Marcia Beckett

Index Card Art

Monday, July 15, 2013

Here are two more index cards for ICAD!

Don't forget to enter my Sticker Giveaway!

Linking to Glue It Tuesday

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Hi all! I hope you've been enjoying my blog posts about stickers. Summer is about half way over and I thought now would be a great time for a sensational sticker GIVEAWAY as a thank you for reading my blog! I'm so happy that you have found my blog and read, comment and invite me to your blogs.

I have several packages of stickers, stickers I made myself, loose stickers and patterned decorative tape to giveaway to ONE LUCKY WINNER! All you have to do is leave a comment by next Sunday, July 21 and you will be entered in the drawing. Tweet, share or link this in a blog post for an extra chance to win (leave a comment letting me know you shared.) Here are all of the goodies!

Glossy stickers designed and printed by ME!

Cute Animal Stickers

Sparkly Letters and Rainbow Dots

Decorative Patterned Tape

An assortment of loose stickers

Loose stickers

Leave a comment if you want to be entered in the drawing!

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Index Card Art

Friday, July 12, 2013

I love these index card artworks I've made. Linking up to Daisy Yellow's lovely Index Card a Day art challenge.

You will notice that I used one of the stickers that I made from this tutorial on sticker making.

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Sticky Journals: Add doodling to stickers & Link Up

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Tip for Art Journaling with Stickers:

Add doodles on top of the stickers to add your own personality to them. In this page I made a couple months ago, I took a plain brown sticker, added the pink heart sticker on top, then added black outlines and white gel pen lines.

Have you made anything with stickers lately? I'd love to see it!

Check out the other posts in this series about using your stickers and tapes in art journal pages:

1. Sticky Inspiration
2. My new stickers & some pages with them
3. Using patterned tape in an art journal page
4. Guest Post: Marly Martinez
5. Tape Lines artwork
6. How to Create Your Own Stickers Using Picmonkey
7. Sticker Art Inspiration
8. Cutting out shapes from tape
9. Guest Post: Chandra Newton

Best wishes, Marcia

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Create Your Life Journal Page

Monday, July 8, 2013

The theme this week at Inspiration Avenue is Words. That is a perfect theme, because most of my artwork incorporates words. So, this is an easy one to do. I had the imagery and colors for this journal page already complete, so I added these words with my Pilot Varsity Pen and rub-on transfer letters.

Lots of cutting, tearing and pasting images and papers in this page. If you like that sort of thing, you should also check out Glue It Tuesday! These challenges and link-ups help motivate me to blog my art pages.

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Summer of Color and Color this Quote

Thursday, July 4, 2013

I started this picture with the intent of using charcoal gray and pink for the Summer of Color challenge. I found this really challenging, because I like to use every color under the sun in my artworks. It was hard to stick with a planned color scheme.

I also struggled with adding too much stuff and the page getting too chaotic. I kept pushing and pulling, adding more details and wiping them out with white paint.

The quote for Color this Quote at Artists in Blogland is:

"The sun is shining...That is the Magic. The flowers are growing--the roots are stirring. That is the Magic. Being alive is the Magic--being strong is the Magic. The Magic is in me--the Magic is in me. ...It's in every one of us." The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett

I used part of the quote in my art journal page!

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!

Linking to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day
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Index Card a Day Art

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Two more index cards for Index Card a Day!

Best wishes, Marcia
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Sticky Journals: Guest Artist Chandra Newton

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Guest Post: Chandra Newton

I sent out 6 packets of stickers to 6 different artists and throughout the summer I will share with you what they have created.

Chandra writes,

"When I received the package of stickers I immediately tore into them. The first stickers to catch my eye were very industrial. Some numbers. Some geometric shapes. I envisioned an industrial/graffiti style page. I set to work straightaway.

I got the background painted, set down a couple of stickers and I hated it. I couldn't see past my perceived mistakes.

