It's ICAD Time Again!

ICAD 2018 began on June 1. This is my second year participating in this art challenge done on index cards. It fits right in with my love of using office supplies for art, especially vintage ones! 

Last year I did my ICAD challenge on 3x5" Rolodex cards and displayed them in a vintage metal Rolodex card holder.

This year I'm using a vintage wooden card box that I received for Christmas from my friend Jean. 

I'm not going to do the daily prompts that are provided, but rather make art based on the weekly theme. I'm using these vintage index card dividers, with their lovely yellow tabs, as my weekly dividers. They are alphabet dividers, but I'm using the reverse side. The challenge can be done on 3x5 or 4x6 cards. I chose to use 3x5 again this year as that is the size that fits in my box.

Here are my cards for days 1-4. This week's theme is to use typography or words or found text.

A little typography geometric collage using vintage magazines.

Made my own painted typography paper for the background.

Found text...with a bird, of course!

Because I love vintage office supplies and using them in art, I buy them whenever I see them at estate sales and flea markets. I made a section of my shop specifically for this years ICAD challenge. It's full of vintage items  that can be used to display your index card art or other supplies, such as dividers.

I also carry themed paper packs and other ephemera that can be used in collage and art journaling. Check out my Etsy shop here: www.etsy.com/shop/foundonbrighton.

To Market, To Market...

It only seems natural that the next step in our vintage journey is to enter a vintage market show. I am excited to announce that we will be participating in the Funky Junk in the Country Vintage Market on July 23 in Monclova, which is just outside of Toledo.

My sister and I have spent the past few months on "the thrill of the vintage hunt" acquiring all kinds of vintage finds. My hubby and I have been refreshing and repurposing a variety of these findings. The vintage items are stacking up as we get ready for the market!

For the Love of Creative Energy

Last week was a week full of creative energy. It started out with a long weekend for the Easter holiday. We had Monday off as our holiday day and I took Thursday off as a vacation day since school is out this week. Working only 2 1/2 days really helped amp up the creative energy! I think having a loose schedule probably benefits most creative types.

One of the Documented Life Project (DLP) challenges was to create white-space on a pocket card (PAC). Rae Missigman had a quick little tutorial on how she used shaving cream and alcohol ink to get a bit of swirly color on her background, so I thought I would give her method a try. My results did not end up with many swirls since I tried using a small Styrofoam tray with large sheets of paper. But the background on my card didn't turn out too bad.

Last week my sister and I started a Facebook group for those who love to use vintage items in their home decor and/or art. It's a place to share resources like the new vintage section of my Etsy shop, the adventures of vintage hunting my sister and I go on, vintage shops we find online and in the Ohio/Michigan area, ideas for using and repurposing vintage items in the home and in art, etc. You can check it out here and join the conversation and adventure!

On Thursday we met in Ann Arbor and spent the day hunting vintage finds. We also visited a shop we had found online. Tamara has a Facebook group for her shop and vintage findings as well as a new website. Despite the fact that it was pouring down rain, we had a great time meeting Tamara and exploring her sweet little shabby shack shop. We picked up a metal sign I had ordered online.

We then spent the rest of the day exploring thrift shops, antique stores and simply enjoying being together. Some of my vintage finds are below. They will appear soon in my Etsy shop in one form or another!

Saturday I had a finance team meeting at church and then poked around a few thrift and vintage shops in my area. A few of the vintage finds from Saturday:

Through this wonderful vintage brick alley in downtown Maumee you find a nice store full of antiques and repurposed vintage furniture. Encore Furniture 306. Saturday was my first visit to this shop.

On Sunday we had a full breakfast room at church. Having lots of kids around always fills my heart!

After church a few of the boys went with me to watch birds at the park.

One of the ongoing art projects my sister and I have is our altered Rolodex file art journals. We love sharing this project so I am always on the look out for more Rolodex card holders and boxes. This week I came across three! They will be listed in my shop in the next few days. I made some art journal cards to display in them and will include them as a bonus with each holder.

Left side: Anne's. Right side: mine.

A week full of creative energy was good for me in so many ways! Enjoy the week ahead. :)

Vintage Art Display

Last year, while visiting my sister, I started an art journal using a vintage Rolodex as a holder. I have had a great time using the Rolodex cards to do art journaling on and enjoy the smaller size and the fun way to display them. I have always been a sucker for office supplies....especially vintage ones!

This project has made me want to get creative with using vintage items and altered items as ways to display art journaling. So, as I am on the hunt for vintage items and getting creative with various ways to display art journaling and collage, I have added a new section to my Etsy shop where I will sell items similar to what I am using. I have also started a Pinterest board with ideas for using the type of ephemera and vintage items found in my shop. You can find the Pinterest board here.

The new items I have added to the shop are:

Vintage Math Flash Cards

Vintage Metal Rolodex

Look at the cute ideas for using the flash cards:

From Crystelle Boutique via Pinterest

From Somethingtobefound.com viaPinterest

There are more ideas on my new Pinterest board. Watch my shop as I add vintage items I find along the way. {found on brighton}@Etsy