Gloria J Zucaro's "Seuss Backs and New"

Today after meeting my accountant to talk about taxes, I spent the afternoon working on finishing up my Inspirational Card Deck Swap hosted by Jennifer Brogan over at "In Search of Dessert".   I will be shipping the cards out next weekend or sooner if they are dry.  I had already added quotes and paint and stickers and stamps to the fronts.  Today I worked on the backs to adhere my personal information(name,blog,etc.) that I had printed onto mailing labels, outlined around those stickers with crayons, and hand-printed my on-earth location with permanent marker.  Then I edged each card in gold or silver leaf pen.  I am thinking I want to spray them with a sealer, but am a little nervous about lettering smearing  or their not drying quickly for mailing.  Does anyone have suggestions for what sealer would be best?  They are not due until the 29th, but I was allowing plenty of time for delivery.  Plus it doesn't seem quite right to drop them on her on the very last day.  This picture shows the backs before I finished hand lettering and edging.  When I complete the set I will post a picture of the fronts.

I also sprayed the back of my Seuss inspired ATC's from my post earlier this week with various inks through my Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencils.  Then adhered my info on those.  These are some of the designs on the backs.

Next I created three more ATC's.  I had cut old Christmas cards to 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" rectangles.  I then lightly brushed on gesso to mostly but not entirely obscure the designs and colors.  I did both sides at once, so when I laid them down on the table, they got squashy designs on them that are so pretty.  I decided to tangle some of them and add Silks Acrylic Glaze and glitter. I left some of the card peaking through on each one.  I also finished the backs of those cards with the ink spray as on the cards above.

"Red Heart"

"Winter"

"Cactus Flower"

That's all folks!  Have a nice Sunday

Gloria J Zucaro's "Getting Ready"

Today I started the preparation for the Inspirational Card Deck Swap 2013.   I had not realized until I emailed Jessica Brogan, the hostess for this swap, that the quotes each artist puts on the cards actually have to be "inspirational".  I had collected some quotes by famous actors and actresses, and had gotten some photos of several of them to use on my cards.  But I went through and eliminated the quotes that weren't actually inspirational...only very funny!  I can use those quotes and photos for making other ATC cards on my own. I took some pages out of one of the paper selections by Melody Ross that I bought on sale and glued the cards onto various pages.  I had put glue on the pages first as I got to each page, so attached a few 2.5 x 3.5 extra cardboard pieces where I had already put the book binders adhesive.  I had done this with a wet wash brush, so the paper got too wet and ripped off some of the design when I picked it up to move to another place to dry.  But I am not worried it will add interest as I add another layer.  When I cut the cards apart, they will each have a different back. I plan on putting some Silks Acrylic Glaze  over these papers anyway and also my name and blog information, too.

I also did my journaling for the limited 10 minutes for "30 days in your journal" by Julie Fei Fan Balzer.  I must say that for the last two days I have not had the supplies that Julie has, which she said is perfectly okay and that I could substitute with what I have.  I did not have a transfer screen to do a screen printing effect, so I just used regular stencils and stamps. Some with my initials in a very scroll-y alphabet.  I did not have a "frame" so cut one out of my Steampunk book from Dover Press. Today's video showed her adding a photo of herself and circling it with watercolor crayons.  Again, I had no photo of myself so added puzzle pieces, some glitter and used my Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils to get a similar effect.

The last thing I did was paint a page in my smaller journal black.  I am going to do the 8th and last Fall Fearless & Fly journal page.  The colors for it are black with bright colors.  I will be using my "Hot Shots" neon paints over the black.  Have a good evening!

Card backing papers below.

My 3 days of journaling below.  New page tomorrow!

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Tree,The House & Me"

Another busy and productive week to share with my friends at Paint Party Friday.  Today I finished my entry for the Trees Exhibit sponsored by the Artists Association of Elk Grove and the Elk Grove Village Library.  The exhibit runs from March 9, 2013 until April 27, 2013.  There will be an opening reception to meet the artists and enjoy an evening of art and fine food.  I will let you know the reception date as soon as it is announced.  My original oil painting is on a 30"H by 15"W stretched canvas.  I have titled it "The Tree, The House  & Me".

Next I am happy to show off the newly released book by Lynn Cohen.  Lynn spent a year at her favorite lunch spot drawing the people she saw there enjoying lunch with their friends, and relaxing at Tacos Jalisco run by the Ubillus family .  The Ubillus' have become quite the celebrities!  Congratulations, Lynn, on your first publication.  I am really enjoying looking at all your art work and reading the captions.

The Front Cover

In the Middle

Next is my first day of 10 minutes( per day) work on my journal for "30 Days in your journal".  I am enjoying seeing all the possibilities that Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has to offer.  I just started last night, so will do my next 10 minute project later tonight.  I started by using a journal page covered with paint from my Gelli Plate and stencils made by Jessica Sporn.  I added the date and time, and picked my title for this page, and did a little journaling off in one corner.

The next two pictures are of two Artists Trading Cards I made while at our January meeting last Saturday.  The Theme was fabric.  I had made a dozen fabric cards beforehand, but we always do some while at the meeting.  I didn't get a very good picture of the first one, which was fabric and lettering applied with fusible web.  Then I highlighted with Gel pens and sewed on a sequin and bead.

I had time left over so made this ATC tangled for a general trade.  My new friend, Cathy, an experienced ATC card maker traded with me for one of her lovely cards.

I also joined a group of artists who will be creating for Jessica Brogans "Inspirational Card Deck Swap: February 2013" which you can read about and possible join by going here.

Have a creative week, and be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday to see what everyone has been doing this week.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Merry Christmas ATC's"

Tonight I am sharing my first set of Christmas ATC's for a trade party on Saturday.  I had a lot of fun making these cards.  I used advice from Mary C Nasser's blog post on Oct. 09 when she gave her steps for making her deck of cards for the Inspiration Card Swap hosted by Jessica Brogan.  Starting out with a deck of cards, I glued them to a map.  Then sanded the front of the cards & gessoed & painted the fronts red with Silks Acrylic Glaze and the backs green with the same paint.  I then stenciled the green backs with a second green and outlined the stencils with either red or gold pen.  On the front red side I placed vintage looking stickers or some stocking stickers.  I added torn tissue paper that I had mixed up with gloss medium.  Then coating the tissue with a dark rose Silk paint.  The entire surface was covered with medium and sprinkled with gold beads onto the raised tissue areas.  I stamped on the Doves & Merry Christmas  and added the dimensional snow flakes or Christmas Trees.  The only thing left to do is to add my name and blog information to the back.  I only made a dozen Christmas ATCs, so will use the other cards that are glued to the map and already gessoed for next months trade.   I plan on sending a couple of the cards to blog friends who have been so helpful and generous to me and am looking forward to finding out what our prompt will be for January.  

Our group is hosted by Kimberly Butts who is an avid follower of ATCS FOR ALL and helps organize & attends their convention.  Kimberley's special cards are made of sheet metal in which she presses a design, or her wonderful felted birds.

This is my Paint Party Friday entry for this week.  Please go to the party and visit some of the many artist's sites to see what they have been creating this week.