So I put my journal aside and picked up the package of stickers yet again. The first set of stickers to catch my eye were four pink squares stacked atop one another. The first thing I though of was a paint strip. I liked it. So, I laid them on my page in the same manner. Of course they are slightly more askew than they were on the paper backing. But, that's okay. Next, I pulled out a sheet of reinforcement tabs. A theme and color scheme were beginning to take shape at this point. I had to use the pink ones. I decided to lay them from the bottom up, staggering off the page. This reminded me of bubbles rising up from the bottom.

Thinking of rising bubbles, I grabbed my floral/gear like stamp and some pink ink. I stamped haphazardly across the page. Using my non-dominant hand I drew lines along the edge and bottom, as a sort of border.

This page is simpler and more pink than anything I normally do, but I like it. Despite its simplicity, it feels complete. It suggests movement and growth. It reminds me that I don't have to be perfect to move forward. It reminds me that (like this opportunity) it's okay to try new things; to step outside of my comfort zone once in awhile.

Chandra Newton

poesraven@operamail.com

Thanks so much, Chandra for sharing your lovely journal page with us!

Check out the other posts in this series about using your stickers and tapes in art journal pages:

1. Sticky Inspiration
2. My new stickers & some pages with them
3. Using patterned tape in an art journal page
4. Guest Post: Marly Martinez
5. Tape Lines artwork
6. How to Create Your Own Stickers Using Picmonkey
7. Sticker Art Inspiration
8. Cutting out shapes from tape

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My Art
Etsy Shop
Pinterest
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Cloth Paper Scissors Article on Watercolor Doodling

Monday, July 1, 2013

I am honored to have an article published in the Summer 2013 edition of Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES magazine. It is on the newsstands now. The digital version is available here.

I wrote about my watercolor doodles and showed how to photocopy the paintings, cut them up and use them in art journal pages. I have a lot of these types of paintings on my blog, like here, here, and this page using the watercolor doodles.

Cloth Paper Scissors does a wonderful job photographing the work and laying out the article. I submitted about 10 different artworks to accompany the article and it's always interesting to see which ones they choose to use.

Thanks Cloth Paper Scissors!!!

Best wishes, Marcia
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Color this Quotes & Sticky Journals: Cutting out shapes from tape

Saturday, June 29, 2013

The quote for June from Artists in Blogland is:
"May there be peace and prosperity within your walls." Psalms 122.7

Here I will show you the steps I used to make my art journal page.

1. First, take a separate sheet of paper and put patterned and colored tape in straight lines across. Overlap them for interest.

2. Cut out shapes and strips from the page of tape. Glue to your art journal page.

3. Add lettering (I used a Pilot Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen. Add smudging and marks with other markers, Gel Sticks - 12 ct and RoseArt Neon Gel Crayons.)

Check out the other posts in this series about using your stickers and tapes in art journal pages:

1. Sticky Inspiration
2. My new stickers & some pages with them
3. Using patterned tape in an art journal page
4. Guest Post: Marly Martinez
5. Tape Lines artwork
6. How to Create Your Own Stickers Using Picmonkey
7. Sticker Art Inspiration

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Love, Marcia
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Watercolor Doodling in My Art Journal

Friday, June 28, 2013

Here are more watercolor doodles in my art journal!

Linking to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day

Best wishes, Marcia
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Lego Brickworld Convention-2013: Part Two

Thursday, June 27, 2013

We went to the Lego Brickworld Convention a couple weekends ago and I wanted to show you some of the fun things we saw! The first post about this is here.

One of the most fun part for the kids were two areas set up just to play with Legos. They had two huge tables full with regular size gray Legos and then an area on the floor for Duplos. Daria and her cousins spent about an hour just playing in this area.

The Lego mosaics were on of my favorite types of Lego projects to see. There was a wide variety of these mosaics, built with flat Lego pieces.

Do you recognize this artwork by George Seurat?

This is a close-up so you can see the type of Legos used to build the mosaic.

And how about this one? Do you recognize Charles Demuth's The Figure 5. Awesome!

Those faces are superb!

A Lego house inspired by Piet Mondrian

Silly rabbit!

Magritte mosaic, astronaut, and I think Star Wars... (I don't know.. there were a lot of projects like this, but I'm not really into them, but they were impressively large and intricate!)