Christmas MailArt: Sent & Received

Here is one of the handmade Holiday postcards I sent out this year: (made from printed scrapbook papers, flower shaped punches and glitter glue)

I received lovely handmade postcards!
from Terry:

and Bonnie:

From Sue I received gifties of Christmas slide-mount art:

Merry Christmas!

Another page from Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes.

Instructions: A page to stick only blue things.

Included on the page are printed papers, magazine & catalog cut-outs, stickers, recycled mail bits, punches, sequins, string, stamped images, doodles, and a bit of glitter glue.







To see more of my completed pages from Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes, click the label "mess" in the links below.

A quick little moleskine page for Autumn. Printed papers, freestyle cut leaves, punches, indian ink pens, colored pencils, and sandpaper.

I have been doing a wide variety of things lately ... bits and pieces in my books and journals, as well as working in a round of paper bag books in one of my art groups.

In the book shown below, themed "Full Color", I made some colorful string art for one page and used printed paper with colorful sequins and buttons to cover another. I also added a colorful doodled tag in the back pocket and tucked a small brightly colored jigsaw puzzle into the opening pocket between the pages.

In the book below, themed "Home Sweet Home", I made a paper collage with printed papers and buttons, doodles and glitter glue.  I added a little rhyme and a mini cross-stitched sampler.  The flap on the right hand side folds back to reveal more of the art.  I also included a tag in the book's front pocket.

Here is my plain little book, themed "Curiosities", which I sent out to make the rounds in the group.  I expect that it will look quite different when it is completed.

It is pretty basic. Brown paper bags sewn down the middle, with a decorative paper cover added.  Bits of pen detailing, stamping, and a few eyelets hammered through the cover.

I didn't decorate any pages except for starting a page for the artists to "Log-In".  I will be sure to post photos when the book returns to me.

 And that's some of what I have been up to lately!

Just a Doodle

Just a doodle. 

Doodled with a Faber Castell PITT pen on a piece of pink stationery.

Moleskine Doodle

Drawn with Faber Castell PITT pen and Staedtler Triplus fineliners in my little moleskine notebook.

Random and Unfinished

Last month I spent a lot of time with other projects ... I made another zine ... I worked on a lot of cross stitch ... etc ...

This page is all I have to show right now, and it is Random and Unfinished. 

8-1/2" x 11" in my hardcover sketchbook.  It includes TV listings, recycled bits from an envelope, printed paper, acrylic paint, and doodles with markers, watercolor pencils, ink, and gel pens.

I originally drew this butterfly in one of my sketchbooks.  After scanning, I couldn't resist a little color play.  It is based on a zebra striped butterfly I saw at a Nature Center in Northern Ohio. 

C-food

 Since it is International Zine Month, I thought I should post a page from a little zine I am working on.

It is just a silly little zine about things I like that begin with the letter "C". 

The zine is called "C-Zine" and will be a 16 page zine - 4" x 5-1/4" in size.

This is my "C" food page, which is a little collage made from printed paper, doodled food, letters cut from magazines, and some digital text to finish it off.

Fun with Wordles and Skaters and a Fly

I stumbled upon wordle.net, and had a lot of fun playing with words!

Wordle lets you pop in any text you like & it creates a word cloud from your text.  You may also link it to a blog or any site that has an rss feed. 

I took the word cloud that Wordle made from the text of Poe's "The Raven", and added a few little embellishments to bring the raven to life.  What fun!


We had great weather here in Atlanta today, so I was out & about - enjoying the skating skills of the 5BORO guys from NY.   (fyi: those are edited photos, not sketches.)

Last and probably least ... I saw this cute little fly bugging the Pink Panther (lovin' those old cartoons on antenna tv) and doodled him in my hardcover sketchbook.

That was my Saturday ... I hope your Saturday was as much fun.

24hour Mini-Comic

Hooray!  I finished
my mini-comic for
Mini-Comics Day!

It's a goofy little hand
drawn comic made in
a single day's time.

I'm making it available
to anyone who wants
to download a copy to
print and enjoy.

Print to full 8-1/2" x 11"
size and then fold like a
mini zine to make the
little book.




Download a copy here:
http://www.cherylasmith.com/art/3linerscomic.pdf

Folding instructions can be found here:
http://www.cartoonistsleague.org/how-to-make-a-no-staple-mini-comic-or-zine/

Mini-Comics Day!

