32 Art Trading Cards in just five days!

What a crazy month this has been

Last year I participated in one of the most fun events on IllustratedATCs - called a Halloween-Athon. I'm sure it's popular elsewhere but here we set aside four days in October to make and trade frantically. Last year I was extremely under prepared. I had to go to work in the early morning which made staying up late to keep up with American trading impossible.

This year however:

1. I took 5 days off work

2. I made about 20 cards beforehand (with the help of #Drawlloween prompts) - check out one of my last posts to see the prompts.

3. I drew out lots of outlines to simply paint later.

Halloween-Athon - ATCs Trading - Katie Hone

That didn't stop the calamity, that is my computer suddenly stopped functioning. I had a very panicked 12 hours where I thought some of my images would be lost forever. A massive sigh of relief when a disk clean up (which took 5 hours) got it back.

And my results?

52 cards made

43 cards traded

I am exhausted!

ATC art by Katie Hone - Halloween-Athon

Mailing list at the end of Halloween-Athon

Monday was great, I could slow down and get the packages ready which for some reason is something I really enjoy. 

I am looking forward to the coming weeks of mail art!

I also received a Secret Halloween package - another mail art madness I do at IllustratedATCs - here is my little Georgie playing with the dolls I received.

Georgie - Aged 2 playing with DADAology's Vampire art Doll

I like to share this art with Georgie - check out the pictures of when Georgie was weeks old, she got a bunch of ATCs as a gift for when she was born. ATCs on her just looked so huge!!

Art Topic List For Halloween, oh and Cookies!!

Hello everybody! I hope everyone is doing good.

Monday

I had a rather epic day with a new friend from work, she is all artsy and we had grand plans to do some interesting stuff. I was going to introduce her to Art Trading Cards, make origami things, this strange plastic bead you can melt down and mold which then hardens. Followed by an interesting dinner and cookies (we figured that would appease the Georgie girl).

How did we do?

We made dinner and cookies - hah!!!

Jody and I spent the whole day chatting and I showed my enormous collection of Art Trading Cards I have collected in two years. Georgie wanted plenty of attention and wouldn't go down for her much needed nap.

Georgie mashes up the mix

Georgie beats the dough into submission

Drawlloween Challenge

My topic list for Drawlloween

Oh this is such fun - for every day in October this year is a topic, we post everyday with our creations and with any luck I will complete all 31 and get a cute little pixel challenge trophy! Don't we just love pixel trophies!

Here is a sneak peak at a few completed ones:

Drawlloween - Ghosts - Eyeballs - Skull - Dragon - Devil --- Katie Hone

Someone you must go and look at

Clicking a few links and looking around the internet I happened to bump into a very good friend of mine on her blog! And it's rich with posts and ideas which, when I have a bit more time I will start reading through. Her name is Amy Weaver - you can find her blog at TheWeaversHand. She has traded some awesome pictures of my daughter, I'm not usually a great fan of collage but the way she uses mixed media is just incredible. Seriously check her out!

Moos made by Amy Weaver - Georgie Atkin 

Children's Books and Youtube Banners

Out of the woods and back into blogging. A new effort to blog at least once a week on either Mondays or Wednesdays.

What am I doing currently? A lot! Seriously I have every single toe and finger dipped into projects with one larger project in mind. Though the way to do this is actually to take my hands and feet out and stick them all into one big bucket... Ok now it's sounding weird! 

A children's book has been an idea I've had for ages but it isn't just me who says this. People from all over who have seen and received my art have always said I might be pretty good at this. I was never keen because I found the project a bit too large to comprehend. With a little help from time management apps (Trello is just wonderful) - I am now attempting to remove myself from small projects and really make a go at this.

Here are some images from an idea --- also found on Etsy:

Elephant and Giraffe at Breakfast

Elephant Skiing down a Volcano

Giraffe and Elephant Original Aceo - Katie Hone

Elephant Skiing on Volcano Original Aceo - Katie Hone

Perhaps I am falling at the first hurdle which is the story itself... am I really meant to write and illustrate, might have to put my feelers out for an author!

Scott Whitehill Youtube Challenges Channel - Art by Katie Hone

One of my other little side projects is aiding small time Youtubers with bits of artwork to help make their profile colourful and attractive. Make way for Scott Whitehill - he happens to work with me at the local Tesco and aims to make a channel about strange and wonderful challenges. Using some of his challenges has helped with my painting.... Eating candy vs insects - yummy!!! Go check him out, support is always a great thing! Do you know a Youtuber that needs a little hand in some fun free banner art? Send me a message!

