Five Faves of 2024: Mandala Monday Edition

Here's a shocking true confession: A few years ago, when I first adopted the crafters' year-end trend of picking favorites from various categories, it was mostly as a way to generate "easy" posts at the busiest time of year. But honestly, something I love even better than that, is the chance to look back at what I've made all year and start thinking about what I want to try next! 

This being the last Mandala Monday of 2024, here are five faves, in more or less chronological order. Click the bolded text under each pic to go to the original posts; there's a link at the end to visit the entire strand.

MM06

Since 2024 was the Year of the Dragon (my Chinese Zodiac sign) I was happy to have hoarded some (admittedly ancient) papers from Pearl River Mart in NYC.

MM22

When in doubt, go RAINBOW is still my motto for choosing a color scheme and watercoloring with inks or markers is always a fun choice, so I had multiple versions of both to choose from; this is the one that leapt out at me from the Mandala folder.

MM29

Another two popular categories for me are collaged mandalas and index card mandalas made during ICAD. While making this, I stumbled upon both the 1960's "executive" illustration AND a vintage business card for someone called Marvin Mandel. The result was obviously inevitable. PS: In this pic is my #1 favorite mandala tool: the Helix Angle and Circle Maker, which Stephanie and I stumbled upon in a tiny sationery shop on New York's Upper East Side. (If NYC isn't local for you, the link will take you to Amazon, tho, where you can also buy one).

MM43

I made a few diecut mandalas this year and several of my favorites involved Wendy Vecchi's Garden Party and NOT Your Ordinary Card Collections from Spellbinders. This one uses the latter's Halloween Add-On and clearly the kitty has, fair and square, stolen the show!

MM38

Something I hadn't realized I had done several times over the course of the year is build a mandala around a diamond rather than a circle. This one features Dina Wakley Gloss Sprays AND my Dina Kraft Journal. The "stacked" triangle repeats are what took it over the top for me; the Archival Inks on kraft are also very fresh. I get asked about my go-to pens which are Ranger's Letter it Fineliners, one of which is in the photo.

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I hope I picked some of your favorites from 2024 but if not, you can cruise through the whole collection HERE. Then stay tuned for 2025's crop of brand new Mandalas, coming soon to a Monday near you!

ICAD: The Last Round-Up

How is it possible that it's ALREADY July 31st and thus the final day of ICAD2024?! I'm pretty sure that no summer has ever flown past as quickly as this one. Many thanks to everyone who has played along, followed along, left comments, etc; it's always so much more fun to share ICAD with others. Of course, as always, the biggest and heartiest THANK YOU has to go to Tammy G aka @gypsy999 for devising, hosting, inspiring and cheering us on for another 61 days of creativity and friendship; I don't have enough words to praise a most artful and heartful friend! 

ICAD24-61: Diorama

How do you make a diorama using only index cards? Ummmm... very carefully? No srsly, I wanted to make something three dimensional but using two dimensional supplies (index cards and pens) so I decided the solution was layers. In this case the layers consist of the non-lined sides of four neon index cards, each carrying one component of a jungle scene and each popped up on a layer of foam tape for more height. Starting from the very back we have... the blue sky; then pink flowers (with orange Posca detailing); then green leaves and finally smaller yellow flowers encased in a frame around the edges to literally hold it together. This took a bit of time to construct and involved using the dreaded Xacto Knife BUT... this looks exactly like the picture that was in my head, which always feels like a win, doesn't it? Especially on the 61st and FINAL day of ICAD2024!

ICAD24-60: Planetarium

One last card featuring scraps of patterned paper, handcut shapes, doodles, and machine stitching.

ICAD24-59: Circle

Super-excited that today's prompt serendipitously coincides with my Mandala Monday strand. In my (VAST!) collection of funky vintage things to use in art, I found a few of the old-school 3.5 x 5.5 black and white postcards I'm guessing are from the 1930's or 40's, which happen to be from a collection of Bucks County, Pennsylvania images, which is where I grew up. My mandala is drawn with Posca Pens atop a pc of the northern portion of the Delaware River. I've done a few previous mandalas on postcards or photographs, but usually I feel that I've either covered the original image up too much or not enough... this time I think I hit the Goldilocks Zone (aka "just right"!)

ICAD24-28: Tessellation

I had a general idea of what "tessellation" meant... basically it's a geometric or semi-geometric regular repeating pattern; I didn't realize that technically, to be specifically designated as a tessellation, the pattern needs to have NO spaces and no overlaps! This is what is great about ICAD, you learn so much! I'd love to tell you that I came up with this funky fish pattern on my own but NOOOOOOOO; I did a Google Image Search and this one was a kid's art lesson on Faber-Cassell's website. I used a graphed index card and pre-drew every single one of the fish shapes in pencil, and it still took an embarrassingly long time and a fair amount of erasing but I DID IT! If you want to see really cool, beautiful, effortless-looking  Zentangles (both tessellating and non-tessellating) you should check out my friend and fellow Jersey Girl @Lorraine303 who has MAD SKILLZ in this (and many other) areas of art!

