An Angel and Magnolias

This is another Monika Brint pattern that I have wanted to paint for some time now.

I wasn't able to get the original background colour from one of my local paint suppliers so I experimented with some colours and came up with this one and in fact it is very close.

The design was quite simple and I just love the tree with it's craggly branches and the translusceny of the angel.

Brushes are back in motion and I will be painting some more things soon.

I got myself an early birthday present but haven't even taken it out of the box yet. I got myself a Cuttlebug. I am waiting for a couple embossing folders and a die cut I oredered to come in.I even left it out in the car for now because I can't play with it so why look at it. LOL

Take care all and thanks for dropping by, I read and appreciate all your kind comments.

There is nothing more precious than family and good friends.

L

April Showers Bring Bunnies???

Hello friends, after a bit more yard and house work and a bit of anxiety about fall I thought I had better do a bit of painting to sharpen up my skills so I can get some things started for possible craft shows. I was doing one show a year for many years which yielded a lot of traffic at the venue, bus loads in fact then I was advised that this past fall was it's last show. Now I have my name in 3 places but haven't been given any details or ok's yet for my eligibility to be in the shows. Well waiting is not the ideal time to decide whether to paint or not so I thought I had better start a bit and just add to some inventory I currently have so I am not doing a major power paint at the last minute. Last year I was a last minute girl even tho I knew the show was coming but I just played with paper a bit too much.
So my friend Cathy over at Tolentreasures showed us on our private Friendly Palette group a grouping of bunnies she did from the Q&E mag from last month. I had the mag and loved that pattern so I pulled it out and first of all decided I would just paint a few groupings of bunnies on watercolour paper but using my acrylics just to get the flow going again. I finished up four separate pieces, I will probably attach them to greeting cards,  then decided to do a larger grouping of the pattern onto a 5x7 canvas I had. Well here it is. I had to mix a background colour to try to match the colour in the mag. it wasn't really close but in my mixing I fell in love with this colour. This is a Monika Brint pattern, she is a Canadian decorative artist and I just love her designs.
So here is April Showers and a grouping of bunnies to put a smile on your face.
I have larger canvases basecoated and will be doing everything from a magnolia tree with an angel to snowmen and saltbox houses. I will show you as I progress and I made my Mumsy a wreath from vine we cut from our property clean up last week, and did something on the wreath for her but can't show you because she will be looking here and I want to suprise her.
Thanks for dropping by and thanks Cathy for the inspiration to paint again, it felt good and it was a lot of fun.
~L~

March Dress for Dress Challenge 2010

Over at Margaret's blog the dress challenge has really sparked a worldwide creativity challenge. I figure better late than never and I finally found some time to complete my March dress. I know April is already half over but art is not a hurried thing with me, I need time and space for some projects and when I started this dress I had no idea where I was going with it.
I dry embossed some cardstock then on a shopping trip a while back I found some little tubes of paint that is really used for painting on fun foam but it had some wonderful metallic colours and being in a Liquidation store of course the price was right. I painted my dress green then rubbed some ink on the raised areas. I found some scrap paper to make the little bolero jacket and pockets. used a paper boarder punch for the bottom and stuffed the pockets with my little adornments. The little angel I thought would look cute sitting inside the pocket, she is watching everything that is going on.
Well that's it for today, thought I had better post this, not sure anyone will come look now that we are into April but at least I got this one done. Now onto April, hmmmm birds and butterflies might be something to work on.
Good night and thanks for dropping by, oh and I love reading your comments.
~L~

Spring has sprung and ATC's

Yes spring is here and everything is greening up, birds are chirping, no sign of snow or rain but that could change any time soon.

Today was spent outside with hubs who loves working outdoors and has been clearing out old vines and shrubs and overgrowth of wild stuff in our yard. Part of a yard that isn't far from the old rail fence but yard I didn't venture into for many reasons, snakes for one and just unfamiliarity and plain overgrowth. Well today JB uncovered ground and found some wild flowers I didn't know existed. I don't even know the name of them but I have seen many times these long shaped leaves with purlple sort of dots or colour markings on them. I took a pic to show you all so you can help me to identify them. They are really pretty and probably won't last long but I didn't find many in flower so I stopped to admire their beauty. I love spring, one of my favourite times of the year, you see things come back to life before your eyes and the sites, sounds and familiar smells of spring after long cold and sometimes harsh winters.

