A quick and easy ornament

Well I finally got the pictures taken and a few minutes to show you how to make these cute and easy ornaments.

What you will need is some snowflakes, I got mine at Dollar Tree (yeah Canada now has Dollar Trees), these came 10 in a pack and they have glitter on them but there are several varieties to choose from.

You will need scissors, a circle punch, mine is 1", hot glue gun, vintage or even small images from past Christmas cards, a strip of 12 x1 inch paper strip and a small square for the back of the rosette you will be making from the strip. 

 Take the 12x1 inch strip of paper ink the edges  and  then score it every 1/4 inch, then accordion fold it to the end. Attach the ends together making sure your valley folds and peak folds line up the glue in place. 

 Now press the circle down and push it in to form a rosette like shown below, you actually need 3 hands at this point but don't get discouraged it is well worth it in the end.

 The side you want face up on your snowflake lay face down for now. Get your square piece of paper and hot glue gun. Made sure you work on a surface that you won't damage with hot glue, a non stick mat or whatever you are using. Squirt some glue down into the hole then quickly take that square piece and place it over the hole. This will help keep the rosette together. I usually have my hand on the rosette but this was all done so I could take the picture to show you how it looks on the back side.

 Flip over and now you have a rosette. Vintage looking isn't it...now for the fun part.

 Add some hot glue to the piece of square paper on the back, stick to the center of the snowflake. Add your image to the top and any more little embellishments you like. These images are found around the net copyright free. Make sure your hanger is at the top before gluing everything in place.

I have done a few of these with little children's faces from Magic Moonlight site and some from FlickR etc. Use your children's faces, pictures from old photos, old postcards, past Christmas cards with tiny images. Add to packages or hang on the tree. Ornament exchanges, swaps etc. So easy and even the kids could help. How easy and frugal and they look so nice. 

Good craft show sellers as well, believe me they sold!!!

Enjoy.

  And this 8x10 canvas I taught a class at my community library on Thursday night during the 12 weeks of Christmas craft nights. It was inspired by the talented mixed media artist Christy Thomlinson and we had a blast. The girls really enjoyed this and we used, paints, stencilling, text pages, scraps of Christmas papers, water colour crayons and fonts from the computer. Each girl used different papers and loved using sequin waste for the first time and were amazed at how easy and effective this was. I even gave them an extra canvas to take home and make another on. It was a small class and we had a blast. A good time was had by us all. 

Thanks for dropping by....... and what can one do with paper circles and paper buttons?....

Stay tuned for our next Christmas quick tutorial. 

♥♥♥

A Little Weenie Giveaway

Hi friends

well I have been busy painting for my shows and now and again I get itchy fingers to do a mini mixed media. This latest one is done in the theme for Hallow e'en and I am going to give it away to one lucky winner.

This is a 5x7 canvas board and is an original OOAK piece by me. Who knows maybe one day I will be famous (NOT) and you will have one of my treasured originals.

All you have to do is post a comment. If you are already a  follower or  become one, let me know in your post and you will be eligible for a 2nd chance to win. And if you also post my little button on your blog and tell others about my draw you will get your name thrown in for a 3rd chance to win.

I generally do not do much in the way of  Hallow e'en. I live in the country and we get, if we are lucky, 3 kids. We don't have children or grandchildren so it is not something I decorate for. I do like costumes and fun things related to it but it is not one event I plan for.

I will include some things along with this canvas but perhaps not Hallow e'en related but items you can use in your art. If you have seen my giveaways before you will know I like to give.

So sign up and get a chance to win.

I must slip away to get a button made so hang in and look for it along my sidebar.

Name will be chose on October 4th. I will not be doing a giveaway til probably again in December because I am busy getting things done for my shows.

Thank you everyone who follows and leaves me lovely comments.

Take care and good luck.

BOO!♥♥♥

I've been busy

Hello everyone, seems like ages since I posted.

