With two months of small-format, index card art on the horizon after ICAD starts on June first , there's time for one more BIG collage in my Dina Wakley MEdia Ledger Journal from Ranger. With pages just under 7.5 x 12" there's room for LOTS of vintage goodies like sheet music, part of an old map, S&H Green Stamps, glossy calendar page flowers, and phonebook paper; as well as some of my favorite Dina Wakley Collage Papers.
This fortnight at Jingle Belles, we're asking you to walk in an Ombré Wonderland with us, by creating a card that features an Ombré blend. Ombré is literally French for "shaded"; a gradient effect where colors smoothly blend into each other, usually transitioning from light to dark or between different hues.
When I found a white-embossed snowflake panel in my UFOs box, I immediately knew it'd make the perfect start to an ombre emboss/resist background. I blended four shades of Simon Hurley pink inks (Piggyback, Rosy Cheeks, Stupid Cupid and Prom Queen) over the embossing; added some Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads and then loaded on lots of adorable Doodlebug Design stickers. Job done!
JB2611: Ombre Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, June 3rd. Hop over to Jingle Belles to link your Ombre Offerings!
We're coming up on June 1, which, in the Index Card a Day community, is known as ICAD Day! The first of 61 consecutive days on which we'll make art of some description on an index card. This fun and inspiring annual event was devised by Tammy Garcia in 2011; and I've been participating since 2012. You can read more about it on this year's Intro Page at Daisy Yellow Art.
Do you need a fancy little book with collaged front and back covers? NOOOOOOOO! Do you want one? Maybe. This is my 15th year participating, and I've found that it definitely helps me keep going and stay committed, knowing I have a fancy little book that I made specially. Also it's a place to keep all my cards as I finish them. Oh yeah, and it's exciting to watch the book get fatter as the challenge rolls on. Other folks use a folder, a file box, a photo album, or just a stack on the corner of their worktable.
What do you actually *NEED* to participate in ICAD? Some index cards and a writing implement. Period. And YES, they should be actual, flimsy, junky, cheap index cards from the office supply store; because a really big part of the point is that you don't need fancy supplies, or full-fledged finished project level ideas; you just need to show up and do SOMETHING. Every day. For two months.
What kind of art can you make on an index card? You can draw, stamp, weave, doodle, stitch, color, collage, write haikus or six word stories, practice your lettering, swatch all your paints... the list might not technically be endless, but there's a lot of scope! Tammy devises daily prompts and weekly themes, which she posts on the website and the @indexcardaday feed on Instagram. The prompts and themes are 100% optional; you can do them all, or ignore them entirely. I pick and choose, focusing on the prompts that especially interest or inspire me; tending to lean more heavily into them on days when I don't have an idea in mind. The official IG hashtag is #dyicard2026 if you decide to post your art.
I generally post my cards daily on my Instagram account @llaurenb and a weekly round-up on the blog. If you'd like to see some of my ICADs from previous years, check out the ICAD strand by clicking the italic text. Hope to see you on June 1st! ♥
Eyelet Outlet Unicorn and Rainbow Brads are perfect for pretty much ANY occasion... or for no occasion at all. And let's face it, we'd all love to get a happy, silly, colorful card in the mail just because someone was thinking of us, right?
"SOS574: Congratulations" runs until the evening of Monday, June 1st. Hop over to SOS to see the inspiring Crew cards and start planning what you'll link up with us this time.
I have always loved elaborate giftwrapping, stencils and inks... so here's a post that combines all of the above:
