"Advanced Doodling" - Part 2 - Paisley Flower

Another doodle - this time a "paisley" like flower.  I have a funny history with paisley - I had a strong aversion to it when I was younger - so much so that I told my mom that anyone who liked paisley (including her) was crazy.  Like most people, as I've grown up, I've learned to like a lot of things that I didn't as a child - coffee, potato salad, Scandinavian furniture, abstract art, bourbon balls.  I LOVE bourbon balls -

maybe a bit too much because when Caleb was about 5 or 6 he was drawing a picture and asked me how to spell bourbon!!  Turns out he was sketching a picture of a candy shop and sure enough right on the counter was a big box labeled Bourbon Balls for me - love that kid!  Anyhoo - I have a great affection for paisley now and even sport it on my clothing.  Mom does give me a hard time about it - do you blame her?

"Advanced Doodling" - Sketchbook Delight II

One of the lessons I was particularly excited about in Alisa Burke's Sketchbook Delight II class is the one on Advanced Doodling.  She is a master of doodling - look at what she did in her hallway!!  One of my favorite art journal pages is one that I tried to imitate her style.

My doodle is based on a fabulous batik stamp that I got several years ago in Seattle at Pike's Market.  It lives on a stand in my kitchen.  Roni has been after me to ink this stamp but I can't bear to do it so I did the next best thing by basing my doodle on it.

Watercolored in the earthy colors that I love but more vibrant than usual.  LOVE how this turned out!
Linking to Artists in Blogland Show and Tell Saturday #20
Art Journal Every Day - Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

"Sketching from Nature" - Part 2

More sketching from nature - this is based on a photo I took of some daisies in the backyard one year - I love how the centers seem to be blue in color -

I definitely have no green thumb and I am happy for the flowers that the previous owner planted all over the yard - several still come back annually despite my mistreatment of them year after year.

First come the daffodils - we already have shoots up in several places - soon the yard will come back to life and then the grass will start growing again to the great consternation of Connor who has the assignment to mow!

Guess what?  Yesterday afternoon I got the mail to find this magazine - What??  It had a pink paper attached congratulating me on being published in the current issue - however, I've only submitted twice to Stampington and that was several years ago - I managed to get a card published in the 2007 Catch Up issue but that was it - I looked through the magazine and didn't see anything that looked familiar.

I figured it must have been a mistake and I got a fluke free magazine when finally it appeared - my card - a card I submitted back in March 2006 got published now - 6 years later!!  If you read Take Ten magazine you know that they generally group cards by color so I guess my card got tossed in the brown/green drawer and resurfaced in time for this publication!  I loved green/brown then and I love it now (apparently the twine was used to keep the flowers from trying to "escape").

"Sketching from Nature" - Sketchbook Delight II - Lesson 3

I can almost smell spring!  The days are getting longer - occasionally the drone of a lawnmower can be heard in the neighborhood - kids are coming out of school without their jackets on (doncha just hate it when kids are "jacket-free" because they forgot it behind in the classroom?) - and very soon the branches on the trees will begin to bloom!!

Lesson 3 is Sketching from Nature -
Can't wait to see the dogwood and redbuds start to bloom in the backyard!

PDCC119, CAS178 - Splash of PINK!

PINK - I can't escape pink!!  When I was young it was among my favorite colors - now my favorite color is brown closely followed by green.  That is a long road away from PINK!!  However, the current challenge in the Play Date Cafe is Black/White with a splash of Pink so I gave it my best shot.

The sketch is from Clean and Simple Stamping.  The flowers (PTI) were diecut directly from the white cardstock and then backed with a piece of pink cardstock cut just a hair bigger to make the frame.  My favorite part of these flowers are the centers!  Roni has the Prima Donna Petals Die-namics die from My Favorite Things and when we stamped together on Friday I spent a great deal of time cranking out centers!  I have a plethora of dark brown centers that will be visiting some blossoms soon but I also cranked out black and dark grey as well - I'm wishing now that I did some in white/yellow.

The background was stamped with the retired Cornish Heritage Farms - Scalloped Tile Backgrounder and the sentiment is from A Muse Studio.

LIM55, OLW79 - Stamp, Stamp, Stamp (Stamp, Stamp)!

