it's the most wonderful time of the year!

by which i mean, the index card a day project* will start up again in just nine days, woohoo! you may be wondering what this has to do with this week's challenge at shopping our stash, and technically the answer is, "NOTHING" except that this week we'd like to see music notes on your project and i've used sheet music as the background for the covers of my ICAD2017 book. see?

sheet music from an old marked up book i found at a garage sale; my photo with heavily increased saturation and color levels, printed on kodak premium glossy paper; mica flakes from an art store; deco tape: love my tapes; chipboard thickers: american crafts; ink: stewart superior; bookring: staples; adhesive fabric sheets: michaels; chipboard: paper accents; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, scotch 3m craft gluestick, sewing machine  

ok, so apart from the sheet music, i have a heavily photoshopped picture i took at the new york botanical gardens a couple of years ago, which i've printed on glossy paper, trimmed into an oval shape, and added some shiny mica flakes. to grunge up the background a little bit, i added some clear plastic deco tape with text on it, a tiny bit of crackle modeling paste through a stencil, and some chipboard alphas with machine stitching to insure they won't decide to jump ship midway through the project. 

the endpapers inside the book are made from an adhesive fabric sheet i found in the iron-on section of a local big box crafting store. i was sort of excited to see them there, as we had been talking about adhesive fabric at SOS last week, during our "project runway" challenge! i always loved the stuff, so i was excited to see it making a comeback.

technically you don't need ANYTHING special to participate in ICAD, apart from index cards and a writing implement; and you most definitely do not need a special book. but i happen to like making little books, and something i have learned about myself over the years is that i can intend to keep a travel journal during vacation, or to watercolor every day in the autumn, or to make 61 index cards at the beginning of summer. but i'm a lot more likely to actually DO IT if i've already spent a bit of time and energy to make an official book with the title on it in chipboard letters, lol. and since i'm always excited about ICAD several weeks before it starts, i usually whip up a little something just to increase my odds of following through. some folks gesso their cards, or do collaged or painted backgrounds in advance to get them started, but i've found (perhaps a bit strangely?) that doesn't actually help me, so i just punch holes in a few different styles of index card and call myself "ready" lol.

on the other hand, you don't have to have any interest at all in ICAD to play along with us at SOS this week, and my dt darlings have loads of music note inspiration for you!!! ♥

*the founder and hostess of ICAD, tammy garcia, has an awesome website called daisy yellow art where you can read all about this event, but essentially: you get yourself a stack of 61 index cards; you do something creative (draw, write, paint, sew, collage, compose a haiku... whatever feels creative to you!) each day between june 1st and july 31st on one of the index cards; at the end of the project you have a stack of creative cards and have established, re-established or just re-ignited a daily art practice! it's fun, it's friendly and it helps boost both your creativity and your skills! this will be my 6th year and i have to say i love it more each time! ♥