It's ICAD Time Again

Thursday is June first which means the Index Card a day Challenge, devised and hosted by Tammy Garcia, will kick off its thirteenth season! You don't need ANYTHING special to participate, just some index cards and a way of making marks of some description upon them. This is my twelfth year participating and since I happen to enjoy making little books (and having a dedicated little book for each year's index card art has kept me motivated!) I converted my favorite ever Wendy Vecchi card into a cover; admittedly mostly so I could keep the card for myself! :)

Let me address one really common question right up front: YES, the index cards you work on really should be the cheap, flimsy kind from the office supply store and not high-quality watercolor paper trimmed down to the correct size. This event is about showing up for yourself and doing SOMETHING creative every day, to establish or re-boot your daily art practice. This is about PROCESS more than OUTCOME... and a big part of the point is that you really truly do not need fancy supplies to participate. You also don't need to achieve a finished, polished piece of art each day. Think mark-making, think ink-swatching, think random collage; consider trying a new technique, or getting out those watercolor pens, or inking up those stamps that are still in their packages. Visit the ICAD Base page at Daisy Yellow Art for lots of pre-season activities as well as tips, techniques, badges, ideas and (once we kick off) there will be (100% OPTIONAL) weekly themes and daily prompts for those days when you don't have something in mind. One of the pre-season activities is to make a title card, and here's mine:

Another excellent idea is to assemble a little group of supplies that can sit in a basket or box or tray that you can easily access each day. Because, if you're anything like me, when you suddenly remember ICAD at 9:30pm and you have to go and find your index cards, your pens and your adhesive... that's going to seriously take the wind out of your sails. Since my niece, nephew, sister and mom have all participated in ICAD for the last few years, we've amassed and shared quite a few styles of index cards and dividers, so I have choices! Some years I've focused on one style or technique: collage, lettering, doodles, etc; but mostly I go with the flow. I use the prompts when they appeal to me, though generally not on their specific day; if I really love a prompt I might do it a few times... some I don't do at all.

If you're thinking about joining the fun (it IS fun, I promise!) you really should visit the ICAD Base at Daisy Yellow, and I also humbly recommend this "tips and advice" post that I wrote a couple of years ago. You might like to follow Tammy G on Instagram (she's @gypsy999) for lots of inspiration and for advance peeks at the prompts. If you post on IG, the best hashtag is #dyicad2023 and I think you'll be delighted at the sense of community and camaraderie that surrounds this inspiring event. Oh and yes, I post my cards daily on IG (I'm llaurenb) and then do a weekly round up here on the blog.