Friday, April 3, 2009

Ahhh yes, another fabric heart postcard

Well, I'm involved in a heart postcard swap in a favorite yahoo group right now, and I have to make nine of them. So far I have five done, and four to go. Obviously I have hearts on the brain while I'm making these, and will be posting all or some of them on my blog. All the ones I've made so far are different, but I'm a bit worried about running out of original ideas for all nine of them. We'll see if my muse, Bonita, comes through for me, or if I end up duplicating some of them. The heart theme is right up my alley, because I love using hearts in my art, and have done it fairly often.

I used yellow fabric for the base of this piece, and frayed the edges. I often do that when I use fabric in my art. (I used the Mod Podge on plastic technic that I explained in my post of March 11th, so scroll down to read about that technic). Then I stamped with lavender and green acrylic paints, using my new harlequin stamp and a bottle lid for the green circles. Then I glued down the threads from fraying for great texture.

The cute bird is stamped onto a distressed paint chip (I've explained the distressed paint chip technic in a number of previous posts), and for the heart I glued lace fabric cut from a blouse onto paint chip, then painted it yellow, then rubbed over it with lavender paint. I also glued down a small skeleton leaf, and five seeds that I painted with my very cool three tip paint brush. I also used that brush on the edges for the lavender lines.

I'm proud of myself that I actually used some stamps on this piece. As I've said before, I have sooo many cool stamps and yet so seldom use them in my art. I'm not sure why that is, but it bothers me. Especially when I have so many great stamps, most of which I've never used even once. How sad/crazy is that??? And yet, I keep buying stamps, which makes it even crazier. In fact, I have to fess up that I bought some new stamp sets from Addicted to Rubber Stamps just a week ago, when they had their 31% off sale. They haven't arrived yet. I saved money on the sale, but the shipping cost was a big "ouch"! Due to the high shipping cost, a whopping $8.37, which totally made me wince, I only ended up saving a few dollars on the whole deal. I just can't believe the shipping was so high, when I know the unmounted stamps don't weigh that much.

I rarely buy things online for that very reason -- the outrageous shipping costs! But these are stamp sets I haven't seen at Hobby Lobby or Joann's, so I could only get them online. And now, I'm wondering (and fearing) how long it will take me to actually use them in my art. So anyway, I'm trying to make myself use my stamps more in my art. At least that's a goal of mine.


14 comments:

Barb Smith said...

Shipping costs just kill me, too, but when I compare it to the price of gas for me to drive the 50 miles to the nearest town that has anything, it usually evens things out for me. What stamps did ya get?
Peace & Love,
♥ Barb ♥

Aimeslee Winans said...

Val, I'm proud of you too, and I'd be proud of me if I did that, lol. I go in spurts, but I also have tons of stamps that haven't ever been used...yet. One Day. They can just sit there and wait for me. I'm still using Zig markers bought in 2005, so our supplies are great at waiting for the most part, winkwink.

This piece is gorgeous as is all your work. Wondering what yahoo group? If it's the postcard group I am in, then I need to pay better attention to the swaps! LOL

xoxo,
Aimeslee
My art blog likes visitors and comments. :-)

Unknown said...

Another great one! Can't wait to see who gets what postcards. I'm still working on mine . . .

Shannon (Faith and Chocolate) said...

What a great piece, Val!! I LOVE it! ;)Hugs,
Shannon

Michele/TextileTraveler said...

Beautiful card, Val. Don't feel guilty about these stamps--I've had some for years, and as far as I know, they NEVER go bad like paint or markers or other supplies. They'll be there when you need them! Thanks for the detailed information on your projects.

mary schweitzer said...

I love that you are using so much color!
And I had to laugh about the stamps, I am the same way! I have some great ones that never see the light of day LOL!!
Mary

Iberostar said...

I'm with you - shipping never used to be a big deal and now, I need to weigh the costs of shipping things on sale.
I admit I love to get stuff in the mail - but the cost is getting too high - they are raising rates again in May.

Iberostar said...

Oh - and I love your latest work!! I love the color purple!

Zora said...

Glad you got to use your stamp! The postcard looks fabulous! You should be proud of yourself for following your creative muse so well! Thanks for sharing.

Elis Cooke said...

Hi Val
Great postcard! I checked out the MP technique post as well--- i wonder if it would work with matte medium? I might give it a try. I love the texture! namaste

Pat said...

Val, I'd be seriously waiting for the mailman if I thought that would come to my address!
What is the MP technique? I'll look through your posts! Sounds interesting.
Pat

nancy said...

Val, I'm loving the lavender work! Haven't been very active for a while, so I thought I'd stop by to see what you've been up to. Great stuff.

Faye said...

Beautiful work, Val. I'm hoping those new stamps will be worth every penny of the shipping costs. I think most of us would agree that the amount added onto our original order is often a big shock. Our few stores around here don't carry much variety, so I do order online, just to have some of the supplies that I see used on blogs.

Thanks for the very kind comments on my dangly ornament. I appreciate them. I think I will give this to a friend who is confined to a wheelchair. She had a brain stem stroke about 15 years ago and another one about 10 years ago. She has the most delightful personality and attitude. Her birthday is coming next week.

hilli said...

addicted to rubber stamps is always a shipping ripoff. look around for a place with the same stamps (google them by brand and name) with a flat fee or actual cost shipping.