As you all know I am getting ready for craft shows and so far I am in 2 but sometimes another one pops up, so, always good to have lots on hand. I have been working on canvases, ornaments and wall hangings. I will have some pics to follow here shortly.

Also I have been helping out once a week at the retirement home where my MIL lives and getting to know the folk over there, not to mention the hugs and kisses from the men. It is easy for them to remember one name and I am trying to remember over 20+. Each week there seems to be someone new but I am slowly getting to know them. There is always a good crowd that turn up.

I have also been doing more drawing and a few small mixed media canvases. These are for some very special peeps so won't mention who they are for so it is a surprise.

These new drawing are inspired by a blog I found called  PBS Art Studio.   I used Prisma colour pencil crayons to do my faces, watercolour for the hair, scrapbook paper for dresses and any other bits I find in my stashes. The thing about mixed media I love is just reach for something in your stash and see if it fits the feel of your project. 

This piece below is going to someone very special to me. I hope she likes it. These are mini canvas boards that can sit on a desk or bookshelf on a little easel. I love making stamps out of fun foam, dripping paint, using my texture paste and just having fun. Love her little crown and little friend that has come to visit. 

Cherish the moment.....

 this piece was totally inspired by the birdy paper in my stash and the colour blue. This little fairy has wings made of book page with inked edges and Glossy Accents then when that dried I added gold gel pen around the edges. Again texture paste, which I am still using from my original post I shared here.

There's always a song in the air, somewhere......

 This canvas was a totally blow myself away piece.....I was stunned at how it turned out. I found a blog and sorry I forgot at the moment where it is but it was from either the UK or Australia and the blogger showed how to make the flowers out of round circles cut from fun foam, paint on the circle then take a sylus or even  pen tip and draw  the swirls in the paint before stamping on your work, the area you drew in will not have any paint and makes a cute flower. I also made the leaves as well. I made an error using orange paint then when I was trying to rub it out I smeared it and liked it so I just added some more. Happy accidents I say happen for a reason sometimes. I still need some words on this, something about a garden or in deep thought. It will come to me....

 And this piece I just love and it is going to my cuz over in the UK. She is expecting her first child and I just wanted to do something fun. She is away in Venice right now with her man so I hope she doesn't come take a peek. I got a new paper pack and loved the tea stained papers in it so  I worked around them. I even stamped in white paint the 9 months starting at the top 9,8,7 and so on to the bottom but you can't see some of them because of paint or whatever is covering them up. It is very subtle. I will pop this in with a few little baby gifties and send off soon. I hope EJ likes it. Makes me smile and I have never been pregnant.

 And of course painting for shows continues.....these are dollar store frames I found. They had a burlap print on them but I tore them off, turned it over and the side I painted was nice and smooth. These are my favourite snowmen to paint, designs by Monika Brint.

 2 more with sandpaper star and corrugated paper heart attached

 And finally a John Sliney design I haven't painted in years. This is so quick and worked up nice on canvas. I used a different font for the Welcome and did some distressing to the letters.

 Today I did a canvas with a Monika Brint angel design that I started last year, well I base coated the background but never got beyond that, so ,I dug it out and completed it today so things are slowly accumulating but still a ways to go.

Thank you for stopping by and stay tuned to see my paint stick ornaments, they are so quick, easy and very economical do to. The best part for me was the paint sticks were FREE.

TTFN♥♥♥

Another mixed media and happy mail

Well I managed to get to the library and dropped some art off and I can't tell you how excited and proud of myself for seeing my art displayed on the library walls. It was so exciting. I can't thank all my blogger friends enough for believing in me, nourishing me with their knowledge in art and encouraging me and inspiring me to try new things. 

On that note, here is a little mixed media canvas I did  Monday night to take in and this will be displayed by my profile page the library was going to do to introduce who I am. I call this "Discover" it has special meaning to me, I am discovering my drawing abilities. I am discovering I am an artist. I am discovering I have boundless creativity. This drawing has been in my sketchbook for quite a while and I finally broke free and applied colour to it and I am so happy. This piece is not for sale but I told them at the library that I will do some on request or something similar that no two pieces will ever be the same. Mixed media is not a big thing here yet, seems  in my area things take a long time sometimes years to become popular.

