A "Better Late Than Never" Paint Chip Project

Veronica was M.I.A. last Friday, but now she's back and sharing her latest paint chip piece with us!
It's funny that she made bricks like MoonDoggie, and couldn't decide between two versions, like me! Great minds think alike.

This is "Humpty Dumpty" - two versions. Visit her blog to let her know which one you like best!




And if you create your own work of art this week, send it to me at AtomicTeaParty [at] gmail [dot] com to be featured this Friday!!

New Paint Chip Projects - Week 5

Remember the Paint Chip Fun Project everyone? If you're new to the Tea Party, or you've forgotten what we're trying to do here, check out this post. Then look at our First PCFP, Second PCFP, Third PCFP, Fourth PCFP - guess that makes this number 5! Yes, the last two are links to Veronica's blog because I dropped the ball those weeks!

I'm not too sure where our esteemed leader and creator of the project is this week.... Veronica's been oddly quiet. As soon as she pops up, I'll make sure to let you know.
**Update** She "showed up" via email Sunday night (June 7) totally fine! She didn't even know about Jenn Ski's interview with her being published! Boy was she surprised!

Here is MoonDoggie's "Mid Century Living Room". I love the paint chip bricks on the fireplace (looks like mine)! Do you see the 'pod type chair' (as she calls it) on the right? Smoooooth.
MoonDoggie said she felt like being creative and making something for our project, but she didn't have any glue! I'm glad that didn't stop her from sending it! (And send your hubs to the art store for your glue; he probably wants to go anyway.)

My attempt this week I'm calling "Tree of Life". It sure is hard for me to get the colors right when I photograph artwork. This is pretty close, though.

I actually made this last week, but couldn't finish it in time for Friday. I put it up on the wall, and kept thinking it needed something more. Tell me what you think - which version is better?

Original version:

Second version:

Please join in on the fun next week! You can send me an email with your image/s at any time to AtomicTeaParty [at] gmail [dot] com.

Paint Chip Fun Project Part 2

Here are the completed pieces for Week 2 of PCFP!
I had a couple of people run into technical difficulties or lack of time again this week, so they couldn't send anything in - but remember, there's always next week!

"Balanced" by JEM 'n Tonic of Amidst Mod

Just yesterday, Jem introduced me to another fabulous mid-century artist I'd never heard of, Karl Benjamin. I can really see how Jem is carrying on his tradition. I can see the balance here, but also so much movement.

"Paint Chip Fun Logo" by MoonDoggie

She had quite a time of it this week getting her piece completed. She writes, "After a bit of drama (paint water spilling on chips), a few resourcing problems (no glue), some technological glitches (wrong photo resolution) and some digital manipulation (the easy part) here is my submission to this week's paint chip fun friday. Dah dada DAH! MoonDoggie logo paintchip style!" Just look at her logo over on my sidebar to see how this is the paintchip version!

"Ode to my Family" by Veronica Diago

Veronica writes this about her piece:
"The taller figure is my hubby, followed in height by me, then my boy dressed in camouflage as usual and the peachy, chubby small thing in the middle is my daughter, looking up as always. The object at the extreme left is our couch in the living room, the object at the extreme right is our house's door. These two match the real layout of our house. The ones at the top, could be clouds, paintings, thoughts, conversation, or ideas."
Isn't that a great family portrait? I love how Veronica's work is modern and abstract, but always has warmth and feeling.
Don't forget to see her post today here, because she's got a fantastic project done by photographer Ilda Oliver that you've just got to see! (Paint chip potato chips?!)

"Music To My Eyes" by Tikimama

I know you had to see this yesterday, too, but I did want to give a bit of a description. Music is very important in our house. It's what brought my husband and me together, it's what we brought our daughters into the world with. Our girls already play gleefully on real musical instruments, and we hope that we pass down our musical knowledge to them - they've already got the love of music! If you look at this image bigger (you should be able to click to enlarge), you can see that all of the paint chips I used have musical names for the colors. The images are stamps I've had for a long time and never used, with black and silver ink.

Paint Chip Fun Project Tomorrow!

Well, I'm going to show everyone my latest paint chip creation to remind you all that there is still time to send in something to share tomorrow!

"Music to My Eyes"

The original post with the ideas on how to participate is here.

The submissions from last Friday are here.

Hope you join us tomorrow!

I'm Working on My PCFP - Are You?

I sure hope everyone is thinking about an idea, considering joining in the fun, already done, just starting, or putting the finishing touches on...for this week's Paint Chip Fun Project!

We had a great time last week, with submissions sent here to Atomic Tea Party and to Veronica Diago at her beautiful blog (this was all her idea, remember?).

I had a busy weekend and this week hasn't been so hot for blogging, so this may be all you get for now...but I wanted to remind everyone, especially those of you who wanted to join in last week but couldn't - now's the time! My effort this week is going to take me probably all of an hour (not counting the curse-word-laced time I wasted looking for my supplies that weren't properly organized). Jem of Amidst Mod is still claiming that his piece from last week took him 21 minutes. So, if you can just find a wee bit of creative time, go for it!

Send in your submission by Thursday (or Friday morning if you're in the Pacific time zone, because I'm not an early blogger!) to elisafolino at gmail dot com and you will be featured! Be sure to let me know a bit about you and your paint chip piece, and include the address or links to any blog, website, Etsy shop, etc. that you would like me to mention.

