Monday 11 May 2015

A Seahorse for Marlene

Great news, folks! Mr. Mojo and Mrs. Muse have returned at last from their extended holiday/absence without leave! Since my cancer diagnosis in mid-January, I have been so preoccupied and unsettled, and with my mind so full of it all, that I have not been able to focus on anything creative. Today I am really feeling a lot better – it is now over 6 weeks since my surgery, and although I still tire more easily than in my normal M.E. state, I do feel more myself. I am about to embark on six months of intensive chemotherapy and am determined to take advantage of those periods when I am feeling better in between.

Recently a friend of mine contacted me to say that she was exploring the idea of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and asked if we could swap. I was thinking perhaps I had an ATC in my stash that I could send her, but there was nothing suitable. She said she had done a seahorse one so I decided to do the same.

Her ATC arrived yesterday and I love the colour, and the addition of a little bling, which I am pleased to see how well the camera picked this up for once – it is usually really hard to capture sparkly surfaces!

05 ATC from Marlene

I decided to do another of my signature teabag stain ATCs. I’m afraid I didn’t remember to photograph the stain before I drew on it, but it was one on a sheet of watercolour paper that I used to dry teabags on – they leave such lovely marks.

I used a fine Faber Castell sepia pen to do the drawing, and added some Zentangles around the edge, and after completing the drawing, I cut it out around the outline.

01 Completed Drawing

I shaded the drawing with a brown pastel pencil and blended it with a paper stump.

02 Shading with Brown Pastel

I took one of my ATC blanks and inked the edges with Tea Dye distress ink.

03 Inking the Base Piece

I used Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to stick the drawing onto the back piece, and added a little more drawing around the edge.

04 Finished ATC

I wrapped the ATC in a scrap of tissue paper which I stamped with some of my seashell stamps, using sepia archival ink, and repeated this motif, adding a little seahorse, on the small cream envelope I chose to send Marlene her ATC in.

06 ATC Wrapped with Envelope

I included one of my little fans in with the ATC – I made a whole lot of these to go with ATCs for the last ATC swap I took part in. These were stamped with Versamark onto black card using one of my favourite fan stamps, and then brushed with dry Perfect Pearls, adding a little tie of ribbon on the handle.

Fan Tags to Accompany My ATC

I tied up the little parcel with some co-ordinating fancy yarn. I hope Marlene enjoys her ATC.

OK, so it’s a small start, but the creative block is down, and I am excited about getting back into my ARTHaven again. Watch this space – I hope it isn’t just a flash in the pan!

4 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm SO happy you were able to do some creating! It's awesome, too! Best wishes to you.

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  2. Lucky Marlene. Your ATC is amazing. Three cheers for Mr Mojo and Mrs Muse. I'm so glad you feel like creating again.

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  3. I'm so happy to see you getting creative again, and what a great start - your seahorse is absolutely beautiful, and I love how you use the paper that you dried the teabags on - I keep forgetting I want to do that and I lay them on kitchen roll each time, which isn't very nice as it has quilted patterns all over it!
    Good luck when you start your chemo,
    Diana x

    Diana x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great to see you back creating again! Long may it happen and be a good diversion for you when you start treatment!

    ReplyDelete

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