Quirky Cats Artist Trading Cards - inspired by a Vera Lane Studio collage sheet

Hi everyone! Did you see the new collage sheet which was released by Vera Lane Studio last week? It's called Quirky Cats and comes with two collage sheets of wonderfully coloured cats and a few bird friends. They are quick to cut out and come in various colour combinations and sizes. I am smitten! I decided to make a trio of artist trading cards featuring a few of the images.

The first one combines one of the smallest cats and his bird friend who I placed on top of his head. The background is an ATC (2.5x3.5) card which I used to mop up overspray from a Lindy's session. Stamping and doodled stencilling plus a piece of washi to ground them added to the design.

The second ATC started as a remnant from a gel printing session using acrylic paint topped with a stencil. Doodling was added to the circles and a little stamping was scattered across the card. Washi tape grounded one of the medium cats and his birdie friend.

The third ATC features one of the largest cat images. The background started as another inky mop-up card. Stamping and doodled stencilling added patter and washi tape grounded the Quirky cat. Like all of the others, Black Big Brush Pen edging, a doodled border, and a puffy heart sticker were added to finish the design. The sayings,like the images, were popped up on foam tape to add dimension.

Once again, thanks for joining the Quirky Cats and me today.To check out the other fabulous collage sheets and images by Janet Klein, be sure to stop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. While you are virtually out and about, pop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group where there is daily inspiration and awesome peeps!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Happy Hands art journal page - inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Yesterday marked the new release of the Stitches digi set at Vera Lane Studio. Oh my word, I love these images. I have been sewing since my early teens and think these are the cutest images. I immediately thought of my friend, Jane, who is an avid and talented quilter. I chose to combine two of the images, the girl with her eyes blissfully closed and the spool of thread, to star on my art journal page today.

I coloured both images with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils, fussy cutting each leaving a narrow white border. I then glued the images together where they overlap and matted them with black cardstock. The new "merged" image was fussy cut again leaving the narrow black border. White Posca paint pen was used to add the little design on her outfit.

I wanted a quilted background for the 6x6 watercolour page but I also wanted vibrant colours. Three Distress Oxide Inks (Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Wilted Violet) were added one at a time to a small gel plate and spritzed with water. Using a waterbrush, the colour was then added to the appropriate squares in the 9-patch design. Stencils were added over each square and the ink was removed using a baby wipe. On a few of them, the design was too small for this to be effective so I sponged through the stencil openings with white gesso. I wanted the texture and to break up the solid colour. The lines dividing the patches and the faux stitching along the lines was doodled with black pen. I love how that turned out!

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, matted with black. The saying, which I have always felt to be true, seemed to suit her expression of crafter's bliss. To ground her, a strip of zigzag cardstock was fussy cut and placed below the thread. I thought it looked like rickrack. Three enamel dots were added to the top left corner to add another pop of black and balance the design.

Thanks for stopping by today. You can check out Stitches as well as a plethora of fabulous and inspiring images in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. We would love to have you drop by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group to say hi. There is always wonderful inspiration and friendly chats happening there.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Practice Kindness Artist Trading Card - inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! While I was on the Kindness theme from my art journal page posted earlier today, I decided to create an artist trading card as well. I used Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils to colour one of the images from the (available upon request) Back to Back set by Vera Lane Studio which is also available as a pre-coloured collage sheet. The background was created as a mop-up card when I was creating the background for my Kindness post card. I added some black circles drawn using a circle template and a piece of washi layered over black to ground her. A little black faux stitching and black Big Brush pen were used to finish the edges and frame the card.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to pop by the Vera Lane Facebook group to say hi and the VLS Etsy shop to check out the fabulous images there.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Kindness is a Gift - inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! We have a Kindness post card challenge going on this month on the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. With the kindness theme in mind, I created an art journal page, hoping to inspire people thinking about playing along. I chose to feature one of the images from Be You by Vera Lane Studio as the focal image for this page, colouring her with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, and matted with black cardstock to create a second border.

The background started with Turquoise and Violet Brushos being sprinkled onto watercolour paper, and then spritzing them with water to activate the pigments. The background was then covered with 3 strips of drywall mesh to tone down the brights. A vintage book page was die cut  using a Tim Holtz die and fussy cutting next to the pattern. It was then matted with black and fussy cut again. A doily was tucked behind the die cut to ground it as well as the image.

The wording was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black cardstock.

