I Can, Therefore ICAD

Another week of July has FLOWN past like... a thing that flies past really quickly! Thus, it is time for another Index Card a Day update. And here it comes............ riiiiiiiiight NOW!

Day 43: Off-Prompt

It's a black and white Mandala Monday with lots of detailing and a largely symmetrical design. If you're wondering why I usually start in a corner or otherwise let most of my mandalas go "off the page" it's because I admire symmetry, but don't particularly enjoy drawing it. Also, I think that on anything except a square or round substrate, a complete 360 mandala just doesn't fill the page as interestingly. 

BTW, my very favorite mandala making accessory is the aqua-colored round thing in the background of this photo. It's official name is the Helix Circle and Angle Maker and @smilynstef found this one when we were in a cool stationery shop on the Upper East Side of NYC... but they sell them at other art supply and office supply stores and That Big Online Store, too.

The pens are Letter It Fineliners from @Ranger_Ink and they're my go-to pens. They come in a few different sets of colors, but the set of three black pens with different sized nibs are my most used. I believe they might be the only brand of fineliners I've used where I've never once killed a nib. (This is a Big Deal in my world!!!) 

Day 42: Casino

Some years ago visited the Neon Museum and Boneyard in Las Vegas and it was absolutely amazing. No disrespect to the functioning casinos on the Old Strip and the New Strip; but whenever anyone says "Las Vegas" or "Casino" I think of all the fabulous, colorful-but-rusty, de-commissioned neon signs on that property; and the wonderful storeies the guide told on the tour. Rather than try to reproduce a single sign, I've done a sort of macro mashup of the colors and shapes from the Stardust, the Dunes and the Golden Nugget... with some Laureny imagination added in for good measure.

Day 41: Favorite _______

Having utterly failed in an attempt to pick ONE favorite thing, I decided to do a bit of a mash-up of some current faves. So here's my favorite backyard animal, the fox; sitting on a background of my favorite art form, collage; there are some roses (my favorite flower); and a butterfly (my favorite insect) sticker (my favorite embellishment); the texty sky and cloud backdrop is from one of my favorite digital collages; I used it to fill up the sheet while printing graduation photos of some of my favorite people, my nieces and nephew. I photographed the card against a vintage needlepoint picture my aunt gave me, because interesting/ unusual staging is also my favorite.

Day 40: Frost

It's been very hot and humid here in NJ, which is absolutely the only time I ever think fondly about SNOW!!! I made an inky. blendy background with a few shades of Archival Ink and some rubbing alcohol; let it dry; then used several sizes of white Posca pens to draw stylized flakes. I tried very very hard NOT to outline everything with a black Letter It Fineliner, but at the last minute I caved, lol.

Day 39: Harmony

 Here's a collage card that I started with the "harmony" prompt at the forefront of my mind; but it doesn't show up very much in the finished collage. Which is fine... I like how it turned out... I suppose the design is fairly "harmonious"? ICAD is about exploration and having fun sooooo... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Day 38: Blue

Sometimes I just want to cut out shapes from patterned paper, stack them, and maybe outline some of the design elements. If loving that is wrong... I don't wanna be right.

Day 37: Origami

It's my first One Staple Collage of July... and already one of my favorites! I've stacked some torn metallic origami paper; the copyright page from a Japanese language book; the label from the metallic origami paper; a pagoda and crane fan from some fancy Japanese-themed origami paper; and the diagram of an origami crane from yet another set of origami paper; all on top of a yellow index card to which I applied some ancient and imperfect rub-on transfers. As usual, I've made the single staple which holds everything together nearly impossible to see (sorry!) but it's just about in the center of the crane diagram.

It's a Big BIG Mandala Monday

I have to confess this started out as an ordinary-sized Mandala; it grew to cover about half of my two-page Dina Ledger Journal spread; and finally I thought, "Just fill both pages!" So I did. All of which happened on three or four evenings over the course of maybe two weeks.  For the record, most of my mandalas are not completed in a single sitting; I typically have 20-30 minutes at the end of the evening for "freestyle" art and usually I start a mandala or a collage... or a collaged mandala if I can't decide which, lol.

I used a Mini Ink Blending Tool and Domed Foams to apply rainbow shades of Archival Inks in concentric circles; then added black Letter It Fineliner details; then some messy stenciling with Dina's Coaster Stencils. At the end, I got out some Posca Pens and used a detail blender or marker to tidy up some of the rounds if the colors split in a weird way.

The biggest impulse to keep going came NOT from something I did well; au contraire. Actually, it was a Big Mistake! When I was about halfway across both pages... (around where the ring of purple tabs with white hearts are... though they didn't have much detail yet) ...I added those 1-inch blue and green circles with Letter It's Polka Dotting Stencil. And I haaaaaaaaaaaaated them. I added more colors, tried to blend them out, tried to disguise with white, etc... nothing really worked. I closed the book and mentally added this one to the "unfinished" pile. 

