on a tape core)

 Tangerine: clean-up background, collaged scraps, modeling paste through a stencil, buttons

I’ve participated in four ICADs over the last five or six years.  Last year was special for two reasons:  I actually did a card every day (which was a first) and an even more important first, I posted a photo of each one (scary although it did get a little less so as the days went along – I never received or saw a negative comment and it was interesting to see what caught people’s attention). I did use the daily prompts (but on some of my cards, you’d be hard pressed to figure out how I got from the prompt to the result); the weekly themes, not so much. I prepped some cards with backgrounds for busy days and some cards got fine-tuned over several days. Simply put, I made it easy for myself and concentrated on having fun.

 Treasure: Distress Oxide clean-up background, painted Tyvek distressed with heat gun

 Twister: clean-up background with acrylic marks

I have all of my ICADs in an open tray and I love flipping through them – I can see how my aesthetic has changed, how my color sense has developed, how my techniques have become more complex. And even my early fumbling attempts make me happy because I see they were the stepping stones to the later ones.

 Window: acrylic paint background, modeling paste through stencil, circles punched from gel print scraps

Wish: clean-up background overstamped with acrylic paint on jar lids, rubber stamped sentiment

I encourage you to consider ICAD (or any other similar challenge: Inktober and CarveDecember are two that come to mind – Google “on-line art challenge” to find others) – it’s a fun, low/no stress way to ease into an art practice, a change to play with neglected supplies, an opportunity to think “outside the box” and expand your artistic comfort zone. If life gets in the way, don’t quit – just get back on track as soon as you can. I don’t think you’ll ever regret time spent nurturing your creative self. 

 

 Poetry: acrylic paint, various stencils, underpaper scrap, drywall tape

These are so cool Melinda!  I love all the techniques and the idea of creating on an index card is amazing!  I also love that you can use index cards for lots of things too, like repurposing your art into bookmarks or little inspirational notes to send to someone!  I will also agree with something Melinda said, that in challenges, it is amazing the support and kindness people share with other creators!  We would love to see what you all create for this challenge (or just because), so feel free to share with us on Facebook or Instagram!  

A big thanks to Melinda for sharing this with us!  Drop some love for her in the comments here or on the Facebook post.  

Have a great weekend and go get crafty!

Lesley