I have also taken a picture of some of my pansies that have begun to bloom in the garden, this variety said they were like a longer lasting daisy and of course are very hearty. I thought I saw something purple from the kitchen window the other day and I went to investigate and here we have a beautiful cluster of them and more to come in other areas of my rock garden. Ah yes spring is here.

And...I have been working on my swaps and trades and wanted to show you my lastest ATC's with inchies. Becky one of the Mods over at ATCforBeginners chose do inchies on an ATC so I worked away at a couple cards the other day and completed these for my trade partner Laura in the Carolina's. Hope she likes them. I love Asian themes so thought of this clever panel and then did some distressing background papers them stamped my asian inchie stamps and applied to the panels. Added some pearls at the corners some gold gel pen  and that was it. The bird inchies I distressed some papers in green my fav colour. Green I find very comforting and earthy, I think I was green in a former life, perhaps a frog or small green critter. The background I used the foil tape, embossed it then painted it with acrylic metallic Peridot paint. I added some German scrap I finally got my hands on and added my bird inchies and I rather like it. So Lesley has been busy working outside and in and watching PlayOff hockey.
Til next time, keep your head up, eyes open and enjoy each day to the fullest. Remember each day is truly a gift from God.

Faux Metal ATC's

Over at the ATC for Beginners Yahoo group, this month's lottery theme was picked by one of our long standing members, Barb from Holland. Barb gave us some links to look at this wonderful Faux Metal technique so I had to go about and do some ATC's. I have used silver tape that they use to tape duct work together but this is not the normal duct tape but the shiny silver stuff with a peel off backing or you can use tin foil. I embossed the foil tape then painted it on both card backgrounds, then I used StazOn ink to rub on the raised areas. The key hole was a different type of faux metal technique. My friend Becky a couple years ago found these lock and key paper embellishements and I like them so much I just keep them around to look at them. LOL Well I took one of the locks and layed some tin foil on top and took a Q tip and more or less rubbed the foil into all the cracks and crevaces to reveal the detail. Carefully lift off the foil when all the embossing is done, heat up that glue gun, fill the mold part of the tin foil with your hot glue. Let set and cool. Trim excess foil. I then painted the foil with a bronze metallic Folk Art paint with a couple coats. Then I just inked the raised edges with brown StazOn. It now looks good and rusty. The German scrap on the corners was a bit to brassy looking so I hit it with the brown ink too.
This was a lot of fun Barb and thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks for stopping by.
~L~

Forgot to mention I just got a new flower punch so someone's been busy making some lovely flowers :)

Happy Belated Easter

Hello everyone.
I hope you all had a lovely Easter with family and friends.
We have been very busy these past few weeks, cleaning up inside then the weather here in Eastern Ontario has been just gorgeous so we are a month ahead on garden and lawn clean up after a fairly good winter. Always things to do around here and with hubs being laid off we are getting a lot of much needed things done and attended to. One job sometimes turns into many but we have the time, strength and health so we do it while we can.
I have been doing a few arty things when time permits, I will show you in my next few posts. Over at ATC for Beginners group we have a monthly lottery where you make 2 cards in a chosen them then at the end of the month your name is pooled with other entries and you have a chance to win a booty of cards in that chosen theme. Barb picked this month's theme of faux metal and provided us with a few links on the topic and so I had to try one of the them. I am again addicted to this technique and can see doing many variations on this but I am finding hand embossing puts a lot of stress by pressing into my stencils, I have a problem with both my shoulders so I have to watch what I do with a lot of things, and how long I do them. I can see needing some sort of embossing machine but that will be money permitting and researching the best machine to fit my needs. Any such suggestions on what types of machines for embossing and preferrably cutting designs as well would be greatly appreciated.
Well this is a short post. Just wanted to let all my followers, friends, old and new, know that I am still around and I am creating between chores and the beautiful weather we are now experiencing.
Do take care of one another and I promise I won't be so long this next time posting.
~L~