Hello Friend

"Hello Friend"

5" x 7" Top Fold Greeting Card

Blank Inside

The "Hello Friend" greeting card was extra fun to make probably because of the unique die from Cheery Lynn Designs.  The die information is "Screen Door with Cat" #A2164. I chose to use real birch wood veneer for the screen door.  

As the wood is very, very thin, there is no problem cutting the image. The die actually comes packaged with 2 pieces of screen and extra screens are available through the site.  I took a look at our local Home Depot store and found this gauge of screen available by the foot.  Since I usually do produce several of any one given card design, Home Depot was a good way to go for me, bringing the cost down considerably. To add depth and the appearance of an interior, a green and white striped patterned paper is used behind the screen and cat.  While this addition looks fairly simple, there is a trick to layering all of the pieces securely to the reverse side of the door.  I used 1/8 inch score tape and adhered each layer separately. 

Estate Fence die #98285 by Memory Box is utilized to give the background some interest.  I attempted to find this die on the website's product index and it looks as if it is no longer available.  Not to worry, I have seen many variations of the estate fence available through most of the popular companies offering paper crafting dies.

Last but not least is the greeting "Hello Friends" from the Cuttlebug Friends Forever Embossing Folder and Dies.  I had a difficult time locating this set but finally found it on an Etsy site and you can get there from HERE.  

All cardstock used in the card is Bazzil Bling which has a pearly shimmer not picked up well in this photo and the base is Hammermill 100# Digital Color Copy paper.

Oh, almost forgot, I chose a Swarovski flat back crystal to dot the "i" on "friend".  That should do it.

If you don't want to duplicate "Hello Friend"  yourself,  there will be six available later in my Etsy store at Crane Island Comforts on Etsy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spotlight on Artist Mica Still

Napier, New Zealand

Mica Still, a fabulous artist currently living in  New Zealand, is known for her outdoor street art and she works BIG! Formerly a resident of Astoria, Oregon, Mica (known as Michelle locally), is the daughter of Nickie Piippo.  Nickie is the past owner for many years of Paper Moon, a local paper arts store. So as one might see from the images above and below, artistic talent runs in the family.

The wall in the picture above  depicts the current crisis of the oceans'  inhabitants becoming entangled in abandoned fishing nets  and other debris which usually leads to death.  Mica was among a select group of artists invited to participate in this world wide awareness project with this focus displayed in Napier, New Zealand.

This piece was completed on a wall in Auckland, New Zealand.  I apologize for the quality of the photo but you can really get the size and scale of Mica's artwork.

While Mica was here in Astoria for the holidays a few months ago, she was asked to create a mural on a truck owned by her uncle's construction company. It was my great pleasure to be able to see Mica at work.  With her only tool being artist quality spray paints she purchased locally from Dots n' Doodles Art Supply, Mica set to work on a very cold winter day.  And...

this is the result of her efforts!

We are amazed with  Mica (Michelle) and her body of work done on an international scale. She's one Astoria can be proud of!

Robin's Heart

Robin's Heart was a project of love for my sister Robin.  Hearts are one of her favorites and the feather represents our mother who passed away several years ago.  Please excuse the background shine, I neglected to take a final photo before I had the piece matted and shrink wrapped in preparation for shipping.

I'd like to share the process of how this came together for those who are interested.

The tangle I used to morph into a heart is "Grace" by Helena. It's a tricky little beast!  All I can say about the pattern is to tackle two or three hearts in the chain at a time to achieve the 3-D effect.  I started this one twice to get it right. I used a Micron .01 to draw the hearts after first drawing a penciled in heart shape first.

This photo shows the pattern completed with color, shading and highlights added. I used my favorite colored pencils, Caran d'Ache Luminance colored pencils.  They really take the color layers beautifully without a waxy bloom.  Seven colors were used so achieve the dominant color and shading.  You can see the feather design sketched in the middle getting ready to add color.

Feather has been added and now we're ready for the background!

Concentration! The tangle pattern used for the background is "Y-Ful Power" by Soshi. Click on this link for the step-out.  The pattern is started with an offset grid drawn in pencil.  If you look at the step-out this will make more sense.  I drew the entire grid in pencil first and then started the pattern, only doing one small section at a time. Again I used a Micron .01 for the pattern lines. Next came the shading, I use a 4B graphite pencil and a paper blending stub for detail.  For the shadow I still went for a 4B but applied a much denser layer of graphite before blending.

So there it is! I'd be happy to answer any questions about this piece or tangled inspired art in general, just leave me a comment and I promise to get back to you.

Thanks for stopping by!