SOS253: anything but a card

it's a change of pace at shopping our stash this week, we'd like to see --as you'll have guessed from the post title-- ANYTHING but a card! i made a minibook:

scraps of text paper glued randomly to a 3.5x5.5" chipboard cover wrapped in a piece of ledger paper; various ranger distress and archival inks applied with sponge applicators; butterflies are composed of liquitex white modeling paste applied thru an ancient heidi swapp stencil. pink plastic thickers: american crafts; pink tiny alphas: glitz design; book ring: staples; adhesives: scotch gluestick, sewing machine

yes, it's my ICAD* book for this year. if you've ever visited my blog during june or july, you probably already know what i'm talking about: i've participated in the index card a day project since 2012 and it's always a highlight of my artistic year. you most definitely don't NEED a special book to take part, but i'm always excited about ICAD a few weeks before it starts, so i enjoy making one.

this one's got a torn paper background (surprise, lol!) with some ink on top... because it's such a good reflection of what i've been loving lately.

i've stocked it with a few different styles of cards: lined, unlined, gridded and even some tabbed divider ones. again... you don't need to have a variety, or anything fancy, but whereas you'll never see me strolling through the mall trying on clothes recreationally, i DO love shopping for supplies and each year i've treated myself to at least one new kind of index card.

the leftover cards live --year round-- in this little box, so they're always easy to find. i had the awesome experience of nieces and nephew participating last year, and now we periodically get together for "art camp". matthew, when he has a lot of different ideas, will often ask for some index cards; even if he has his sketchbook or other supplies available. to him, you THINK about art via index cards, lol. so mine are always available!!! ♥

there are lots more awesome projects to inspire you at SOS... hop on over and enjoy those now!

*the index card a day project is the brainchild of tammy garcia, from daisy yellow art. it officially takes place between june 1st and july 31st, but you can do it any time. the point is to make a quick and tiny piece of art on an index card for 61 days in a row. you can use it to start or renew a daily art habit, to polish skills, to try new supplies, or just wing it. there are facebook, instagram and flickr groups and hashtags (# icad2016 or #dyicad2016) but you needn't share your art if you don't want to (it is a reallllly nice, supportive community, tho). the point is to emphasize the PROCESS of art-making, as opposed to outcome... hence the use of humble index cards rather than more traditional art supplies. read more about it HERE!