ICAD: Final Three

Hard to believe that sixty-one days have elapsed since June first when the Index Card a Day Challenge began, but the calendar indicates that is indeed the case, which means it's time to say one more giant THANK YOU to Tammy Garcia, who devised ICAD in 2011 and continues to serve as hostess, inspiration and cheerleader every June and July as we embark on our yearly quest to make art on index cards, every day, for two months! 

Day 61: Love or Wish

It's the final day of #dyicad2025 and the optional prompt is #LOVE or #WISH which is perfect because I'd like to send my LOVE to @gypsy999 aka our hostess Tammy; to all of my fellow ICADians and ICADettes; as well as all who followed along on this, my 13th year of Index Card a Day; I'm already looking forward to next year! My WISH for all the artists and makers is that you will keep painting, drawing, stamping, coloring, collaging, lettering, stitching... whatever; make time for creativity and fun, even if it's only a few minutes each day, you deserve it!

Day 60: Marquee

Nothing but a single (#marquee style!) THANKS stamp, some whimsical puffy stickers and five bold shades of Simon Hurley STELLAR Inks on the penultimate day of #dyicad2025 because I wanted this one to be about thanking all the ICADians and ICADettes for sharing their art and their comments and generally making this the best June and July ever. Of course the biggest shoutout goes to our hostess and inspiration Tammy Garcia aka #gypsy999 who devised this super summer shindig in 2011 and has been rockin’ it every summer since. THANKS Missus! ♥

Day 59: Upside Down

I'm off-prompt, but as I took this photo it occurred to me that my three-stencil + doodles card is (unintentionally) about as conclusively non-directional as it could possibly be; and thus virtually incapable of being #UPSIDEDOWN which I find sort of low-key amusing... 

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ICAD (again!)

Rounding up the last full week of Index Card a Day, and here are the cards from the week that was: 

Day 58: Mandala Monday

I don't know why this particular brand of index card divider gives a sort of mottled effect when you apply/blend inks directly onto it, and I found that disconcerting at first, but if definitely adds another dimension to a super-inky design! In this case, the inks are the new Simon Hurley STELLAR Foam Ink Pads, which I applied in concentric circles with a Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool. Design elements added with black Letter It Fineliners; details with a white Posca Paint Pen.

Day 57: One Staple Collage

Off-prompt with a One Staple Collage featuring Edgar Allan Poe. This one took longer to arrange than most, but I like how it (FINALLY!) turned out.

Day 56: Off-Prompt

Splitting the difference between an ogee pattern and florals, here are inky circles surrounded by brush-marker swipes and loose outlines. Simon Hurley Stellar Ink in "Prom Queen"; Tombow Dual Brush Pens in various shades of pink, orange and yellow; Letter It Fineliner (.04) in black.

Day 55: Cloverleaf or Roundabout

As anyone whose ever flown into or out of Newark Liberty Airport will tell you, New Jersey boasts many examples of both cloverleaf and roundabout traffic patterns. Here is my artists' impression of one such. In green. Which... irl they usually are not...

Day 54: River

Super-simple, very pared down version of a river featuring torn cardstock and machine stitching. Because I am emphatically NOT a minimalist, this design took me much, MUCH longer than something complicated would have done, lol. But I love the result.

Day 53: Ogee or Paisley (Part 2)

Because honestly, who can choose JUST Ogee or Paisley... I love both, so I did a version of each on successive days. This is (I hope it's obvious!!!) the Paisley one.

Day 52: Ogee or Paisley (Part 1)

The Ogee pattern is something I learned a few years ago during #ICAD and have enjoyed creating ever since! This version was rendered with Tombows; outlines and details added with Letter It Fineliners. PS: I find a gridded index card MOST helpful for making vaguely symmetrical patterns.

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ICAD Because I Can

Another week of making art on index cards looked a bit like this. Check out the ICAD Base Page on the Daisy Yellow website for prompts and info about this 61-day challenge; or visit @indexcardaday on Instagram. 