 And I am so excited to receive Happy Mail from my blog friend Tee over at The Altered Paper.

As you recall from a previous post that Tee and I did an easel ATC swap. Neither Tee nor I had done such an ATC before and we both tackled it. I really like them and I see Tee does as well.

Below is a little altered notebook that ties at the side with a pretty image, I will probably tuck this into my purse for those times I need to make a note of something. The tag is a little beach them with cute shells and fish on it. Tee has added some glitz to it here and there. Click on any of the pictures to get a larger version to see all her details

 Here is the ATC easel card and a lovely little envelope it was tucked inside. Isn't that the cutest bird and girl. Tee you did a wonderful job on this. It is going to be displayed on my corner cabinet in the living room.

Next up is a bundle of tea, a Marie ATC and at the bottom are scrabble tiles altered with scrap paper then I think Glossy Accents applied and a magnet on the back. Such a cute idea. They will be put to good use. 

And here is Marie with her hair flipped up and Oh La La underneath, isn't that clever?

 

Last but not least a cute little organza bag filled with lovely flowers and goodies and some papers and a personal note from Tee that really touched my heart. Thank you so much Tee for the lovely swap.♥

I am finishing up a couple swap items then I am back to painting. I finished up 4 snowmen heads for wreaths (did I tell you that already?) and on to more projects. If I disappear for any length of time you know where I will be but I will try to pop in now and again. I am signing up for another craft show tomorrow so now I have 2 to look forward to.

Thank you for dropping by and never quit discovering what you are capable of doing.

♥♥♥

Paint but mostly paper

OK now that I have your undivided attention. As I told you a few weeks ago I wanted to get an early jump on my fall painting for craft shows. Well I had good intentions and I have been painting a bit but I got a little sidetracked. Sometimes I can't  help myself and I am drawn back to either paper or mixed media.

So here I will show you what I have been up to and will explain along the way. 

First up, another sign with houses on it for sale this fall, think I will do a few more of these and try to put the word Welcome along the bottom. This was a fun and quick pattern to do. I love these signs from the Dollar store although they were 2 dollars but hey, saves buying, cutting and sanding. Price of wood these days this is a good deal as far as I am concerned.

This picture looks a bit bright so you can't see the shading around the edges of the wood and I  shade a lot. Some patterns do not call for shading and if I see something I want to shade, I go for it. I love shading and detail. Just the artist in me I guess.

  Next up is a chunky ATC. I have seen these around blog land and on sites but never tried one. We all know that the standard paper size for ATC's is, 2 1/2x 3 1/2, which this is, but ,it is made out of a cut 2x4. I am not sure why they call them 2x4's because they really aren't if you happen to measure them, which I did ,and, to my luck it was only 3 1/2 inches in width. Anyways I covered the wood block with torn dictionary pages. Painted with washes  of acrylic paint. I stamped some designs using Stazon and added some white gel pen accents. This angel is a recent mini drawing I did. I painted her mostly with watercolours but her face is done with Prismacolour pencil crayons the Suzi Blu way. I have a lot of drawings in my sketch book, some are favourable for art some are not but it is all a learning process for me. I have found if I trace these drawings onto regular white paper as described in Suzi's book, Mixed Media Girls, I lose some of the proportions so I am scanning the images then colouring them. It is still my original drawing but the fun part is I can also make them any size I want. This Chunky ATC is still a WIP but I wanted to show you my progression. 

 And another one of my sketches, I applied to a canvas board background using a faux batik technique I found on Pinterest. You put glue onto the canvas, let it dry. Paint using a minimal number of colours, I chose my fav summer colours this year, lime green and turquoise and the white is the original canvas colour. Then when paint has dried peel up the glue. I added dots with my stylus and white acrylic paint. The large dots are glue and the smaller dots are stylus. This was fun. I just love the background, you should try this. And I did the same thing with the girl except I found in my stash come nice paper for her dress, real lace for the collar cut to fit. Grunge letters I coloured with complimentary colours. I may still bling them up with Stickles, not sure yet. This girl is going somewhere, but I can't say to whom or where yet....it is a secret.