ICAD24-57: Garden

A simple collage consisting of a garden plan illustration and some other vintage paper that is largely hidden by the giant tulip; all atop one of the many cool library checkout cards that my friend Mary aka @millwoodstudioart shared with me. She shared some awesome catalog cards too, such as the one from last week about gardening with children... Thanks, Missus!

ICAD24-56: Playing Cards

Ok go with me on this one, it's a little tangential: doodley diamonds and hearts (or spades) in a wonkily repeating pattern. 

ICAD24-55: Off-Prompt One Staple Collage

Will this be my last #OneStapleCollage of #dyicad2024? Who can say? But it's Day 55 and we're coming down to the wire, so if not the last, probably the penultimate or the antepenultimate. From the bottom working upward, this one consists of: a yellow repro library checkout card; half a Mille Bornes scoresheet; a torn section of a European map (featuring northern Spain); an exotic belly dancer; a sepia-toned cluster of flowering dogwood, and finally a phrase from a Russian-English dictionary. All held together by the eponymous single staple.

ICAD24-54: Off-Prompt

Somewhat revisiting the #RANUNCULUS prompt from weeks and weeks ago; this time as an extra-doodley version in Macro mode. Tombow Dual Brush Pens and Ranger's Letter It Fineliners on an index card divider. Not sure what the "W" stands for... Wonky? Wednesday? Without a clue? 

ICAD24-53: Off-Prompt

Handcut clouds made of layered patterned paper scraps. With lots and lots of doodles on top. 

Yet Another ICAD Round-up

Another week has passed and thus seven new index card artworks have transpired:

ICAD24-22: Mandala Monday 

I'm off-prompt in favor of Mandala Monday, for which I've drawn a bunch of nested/clustered mandalas on a neon orange index card.

ICAD24-21: Off-Prompt

Definitely not the best hibiscus I've ever drawn, but I quite like my stripey leaves and I'm awarding myself bonus points because the whole thing takes place on a library catalog card for a book called, "A Backyard Flower Garden for Kids"!

ICAD24-20: Off-Prompt

Freeform curves made out of layered neon index cards. With plenty of machine-stitching on top!

ICAD24-19: Off-Prompt

Best Fishes on Day 49 of ICAD2024; for which I've made a super-random collage from some of the bits that were sitting on my worktable.

ICAD24-18: Off-Prompt

 A random collage in (mostly) pink and white. Vintage ticket background, washi strips, rub-on transfers and fussy-cut butterfly, horoscope wheel and rose... the latter from a book about Cath Kidston fabrics.

ICAD24-17: Plum

Flashing back to a prompt from earlier this week, for which I've doodled with black Letter It Fineliners and white Posca paint pens on a glossy plum/purple color swatch.

ICAD24-16: Calm

At first glance, this might look like a seriously tangential take on the prompt, but, as any oceanographer will tell you, there's literally NOTHING calmer than a squid playing solitaire in a mushroom garden. Obviously!

Week 6: ICAD Roundup

Since the Index Card a Day project runs from June 1st to July 31st, we're now more than halfway through! Here are the cards I've made in the last seven days: 

ICAD24-38: Mandala Monday

It's a Mahalo Mandala Monday, celebrating the fact that I stumbled, almost simultaneously, upon both a library catalog card for a book about Hawaii AND some pre-stamped and already-colored yellow hibiscus... the state flower of Hawaii. You just cannot argue with that kind of serendipity, am I right?!

ICAD24-37: Dashboard

A tangential collage for #DASHBOARD; an antique car on a library card with trading stamps and vintage paper and some abstract rub-on transfers that kinda/sorta look like dashboard gauges...

ICAD24-36: Splash

Flashing back to yesterday’s #SPLASH prompt with a doodled version of one of those Lazy River pools they have at resorts; in this case some of the splashes are neon index cards glued on top

ICAD24-35: Castle

It’s a One Staple Collage featuring vintage paper and illustrations; flashing back to a prompt from a few days ago. Staged on my newest (and also oldest) vintage typewriter; a 1920ish Underwood of surpassing beauty.

ICAD24-34: Panorama

According to Vague Magazine, Panoramic Argyle might be the next big fashion trend... or possibly not; it's hard to tell. Ok, so... SUPER-loose take on today's optional #dyicad2024 prompt of #PANORAMA which is also (unintentionally!) a slightly tangential picture puzzle referencing a Beatles song; whilst also indulging my obsession with argyle. 