It's nice to get back into the blogging atmosphere - I'd love to hear your comments :D

Also my Aceo Etsy store is now back up and running with a goal of keeping the shop full and exciting!

Cheese Trees and Beached Hippos

YES - an abnormal title for abnormal art!!!

I have started a new swap over at ATCSforall and I decided to try and create a truely random set of cards. My aim was to have three seperate list of themes and to choose randomly from each one of them to try and draw on a tiny ATC.

So here is my first one - Beached Hippos find themselves amidst a desert of rainbow melting cactus!

2.5" x 3.5" Original ACEO - Hippos beached rainbow cactus

This can be found on Ebay here.

And my second one - Giraffe wonders around on the moon and finds a rainbow igloo amongst the cheese trees. (I loved drawing the cheese trees and also igloos have become one of my favorite things to draw!

2.5" x 3.5" Original ACEO - Giraffe finds a rainbow igloo and cheese trees

This can be found on Ebay here.

I am really enjoying really surreal art because you can make the stories up afterwards - I do love the idea of cheese trees growing on the moon instead of the moon being made of cheese. So many ideas!!

NFAC - Animals in Hats!

Another month of the NFAC - I'm still pretty new to it but I have learnt that it's best to do all three for the month. I used to find it quite taxing on me creatively but now I'm really organised and have all the topics for the future in my diary. That way when I get a creative hit I can go crazy! Here are my three cards for this month - the topic is "Animals in Hats".

2.5" x 3.5" Original Art ACEO -  Toucan in a Fez

2.5" x 3.5" Original Art ACEO - Lions in Fancy Dress

2.5" x 3.5" Original Art ACEO - Giraffes in Fancy Hats

2.5" x 3.5" Original Art ACEO - Tortoise Crawls under a Straw Hat

The only one not listed on Ebay are the two giraffes. When I did all of these I usually found a hat on the internet and then tried to fit an animal underneath it, maybe there was a better way????

Find them here on Ebay:

Tortoise

Toucan

Lions

They all start at $0.99 as per the NFAC competition rules. Search up NFAC on ebay to find what other people have put forward this month.

Creative Tuesday - Jam on Toast

Over at Creative Tuesday the theme this fortnight is "Hot Toast and Jam" - I of course can't ever miss the opportunity to bring out my pair of cute giraffes who obviously seem to like this for breakfast. I sit here and wish and wish I could have a pair of tiny giraffes... Anyone seen the scene in Despicable Me when they shrink the elephant... yes I would love that shrink ray :)

2.5" x 3.5" Original ACEO - Giraffes eat Jam on Toast

Pop on over to Creative Tuesday see what other people have made!

This item is also in my Etsy store - hop on over if you want to see where these critters also go.

Creative Tuesday - "I want to go to"

Every time I hear the phrase "I want to go to" I nearly always think of the moon.... so hmmm... I decided to draw all of the giraffe family hanging out on a rather Mars looking like moon (what with the bright red colours). Well we can all bend the rules a little!!!

2.5" x 3.5" Original Art ACEO - Giraffes on the Moon

 

 

 

 

Head on over to Creative Tuesday's little corner of blog land to see other inspirations for this fortnight's topic :)

 

 

You can find this piece of art for sale here in my Etsy shop.

 

I have also kept myself busy with this month's NFAC Theme: All in a Row

 

Check out my Elephants - Giraffes - Pigs

All on eBay now!

 

Creative Tuesday - Birdhouse

I had a great idea once I saw this theme to once again shrink my cute giraffes so that they could go visit some bird houses of there very own. I don't think they found any birds as they've scared them all away. I don't keep a bird house at home but maybe I should, some of them are supremely adorable!!!

 

Here is my entry for this fortnight's theme:

 

 

2.5" x 3.5" Original ACEO

Head on over to Creative Tuesday to see all the other awesome bird houses/cages.

 

If you want to grab it for yourself - this item is listed in my Etsy Shop.

Pop of Colour Competition

I am very pleased to announce that I won a competition! Yay - I've not won a competition since I was in school when the best poster would win a bag of chocolates (mmm). So you will have seen this before at "Miniature Elephant and Giraffe" but this was entered for the Black and White with a Pop of 1 other Colour. I don't know exactly what I'll win but it'll include some paint themed goodies and possibly some ATC blanks which are always so helpful! Happy days!