 Another canvas board skinny. I painted her hair with watercolour and just dropped in a tiny bit of blue here and there. This is computer paper I did the girl on so I couldn't soak the paper like w/c paper but I got the job done. I used stencils, acrylic paint, marker, paper, pencil crayons, texture paste so this is truly mixed media and I have so enjoyed it. I found the word "Fraulein"in the dictionary, it jumped out at me,  so,I cut it out and put it on her dress. Rubbed some metallic paint over it to tone down the white paper then traced around it with white gel pen. So much fun. I am in a trade with a girl from Eastern Canada and she got Suzi's book but has not done much drawing yet so I hope I can inspire her to do some more. Once you let go and say I can do this....you will be amazed at what you can accomplish. I know I did. This is not part of our trade just an added something. 

 And I am also into these ATC easel cards. I made a few of them and just can't stop. Mona is printed on canvas paper to give it a more artistic feel. I cut out a frame from black c/s and ran through my Cuttlebug, then I inked it with gold ink heavily. then I made the easel and thought more about what to do. 

See that mini paint brush...I made that. I used a round tooth pic, cut a bit off one end, I cut a tiny piece of foil  duct tape for around the ferrule, then I cut an old paint brush and use the hairs, the brush was toast anyways and I reused the bristles, added some glue then wrapped the tape tightly around and the hairs are in there good. I found some paper gears, and then I looked for a hand charm and glued that on to make it look like Divinci just completed Mona. Behind Mona is a dictionary quote. Oh love how this turned out. Someone is getting this and if she comes by for a visit don't look Amy......

 and here is a close up of the bottom. This took some thinking but I pulled it off and I am so pleased. 

Oh and a bit of news...I was called this week from the librarian of our small local library which I frequent every 3 weeks and have been asked to be their artist of the month. Now this came about because the library organizes the craft show in the community and I left my name, blog addy to check out my work. 

Well the craft show is filled up but they would like me to bring in some artwork of mine to showcase it for this month. Now this month is almost over but hey I am willing so why not. Who knows someone may want to buy or get a look at what I make. I am a little excited

Yippee Skippee dance here.

Well I have some snowmen on my table that are almost done...big BBQ on Sunday with my MIL and it is supposed to be hot and humid again. 

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by

♥♥♥

A Couple Altered Tags

Hi everyone,

on the weekend I was playing with some shipping tags and thought I would share with you what I made.

I used Distress inks for the background, white acrylic paint, Stickles, dripped and dabbled Ditto Shimmer sprays (they have a nice shimmer to them), added some glossy accents, dyed some seam binding and gathered it on the mermaid tag.Sea shells, and micro beads were also added.

I miss doing tags and ATC's so when I do them, I really go for it and enjoy it quite a bit. I think because they are smaller canvases and they don't take days to do, although some ATC's I really think about them for a while to conjure up an idea.

This tag is for the Yahoo group Gecko Gals Paper crafting Group, Bathing beauty challenge. I just snuck her in on the deadline.

I used a bit of sandpaper at the base to give some texture and interest. And a real mini sea shell on her head. I also coloured her bathing suit with pencil crayons and gave her some rosie cheekers.

 I still need to think of something witty for this one. I am thinking something about turning into a prince if you kiss me.....I know weird sense of humor. I am in a tag swap over at Tee's The Altered Paper later in the month which prompted both these tags so this one is probably going to my swap partner, not sure who that is yet but it will be fun to send. 

I am also working on a mini hutch my hubs was able to bring home free from work. It is old and has been around the block but he salvaged it for me and thought I could put my piles of craft supplies in it. I think he was hinting to put it away. Being in a small house, space can be limited but I need to keep it all together and more organized, so, I am all finished base coating it so just thinking what to put on it for design. I need to finish it up soon. I have to start painting for my shows and need to start a little earlier this year.

