Keeping the creative momentum.

Oh my, time seems to have slipped through my fingers again and now it's almost the end of August and I haven't posted here since June. How does that happen even in this strange time of isolation when I have no classes or creative studio and so much time at home on my own. However it happens I am sorry for not post more here. I won't promise that I will do more but I will do my best to do better. I have the best of intentions and so many ideas to share with you. Well we will see...

The theme for July on Dragonfly Dreamers monthly exploration group was Cards. I had intended to do many different kind of cards but I ended up just doing some affirmation cards and ATC's. They were all done with layers of collage, paints and pens. I start off by doing a full sheet of collage and painting and then I cut them to the size I want before finishing them of with some mark making and doodling the back with an affirmation or quote.

These ATC's all got traded with people from the group.

These affirmation cards are 4.5"x3". I think of the left side as the front and the right side as the back but both are finished pieces on their own. I have quite a collection of these cards now and like to shuffle through them and choose one each day for a daily affirmation.

I hope you are keeping creating.

Wendy

First ATC drop-in day

Sunday was our first ATC drop-in and potluck lunch in the studio.

This year I decide to take a break from the ATC group I have been participating in monthly, for many years. It was time to make a little more room in my schedule for other things. But I have found myself missing it somewhat so I decided to make an ATC day in the studio. We had a great little group who spent the day make numerous ATC and had a yummy potluck lunch. 

Here are some of the ATC's that were created during the day.

Deb

Janice

Louise

Salena

Ruth

Shirley

Wendy

I think the day was a great success and hope to have more in the future. So if you enjoy a day just for making ATC's keep your eyes open for another one coming up some time this summer.

Keep Creating!

Wendy

Musical ATC's

October's ATC theme was music. It looks like everyone had fun with this one. 

Kathy

Linda

Louise

Lucie

Marie

Olive

Veronica

Virginia

Wendy

Happy Creating!

Wendy

ATC Swap with a twist.

Usually for our monthly ATC meetings we have a theme and our cards are made at home, ready to swap during the meeting. But once a year we do a baggie swap ATC. This is where we all bring a small baggie of goodies and make our cards during the meeting. The last few years we did themes for our baggies and swapped baggies before making our ATC.  This year we decided to give it a new twist. We still swapped baggies before starting to make our ATCs but for an extra challenge we only had 10 minutes to work on our ATC and then we had to pass it to the person beside us who continued to work on it for another 10 minutes. We then passed it on to a third person to finish it up for another 10 minutes. This was a challenge but great fun. We had time to do this a second time with a quick swap of our baggies.
So each of these ATCs has been created by 3 people in the group.

Have you tried to do this kind of ATC challenge? Do you have suggestions for some other challenges for our group. If you do please give me a shout. We love a challenge!

Happy Creating
Wendy

Pocket ATC's

Lot's of fun was had making 'pocket' ATC's for this months meeting. How many different pockets can we make!

Linda

Louise

Louise (inside)

Lucie

Marie

Olive

Virginia

Wendy

Have you tried making a pocket ATC yet?

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Drawing ATC

   This months ATC swap theme was draw/sketch. It was so interesting to see how people made cards for this. As usually a great variety. 
   It was also time this month for our annual Mega Swap. This is where we all put in up to 9 cards and receive the same amount back. I took a photo of the table of ATC's before we started the swap.

Mega Swap

Wendy

Virginia

Veronica

Olive

Lucie

Louise

Linda

Kathy

Happy Creating!

Wendy

March ATC's, Mandalas

Have you ever made a Mandala? 
I think before this ATC trade I had but they were basic and I didn't really like the outcome. I have to admit when I found out that we were going to be doing Mandalas for one of our ATC trades I did a little research. 
The dictionary gave me this:
Oriental Art. a schematized representation of the cosmos, chieflycharacterized by a concentric configuration of geometric shapes, each of which contains an image of a deity  or an attribute of a deity.
And Wikipedia gave me this:
A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, lit, circle) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe.^[1] In common use, "mandala" has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.
After watching a few how to videos I decided to start with a few lines to guide me while creating my Mandala instead of doing it freehand. I was quickly taken with it and did found I couldn't stop at just one.
It was so interest to see the variations or Mandalas in our group.

Louise

Lucie

Olive

Wendy

If you haven't tried making Mandalas before I highly recommend it. Since starting this I have made numerous ones of all sizes and colours. I think this is something I will continue to do for a long time. They are so fun and meditative to do.

Happy Creating.

Wendy