One Layer Wednesday - My first time playing this year and it was a fun one!! The challenge was to make a one-layer card using as many stamps as possible (at least three).  I used 9 - they all came from Roni's Papertrey Ink Daydreamer set.

There are millions of tiny stamps in that set and sure enough - I LOST ONE OF RONI'S STAMPS!!  Roni was a super good sport about it and reassured me that it wasn't her favorite flower but still - losing someone's stamp is not good stamping etiquette at all!!

So the sentiment on the card is directed to me - my wish and dream is that the missing little flower shows up stuck to something so it can be returned to its rightful home in the Daydreamer case.  sigh. . . it is a pretty card though, doncha think?
Part of what makes this card striking is the window cut out of the front with a Nestabilities die - PUNCHES or DIE CUTS is this week's challenge from the Less is More blog.  My husband liked the window too, he said, "I like your little curio hole."  Bet you don't hear comments like that everyday!
Cardstock and ink from A Muse Studio.

"Sketching Everyday Things" - Sketchbook Delight II - Lesson 2

Here is my homework for Lesson 2 of Alisa Burke's Sketchbook Delight II.  This lesson focused on sketching things you find around your home (like food) that you may not necessarily think to draw/sketch.  Alisa drew some adorable cupcakes but since I didn't have any nearby I decided to sketch my breakfast -

A healthy breakfast of apple, granola bar and a latte.  Don't kid yourself - my breakfast isn't that healthy everyday - yesterday my breakfast was a Butternut doughnut from Dunkin' Doughnuts.  One day this week I ate leftover chocolate cake for breakfast.  Surely, I am not the only one who cheats on "the most important meal of the day"!!  This is my second time sketching this still life - the proportions are definitely better the second time around but still I'm having issues with the mug - there is a lip at the top I have no idea how to draw.
Linking to Art Journal Everyday - Julie Fei Fan Balzer.

PDCC118, PTI Day 6

A papercrafter would have to be living under a rock in the deep recesses of a cave in the middle of a vast wilderness to not know that Papertrey Ink is celebrating its 5th anniversary with lots fabulous releases, challenges and huge giveaways!!

This card is made with sketch #2 from Papertrey Ink and the colors from the current Playdate Cafe Challenge.  Definitely colors that are out of my comfort zone but I've been trying lots of new things lately and, therefore, in the spirit of embracing "different" I decided to make my own background paper with oil pastels.

Cardstock, vellum and sentiment (LIFE from Poppy Prints) are from Papertrey.

Sketchbook Challenge - CLOSE-UP!

The theme for February at The Sketchbook Challenge is CLOSE UP.  Jill Grace posted this adorable little bug (Quesada Domis - which I believe is some type of cicada) on one of her Pinterest boards the other day and I just had to try my hand at it.

Seriously, who takes pics from the "other side" of the stalk?  People who want their cute pics to go viral - that's who!!

The inspiration pic can be found here.  Did you know that a couple years back I watched a cicada hatch out from a shell in our carport?  It was the most amazing thing - I sat and took pics for about 45 minutes while my husband held the flashlight.  I kept asking him why he wasn't holding it steady until finally I looked back and realized that he was playing football on his phone!  Apparently, he wasn't as amazed by the cicada as I was - here are a few of my favorite pics from that night:

Linking to Art Journal Every Day (Julie Fei-Fan Balzer).

"Draw Your Supplies" - Sketchbook Delight II - Lesson 1

The Sketchbook Delight - Part 2 class taught by Alisa Burke just started yesterday - The first lesson is a review of the things taught in Sketchbook Delight 1 including info on supplies (pens, paper, pencils, paint, etc.), shading, sketching, applying color, etc.  I'm really excited to take this class -

The homework is to draw your supplies (I painted mine too cause I am a rebel) and I am tickled to be able to say that it is pretty apparent that I chose a pencil, paintbrush and pen to draw.  I avoided the pens that were clear because the thought of trying to convey transparency was spooky to me - I need to work on adding more shading but I need to be a bit braver for that - all that water sloshing around willy-nilly makes me nervous too!  Can't wait til the next lesson. . .

Linking to - Just Journals Linky Party and Art Journal Every Day (Julie Fei-Fan Balzer).