Thank you for stopping by.

♥

SOC week 5, Wild and Reckless

Hello everyone,

wow week 5 of Summer of Colour and it will be over very soon. This has been a fun and very creative experience for me as I am working with wonderful colours and putting my sketching skills to use. I did another ice cream girl for this week. 

Look at this colour prompt Kristin chose for us to use this week...isn't it yummy?

It is called Wild and Reckless, another Baskin Robbins special.

I drew this girl in my sketch book recently and decided I would scan her then print her on script scrap paper. Well after she came out I noticed the paper was upside down, no big deal, you can't stress when things like this happen, it just makes for more interest and makes people think, why is it upside down? No reason, it just happened. So I took all these yummy colours and painted the girl and  the background in washes of acrylic paint, I more or less pounced on the colours for easier blending. into one another on the background. My lime green wasn't bright enough for my liking so I got out the watercolours and painted right over the lime green and it really made the lime green pop more. I also dripped some of my new Ditto ink sprays which have a nice shimmer . I didn't want to spray the whole background so I just took the sprayer out of the bottle and dabbed and dripped a bit here and there then smudged with a tissue. I also pounced some of the other acrylic colours on to add interest. As you can see I also had to add my homemade texture to this using a dollar store sticky back stencil. The girl's dress has scrap paper that had these same wonderful colours and I added some jewels to her neckline and painted a white flower lime green and dabbed a bit of ink on it. I really love how this one turned out. She will be going into my SOC Ice Cream inspiration mini journal. 

Thank you for stopping by. Don't forget to visit Kristin's blog for links to lovely art and creations during this very creative SOC Ice Cream Inspiration.

TTFN 

♥♥♥
Not sure what is going on with the white background....this has happened  before and is not intentional.

Homemade texture paste

If you are like me you would like to have all kinds of arty goodness in the house but sometimes funds aren't always available or you could use the money for more important things like food or clothing. 

I am going to show you something I just made myself. I tried to research it a bit on the web but didn't find anything that I already had on hand to make what I wanted. 

Texture paste.

I did recently buy some texture paste but it was on sale and had it not been I would have gone without. If I can make it I will and when my tube runs out, I will be using this great paste. I already have and I am about to show you how to make it and how to apply it.

Here is what you need: 

a plastic container to mix and mixing stick, old spoon, popsicle stick or skewer

white acylic paint

glue, does not have to be Aleene's, cheap white school glue is fine and 

baking soda...yes I said soda

You may need a couple drops of water but I will explain this later

 In mixing bowl pour some baking soda in , I didn't measure but I probably used a quarter of a cup or 50ml, enough to use for a few projects.

Add white glue and squirt a good amount in about 2 tablespoons or 30 ml. Then add paint and squirt in some paint and start mixing, if it is too runny add a bit more soda, if it is sort of on the dry side and a thick and hard to mix then add more white paint. Stir until is is not runny but on the thick side. If you need to you can add a couple small drops of water and I mean small at a time to get it to a good consistency. Mine is like a thick icing.

 Now the fun part. I have a stencil I have made from a Tim Holtz flourish die that I use on my canvases. I use the negative part. These are great. Now lay down your stencil, you can use whatever you have on hand, if yours are plastic remember to clean them well after you are done with water. Make sure your stencil is flat to the surface tape down if necessary. Then with your mixing stick or palette knife spread the texture medium over the stencil, you can spread it thin or if you want chunky texture spread it and make sure you get the whole area you want covered.

 Here is what it looks like and I made it nice and neat for you to see.

 Now lift the stencil and you can see the wonderful texture that is created by these 3 ingredients, well 4 if you added water. Neat huh? Let it dry completely and I tell you the day I did this was hot and humid and it took no time at all to dry.Once dry you can paint over and around it. If you make a bit of a mess on the outside where the stencil was just take a damp cloth or Q-tip and clean up areas but it just adds to the background. 

