IllustratingStories.com

ATC Art Exchange

Today, we are excited to announce our second art exchange. This one will be an Artist Trading Card (ATC) project, with the theme Childhood Stories.

Our first exchange (a fatbook) opened up our world to some amazing artists. We had a wonderful time sharing stories, deadlines, and eventually finished pieces. If you haven't had a chance to walk through our fatbook, you can see it here.

To play along in the ATC exchange just go to the 2010 ATC Group in our tribe and join the group. NOTE: Our tribe is on the Ning Network, you will need an account (it's free!) with Ning to join.

The Details....

• You need to sign up by February 15th
• You will create a certain number of ATCs (number is determined by how many people participate, we will know this by February 16)
• When your ATCs are done, package them up and send them to us by March 15th (we will provide an address to those in the ATC group)
• We will compile the ATCs from all of the artists and then send you an ATC from each artist. We will also be making a fun holder/stand to help display all of that gorgeous art! All of this will be shipped back to you the first part of April. 
• There is no fee to participate in this exchange. You will of course have the cost of your supplies and the postage to send us your ATCs. We take care of shipping the finished ATC collection back to you.

What materials are used for ATCs?  Anything you want (that isn't harmful, toxic, or breakable).
See some examples...

• Youtube videos of ATCs
• Google videos of ATCs

What kind of art is included?  Anything goes: Scrap pages, printed digital art, mixed-media of all sorts, wax, canvas, etc.

What size are the ATCs?  2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches (6cm X 9cm) (these will not be bound, so use up all of that space for your yummy art!)

How long to complete the ATCs?  Your ATCs need to be sent to us no later than March 15th

We are looking forward to exchanging art with another wonderful group of creative souls. During our first exchange, we shared glimpses of the finished pages as they came in. It was a taunt really, we didn't give you much to see. Be forewarned, Liz's evil laugh may make a return visit as we share little bits of the ATCs.

Let the fun begin!

 

Studio Time with Crusade #36

This week in the studio, Liz and I used scraps, pencils, and scissors to create our own stencils and masks. The inspiration for this experimentation came from Michelle Ward and her GPP Street Team Crusades.

We had so much fun, enjoy all of the laughter in the video.

Thanks Michelle!

Creative Therapy Catalyst #97

This week Liz and I spent our studio time creating art inspired by Catalyst #97 from the Creative Therapy Blog. This catalyst was... When in life have you felt most alone?

Our finished pieces

Inside our Journals

This week we take you inside our journals and share ideas for our personal journaling.

• The masking tape shown in the video can be found at Ginko Papers
• The yarn used to make my felted journal was handpainted by Reenie Hanlin at Material Whirled

While the video was processing I got a chance to get my book bound and start adding a few keepsakes on the pages. This journal is going to be a collection of things that inspire me and the art that comes from that inspiration. I am planning to keep it and a few supplies (tape, pens/pencils, ephemera) by my favorite chair for a daily sojourn into the book.

Adventures with Project 365

When I started Project 365 for the first time a year ago I had no idea how it would fit into my daily life. Would I stick with it through the year? Would it be something that I would value? Would I do something with the photos/words in the end, or just enjoy the process?

Now, a year later, I have completely embraced this daily recording of our lives. I know that it is said that a picture says a thousand words. But I chose to capture words along with my photos. A little story or detail behind the picture, something that would help us, in years to come, remember that moment of our lives.

As 2009 drew to a close, I really spent time thinking about how to save 365 memories in a way that would allow us to look back and not take a decade to complete. Earlier in the year I had thought that I would capture these memories in a digital project, but as I started working on it I quickly realized that digital was not the way that I wanted to go. Of course that meant getting 365 photos printed and coming up with something to put them in. 

I finally decided to make my own book to house our memories (pictured above). I explored several different designs, my 2010 365 book is quite a bit different, but finally decided on a small form factor  (5 1/2" X 8 1/2") that would allow for two photos per page. My photos are wallet sized. I had them printed at scrapbookpictures.com with a white border to help them pop off the black pages.
One thing to note, when ordering wallets from Scrapbook Pictures you will get two copies of each photo.

While it will take some time to get all 365 photos taped and recorded into the book, I am so glad that I took the time to find just the right way to preserve our year of memories.

Now for some fun sharing...
Liz and I are currently working on our first online class to be offered later this year (late summer/early fall). In this class we will teach you how to make your own 365 book using a variety of materials to help use up your stash. 

To get ready for the class all you need to do is....

• Take a photo a day - don't worry if you haven't started yet. You can skip the first few days of the year, or go back and take photos that capture the memory of that day. I did this often through last year, some days get crazy and photos are not part of the deal. I just made a note of what I wanted to capture and took it another day.
• Take a photo a week - make this into a Project 52
• Take photos of your work - make this into a portfolio

Basically, just take photos or gather photos and be ready to create a unique book to preserve your memories.