Can't wait to see what new lovelies we get this week!

The Unveiling of the Paint Chip Fun Project Submissions!

First, let me say, if you didn't participate this week, you've just gotta give it a go next week! We are going to make this an ongoing party, and it's going to be a blast!

I am not an artist, like so many of my wonderful blog buddies and contributors, but I love being creative. I'm even posting the "art" made by my two little daughters, just to show that ANYONE can have Fun With Paint Chips!!

I'm going to start with theirs, then mine (because it's only slightly more sophisticated), then we'll get on to the awesome works created by all my other friends and readers!!

Here is Miss May's (she's turning three this month): She just cut, glued, then rolled it all up in a tube.


Here is Miss June's (she's turning six in June): It has two sides.
She had it glued all nicely, then wanted to cover it in shiny cello tape. No dissuading her...she's got an artist's temperament!

Here is mine. It's called "Walking". I couldn't decide whether to post an image of the original item (the strips of paint chips are glued inside a small box), or the one I photgraphed and tweaked. I'm leaning towards the idea of making something by hand, but then photographing it and letting that image be the final product. Opinions?

And now with no further ado, and in no particular order, the gallery of submissions!

These next two were probably the biggest surprise to me - they are by Pam (aka My Retro Goddess) from RetroRenovation.com! I didn't even know she read my blog, so imagine how I felt to find these in my inbox! She has just started learning collage, and is incorporating vintage wallpaper (one of her favorite things) and vintage paint chips. I don't think she looks like a beginner at all!

"Mama Bird"

"Flower Pot"

Pam writes, "I am obsessed with collage right now. This is a work in progress. I actually had the 'flower pot' all pasted to a background but took it apart. Now I'm reworking it ... put those ladies there just for this scan - kind of like it! All made from my collection of vintage wallpaper, vintage paint chip, and found photography.... it's nice to be contributing to some one else's blog for a change!"

Next, Sylvie from The Butter Flying, or lepetitpapillon, is an artist with a blog and Etsy shop. She loves to create art from paint chips (she says she is "addicted"!), so she was a natural to join in this project! She submitted her photos to Veronica, too, so I'm going to feature a few different ones here:

Make sure you go look at the beautiful garlands and mobiles she makes!

My best friend Anthony, of Pop Circus fame, completely stressed out about the "deadlline" for submissions and emailed this to me at 2:00 am! Geez, people, I'm NOT that prompt, please do not worry! It's now 9:30 Friday morning and I'm still working on this post! (Short break - had a stinky diaper to attend to - see what I mean about not having the luxury to blog when I'd like to? BTW, have you seen the movie Bolt (animated, about a dog and his girl)? It's really charming, and it's been played at our house about, oh, a thousand times. Where was I? Oh, yeah, art.)

Anthony's piece is Fab-u-lous! Bright, fun, and very vintagey! I am sooooo impressed! The bright colors and the black-and-white vintage images make a vibrant combination. It's just such a happy piece! (Did you read Anthony's post 'Laughter IS the Best Medicine?') This piece is called "Vintage Rainbow":

Wow! Do I have talented friends, or what?!

And now, for the works created by my wonderful co-hosts, both very talented artists whose art I admire. If you have not checked out their blogs and their work, you must do so, right now!

Veronica's "Shelter". This is very evocative of all her work, where she uses various media, and always has a bit of the element of surprise, or happy accidents. She keeps promising to open her Etsy shop soon, and I will be the first to let you know!

Check out her PCFP post for her description of her work, and the works by her readers that she is featuring this week. This was all her idea, so be sure to go by and show her your support!

Veronica also posts a funny explanation for the following piece, by JEM 'n Tonic:

JEM's blog is Amidst Mod, and his piece is "A More Tonic Future". He says he only worked on it for about 20 minutes! I find that hard to believe. It's is very mod and swanky!

When I posted about PCFP on Monday, a lot of you said you didn't have time this week, but would like to participate. Well, here's your chance! Just send something in by next Thursday, and you will be featured! If there are any lurkers out there, come on out and join in the Party!!

Fun With Paint Chips!

This is my Home Depot paint chip book, and I LOVE this thing - I've used it countless times.

My good blog-buddy Veronica Diago has come up with a super-fun idea for us all to try out!

The Paint Chip Fun Project! (The PCFP)

We are each posting, encouraging all our followers and visitors to get creative with paint chips. You can create anything you like, and you don't have to be an "artist" to give it a go. Just let your imagination take over - pretend you're a kid again! You could make a 2-D or 3-D art project, take a photograph, do a craft, whatever comes to mind.

The best part is, paint chips are FREE! And if you're anything like me, you've already got a stash of them lying around in a drawer somewhere....

It's going to be very interesting to see what different ideas we all come up with. I'm going to post a picture of all the creations this Friday with a link to your blog, website, etc. Submissions are due this Thursday, as late as you want as long as it's still Thursday, May 7 th. You can send your submissions to: elisafolino@gmail.com

Are you excited already?

Go run to your closest hardware store and grab a few!

Don't forget to check out Veronica's blog on Friday, too, to see more paint-chip fun!

See you soon paint chip addicts !