Happy Mail Swap: Sign up!

Graphic via Kawaii Stationery Scans

Sign up for our Happy Mail Swap!

Who doesn't love receiving a fun package in the mail?  I thought Spring would be a great time to swap happy surprises through snail mail.

Sign up by emailing me with your full name and preferred email account.  I will match you up with another person.  The two of you will send each other one 8"x10" (large) envelope stuffed with fun stuff.  You will be responsible for contacting the other person to ask for their address and to communicate with them about when you are sending off your package.  You may be sending international mail.  Here are some ideas of things to put in your envelope:

A nice note

Stationery

Image from Thefoxandtheteacup Etsy shop

Little prints of your artwork

Image from Marcia's Etsy Shop

Ephemera, painted papers, collage supplies

Image from Castle in the Air online shop

 Cute tape and stickers

Tape from Cutetape.com

Stickers via Mochithings.com

A small collage or original artwork

Artwork by Marcia

Tags

Image via Pinterest.. Little Bits of Pretty

Other Ideas???  Use your imagination!  Leave some additional ideas in the comments.

Note:  The items you send do not all have to be brand new, meaning you do not need to go out and buy anything (although you can if you want to.)  You can find things in your house that would be fun to send.  The idea is to just make someone's day brighter!

*** Sign ups close May 15.  Partner lists will be sent out shortly after.  Please send out your packages by June 15. ***

Show and Tell Saturday

Happy SATS!  (Show and Tell Saturday)

* Please visit at least 3 other artists and if you use Pinterest, please PIN your favorite art from this week.  I know Pinterest brings a lot of traffic to my blogs, so it is a great way to share art. *

Add a link to a recent blog post and make sure to grab one of our buttons or put a link in your post back to Artists in Blogland so more people can join us.  Try to visit at least 3 other blogs and leave comments. 

If you are reading from a blog reader, you might have to pop on over to the actual blog post to add your link.

Would anyone like to make us a new blog button?  Leave a comment if you like to make blog buttons and would be willing to make something spiffy.  You will get a personal shout out on Artist in Blogland!

Last Postcard Swap Update

I know it's been awhile since our postcard swap ended, but I was waiting to see if I had any more blog posts to share.  What a fun time we had!  Lots of art being traded.  A new swap will be introduced shortly.  Here are the last ones I recieved:

Postcards sent and received from Roanna

Postcards received by Carin

and postcards sent by Carin

Postcards sent and received by Deepa

Show & Tell Saturday

Hi all!  Marcia here again with another Show & Tell Saturday.  Oops!  With all the excitement of writing for the technique on Tuesday I forgot to post the Show & Tell Saturday last week.  Sorry about that!  In case you are new to our group, I post this link party every other week for us to show off what we have been working on.  Anything goes, as long as it's art-related.

The April Color this Quote has also been posted, so go ahead and create some lovely artwork based on this quote.

* Please visit at least 3 other artists and if you use Pinterest, please PIN your favorite art from this week.  I know Pinterest brings a lot of traffic to my blogs, so it is a great way to share art. *

Add a link to a recent blog post and make sure to grab one of our buttons or put a link in your post back to Artists in Blogland so more people can join us.  Try to visit at least 3 other blogs and leave comments. 

If you are reading from a blog reader, you might have to pop on over to the actual blog post to add your link.

Techniques on Tuesday

Jessica here, with another:

  Techniques on Tuesdays!
  

Each month, on a Tuesday, we'll show you a video or photo step-out of an art technique.  This Tuesday, it's our own Marcia Beckett with a fun and easy technique for us. 

Marcia:  Today I am going to show you a very fun technique for unleashing your inner child in your art journal.  When I was little, I would use this crayon transfer technique all the time.  It was so magical to me.  I had forgotten all about it until I saw a blog post on a crafty momma blog.  Visit the Chocolate Muffin Tree to see what she did with her kids.

First, start by coloring a loose piece of paper in patches.  Color really hard.. use those muscles!  Regular crayons work just fine, but you could also use gelatos or oil pastels.

My daughter helping to color a sheet.

Page covered in crayon and oil pastels

Place your colored page face down on top of a page in your art journal.

Write, draw and doodle with a ball point pen on top of the paper.  Apply lots of pressure with the pen.  While you are writing, the crayon will transfer over to the journal page.

Writing on top of the paper.

When you lift the paper, your drawings and words will transfer.

I don't want to confuse you, but another way to transfer is to place the colored sheet face up in between two pages.  Draw on the back of one of the pages, and the crayons will also transfer (in reverse).

Here is what I mean:

Colored paper underneath.  Draw on top with pen.

Here are a few more examples of in progress journal pages with crayon transfers on them.

What to do with the leftover crayon-colored sheets?  You can tear them up to create backgrounds!

Thanks for reading and feel free to say hi to Marcia on her personal art blog or her art teaching website with lots of art projects for kids.

So, what did you think?  Do you like this idea?  Or is it not your kind of thing?  (That's okay too.)  Tell us how you felt about Techniques on Tuesday.  What would you like to see for Techniques on Tuesday?  If you have a technique you would like to share with us in a tutorial, please let us know in the comments.

Have you checked out our Color This Quote challenge for April?  If you haven't done anything for it yet, maybe try this technique paired with this month's quote and link up!

Color This Quote - April Challenge

Hi Artists in Blogland!  It's time for "Color This Quote - April!"
Thank you to everyone who participated in last month's quote challenge.  There were so many fabulous entries!  Two that really popped out at me were this gorgeous painted over collage by Sandra Sherman:

Sandra Sherman

and this whimsical self portrait by Clare at Miscunthus Crafts: 

Clare

Both artists shared their process, which I know I always appreciate!  But really, everyone's creations were gorgeous.  

This month's quote was suggested by Tracy:   

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." Judy Garland

Does this inspire you?  I know it did inspired me!  Express yourself!  Here's what you do:

• Grab the button and let people know you're participating!

• Link up your take on this quote in the Linky List below.  It will be open until April 30, and on May 1 the next quote will be revealed!

• Please link to a specific blog post or Flickr page, not your general URL.  

• In your blog post, please let us know how your work relates to this quote.  Sometimes it's hard to tell! Work that doesn't have a connection to the quote will be removed from the linky list, no matter how gorgeous it is, as we're trying to relate to the quote.

• Visit 3 or more people who linked up, and leave loving words on their blogs or Flickr pages;

• Anything goes -- can't wait to see what you do with this quote.

• Have a great quote?  Leave it in the comments section.  I put all the suggestions on pieces of paper in a jar and let my daughter pick, so the more, the merrier. 

Happy creating!

Show and Tell Saturday

Artists in Blogland has a lot going on!  First, the Techniques on Tuesday series was a big hit.  Thanks to Carolyn and Jessica for the first TT. 

The Color this Quote challenge is also going on now.  Don't forget to submit your entry!

Here are a couple of highlights from last Show and Tell.

I love Paper Yum's painting:

I also really love Hwee's sketches!

It's time for our bi-weekly (every other week) Show and Tell Saturday.  The only real rule is that the links must be art-related!  Link up to a blog post about what you've been working on this week.  If you can, please try to visit at least 3 other artists from the link-up.  Also, it is nice to have a link on your blog post back to Artists in Blogland, so that other people can find the group. 

*** Here is another idea:  Find your favorite work of art in Show and Tell Saturday and PIN IT on Pinterest to share with other people. ****