Saturday Showcase: March 23, 2013

It is time for the Saturday Showcase where I highlight other artists' work (whether it be stamps, cards or otherwise), a blog post offering a great technique, or I might even just pick a whole blog to showcase. If you are new to my blog you can find out why I created the showcase HERE.

This week I have two cards and a link to a blog that often has free digital sentiments.  We are re-visiting two artists that I have introduced to you in the past and meeting one new one.

My top picks for this week include... 

Card Choice

  

This sweet card was created by

VICKY FORTIER

Her blog is called  

Crafting Vicky

Vicky was one of the artists I featured in my very first showcase. She has recently had a blog makeover done by the super uber talented Naomi Edwards from Creative Bug on the Loose. I think it looks fabulous. A nice, new fresh look for spring!

The card that I am focussing on this week is one from a little while back. I saw it in her post, "Mad Hatter Blog Hop" back at the end of January. I knew that it would be the perfect addition to the showcase closer to Easter and we aren't going to have a Saturday showcase any closer than this weekend because there won't be one next week (more on that later). Now, I get that this isn't an Easter card; however, it is still the season of rabbits so it fits in quite well.

I loved the opening line Vicky used in her post:

"If you happen to fall in the rabbit's hole you have landed in the wacky wonderful world of Alice where we're all mad here!"

Anyone who can freely admit out loud to being a little 'mad' is definitely my kind of people! Vicky has used a vintage image for this card.  That is one of the things I like so much about this card--its vintage feel.  I love the look of vintage but have no idea how to pull it off myself yet so for now I will admire others who do it well.  

It isn't just a 'vintage feel' to this picture.  It is most definitely a vintage piece.  It is the original illustration done by Sir John Tenniel for Lewis Caroll's book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865.  Okay well not the ACTUAL original but you get what I mean.  All the images from this book are now old enough to be in the public domain, and now we get to benefit from that.  I love how Vicky took the time to distress the edges to give it that extra old looking feel to it.  The frame around the image also adds to the effect as does the designer paper she chose to accompany everything.

And of course, what is the original white rabbit without his famous "I'm late..." speech.  This is such a creative idea for a belated birthday card that I just had to share it with all of you.  

 My absolute favourite part of the card is this gorgeous bow and that very relevant little charm she used.  How perfect is that pocket watch.  Vicky has so many cool embellishments in her secret stash.  Maybe I can locate it now that she has shared pictures of her craft room with us.  You should really take a look.  It is quite something!  My stuff is spread out all over the place on two separate floors (three if you count my other craft supplies).  I can only dream of a home where I'd have a whole room dedicated to crafting supplies.  However, since I love my husband more and he deserves room for his stuff too, I'll put up with the current situation.  If you'd like to check out Vicky's awesome space, here is the link:  Scribbler's Showcase.  You can see some more of Vicky's cards in this post and of course you can also see more of her wonderful cards, and there are a lot of them, at her own personal blog. 

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Free Digital Stamp Choice
The great sentiments showcased below were created by

HANNELIE

Her blog is called

Desert Diva

Hannelie and I share a love of alteration and it shows in her choice of blog title.   There is just something about that letter D!

I have been visiting Hannelie's blog since May of last year.  She was one of the very first blogs that I came across offering free sentiments.  Here are a few of my favourites:

 

 And my absolute favourite:

Hannelie offers up sentiments in a wide array of categories. In fact she currently has over 100 free sentiments on her blog. It is always great having a quick sentiment to rely on for your cards and it is so wonderful that Artists like Hannelie make such cool ones for our use. For some reason, I don't know how to put into words what it is specifically that I like about the first four designs. It isn't exactly the expression; it isn't exactly the fonts used. Suffice it to say that each of them moves me in some manner or another. Of course the last one is much easier to put my finger on. It is the humourous nature to the image that I adore. Hannelie did an awesome job with this. It propelled me to go looking for that funky font. Guess what? I found it and it is free for commercial use. You of course know what that means...some creative thinking and a few sentiments eye'll be creating myself. Oh, oh Hannelie, you have no idea what you've started... 

Two of the above sentiments may look familiar to you if you are over here frequently.  I used the 'sunflower' sentiment on my very first card representing Scribbles Designs Challenges and the 'wish big' sentiment was most recently used on on a birthday card I did for one of my Digi Darla's Challenges cards.

Now unfortunately, I cannot provide links to where you can get the first four sentiments since I obtained them awhile ago, I can however provide a link to my favourite because it is a recent addition to the blog.  You can find the 'eyes' sentiment HERE. All of Hannelie's other freebies can be found by clicking on the label 'free sentiment' in the right sidebar of her blog.

I really hope that you will go and visit Hannelie.  Not only does she offer up these great sentiments, she also creates the most amazing CAS cards; so, you can expect to see her back in the spotlight soon.  She is a wonderful inspiration and I'm sure she'd appreciate your visit.  Don't forget you can get there by clicking on her blog name above.