2.5 x 3.5 ATC Watercolour - Giraffe and Elephant go Fishing

Anybody know of places to enter art for competitions, please let me know, I'm always on the hunt.

 

Thank you once again for stopping by.

What makes you mad?

Well Artist's Playroom poses the question- what makes you mad? Well there are many things that make me mad, such as snoring, mosquitos, yelping dogs and other such things. Today though I thought I'd point out how maddening exercise is! The reason it makes me mad is because you need to run for 2 hours or so to burn off a snickers bar and its simply not fair. I am a very lazy person who sits at home and paints all day long. I get very little exercise and I resent it. I also wish I could be fit but am not really that willing to put any effort into it. Sigh - oh well - also a shout out to Illustration Friday - their theme this week is "worn" - I suppose the angry robot is worn out?

Angry Robots do Aerobics

What makes you mad??

 

Here's another comic of my baby Georgie - (she's so big now)!

The Angry Robots

I haven't checked in in a while and had painted something "Bizarre" for the Artist's Playroom.

 

A few weeks ago my friend wanted me to join an "Everybody Dance" swap - but I declined because the theme didn't really interest me... Later I decided to join because some of the other peoples cards looked great and wanted to get in on it. I was going to paint elephant and giraffe doing some moves, but they're perhaps a bit difficult to draw on an ATC doing the tango!! So I opted for my new Angry Robots... I do love how annoyed they look that they have to dance. What fun these were to do, I think the dancing tango robots are the most popular but I personally love the three flamenco robots.

Angry Robots Dancing Swap ATCs

 

Pop on over to the Artist's Playroom for more bizarre art!

 

Here is another comic strip of Georgie. She went to a baby group yesterday where we got her feet painted onto card - I've transformed it into a Father's Day card - aw. Also big big news! She's sleeping for 9 hours at night (most of the time) - OMG - I actually get sleep now! Yay!

 

 

 

Giraffe and Elephant in miniature

There are so many things I can do with Giraffe and Elephant - and so much more when you make them tiny! Who wouldn't love them as pets! However you may not say yes after seeing what mischievous deeds they're getting up to!

Giraffe Catches a Fish - Watercolour ATC

Giraffe and Elephant go Snorkelling - Watercolour ATC

I have so many art projects to do and yet my body doesn't seem to like the idea. I have come down with mastitis at around the same time I was deciding to wean onto a bottle. Now I'm on antibiotics and painkillers. My god it's painful... I can barely lift my arms since my lymph nodes are so swollen and painful.... The antibiotics are thankfully very strong and I hope to blast it away in a few days time.

So in the meantime - enjoy my latest montage :)

Rainbows on an Envelope

Here's another altered envie - with this one I used an old envelope which hadn't been written on. I quite enjoy being thrifty like that - I have boxes full of off cuts of paper, stamps, cardboard. I save wrapping paper that I'm able to peel away without ripping. I also save every last bit of bubble wrap and foam. I figure this way the only cost to my art hobby is postage and time and that's alright. Anyway this is an envie I did for somebody over in Spain - the theme - rainbow of course. I have to confess I had to look the colours of a rainbow up to remember the order of the colours. Reminded me of the song you sing in school although I'm sure they mix the colours round to make it rhyme!

Rainbow Altered Envie

 

Linking over to the Playroom once again for other rainbow themed art - enjoy.

 

Only one day left for the free ATC giveaway - I am giving away an ATC to two lucky winners. Just follow the instructions on my Facebook page - look for the post pinned to the top - you can't miss it.

 

Have a great day everybody!

Free ATC giveaway and Robots

My project yesterday was another altered envie (they are pretty addictive) and had the theme Robots. So this here is the work I did for my friend over in California - I hope she likes it. The envelope warps quite a bit when you put watercolour to it, I like to think this adds to the authenticity of the art. After all I don't have canvas envelopes. When I started this I had no idea what I was drawing and it was originally a robot with springs for arms and rubber gloves on the end. Yeah it looked terrible. Then these little characters started to emerge and I imagined them doing all the hard labour of posting parcels and heavy goods.

 

Robots Rebelling - Altered Envie - Watercolour

 

 

I have organised a free giveaway over on my Facebook page since I have reached 100 likes! Yay! It is a giveaway for two people, of a custom ATC of their choice. In order to enter for a chance of one of the giveaways go to my page and follow the instructions. Any questions or confusion - please send me a message.