Day 51: Whole Lotta Lotus Mandala Monday

Not the fanciest mandala I've ever drawn but I definitely feel like I can now draw a lotus anytime, anyplace, for absolutely any reason... or no reason at all. Wahey!

Day 50: Clouds

 I adorned an unlined index card with loose random watercolor blotches by smooshing Simon Hurley’s luscious new Stellar Foam Ink Pads from Ranger onto my craft sheet, spritzing, dipping the card into the ink, and letting the colors dry. Later I went back with Letter It Fineliners to “find” the clouds and added lots of fun doodles with my Posca paint pens.

Day 49: Connection

It's a two-index-card layered collage creation in which each level is ok on its own… but they’re better (imo) together!

Day 48: Taxi 

I was thinking (again) about placing text on different angles and axises and had a bit of a play with some ancient vinyl letter stickers... which then essentially got completely covered up by the adorable children's dictionary #taxi illustration.

   

Day 47: Off-Prompt

This is my version of a cool flower zendoodle that I spotted online somewhere and apparently didn't save the info for (sorry!) There is quite a bit of pale pink shading IRL that doesn't show up in the pic and I am not sure about the vast amount of white space but... it was fun to draw and chalks off another day of ICAD!

Day 46: Pivot 

Here's a card that did not come out the way I thought it would; I was basically trying to #pivot the heart and background to be interestingly contrasting on each side and... well... it's definitely quite flowery, lol!!! :)

Day 45: Terra Cotta

I started out with the intention of finding/mixing the best/closest shade to a true terra cotta using my Tombow Dual Brush Pens and a waterbrush; but as I was playing with the colors I started being interested in all the variations and the way the component shades of orange, tan, pink, beige and brown worked together, so it veered a bit into Deconstructed Terra Cotta... with doodley flower(ish) shapes.

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Wishing you a wonderful, productive and creative week!

More ICADs (Weekly Round-Up)

Another seven days of art-making on index cards has flown past and here are the ICADs that emerged:

Day 44: Hawaiian Eye Mandala Monday

It's a collage + doodles mandala with a vintage Hawaiiana theme and ingredients, plus color-coordinated doodle shapes made with Tombow Dual Brush Pens; on a vintage library catalog card.

Day 43: Giraffe

Giraffe(ish) spots with Zen Doodles!

Day 42: Bronze

 I painted and stamped a background with Ranger's Perfect Pearls (in Perfect Bronze of course) then added stamped seashells which were watercolored with diluted shades of Blush, Perfect Gold and Blue Patina. Alas you cannot really see all of the fabulous shimmer in a photo, but IRL it's very cool!

Day 41: Checkerboard

It's a fanciful, doodle-centric #checkerboard in shades of pink and orange. Because... ok, just because!

Day 49: Autumn

I’ve recently become slightly obsessed with layouts that are situated on a diagonal axis; its harder than it looks to get them right but I’m enjoying the experimentation phase.

Day 39: Off-Prompt

Just got my hands on the new Simon Hurley create Foam Ink Pads and believe me, "STELLAR" is absolutely the correct word! Super-juicy, super-intense, they ink a stamp or an applicator with just a couple of taps and you have gorgeous saturated color that blends beautifully. Yep, I'm gonna need them all. For the test-drive I went off-prompt and blended five rainbow shades through Simon's Deco Diamonds Stencil, then added lots of fun doodles with my Letter It Fineliners. 

Day 38: Bicycle (sort of)

You know the old saying, "When life gives you (paper-pieced) lemons, make incredibly funky riding-really-fast bicycle wheels!" Ok yeah, so: I started out with the idea of spokey, spinning wheels and... somehow... it all went a bit citrussy. But that's the beauty of ICAD, imo. 

Last Week's ICAD Round-Up

Here are index cards from the last seven days of ICAD fun:

Day 37: Mandala Monday

Off-prompt in observance of Mandala Monday, for which I have delved into some very cool sticker books full of rainbows and hearts, which a Special Someone gifted to me! ♥

Day 36: Road

It's a modified take on One Staple Collage: all of the paper ephemera elements are attached with one staple, but I've set them on a background that features stamping, inking and washi tape.

