Frida Kahlo Gone Mad

 Meet Frida Kaho.  What nationality is Frida?  Mexican.  Frida, of course, is Mexican.  Frida fell in love and married one of Mexico's most famous artists.  Then she became an artist and did mostly self-portraits because "that's who I know best" she said. 

 These are some hand-drawn and hand-painted Frida collages.  I think she was a little wacko, but then ... who knows what people say about me?  (don't answer that)  I'm finding that there are lots of people out there who go bonkers over Frida stuff. 

I'm not enamoured by her life story.  But she is fun to collage.  I mean, it's a great way to put my she-art techniques to use in a new twist, yes?  And really, if we could ALL wear headbands and large flowers in our hair, we should - don't you think? 

Little House Swap

Meet my neighborhood.  This was my first swap ever on the AFA website.    I got through it with no hiccups.  I didn't break any swap laws or nothing!  You know how it goes, I just wanted to do everything "right" my first time around.  

 These little ATCs first went to Oregon.  They had a layover there.  Then, one of them stayed in Oregon with the swap host.  The rest split up and went to Texas, Illinois, and Michigan. 

 Most of the collage papers used for the houses were from my scrap bin.  I don't really remember how I got the idea to make a heart shaped balloon flying overhead, but I like it.  Can't say that I've ever had a heart shaped balloon fly over my own house, but there's always tomorrow!

Yes, I AM learning to listen to the quiet peace of my heart.  Inside my own little house.  In my own little scrap room.  Such a fun way to put one's art heart out into the world.  I received some beautiful little houses in return!  One of them says "Bless This House".  Well said! 

Personalized Foam Stamps

 
Yep, you read it right.  This is a stamped image of my very own hand-drawn stamp!  Won't this be fun on backgrounds!  On this particular sheet of foam, I drew a little of everything ... but just think how fun a repetitive background pattern will be!  Be still my heart, this is way cool!!!

I want to thank ArtKitty on AFA for sharing this fun new technique with me, and sending me some foam sheets to give it a whirl.  We traded some ATCs, and the cards I received from her are A-dor-able.  They are cats ... named Pistashio and Bill & Fred.  They are going to love living with me.  Thanks for making my mailbox do the happy dance!  It was SO fun trading with you!

BaBushKa Girl

When I was a little girl, my mom always referred to wearing a scarf as wearing a "Babushka".  I think it's such a funny little word.  Meet my Babushka Girl.  She's very small - ATC card size (2 1/2 by 3 1/2).  It all started when I wanted to learn to draw a few days ago. 

Oh, I've been drawing -- kinda, sorta -- when I do my she-art canvases and notebook covers.  But Babushka Girl is totally drawn by my own working hand, rather than collaged in bits and pieces.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE collaged bits and pieces, but this was a challenge I issued to myself.  Something that was on my creative bucket list.

It feels good to be in charge of me.

And I am particularly fond of Babushka Girl for obvious reasons.  She's my first.  She's got a mom memory attached to her.  And, well, she's just got a cute personality.  She's got postive energy.  She's an encourager.  And, she's flying a balloon -- symbolic to me.  Fly.  It's a pretty good word too.

Taking Flight.  That's me! 

Recently, I discovered an online ATC community that I'd like to share with you.  ATC's For All is fun!  I've never been much of an ATC girl, and truth be told, I'm finding it challenging to create stuff in such a small space!  But that's the point, isn't it?  I don't want to go all weirdsville into the ATC world.  I do want to do MY art in MY style (ever evolving as it is) and that is what I hope to do on my ATCs.

Taking Flight.  Yep, that's me!

Back Up the Bus -- let's start with Halloween

I don't know how time flew by from September (last post) to February ... but perhaps this lil' ole' pumpkin with wings helped it?  Yep, that's what happened!  It isn't that I haven't been creating along the way, I've just been ... uh ... busy creating.  And we did a good bit of traveling during the last several months too.  Yay me!  The upside is that I DO have pics of stuff I did ... the downside is that they are still in my phone.  So ... let's start with Halloween, shall we?

This was an ATC swap with my craft girls.  The theme was "mini-collage" and it was a real 'treat' to do, get it?  ha  The paper is a VERY heavy weight water color paper, which takes to acrylic paints and modge podge very nicely.  My crafty-pants friends had taken a spin into the world of doodling and zentangling  (oh man -- that reminds me to take a pic of my doodling ATC card, she's a cutie pie holding a cat and an umbrella - I'll get right on that!).  Anywho - I digress.  After our dip in doodles, and since I was already in the doodling mood, I doodled this lil' ole' pumpkin guy.  The wings are really a Unity Butterfly Stamp that I love love love, cut in half. 

Bet you never went trick or treating in February?

Edited to add something of value (like my Halloween post in February was not?).  I think it worthwhile to check out the Advanced Style Blog.  Today's post is in memory of 95 year-old Zelda Kaplan, a snazzy New Yorker who I enjoyed very mucho.  Here's to living life full!

An ATC Challenge

Have you tried ATC's? I thought they were silly ... why would anyone want to do little Artist Trading Cards and put them in a baseball card-type binder? That was then ... this is now! I caught the band-wagon and a dear friend gave me an ATC challenge. The rest is history. Consider me ATC'd. Looky looky ... This is my first attempt - ever - at making ATCs. I wanted them to be "me" ... something that said "Yes, this is Kay!" when you looked at it. I choose Papertrey Ink Ocean Tides cardstock for my base -- because yes, this is my go-to color most of the time. Next up, was my Papertrey Polka Dots, stamped in pale pink, which is another one of my most often go-to techniques. The saying speaks my heart - I love my girlfriends! They really do knock my socks off! The little artsy joker stamp is part of my new stampington clear set (Whimsey) and in my humble opinion, it adds just the right amount of A R T to my A T C! I tied it all up with twine and last, but not least, I JUST HAD TO add a flower because THAT SAYS "KAY" like nothing else! I LOVE. I LOVE. I LOVE.

This was my girlfriend's ATC that she sent me in the mail, after a fun evening at her house making crafts. Her little dog Buster spent the evening with us, so here he is! On the back of the card, she wrote the details and issued the challenge. I took it! It's a brave, new, world! LOL

Check out Donna Downey's blog for some really stinkin' cute ATC's. She is starting a monthly kit club too. And they are displayed on an adorable 7Gypsies spinner. I'm hooked. Yep. Thanks Cindy, for a fun challenge!