ICAD24-33: Off-Prompt

Apparently "Stripes with Doodles" is going to be my default mode this summer when I don't have another idea. And hey... I'm cool with that...

ICAD24-32: Off-Prompt

Not just off-prompt, but without any plan at all! I started out paper piecing… added pattern-enhancing doodles to my scraps of designer paper… and finally built out a weird sort semi-mandala in the leftover space. Not the best thing I've ever made but having started late in the evening of a tiring day with literally NO IDEA what I was going to do, I feel ok with just having made SOMETHING!

Week 5: Index Card a Day Round-Up

It's another week of Index Card goodness and a reminder that the Daisy Yellow Art Blog is a fine source of information and inspiration; as are a few selected Instagram accounts including mine (@llaurenb) and the official @indexcardaday feed!

ICAD24-31: Mandala Monday

It’s a loosey-goosey, wavy-gravy, somewhat deconstructed Mandala Monday; Tombows and Letter It Fineliners on an index card divider.

ICAD24-30: Sepia

A super fast One Staple Collage in (mostly) sepia!

ICAD24-29: Off-Prompt

The most random of all random collages everrrrrr?! Off-prompt and a bit fishy on Day 29.

ICAD24-28: Steampunk

A fairly tangential take on Steampunk, lots of vaguely wheel- and cog-ike shapes, glued on top of ink-blended circles of Distress Oxide Inks on a green index card. Not exactly where I thought this would be going when I started out, but that is the fun of ICAD you can take a left turn at any point and wait to see what happens next!

ICAD24-27: Ranunculus

Flashing back to a prompt I skipped last week; at the time I didn't have an interesting idea, but suddenly I thought that if I just kept cutting wonky flower layers and stacking them up, the result would be cool and possibly a bit ranunculus-like, which I think kinda worked! Also a fab use of quite a few patterned paper scraps although I still have PLENTY left... sigh...

ICAD24-26: Strawberry

Not my favorite card ever but... the pattern was fun to doodle and they are more or less recognizable as strawberries so my work here is through!

ICAD24-25-: Off-Prompt

Have already made several doodled cards involving strips or stripes, I decided to try my hand a collage of strips. I chose a few vintage book pages with similar colors, tore them vertically, glued them onto an index card, and added super-simple stitching.

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ICAD2024: Week 4

Another week has rushed by at lightning speed, and here are my ICADs! For more information, inspiration and loads of samples visit @llaurenb and/or @indexcardaday and/or @gypsy999 on Instagram; or check out the Daisy Yellow Art Blog!

ICAD24-24: Mandala Monday

It's a Diamond Dogs Mandala Monday thanks to a leftover diamond-shaped piece of patterned paper leftover from last week's Argyle card, lots and lots of diamondy and circley Letter It Fineliner Doodles, and a few coordinating Tombow Dual Brush Pens.

ICAD24-23: Hummingbird

Super-literal take on the prompt, featuring the eponymous winged creature, a vintage slidemount, some nectar-y flowers, a scrap of leftover map, and some trading stamps... all atop a pale blue, repro library checkout card.

ICAD24-22: Tulip

I was flicking through a vintage nature encyclopedia for some tulips when I stumbled upon this Tulip Shell and let it pivot me into a completely different collage-ical direction!

ICAD24-21: Crystal

At least once a year I try to draw some gems or crystals and I've never felt like I got the facets right, but this one is pretttttty good, lol! It turns out the secret might be to just draw them really really quickly without giving very much thought or care to the process... who knew??!

ICAD24-20: Gold

 I’ve approached "GOLD" via doodles… using three types of gold pen: Posca, Zig Dot Marker, and the good old Gellyroll Metallic. Not the fanciest thing I've ever made, but it was fun to draw and I love how the three pens each have their own version and shade of gold.

ICAD24-19: Alternating

A super-simple, doodle-centric idea, alternating stripes of violet and pale blue Tombow on a gridded index card; with alternating doodles in black Letter It Fineliner or white Posca pen.

ICAD24-18: Beach

I found this pre-watercolored heavy divider card in my ICAD box and added undulating strips of sand and froth; the latter being layers of torn vintage paper of varying patinas brushed with a little bit of Stickles Glitter Glue (the shade is Waterfall, appropriately enough) from Ranger, then machine-stitched for extra texture. 

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ICAD Round-Up (wk3)

Another week has flown past... June is more than halfway over... and the Index Card Art just keeps coming!

 ICAD24-17: Mandala Monday

It's a Multi-Layered Mandala Monday, featuring hand-cut shapes made from neon and pastel index cards... with Posca Paint Pens singin' backup.

 ICAD24-16: Ivy

A zendoodle-y take on today's prompt of Ivy, on a lined and tabbed pistacio green index card.