But the next time I saw the unfinished spread, I remembered that when you can't manage to cover up something you hate, the answer might be (rather counter-intuitively!) to ADD MORE OF IT. Yep, I know it sounds nuts but... sometimes the "ugly" thing just needs more context. And in this case, I do believe it worked! Which is not to say that I love those dots but... I like them more and was able to finish the page. And thus another Mandala Monday is complete. 

Hope your week is off to a good start!

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... 

♥♥♥

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.

♥♥♥

Memorial Day Mandala Monday

A-PARROT-ly, it's Mandala Monday, so here's a fun little Prismacolor Pencil design in my small Dina Wakley Kraft Journal. The centerpiece is an ancient Pepin Sticker from The Ink Pad; I've pulled the colors of the sticker out into the design, and outlined everything with a Letter It Fineliner from Ranger, for a little extra polish. Happy Memorial Day to all who are celebrating; and a big giant THANK YOU to all those who have served or are serving our country.

MM17: Collage +

Collage elements plus paint pens plus Letter It Fineliners plus Dina Wakley Kraft Journal equals... Mandala Monday #17 of 2025!

So Lucky

Today I'm feeling extra lucky to be on the Ranger Project Tutorials Page, showing off (step-by-step) how I used a rainbow of Ranger Embossing Powders with some fab Simon Hurley create Background Stamps, accented with coordinating shades of Archival Ink plus the golden glitter of Stickles and a few dozen four-leafed (four-heart!) clovers to create a card that is over-flowing with Good Luck. I'd love for you to HOP OVER and check it out! ♥

MM03: Deconstructed

It's a Wavy Gravy Macro Mandala Monday in which we focus on the detail of the patterns rather than an overall design.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens, White Posca and Letter It Fineliners in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger. 

Ranger New Year Card

A New Year's toast to all the makers: May 2025 be our most creative year yet! Follow along as I kick off January with a super-sparkly card tutorial thanks to Stickles Glitter Glue, Stickles Glitter Gel and Tinsel Embossing Powder. It's on the Ranger Project Page, where there is literally always something new and wonderful to inspire YOU! ♥

MM01: Butterfly

It's a Magnificent Monarch Mandala Monday thanks to this beautiful glossy butterfly photo snipped from the back cover of a magazine last year and saved, "to do something with"; in this case, the "something" turned out to be a mostly symmetrical mandala in coordinating colors in my large Dina Wakley Media Journal from Ranger.

I hope your first full week of 2025 is off to a warm(ish) and wonderful start! ♥

Five Faves of 2024: Ranger Edition

I'm proud to have enough favorites from my posts for the Ranger Tutorials Page to make it difficult to choose! Having said that... it WAS difficult, lol! Click the bold text under each photo to get to the full tutorial on the Ranger Blog.

Liquid Pearls and Stickles Thank You Card

...much of the time I use Liquid Pearls dimensionally and Stickles more or less flat; but as a matter of fact, you can PAINT with LP's and make ridges with Stickles. 

(Also there's always just the right shade of Archival Ink to coordinate!)

Trading Hearts Layered Embossing Cards

...apart from the fact that I'm in love with the bears from Simon Hurley's Winter Woodland stamp set, my favorite thing about this project was the realization that I could emboss sequentially on each of the three layers of Simon's Dazzling Diamonds Layered Stencil Set. 

Archival Ink Mother's Day Card

...I had a plan going in but it morphed into something completely different and much, much, cooler...  which is always exciting. Dina's Pocket Circle Stamp Set was the pivot; Letter It's Family and Loves sets were crucial.

Stickles Glitter Gels Greeting Card

...here's a shocking true confession: this was my first time using Stickles Glitter Gels; I hadn't realized how much more dense the colors are, that they look fab on dark cardstock, or that each shade has a different combo of chunky glitter shapes. Needless to say I was immediately HOOKED!

Glossy Accents Shower Cards

...in this case the occasion (baby or bridal shower) and featured product (Glossy Accents) were suggested by Patti Behan, I love getting a "headstart" that way. Letter It's Shower Clear Stamp Set made it work.

BONUS PROJECT

(I did say it was hard to choose lol)

Liquid Pearls Celebration Cards

...have serious amounts of stenciling and use the fab Liquid Pearls in several different ways!

Putting the "Mental" in Ornamental! :)

'Twas the Mandala Monday before Christmas and all through the house, shiny, sparkly ornaments of all varieties... vintage, new or even hand-drawn... are making spirits bright as we prepare for the Big Day!

Drawn with Letter It Fineliners; watercolored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens; highlights of golden metallic marker

Dyamond Board Doodle Trees

It's a TREE-mendous Mandala Monday featuring a terrific TREE-o of Dylusions Dyamond Board Small Trees, doodled with Letter It Fineliners and then tinted with all my favorite green shades of Simon Hurley create Dye Inks. 

To make the trees into a card, I embossed Simon's Stitched Snowflakes background with Ranger's Cottontail Embossing Powder, applied Breakup Blue ink on top, then cleaned the excess ink off the embossed flakes.

A mat of dark blue cardstock, a sentiment from the Sketched Snowmen stamp set, and a little machine stitching complete the design.