I am participating in Mini-Comics Day by writing, drawing, and printing copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less.

My little mini-comic isn't a "start-to-finish" story, but rather a collection of 3-line poems/rhymes that each tell a story in a single drawing.

Whew!  I haven't done as much drawing in a 24 period as I am doing today. 

I am past the half-way point of the 8 page mini-comic and working my way to the finish.

I will print copies for trading ... so give me a holler if you're so inclined.

More to come ...

It's hard to believe that we are half-way through May already!  This has been a busy whirlwind of a month for me so far.

This is a page in my little moleskine notebook ... a simple mishmash of decorative papers and elements with a bit of doodling.  The eggs and birds are puffy dimensional stickers that were sent to me along with other goodies in a swap many moons ago.

Things are shaping up to create an interesting Summer for me this year.

Scribble Doodles : Octopus Legs

This is a page from my Crazy Creatures Scribble Doodlesbook.

The octopus started out with just a head and face.  I thought about giving him non-octopus legs, but I really do enjoy drawing tentacles.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Scribble Doodles! books can also occasionally be found in the clearance section or bargain book bin at Barnes&Nobles stores. If you want to see more of my completed pages from the Scribble Doodles series of books, just click the Scribble Doodles link in the labels below.

Lab 18 : One-Liners

Inspired by Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: Lab18

Instructions: Select a subject and draw it from memory using only one line.

I really enjoyed drawing the one-liner faces last time around. 

These drawings were just as much fun!

Drawn with Faber Castell pens in one of my spiral bound sketchbooks.










*To see all of my work inspired by Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists just click the label "Drawing Lab" below.

Bunnies in Blue

This is a page in my little moleskine notebook. It measures 3-1/2" x 5".

I used Dutch text and sheet music for the background (barely visible) with cut paper and punches added. I doodled over the top with Faber Castell Indian ink pens.

Happy Spring!

Pardon my Zombies

I know that lots of folks are "sick to death" of zombies. If you are one of those folks ... Please Pardon my Zombies.

I have been enjoying the Walking Dead series on AMC. Now that Season 2 has wrapped up, it will be awhile before the zombies are back for Season 3. So, in the meantime ... a little zombie tribute.

I felt the urge to make one of my messy, paint splattered collages last night. Sometimes it just feels good to slap a bunch of stuff on the page and clear my head.

This collage is in my 8-1/2" x 11" hardcover sketchbook and was made from clippings, art, comics, and TV listings from local papers; acrylic paint, stamping, and Indian ink penwork.

While I did draw the lower zombie, I only "zombie-fied" the upper zombie - it was originally a cartoon face to which I added the white out eyes, the mouth, teeth and big juicy brain.  (My first brain, BTW.)

Yummy!

Mess : Disaster Area

Another page from Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes.

Instructions:
This is a disaster area. Fill every square inch of this page with stuff.

Filled with bits (of packaging, etc ...) that were destined for the trash.
The anthropomorphic grapes make me giggle every time.

To see more of my completed pages from Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes, click the label "mess" in the links below.

Scribble Doodles : Hats

Time for another page from one of my Scribble Doodles books. This page is from World of Fun!

The characters were already drawn on the page and simply needed hats. I drew in the castle, cake, and fish. What do you think of my crazy hats?

I love these books! They are fun for a quick doodle and really help keep creative block away. Scribble Doodles! books can also occasionally be found in the clearance section or bargain book bin at Barnes&Nobles stores.

Another Oldie

I've been so busy with custom stitching orders that I haven't had any time to play. So ... here's another oldie from one of my sketchbooks.

I was playing around with patterns and then I had the urge to stipple a rose bud. I don't know for sure, but I probably used Micron pens for this page.

zoom zoom!

My submission for Doodlers Anonymous Coloring Book 2.

I had a busy week ... so I ended up spending all day yesterday finishing it.

Crossing my fingers, I hope it makes the cut.

Fun with MagicStamps

I finally had a chance to play with my Magic Stamps!

Magic Stamps are foam pieces that you heat with a heat gun, press into any textured item & they retain the impression.  Then you are able to use them as stamps.  You can reheat the foam and "erase" the texture and reuse them over and over.

I made stamps from buttons, a woven basket (top left), rice (lower left), a Whitman's tin (the barn image), and the dots are from the top of my cable box!

Magic Stamps are a fun & easy way to make some quick home-made stamps.  I see several textured objects around here now that I want to use to make stamps!