 Here is the other end of the canvas where I did some circles, added some purple to the background and went over the texture with paint as well. And you can sand this if you paint over it and want some white to show through the painted areas. Just remember you need that glue as it binds the soda together, if not it will flake off easily.

Make sure you have a good tight fitting lid for your container to cover your texture til the next time you use it. If it is a little on the dry side, add a couple drops of water and not too much.

For bling after you paint your canvas and the texture you could add some Stickles or glitter glue to add some interest or spray with inks. Just try and see and let me know what works best for you. 

So there you have it. Faux or poor man's texture medium or whatever you want to call it. Fast, inexpensive, and so creative.

If you blog about this please remember to link back to me and give me credit. That's all I ask.

If you do projects using this recipe let me know and I would love to hear your feedback and see what you have created with this. 

Thanks for dropping by and just be creative and have fun doing it.

♥

canvas and texture

Hi there everyone. The humidity has finally lifted at least for now but it is still quite warm during the day and cooler in the evenings.Phew it was a warm one.

I finally got 2 small canvas boards completed after deliberating and fussing with these. 

Remember my sketch Roxy? sister of Gracie who took off on an adventure? 

Well Roxy is now put to canvas and I just love how she turned out. As much as I enjoy the colour I do like pencil sketches, bu,t when the girls have colour added to them they seem to take on a personality. 

I recently found out Gracie is in Australia and moved in with Jenny. Jenny said she arrived unexpectedly and decided to stay with Jenny. I do hope Jenny has room and is OK with it. I thought it awfully bold of Gracie to think you go somewhere and just move in? 

Anyways I heard rumblings Roxy may be taking a trip but hasn't decided where yet. Golly these girls are sketches one day then have incredible attitudes the next. I was not brought up that way Hmmm. 

 I cut a larger canvas to make skinny canvases as they are difficult to find and they are so portable as well. I applied several layers of cut papers, gessoed and painted and stenciled over them. Then I added turquoise and lime green paint and blended. Roxie is a mix of pencil crayons, and paint, paper dress and bows in her hair and a bit of lace. Below is a picture of texture medium I got on sale at Michaels. The cap was sort of broken so I taped it town and I just have to twist it off, the top was sealed at first so the medium itself was really good. I took a close up so you can see how I used a stencil and applied a thin layer of texture paste, it didn't take very long to dry either. I didn't add paint over top of the texture as I wanted the white to sort of stand out a bit. This was a lot of fun. I am still getting used to using Prisma Colour pencils and doing faces but each one gets better as I go and I am learning so much about this type of portrait. 

 And this canvas was a redo. I had done this same girl on a canvas and I put beeswax to her as instructed in Suzi's Mixed Media girls and her face disappeared. So I decided  to only use gel medium for now til I get used to the application of beeswax and how much to use, or maybe I didn't have enough pencil crayon colour  on her face.??? This redo is much better anyways and I added a nice quote and more texture paste. 

.Well we just got home from an evening ride on the motorcycle and it was quite nice. Traffic was quiet and we stopped and had a Tim Horton's coffee in a little town not far away. 

Til next time, take care and I always love hearing from you.

♥

Life quote canvas

Today I had a bit of time to finish up this canvas that started out a totally different colour, thanks to gesso I was able to cover all the paint layers up to make a new background. I have been playing a lot with layering with paint and making my own stencils to produce some pleasing and interesting visual appeal. 

Just a tip for all of you, to make your own stencils just use a light weight card stock or even cracker box chipboard, use your die cuts and cut out shapes in your Cuttlebug or Big Shot or whatever you use. 

Use the piece that you are about to throw out and use that as a stencil. I also use various round punches and punch designs using various sizes to make patterns. Cut shapes from fun foam or again use your die cut and cut flower shapes, stars whatever you have. I have a stack of different things now to use. Some of them get a little worn out if you use too lightweight of card stock, but, you can always make another. 

