Journals & Collaborative Projects

Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous collaborative projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/

Tutorials & Techniques

Below are some of our favorite tricks for adding depth and dimension to your art.  We hope you have fun giving these a try!

Current Group Swaps & Projects

Below is a list of current swaps and projects available to group members. If you are interested in joining our group and participating in these projects, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.  

For existing group members, you can sign up to participate  in these projects here: Swaps & Current Projects.  

We look forward to swapping with you.  Happy Arting!

Member Gallery for Group Swaps
 
Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous group swaps and projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
 
Come play with us... Join today!

Paper Traders is a friendly online community of artists from around the world. We nurture and value creativity, embrace new ideas, products, and techniques yet also value tried and true methods of artistic expression. Our projects consist primarily of paper arts, mixed media collage, artist trading cards, altered art, assemblages, collaborative journals, mail art, and more.

We are interested in creative individuals of varied skill levels who wish to challenge themselves artistically and help build a supportive community. We are at our best when we can share our creative efforts as well as techniques, resources, feedback, and insights. We encourage conversation about art, the art process, and what it means to be an artist.

Paper Traders is hosted on Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
We hope you will consider joining us on an artistic journey!

In order to prevent spammers and to insure that all applicants are actual persons interested in creating art, a questionnaire will be sent to all potential members. When applying, please submit digital examples of your work or direct us to a website where we can view your art. The intent of the questionnaire is not to judge the merits of your art but to safeguard the integrity of our community.

Free Images for Download
Below you will find images that are owned by our group members and offered for your personal use as well as images found in the public domain. Images may be freely used in your personal artwork but may not be used for commercial purposes of any kind without written permission of the owner. No images may be used to create collage sheets or image collections for resale.

To download, follow the link provided. In some cases, you may be able to just click on the image to enlarge it, then right-click and select "save image as". Content changes frequently and many images are available for a limited time.  Please check back often for newly posted images to use in your art journey.

Open Art Challenges !

We're changing things up here at Paper Traders. Instead of the monthly challenges of the past, we'll now be hosting special challenges that might feature a specific technique or product and will be rewarded with actual prizes sponsored by our group members.

Our new challenge for 2013 is a year long word prompt journaling project/challenge. Each specific challenge will be open for one month and all art bloggers can participate, whether you are a Paper Traders member or not. Each artist will comment with a link to their blog post that features the artwork for that particular challenge. For each challenge, a winner will be selected whose art best exemplifies the challenge. The winning artist will be featured here and get a "Trader Treasure" blog button to display on their own blog. They also will receive one chance for each entry for the end of the year prize drawing. Watch this page for more details and challenge announcements.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Word Prompt Journal Challenge


(Open to Paper Traders members only)

Kickoff Date: January 30, 2011
 
All skill levels...even if you are a newbie at journals, please think about entering this challenge and stretching yourself a bit.

As we begin a new year, and with moving my father to a nursing home, my thoughts have been on how life never ceases to change and evolve.  Sometimes it is full of joy, sometimes sorrow, and often a mixture of many things at once.  Carl Jung  said, "There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."

There have always been two scriptural quotes that have inspired and helped me through the ups and downs of life.  The first is  "Man is that he might have joy."  and the second "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things."  As I deal with the struggles of life, these thoughts provide balance to keep me more centered.

So, upon contemplating on these things I have decided to host a challenge for our group.  There will not be a specific theme or style required, but each of the prompts given will be a word that refers to the challenges and joys of life.  To inspire you I will include a few quotes each time that might get your creative juices going.

Swap Description:
First, before our kickoff date, each participant will need to make a 16 page journal (including covers) approximately 8x10 inches. We will be decorating only 12 pages using our prompts.  You may decorate your covers and extra pages as desired.   Please use sturdy watercolor paper for your pages so they can support the work you will do on them.

You may make your journal however you like but I would suggest Teesha Moore's easy to make journal that is done with one large sheet of watercolor paper.  She suggests Fabriano Artistico, which is on sale right now at Dick Blick for less than half of what I can get it for locally - if you buy 10 sheets.  (So do think about sharing an order with some friends and save yourself some money.)

Her easy to follow instructions are found on YouTube.  It is in two parts so be sure to watch both:
       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6qmXGRrsE
       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vvSsJ39bc0&feature=related

For inspiration you may want to watch some more of Teesha's amazing collage journal instructions. She has some good suggestions for penwork there also. There is a listing of the videos here:
      http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=teesha+moore&aq=f

And some basic journaling tips here:
       http://www.teeshamoore.com/latest_news.htm

Every other week I will post a new word prompt and you have two weeks to complete your page for it.  Please post your images to the 2011 Word Prompt Journal Challenge album on the Yahoo group Challenges site.

No one will be checking up on you, but everyone who completes all of the challenges by the end of the project will have their names put into a drawing for a special prize.  There! Is that incentive enough to make you want to do this?
Posted by artbeckons at 5:31 PM
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