Tiny pink hearts were added to the doily and a little doodling, including a page border, and outlining were added with black pen. To create a better balance and create a diagonal flow, two strips of black cardstock were cut into fishtail flags and added to the bottom right corner. White washi tape with black hearts was adhered to white cardstock to help the pattern stand out, and then layered over the flags as well as under the word kindness.

Thanks for popping by today. We would love to have you join our Kindness Post Card Challenge on the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. You can find fabulous images in the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop or you can use Janet's stamps from AALL & Create. Come up with a design that connects to the theme of Kindness and post your photo in the album. Easy Peasy!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Uniquely Me - inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Because I love the new release by Vera Lane Studio called Cat and Canary so much that I created two projects for today. I did the art journal page posted earlier using the standing cat and the canary but I couldn't resist the sitting cat. I made an artist trading card  so she could have her own stage. I coloured Cat to look like a calico cat using Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. I love her flower eye...so cute! She was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black, and fussy cut a second time leaving a narrow black border.

The background was cut at 2.5 x 3.5 inches from a previously created gel printed paper where I had used acrylic paint. Circles were added with a black pen and a circle template. The grid stamping was done with Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink and a VLV stamp. A VLV number stamp was also applied to the background using Jet Black Archival. To pull the pink from her flower and nose, a length of dotty fabric washi was adhered along the bottom edge, grounding her. Black Big Brush pen was used to edge the card before Cat was added popped up on foam tape.

Thanks so much for visiting today. You can check out the Cat and Canary image as well as all of the other wonderful images at the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. We would also love if you popped by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group where we have a fun Kindness Postcard challenge going on for the month of April. Hope to see you there!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

I promise...inspired by a Vera Lane Studio image

Hi everyone! Yesterday marked another fabulous new release at Vera Lane Studio. The image set called Cat and Canary has 3 of the cutest images plus two awesome sayings. For this art journal page, I combined the standing cat and the canary, stacking them because they are buds.

Cat and Canary were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. They were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border.

The background is crazy busy! After priming the page with a layer of white gesso, Wilted Violet and Peacock Feathers Distress Oxides were loaded onto a small gel plate, one at a time, and then spritzed with water before being smushed onto the page several times. Once dry, the Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide Ink was added through Carabelle Studio Weft Fabric and Numbers Stencil in several places. Both a 49 & Market Chevron stamp and a VLV numbers stamp were added to the background. To bring back some white and calm down the colour, three pieces of white cardstock were torn, stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink and a Wendy Vecchi stamp, and then edged with Twisted Citron D.O.and Jet Black Archival Inks.

The wording was printed on white cardstock and matted with black. The cat was grounded with three lengths of washi tape overlapped. Three small hearts colorized with the three Distress Oxide Inks were placed to tie the white pieces to the background. A doodled border and outlining were done with a black pen before Black Big Brush pen was added to the page edges to frame it.

Thanks for joining my two friends and me today. It made us all happy. You can check out the Cat and Canary image as well as all of the other wonderful images at the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop. We would also love if you popped by the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group where we have a fun Kindness Postcard challenge going on for the month of April. Hope to see you there!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

April Kindness Postcard Challenge at Vera Lane Studio

Woohoo! It's April and that means a brand new challenge in the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group and this month I get to host it. I decided on postcards (3x5 inches or 4x6 inches) and the theme of Kindness because we all could use a little more (OK...a lottle) of that right now. It could be kindness to yourself, to others, or to animals...anywhere your muse takes you. I chose the first and last from the list above, featuring the sweetie from the Joyful digi set. She is feeding the birds which is kind to them but also brings her peace and warm feelings so that's kind to herself as well. There are so many Vera Lane Studio images and combinations that would fit this theme

I coloured Joy and her bird friends with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Each image was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and again a second time once matted with black cardstock.

I kept the background light and simple, choosing to add Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide to the top using drywall mesh as a stencil. The bottom was done in the same way using Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Oxides for colour. A small double heart stamp and some script stamping were added to the sky section using Forget-Me-Not Archival Ink. To ground Joy and her buddies, a length of leafy washi was adhered to the bottom edge of the postcard. The birdseed was created with tiny holographic star sequins. Love how they catch the light and change colours!

The saying was printed onto white cardstock, cut into sections, and matted with black. The same black was used to mat the postcard, creating a border around it.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope that you are all staying safe and are practicing kindness every chance you get. We would love to have you join the Kindness Challenge on the Vera Lane Studio Facebook group. Pop by the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop to check out all of the fabulous images. There's sure to be a bunch that will inspire your Kindness Postcard.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie