Good daughter helps Mom but I am back!

My mom was in the hospital for 4 days. I mostly kept my dad company. She's all fixed and I am back to my blogging.

All three of these cards match in colors. They are probably similar in age too?

Cute old fashioned couple!

Tranquil Scenes...

Still a tradition the peaceful view. I like these because of the dark burgundy red.
It doesn't show well but there is silver on this card. I miss snow!

Made in Germany...

This is a card from the 1930's. So old fashioned! Very beautiful as many things made in Germany.

Dated 1936 and catch the two different spellings of 'Merry'. All dogs and Scotties were very popular at this time. Almost half of the ones I find in mid 30's have small dogs on them.

Inside.

Love those mod colors...

Both of these cards are little like a gift card, they just have to be from the late 60's.
Cute mouse in the corner!

Christmas Card Parade...

Coming in December!

Christmas Card Parade.

Retro, old fashioned and just plain interesting and

beautiful to me. Cards, a dwindling tradition? I hope not,

but I know I send few, so I will put them on

as a parade for all of December.

More Photo Booth pics...

A banquet of colors!

Love Gertrude's hair!

Pals or father and son?

Fashion beauties.

Such a cutie!

This guy is giving a cautious look, if any body has a picture of themselves or anyone else, I'd love to see yours?

Photo Booth Pictures...

I love these pictures. The history is interesting to me and the many different poses and their backgrounds fascinate my brain. I have one of my great aunt with a frame as this.
Here is an early booth picture that I got out of an amazing book I found last year. The ones that I remember from the 70's had more curtains and a darker feel to the inside.

This little lady, also from the book "American Photobooth", is so cute. Do you think that she made her hat? If you look closer you can see the netting that goes completely over down to her shoulders.

This is my favorite of course because of the cute dog, but the lady has a great style too. It is very hard to find strips like the one on the right, still intact. They were always snipped up to share. I will show some more of these later. All the ones I ever had were in black and white. I just love the colored ones though.

Tom Waits, poet, song writer, and yes, free spirit...

He is also an actor. I love reading this guys lyrics! I don't know if he has lived a heavy life but he writes like the blues. His voice is indescribable but definitely unique.

If you know any more about him, let me know. He is definitely my new muse.

A Warm November 1st...

This is a photo from a book called "Women See Woman". This is how I feel this morning. Pretty happy to be alive. We are warm here in Az. but looking forward to milder temps. Maybe I'll go shirtless too! No. Wouldn't want to scare the town folk!

Happy Halloween Week...

I just want to pet his fuzzy little head!

Cover for Halloween Album...

I'm taking a little break from Atc's to show this album I started working on. The concept of Atc's can be carried over into bigger projects. I found a back ground I loved, creepy but not goofy or gory. Then cropped to fit my project and found a subject to add and some German trim of black.
This is the back. I love this background paper from Prima. I added a big moon here and a small moon on the front. I have some cool ribbon of black, dark purple and light green to adorn later.
I will now seal the whole thing with a satin finish after spraying with a preservative to check against fading. I also use this same method with some of my Atc's. It gives them a nice finished look and makes the colors pop out.

Ahhh, The Men...

I called this one "Midway Bouncers", A circus theme led to these trapeze artists- a photo from a book, to be placed in front of this circus tent painting. I added the ticket stub to camouflage the little people sitting at their feet. A Rube is a non circus person. When some one calls " Hey Rube" it is a call to all circus folk to come brake up a fight or throw a drunk visitor out on his ear!

This was a western theme. I really enjoy doing the guys for a change as most of my cards are women, children, and animals. I love making up phrases to add on.

Here are some sexy guys. Cary Grant, Peter Frampton, and Cristobal Balenciaga (fashion designer).

I think the themes for these were 1. Celestial 2. Western and 3. A is for apple.

Last but not least those seventies guys I found accidentally on some deck of cards from a thrift shop. I think these cards, every one different are my most famous. I used the actual card parts and had to add the little pumpkins and put them on retro paper reflecting the era. By the way these two were the most handsome to me. Others with Afro's and balding guys got the most laughs. Sorry guys the seventies had a charm of it's own and when naked how can a girl not laugh.

Raining in Dogs N Cats...

I love dogs and cats as subjects for my cards. I want to talk about the middle card. Occasionally you will see cards a little taller than the usual 3 1/2 in. As long as the card can fit in a baseball card size folder it is okay. The top just sticks up a bit. Don't make them fatter, for they will not slide in a sleeve.
Dogs at the beach.

Equal opportunity, here's some cats!

ATC A Simple Beginning...

These first two cards I made in the beginning. I still like them today. You don't have to make each card with tons of stuff on them. Some times I don't have words and then I'll make some that do. Ruby's eyes didn't show up well so I put a drop of diamond glaze over orange to make them pop. The candy corn too.
The name DIVA was made with a labeler. I just cut out a shape for the hat and it really needed the black lace to create some texture.

Later I started filling the entire card with more. This is a bird from a card set and the flowers are cut straight from an old calender with tons of flowers. I can't remember where I got the little hat, but probably from another picture.



This one I made for a trade from an old cabinet card showing the baby sitting on the creepy but interesting bench. I cut that to fit from a copy and still had room to add some friends and polka dot paper to keep it whimsical. It should say "who opened the closet door?"

Artist Trading Card Themes, Pick a Subject, Match a Back Ground...

If you are in a trade, there is usually a theme for every month. Examples: "Vintage Halloween", "Thanksgiving", "Beach Fun", even "Artist Choice" etc. You will then make at least 6 cards to hand in to the trade. At Mystic Paper's trade the store keeps one and you will get 5 different cards back. I always make 9 cards the same. One for myself, 6 for the trade, one for my bff Debbie, and an extra for my mom. When I make copies of the subject for cutting out, my printer will put 9 on one sheet of paper.
I made these three cards at Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Since they go together they are considered a set, or a series. If you are in a private trade you will likely only make the exact number of cards as there are people. You can make every card a little different or exactly the same. Remember each one has to be made by hand, not just copied from printer of the first hand made card. The cards also can be made vertical as the first example or sideways like these next two. Most people keep their cards in baseball card holders. I have mine in albums. And I have a portfolio album of just my cards.

The theme for these cards was Thanksgiving. My first thought was turkeys but I decided on subjects portraying a woodsy feel and family and giving. When I got the other peoples cards back every one of them had a turkey on it! I was grateful I chose something not so typical.

Subject Picking

Some times it is as easy as finding a picture in a book.(dog) Then I had some stickers with the bird with his berry. The dog had a lady next to him so I cut her out of the picture. Made copies of the dog head and stuck the bird on paper and made copies, I don't like actual stickers on the cards so by making paper copies the image doesn't have that shiny sticker quality.

The next cards I am going to make is under the theme "Babes in the Woods." I have some ideas of what babes I may be picking but in this case the woods will be what I look for first. I will find my woods in some books or postcards first and match the babes after. Examples coming in a later post. Remember these cards are for fun and trading. As long as we aren't selling them the pictures for our subjects can be borrowed any where and altered and collage together to make a new piece of art. If you want you can paint or color your own subject. I often find black and white pictures that I love so I color them. The card on the last post "Age of Aquarius" was colored in by me. I love picking what colors to use therefore matching the back ground I picked.

I hope I am covering the basics. Later I will show actual process of cutting out and picking faces to put on your cards. #1 tip: Always have a face! Animal, person, big or small. You want to tell a story, you will need a subject. I have some cards with flowers on them that are beautiful but usually a face is more interesting than just a number. I will have more examples later.