31 Days of Halloween : Day 3 - Skull Doodle

Fresh from the sketchpad ... this skull doodle was drawn and colored with Faber Castell PITT pens.

31 Days of Halloween : Day 2 - Creepy Crawlers

Creepy crawlers from one of my sketchbooks.  Drawn with PITT artist pens.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 1 - Halloween Zine

I am going to try to post a Halloween doodle -or- piece of Halloween themed art each day this month.  

I just finished a Halloween mini zine.  It is a little 12 page zine - 2-3/4" x 4-1/4" with black and white pages.  I printed the covers on colored scrapbook papers - some covers have dots and some have plaids.  Just a little silly story with hand drawn illustrations.

Since I am trading 7 copies, I have been busy doodling all 7 envelopes to add a little pizazz.

If you have a Halloween themed zine & would like to trade, just leave me a comment.  I printed several copies.

I  also made the little Halloween faux postage stamps from an image that I drew on an ATC a few years ago.

So ... It's not that I haven't been making art, I'm just slow to get it posted here.  We'll see how the next 30 days go.

Guess What Time It Is ...

It's time for Dragon Con in Atlanta!

Here's my little dragon doodle to mark the occasion.  Dragon drawn with Indian ink pens and some colored pencil, then pasted onto a printed paper background.

*Dragon Con doesn't have too much to do with with dragons actually ... it is the largest pop culture convention anywhere focusing on sci-fi & horror (books, tv, film), comics, gaming, and music.  Oodles of events - celebrity panels and meet & greets, tons of contests and games, music and art, costumes, costumes, & more costumes, and there is a heck of a parade on Saturday! 

This time of year is always fun around town, you never know what you might see or who you might run into.

Junk Journal

This is the junk journal I made for a swap in one of my art groups.  I spent about 3 months pulling it all together and really had a lot of fun with it.

The front cover evolved as I worked.  The title banner was cut from a "Trader Joe's" mailer and customized with rubber stamping.  The bluebird is a cross stitch piece from one of my original patterns.  I made the little face in the bottom corner from a recycled piece of an aluminum can that I embossed.  Also included are printed paper, lace, paperclip, ribbon flowers, paper flowers, buttons, a puffy sticker, clipping from junk mail and machine stitching.

The back cover is rather plain, but includes printed paper with a piece of a mesh orange bag and colorful binder clips.  I also added an embroidered fish pin to the binding.

Attached to the binding coils are tons of ribbons,

 lace, and handmade charms. 

 I have posted more info about the charms on my hobby site here: http://www.hobbyloco.com/charms.html

 You can see from the top view that I made the book really thick and chunky.  It is full of all types of papers, pockets, tags, postcards, and random bits of this and that. 

I used the largest binding coil I had on hand & it wasn't thick enough, so I created a unique binding, which I call a "flip-flop" binding.  There are 2 bound edges, one on each side of the book.  When you get to the center of the book - you flip-flop it over and start from the other side.  The two parts are joined by a center panel that is attached to both binding coils.

I embellished several pages in the book, here are just a few:

I stitched a piece of clear vinyl to the inside cover to create a pocket, in which I placed an Atlanta postcard and a couple of handmade tags.

The pocket on the left side was made from a colorful ad in a magazine.  I stuck a couple of metallic puffy stickers on it for fun.  The cityscape on the bottom right was cut with a Cricut machine. 

I love this colorful hummingbird page!  It has a printed image with ink and painted detailing, stamping, ribbons, a plastic charm, and of course - feathers.

On the left side you can see I simply added a wax paper "glassine" envelope with pieces of washi tape.  I filled the envelope with little collage images from my stash and sealed it with a little puffy heart sticker.

The bluebird page is cut from a piece of junk mail (yes, junk mail).  The apple pie page was lots of fun!  I used printed scrapbook paper over a cardboard backing to start.  I cut the pie from a recycled greeting card (it has a touch of glitter sparkle). I punched the apple inchies from an applesauce package, and added a touch of glitter. The center inchie reads "Keep calm and have some pie."  This was punched from a catalog.  I made the little apple tag from another image I had and tied it to the page with red fibers. I cut the half circle on top from a piece of red metallic paper, and finished off the page by machine stitching a red zig zag around the border.

I think that is enough for now!  It gives you a taste of the book.  I will be posting some of the pages that have needlework embellishments on my other blog: http://chaosatlanta.blogspot.com/ 

Junk Journal Swap

Received this fabulous junk journal from my swap partner. It is covered with ribbons and charms!

It is about 2 inches thick.  The pages are made from all types of papers, cards and bags.  It is chock full of pockets, tags, and hidden surprises.

Really something special!

I have been working for the past 3 months on a junk journal to send out to my swap partner in return.  It will be sent out this week, and I will start posting pictures after my swap partner receives it.  I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

Doodlers Anonymous Showcase #19

My entry in Doodlers Anonymous Showcase Challenge #19 - Self-Portrait.  Drawn with Faber-Castell Indian ink pens and colored pencil.  Voting is open until Wednesday, July 3rd.  Looks like there are well over 100 entries!  Good luck everyone!