Creative Tuesday - Trio

I haven't been on Creative Tuesday in a few weeks so decided to incorporate this fortnights theme of trio with another project I've been working on. This envie is for my Envie Addict partner - I know she likes whimsical houses and thought to put them in groups of three. The front is very Goldilocks - Large, Medium and Small and the back is Tall, Medium and Short - or so it's supposed to be. I really love making altered envies - a lot of fun and very cheap to mail.

 

Altered Envie - Whimsical Houses - Marker Pen

 

 

Thank you for stopping in and don't forget to pop on over to Creative Tuesday to see other Trio Art.

Giraffe and Elephant in a Jar

In the Ebay ACEO group the photo challenge of May is "Something in a Jar". We were given a fairly blurry image of a fairy in a jar on purpose so that we could interpret it anyhow we wished. So I was pretty sure I saw a giraffe and elephant in the jar - yes! Here they are - aren't they cute!!!

 

Giraffe and Elephant in a Jar - Watercolour ACEO

 

 

I would love my own mini giraffe and elephant.

And since anything goes for this weeks Artist's Playroom I'm going to go ahead and put this forward. Check it out for other great art!
 

I hope I win the contest!

Giraffe on a Penny Farthing

The theme at the Artist's Playroom is Birthday. Well it turns out I had a project set aside for this very theme already. Over at the ATC trading website I have discovered a new love for Altered Envie's and have joined the May Envie Addicts. In this group you get partnered up with somebody and you have a whole month to create a really cool envelope and send it out with nothing inside (or at least not usually). They also have a list of people who's birthday falls in that month and they are eligible (as it were) for a birthday envie which is something people do out of kindness and expect nothing in return. So here is my surprise birthday envie for somebody. I don't know how the giraffe is related but I think a giraffe on a penny farthing wishing you a happy birthday is quite unique really!

 

 

Altered Envie - Giraffe on a Penny Farthing

My birthday is in November and am very much looking forward!

 

Head on over to the Artist's Playroom to see how other people have interpreted the theme.

Adding a Smiley to your Day

I had a "Mushroom" swap a few weeks ago, I wasn't too sure how to make this subject interesting. When I realised how much character you can bring to a mushroom by adding a simple smiley. So here we have my first set of three I did for the swap:

Naughty Mushroom Children - 2.5 x 3.5 Inches ATC

Mushroom Choir - 2.5 x 3.5 Inches ATC

Deliriously Happy Mushrooms - 2.5 x 3.5 Inches ATC

Then I did two more for a private trade.

I've decided this might be another subject I do more of, I love experimenting with faces and situations.

Immature Mushroom Boyfriend - 2.5 x 3.5 Inches ATC

Family Portrait There's Always One! - 2.5 x 3.5 Inches ATC

Elephant and Giraffe - The Adventurous Couple

OK I knew it when I started painting those red giraffes I would be hooked. Over on the ATC trading site I joined a swap called "Giraffes and Elephants Galore" - it got me thinking, wouldn't they make an awesome albeit strange couple! I needed to come up with 4 ATCs for the swap and came up with these 4 funny scenes!



Giraffe and Elephant take a trip to Space - Watercolour ATC

Giraffe and Elephant enjoy a Sundae - Watercolour ATC

Draw me like those French Girls - Watercolour ATC

Let Down your Hair - Watercolour ATC

These are the most fun I've ever had with ATCs and there are so many more I can do, going to start compiling a list of memorable TV/Movie moments and other funny situations.

 

Feel free to comment some suggestions, love to hear what you think!

The Evil Bunnies

"Zombie vs Psycho" - Acrylic and Pen ACEO




"Attack!" - Acrylic and Pen ACEO

About a year ago I found this rather amusing crochet pattern which can still be found here: Mr Bunnyford - The Original Zombie Rabbit. On the spur of the moment I bought it because I wanted it! Only to realise not only can I not crochet but neither could Mum. Oh well what to do now? So I somehow convinced my Nana in law (let’s call her Nana 3) to make one for me. Hah – she did it willingly! But once those evil eyes were sewn on and that bloodthirsty mouth was made a new terror was born. I was so extremely happy when she made the first one – I called him Zombie bunny and he didn’t leave my side! So I pushed for another one, bunnies need companions! This other was slightly different, with some special beads for eyes and different colours, I decided to call him Psycho bunny. Little did I know that rather than companions they became sworn enemies!!!

 

However, all is not lost; it would seem they will put their differences aside to attack the new bunny on the block. A gorgeous innocent stuffed bunny given to me at my baby shower – oh dear!



"It's a Trap!" - Acrylic and Pen ACEO