art techniques – Pics and Posts

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. –Thomas S. Monson

I’m back today with another crafted Christmas tree postcard. This one is from Diane W (midteacher on swap-bot), whose 2017 postcard is featured in my Christmas Day post. Diane is my inspiration for mixed media photo creations, and now she’s given me a technique to try with card-making without photos.

Here’s her creation process:

Adhere scrapbook paper to 5×7 Watercolor paper
Spray a piece of brown craft paper with water; wad up into a ball
Carefully unwad and mist with Perfect Pearls Mist spray in Perfect Pearl
Allow to dry; iron flat
Cut to size and glue over scrapbook paper
Emboss the edges of the postcard
Create the tree by cutting a copy of Christmas music.
Adhere ribbon
Glue tree onto postcard
Add a piece of burlap ribbon for the trunk
Add Tim Holtz Christmas phrases

I love this card, especially the crinkled craft paper and the embossed edges. Since there are so few elements, I can make this project with leftovers from other projects. I have a drawer full of scraps that are too beautiful to toss!

I won’t put you through the agony of my imitation of Diane’s tree, like I did yesterday with Martha’s, but I think I’ll attempt this technique to make cards for some birthdays that are coming up in January.

Thanks, Diane for the quote, the card, and the lesson. Thanks, too, for showering me with beauty all year long and for sharing your techniques with me.

It’s “Sunflower Week” on Pics and Posts, so I’m sharing a children’s book illustration postcard out of sequence because…well, it’s a sunflower! 😉

Samantha (Sammoning on swap-bot), from the Netherlands, sent the Eric Carle postcard below for Children’s Book Illustration Postcard swap #30.

Eric Carle, “Summer”

If you’re familiar with Eric Carle, the author/artist of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you probably recognized the sunflower as his work immediately. The postcard comes from the World of Eric Carle 100 Postcards, a delightful collection full of the artist’s brilliant work. There is very little information about the postcard. The image was posted on Carle’s blog almost eight years ago with no other detail but the title. It is part of his “season’s collection.”

By the way, if you need a dose of the warm fuzzies, you should really check out his blog.

Carle has “written and/or illustrated more than 70 picture books.” His collage illustrations are made with hand-painted tissue paper. If you’re looking for a fun (and easy) art project to help you decompress after a long work day, check out Carle’s slideshow in which he shares his technique: How I Paint My Tissue Papers.

And if you’re (ever) in Amherst, Massachusetts, check out the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

See you tomorrow…with even more sunflowers.