My 365 Project - ACEO Sketch cards for Charity

For every day of 2012, I will be drawing one ACEO sketch card. Every single one will be for sale - ALL proceeds to be donated to charity at the end of 2012.

My charity of choice is a local foundation called Alternatives to Violence, who is currently raising money to build a safehouse. This safehouse will provide a secure shelter to women and children who have recently escaped physical and sexual abuse.

With the safehouse, 312 individuals every year will receive crisis intervention, counseling, safety planning, advocacy and shelter.

Together, through art, we can help make a difference.

The Plan:

♥My cards will range from $5 to $11 depending on subject and detail. 

♥Only my costs(Etsy, Paypal, Material fees) will be deducted and the rest will go to Alternatives to Violence(ATV) at the end of the year. 

♥I will share every card I create  - that means a new piece of art to see and share every day, through my DeviantArt, Facebook, Twitter, Etsy and Tumblr.

♥I will be drawing various subjects, including portraits from the casts of Supernatural, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Sherlock, Star Wars & Firefly. Also musicians such as Michael Jackson, Tokio Hotel, Jared Leto, Lady Gaga and lots more. And whatever else I can think of!

-Send me requests, I will need lots of ideas!

♥At the end of each month, I will tally up how much we have raised and let you know which cards from that month are still available for you to purchase for charity.

My 365 project will be done in addition to all my usual art creations and commissions, so this is going to be a busy year! I’m looking forward to all there is to create and capture and inspire. I’m looking forward to the challenge and all I have to learn. But more than anything, I’m looking forward to helping families find a new beginning, find hope, and a future with new light.

Visit ATV and read about the safehouse project details at:  AlternativesToViolence.org

Crazy Life

So things have been really quiet around LainyArt and I just wanted to give you all an update and let you know I’m still here and that the lull in updates is temporary! 

Over the summer, my little brother Colby has been through 2 major back surgeries resulting in 15 fused vertebra, a heart surgery, and two blood clots. I’m writing this update from his ICU room in the hospital as we work through and take care of his second blood clot. This is his 5^th hospital stay since February and I’ve been by his side nearly 12 hours every day he’s been in the hospital(when I’m not sick myself :P) and ‘playing nurse’ when he comes home. Colby is a real sweetheart and big trouper, still optimistic and making jokes and friends with all his nurses. A real amazing guy, I tell you!

Around that, you all know about my wrist injury that kept me from drawing for quite a while – which is thankfully now healed! I’ve been sketching on and off here at the hospital and hopefully I’ll have a drawing to share with you all soon! I’m still working on commissions, too. I have 5 at the moment that I’m making progress on, so don’t worry!

I’ll do my very best to keep updated and creating!

How to Create Your Own Scrabble Pendant

What you’ll need:

Scrabble game tile

Glue on bail

Epoxy lens

Drawing paper

Acrylic paint

Glaze (I use polycrylic)

Paintbrushes

Scissors

Tacky glue

Jewelry cement

Trace your tile using your pencil to outline your drawing space on your paper.

Create your art in any medium in your outlined square. Go crazy – this is the best part!

Cut around your design with your scissors. Use the same Scrabble tile you traced from to carefully trim each side to fit on top of the tile with no overlap.

It's important to make sure it fits, so trim little bits at a time until it is the perfect size. This part took a little practice for me, so you may want to try with a piece of scrap paper first.

Paint the sides of the tile with acrylic paint to match to your design. Do as many coats as you want - for mine, I layered blue acrylic paint and glitter... 'cause who doesn't like sparkles?

Seal sides of pendant with the polycrylic glaze. This may take 2 coats to reach the level of shine you want. Let your glaze dry completely because you will need to touch the sides of your pendant for the next steps.

Put a drop of tacky glue on the blank side of the pendant and use your paintbrush to evenly spread the glue over the surface.

Go all the way to the corners and edges!

 

Carefully position your trimmed design on the glue and press tight to remove any air bubbles. Make sure your letter is right side up on the back.

Ready your epoxy lens and very carefully position over your design. You only get one chance to get it straight, so take your time!

Press your lens tight to remove all gaps and air bubbles.

 

Use your jewelry cement (or something like DiamondGlaze) and put a small drop near the top of the letter side of your Scrabble tile. 

Set your bail into the cement and make sure it is straight. Let it dry design-side down until firmly secure.

 

Enjoy your new art pendant! You can string it on organza ribbon, ball chain, or snake chain - really anything you want.

Now, this pendant has already sold, but if you want something like it, I do custom pendants, too! Just message me with what you would like!




Have fun creating and let me know how you do!