Day 35: Vanishing Point

This card involved more precision and symmetry than I usually attempt; and more time and effort of rendering than I usually spend, but it was both challenging and interesting to try!

Day 34: Fireworks

It’s July 4th aka Day 34 of #dyicad2025 and the appropriately seasonal prompt was a "blast" (sorry, pun intended!) to make.

Day 33: Lace

Probably the densest collection of doodley lines I have ever fit onto one white index card, wahey!

Day 32: Distortion

 A totally tangential take on distortion, which was quite fun to doodle!

Day 31: Mint Green (and Parquetry)

I pretty much love any kind of paper-piecing or pattern-making, but I especially love cutting scraps into strips and building them into #parquetry especially when there's some #mintgreen in there too! 

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Wishing you a wonderful, fun, productive creative week ahead!

(Another) ICAD Round-Up

Celebrating another week of hot weather and cool index cards! ♥

Day 30: Mandala Monday

Off-prompt today, the last Mandala Monday of June. I've gone with a very funky, deconstructed version of a mandala, for which I had a lot of fun filling in the doodles with my Letter It Fineliners and doing some shading on the bands of color with my sadly neglected Prismacolor pencils. 

(Bonus Discovery: It turns out said pencils make a pretty cool photo backdrop... just sayin'...)

Day 29: Sunrise

Going a bit tangentially from sunrise (a time of day I dislike seeing) to sunny side up... a type of egg I very much enjoy eating. Handcut and paper-pieced from the Big Box of Scraps.

Day 28: Dinosaur

I'm calling this one, "Unsung Heroes of the English Restoration" a joke which literally nobody but myself will get and I'm fine with that. 

Day 27: Pink

Super scrap-tastic PINK flowers, for which loosely drawing, hand-cutting and pattern stacking are pivotal. The background is a white gridded card which looked so stark next to the vivid blooms that I felt compelled to make a super-fast plaid with some pink brush pens!

Day 26: Fog

Debating between weather fog and brain fog... I wound up splitting the difference. Several shades of blended Ranger Distress Oxide Inks over white embossed text with stenciled letters cut out and popped up.

Day 25: Licorice or Lollipops

Here's a very very tangential take on LOLLIPOPS... they don't have sticks and look more like the swirly peppermint candies which can only be found (as far as I know) next to the cash register in an old-fashioned, family-owned pizza place.

We have an outstanding, creative and delicious local pizza place; if you ever drive 202 in Branchburg NJ you should stop at @dominicks_njboardwalkpizza ♥ They have 6-10 different pies by the slice each day; we especially love their brisket, buffalo chicken and mushroom slices, yum yum!

Day 24: Gemstone

Not the fanciest card I've ever made, but a tiny personal triumph: I've tried time after time after time to draw faceted-looking gemstones and somehow I could never do it... and finally... I can do it! In fact, after the first two, I didn't even need to look at the clipart drawing I Googled to use as a reference! Go, me!

Pink Alexandrites (my birthstone) drawn with a Letter It Fineliner from Ranger; colored with Perfect Pearls (in Blush) and a waterbrush; shadowed and highlighted with pens.

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Wishing you a wonderful, fun and creative start to the month of July; keep cool and craft on! 

ICAD: Round-Up #3

The weeks are flying past as they do, we're officially into SUMMER and New Jersey is busy setting records for temps and humidity... the only possible reaction is to stay indoors and make art on index cards!

Day 23: Mondrian Mandala Monday

Off-prompt in favor of Mondrian Mandala Monday; continuing a thread started by my Facebook friend Becca Sadler. Becca does a weekly art journal page inspired by the Dutch utopian/abstract artist Piet Mondrian, and I loved the idea so much I've been trying to do a similar style of mandala once a month or so. In this case, @smilynstef had shown me an outstanding piece of sketchbook art (stupidly I didn't save it to give credit, sorry!) with concentric circles of these geometric "dangles" and we both immediately thought it would be perfect for MMM! I used Piet's palette of primary colors and added a few more squares and rectangles of solid color et voila!

