Project 365 Cards 309 - 320

 Back to my original idea for this set of 12 which was to use up the collage fodder that I had on my desk. I keep saving bits and pieces thinking that will be useful in my art journal/project 365 and now I am getting overrun, but I find it impossible to throw anything away!

The picture has not come out that well, the bee card has lots of metallic flowers stamped on it which have not come out at all in the picture. Oh well.

Project 365 Cards 297 - 308

It has been ages since I posted my next batch of Project 365 cards. 

As usual in June and July I took part in ICAD 2020- this is a daily challenge hosted by Tammy Garcia to make art on an index card for 61 days. I put my project 365 on hold while taking part in that. This year for ICAD I had a mandala theme, here are my 61 cards (On 6x4 index card).

 I thought it would be tricky to do a mandala each day for that long without getting repetitive, however I found it quite easy, the more I kept going to easier I found it to come up with new ideas.

ICAD 2020

Once ICAD was complete it took a while for me to get back to my Project 365, now the weather is getting a bit cooler I am back in the swing of it. This is quite an eclectic series, trying to use up bits and pieces of collage material, and trying out a new poppy die cut.

Cards #297 - 308

Project 365 Cards 285 - 296

Mandalas in May is what I call this series. I have always enjoyed doodling and drawing a mandala is very relaxing and I find the end result very pleasing. I have added shading on some of the drawings which gives them a bit more of a 3d feel.

I am about to embark on the ICAD challenge so Project 365 may take a back seat for a while.

I mentioned ICAD and some of you may be wondering what this is? It is a challenge run every year by Tammy Garcia aka Daisy Yellow. The challenge is to make art on an index card every day for June and July. Tammy posts prompt which you can follow or you can do your own thing. This will be my eighth year of taking part in the challenge.

You can find out more about the challenge here

Project 365 Cards 271 - 284

I painted the first card in this set and then did the second card in the same pattern but by collaging cut out circles, just to see what the different effect would be. Then I was on a run of circles, painting stencilling. I wanted to inject a bit of colour also, the last row are using fluorescent orange and pink paint which does not pick up as brightly in the picture as it is in real life. 

Project 365 Cards 259 - 270

This group of cards has a lot more doodling and drawing which I find very meditative. I used to do a lot of zentangle before I really got into art journaling. My favourite is the green and orange card as this really pops out of the page with the shading.

Project 365 Cards 247 - 258

I have a lot more time now during lockdown as I am not able to go out at the moment except for my daily exercise, so there is no excuse really for not working on my art projects. 

 At the start of the lockdown period I found it really difficult to focus and be productive as like many others there was an adjustment period to this new way of life. 
However happily I am now getting back into doing my art and as well as a number of journal pages I have restarted the Project 365 cards.

When I started the series I was trying to practice more collage, but now I am just doing whatever sparks my creativity that day, so quite a mix of cards in this group.

Diva Challenge #387

It's a long time since I have done one of the Weekly Diva challenges - 2014 I think!  The last one was #156 and Laura is now up to #387! I used to do these challenges on a weekly basis and then I started to do more mixed media art and was doing zentangle only occasionally.  As part of my 365 challenge I thought that I would try some zentangling again.

The tangle to be used was HaWy,  you can link to the challenge here.

I kept it fairly simple this time, I do like using a bit of colour in my tangles now though.

Project 365 Cards 235 - 246

I really love this set of cards, my favourite is the second card, the colourful splash, it was done with fine liner pens. 

Then we have the bears, my family felt like my first bear was a bit 'creepy', I was aiming for cute but I seem to have missed the mark! They liked the second one better. 
I have also been trying to recreate some saying that I have seen on Pinterest.

Project 365 Cards 223 - 234

Life got in the way of this project towards the end of last year. Holidays, Christmas and all sorts of other things meant that I did not get my 365 cards done in one year. However, I have decided to make this a 2 year challenge and so I have picked up making the cards again. I still have a massive amount of collage fodder on my desk to work through.  

Here is the next set 223 - 234

My favourite from this group is the first card on the second row. I had a new stencil which I traced through and then I coloured the shapes in with coloured pencils to give more of a 3-d effect. The next card is the same technique but in black and white.

Project 365 Cards 192 - 222 (and Inktober)

I though that I would try my hand at Inktober this year. So I continued my Project 365 on the small cards but did 31 in Ink.  I should be at card 311 by now so running quite a few behind, I think this year long challenge could well run into next year.

Project 365 Cards 169 - 191

I have not blogged for a while but I am still keeping going with the cards. A mix of all sorts of techniques in this set. I am still trying to get through the stash of bits and bobs I have collected by doing mini collages.

Project 365 Cards 121 - 144

Project 365 Cards 85 - 120

Still going strong, around a third of the way there.

Project 365 Cards 73 - 84

More collage, painting using acrylics, watercolour, some stamping, trying to use up all those bits and pieces I have gathered over the years.

Project 365 Cards 61 - 72

I was continuing with the collage theme, however I then my son ended up in hospital having an emergency appendectomy so I had less time and started  doing the cards with doodles using gel pens, some brights, metallic and glittery (Hard to see in the photo). I have always enjoyed doodling and its a good way to relax after a stressful week!

Project 365 Cards 49 - 60

Some different techniques in this set,  the second card is a found image which I water coloured, it makes a change from my usual acrylics. The third card is a hand-carved rubber stamp which I have repeatedly stamped across the card.

 My favourite is the sea horse which I stamped onto fabric and coloured, before collaging onto a card.

I also enjoy finding words and phrases to add to the cards for a bit of interest. 

Project 365 37 - 48

The last group of cards were quite muted so I decided to go a bit brighter with this group.

There's more collage, use of stencils, acrylic paint. The bottom left hand card I have added a piece of  friendly plastic art which I made years ago. (who remembers friendly plastic? - google it if you don't!)  The bottom right hand card is a hand carved repeating rubber stamp (Inspired by Julie Balzer)

Project 365 25 - 36

I have used acrylic paints, stamping, heat embossing, collage, die cutting, stencilling. I enjoyed getting out my heat gun again for the embossing, something I have not done for ages since I was making cards.

Project 365 13 - 24

Carrying on with the Project 365, here are cards 13 - 24. Still using up bits and pieces that I have lying about. I have also collected a pile of random words and phrases that I am using too.

Project 365 1-12

Wow, looking at the dates it's been almost 5 years since I was blogging regularly, I think that I just got out of the habit!

This year I have decided to try Project-365, the aim is to make 365 pieces of art this year. I will not make one each day as I sometimes work in batches, however the aim is to have completed 365 pieces by the end of the year!

I find it hard to throw things away, especially when it might come in handy for future art projects, I am sure a few of you can relate to this! My pile of 'stuff' was getting too big, so I thought that making these mini pieces would force me use some of it up. Here are the first 16, they are 3 inches square.

Project 365 # 1- 12