Mini Art for Cards done in Water Color and Ink

I love to create mini art for cards because when you give the card you also end up giving the person a small work of art that becomes a real keepsake. You can choose to mount the original art, or a copy of the original to the front of your card. The art for this card is done with water colors and ink on water color paper. I made copies of the piece and mounted the copies onto card blanks. It's available at my Etsy store as well as at my Greeting Card Universe store as a print on demand card.

Working with mini art pieces is always a lot of fun. Try putting some cards together and see what you come up with.

Final Product

Well, we finally finished the piece. We added a few more elements -- some splashes of green (acrylic paint) and flowers made from raffia -- and we framed it out in a cherry wood frame.

Mixed Media - Wire,Fabric, and Acrylics

I've been working with a friend of mine to create a mixed media piece to hang in a room that she is re-doing. We painted the background fabric with moulding paste and acrylic paints (for a textured look), bent and twisted wire to make the shapes for the women, and cut and shaped fabric to dress them. When all is said and done, we'll mount the piece in cherry wood frame and get it ready to hang.

Simple Mixed Media Art Using Paper and Fabric

Have fun creating simple mixed media art pieces using paper and fabric. They are perfect for cards or for framing and hanging on the wall. For this piece I used torn pieces of handmade paper for the flowers, burlap threads for the stems, and scrap fabric for the flower pot.

Playing With Pigment Inks

Pigment inks are great for working on backgrounds. When I worked on this butterfly, I used the pigment ink dauber to work on the background and then I cut the butterfly shape out of corrugated paper, painted the ridges with black ink and stamped it onto the inked background. This is a simple technique but the end results aren't too bad.

Creating Cards on Water Color Paper

Sometimes when I paint a mini painting directly onto a water color paper card blank I like to add small embellishments to the painting to add another dimension to the card. On this card I used water colors to paint the flowers and then I added the paper butterfly as a way of incorporating another element.

Printed Note Card Sets

Every now and again I'll choose an original ink drawing or mini painting and make a set of note cards. Being able to print and reproduce the original image onto nice sheets of textured paper is a great way to keep the original piece 'alive', and make nice note card sets while you're at it.