I even used Tim Holt's flourish die and they make wonderful stencils. Just take a peek at my background and see what you can find. You can even use corrugated cardboard, swipe some paint across the ripples and press onto your canvas, so many neat ideas all ready at your finger tips. Oh and one more. Look at doilies and see if there are sections you can use to stencil onto your backgrounds. I had some heart doilies and I saw an interesting medallion and cut it out. Take your stencilling to new heights, see what you already have instead of investing a ton on more stuff.

OK enough gibber. I was on Pinterest the other night, love Pinterest and I found some interesting quotes. I am not good when it comes to journaling and saying what I feel on paper, some things you wouldn't want to know or read. I can write letters and I can be diplomatic when it comes to expressing something I feel strongly about, but, I have never been good with words.

I saw this quote and thought it would be fitting for my little girl. 

So here she is, one of my Suzi inspired girls that I drew last week and could not wait to put her to canvas and make her come alive.

But first of all.......here is the quote.... 

 And here she is with her pouty lips, I haven't named her yet but I just adore her. I am so please with her except she has a bit of a crooked nose, oh well, it's all practise and I am really pleased how far I have come. I don't even draw my facial grid anymore. I just got the paper recently at Michaels, it has an oriental feel to it and so I cut some flowers from it and put them in her hair and added Stickles to them. 

The canvas board is painted in acrylics, the face is done in Prismacolour pencils.

Well I have another small one in the works. Thanks for dropping by and can't wait for Monday to reveal my Summer of Colour Week 2.

♥

I couldn't help myself

OK so I said I was going to take a blog break and do some catch ups on other blogs.. I actually visited a few of the 29 Face participants and finally got to comment on their wonderful faces. There are a lot of talented peeps out there and so very friendly as well.

And, last night, I normally sketch before I go to bed, I again, picked up my sketch book and pencil and this is  little Gracie's sister. She appeared out of nowhere. I didn't get a chance to paint her but last night I used my stump to shade her . I really love pencil sketches and the wonderful soft look you get when you shade. I do think little Roxy needs colour and I have already got her planned out. I think she is a little more shy than Gracie is. Gracie is all packed up ready to go on this mystery trip of hers and all she said was I will be in touch soon. I guess she is leaving tomorrow and who knows where she will end up.

If anyone happens to see her please inform me as she is kind of a free spirit and tends to just wander aimlessly and forgets about time ,so I have come to find out.

Meet Roxy...

 Look at those skinny little legs and those knees...LOL isn't she the sweetest? she looks like she is a ballerina, just floats on air and whispers to herself.

.Well I finally got my hair cut, now it needs a colour and then maybe I will get to that cleaning up I said I was going to start. I better get at it...it is piling up.

Take care everyone and thanks for stopping by.

♥

It's a little bit sketchy

Today weather certainly isn't the kind of spring weather we are used to having. Snow is in the forecast for areas of Ontario to the north of us but we have seen rain again today. There were a few mixed snow flakes but for the most part it is damp and dreary. What a great day to stay inside, wood stove is going and I was able to finish up a few things.

I told you I have been sketching again, sometimes I take a break from it but I am really enjoying what seems to be appearing on my pages. I have 2 full sketch books now and I am almost embarrassed by the first 2 sketches which I was so proud to show you. Like anything tho, the more you do the better you get, at least that is what we all hope and strive for.

I have been doing some whimsy faces as well but the last face I drew I couldn't believe that I sketched it. I also found while surfing around the weeb that some artists use paper stumps to help in the blending and shading of their pencil sketches. I couldn't find any so I made my own...wow this tool is wonderful. It takes makes your sketch so much softer and in some ways a bit more realistic.