 ICAD24-15: Terrazzo

A very loose take on terrazzo, as if we used chips of mandalas, rather than the more traditional marble or granite. Ok that's a really weird metaphor, but let's not overthink it.

 ICAD24-14: Off-Prompt

It's a super-simple rainbow cascade made with Tombow Dual Brush pens and outlined in Letter It Fineliners from Ranger. When in doubt, use ALL the colors!!! ♥

 ICAD24-13: Lost and Found

A gridded collage made up of scraps and snippets laying on my work table, with machine stitching on top. For the record, at any given time, I could probably compose an entire week's worth of gridded collages made up of scraps and snippets laying on my work table.

 ICAD24-12: Ellipse

Ellipse doodles on a gridded card which Tammy G. pointed out turned into a bit of an Ellipse Mandala repeating pattern. Drawn atop blended stripes of Archival Inks in Blue Sky, Sunflower and Tea Rose.

 ICAD24-11: Orange

Various orange shades of Archival Ink blocks, with doodles, on an orange index card. Orange you glad I didn't say, "Banana"?!

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Visit my Instagram account @llaurenb to see my daily ICAD and cardmaking posts!

Week Two: ICAD 2024

Wrapping up the first full week of Index Card a Day with a colorful round-up! To see the cards daily, visit my Instagram account @llaurenb where I post them as I make them! 

ICAD24-10: Mandala Monday

It's an Ink-Over-Collage Mandala Monday thanks to some of my favorite Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink shades from Ranger: Rosy Posy, Sunflower, Leaf Green, Sky Blue and Cactus Flower. I used sponge daubers to apply the inks in arcs of rainbow order atop some torn book paper glued to an index card divider; then drew the shapes in with a few sizes of Letter It Fineliners. I used Detail Blending tools to neaten up the colors, and finally added finishing touches with a white paint pen.

ICAD24-09: Potpourri

According to Merriam Webster, the secondary* definition of #POTPOURRI is, "a miscellaneous collection; a medley" and it would be hard to find anything miscellaneouser than this card, which features part of a fractal my friend EJ designed, surrounded by fractalesque doodled shapes, then randomly sewed upon. Behind the card you can see Kenneth Kenmore, my grandmother's sewing machine, which works perfectly, despite considerable fading of the avocado green facade that was de rigueur for all 1970's appliances.

*The primary definition of POTPOURRI is, of course, "A bowl of smelly stuff, used to drive away guests with allergies"

ICAD24-08: Wave

For several years I've hoarded/saved this beautiful handwritten library checkout card for Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (thank you Mary aka @millwoodstudioart ) and I am pleased as punch to have done so, because imo this is the PERFECT use for such a card. BTW, if the fact that the fish came from a book entitled, "Wondrous World of Fishes" does not delight you at least a tiny bit, I'm not sure we can be friends. Just sayin'...

ICAD24-07: Lavender

Expanding from leafy #lavender limits to a purposeful pan-purple-ous panoply of modish poddishness.

ICAD24-06: Owl

Gorgeous owl from a North American Nature book; hand-cut OWL letters from a cool photo of trees; strips of torn text paper and Big Dollar Trading Stamps for which I thank @smilynstef who is a thrifter of fantastic talent and generosity! ♥

ICAD24-05: Gradient

The other day's prompt was #gradient but it was Mandala Monday, so I pushed it back a bit. Just a reminder that the #dyicad prompts are not only optional, they are multifariously adaptable! You can pick and choose, do as many or as few as you like, do them on whatever days they appeal. Make 61 #gradient cards or skip #gradient in favor of something else, or leave out all the prompts all together. The definition of the noun "prompt" (according to Merriam-Webster) is, "an inciting cause; or a reminder". So it's 100% cool to start out drawing lines with blue brush pens that get darker and then lighter again (as I have)... but as you work... you might add patterns and details in other colors (as I have) so that it's not really a pure gradient anymore. You might even decided to glue something on top (as I have not) which completely obscures the gradient but IT STILL COUNTS! The prompts are there to get you started; where you go after that is up to you. And if you're already started on something interesting, maybe you don't need a prompt that day. Make this 61-day shindig YOURS, in any and every way that feels fun or inspiring to YOU!

PS: I am currently in love with the word "multifariously" and apologize in advance for what I fear will be a brief but intense period of substantial over-usage! ♥

ICAD24-04: Tree

I spent quite a long time typing the names of the trees onto the trees in this illustration... and it's hardly noticeable, but I don't care. How did I wind up with a fish flying through the clouds with a seriously large moon in the background? Who can say??! Collage logic is tangential at best: Here are some trees... the sky would be visible behind them... the sky is (generally) blue... I have blue index cards... you fly in the sky... there are flying fish (tho this isn't one of them lol)... whilst flying it's cool to see the clouds from a different angle... if you fly long enough you'll get to the moon... The End. :)

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