21 cards #1

Hello my friends.  It seems that it's been so long since I've created anything that wasn't for a class or other obligation.  But this weekend I found a new challenge that really looked like fun.  Over at Motley Soul Mixed-Media Art, they are having monthly challenges.  The first one for January is to create 21 4"x6" cards with any type of art.  Since I'm one of those people who often start something and then not finish, we'll see if I stick with it.

I started by cutting 21 cards from cereal boxes, and cracker boxes, etc. so they would be nice and sturdy.  Because the outside of the boxes is glossy print, I wanted to cover it in some way to make it easier to apply any type of paint or ink, and not have the print from the box show through, so I used recycled coffee filters.  I've been emptying my coffee grounds into the compost bin, then rinsing them and drying them, so I have quite a number to play with.

Using matte Mod Podge, I glued one coffee filter to one side of a card and let it dry.  Then I trimmed the excess, leaving about 1/2", which I folded over the edge and glued to the other side.  When that was dry, I repeated the process for the other side.  The coffee filters give a fun wrinkled texture on the cards.  Then I coated both sides with Gesso.  Although you can still see some of the printing through the filter and Gesso, it gets covered when you add paint, ink, paper, or whatever else you put on the cards.  Since I covered both sides, I may have to create art on both sides as well.  Hmmmmm... that would be 42 instead on only 21.  Can I do it?

For my first card, I used some acrylic paints and stencils, then misted with some spray ink.  I then stenciled on the birds with white acrylic paint.  Some of the ink bled into the paint, but that's OK.  I outlined the birds with Sharpie marker, so they would stand out.

I added some stamping with a couple of Dylusions stamps, and painted in the images.  At this point, my card was predominately blue and green - not enough color and contrast.  So I punched some flowers from red pattern paper, sponged the edges with red ink and attached a small black flower to the center. 

For the bird wings, I stamped a Hero Arts butterfly twice with tuxedo black memento ink and colored them with copic markers.  I cut out the wings and layered them on the birds.  My art tends to lean toward the realistic, so putting butterfly wings on the birds was a stretch for me. 

I printed the letters for the word FLY on my computer, cut them apart and inked the edges, and glued them down. 

I'm really happy with how this turned out.  Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you are having a great week.