We will share more details as class time gets closer!

Fatbook Tour

Happy New Year!

It was a glorious two weeks of food, family, and friends, but now we are ready to get back into the studio and bring you some new adventures for 2010.

We have shared many posts and studio play time with you on our fatbook art exchange project that we started in the fall. Well the books have been assembled and delivered and it is now time to share the finished pages with all of our friends.

We had many amazing artists contribute to our first Illustrating Stories art exchange. We gathered on our Ning Network and shared through the creating process, the excitement of shipped pages, and finally the finished books.  

The pages inside this book are simply beautiful and we would like to thank Cathy, Beth, Detta, Cynthia A., Karin, Kim, Melanie, Janaina, Cynthia P., and Cami for sharing your art with us. A gift that we will cherish!

For another look at the finished book check out Janaina Oliveira's video tour here.

Here is a tour through each of the pages...

We are excited to announce that we will start our second art exchange project in February, look for details coming out at the end of this month. 

Journal Tour

We have such a great time creating journals for our etsy shop. While we make sure to include several photos, there is nothing better than actually seeing the product. Since that is hard to do with our friends all around the world, we decided to make a video to show you a little more detail on these books made with love.

We would like to wish each of you a very happy holiday season. We will be taking a mouse break to spend time celebrating with our families and will be back in 2010 with new projects, tutorials, and classes to share.

Many blessings to you all!

Growing Stronger

It has been a long five weeks. I came down with the flu, then got bronchitis, then onto pneumonia. Fun times!

As I have begun to win the battle for health over the nasty illnesses that have plagued me, I was able to complete my pages for our first Illustrating Stories art exchange.

The words growing stronger mean many different things to me. The obvious one is the physical strength that is returning to me every day. But even more important is the strength that I am finding in myself.

For years (my whole life really) I have been who I needed to be based on the situation I was in.

I did not grow up in an artistic environment, so my desires to create were doused with the desire to be a part of the family. In college, I branched out, but still kept structure around my creative passion. I graduated with a graphic design degree, but my creative energy still had rules and conditions wrapped around it. I was designing for others and had to use my technical skills to give them what they wanted.

This pattern continued for 33 years, until I began to take control of my environment and surround myself with experiences and people that were true to who I really am.

The last two years have been a roller coaster of fun and also a little fear as for the first time I am becoming me. Pure joy!

Thank you for blessing my life with your creative strength and abilities, it makes me stronger everyday!

The Silver Lining

The goal today was to share the projects on my studio table. Unfortunately I haven't seen the inside of my studio for a few days. Instead I have been blessed with a nasty chest cold that has provided many hours to think about fun creative projects, but no energy to work on them.

I have however spent time watching some less than fabulous movies, and while the content of the movies have been lacking, the artwork in the background has been very inspiring. I have come to realize that I really need to keep a notepad/sketchpad in every room, because you never know when inspiration will strike. Right now the design on my tissue box is even sparking some ideas. I don't know if this is the cold talking, the drugs working overtime, or just a creative mind going stir crazy, but inspiration is flying at me.

Maybe that is the silver lining to being sick. It slows me down and allows me to see, really see what is around me. While I am looking forward to having this chest pain disappear, I am thankful for the new perspective and creative sparks. Now, I just need to figure out how to "slow down" in the future without getting slapped down by illness.

How do you stay aware? I have to believe that I can do it without sounding like Darth Vader through the process!

Modeling Paste

This week in the studio we got our fingers messy with modeling paste.

Fall Color

A little glimpse into the beautiful fall colors in the Pacific Northwest. This is my favorite time of year to get outside and snap the camera. Brilliant colors everywhere!

1. Grasshopper, 2. Trees, 3. Berries, 4. Leaves

Photography Love

Over the past few years I have been sharing my photography love with my husband, Elden. I have taken photos all of my life, but for him it is a new passion.

I enjoy our time spent together looking for the perfect shot and discovering just the right camera settings. It is amazing to have a partner-in-crime that gets excited as I do when you finally nail the perfect image.

Lately we have taken our photography on the road, or on the bike path I should say. We have loaded up the camera backpack with our favorite lenses (Canon EF 70-200mm 2.8 and Canon EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6) and hit some great local trails. Love that Elden doesn't mind lugging all the gear!

While we were playing around with some shots on Saturday I noticed that the lighting was just right to capture a reflection. Elden was such a great sport to hold the camera and help me get just the right shot. It makes me smile every time.

I am still sorting through the hundreds of fall photos that we have taken over the past couple of weeks. Tomorrow I will share a few of my favorites.

Pumpkin Play

This week Liz and I got into the spirit of halloween with some fun pumpkin studio time.You can find the products used in this video at our aStore.

More Fat Book Fun

We have another set of pages to tease you with and a little more detail on our own pages to share.