Day 22: Aviary

Here's a pretty good example of a card I loved winging it (sorry, for once the pun is unintentional, honest!) but in retrospect wish I had planned/measured a bit better; or possibly made a fold-out double card that would've held my handcut letters in a single line. On the other hand, #ICAD is 100% about process and experimentation so WOOHOO that makes this a big success! 

PS: Those beautiful clipart birds are designed by my friend @ginaisarty and you can find lots of other critters, plants and people in her Redbubble, Zazzle and Teepublic shops; there's a LinkTree in her profile; just sayin'...

Day 21: Onomotopoeia

"Squeak!!!" says the mouse; which in this case means either, "Hooray, I have found the best lunch ever!" or, "Oh dear, I don't think this reed is really strong enough!" Fun fact: "onomotopoeia" neither means nor is spelled the way it sounds!

 

Day 20: Reverse

For which, slightly tangentially, I’ve swapped around my usual convention of a pale/plain background and colorful/detailed focal image. It’s not perfect but it’s interesting… 

Day 18: Turtle

Test-driving a sort of abstract/stylized turtle shell pattern. I painted concentric shapes with a waterbrush and diluted Perfect Pearls pearlescent pigment powders from Ranger (in Perfect Gold, Blue Patina and Forever Green); then after the sturdy divider card (letter "T" o'course) was dry I outlined the shapes with a Letter It Fineliner and added a few details with a white paint pen.

Day 17: Memento

Ok, yes, the prompt is meant to be #memento but I sort of went more #memo because I found this ancient October Afternoon patterned paper with pencils on it and I couldn't resist!

Day 17: Yellow

Circling back to yesterday's #dyicad2025 prompt of #YELLOW which I had skipped in favor of Mandala Monday. I started looking through some books and some scraps for "yellow things" and sort of assumed I would choose one and run with it. Eventually, I decided to use ALL of them... or at least... all the ones I could fit on one index card. Decision made!!! :)

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Have a fun and creative week!

Week 2: Index Card a Day

Time for another retrospective of ICADs, starting with today's extra punny MAN-dala Monday:

Day 16: MANdala Monday

This tiny illustration was on some junk mail last week and I immediately thought, "MAN-dala Monday!" I layered some trading stamps, a frilly round sticker, and my hand drawn rings and petals on a vintage library pocket card for an eclectic (verging on eccentric) take on an ICAD mandala.

Day 15: Off Prompt

Here's a MODIFIED One Staple Collage: The text label, embroidery pattern, trading stamps and roses (they're connected to each other) are all held on by a single staple. The words have been glued onto the label, and the background is rub-on transfers which worked as a resist for some Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

Day 14: Leopard

Here's a card that (imo) epitomizes the "process over outcome" beauty of ICAD. For Day 14's prompt of #leopard I decided to hand-cut two-toned leopard spots from scrap cardstock, ink the edges, layer them, and attach them to the unlined back of a blue index card. I loved making this and I now feel I can confidently reproduce a leopard pattern at any time... but... it's not all that impressive as a finished piece. And I'm fine with that!

Day 13: Iridescent

It's hard to tell from the photo, but under the collage elements and over the mixed media background of stamped/ inked/ rub-on elements there is some gorgeous Ranger Metallic White Texture Paste spread through one of my favorite Dina Wakley Coaster Stencils.

Day 12: Twig

This illustration, which I cut out of an old falling-apart copy of a children's dictionary from the 70's, seems perfect for today's optional #dyicad2025 prompt of #twig and I'm kind of happy with my stylized background of green and leafy washi tapes plus a small frame (also washi).

Day 11: Tide Pool

I've already mentioned how much I love the sea creatures that my friend Gina @ginaisarty designs; so it seemed only right to create a little gelli print #tidepool for them to inhabit.

Day 10: Arrow

About as literal a take on the (optional) theme of #arrow as you could possibly imagine; rendered in hand-cut patterned paper scraps, on a reproduction library pocket card.

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For lots more info and inspiration regarding this fun annual project, check out the ICAD Base page at Daisy Yellow Art or the @indexcardaday account and the #dyicad2025 hashtag on Instagram.