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Cool Project Choice

Today we are looking at a couple Artist Trading Cards created by

IKE
Her blog is called

Ike's World

Ike is another familiar face around here.  I profiled one of her freebies around Christmas time.  I figured it was time to showcase an Artist Trading Card (ATC) and what better a way to introduce you to them on this blog than by showcasing one of Ike's.  As far as I'm concerned she is one of the queen's of ATCs.  

It was only in January that I actually learned what an ATC is.  For those of you as green as I am, here is a short description according to Wikipedia:

Artist trading cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern trading cards or baseball cards, or 21⁄2 by 31⁄2 inches (64 mm × 89 mm) small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets. The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland. Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged. When sold, they are usually referred to as art card editions and originals (ACEOs).  [Author Unknown. (2013). Artist trading cards. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards. Last accessed 23th March 2013.]

I am seeing them pop up more and more and there are a couple challenge blogs that I'm aware of that promote ATCs as well.  I've been seeing them over on Ike's blog for awhile, I just never knew what they were.  Well, now I do and I am showcasing a few of my favourites here today. Now Ike may not the typical artist and designer that you are used to seeing create cards.  Although she is fantastic at it, cutesy and mushy tends to give her a bit of a rash.  Where Ike's true passions seem to lie, is in the creepy and out there and of course in realism.  Ike really is one of the most talented true artists I've ever met.  Today we are going to focus on some of her really unique and original Artist Trading Cards. 

First off we have one of her earlier attempts of her forray into the ATC world:

 
This was created back in July when Ike was just in the experimental stage of making ATCs.  You can find the original post HERE along with another ATC she made from the same digi kit.  The great thing about a lot of Ike's darker work is that it usually is accompanied by her sense of humour.  She can take a relatively benign statement and give it such a twisted spin.  I really love how the hearts at the top of this ATC look like they are dripping blood.  Such a cool effect.  I also love the contrast of the red, white and black.  Always a winning colour combination.

Next up, is the ATC from a post roughly a month later which you can find HERE.  In this post you can find two other examples of ATCs including what they look like inside.  I never know ATCs could have insides.  

There are so many cool things going on here.  First of all, Ike took the image of the woman and then altered her face by adding fangs and a bit of blood and of course altering her eyes too.  I love the fact that she has been kept mostly in black and white with the only colour added being the eyes and blood on the lips and at the corner of the mouth.  The moon image she used is so striking too and adds a cool colour contrast.  Then of course there are those fangs on the end of the ATC dripping in blood themselves.  The shading on them makes them look so realistic.  Just a really cool design overall.

Next up, is the ATC that runs more to the the lighter side from a post in the middle of February which you can find HERE.  

This is an ATC that Ike put together for our Scribbles Designs Shades of Red Challenge.  Again we have the contrast of red and white and a bit of black that are just so striking together.  I love all the embossing on this ATC and of course Mr. Wool takes centre stage.  Ike won a well deserved top three placing in the challenge with this project.

Finally, I present to you my absolute favourite one, but I warn you it isn't exactly for the very faint of heart.  It is from a recent post that you can find HERE.

  Now when you think of a buttons and bows challenge, this probably isn't something you would think up for a traditional entry.  However, the people over at Left of Center don't exactly think in a traditional way which make them the perfect fit for artists like Ike.  The best part of this ATC is that the image itself of the half face-half skull, is one of Ike's own creations.  It is half of a digital image called "Twisted Love" that is an exclusive design to Smeared Ink.  If you are interested in this image it can be found HERE.  Ike did such an amazing job colouring up the image and then the addition of the bows and buttons is just so ... well, twisted!

So, there we have it.  Four incredible ATCs created by an even more incredible artist.  Please go over an have a look around Ike's World.  You will not be disappointed.  While you are there be sure to stop by her Friday post and pick up the latest freebie.  Don't forget Ike offers up freebies every Friday and you don't want to miss even one of them.  They will all be collector's items one day I'm sure!  Clicking on the blog name at the top of this segment will bring you to her blog.

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I hope that you have enjoyed your visit and will take some time to go see each of the respective artists listed above.  They work very hard to provide us with images for inspiration and our viewing pleasure so it is important that we don't take them for granted.

As I eluded to earlier in the post, there will not be a showcase next Saturday.  Since it is Easter weekend, a great many of you will not be around anyways.  On top of that my husband is sorely in need of some time spent with his wife.  He is extremely supportive of what I am doing but I know that he would also like to see a bit more of me.  These days, he gets to see so little of me that I need to start making a few changes to rectify that.  The first step is to spend as much time as I can with him, this coming long weekend.

Thanks to all these wonderful artists for agreeing to allow me to showcase their work on my blog.  I'm sure I'll be coming back to them time and again.  Though you never know, I may be contacting YOU next to showcase something incredible you've created. 


Until next time,

Note:   *Thanks to Nikki from Limited Runs Stamps for creating my Saturday Showcase badge.