As we cruise into the final full week of holiday preparations, I hope you're having fun getting ready for the big day (if you celebrate Christmas) or the big night (if you celebrate Hanukkah)!

Dylusions Dyamond Board Ornaments

Just in time for the holidays, Dyan Reaveley has designed Dylusions Dyamond Boards in festive shapes like baubles, stars and trees; available in two sizes for extra variety. Perfect for making garlands, place settings, gift tags and more. Follow along on the Ranger Project Tutorials Page as I decorate them with Letter It stamps and stencils, Ranger Archival Inks and Stickles Glitter Gels to create super-colorful multi-layer Christmas tree ornaments...

...which also make awesome package decorations or name tags!

I cannot tell a lie: I really LOVE this project; I hope you'll check it out! ♥

MM49: On the Map

It's a Marvelously Mappy Mandala Monday on which I wish safe and stress-free travel to all who are flying, driving, riding or sailing home after the Thanksgiving holiday! ♥

Letter It Fineliners and Posca Paint Pens on a vintage atlas page

Wet and Wild

It's a splishy-splashy, super-colorful Mandala Monday thanks to my Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils from Ranger. My current favorite way to use them is to both draw and fill in the shapes with the DRY pencils (adding more color at the edges and lighter towards the center of each shape); then take a waterbrush and "activate" the awesome watercolor blendiness (yes, that IS a word!) taking care to work from light to dark and rinse the brush whenever it starts to overblend the shades. 

At the end, it's fun to apply the wet brush directly to the pencils, create a little puddle of color, and then flick it onto the piece. As with most watercolor products, you get a lot of variation depending on: 1) how much color you pick up; 2) how big your brush/drop size is; 3) whether the piece is wet or dry when you flick at it; and 4) whether or not you blot the splatters off or let them dry on their own. With a bit of practice you can definitely learn to "steer" the piece, but there will always be a very fun serendipity factor that I love!

I used rainbow colors from Sets One, Two and Three of the Distress Watercolor Pencils; and added the outlines and details with three sizes of Letter It Fineliners after the panel was completely dry.

SOS535: Masculine Cards

It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that Guy Cards are harder to make than Girl Cards. Or at least many cardmakers (including ME!) think so. So this fortnight at Shopping Our Stash we're challenging you to make a masculine card for any occasion you'd like, I needed a birthday card, so that's what I made.

One of my additional goals on this outing was to combine an inky stamped/stenciled background with collage elements. Because I've noticed that I either do ALL collage or all inky goodness; and I quite like the way other people (including my current Art Crush Katie Pertiet) put them together. I've used a bunch of neglected stash items on this one including Simon Hurley's Leaf Prints stamps (about a year old) and Handwritten background (maybe two years); Letter It's Alternating Chevrons stencil (maybe three years); some 49 and Market Acetate Leaves and Vellum Leaf Stickers (two years?); lots of vintage sheet music, book paper, a chart from a map and some fab trading stamps, plus a vintage car illustration; and possibly my all-time favorite crafting supply that ISN'T technically a craft supply: Drywall Tape! The sentiment is part rub-on transfer and part wordfetti sticker... the latter is five or six years old. I'm a little bit proud that I managed to squeeze alllllllllllllllll of that onto an A6 card and I still left some white showing in the background.

SOS's Masculine Challenge runs through Monday evening, December 2nd. Check out the fab makes by our Crew at Shopping Our Stash then start planning what you'll link up with us!

Will It Go Round in Circles? (YES!)

It's a Multi-Tag Mandala Monday in my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal* from Ranger. I made the shapes with Letter It Fineliners, filled in soft color with pencils, and added a few extra patterned paper circles in the background. Wishing you a happy and productive week! ♥

*The 6x6 Kraft Journal is currently out of print, but there are lots of other options in kraft, in square, and well, lots more choices; you should check them out! ;)

Bring on the COLOR!

This Mandala Monday started off with a sort of vaguely pumpkin spice color palette... but then morphed into autumnal pastels. Is that a thing? Maybe not, but I quite like how it came out. Hope your week is off to a satisfactory start! If not, more coffee might help!

Lines by Letter It Finerliners from Ranger; color by Tombow DualBrush Pens; shapes thanks to my trusty Helix CircleMaker Tool, which you can find at art stores, office supply stores and big giant online stores too, of course. An old-school compass from geometry class also works; as does a set of nested circle dies or stencils! 

Plaid(ish) Stripes

Stretching the concept of Mandala Monday pretty far with a (sort of) plaid design made by masking off a few horizontal and vertical stripes with tape, watercoloring over the masked bits with analogous colors of Liquid Pearls, letting them dry, peeling the tape, and doodling mandala(ish) shapes with my Letter It Fineliners inside the unpainted bits. 

There's a bit more detail about watercoloring with Liquid Pearls on this Thank You Card post and this Birthday Card post both on the Ranger Project Tutorials Page, which is absolutely loaded with awesome ideas from a variety of papercrafting artists. Plus you can filter or search by occasion, product or project type which is handy! ♥