Craftside

"A" is for ATC and ART

Yesterday I made my "A" ATC for the week. And today I have another one to share with you, it is from:

1,000 Artist Trading Cards:
Innovative and Inspired Mixed Media ATCs

By Patricia Bolton

Making artist trading cards (ATCs) is a hugely popular activity for artists. Originally a paper/collage-based art form, ATCs have caught on with crafters working in a range of mediums and are now just as popular among fabric and mixed-media artists. ATCs are mini art works, the size of a playing card, often created as limited editions. The back of each card contains the artist's name and contact information. The idea behind the cards is to make them and then give, trade, or share them with others. This collection inspires with 1,000 original cards in a beautiful pageant of color, composition, and creative use of materials. The book also includes a special section devoted to explaining what ATCs are, how to get started, and includes some exciting technique information. Curated by Patricia Bolton, founder and editor-in-chief of two of the most exciting creative magazines on the newsstands, the book meets the Quarry Books mission of offering artistic and challenging new ideas to traditional paper artists, scrapbookers, mixed-media artists, and quilters by merging paper, fabric, and surface embellishment through experimentation and discovery.

Patricia Chatham Bolton is the founder and editor-in-chief of Quilting Arts Magazine and Cloth Paper Scissors. Patricia lives in Stow, MA.

So not only is "A" for ATC is is also for "ART"

 

is is just 1 of the 1000 from

1,000 Artist Trading Cards:
Innovative and Inspired Mixed Media ATCs

This ATC is by Jill N. Hamilton-Krawczyk.

Pop on over to her blog to see what "Artsiness" she's up to!

Got any other good "ART" quotes to share with the group today? Leave a comment and be entered to win a free book of the week.

"A" is for Antlers- Free Graphic from Design Parts Sourcebook: Romantic

This is such a cool image.

it is from:

Design Parts Sourcebook: Romantic
A Collection of Images for Artists and Designers
By
MdN Designs

This book is a useful and inspirational collection of romantically inspired images to use, modify, and customize for your own art and design projects. The book provides a printed catalog of all the images and the companion CD-ROM provides all the image files in both JPEG and PNG data files for Photoshop and MS Word users. A beautiful collection, this book is a fantastic resource for a wide range of visual artists including art journalers, scrapbookers, cardmakers, collage artists, graphic designers, and fine artists.

MdN Design is the designers’ section of MdN Corporation, Inc., which was established in 1989 and has published magazines and books on graphic design, web design, DTP, art and printing in Japan.

And this is such a cool technique:

(Click on image to enlarge)

It takes a photo and then adds the images from 

Design Parts Sourcebook: Romantic
A Collection of Images for Artists and Designers

 

So this is what I came up with. I used a photo my Mom took in Connecticut this past Christmas and the above graphic.

I definitely think this is my new favorite technique!!!!!!

I am going to print this out and it is going to be my "A" ATC.

My plan is that I am going to make an ATC a week based on each letter.

Wanna play too? Make something each week based on that letter and let us know by leaving a comment about it!

"A" is for Appearance-Patti Medaris Culea at Piecemakers

I had the pleasure of seeing and playing with Patti Medaris Culea author of:

Creative Cloth Explorations
Adventures with Fairy-Inspired Fiber Art

This book is the fifth installment on making creative cloth fiber arts from popular art doll designer, fiber artist, and workshop instructor Patti Culea, following Creative Cloth Doll Making, Creative Cloth Doll Faces, Creative Cloth Doll Couture, and Creative Cloth Doll Beading. Readers will learn to make flat figures, fabric books, and a fairy-style fan.

This book builds on the previous four by delving into how to make fun and elaborate-looking projects using similar materials for unique projects and book structures. Culea covers the basics and provides new techniques–such as using Shiva paint sticks and stencils, working with silk rods and waste, and using lace and trims–while teaching you to how create a flat-figure doll, a memory journal with embellished cloth pages, and a beautiful fan. Professional tips, ideas for embellishments, cutting-edge techniques, and complete patterns for all the projects are included.

Patti Medaris Culea studied art in Los Angeles and Japan and began as a painter and portrait artist. She has a full-line of cloth doll patterns and her work has appeared in books, magazines, and galleries. She is the author of Creative Cloth Doll Making, Creative Cloth Doll Faces, Creative Cloth Doll Couture , and Creative Cloth Doll Beading.

We got to make a Frilda the Flat Fairy at this event at Piecemakers.

 

 

I am holding the back of Patti's cute doll in this photo. It is just as pretty from the back!

So here is mine done. I gave her fun striped leggings. And I needed to figure out where I was going to keep her and I thought of my Altered book/creative journal. I started flipping though it and I came across this page

 

I cut a slice in the image of the bag along the front top edge and made a pocket. I think it came out kinds fun and silly.This page was in the book as a photo reference of some neat little bags that were made from contrasting fabrics that I liked.

And just to round out this post I wanted to share with you this final picture of a few of Patti's dolls and an answer she gave to the question one of her fan's asked, "Do you have a favorite?" and Patti said, "The one that I have just finished making is my favorite!"

So anyone got any cool "A" words to share?

Or, do you have any words that you would like to challenge me to come up with a craft that incorporates it?? I'm up for it!

"A" is for Alphabet and The First Crafty Blogger Links of 2009-Whoo hoooo!

So are you asking yourself, "what's she talking about with the "A" is for alphabet?"

Well it's a new year and I have a new plan for the first 26 weeks of 2009. Each week is going to be themed on a letter of the alphabet. And in the spirit of sharing the creativity, you can play too! Leave a comment that has to do with the letter of the week and you will be entered to win a free book each week! If you want to share a photo of your creativity based on the letter of the week, leave a link or post it to Flickr with the tag Craftside so we can all see!

And being that it's Monday I of course have Crafty Blogger links for you!

Layers Upon Layers
Come and drool over the multi-layered collages of Melinda Asztalos.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Jackalopes are real and they love being the motif du jour on a needle felted pillow made from recycled wool felted sweaters.

The Impatient Crafter
Need some solid advice about how to do what you love and make money? Madge shares some old advice for a new year.

About Family Crafts
If you are looking for a reason to celebrate, find out what holidays and birthdays are celebrated in the month of January 2009 using this special days calendar.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has a great blog giveaway going on. Stop by and answer a question and maybe you'll be a lucky winner of an issue of an Altered Arts Magazine!

Cathie Filian
Spring brides are getting busy planning all the details of their big day and Cathie Filian has an easy tutorial on making wedding favors.

Crafty Princess Diaries
It's time to get organized for 2009! The Crafty Princess talks about her own battle with the clutter bug.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Make some stitching resolutions for the coming year using these ideas from Connie G. Barwick to get you started.

Essential Fashion Illustration-Men

Sneak peek time! Today I have some fashion for ya. Man style!

Essential Fashion Illustration: Men
By
Chidy Wayne
First-hand experience and passion for fashion illustration were the driving forces behind the creation of Essential Fashion Illustration: Men. The first half of the book focuses on technical drawings of the human body. The second half then branches out to fashion illustration using media such as watercolor, pastels, acrylics, and pencils. Essential Fashion Illustration: Men is both a didactic tool and a base from which fashion illustrators can build their own unique styles.

Here are examples from some of the sections:

 

Award-winning fashion illustrator and designer Chidy Wayne is creating his niche in the international fashion scene. The education he received from the Instituto Europeo di Design in Barcelona along with hands-on experience as a men's fashion design assistant at Antoni Miro and a costume designer for the Festival Grec in 2006 lay a solid foundation for this up-and-coming star. Chidy has the opportunity to show off his flair in his first book, Essential Fashion Illustration: Men.