"Open" and Class Review of Creativity Boot Camp

I really enjoyed Creativity Boot Camp, a wonderful, free, two week class that gave class participants lots of options for what to get out of it.  Participants were challenged to pick one medium and create something in that medium each day, incorporating  a random prompt.  I chose plaster as my medium because it's something that I had been meaning to explore but hadn't gotten around to working with.  The randomness and openness of the prompts gave me the opportunity to create all kinds of things that I really loved and to discover new ways in which to use plaster.  You can peruse these by checking my labels for plaster or bootcamp  I loved having the push to create every day for two weeks - I think I really grew as an artist and have many more ideas for what to do with plaster.  The class also had a variety of ways to connect with other participants - a comments section, which I liked; a mr. linky tool that was fantastic and easy to use; a blog roll in which I participated; a flickr group (which I ignored - I hate flickr); and some forums which I perused occasionally.  I found several new blogs and artists through the class, who I know will continue to inspire me as I visit their blogs.  The class also had an "assignment" every day - often involving writing.  I didn't do these very often because they didn't really "speak to me," but that was okay! I had thought about a lot of the same things when I worked through The Artist's Way a few years ago.  I think other participants got a great deal out of these activities.  I did love, love, love the photo walk assignment though - such fun!  One of the most interesting things about the class was how it took on a life of its own.  I think it was originally intended to be a fairly small class for a few blog friends, but it drew hundreds of creative, interesting people.  Simply amazing!  CBC is continuing with weekly prompts called "Sunday Creative," and I'm really glad it is.  I want to continue to use plaster and to share my creations with others.  The first Sunday creative prompt was "open," and I used radiant pearls to create this card with an open water lily on plaster.  I hope you like it!
All-in-all, Creativity Boot Camp was a wonderful experience for me and something that allowed people to grow in whatever ways they chose.  As I said before, simply amazing!
If you participated, what did you think about it?  What was your favorite creation?

What's Your Card Style?

I created this card in response to the Ginger Snap Creations Monthly Color Challenge, Shades of Blue.  I used an alcohol ink monoprint for the background and one of my favorite collage stamps.  As I was making it, I was wondering about my card making style.  I'd say I'm heavy on stamps and photos, light on embellishments.  Not a lot of layering either.  I like quirky sayings and off-beat images.  I guess I'd describe my card making style as simple, vintage and quirky.  Do you think I got it right?  How would you describe your card making style?

Reflecting on School Days

During the last day of the Art Journaling class I taught, I had each student complete a page (from start to finish) on the prompt "What did your teachers say about you?"  The prompt came from one of my students who had remarked the previous week that her teachers used to say "Cindy finishes early and helps the other children."  Later on, she added that what her teacher actually said/meant was that she finished early and bothered the other children.  It was a good prompt and had everybody reflecting on their school days.  I meant to take pictures of their pages to share, but there was no camera card in my camera! (doh!) So, the only thing I can share are the pages I made.  When I reflected on the prompt, I realized that some of my teachers said lots of negative things about me (I talked too much, I couldn't sing and should drop out of chorus, my book reports were too long.  One even said I was mean and made her cry!).  Fortunately, I also had many wonderful teachers who nurtured me and supported me and helped me grow.  So, I did a two page spread in my art journal.  The largest part of the journaling reads, " I ignored all the negative things they said and focused on the affirming things that helped me grow." In a nice bit of serendipity, these pages fit the current Creative Therapy prompt, "what are your best/worst memories of school."
So, now, truth or dare, what did your teachers say about you?

Eclipse the Movie (art journal page)

How perfect is it that this week's Drunken Stampers challenge corresponds with the art journal page I was working on about going to see the movie with DD Clara.  Background is tissue paper, adhered with gel medium.  Paint splattered and "Eclipse" stamped in paint.
Will you be going to see the movie?

Favorite Summer Quote on a Skinni

Just when I thought I had heard of all the different sizes for stamping (inchies, twinchies, thrinchies, moos, ATC's, fatbook, art money), the wonderful challenge blog "Something Completely Different" introduced me to something, well, completely different - the "skinni." It's a 3x5 inch little bit of happiness.  This week's challenge theme for a skinni is "flora and fauna," so I took one of my alcohol ink monoprint backgrounds from Monday, added one of my favorite flower stamps and finished with one of my all-time favorite summer quotes, "In summer, the song sings itself."
Are you partial to any particular stamping size? Do you have a favorite summer quote to share? Love to hear it!

Alcohol Ink Monoprint Cards

This week's challenge at Studio L3's Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Challenge is the alcohol ink monoprint technique.  To mix things up a bit, I tried block glossy paper, instead of white.  The metallic mixatives showed up well, but I had trouble getting much color from the other inks to show up.  Once I had the backgrounds made, I chose to use Tim's South Africa stamps to make two cards, in honor of the World Cup and because they seemed to go well with the darker shades.  I also stamped some of his birds on another background I had but decided to hold on to it for now.  I'm sure it will go nice on a Halloween tag later this year.
Once I had my supplies out, I made a bunch more backgrounds! 
Here's a card I made with white glossy paper:

The stamps are from Club Scrap.  I hope you like this background, as you'll be seeing more of it this week (LOL!).  I'm loving these challenges and wanted to say a big thank-you to Linda for linking folks to my book review of Compendium of Curiosities.  The Review featured a few other creations with alcohol ink monoprinting.  You can read the review and see those creations here.

Paranormal? Is that what they're calling it these days?

A rare second post in one day for me, but I really wanted to get my entry into this week's challenge at Burtonesque Dolls before it closes at 10:00 p.m. tonight. So, here's my Beetlejuice toe tag.  There's some really great quotes in that movie, including this one.  The prize this week is the ability to be a guest designer, and that's something I'd love to do! So, wish me luck.