waiting for the grass to grow!

our path is complete, the dumpster full of concrete for recycling has been hauled away, the side yard has been re-seeded, and even as i type, mother nature is obligingly providing a light but steady rain to water everything in. can't ask for much more than that, eh? here's a new pic, bear in mind that (with a little luck!) all of the naked-brown-dirt areas will be grass in a few weeks, and the path will get another sanding (to fill in the little gaps between bricks) after it has settled. we want to replant some bushes and things against the house, as well, but that will take place at a later date. meanwhile, we're pretty happy with how this has turned out!

here's a reverse view taken from the little porch, so you can see the arched "landing" we created to visually anchor the whole thing to the house. that might be my favorite part!

meanwhile, the end of july signaled the end of ICAD, and here are my last couple of cards, but first a few interesting (ok, arguably interesting) (well, ok, possibly only interesting if you're ME) ICAD statistics. bear in mind that my goals for this project were to work pretty flat, to try new things-- especially wet media and pens, and to keep up better with timely posting:

total cards: 61

flat cards: 50 (wahey!)

cards with hand-drawing or lettering: 11 (pretty respectable)

cards using wet media: 14 (not bad)

collage cards: 45 (hello, comfort zone)

thematically, a few trends emerged:

rainbow cards: 14

cards with repeating circles: 14

cards with doilies: 12

sewn cards: 25 (ok, yeah, not a surprise)

cards with sparkly bits: 8 (holy wow, that's LOW for me!)

finally, the highs and lows:

cards i really really DO NOT like at all: 7 (just over 10%... not bad)

cards i absolutely totally love: 18 (YOWZA!)

060: ink blots

in its blank state i used this card to blot up the excess of a couple of last week's inky/painty/watery crayon essperiments... and it started looking cool enough that i filled in the rest with a blending sponge and then added on some little bits of leftover chinese newspaper. (apologies to chinese speakers if i've unwittingly used strips that say anything unpleasant; i THINK the more colorful bits are adverts.) 

061: rainbow heart

here's a shocking true confession: i made this card earlier in the week and deliberately saved it because i thought it would sum up my ICAD book-- and experience-- perfectly! colorful, vivid and fun... yep... that pretty much says it all! :) :) :)

moving into august, lest any of us start suffering from index card withdrawal, the lovely miss tammy, creator of ICAD (whose blog, daisy yellow, is a must-read!) will be hosting the daily paper prompt* so if you're an art journaler, or you'd LIKE to be... this is a fabulous way to start, re-start, or solidify a daily art habit! ♥♥♥

*i've made a start but not yet photographed, will post in a day or two.