 And these are my whimsy girls. I loved doing these on canvas board. I cut them to measure 5x5, layered and layered with painty layers. I used bubble wrap, container lids for large cirlces, sequin waste, homemade stencils, etc. I have about 4 layers of paint and lots of gesso. This is so much fun to do. I even painted the wings on the bottom 2 canvases (which of course are the same girl but different colours) and added Diamond Dust to their wings. Scrap paper for their dresses and a bit of painty shading around the outside of them to make them POP. Wooowee, these are fun. I am going to add a piece of ribbon at the back and then cover  it with scrap paper. These make great little swap stuffers and sure to make you smile, they made me smile and I made them.

 And this last canvas is a smaller version of my first sketch but I drew it on dictionary paper. I have seen this around the web and have been waiting to try it. I painted a think layer of gesso on the paper first for durability and so I can see my sketch lines and then I coloured the image using coloured pencils. I added the sparkly purple flower from my stash and paper for her dress and a stick on border around the collar.

Well that is it for today folks.

Thanks for stopping by and stay creative.

Anyone want to do a whimsy swap comment here and maybe we can do a small fun swap.

PS posting on Blogger has become a real chore so if this is all out of whack, it can't be helped. Maybe I need Google Chrome for it to work right. Great all I need is another browser. ACK

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More sketches and matchboxes

Not sure what has been going on with Blogger but posting has been not very co operative so here are some things that have been piling up and while Blogger is working today, perhaps I can show you what I have been doing.

This first mixed media piece I am showing is an oriental style angel. As you know I have been sketching and I did this a couple weeks ago and decided I want to paint her. I drew her on watercolour paper then did most of her in watercolour then I painted the background in this wonderful green paint with a bit of white dripping down. I really like how it turned out but not sure I like the asian text now on the page. That might have to be painted over. I keep looking at this and wondering if I should have put it on there. I did tone it down a bit but still not sure....I might even do this whole piece over again but for now I am most pleased with how my sketches look painted. Have to do more of this. I don't own or have an art journal yet but I am thinking that maybe I should attempt one.

 And here are a few more sketches. I know these are whimsy but I plan on really expanding my sketching overall. These are just free and see what happens kind of sketches. Again good material to work with for an art journal....don't ya think???

 When I started this more rounded face, I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but I really like it and the why my hair turned out. A little more mature looking. I call her Summer. She would look nice painted too...

 I like this one too, my faces are really turning out more proportional now thanks to looking in book and on YouTube how to draw portraits. I always erase my lines after I get the features situated. The eyes are really the hardest to get to look even, but it is coming along. I see great progress from my first 2 I posted a couple weeks ago.

 And I like this young girl. She has such innocense about her. Love that hair band....

 And last but not least....I was in a FlickR matchbox trade for the month of February and Gail chose the theme of  Love and Valentines. My partner Sherry made this lovely box and just filled it to the brim with all these goodies and if you click on the pic to make it larger there is a tiny bottle with lots of teeny hearts and love inside. Sherry made that too. I received some vintage images and a love tag and all wrapped in wonderful Valentines tissue paper. I made tissue tape out of the tissue last night for future cards and projects. Thank you Sherry, this is just wonderful. You do such great tiny work.

 And this is my matchbox for Sherry. She has already seen a pic of it on FlickR. This heart is made of acetate which has been shrunk after it was painted and stamped. I found a great source locally for acrylic and it shrinks just like the Shrinky Dinks plastic sheets you can pay a fortune for.  The rose and branches are from a dollar store necklace I saw potential in immediately. I took the necklace apart and it fit the bill nicely. Love all the little gems and colours just match the theme perfectly. The matchbox itself was gessoed, painted pale pink then I attached some pink lace, then some white fuzzy and sparkly ribbon on both ends. Really came together nicely. And of course stuffed with goodies too.

 Well that is it for now. I have been going easy lately as I am having some upper back issues and trying to watch my posture and not hunch over for hours on end. The pain has been affecting my sleep and the x rays are showing nothing so it is probably muscle and soft tissue issues which I suffer from in my shoulders. Oh well I am sure it will pass, it has to, I won't put up with it. :)

Take care and thanks as always for dropping by. I always love to read your comments.

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